Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh EditionRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Religion
Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh Edition
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Bradlaugh, Charles, 1833-1891
perceive disapproval, and is most powerful when most loudly hissed.
With head erect, face coloured with a flush which has in it a little
of defiance as well as earnestness, now emphasising with his right
hand, now with folded arms, now joining the tips of his fingers as
if to indicate the closeness of his reasoning, as he would have the
audience believe it, he stands defying opposition, even going out of
his way to increase it, and revelling in his Ishmaelism."
Then, comparing him with his opponent:--
"Mr Bradlaugh has not much action, but what he has is dignified, which
Mr Gordon's never is. He can be severe, even harsh, but never petulant
and peevish, which Mr Gordon frequently is. Mr Bradlaugh may abuse
his opponent, but it is boldly, not like a bad-tempered school-girl.
He can be pleasant, but never assumes the grimaces and gestures of
a Merry Andrew. His features are expressive, but he never pulls
faces. He is essentially a strong man, strong in his language and his
oratory, self-sustained, bold in the way he meets and even avoids the
topic of dispute."[16]
[Footnote 16: From the _Darlington and Stockton Times_.]
There are, of course, some phrases in this description which I should
contravene, but apart from these, it is a most vivid and lifelike
picture of my father as a speaker. It is, however, a mistake to
suppose that Mr Bradlaugh wantonly went out of his way to increase
opposition, or revelled in his "Ishmaelism;" what is quite true is,
that if in pursuing the path he had marked out for himself he increased
opposition, he went on just the same, and did not turn away by so
much as a hair's-breadth to avoid it. At heart he might be bitterly
wounded, but that did not make him falter. To take, for example, one
of the latest cases: when his attitude on the Employers' Liability
Bill provoked such a storm of opposition from the very men for whom he
worked, he wrote pathetically to a friend: "It is a little saddening to
me to find that in the close of my life I am to be regarded as doing
disservice to the men whom I desire to serve." But although he felt
the men's distrust thus keenly, he did not hesitate nor turn from his
course.
Nor did he revel in his "Ishmaelism;" he had no pride in being an
outcast, neither had he any shame in it; the shame of his position was
not his, it was theirs who thrust him into it. It shows a complete lack
of appreciation of the facts to suggest that a man like Mr Bradlaugh
could delight in being regarded as a sort of moral leper by his
fellow-men, who indeed neglected no means to exclude him and his from
society.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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