DA565 BRiU3 LAUGH, Charles. 
 
 B7A2 Autobiography of C. Brad laugh, 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RlVERSiDE 
 
 'A 'N '"'njoMs ^ - ^ 
 
 JwoNia i3iH«iif5vai
 
 THE 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 C. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 i^ ^a^e of bis %iU, 
 
 WRITTEN IN ,1873 FOR THE " NATIONAL REFORMER 
 
 NEIV EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR MRS. H. BRADLAUGH BONNER BY 
 
 R. FORDER, 28 STONECUTTER STREET, E.G. 
 
 I 8 9 I . 
 
 PRICE FOURPENCE.
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 JNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDf
 
 THE 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 C BRADLAUGH. 
 
 ><i 
 
 WRITTEN IN 1873 FOR THE " NATIONAL REFORMER 
 
 NEV/ EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR MRS. H. BRADLAUGH BONNER BY 
 
 R. FORDER, 28 STONECUTTER STREET, E.G. 
 I 8 9 I .
 
 
 LONnON 
 
 PRINTED BY A. BONNER, 
 
 34 BOLVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET, E.O.
 
 IKOM A PORTRAIT TAKEN BV W. V. AMKV, OF I.ANDPORT, IN 1885.
 
 [Repyinted from the '■^National Reformer'", 
 August 315/, 1873.] 
 
 At the request of many friends, and by way of farewell 
 address on leaving for America, I, for the first time in 
 m}' life, pen a partial autobiographical sketch. I do 
 not pretend that the narrative will be a complete 
 picture of my life : I only vouch the accuracy of the 
 facts so far as I state them. I have not the right in 
 some cases to state political occurrences in which others 
 now living are involved, nor have I the courage of Jean 
 Jacques Rousseau, to photograph my inner life. I shall 
 therefore state little the public may not already know. 
 
 I was born on the 26th September, 1833, in a small 
 house in Bacchus Walk, Hoxton. My father was a 
 solicitor's clerk with a very poor salary, which he 
 supplemented by law writing. He was an extremely 
 industrious man, and a splendid penman. I never had 
 the opportunity of judging his tastes or thoughts, 
 outside his daily labours, except in one respect, in 
 which I have followed in his footsteps. He was 
 passionately fond of angling. 
 
 Until 1848 my life needs little relation. My 
 schooling, like that of most poor men's children,
 
 6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. URAHLAl'GH. 
 
 was small in quantity, and, except as to the three 
 R's, indifferent in quality. I remember at seven 
 years of age being at a national scliool in Abbey 
 Street, Bethnal Green ; between seven and nine I was 
 at another small private school in the same neighbor- 
 hood ; and my "education" was completed before I 
 was eleven years of age, at a boy's school in Coal- 
 harbor Street, Hackney Road. 
 
 When about twelve years of age I was first employed 
 as errand lad in the solicitor's office wlicrc my father 
 remained his whole life through. After a little 
 more than two years in this occupation, I became 
 wharf clerk and cashier to a firm of coal mer- 
 chants in Britannia Fields, City Road. While in their 
 employment the exitement of the Chartist movement 
 was at its height in England, and tlic authorities, 
 frightened b}' the then huge continental revolution 
 wave, were preparing for the prosecution of some of 
 the leaders amongst the Chartists. Meetings used to 
 be held almost continuously all day on Sunda}^, and 
 every week-night in the open air on Bonner's Fields, near 
 where the Consumption Hospital now stands. These 
 meetings were in knots of from fifty to five hundred, 
 sometimes many more, arid were occupied chiefl}' in 
 discussions on theological, social, and political questions, 
 any bystander taking part. The curiosit}- of a lad took 
 me occasionally in the week evenings to the Bonner's 
 Fields gatherings. On the Sunday I, as a member of 
 the Church of England, was fully occupietl as a Sunday- 
 school teacher. 
 
 This last-named fashion of passing Sundav was
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 7 
 
 broken suddenly. Tlie Bishop of London was an- 
 nounced to hold a confirmation in Bethnal Green. 
 The incumbent of St. Peter's, Hackney Road, the 
 district in which I resided, was one John Graham 
 Packer ; and he, desiring to make a good figure when 
 the Bishop came, pressed me to prepare for confir- 
 mation, so as to answer any questions the Bishop might 
 put. I studied a httle the Thirty-nine Articles of the 
 ■Church of England, and the four Gospels, and came to 
 the conclusion that they differed. I ventured to write 
 the Rev. Mr. Packer a respectful letter, asking him for 
 aid and explanation. All he did was to denounce my 
 letter to my parents as Atheistical, although at that 
 time I should have shuddered at the notion of becoming 
 an Athiest ; and he suspended me for three months from 
 my office of Sunday-school teacher. This left me my 
 Sundays free, for I did not like to go to church while 
 suspended from my teacher's duty ; and I went instead 
 to Bonner's Fields, at first to listen, but soon to take 
 part in some of the discussions which were then always 
 pending there. 
 
 At the commencement I spoke on the orthodox 
 Christian side; but after a debate with Mr. J. Savage, 
 in the Warner Place Hall, in 1849, on the " Inspiration 
 of the Bible", I found that my views were getting very 
 much tinged with Freethought, and in the winter of 
 that year, at the instigation of Mr. Packer, to whom I 
 had submitted the " Diegesis " of Robert Taylor, I — 
 having become a teetotaler, which in his view brought 
 out my infidel tendencies still more vigorously — had 
 three days given me by my employers, after consultation
 
 O AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 witli my father, to " chani^e my opinions or lose my 
 situation ". I am inclined to think now that the threat 
 was never intended to have been enforced, but was used 
 to terrify me into submission. At that time I hardly knew 
 what, if any, opinions I had, but the result was that, 
 sooner than make a show of recanting, I left home and 
 situation on the third day, and never returned to either. 
 
 I was always a very fluent speaker, and now lectured 
 frequently at the Temperance Hall, Warner Place, 
 Hackney Road, at the small Hall in Philpot Street, and 
 in the open air in Bonner's Fields, where, at last, on 
 Sunday afternoons, scores or hundreds congregated to 
 hear me. My views were then Deistical, but rapidly 
 tending to the more extreme phase into which they 
 ultimately settled. 1 now took part in all the gather- 
 ings held in London on behalf of the Poles and 
 Hungarians, and actually fancied that I could write 
 poetry on Kossuth and Mazzini. 
 
 i It was at this time I made the acquaintance of my 
 friend and co-worker, Mr. Austin Holyoake, at his 
 printing office in Queen's Head Passage, and I remem- 
 ber him taking me to John Street Institution, where, at 
 one of the pleasant Saturday evening gatherings, I met 
 the late Mrs. Emma Martin. At Mr. Austin Holyoake's 
 request, Mr. George Jacob Holyoake, to my great 
 delight, presided at one of my lectures in Philpot Street, 
 and I felt special interest in the number of the Rcasonev 
 which contained a brief reference to myself and that 
 lecture. 
 
 I wrote my fust pamphlet, " A I-'ew Words on the 
 Christian's Creed," about the middle of 1850, and was
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MK. HKADLAUGH, Q 
 
 honored by Dr. Campbell of the British Banner with a 
 leading article vigorously assailing nie for the lectures I 
 had then delivered. 
 
 After leaving home I was chiefly sheltered by Mrs. 
 Sharpies Carlile, with whose children, Hypatia, Theo- 
 phila, and Julian, I shared such comforts as were 
 at her disposal. Here I studied hard everything which 
 came in my way, picking up a little Hebrew and an 
 imperfect smattering of other tongues. I tried to earn 
 my living as a coal merchant, but at sixteen, and 
 without one farthing in my pocket, the business was 
 not extensive enough to be profitable. I got very poor, 
 and at that time was also very proud. A subscription 
 offered me by a few Freethinkers shocked me, and 
 awakened me to a sense of my poverty ; so, telling no 
 one where I was going, I went away, and on the 17th 
 of December, 1850, was, after some difficulty, enlisted 
 in the Seventh Dragoon Guards. With this corps I 
 remained until October, 1853, being ultimately appointed 
 orderly-room clerk ; the regiment, during the whole of 
 the time I remained in it, being quartered in Ireland. 
 While I was in the regiment I was a teetotaler, and 
 used often to lecture to the men in the barrack-room at 
 night ; and I have more than once broken out of 
 Portobello barracks to deliver teetotal speeches in the 
 small French Street Hall, Dublin. Many times have 
 I spoken there in my scarlet jacket, between James 
 Haughton and the good old father, the Rev. Dr. Spratt, 
 a Roman Catholic priest, then very active in the cause 
 of temperance. While I was in the regiment my father 
 died, and in the summer of 1853 an aunt's death left me
 
 lO AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MK. BKADLAUGH. 
 
 a small sum, out of which I jnu-chascd my discharge, 
 and returned to England, to aid in the maintenance of 
 my mother and family. 
 
 I have now no time for the full story of my army life, 
 which, however, I may tell some day. Before I left the 
 regiment I had won the esteem of most of the privates, 
 and of some of the officers. I quitted the regiment with 
 a "very good character" from the Colonel; but I am 
 bound to add that the Captain of my troop would not 
 haA'e concurred in this character had he had any voice 
 in the matter. The Lieutenant-Colonel, C. P. Ainslie, 
 earned an eternal right to grateful mention at my hands 
 by his gentlemanly and considerate treatment. I cannot 
 say the same for my Captain, who did his best to send 
 me to gaol, and whom I have not yet quite forgiven. 
 
 On returning to civilian life, I obtained employment 
 in the daytime with a solicitor named Rogers, and in 
 the evening as clerk to a Building Society. Soon 
 after entering this employ I began again to write and 
 speak ; and it was then, to avoid in some degree the 
 efforts which were afterwards made to ruin me, I took 
 the name of " Iconoclast ", under which all my anti- 
 theological work down to 1868 was done. I give Mr. 
 Rogers' name now, for he is dead, and malice cannot 
 injure him. Many anonymous letters were sent to him 
 to warn him of my irreligious opinions ; he treated them 
 all with contempt, only asking me not to let my propa- 
 ganda become an injury to his business. 
 
 Soon after my discharge from the army I had a 
 curious adventure. While I was away a number of 
 poor men had subscribed their funds together and had
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADI.AUGII. J,! 
 
 erected a Working Man's Hall, in Goldsmith's Row, 
 Hackney Road. Not having any legal advice, it turned 
 out that they had been entrapped into erecting their 
 building on freehold ground without any lease or con- 
 veyance from the freeholder, who asserted his legal right 
 to the building. The men consulted me, and finding 
 that under the Statute of Frauds they had no remedy, I 
 recommended them to offer a penalty rent of £10 a 
 year. This being refused, I constituted myself into a 
 law court ; and without any riot or breach of the peace, 
 I, with the assistance of a hundred stout men, took 
 every brick of the building bodily away, and divided 
 the materials, so far as was possible, amongst the 
 proper owners. I think I can see now the disappointed 
 rascal of a freeholder when he only had his bare soil 
 left once more. He did not escape unpunished, for, to 
 encourage the others to contribute, he had invested 
 some few pounds in the building. He had been too 
 clever : he had relied on the letter of the law, and I 
 beat him with a version of common-sense justice. 
 
 I lectured once or twice a week in the small Philpot 
 Street Hall; very often then in the Hall of Science, City 
 Road ; and then in the old John Street Institution, until 
 I won myself a name in the party and through the 
 country. 
 
 In 1855 I had my first notable adventure with the 
 authorities in reference to the right of meeting in Hyde 
 Park, and subsequently gave evidence before the 
 Royal Conmiission ordered by the House of Commons, 
 presided over by the Right Hon. Stuart Wortley. 
 I was very proud that day at Westminster, when, at
 
 12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 the conclusion of ni}' testimony against the authorities, 
 the Commissioner pubhcly thanked me, and the people 
 who crowded the Court of Exchequer cheered me, for 
 the manner in which I denied the right of Sir Richard 
 Mayne, the then Chief Commissioner of Police, to issue 
 the notices forbidding the people to meet in the Park. 
 This was a first step in a course in which I have never 
 flinched or wavered. 
 
 In 1856 I undertook, with others, the publication of 
 a series of papers entitled " Half-hours with Free- 
 thinkers," the late John Watts being one of my co- 
 workers. I also by myself commenced the publication 
 of my "Commentary on the Pentateuch", which has 
 since been entirely re-written, and now forms my 
 " Bible : what it is." 
 
 During the autumn of 1857 I paid m}' first lecturing 
 visit to Northampton. 
 
 Early in 1858, when Mr. Edward Truelove was sud- 
 denly arrested for publishing the pamphlet " Is Tyran- 
 nicide Justifiable ? ", I became Honorary Secretary to 
 the Defence, and was at the same time associated with 
 the conduct of the defence of Simon Bernard, who was 
 arrested at the instigation of the French Government 
 for alleged complicity in the Orsini tragedy. It was at 
 this period I gained the friendship of poor Bernard, 
 which, without diminution, I retained until he died ; 
 and also the valued friendship of Thomas Allsop, which 
 I still preserve. Aiy associations were thenceforward 
 such as to encourage in me a strong and bitter feeling 
 against the late Emperor Napoleon. Whilst he was 
 in power I hated him, and never lost an opportunity
 
 AUTOBIOGKAI'HV 01 MK, BKADLAUGH. 1$ 
 
 of working against him until the aechcancc came. I am 
 not sure now that 1 always juu^ed him fairly ; but 
 nothing, I think, could have templed me either to write 
 or speak of him with friendliness or kindliness during 
 his life. Le sang de mes amis etait sur son dme. Now that 
 the tomb covers his remains, my hatred has ceased ; 
 but no other feeling has arisen m its place. Should 
 any of his family seek to resume the Imperial purple, 
 I should remain true to my political declarations of 
 sixteen years since, and should exert myself to the 
 uttermost to prevent France fajimg under another 
 Empire, I write this with much sadness, as the years 
 1870 to 1873 have dispelled some of my illusions, held 
 firmly during the fifteen years which preceded. I had be- 
 lieved in such men as Louis Blanc, Ledru Rollin, Victor 
 Hugo, as possible statesmen for France. I was mis- 
 taken. They were Avriters, talkers, and poets ; good 
 men to ride on the stream, or to arown in honest pro- 
 test, but lacking force to swim agauist, or turn back, the 
 tide by the might of their will. I liad believed too in a 
 Republican France, which is yet only in the womb of 
 time, to be born after many pangs and sore travailing. 
 
 In 1859 I saw Joseph Mazzini fui" the hrst time, and 
 remained on terms of communicc^tion with the great 
 Italian patriot until the year 1869, from time to time 
 bringing him correspondence froni Italy, Avhere my 
 business sometimes took me. A ter 1869 we found 
 ourselves holding diverse opiniuas on the Franco- 
 Prussian question — IMazzini weni for Prussia, I for 
 France — and I never saw him aga^a. 
 
 In June, 1858, I held my first public formal theo-
 
 14 AirrOHIOGKAPHV Ol- MK. HRADLAUGH. 
 
 logical debate witli the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., at 
 that time a Dissenting Minister at Sheffield. Mr. Grant 
 was then a man of some ability, and if he could have 
 forgotten his aptitudes as a circus jester, would have 
 been a redoubtable antagonist. During this year I was 
 elected President of the London Secular Society, in lieu 
 of Mr. George Jacob Holyoake, who had theretofore 
 led the English Freethought party, but who has of late 
 years devoted himself more completely to general 
 journalistic work. 
 
 In November, 185S, I commenced editorial duties 
 with the Investigator, formerly conducted by the late 
 Robert Cooper, which I continued until August, 1859. 
 It had but a small circulation, and was fmancially a 
 very great failure. 
 
 For the encouragement of young propagandists, 1 
 may here insert a little anecdote of my early lecturing 
 experience. I had lectured in Edinburgh in mid- 
 winter ; tlie audience was small, the profits micro- 
 scopical. After paying my bill at the Temperance 
 Hotel, where I then stayed, I had only a few shillings 
 more than my Parliamentary fare to Bolton, where I 
 was next to lecture. I was out of bed at five on a 
 freezing morning, and could have no breakfast, as the 
 people were not vip. 1 carried my luggage (a big tin 
 box, corded round, which then held books and clothes, 
 and a small black bag), for I could not spare any of my 
 scanty cash for a conveyance or porter. The train 
 from Edinburgh being delayed by a severe snow-storm ; 
 the corresponding Parliamentary had left Carlisle long 
 l)efore our arrival, in order to reach l-Jolton in time for
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MK. BKADLAUGH. 1 5 
 
 my lecture, I had to book by a quick train, starting in 
 about three-quarters of an hour, but could onh' book to 
 Preston, as the increased fare took all my money, 
 except 4Ad. With this small sum I could get no 
 refreshment in the station, but in a little shop in the 
 street outside I got a mug of hot tea and a little hot 
 meat pie. From Preston I got with great difficulty on 
 to Bolton, handing my black bag to the station-master 
 there, as security for my fare from Preston, until the 
 morning. I arrived in Bolton about a quarter to eight ; 
 the lecture commenced at eight, and I, having barely 
 time to run to my lodgings, and wash and change, went 
 on to the platform cold and hungry. I shall never 
 forget that lecture ; it was in an old Unitarian Chapel. 
 We had no gas, the building seemed full of a foggy 
 mist, and was imperfectly lit with candles. Everything 
 appeared cold, cheerless, and gloom}'. The most 
 amusing feature was that an opponent, endowed with 
 extra piety and forbearance, chose that evening to^ 
 specially attack me for the money-making and easy life 
 I was leading. Peace to that opponent's memory : I 
 have never seen him since. It was while in Scotland 
 on this journey I made the acquaintance, and ultimately 
 won the friendship, of the late Alexander Campbell, of 
 Glasgow — a generous, kindly -hearted old Socialist 
 Missionary, who, at a time when others were hostile, 
 spoke encouragingly to me, and who afterwards worked 
 with me for a long period on the National Reformer. 
 
 Occasionally, the lectures were interfered with by the 
 authorities, but this happened oftener in the provinces 
 than in London. In INIarch, 1859, I was to have
 
 l6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MK. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 lectured in tlie Saint Martin's Hall on " Louis 
 Napoleon," but the Government — on a remonstrance 
 by Count Walcwski, as to language used at a previous 
 meeting, at which I liad presided for Dr. Bernard — 
 interfered ; the hall was garrisoned by police, and the 
 lecture prevented. Mr. Hullah, the then proprietor, 
 being indemnified by the authorities, paid damages for 
 his breach of contract, to avoid a suit which I at once 
 commenced against him. 
 
 Later in the same month I held a debate in 
 Northampton with Mr. John 13owes, a rather heavy 
 but well-meaning old gentleman, utterl}^ unfitted for 
 platform controversy. The press now began to deal 
 with me tolerably freely, and I find "boy", "young 
 man", and "juvenile appearance" very frequent in 
 the comments. My want of education was an especial 
 matter for hostile criticism, more particularly so when 
 the writer had neither heard nor seen me. 
 
 Discussions now grew on me so thick and fast that 
 even some of the most important debates may perhaps 
 escape notice in this imperfect chronicling. At Sheffield 
 I debated with a Rt;verend Dr. Mensor, w'ho st3ded 
 himself a Jewish Rabbi. He was then in the process 
 of gaining admission to the Church of England, and 
 had been put forward to show my want of scholarship. 
 We both scrawled Hebrew characters for four nights 
 on a black board, to the delight and mystification of 
 the audience, who ga\e me credit for erudition, because 
 I chalked the square letter characters with tolerable 
 rapidity and clearness. At Glasgow I debated with 
 a Mr. Court, representing the Glasgow Protestant
 
 AUTOBIOGKAPHV OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 17 
 
 Association, a glib-tongued missionary, who has since 
 gone to the bad ; at Paisley with a Mr. Smart, a 
 very gentlemanly antagonist ; and at Halifax with 
 the Rev. T. D. Matthias, a Welsh Baptist Minister, 
 unquestionably ver}- sincere. All these were formal 
 debates, and were reported with tolerable fulness in 
 the various local journals. 
 
 In the early part of i860 I, aided by my friends at 
 Sheffield, Halifax, and other parts of England, pro- 
 jected the National Reformer in small shares. Unfortu- 
 nately, just after the issue of its prospectus, Joseph 
 Barker returned from America, and was associated 
 with me in the editorship. The arrangement was 
 peculiar, Mr. Barker editing the first half of the paper 
 and I the second. It was not precisely a happ}^ union, 
 and the unnatural alliance came to an end in a very 
 brief period. In August, 1861, I officially parted com- 
 pany with Joseph Barker as editor. We had been 
 practically divorced for months before : the first part 
 of the paper usually contained abuse of those who 
 wrote in the second half. He came to me originally 
 at Sheffield, pretending to be an Atheist and a 
 Republican, and soon after pretended to be a Chris- 
 tian, and spoke in favor of slavery. I am sometimes 
 doubtful as to how far Mr. Barker deluded himself 
 as well as others, in his various changes of theological 
 and political opinions. If he had had the slightest 
 thoroughness in his character, he would have been a 
 great man ; as it is, he is only a great turn-coat. 
 
 In June i860, I debated again with the Reverend 
 Brewin Grant, every Monday for four weeks, at Brad-
 
 l8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. liRADLAUGH. 
 
 ford, and during this debate had a narrow escape of 
 my life. In one of my journeys to London, the 
 Great Northern train ran through the station at King's 
 Cross, and many persons were seriously injured. I 
 got off with some trifling bruises and a severe shaking. 
 
 Garibaldi having at tliis time made his famous Mar- 
 sala effort, I delivered a series of lectures in his aid, 
 and am happ}' to be able to record that, though at that 
 time very poor, I sent liim one hundred guineas as 
 my contribution by my tongue. This money was 
 chiefl}' sent through W. H. Ashurst, Esq., now 
 Solicitor to the General Post Office, and amongst the 
 few letters I preserve I have one of thanks from 
 " G. Garibaldi ", for what I was then doing for Italy. 
 
 lu this year I debated for four nights with Dr. 
 Brindley, an old antagonist of the Socialists, at Old- 
 ham ; for two nights with the Rev. Dr. Baylee, the 
 President of St. Aidan's College, at Birkenhead, where 
 a Church of England curate manufactory was for 
 some time carried on ; and for two nights with the 
 Rev. Dr. Rutherford, of Newcastle. Dr. Rutherford 
 has since so identified himself with the cause of 
 the Tyneside workers, that I read with regret any 
 harsh words that escaped me in that debate. Although 
 during late years 1 have managed to keep all my 
 meetings free from violence or disorder, this was not 
 always so. 
 
 In October, i860, I ]X'iid my first visit to W'igan, 
 and certainlv leclvucd there under considerable diffi- 
 culty, and in-arred personal danger, the resident clergy 
 actually inciting the populace to physical violence, and
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OV MR. BRADLAUGH. IQ 
 
 part destruction of the building I lectured in. I, 
 however, supported by one courageous woman and her 
 husband, persevered, and, despite bricks and kicks, 
 visited Wigan again and again, until I had, boii gix vial 
 gv'c, improved the manners and customs of the people, 
 so that I am now a welcome speaker there. I could 
 not improve the morals of the clergy, as the public 
 journals have recentl}' shown, but that was their mis- 
 fortune, not my fault. In the winter of i860, I held 
 two formal debates in Wigan, all of which were fully 
 reported in the local journals ; one with Mr. Hutchings, 
 a respectable Nonconformist layman, and the other 
 with the Rev. \\'ood\'ille Woodman, a Swedenborgian 
 divine. 
 
 Early in 1861 I visited Guernsey in consequence of 
 an attempt made b}^ the Law Courts of the Island 
 to enforce the Blasphemy Laws against a Mr. Stephen 
 Bendall, who had distributed some of my pamphlets 
 to the Guernseyites, and had been condemned to 
 imprisonment in default of finding sureties not to repeat 
 the offence. Not daring to prosecute me, although 
 challenged in writing, the authorities permitted drink 
 and leave of absence to be given to soldiers in the gar- 
 rison, on condition they should try to prevent the lecture ; 
 and the house in which I lectured was broken into by 
 a drunken aud pious mob, shouting " Kill the Infi- 
 del". My antagonists Avere, fortunatel}-, as cowardly 
 as they were intolerant, and I succeeded in quelling 
 the riot, delivering my lecture in spite of all opposi- 
 tion, although considerable damage was done to the 
 building.
 
 20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 Shortly after this I visited Plymouth, where the 
 Young Men's Christian Association arranged to prose- 
 cute nie. They were, however, a little too hasty, 
 and hatl ine arrested at an open air meeting when 
 I had scarcely commenced my speech, having only 
 uttered the words — "Friends, I am about to address 
 you on the l^ible ". Having locked me up all night, 
 and refused hail, it was found by their legal adviser 
 that a blunder had been committed, and a charge of 
 "exciting a breach of the peace, and assaulting the 
 constable in the execution of his duty," was manufac- 
 tured. It was tolerably amusing to see the number 
 of dinners, suppers, and breakfasts, all accompanied 
 with pots or cups of Devonshire cream, sent in to 
 the Devonport Lock-up, where I was confined, by 
 various friends wlao wanted to show their sympathy. 
 The invented charge, though well sworn to, broke 
 down after two days' hearing, under the severe cross- 
 examination to wliich I subjected the witnesses. I 
 defended myself; two lawyers appeared against me; 
 and seven magistrates sat on the bench, predetermined 
 to convict me. Finding that the evidence of the whole 
 of the witnesses whom I wished to call was to be 
 objected to because unbelievers in hell were then 
 incompetent as witnesses according to English law, I 
 am pleased to sa}' that several Nonconformists, dis- 
 gusted with the bigotry and pious perjury of my prose- 
 cutors, came forward. The result was a triumphant 
 victory, and a certificate of dismissal which I wrung 
 from the reluctant bench of great unpaid. 
 
 I was not yet satisfied ; some of the magistrates had
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 21 
 
 tried to browbeat me, and I announced in court that 
 I would deliver the lecture I had been prevented from 
 (K'ilivering to an audience assembled in the borough, 
 and that I should sue at law the Superintendent of 
 Police who had arrested me. The first portion of my 
 defiance was the most difficult to give effect to ; not a 
 h;dl could be hired in Devonport, and nearly all tlie 
 convenient open land being under military jurisdiction, 
 it was impossible to procure the tenancy of a field for 
 an open-air meeting. I, however, fulfilled my promise, 
 and, despite the police and military authorities com- 
 bined, I delivered my lecture to an audience assem- 
 bled in their very teeth. Devonport, Stonehouse, and 
 Plymouth form one garrisoned and fortified town, 
 divided by the River Tamar. All the water to the 
 sea is under the separate jurisdiction of Saltash, some 
 miles distant. I obtained a large boat on which a 
 temporary platform was built, and this boat was 
 (luietly moored in the River Tamar on the Devon- 
 port side, about two fathoms from the shore. Placards 
 were issued stating that, acting under legal advice, I 
 should address the meeting and deliver the prevented 
 lecture " near to the Devonport Park Gates." Over- 
 whelming force was prepared by the Devonport authori- 
 ties, and having already erred by too great haste, this 
 time they determined to let me fairly commence my 
 lecture before they arrested me. To their horror I 
 (quietly walked past the Park Gates where the crowd 
 was waiting, and passing down a by-lane to the river- 
 side, stepped into a little Ijoat, was rowed to the large 
 one, and then delivered rny lecture, the audience who
 
 ■21 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 had followed me standing on an open wharf, all within 
 the jurisdiction of the Borough of Devonport, and I 
 being about nine feet outside the borough. The face 
 of the Mayor ready to read the riot act, the super- 
 intendent with twenty-eight picked policemen to make 
 sure of my arrest, and a military force in readiness 
 to overawe an}^ popular demonstration — all these were 
 sights to remember. I am afraid the Devonport Young 
 Men's Christian Association did not limit themselves to 
 prayers and blessings on that famous Sunday. 
 
 As I had promised, the authorities refusing any 
 apology for the wrongful arrest, I commenced an 
 action against Superintendent Edwards, by whom I 
 had been taken into custody. The borough magis- 
 trates indemnified their officer and found funds to resist 
 me. I fought with very little help save from one tried, 
 though anonymous, friend, for Joseph Barker, my co- 
 editor, but not co-worker, in our own paper discouraged 
 any pecuniary support. The cause was made a special 
 jury one, and came on for trial at Exeter Assizes. 
 Unfortunately I was persuaded to brief counsel, and 
 Sir Robert Collier, my leader, commenced his speech 
 with an expression of sorrow for my opinions. This 
 damaged me very much, although I won the case 
 easily after a long trial. The jury, composed of 
 Devonshire landowners, only gave me a farthing 
 damages, and Mr. Baron Channel! refused to certif)^ 
 for costs. I was determined not to let the matter rest 
 here, and myself carried it to the Court in banco, where 
 I argued it in person, for two whole days, before Lord 
 Chief Justice Eric and a full bench of Judges.
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 23 
 
 Although I did not succeed in improving my own 
 position, I raised public opinion in favor of free 
 speech ; and the enormous costs incurred by the 
 borough authorities, and which they had to bear, have 
 deterred them from ever again interfering either with my 
 lectures or those of any other speaker; and I now have 
 crowded audiences in the finest hall whenever I visit 
 the three towns. These proceedings cost me several 
 hundred pounds, and burthened me with a debt which 
 took long clearing off. 
 
 In 1862 I held a four nights' discussion with a Dis- 
 senting clergyman, the Rev. W. Barker. My opponent 
 was probably one of the most able and straightforward 
 amongst my numerous antagonists. About this time 
 a severe attack of acute rheumatism prostrated me; and 
 having soon after to visit Italy, I, at first under medical 
 advice, adopted the habit of drinking the light Conti- 
 nental wines ; and although continuing an advocate of 
 sobriety, I naturally ceased to take part in any teetotal 
 gatherings. 
 
 In the struggle between the Northern and Southern 
 States of America, my advocacy and sympathies went — 
 with what I am glad to say was the feeling of the great 
 mass of the English people — in favor of the North ; and 
 my esteemed friend and then contributor, W. E. 
 Adams, furnished most valuable aid with his pen in the 
 enlightenment of public opinion, at a time when many 
 of our aristocracy were openly exulting in what they 
 conceived to be the probable break-up of the United 
 States Republic. During the Lancashire Cotton Famine 
 I lectured several times in aid of the fund.
 
 24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 I began now also to assume a much more prominent 
 position in the various Enghsh political movements^ 
 and especially to speak on the Irish Church and Irish 
 Land questions. On the Irish question, I owe much to 
 my late co-worker and contributor, poor Peter Fox 
 Andre, a thoroughly honest and whole-souled man, 
 whose pen was always on the side of struggling 
 nationalities. 
 
 One of the disadvantages connected with a public 
 career is, that every vile scoundrel who is too cowardly 
 to face you openly can libel you anonymously. I have 
 had, I think, my full share of this kind of annoyance. 
 Most of the slanders I have treated with utter con- 
 tempt, and if I had alone consulted my own feelings, 
 I should probably never have pursued any other course. 
 Twice, however, I liavc had recourse to the judgment 
 of the law — once in the case of a clergyman of the 
 Church of England, who indulged in a foul libel affect- 
 ing my wife and children. This fellow I compelled to 
 retract every word he had uttered, and to pay ^loo, 
 which, after deducting the costs, was divided amongst 
 various charitable institutions. The reverend libeller 
 wrote me an abject letter, begging me not to ruin his 
 prospects in the Church by publishing his name ; I 
 consented, and he has since repaid my mercy by losing 
 no opportunity of IxMng offensive. He is a prominent 
 contributor to the lunk, and a fierce ultra-Protestant. 
 He must have greater confidence in my honor than 
 in his own, or fear of exposure would compel him to 
 greater reticence. The other case arose during the 
 election, and will be dealt with in its proper order.
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MK. BRADLAUGH. 25 
 
 It was my fortune to be associated with the Reform 
 League from its earhest moments until its dissolution. 
 It is hardly worth while to repeat here the almost 
 stereotyped story of the successful struggle made by 
 the League for Parliamentary Reform. E. Beales, 
 Esq., was the President of the League, and I was one 
 of its Vice-Presidents, and continued nearly the whole 
 time of its existence a member of its executive. The 
 whole of my services and journeys were given to the 
 League without the slightest remuneration, and 1 
 repeatedly, and according to my means, contributed 
 to its funds. When I resigned my position on the 
 executive I received from Mr. George Howell, the 
 Secretary, and from Mr. Beales, the President, the 
 most touching and flattering letters as to what Mr. 
 Beales was pleased to describe as the loyalty and 
 utility of my services to the League. Mr. George 
 Howell concluded a long letter as follows : — " Be 
 pleased to accept my assurance of sincere regards for 
 your manly courage, consistent and honorable conduct 
 in our cause, and for your kindly consideration for 
 myself as secretary of this great movement on all occa- 
 sions ■'. These letters have additional value from the 
 fact that Mr. Beales, whom I sincerely respect, differs 
 widely from me in matters of faith, and Mr. Howell 
 is, unfortunately, far from having any friendly feelin 
 towards me. It was while on the Executive of this 
 League that I first became intimately acquainted with 
 Mr. George Odger, and had reason to be pleased with 
 the straightforward course he pursued, and the honest 
 work he did as one of the Executive Committee. Mr.
 
 26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 John Baxter Langley and Mr. R. A. Cooper were 
 also amongst my most prominent co-workers. 
 
 My sympathy with Ireland, and open advocacy of 
 justice for the Irish, nearly brought me into serious 
 trouble. Some who were afterwards indicted as the chiefs 
 of the so-called Fenian movement, came to me for advice. 
 So much I see others have written, and the rest of 
 this portion of my autobiography I may write some 
 day. At present there are men not out of danger 
 whom careless words might imperil, and as regards 
 myself I shall not be guilty of the folly of printing 
 language which a Government might use against me. 
 My pamphlet on the Irish question, published in 1866, 
 won a voluntary letter of warm approval from Mr. 
 Gladstone, the only friendly writing I ever received 
 from him in my life. 
 
 At Huddersfield, the Philosophical Hall having been 
 duly liired for my lectures, pious influence was brought 
 to bear on the lessee to induce him to break his con- 
 tract. Fortunately, what in law amounted to possession 
 had been given, and on the doors being locked against 
 me, I broke them open, and delivered my lecture to a 
 crowded and most orderly audience. I was arrested, 
 and an attempt was made to prosecute me before the 
 Huddersfield magistrates ; but I defended myself with 
 success, and defeated with ease the Conservative solici- 
 tor, N. Learoyd, who had been specially retained to 
 ensure my committal to gaol. 
 
 In 1868 I entered into a contest with the Conservative 
 Government, which, having been continued by the Glad- 
 stone Government, finished in i86g with a complete
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHV OF MK. BKADLAUGH. 2/ 
 
 victory for myself. According to the then law every 
 newspaper was required to give sureties to the extent 
 of ;^8oo against blasphemous or seditious libel. I had 
 never offered to give these sureties, as they would have 
 probably been liable to forfeiture about once a month. 
 In March 1868, the Disraeli Government insisted on 
 my compliance with the law. I refused. The Govern- 
 ment then required me to stop my paper. I printed 
 on the next issue, "Printed in Defiance of Her 
 Majesty's Government ". I was then served with an 
 Attorney-General's information, containing numerous 
 counts, and seeking to recover enormous penalties. I 
 determined to be my own barrister, and while availing 
 myself in consultation of the best legal advice, I always 
 argued my own case. The interlocutory hearings 
 before the Judges in Chambers were numerous, for I 
 took objection to nearly every step made by the 
 Government, and I nearly always succeeded. I also 
 brought the matter before Parliament, being specially 
 backed in this by Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. John Stuart 
 Mill, and Mr. E. H. J. Craufurd. When the informa- 
 tion was called on for trial in a crowded court before 
 Mr. Baron Martin, the Government backed out, and 
 declined to make a jury : so the prosecution fell to the 
 ground. Strange to say, it was renewed by the Glad- 
 stone Government, who had the coolness to offer me, 
 by the mouth of Attorney-General Collier, that they 
 would not enforce any penalties if I would stop the 
 paper and admit that I was in the wrong. This I 
 declined, and the prosecution now came on for trial 
 before Baron Bramwell and a special jury. Against
 
 28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OV MR. HRADI.AUGH. 
 
 me were the Attorney-General, Sir R. Collier ; the 
 Solicitor-General, Sir J. D. Coleridge; and Mr. Cromp- 
 ton Hutton. I found that these legal worthies were 
 blundering in their conduct of the trial, and at nisi priiis 
 I let them obtain a verdict, which, however, I reversed, 
 on purely technical grounds, after a long argument, 
 which I sustained before Lord Chief Baron Kelly and 
 a full court sitting in banco. Having miserably failed 
 to enforce the law against me, the Government repealed 
 the statute, and I can boast that I got rid of the last 
 shackle of the obnoxious English press laws. Mr. J. S. 
 Mill wrote me : " You have gained a very honorable 
 success in obtaining a repeal of the mischievous Act 
 by your persevering resistance". The Government, 
 although beaten, refused to reimburse me any portion 
 of the large outlay incurred in fighting them. 
 
 It has always been my ambition to enter Parliament, 
 and, at the General Election for iS68, I for the first 
 time entered the arena as a candidate. I was beaten : 
 but this is scarcely wonderful. I had all the journals 
 in England except three against me. Every idle or 
 virulent tale which folly could distort or calumny invent 
 was used against me. Despite all, I polled nearly 
 i,ioo votes, and I obtained, unasked, but not ungrate- 
 fully listened to, the public acknowledgments from the 
 Mayor of the borough, also from one of my competitors, 
 Mr. Charles Gilpin, as to the loyal manner in which T 
 had fought the contest through. 
 
 During the election struggle, libels rained from all 
 sides. One by the late Mr. Capper, M.i\, seeking 
 re-election at Sandwich, was the monstrous story, that,
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 29 
 
 in the open square at Northampton, I had taken out 
 my watch and defied God to show his power by 
 striking me dead in five minutes. Challenged for his 
 authority, Mr. Capper pretended to have heard the 
 story from Mr. C. Gilpin, M.P., who indignantly 
 denied being any party to the falsehood. I insisted 
 on an apology from Mr. Capper, which being refused, 
 I sued him, but he died soon after the writ was 
 served. The story was not an original invention by 
 Mr. Capper ; it had been reported of Abner Knee- 
 land thirty years before, and is still a favorite one 
 with pious missionaries at street corners. A still 
 more outrageous slander was inserted in the Razor, a 
 pseudo-comic weekly. I compelled this journal to give 
 a full apology, but not until after two years" litigation, 
 and a new trial had been ordered. When obliged to 
 recant, the Christian proprietor became insolvent, to 
 avoid payment of the costs. Unfortunately, born poor, 
 my life had been one continued struggle, and the burden 
 of my indebtedness was sorely swollen in this and 
 similar contests. 
 
 Probably the most severe, and to me certainly the 
 most costly, struggle has been that on the oath question. 
 Formerly it was a fatal objection against the compe- 
 tency of a witness that he did not believe in a Deity and 
 in a future state of rewards and punishments. Several 
 attempts had been made to alter the law, but they had 
 all failed ; and, indeed. Sir J. Trevelyan's measures only 
 provided for affirmation, and did not even seek to 
 abolish the incompetency. In a case in which I was
 
 30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 plaintiff in the Court of Common Pleas, my evidence 
 was objected to, and I determined to fight the matter 
 through every possible court, and to get the law changed 
 if possible. I personally argued the case before Lord 
 Chief Justice Bovill and a full Bench, in the Court of 
 Common Pleas ; and with the aid of the present Mr. 
 Justice Denman and the late Lord Chancellor Hatherly,. 
 the law was twice altered in Parliament. Before 
 victory was ultimately obtained I had to carry the case 
 into the Court of Error, and I prepared and sent out at 
 my own cost more than two hundred petitions to Parlia- 
 ment. Ultimately, the Evidence Amendment Act, 1869, 
 and the Evidence Further Amendment Act, 1870, gave 
 Freethinkers the right to enter the witness box, and I 
 won my suit. The Christian defendant finished by be- 
 coming bankrupt, and I lost a terribly large sum in 
 debt and costs. The original debt and interest were 
 over ;^30o, and the costs of the various proceedings 
 were very heavy. 
 
 In the winter of 1870 the Mirfield Town Hall, which 
 had been properly taken and paid for for two nights' 
 lectures, was refused by the proprietors, who barricaded 
 the hall and obtained a great force of police from the 
 neighborhood. In order that the law might be clearly 
 settled on this matter, I brought an action to try the 
 question, and although the late Mr. Justice Willes ex- 
 pressed himself strongly in my favor, it was held by 
 Mr. Justice Mellor at nisi prhis that nothing, except a 
 deed under seal or an actual demise, would avail. A 
 mere agreement for a user of a hall was a license revo-
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 3I 
 
 cable at will, even when for a valuable consideration. 
 This convinced me that when hall proprietors break 
 their contracts, 1 must myself enforce my rights as I 
 did at Huddersfield and have done in other places. 
 
 During the Franco-Prussian struggle I remained 
 neutral until the 4th of September. I was against 
 Bismarck and his blood-and-iron theory, but I was also 
 utterly against the Empire and the Emperor ; so I took 
 no part with either. I was lecturing at Plymouth the 
 day the dccheance was proclaimed, and immediately after 
 wrote my first article in favor of Republican France. 
 I now set to work, and organised a series of meetings 
 in London and the provinces, some of which were 
 co-operated in by Dr. Congreve, Professor Beesly, and 
 other prominent members of the Positivist party. These 
 meetings exercised some little effect on the public 
 opinion in this country, but unfortunately the collapse, 
 on the part of France was so complete, and the re- 
 sources commanded by Bismarck and Moltke so vast, 
 that except as expressing sympathy the results were 
 barren. In October, 1870, without any previous 
 communication from myself to them, I received from the 
 Republican Government at Tours a long and flattering 
 letter, signed by Leon Gambetta, Adolphe Cremieux, 
 Al Glais Bizoin, and Admiral Fourichon, declaring that 
 they, as members of the " Gouvernement de la Defense 
 Nationale, reunis en delegation a Tours," " tiennent a 
 honneur de vous remercier chalereusement du noble 
 concours que vous apportez a la cause de la France." 
 On the 2nd of February, 1871, M. Tissot, the Charge
 
 32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY Ol' MR. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 d' Affaires of France in England, wrote me : " Quant a 
 moi, mon cher ami, je ne puis que constater ici, comma 
 je I'ai dejii fait, comme je le ferai en toute occasion, la 
 dette que nous avons contractee envers vous. Vous 
 nous avez donne votre temps, votre activite, votre 
 eloquence, votre ame, la meilleure partie de vous meme, 
 <en un mot ; la France que vous avez ete seule a defendre 
 ne I'oubliera jamais." This is probably a too flattering 
 •estimate of my services to France, but coming from the 
 •official representative of the French Republic, I feel 
 •entitled to insert it. In September, 1871, Monsieur 
 Emmanuel Arago, member of the Provisional Govern- 
 ment of the 4th of September wrote the following words 
 upon the letter which had been sent me, as above men- 
 tioned, in October, 1870, by the Delegate Government 
 of Tours : " En lisant cette lettre, j'eprouve tres vive- 
 ment le regret de n'avoir pu, enferme dans Paris, joindre 
 ma signature a celles de mes collegues de la delegation 
 de Tours. Mr. Bradlaugh est et sera tojours dans la 
 Republique notre concitoyen." 
 
 During 1870, 1871, and 1872, I held several debates 
 •with the Rev. A. J. Harrison, formerly of Huddersfield. 
 The first, at Newcastle, in the splendid Town Hall of 
 -that place, was attended by about 5,000 persons. The 
 second debate at Bristol was notable from being pre- 
 sided over by Professor Newman. The third discussion 
 was at Birmingham, and was an attempt at the Socratic 
 method, and the last platft)rm encounter was in the 
 New Hall of Science, London. Of the Rev. Mr. 
 Harrison it is enough I should say that, a few weeks
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 33 
 
 since, when rumor put my life in danger, he was one- 
 of the first to write a kindly and unaffected letter of 
 sympathy to Mrs. Bradlaugh. 
 
 When the great cry of thanksgiving was raised for 
 the recovery of the Prince of Wales, I could not let it 
 pass without protest. While he lay dangerously ill I 
 had ceased to make any attack on himself or family,, 
 but I made no pretence of a grief I did not feel. When 
 the thanksgiving day was fixed, and tickets for St. 
 Paul's were sent by the Lord Chamberlain to working 
 men representatives, I felt it riglit to hold a meeting of 
 protest, which was attended by a crowded audience in 
 the New Hall of Science. 
 
 The " right of meeting " has given me three impor- 
 tant occasions of measuring swords with the Govern- 
 ment during the last few years, and each time defeat 
 has attended the Government. The first was the Hyde 
 Park meeting, where I acted in accord with Mr. Beales, 
 to whom as chief, let the honor go of this conflict. The 
 second was on the 31st July, 1871, under the following 
 circumstances. A meeting had been held by Mr. G. 
 Odger and some of his friends in Hyde Park, on Sunday 
 the 30th of July, to protest against the grant to Prince 
 Arthur ; this meeting was adjourned until the following 
 evening. Late on the Sunday afternoon, the adjourned 
 meeting was forbidden by the Government. Early on- 
 Monday morning Mr. Odgrr applied to me to give the 
 friends the benefit of my \ij-j;:\.l knowledge and personal 
 influence. I consented, and the Government per- 
 severing, I took my share of the responsibility of the
 
 34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRADLAUGH. 
 
 gathering, and signed, with Mr. Odger, a new notice 
 convening the meeting. The Home Office not only 
 served us also with a written prohibition, but threatened 
 and prepared to use force. I immediately gave Mr. 
 Bruce notice that the force would be illegal, and that it 
 would be resisted. At the last moment, and in fact only 
 some half hour before the meeting commenced, the 
 Government abandoned its prohibition, and an enor- 
 mous meeting of a most orderly character was held in 
 absolute defiance of the authorities. 
 
 The niore recent case was in December, 1872, when, 
 finding that Mr. Odger, Mr. Bailey, and others, had 
 been prosecuted under some monstrous and ridiculous 
 regulations invented by Mr. Ayrton, I, on my own 
 responsibility, determined to throw down the gauntlet 
 to the Government. 1 did this most successfully, and 
 soon after the opening of Parliament the obnoxious 
 regulations were annulled. 
 
 It is at present too early to speak of the Republican 
 movement in England, which I have sought, and not 
 entirely without success, to organise on a thoroughly 
 legal basis. It is a fair matter for observation that my 
 lectures on " The Impeachment of the House of Bruns- 
 wick," have been delivered to crowded audiences 
 assembled in some of the finest halls in England and 
 Scotland, notably the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, 
 the Town Hall, Birmingham, the Town Hall, North- 
 ampton, and the City Hall, Glasgow. It is, as far as I 
 am aware, the first time any English citizen has, 
 without tumult or disorder, and in buildings belonging to
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OK MR. BRADLAUGH. 35 
 
 various Municipalities, directly challenged the here- 
 ditary right of the reigning family. 
 
 In penning the foregoing sketch I had purposely to 
 omit many facts connected with branches of Italian, 
 Irish, and French politics. I have also entirely omitted 
 my own struggles for existence. The political parts are 
 left out because there are secrets which are not my own 
 alone, and which may not bear full telling for many 
 years to come. The second, because I hope that 
 another year or two of hard work may enable me to 
 free myself from the debt load which for some time has 
 hung heavily round me.
 
 ANNOUNCEMENTS. 
 
 There will shortly be published one or more volumes of 
 
 Mr. Bradlaugh's Contributions to the '^National 
 Reformer " on Freethought Subjects ; 
 
 Including his papers entitled " Doubts in Dialogue " ; Open Letters 
 
 to Clergymen and others on Religious Questions ; and other critical and 
 
 expository papers. 
 
 Materials are being compiled for a complete and authoritative 
 
 Life of Mr. Bradlaugh^ 
 
 which it is hoped may be ready by next year. 
 Meantime the remaining copies of the authorised short biography by 
 Mr. Adolphe Headingley are on sale at the reduced price of is. Gd. 
 
 On Sale. 
 Price 5s. 
 
 Mr, Bradlaugh's Collected Speeches. 
 
 With fine Photograph. 
 
 R. FORDER. 28 STONECUTTER STREET. LONDON, E.C.
 
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