CHAPTER XI.

MR. BRADLAUGH’S STRUGGLE.

And now dawned the year 1880, the memorable year in which commenced Mr. Bradlaugh’s long Parliamentary battle.  After a long and bitter struggle he was elected, with Mr. Labouchere, as member for Northampton, at the general election, and so the prize so long fought for was won.  Shall I ever forget that election day, April 2, 1880?  How at four o’clock Mr. Bradlaugh came into the room at the “George”, where his daughters and I were sitting, flung himself into a chair with, “There’s nothing more to do; our last man is polled.”  Then the waiting for the declaration through the long, weary hours of suspense, till as the time drew near we knelt by the window listening—­listening to the hoarse murmur of the crowd, knowing that presently there would be a roar of triumph or a howl of anger when the numbers were read out from the steps of the Town Hall.  And now silence sank, and we knew the moment had come, and we held our breath, and then—­a roar, a wild roar of joy and exultation, cheer after cheer, ringing, throbbing, pealing, and then the mighty surge of the crowd bringing him back, their member at last, waving hats, handkerchiefs, a very madness of tumultuous delight, and the shrill strains of “Bradlaugh for Northampton!” with a ring of triumph in them they had never had before.  And he, very grave, somewhat shaken by the outpour of love and exultation, very silent, feeling the weight of new responsibility more than the gladness of victory.  And then the next morning, as he left the town, the mass of men and women, one sea of heads from hotel to station, every window crowded, his colours waving everywhere, men fighting to get near him, to touch him, women sobbing, the cries, “Our Charlie, our Charlie; we’ve got you and we’ll keep you.”  How they loved him, how they joyed in the triumph won after twelve years of strife.  Ah me! we thought the struggle over, and it was only beginning; we thought our hero victorious, and a fiercer, crueller fight lay in front.  True, he was to win that fight, but his life was to be the price of the winning; victory for him was to be final, complete, but the laurel-wreath was to fall upon a grave.

[Illustration:  From a photograph by T. Westley, 57, Vernon Street, Northampton. CHARLES BRADLAUGH AND HENRY LABOUCHERE.]

The outburst of anger from the more bigoted of the Christian community was as savage as the outburst of delight had been exultant, but we recked little of it.  Was he not member, duly elected, without possibility of assailment in his legal right?  Parliament was to meet on April 29th, the swearing-in beginning on the following day, and Mr. Bradlaugh had taken counsel with some other Freethinking members as to the right of Freethinkers to affirm.  He held that under the Act 29 and 30 Vict. c. 19, and the Evidence Amendment Acts 1869 and 1870, the right to substitute affirmation for oath was clear; he was