BEECHER AND INGERSOLL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3003, 9 February 1881, Page 4

BEECHER AND INGERSOLL.

Hnce Henry Ward Beecher preached the funeral sermou of Theodore Parker he has not scandalised the orthodox of America bo terribly as he did the other day when he , eulogised Colonel Boberfc Ingersoll, the I American Mr Bradlaugh, and hands with him, -i - p-» Ka „—'r-j7i m' H' in 1111 ™ m P i g n^_ - _tJl2 - of was occasioned ■ _y~the incident that a New York Herald reporter was sent off first 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' tbe cordiality which existed between the leading representatives of theistic and anfcitheistic 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" liberalised the English-speaking world. He is a great thinker, a marvellous orator, and, in my judgment, 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 lire and die his friend." Mr Beecher was almost as warm in his eulogy of Colonel Ingersoll. He regards 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 that I have. lam not that king of a coward who has to kick a man before he shakes hands with him. I will not pitch into any man's religion as an excuse for giving him my hand. I admire Ingersoll because he is not afraid to speak what he honestly thinks; and lam only sorry that he does not think as I do."