Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History

Book

Open Original Text

London when, at the end of the session of 1872, the Parks Regulation
Bill was "smuggled" through the House of Commons, an agitation which
did not subside until the Government announced that it would not seek
to enforce the regulations before they had been ratified in the coming
session by a vote of both Houses. This concession was regarded by
many as a complete surrender to the Radicals, and equivalent to the
handing over the four chief parks "to agitators, whenever they chose
to take possession of them." In any case Mr Ayrton did not appear to
regard the Government pledge as binding, for before long he posted the
regulations in Hyde Park, and in November he caused Mr Odger and some
ten or eleven others to be summoned as participators in a meeting held
there in favour of the release of the Fenian prisoners. The case first
taken was that of Mr Bailey, the chairman of the meeting, who, upon the
hearing of the summons, was fined £5. As Mr Bailey's case was to decide
the others, it was resolved that the magistrate's decision should be
appealed against.

Mr Bradlaugh maintained that the Commissioner of Works had no power to
make regulations without the sanction of Parliament, and immediately
called a meeting of protest, to be held in Hyde Park on Sunday,
December 1st. As there had been some disturbance at one of Mr Odger's
meetings, as well as some threat of force to be used at his own, in his
last notice convening the meeting my father specially asked that every
one who went to the park should aid the stewards in preserving order.

Sunday December 1st came, and with it most inclement weather; but
in spite of cold and rain and mud, thousands of men and women made
their way to the trysting-place, which came well within Mr Ayrton's
proscribed area. There were no bands or banners, and the journeying
of the people to the park was likened by Mr Austin Holyoake to "a
pilgrimage of passion, all the more intense because subdued." At
this meeting, characterised by the utmost unanimity, Mr Bradlaugh
was the only speaker, and no other inducement was offered to people
to come through all that dreary weather than that of uniting in a
solemn protest against this infringement of the right of public
meeting. "It is useless to blink facts," lamented one of Mr Ayrton's
supporters,[173] "and it may as well be confessed that the assemblage
was large, perfectly under control, and orderly, and composed of
apparently respectable persons. These may be melancholy facts, but
they are facts.... It was a dense assemblage, standing as closely as
it could be packed, and extending over an area of more than an acre."
Even the _Times_ was impressed by the size, the orderly character of
the gathering, and perhaps even more than all by the fact that those
who came "without bands and banners, and marching through the streets,"
pledged nevertheless to maintain order, "and actually succeeded in
no small degree in overawing the 'roughs' and thieves who congregate
on these occasions." In continuation, the _Times_ remarked that "Mr
Bradlaugh, whose voice could be heard at a considerable distance, was
listened to with great attention; he spoke throughout in terms of
advice to the 'people' to preserve peace, law, and order."

[Footnote 173: _Scotsman_, December 2.]

When we find such reluctant witnesses speaking in such terms, one can
form some idea of the size of the meeting and the spirit which animated
it. It is to be regarded as not the least among my father's triumphs
that he could always bring people together in vast numbers, with no
other inducement than the justice of the cause which they had at heart.
A little earlier in that very year George Odger had said in a letter
to him: "It will be a grand day indeed when the Democrats of London
are sufficiently organised as to be ready to march in their tens of
thousands from all parts of London to the park or some other large
place, inspired only by the conviction of right which the soundness
of their principles must ultimately produce." This is exactly what
happened at my father's meetings. He said: "Come, because it is right
to come; come quietly, without clamour." He trusted the men and women
with whom he was working; he knew that when they saw the right, the
cause alone would be sufficient to move them; they would want no other
inducement. His trust was justified and reciprocated; the mass meetings
which he called, and the control of which depended upon himself alone,
were always great demonstrations, were always impressive, and were
always perfectly orderly.

Notwithstanding this open defiance of his regulations, Mr Ayrton
refrained from taking proceedings against either Mr Bradlaugh or any of
those who took part in the meeting. And yet the magistrate's decision
against Mr Bailey was confirmed on appeal by the Court of Queen's
Bench, and the Treasury claimed costs against him. After some delay,
however, this claim was abandoned by the Government, which, in the
matter of these Parks Regulations, at least, does not seem to have
distinguished itself by firmness or decision.

 * * * * *

Another public meeting held that December furnishes a striking example
of the way Mr Bradlaugh was looked upon as a pariah. My father, as
is well known, attached much importance to the question of Land Law
Reform, and was deeply interested in any measures that would tend to
ameliorate the hard lot of those who live by the land. Hence, when
a meeting was announced to be held in Exeter Hall, in connection
with the Agricultural Labourers' Movement, he determined to be
present. The chair was taken by S. Morley, Esq., M.P., who, himself
a generous donor to the Agricultural Labourers' Fund, laid special
stress on the necessity of giving substantial pecuniary help. The
first resolution, moved by Cardinal Manning, ran thus: "That this
meeting deeply sympathises with the Agricultural Labourers of England
in their depressed circumstances, believing their present condition
to be a disgrace to the best interests of the country, and is of
opinion that measures should be adopted without delay for their social
improvement and intellectual elevation." Mr Bradlaugh felt that this
was at once very vague and very inadequate; it left the character,
of the "measures" to be adopted far too much to the imagination. Nor
was the resolution made more clear by the speeches which followed
from others, who, like Mr Arch and Mr Ball, eloquently as they spoke,
failed to touch the vital causes of the miseries they deplored. Even
the pecuniary help they were seeking, my father considered, would in
itself but perpetuate troubles, unless the grievances themselves were
redressed. Under these circumstances, Mr Bradlaugh "felt bound to rise
to move an addendum to the resolution." His rising was the signal for
great excitement; a hawk in a dovecote could hardly have produced a
greater flutter. "Some," said my father, "yelled lustily; Joseph Arch
begged me as a favour 'not to irritate the kindly gentlemen disposed
to 

Previous Next