—Washington correspondent, Brooklyn Eagle, March 19, 1881.
A REPLY TO THE REV. MR. LANSING.*
[* Rev. Isaac J. Lansing of Meriden, Conn., recently
denounced Col. Robert G. Ingersoll from the pulpit of the
Meriden Methodist Church, and had the Opera House closed
against him. This led a Union reporter to show Colonel
Ingersoll what Mr. Lansing had said and to interrogate him
with the following result.]
Question. Did you favor the sending of obscene matter through the mails as alleged by the Rev. Mr. Lansing?
Answer. Of course not, and no honest man ever thought that I did. This charge is too malicious and silly to be answered. Mr. Lansing knows better. He has made this charge many times and he will make it again.
Question. Is it a fact that there are thousands of clergymen in the country whom you would fear to meet in fair debate?
Answer. No; the fact is I would like to meet them all in one. The pulpit is not burdened with genius. There a few great men engaged in preaching, but they are not orthodox. I cannot conceive that a Freethinker has anything to fear from the pulpit, except misrepresentation. Of course, there are thousands of ministers too small to discuss with—ministers who stand for nothing in the church—and with such clergymen I cannot afford to discuss anything. If the Presbyterians, or the Congregationalists, or the Methodists would select some man, and endorse him as their champion, I would like to meet him in debate. Such a man I will pay to discuss with me. I will give him most excellent wages, and pay all the expenses at the discussion besides. There is but one safe course for the ministers—they must assert. They must declare. They must swear to it and stick to it, but they must not try to reason.
Question. You have never seen Rev. Mr. Lansing. To the people of Meriden and thereabouts he is well-known. Judging from what has been told you of his utterances and actions, what kind of a man would you take him to be?