17 MARCH 1877, Page 2

Mr. George Odger was buried on Saturday at the Brompton

Cemetery, an immense crowd attending his remains to the grave. The usual Church of England service was read over his body by the chaplain of the cemetery, after which e7oges were pronounced upon him after the fashion of the funeral-orations over Radicals in Paris. Professor Beesly was the first and chief speaker, and we understand that he made some reference to Mr. Odger's in- frequent attendance on public worship,—was it by way of in some degree assimilating Mr. Odger's position to that of the Positivists, which most certainly Mr. Odger did not share ?—and that he attri- buted the cold praise of some journals to their knowledge of this Indifference of Mr. Odger's to ecclesiastical institutions. If Pro- fessor Beesly, as is probable, referred to our article of last week, we can only say that we did not intend our tribute to Mr. Odger to be cold, but simply strictly sincere ; and that we had not the least knowledge of this indifference of Mr. Odger's to ecclesiastical rites which Professor Beesly seems to have

ascribed to him. We have, time after time, supported Mr. Odger's claim to a place in Parliament, and believe him to have been an altogether honest man of much force of char- acter, as well as a skilful speaker, though hardly a politician of decided genius or exceptional sagacity. It is a mistake to be so forward to attribute the reserve of sincerity to the grudging spirit of ecclesiastical depreciation.