[26] "Eastern Counties," now "Great Eastern" Railway.
[27] "Once, as a financier, he was intrusted with the negotiation of a loan for the city of Pisa, with some of whose authorities he had become acquainted in some of his various journeys to Italy. His percentage, small in name, was to be considerable in total, on a loan of £750,000. He duly arranged matters with a certain London financier, who thereupon sent off a clerk to Pisa to offer the money at a fraction less than Bradlaugh was to get, provided he got the whole commission. Bradlaugh, however, had been secured in the conduct of the transaction up to a given date. He instantly went to Rothschilds, who allowed no commission, and put the loan in their hands. The other financier thus got nothing; but so did Bradlaugh."—John M. Robertson, "Memoir," pp. xxxvi. xxxvii.
[28] For example, a lady gave the mistress of the school which we attended the option of sending us away or of losing her daughters. We were not sent away, so the lady withdrew her children rather than have them contaminated by contact with the children of the Atheist.
[29] An instance of Mr Bradlaugh's interest in local matters may be found in the Tottenham and Edmonton Advertiser for March 1, 1865, which gives a notice of a vestry meeting held on February 20, at which he was present. He is reported as asking for a more detailed account of "Mrs Overend's charity," and the increased value of the land forming part of the property. Several members of the "Waste Land Commission" asked that an inquiry should be made. The Chairman (the vicar) refused to allow the subject to be discussed; but when the report was entered in the minutes, Mr Bradlaugh gave notice that he should move that an inquiry be made.
The next business was to receive a report of the committee appointed by the parishioners in the November before on the matter of the water supply. Mr Delano, chairman of this committee, read the report, which consisted of questions put by the local Board of Health, with correspondence thereon. After criticising the discourtesy of the Board of Health, the chairman agreed that nothing further could be done.
Mr Bradlaugh, however, "said it would not be right to let the subject drop without taking some further notice of it. He thought the Board was bound to act at least courteously towards any of the parishioners having complaints to make of the insufficiency of the water supply. The Board acknowledged this insufficiency, and showed they could give a better supply when a stir was made about the subject. He complained of the unfairness of the Board in refusing all explanation. Not only did they do this, but they added impertinence in characterising him as a new member of the parish. He could not tell who was to blame, but the Board confessed that the supply was irregular, and showed that it was capable of being remedied. In his opinion the Board deserved a vote of censure from the Vestry; they were bound to do their best for those who elected them, and as far as lay in his power he would teach them their duty. He then moved: 'That in the opinion of this meeting the conduct of the Local Board of Health, in refusing to answer the questions of the Committee, is deserving of censure.'" This was seconded by Mr Noble, and there was some discussion, a Mr Kirby rising to defend the action of the Board, to which Mr Bradlaugh replied "in a most caustic speech;" and the motion being put by the chairman, was carried: "twenty- six voting for, and two against it."
[30] In 1872 Mr Bradlaugh had occasion to address a letter in the National Reformer to the Rev. Mr M'Sorley, dealing with a sermon of his published in the Tottenham and Edmonton Advertiser, but he did not make the slightest allusion to the clergyman's former conduct. Mr M'Sorley died in 1892.
[31] I remember that some one, I know not whom, put the horsewhip in the hall in readiness, and this impressed upon the minds of us children the dreadful depths of Mr M'Sorley's depravity! Our father never said a harsh word or raised his hand in anger to one of us, and we knew that the person must be very bad indeed if the possibility of a whipping could be even contemplated!
[32] The Weekly Dispatch, November 16, 1879.
[33] Mr W. E. Adams speaks of this matter in his recollections of my father, from which I have already quoted on page 68. "I think it has been said," he remarks, "that Mr Bradlaugh did not do the best he could for James Thomson, the author of 'The City of Dreadful Night.' My own testimony on this subject may not be of much account, but I happen to know that Mr Bradlaugh for many years maintained Thomson as a member of his own family; sometimes finding him employment in his own office, at other times getting him situations elsewhere. When the Polish Revolution of 1862 broke out, a committee was formed in London to assist the insurgents. I was appointed secretary of that committee. But in 1863 it became necessary that I should resign in order to accept an appointment in Newcastle. Mr Bradlaugh asked me to do what I could to obtain for Thomson the succession to the office. It was mainly on Mr Bradlaugh's strong and urgent recommendation that the committee selected him. I transferred to him all the books, documents, correspondence, etc., much of it of a very interesting and valuable character. Although I endeavoured, both in Manchester and in Newcastle, where I visited some of the leading politicians, to form branches of the central committee in London, I ceased all active participation in the movement. It was naturally expected, of course, that Thomson would do all that had been hitherto done by me, and indeed, from his superior qualifications, a great deal more. A few weeks after I had been located in Newcastle, however, a letter was placed in my hands from the late Peter Alfred Taylor, who was chairman of the Polish Committee, asking whether I could tell him where James Thomson could be found, since he had not been at the office for many days, and had left the affairs of the committee in a disordered condition. Poor Thomson, as it turned out, had been overtaken by one of those periodical attacks of dipsomania which ultimately resulted in his death. It may readily be imagined how much this collapse must have disturbed and distressed Mr Bradlaugh. But it does not appear that it made any difference whatever in his helpful friendship for the unfortunate poet; for some years afterwards I still found Thomson a member of Mr Bradlaugh's family and the occupant of an important post in the business which Mr Bradlaugh was then conducting. These are matters of personal knowledge. I may add that Mr Bradlaugh, whenever Thomson was the subject of conversation between us, always spoke of him in the tenderest and most affectionate terms. Even when, as I understand, he had been compelled to part company with his unfortunate friend, no word of censure or complaint ever passed Mr Bradlaugh's lips in my hearing.