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e into open hostility in Mr Barker's half. In No.
47, "Caractacus," in an article on the dangers to the rights of free
speech, called upon "all honest and liberal men" to stand by Iconoclast
and Mr Barker in their efforts "to maintain the very greatest of our
public rights." In the same number, and on the opposite page, Mr Joseph
Barker protested against the reference to himself. He had seen the
article before it went to press, and had he mentioned his objection,
the words would have been erased; but apparently that was too ordinary
a method for Mr Barker. In No. 48 he inserted a ridiculous statement
that Luther made it a rule to translate a verse of the Bible every day,
which rapid rate of working "soon brought him to the conclusion of his
labours." A few weeks later he wrote of this as though it had appeared
in "Iconoclast's" section; in the same issue of the paper he also took
occasion to insert a notice disclaiming all responsibility for anything
that might appear in the last four pages, and this notice he continued
week by week. All this to an infant paper was about as bad as a course
of whooping cough, measles, and scarlet fever to a child; that the
_National Reformer_ survived it proves that it had an exceptionally
strong constitution. Mr Bradlaugh naturally became much alarmed about
its future, for it was noticeably falling away and losing strength.
Feeling that a little more of such treatment would kill it outright, he
addressed himself to those who, with himself, were responsible for its
existence.

He sent a short letter to the shareholders of the _National Reformer_
Company, in which he said:--

 "Eighteen months since I, with the special aid of my Sheffield
 friends, initiated the present Company. The paper belonging to the
 Company was to have been edited by myself, but feeling that two men do
 more work than one--if such work be done unitedly--I offered to share
 such editorship with Mr Joseph Barker. The experience of the past
 twelve months has taught me that the paper can only be efficiently
 conducted under one editor."

After recounting the differences and difficulties, he ends by
suggesting that both should tender their resignations, and that some
one gentleman be elected as the sole conductor. If this course should
be adopted, he says, he would offer himself as a candidate for the
office.

An extraordinary meeting of the shareholders was called for August 26th
(1861), and Mr Bradlaugh was elected as editor, with a salary of £5 per
week, by 41 votes against 18 for Mr Barker, and with the next number
this gentleman's connection with the paper came to an end.

Before dismissing Mr Barker's name altogether from these pages, I am
anxious to record a little discovery that I have made since I have been
at work upon this biography. If those who own a copy of the "Biography
of Charles Bradlaugh," by A. S. Headingley, which for the most part
gives a very fair account of the life of Mr Bradlaugh up to 1880, will
turn to pages 78 to 82, they will find a story given there of rioting
at Dumfries and Burnley during Mr Bradlaugh's visits to those towns.
At Dumfries, so the story goes, there was so much violence exhibited
that "Bradlaugh," whom the mob had threatened to kill, thought he had
better wait until the excitement was over; he waited until midnight,
when some one took him down into a cellar and so out into the street;
once outside he feared to go to his hotel, but waited in the shadow
by the river-side. At length he ventured to move a little, but was
recognised by some persons, who rushed off to raise the hue and cry.
"Bradlaugh then turned down a dark side street and got back to the
friendly river," where after a time he saw a policeman and then took
courage "to walk by his side." He was soon met by friends, for the town
was being scoured for him, and conducted to his hotel in safety. The
story of what happened at Burnley is somewhat similar. I must confess
that the account of these riots always annoyed and disappointed me.
It was so unlike my father to wait about for fear of the mob, get out
through the cellar and loiter by the river-side till he happened to
meet a policeman under whose sheltering wing he at last ventured to go
towards his lodgings. But Mr Bradlaugh having seen the book, having
caused it to be revised in one or two points, it never occurred to me
to doubt the _general_ accuracy of the statements made in it. Lately,
in searching for some account of these riots, I find that Mr Headingley
is quite trustworthy, except on one point, and that is the _name of
the lecturer_ at Dumfries and Burnley. Those who own copies of this
work are requested to substitute "Barker" for "Bradlaugh" wherever the
latter name occurs on the pages specified, beginning with the paragraph
at the bottom of page 78. No injustice will be done to Mr Barker's
memory, for his own account[36] has been faithfully followed by Mr
Headingley.

[Footnote 36: _National Reformer_, March 23, 1861.]

From the issue of September 7th (1861), then Mr Bradlaugh was sole
editor of the _National Reformer_, and in the following number he made
a declaration of his policy and objects as advocate of the Secular
Body. In concluding this statement of his views he says:--

"Our party is the 'party of action,' youthful, hopeful effort; we
recognise no impassable barriers between ourselves and _the right_;
we see no irremovable obstacles in our course to _the true_. We will
strive for it, we will live for it, and, if it be necessary, die for
it. And even then, in our death we should not recognise defeat, but
rather see another step in the upward path of martyrdom ... it is our
most enduring hope that ... we may find a grave which, in the yet
far-off future, better men than ourselves may honour in their memories;
forgetting our many faults, alone remembered now, and remembering
our few useful deeds, at present by our hostile critics persistently
overlooked."

A month later appears one of his earliest letters to the clergy,
though not _the_ earliest, for some five or six short letters,
scattered over several months, had previously appeared; most of
these were brief challenges based upon the public statements of some
cleric, or repudiation of certain views attributed to Freethinkers,
or condemnation of some intolerant utterance. The letter to the Rev.
J. Clarke, of Cleckheaton, is, I think, about the first of those
controversial letters of which he subsequently wrote so many, and
which were so popular and effective. In November we find notification
of another change to take place in the _National Reformer_. In future
Mr George Jacob Holyoake is to "rank as chief contributor," while Mr
John Watts is definitely charged with the duties of sub-editor. A week
later, a letter signed "G. J. Holyoake," and headed "One Paper and One
Party," informed "the Secularists of Great Britain" that Mr Holyoake
had arranged to become special contributor. With the beginning of the
year 1862 he was to contribute three 

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