The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-02-03
THE CAREER OF AN 1coNoCL.asr.


THE CAREER OF AN ICONoCLAsT.
With the burial of Charles Bradlaugh
is laid to rest one of the most striking,
and, at the same time, most lonely fig
ures ever known to British politics.
Charles Bradlaugh was essentially a So
cial Esau. From his boyhood his COM
bative. self-reliant nature placed him in
violent antagonism to the surroundings
of his day and generation. The unwrit-
ten law of religious conformity drove
him, when a mere lad, from his fathers
home, and for many years his existence
was a hard and bitter struggle, both as
a private soldier and in CIVIL life. But a
determination of iron carried him from
the streets and ignorance to a position
of worldly comfort and accurate infor-
nation. Society had repressed him, had
tried to crush him, had dealt him many
a cruel buffet, aud Charles Bradlaugh's
was not the nature to forgive. He
struck back and struck hard, whenever
and wherever he saw the opportunity
for planting a telling blow. Church
going Britons stood aghast at the sight
of this outspoken champion Of ataeistic
and M%althusian doctrines. In the i'm
aginations Of tho great mass Of his fol-
low-countrymen, it is safe to say that he
figured as the archetype OF every move
ment that wa subversive of social NOR
atty and social stability, az they under
stood them. His appearance and man
ner did not allay the suspicion. Square
head, heavy jowl, c~lose-chopped hair,
d~omineerlng voice and the Drawn of a
prize fighter were calculated rather to
repel than to attract. But, among his
adherents and followers, Charles Brad
laugh was idolized. He was n Of them
selves. He had risen from the ranks.
His triumph was theirs, and his hardly
won honorp represented in their eyes
the victory OF personal merit and en-
ergy over British conservation and pre-
judice. Neither envy nor malice could
impeach his downright honesty.
Some thirteen years age, Bradlaugh
sprang into national prominence. About
that time the borough Of Northampton
startled the British electorate by re-
turning Henry Labouchere and Brad
laugh to the house of m Old
~fogeydom at nee raised the cry that re-
ligion was threatened, and the constitu-
ton in danger. Blu. opposition would
have been fruitless in face of tEe cleo
ton returns, had not tho junior mem
Der, by his own want of discretion, pro-
vided the excuse for his exclusion from
his seat. The Britt housc, which de-
mands a oath of its memburs, substi-
tutes an affirmation fo- the benefit of
Quakers and other who have conscien-
tious objections to taking an oath.
There would seem to DO no
valid reason, even from Brad
laughs own point of view, why he
should not have stated his inability to
con%scientiously take the oath, affirmed
and taken his seat. But his combative
disposition and the consciousness that
the eyes OF the country were upon him,
led him into foolish bravado. He would
not declare his inability to take the
oath. He declared that it was to him
an utterly meaningless rigmarole, and
demanded to be allowed to affirm. The
conservatives, who were in opposition,
aided by a number of timorous liberals,
were prompt to take advantage of his
false move They ruled that he could
not affirm, and that he had debarred
himself from taking thu oath. Verbal
protests at the bar of the house were
followed by attempts on the part of the
junior member for northampton to take
and keep possession Of his seat by phys
ical force. Bradlaugh nights turned
the house of commons into Il bear gar
den, and forcible election and imprison-
ment fell to the lot of the youngest lib,
eral member. Even Gladstone's inhu.
ence in a liberal house could not sweet
en- his obnoxious personality, and in
spite OF three successive designations
and reflections, Northampton remained
only half represented until 1885.
In that year the conservatives came
into Office and Bradlaugh was allowed te
take the oath and his seat without chal.
lenge. Whether the leaders of the tory
party had come to the conclusion that
they had already sufficiently and i'll adj
visedly advertised Bradlaugh, or wheth-
er, as a member of an opposition minor
ity, he was loss Objectionable than when
his political leaders were in power, must
remain a party secret. But it is certain
that the change in affairs produced {
change in the man. He no longer fell
ii incumbent upon him to proclaim his
own peculiar tenets in season and GU,
of season, but settled down into a hard
working, earnest and effective membe,
of the house. In all questions pertain
ing to labor he particularly intereste,
himself, and his efforts won COLDER
opinions from the working classes. Ever
his old opponents, though they neve
pretended to have any sympathy will
his extreme views, were prompt to re
spect him for his able and conscientiou
work. The very fact that during hi
last illness the house expunged from it
records all recollections of the old an,
bitter strife proves how successfully tn
true earnestness of the man had revolu
tionized the old spirit Of hatred and a