BEECHER AND INGERSOLL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 41, 17 February 1881, Page 4

BEECHER AND INGERSOLL.

Since Henry Ward Bccclier preached the funeral sermon of Theodore Parker he lias not scandalised tbo orthodox of America so terribly as lie did- the other day when he eulogised Colonel' Robert ; Ingersoll., tlie American Mr Bradlaugh, and publici.y shook hands wilh him, during the I J residental campaign, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, So much . hubbub was occasioned by this incident ; that a JNcvj Fork Herald reporter was sent off .to ask Colonel Ingersoll what he thought of Mr Beecher, and then to ask Mr Beecher what he thought of Colonel Ingersoll. It is edifying to note Lhe cordiality which existed between the leading representatives of theistic and anti-thcistic thought across the Atlantic. Of Mr Beecher Colonel Ingersoll said : " I regard him as the greatest man in any pulpit of the world. He has liberated the English speaking world. He is a great thinker, a marvellous orator, and in my judgement, greater and grander than any creed or any church. Besides all this he treated me like a king. Manhood is his greatest forte, and I expect to live and die his friend." Mr Beecher was also as warm in his eulogy of Colonel Ingersoll. He regarded him "as one of the greatest men of the age." While regretting that he is no believer in revealed religion, Mr Beecher maintained that "on the broad platform of human liberty and progress I was bound to give him the right hand of fellowship. I would do it a thousand times over. Colonel Ingersoll has the same right to free thought and free speech as I have. I am not that kind of a coward who has to kick a man before he shakes hands with 'him. I will not pitch into any mail's religion as an excuse for giving my hand. I admire Ingersoll because he is not afraid to speak what he honestly thinks, and I am only sorry that he does not think as I do."