St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-31
BRADLAUGH.

BRADLAUGH.
CHARLES BRADLAUGH, whose death
is announced this morning, will be re-
membered, if he is remembered at all.
because of his famous struggles for adj
mission to the house of commons with
out taking the prescribed oath of office.
He had long been known as Radical of
hrawling and extremely offensive type,
and was finally returned as the repre-
sentative for Northampton, which had
already sent LABoUCHERE as his col
league.
When he first appeared at the bar of
the house he objected to subscribing to
the usual oath on the ground that he
was an atheist, and claimed the priyi-
lege of making an affirmation, as was
allowed Jews, Turks, and others who
had conscientious scruples against
swearing. His desire in this direction
was promptly refused, and after a scene
of much confusion and uproar he was
denied seat in the house. For six or
seven successive years he presented
himself again, having been returned by
his constituents at election after cleo
ton, and similar scene of application
on his part and refusal on the part of
the house was enacted.
After several successive attempts to
gain admission without oath, he changed
his tactics and offered to take it in spite
of his lack of religious belief; but the
commons, under the leadership of Sir
STAFFORD NoRTHCoTE, refused to
tolerate what they regarded as bias
phemy and dissertation. The news
papers were very full of the contest at
the time, and BRADLAUGH had resort.
to every form of device to achieve his
end. He appealed to the courts, but
without relief; he forced his way to his
seat 10y violence. only to be elected by
the same means and finally he admins
tered to himself the oath of office, in the
presence of the house, when the proper
officer refused to admin ster it to him,
and claimed to have thus qualified for
the representation of his constituents.
Parliament had to recognize, of course
that his infidelity was no adequate bar
to his admission, because men of all sorts
of opinions and no opinions had already
trouble was that he was personally so
Objectionable to most of those who
would have had to sit with him that his
cause met with no favor in tl.eir eyes,
and they were glad of any preteXt for
his exclusion.
1t was very generally believed for
time that BRADLAUGH, in spite of his
character, would grow to be an apostle
of new cause, ON account of the prom
inence his efforts gave him. JOHN
WILKES, whose standing as a man be-
fore the world was no better than his,
has, in the fullness of years, been re-
fined in the sight of the world, and
ranks with JOHN HAMPDEN and the
other English heroes in the history of
constitutional liberty. 1t was thought
that in the same way BRADLAUGH
might after while be recognized as the
starting point of an era of greater liber-
atty and freedom in matters of faith.
1t has not turned out so, however, and
we question whether he will occupy a
| prominent niche in the temple of fame.
| JOHN WILKES was not an ideal man.
but he ard his paper, the North Briton,
were both the offspring and the author
of great and substantial popular re-
prisal against restrictions On the Suf-
frage. which finally eliminated in the
| first reform bill. This was construct
i've movement, aimed to achieve and
achieving a positive result. BRAD
LAUGHS work was not to build up, but
to pull down. He was more than an
iconoclaSt. He aimed to destroy the
temples as we'll as the idols. There are
always some people like his Northamp-
ton constituents, and for brief periods
perhaps the majority of people think
that they would like to see faith in God
ended and the social fabric torn to
pieces without any satisfactory substi-
tutes offered for them. But the great
heart of men in the long run yearns for
and needs the sustaining power of fam
lily associations and religious belief Of
| some sort: and the man like BRAD
LAUGH, who stands forth as their enemy,
endures for only a season.