He may be seen at his best in such books as Longfellow's "Journal
and Correspondence" and the "Life and Letters" of George Ticknor.
There one has a pleasant picture of a booklover, traveler, and
friend. But in his public speech he was arrogant, unsympathetic,
domineering. "Sumner is my idea of a bishop," said Lincoln
tentatively. There are bishops and bishops, however, and if Henry
Ward Beecher, whom Lincoln and hosts of other Americans admired,
had only belonged to the Church of England, what an admirable
Victorian bishop he might have made! Perhaps his best service to
the cause of union was rendered by his speeches in England, where
he fairly mobbed the mob and won them by his wit, courage, and by
his appeal to the instinct of fair play. Beecher's oratory, in
and out of the pulpit, was temperamental, sentimental in the
better sense, and admirably human in all its instincts. He had an
immense following, not only in political and humanitarian fields,
but as a lovable type of the everyday American who can say
undisputed things not only solemnly, if need be, but by
preference with an infectious smile.
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