Page:Did Charles Bradlaugh die an atheist.djvu/11

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Did Charles Bradlaugh Die an Atheist?
11

but I desire to put finally upon record in the clearest manner possible that no change whatever took place in my father's Atheistical opinions.

"I was in constant professional attendance upon Mr. Charles Bradlaugh from Tuesday, Jan. 13, until his death on Friday, Jan. 30, and during that time heard him say no word bearing directly or indirectly upon any religious subject. From Friday, Jan. 23rd, he was only occasionally partially conscious.

"Alfred J. Bell, M.R.C.S., F.S.A.

"January 31, 1891."

The statements signed by the nurses were to the same effect. It was needless to trouble Dr. Ramskill to give his testimony as he only saw my father for very short periods, and those in company with Mr. Bell.

If my own evidence has any value—and I know not on what grounds it should be discredited—then I affirm in the most emphatic manner possible that there is no foundation whatever for the allegation that on his deathbed my father changed his opinions: opinions which, as is here shown, he held consistently during the greater part of his life. On the 15th of January he was obliged to take to his bed, but until he was suddenly stricken into unconsciousness by hemiplegia on the 23rd, his mind was as clear and as vigorous as it had been at any time in his life. Although he hoped to recover, he knew that his death might come suddenly and at any moment, through the heart spasms which were so terrible a part of his malady. He talked upon family matters and thoroughly explained his financial situation, giving me explicit instructions what to do in the event of his death. He spoke also of the motion to rescind the resolution of the House of Commons, and dictated letters for me to write to Dr. Hunter and other M.P.'s; he spoke of the Vaccination Commission; of General Booth's accounts, on which he had been writing a series of articles; of his book on "Labor and Law", some proofs of which he corrected in bed. Apart from these subjects, in which he was more or less personally interested, he one day talked to me at length concerning the great problem which the United States would sometime have to face in regard