Atheism and Socialism.

Hastings Standard, Issue 49, 23 June 1896, Page 4

Atheism and Socialism.

THEIR CONDITION IN LONDON. New York, April 26 The Sun's London cable says: Atheism and Socialism must be in a much worse position in this big city than one •would suppose, judging from the noise made by both. Like other movements, the true test o! their prosperity is the condition of the exchequer and the devotion of the rank and file, and in both respects they must be pronounced complete failures. The atheists, for instance, have been unable to pay the rent of their chief meeting place, the notorious Hall of Science, in Clerkenwell, where for many years that honest, sturdy sinner, Charles Bradlaugh, held forth at least once a ■week, and often shocked good Christains by his blasphemies. Retribution and consolation have come at last, however, for the Salvation Army has bought the Hall of Science, and General Booth announces his intention of thoroughly purging it of the atheistic taint by weeks and weeks of prayer and knee drill. The metamorphosis would have broken Mr Bradlaugh's heart had it occurred during his lifetime, but Mrs Besant, who used to pour the vials of her vrrath upon Christainity from the Hall of Science platform almost as regularly and eloquently as Mr Bradlaugh, appears to regard the change with equanimity. Just now she is too busy arranging to seize the headship of theosophy to give thought to her old associations. General Booth looks forward with reasonable confidence to the time when Mrs Besant will wear a poke bonnet and twang a Salvation guitar on the Hall of Science platform, and considering the lady's intellectual gymnastics in the past and her always emotional nature, the thing is not wildly improbable. The Socialists also are in a bad way, for they are r-.:\Me to pay for their principal indoor lvrui Grafton Hall, in the heart of the foreign quarter in London, and have been in consequence, ejected. The hall is being converted into a furniture manufactory, and socialism will know it no more. Grafton Hall was long the headquarters of London socialism, and some of the leading exponents of advanced thought have expounded their views within its walls.