Charles Bradlaugh

Charles Bradlaugh combined political activism, public lecturing, journalism, and service as Member of Parliament for Northampton. The Channel Tunnel presents his case for supporting experimental works on a rail connection between Britain and France. Published in 1887, the pamphlet responds to parliamentary opposition and public fears about national security. Bradlaugh argues from the perspective of trade, labor, travel, and democratic interest, explaining why he voted for the proposal even when other representatives of working people divided on it. His public career was also shaped by secularism, republicanism, birth-control advocacy, and a prolonged dispute over whether an avowed atheist could take the parliamentary oath. He founded the National Reformer and became closely associated with the National Secular Society. The Channel Tunnel captures Bradlaugh’s characteristic method of taking a contested public question directly to a broad audience. Its full title asks whether democracy ought to oppose or support the project, framing engineering policy as a matter of representation and public reasoning rather than technical expertise alone.