The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-08-06 00:00:00

MR. BRADLAUGH AND THE HOUSE
OF COMMONS.

A mass meeting was held on Tuesday evening in Trafalgar-
spare as a protest against Mr. Bradlaugh's exclusion from
the House of Commons. Although the proceedings ii,eLe
not to begin until eight o'clock, many persons collected on
the pavement near the base of the Nelson Column as early
as half-past three in the afternoon, the numbers increasing
until by seven o'clock, or soon after, the crowd covered
the level space on the north side of the column as
far back as the stone terrace below the roadway in front
of the National Gallery. A compact row of spectators
three or four deep watched the scene from this terrace
and many litre collected on the steps in front of St. Martin's
Church, and on the slopes on the east and west sides of the
tqll4re. From a rough measurement of the pavement
covered, and allowing for the thinning of the crowd beyond
the centre of the square, it would seem that there were be-
tween 15,000 and 20,000 persons present, without counting
those who, as spectators behind the parapets on the raised
ground, did not venture into the denser throng around the
base of the column. Some of the supporters of Mr. Bradlaugh
wore his election colours as rosettes.

About twenty minute's to eight Mr. Bradlaugh arrived, and
was received with loud cheering and waving of hats. After
a list of places from which delegates had come to take part
in the meeting had been read, Mr. Bradlaugh addressed the
meeting. Be had called them together, he said, to get an
answer to an appeal he had been compelled to make to the
people against his illegal exclusion by physical force alone
from the House of Commons, to which he had been
duly returned. It was said he had no right to call such a
meeting, but he claimed that the right of meeting in an
orderly manner was one of the dearest rights of English-
men. It was said that such a meeting was a menace to the
House of Commons. It was a meeting to claim that the
law should be carried out; and that the House of Com-
mons, which was the guardian of the law, should not
feel in any degree menaced because the people assembled
to record a protest in favour of the observance of the law.
Ur. Bradlaugh, who was freequently cheered, after stat-
ing that he had addressed meetings in the provinces at
which More than 200,000 persons had been present, begged
those around him to disperse and return to their homes in
as quiet and orderly a,manner as they had assembled. Just
as he left and had got into a cab the members of the Eleusis
and Progressive Clubs of Chelsea, accompanied by their
bands, arrived. In the rush to see Mr. Bradlaugh leave, the
pressure of the crowd overturned two of the row of heavy
granite pillars near the base of the column. A large num-
ber of the rougher portion of the crowd immediately the
meeting was over started at a run down Parliament-street,
apparently under the impression that Mr. Bradlaugh in-
tended to go at once to the House of Commons.

The mob, numb.ring over 5,000 persons, attempted to force
their way into the House of Commons. A dozen or twenty of
the crowd managed to get into Palace-yard, but as there was
a large body of police on duty the intruders were quickly
expelled. The mob then gathered about the gates, cheering
for "Bradlaugh." The police at once dispersed the people,
and driving them over towards Westminster Abbey and
Parliament-street, kept the thoroughfare completely clear.
Mr. Bradlaugh did not appear on the scene, but his
colleage, Mr. Labouchere, was present, apparently un-
recognized, for a short time. The gates leading to Palace-
yard were carefully guarded, and no person was allowed to
enter unless he had business, which he was required to
state to the police. After remaining hovering about for a
couple of hours the crowd slowly dispersed, and no breach
of the peace or anything resembling it was committeci.