Mr. Bradlaugh returned to England at the end of December, worn to a
shadow and terribly weak, and for many a long month he bore the traces of
his wrestle with death. Indeed, he felt the effect of the illness for
years, for typhoid fever is a foe whose weapons leave scars even after
the healing of the wounds it inflicts.

The first work done by Mr. Bradlaugh on resuming the editorial chair of
the _National Reformer_, was to indite a vigorous protest against the
investment of national capital in the Suez Canal Shares. He exposed the
financial condition of Egypt, gave detail after detail of the Khedive's
indebtedness, unveiled the rottenness of the Egyptian Government, warned
the people of the danger of taking the first steps in a path which must
lead to continual interference in Egyptian finance, denounced the
shameful job perpetrated by Mr. Disraeli in borrowing the money for the
purchase from the Rothschilds at enormous interest. His protest was, of
course, useless, but its justice has been proved by the course of events.
The bombarding of Alexandria, the shameful repression of the national
movement in Egypt, the wholesale and useless slaughter in the Soudan, the
waste of English lives and English money, the new burden of debt and of
responsibility now assumed by the Government, all these are the results
of the fatal purchase of shares in the Suez Canal by Mr. Disraeli; yet
against the chorus of praise which resounded from every side when the
purchase was announced, but one voice of disapproval and of warning was
raised at first; others soon caught the warning and saw the dangers it
pointed out, but for awhile Charles Bradlaugh stood alone in his
opposition, and to him belongs the credit of at once seeing the peril
which lay under the purchase.

The 1876 Conference of the National Secular Society held at Leeds showed
the growing power of the organisation, and was made notable by a very