GLADSTONE-INGERSOLL
FAITH OR AGNOSTICISM?
Hugh B. Macculloch
No. 30 East 14th Street,
Cor. Union Square, S. W.
New York
June 15, 18881
Dictated.
Dear Sir:
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Col. Robt. G. Ingersoll2 will shortly
contribute to THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW a
brilliant article in defense of his views of
Christianity, which were powerfully assailed by
the Rt. Hon. Wm. E. Gladstone, in the May number
of the Review.3 The controversy between these
two most gifted writers and orators of modern
times is chaining the attention of all classes
of thinkers, and is recognized as the most
stirring and memorable debate of the century.
For a limited period the following offer is
made by me to new subscribers to THE NORTH
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AMERICAN REVIEW: For a yearly subscription at
$5.00 the REVIEW will be sent you, postage pre-paid, with a free copy of Mr. Allen Thorndike
Rice's4 valuable "Reminiscences of Abraham
Lincoln," a remarkable book by thirty-three
remarkable men (see enclosed circular).5 The
price of this highly successful book alone has
never varied from $4.00.
If you desire to follow the course of the
Gladstone-Ingersoll controversy in the leading
Review of the country, and avail yourself of
this exceptional opportunity kindly send me your
order on the accompanying card, and oblige,
Yours respectfully,
Hugh B. Macculloch
Correspondent:
Beyond the fact that Hugh B.
Macculloch worked in advertising for the North American
Review in New York City, we have no further information on this
person.
Notes
- 1. The dates June 15,1888 and
June 28, 1888 are stamped in blue on the first page of the letter. [back]
- 2. Robert "Bob" Green Ingersoll
(1833–1899) was a Civil War veteran and an orator of the post-Civil War
era, known for his support of agnosticism. Ingersoll was a friend of Whitman,
who considered Ingersoll the greatest orator of his time. Whitman said to Horace
Traubel, "It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is
Leaves of Grass. He lives, embodies, the
individuality I preach. I see in Bob the noblest
specimen—American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving,
demanding light" (Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden,
Wednesday, March 25, 1891). The feeling was mutual. Upon Whitman's
death in 1892, Ingersoll delivered the eulogy at the poet's funeral. The eulogy
was published to great acclaim and is considered a classic panegyric (see
Phyllis Theroux, The Book of Eulogies [New York: Simon
& Schuster, 1997], 30). [back]
- 3. William Ewart Gladstone
(1809–1898) was a British politician, serving as Prime Minister for four
separate terms. The essay Macculloch mentions responds to Ingersoll's "Letter to
Dr. Field," which appeared in the January 1888 issue. Near its conclusion,
Ingersoll asserts his agnostic views, "Neither in the interest of truth, nor for
the benefit of man, is it necessary to assert what we do not know. No cause is
great enough to demand a sacrifice of candor. The mysteries of life and death,
of good and evil, have never yet been solved." In response, Gladstone writes,
"How good, how wise are these words! But coming at the close of the controversy,
have they not some of the ineffectual features of a death-bed repentance?"
Ingersoll's June letter furthered the debate then being promoted by The North American Review as the Ingersoll-Gladstone
Controversy. [back]
- 4. Charles Allen Thorndike Rice
(1851–1889) was a journalist and edited and published the North American Review in New York from 1876 until his
death. His Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished
Men of His Time (1888) was published by The North American Review
Publishing Company. [back]
- 5. Macculloch is referring to a
collection of essays on Abraham Lincoln edited by Allen Thorndike Rice. Featured
authors included Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, Henry Ward Beecher, and
various Congressmen, governors, and journalists. See Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln: by distinguished men of his time,
Allen Thorndike Rice, ed. (New York: North American Publishing Company,
1886). [back]