So much for the Salvation Army as a teacher of questionable ethics and of eccentric economics, as the legal adviser who recommends and practices the extraction of money by intimidation, as the fairy godmother who proposes to “mother” society, in a fashion which is not to my taste, however much it may commend itself to some of Mr. Booth’s supporters.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. H. Huxley.
[255]
III
The “Times,” December 11th, 1890
Sir,–When I first addressed you on the subject of the projected operations of the Salvation Army, all that I knew about that body was derived from the study of Mr. Booth’s book, from common repute, and from occasional attention to the sayings and doings of his noisy squadrons, with which my walks about London, in past years, have made me familiar. I was quite unaware of the existence of evidence respecting the present administration of the Salvation forces, which would have enabled me to act upon the sagacious maxim of the American humourist, “Don’t prophesy unless you know.” The letter you were good enough to publish has brought upon me a swarm of letters and pamphlets. Some favour me with abuse; some thoughtful correspondents warmly agree with me, and then proceed to point out how much worthier certain schemes of their own are of my friend’s support; some send valuable encouragement, for which I offer my hearty thanks, and ask them to excuse any more special acknowledgment. But that which I find most to the purpose, just now, is the revelation made by some of the documents which have reached me, of a fact of which I was wholly ignorant–namely, that [256] persons who have faithfully and zealously served in the Salvation Army, who express unchanged attachment to its original principles and practice, and who have been in close official relations with the “General” have publicly declared that the process of degradation of the organization into a mere engine of fanatical intolerance and personal ambition, which I declared was inevitable, has already set in and is making rapid progress.
It is out of the question, Sir, that I should occupy the columns of the “Times” with a detailed exposition and criticism of these pieces justificatives of my forecast. I say criticism, because the assertions of persons who have quitted any society must, in fairness, be taken with the caution that is required in the case of all ex parte statements of hostile witnesses. But it is, at any rate, a notable fact that there are parts of my first letter, indicating the inherent and necessary evil consequences of any such organization, which might serve for abstracts of portions of this evidence, long since printed and published under the public responsibility of the witnesses.
Let us ask the attention of your readers, in the first place, to “An ex-Captain’s Experience of the Salvation Army,” by J. J. R. Redstone, the genuineness of which is guaranteed by the preface (dated April 5th, 1888) which the Rev. Dr. Cunningham Geikie has supplied. Mr. Redstone’s story is well worth reading on its own account.
[257] Told in simple, direct language such as John Bunyan might have used, it permits no doubt of the single-minded sincerity of the man, who gave up everything to become an officer of the Salvation Army, but, exhibiting a sad want of that capacity for unhesitating and blind obedience on which Mr. Booth lays so much stress, was thrown aside, penniless–no, I am wrong, with 2s. 4d. for his last week’s salary–to shift, with his equally devoted wife, as he best might. I wish I could induce intending contributors to Mr. Booth’s army chest to read Mr. Redstone’s story. I would particularly ask them to contrast the pure simplicity of his plain tale with the artificial pietism and slobbering unction of the letters which Mr. Ballington Booth addresses to his “dear boy” (a married man apparently older than himself), so long as the said “dear boy” is facing brickbats and starvation, as per order.
I confess that my opinion of the chiefs of the Salvation Army has been so distinctly modified by the perusal of this pamphlet that I am glad to be relieved from the necessity of expressing it. It will be much better that I should cite a few sentences from the preface written by Dr. Cunningham Geikie, who expresses warm admiration for the early and uncorrupted work of the Salvation Army, and cannot possibly be accused of prejudice against it on religious grounds:–
(1) “The Salvation Army is emphatically a [258] family concern. Mr. Booth, senior, is General; one son is chief of the staff, and the remaining sons and daughters engross the other chief positions. It is Booth all over; indeed, like the sun in your eyes, you can see nothing else wherever you turn. And, as Dr. Geikie shrewdly remarks, ‘to be the head of a widely spread sect carries with it many advantages–not all exclusively spiritual.'”
(2) “Whoever becomes a Salvation officer is henceforth a slave, helplessly exposed to the caprice of his superiors.”
“Mr. Redstone bore an excellent character both before he entered the army and when he left it. To join it, though a married man, he gave up a situation which he had held for five years, and he served Mr. Booth two years, working hard in most difficult posts. His one fault, Major Lawley tells us, was, that he was ‘too straight’–that is, too honest, truthful, and manly–or, in other words, too real a Christian. Yet without trial, without formulated charges, on the strength of secret complaints which were never, apparently, tested, he was dismissed with less courtesy than most people would show a beggar–with 2s. 4d. for his last week’s salary. If there be any mistake in this matter, I shall be glad to learn it.”
(3) Dr. Geikie confirms, on the ground of information given confidentially by other officers, [259] Mr. Redstone’s assertion that they are watched and reported by spies from headquarters.
(4) Mr. Booth refuses to guarantee his officers any fixed amount of salary. While he and his family of high officials live in comfort, if not in luxury, the pledged slaves whose devotion is the foundation of any true success the Army has met with often have “hardly food enough to sustain life. One good fellow frankly told me that when he had nothing he just went and begged.”
At this point, it is proper that I should interpose an apology for having hastily spoken of such men as Francis of Assisi, even for purposes of warning, in connection with Mr. Booth. Whatever may be thought of the wisdom of the plans of the founders of the great monastic orders of the middle ages, they took their full share of suffering and privation, and never shirked in their own persons the sacrifices they imposed on their followers.
I have already expressed the opinion, that whatever the ostensible purpose of the scheme under discussion, one of its consequences will be the setting up and endowment of a new Ranter-Socialist sect. I may now add that another effect will be–indeed, has been–to set up and endow the Booth dynasty with unlimited control of the physical, moral, and financial resources of the sect. Mr. Booth is already a printer and publisher, who, it is plainly declared, utilizes the officers of the [260] Army as agents for advertising and selling his publications; and some of them are so strongly impressed with the belief that active pushing of Mr. Booth’s business is the best road to their master’s favour, that when the public obstinately refuse to purchase his papers they buy them themselves and send the proceeds to headquarters. Mr. Booth is also a retail trader on a large scale, and the Dean of Wells has, most seasonably, drawn attention to the very notable banking project which he is trying to float. Any one who follows Dean Plumptre’s clear exposition of the principles of this financial operation can have little doubt that, whether they are, or are not, adequate to the attainment of the first and second of Mr. Booth’s ostensible objects, they may be trusted to effect a wide extension of any kingdom in which worldly possessions are of no value. We are, in fact, in sight of a financial catastrophe like that of Law a century ago. Only it is the poor who will suffer.
I have already occupied too much of your space, and yet I have drawn upon only one of the sources of information about the inner working of the Salvation Army at my disposition. Far graver charges than any here dealt with are publicly brought in the others.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. H. Huxley.
[261] P.S.– I have just read Mr. Buchanan’s letter in the Times of to-day. Mr. Buchanan is, I believe, an imaginative writer. I am not acquainted with his works, but nothing in the way of fiction he has yet achieved can well surpass his account of my opinions and of the purport of my writings.
IV
The “Times” December 20th, 1890
Sir,–In discussing Mr. Booth’s projects I have hitherto left in the background a distinction which must be kept well in sight by those who wish to form a fair judgment of the influence, for good or evil, of the Salvation Army. Salvationism, the work of “saving souls” by revivalist methods, is one thing; Boothism, the utilization of the workers for the furtherance of Mr. Booth’s peculiar projects, is another. Mr. Booth has captured, and harnessed with sharp bits and effectual blinkers, a multitude of ultra-Evangelical missionaries of the revivalist school who were wandering at large. It is this skilfully, if somewhat mercilessly, driven team which has dragged the “General’s” coach-load of projects into their present position.
[262] Looking, then, at the host of Salvationists proper, from the “captains” downwards (to whom, in my judgment, the family hierarchy stands in the relation of the Old Man of the Sea to Sinbad), as an independent entity, I desire to say that the evidence before me, whether hostile or friendly to the General and his schemes, is distinctly favourable to them. It exhibits them as, in the main, poor, uninstructed, not unfrequently fanatical, enthusiasts, the purity of whose lives, the sincerity of whose belief, and the cheerfulness of whose endurance of privation and rough usage, in what they consider a just cause, command sincere respect. For my part, though I conceive the corybantic method of soul-saving to be full of dangers, and though the theological speculations of these good people are to me wholly unacceptable, yet I believe that the evils which must follow in the track of such errors, as of all other errors, will be largely outweighed by the moral and social improvement of the people whom they convert. I would no more raise my voice against them (so long as they abstain from annoying their neighbours) than I would quarrel with a man, vigorously sweeping out a stye, on account of the shape of his broom, or because he made a great noise over his work. I have always had a strong faith in the principle of the injunction, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.” If a kingdom is worth a Mass, as a great [263] ruler said, surely the reign of clean living, industry, and thrift is worth any quantity of tambourines and eccentric doctrinal hypotheses. All that I have hitherto said, and propose further to say, is directed against Mr. Booth’s extremely clever, audacious, and hitherto successful attempt to utilize the credit won by all this honest devotion and self-sacrifice for the purposes of his socialistic autocracy.
I now propose to bring forward a little more evidence as to how things really stand where Mr. Booth’s system has had a fair trial. I obtain it, mainly, from a curious pamphlet, the title of which runs: “The New Papacy. Behind the Scenes in the Salvation Army,” by an ex-Staff Officer. “Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise” (John ii. 16). 1889. Published at Toronto, by A. Britnell. On the cover it is stated that “This is the book which was burned by the authorities of the Salvation Army.” I remind the reader, once more, that the statements which I shall cite must be regarded as ex parte; all I can vouch for is that, on grounds of internal evidence and from other concurrent testimony respecting the ways of the Booth hierarchy, I feel justified in using them.
This is the picture the writer draws of the army in the early days of its invasion of the Dominion of Canada:–
[264] “Then, it will be remembered, it professed to be the humble handmaid of the existing churches; its professed object was the evangelization of the masses. It repudiated the idea of building up a separate religious body, and it denounced the practice of gathering together wealth and the accumulation of property. Men and women other than its own converts gathered around it and threw themselves heart and soul into the work, for the simple reason that it offered, as they supposed, a more extended and widely open field for evangelical effort. Ministers everywhere were invited and welcomed to its platforms, majors and colonels were few and far between, and the supremacy and power of the General were things unknown . . . Care was taken to avoid anything like proselytism; its converts were never coerced into joining its ranks… In a word, the organization occupied the position of an auxiliary mission and recruiting agency for the various religious bodies…. The meetings were crowded, people professed conversion by the score, the public liberally supplied the means to carry on the work in their respective communities; therefore every corps was wholly self-supporting, its officers were properly, if not luxuriously, cared for, the local expenditure was amply provided, and, under the supervision of the secretary, a local member, and the officer in charge, the funds were disbursed in the towns where they were collected, and the [265] spirit of satisfaction and confidence was mutual all around” (pp. 4, 5).
Such was the army as the green tree. Now for the dry:–
“Those who have been daily conversant with the army’s machinery are well aware how entirely and radically the whole system has changed, and how, from a band of devoted and disinterested workers, united in the bonds of zeal and charity for the good of their fellows, it has developed into a colossal and aggressive agency for the building up of a system and a sect, bound by rules and regulations altogether subversive of religious liberty and antagonistic to every (other?) branch of Christian endeavour, and bound hand and foot to the will of one supreme head and ruler…. As the work has spread through the country, and as the area of its endeavours has enlarged, each leading position has been filled, one after the other, by individuals strangers to the country, totally ignorant of the sentiments and idiosyncrasies of the Canadian people, trained in one school under the teachings and dominance of a member of the Booth family, and out of whom every idea has been crushed, except that of unquestioning obedience to the General, and the absolute necessity of going forward to his bidding without hesitation or question” (p. 6).
[266] “What is the result of all this? In the first place, whilst material prosperity has undoubtedly been attained, spirituality has been quenched, and, as an evangelical agency, the army has become almost a dead letter… In seventy-five per cent of its stations its officers suffer need and privation, chiefly on account of the heavy taxation that is placed upon them to maintain an imposing headquarters and a large ornamental staff. The whole financial arrangements are carried on by a system of inflation and a hand-to-mouth extravagance and blindness as to future contingencies. Nearly all of its original workers and members have disappeared” (p. 7). “In reference to the religious bodies at large the army has become entirely antagonistic. Soldiers are forbidden by its rules to attend other places of worship without the permission of their officers… Officers or soldiers who may conscientiously leave the service or the ranks are looked upon and often denounced publicly as backsliders… Means of the most despicable description have been resorted to in order to starve them back to the service” (p. 8). “In its inner workings the army system is identical with Jesuitism… That ‘the end justifies the means,’ if not openly taught, is as tacitly agreed as in that celebrated order” (p. 9).
Surely a bitter, overcharged, anonymous libel, is the reflection which will occur to many who read [267] these passages, especially the last. Well, I turn to other evidence which, at any rate, is not anonymous. It is contained in a pamphlet entitled “General Booth, the Family, and the Salvation Army, showing its Rise, Progress, and Moral and Spiritual Decline,” by S. H. Hodges, LL.B., late Major in the Army, and formerly private secretary to General Booth (Manchester, 1890). I recommend potential contributors to Mr. Booth’s wealth to study this little work also. I have learned a great deal from it. Among other interesting novelties, it tells me that Mr. Booth has discovered “the necessity of a third step or blessing, in the work of Salvation. He said to me one day, ‘Hodges, you have only two barrels to your gun; I have three'” (p. 31). And if Mr. Hodges’s description of this third barrel is correct–“giving up your conscience” and, “for God and the army, stooping to do things which even honourable worldly men would not consent to do” (p. 32)–it is surely calculated to bring down a good many things, the first principles of morality among them.
Mr. Hodges gives some remarkable examples of the army practice with the “General’s” new rifle. But I must refer the curious to his instructive pamphlet. The position I am about to take up is a serious one; and I prefer to fortify it by the help of evidence which, though some of it may be anonymous, cannot be sneered away. And I shall [268] be believed, when I say that nothing but a sense of the great social danger of the spread of Boothism could induce me to revive a scandal, even though it is barely entitled to the benefit of the Statute of Limitations.
On the 7th of July, 1883, you, Sir, did the public a great service by writing a leading article on the notorious “Eagle” case, from which I take the following extract:–
“Mr. Justice Kay refused the application, but he was induced to refuse it by means which, as Mr. Justice Stephen justly remarked, were highly discreditable to Mr. Booth. Mr. Booth filed an affidavit which appears totally to have misled Mr. Justice Kay, as it would have misled any one who regarded it as a frank and honest statement by a professed teacher of religion.”
When I addressed my first letter to you I had never so much as heard of the “Eagle” scandal. But I am thankful that my perception of the inevitable tendency of all religious autocracies towards evil was clear enough to bring about a provisional condemnation of Mr. Booth’s schemes in my mind. Supposing that I had decided the other way, with what sort of feeling should I have faced my friend, when I had to confess that the money had passed into the absolute control of a person about the character of whose administration this [269] concurrence of damnatory evidence was already extant?
I have nothing to say about Mr. Booth personally, for I know nothing. On that subject, as on several others, I profess myself an agnostic. But, if he is, as he may be, a saint actuated by the purest of motives, he is not the first saint who, as you have said, has shown himself “in the ardour of prosecuting a well-meant object” to be capable of overlooking “the plain maxims of every-day morality.” If I were a Salvationist soldier, I should cry with Othello, “Cassio, I love thee; but never more be officer of mine.”
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. H. Huxley.
V
The “Times,” December 24th, 1890–
Sir,–If I have any strong points, finance is certainly not one of them. But the financial, or rather fiscal, operations of the General of the Salvation Army, as they are set forth and exemplified in “The New Papacy,” possess that grand simplicity which is the mark of genius; [270] and even I can comprehend them–or, to be more modest, I can portray them in such a manner that every lineament, however harsh, and every shade, however dark, can be verified by published evidence.
Suppose there is a thriving, expanding colonial town, and that, scattered among its artisans and labourers, there is a sprinkling of Methodists, or other such ultra-evangelical good people, doing their best, in a quiet way, to “save souls.” Clearly, this is an outpost which it is desirable to capture. “We,” therefore, take measures to get up a Salvation “boom” of the ordinary pattern. Enthusiasm is roused. A score or two of soldiers are enlisted into the ranks of the Salvation Army. “We” select the man who promises to serve our purposes best, make a “captain” of him, and put him in command of the “corps.” He is very pleased and grateful; and indeed he ought to be. All he has done is that he has given up his trade; that he has promised to work at least nine hours a day in our service (none of your eight-hour nonsense for us) as collector, bookseller, general agent, and anything else we may order him to be. “We,” on the other hand, guarantee him nothing whatever; to do so might weaken his faith and substitute worldly for spiritual ties between us. Knowing that, if he exerts himself in a right spirit, his labours will surely be blessed, we content ourselves with telling him that if, after all [271] expenses are paid and our demands are satisfied each week, 25s. remains, he may take it. And, if nothing remains, he may take that, and stay his stomach with what the faithful may give him. With a certain grim playfulness, we add that the value of these contributions will be reckoned as so much salary. So long as our “captain” is successful, therefore, a beneficent spring of cash trickles unseen into our treasury; when it begins to dry up we say, “God bless you, dear boy,” turn him adrift (with or without 2s. 4d. in his pocket), and put some other willing horse in the shafts.
The “General,” I believe, proposes, among other things, to do away with “sweating.” May he not as well set a good example by beginning at home? My little sketch, however, looks so like a monstrous caricature that, after all, I must produce the original from the pages of my Canadian authority. He says that a “captain” “has to pay 10 per cent. of all collections and donations to the divisional fund for the support of his divisional officer, who has also the privilege of arranging for such special meetings as he shall think fit, the proceeds of which he takes away for the general needs of the division. Headquarters, too, has the right to hold such special meetings at the corps and send around such special attractions as its wisdom sees fit, and to take away the proceeds for the purposes it decides upon.
[272] He has to pay the rent of his building, either to headquarters or a private individual; he has to send the whole collection of the afternoon meeting of the first Sunday in the month to the ‘Extension Fund’ at headquarters; he has to pay for the heating, lighting, and cleaning of his hall, together with such necessary repairs as may be needed; he has to provide the food, lodging, and clothing of his cadet, if he has one; headquarters taxes him with so many copies of the army papers each week, for which he has to pay, sold or unsold; and when he has done this, he may take $6 (or $5, being a woman), or such proportion of it as may be left, with which to clothe and feed himself and to pay the rent and provide for the heating and lighting of his quarters. If he has a lieutenant he has to pay him $6 per week, or such proportion of it as he himself gets, and share the house expenses with him. Now, it will be easily understood that at least 60 per cent. of the stations in Canada the officer gets no money at all, and he has to beg specially amongst his people for his house-rent and food. There are few places in the Dominion in which the soldiers do not find their officers in all the food they need; but it must be remembered that the value of the food so received has to be accounted for at headquarters and entered upon the books of the corps as cash received, the amount being deducted from any moneys that the officer is able to take from the [273] week’s collections. So that, no matter how much may be specially given, the officer cannot receive more than the value of $6 per week. The officer cannot collect any arrears of salary, as each week has to pay its own expenses; and if there is any surplus cash after all demands are met it must be sent to the ‘war chest’ at headquarters.”–“The New Papacy” (pp. 35, 36).
Evidently, Sir, “headquarters” has taken to heart the injunction about casting your bread upon the waters. It casts the crumb of a day or two’s work of an emissary, and gets back any quantity of loaves of cash, so long as “captains” present themselves to be used up and replaced by new victims. What can be said of these devoted poor fellows except, O sancta simplicitas!
But it would be a great mistake to suppose that the money-gathering efficacy of Mr. Booth’s fiscal agencies is exhausted by the foregoing enumeration of their regular operations. Consider the following edifying history of the “Rescue Home” in Toronto:–
“It is a fine building in the heart of the city; the lot cost $7,000, and a building was put up at a cost of $7,000 more, and there is a mortgage on it amounting to half the cost of the whole. The land to-day would probably fetch double its original price, and every year enhances its value….In the first five months of its [274] existence this institution received from the public an income of $1,812 70c.; out of this $600 was paid to headquarters for rent, $590 52c. was spent upon the building in various ways, and the balance of $622 18c. paid the salaries of the staff and supported the inmates” (pp. 24, 25).
Said I not truly that Mr. Booth’s fisc bears the stamp of genius? Who else could have got the public to buy him a “corner lot,” put a building upon it, pay all its working expenses: and then, not content with paying him a heavy rent for the use of the handsome present they had made him, they say not a word against his mortgaging it to half its value? And, so far as any one knows, there is nothing to stop headquarters from selling the whole estate tomorrow, and using the money as the “General” may direct.
Once more listen to the author of “The New Papacy,” who affirms that “out of the funds given by the Dominion for the evangelization of the people by means of the Salvation Army, one sixth had been spent in the extension of the Kingdom of God, and the other five sixths had been invested in valuable property, all handed over to Mr. Booth and his heirs and assigns, as we have already stated” (p. 26).
And this brings me to the last point upon which I wish to touch. The answer to all inquiries as to what has become of the enormous [275] personal and real estate which has been given over to Mr. Booth is that it is held “in trust.” The supporters of Mr. Booth may feel justified in taking that statement “on trust.” I do not. Anyhow, the more completely satisfactory this “trust” is, the less can any man who asks the public to put blind faith in his integrity and his wisdom object to acquaint them exactly with its provisions. Is the trust drawn up in favour of the Salvation Army? But what is the legal status of the Salvation Army? Have the soldiers any claim? Certainly not. Have the officers any legal interest in the “trust”? Surely not. The “General” has taken good care to insist on their renouncing all claims as a condition of their appointment. Thus, to all appearance, the army, as a legal person, is identical with Mr. Booth. And, in that case, any “trust” ostensibly for the benefit of the army is–what shall we say that is at once accurate and polite?
I conclude with these plain questions–Will Mr. Booth take counsel’s opinion as to whether there is anything in such legal arrangements as he has at present made which prevents him from disposing of the wealth he has accumulated at his own will and pleasure? Will anybody be in a position to set either the civil or the criminal law in motion against him or his successors if he or they choose to spend every farthing in ways very different from those contemplated by the donors?
[276] I may add that a careful study of the terms of a “Declaration of Trust by William Booth in favour of the Christian Mission,” made in 1878, has not enabled persons of much greater competence than myself to answer these questions satisfactorily.*
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. H. Huxley.
* See Preface to this volume, pp. ix-xiii.
On December 24th a letter appeared in the “Times” signed “J. S. Trotter,” in which the following passages appear:–
“It seems a pity to put a damper on the spirits of those who agree with Professor Huxley in his denunciation of General Booth and all his works. May I give a few particulars as to the ‘book’ which was published in Canada? I had the pleasure of an interview with the author of a book written in Canada. The book was printed at Toronto, and two copies only struck off by the printers; one of these copies was stolen from the printer, and the quotation sent to you by Professor Huxley was inserted in the book, and is consequently a forgery. The book was published without the consent and against the will of the author.
[277] “So the quotation is not only ‘a bitter, overcharged anonymous libel,’ as Professor Huxley intimates, but a forgery as well. As to Mr. Hodges, it seems to me to be simply trifling with your readers to bring him in as an authority. He was turned out of the army, out of kindness taken on again, and again dismissed. If this had happened to one of your staff, would his opinion of the ‘Times’ as a newspaper be taken for gospel?”
But in the “Times” of December 29th Mr. J. S. Trotter writes:–
“I find I was mistaken in saying, in my letter of Wednesday, to the ‘Times’ that Mr. Hodges was dismissed from the service of General Booth, and regret any inconvenience the statement may have caused to Mr. Hodges.”
And on December 30th the “Times” published a letter from Mr. Hodges in which he says that Mr. Trotter’s statements as they regard himself “are the very reverse of truth.–I was never turned out of the Salvation Army. Nor, so far as I was made acquainted with General Booth’s motives, was I taken on again out of kindness. In order to rejoin the Salvation Army, I resigned the position of manager in a mill where I was in [278] receipt of a salary of [Pounds] 250 per annum, with house-rent and one third of the profits. Instead of this Mr. Booth allowed me [Pounds] 2 per week and house-rent.”
VI
The “Times,” December 26th, 1890
Sir,–I am much obliged to Mr. J. S. Trotter for the letter which you published this morning. It furnishes evidence, which I much desired to possess on the following points:–
1. The author of “The New Papacy” is a responsible, trustworthy person; otherwise Mr. Trotter would not speak of having had “the pleasure of an interview” with him.
2. After this responsible person had taken the trouble to write a pamphlet of sixty-four closely printed pages, some influence was brought to bear upon him, the effect of which was that he refused his consent to its publication. Mr. Trotter’s excellent information will surely enable him to tell us what influence that was.
3. How does Mr. Trotter know that any passage I have quoted is an interpolation? Does he possess that other copy of the “two” which alone, as he affirms, were printed?
[279] 4. If so, he will be able to say which of the passages I have cited is genuine and which is not; and whether the tenor of the whole uninterpolated copy differs in any important respect from that of the copy I have quoted.
It will be interesting to hear what Mr. J. S. Trotter has to say upon these points. But the really important thing which he has done is that he has testified, of his own knowledge, that the anonymous author of “The New Papacy” is no mere irresponsible libeller, but a person of whom even an ardent Salvationist has to speak with respect.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. H. Huxley.
[I may add that the unfortunate Mr. Trotter did me the further service of eliciting the letter from Mr. Hodges referred to on p. 277–which sufficiently establishes that gentleman’s credit, and leads me to attach full weight to his evidence about the third barrel.]
January, 1891.
[280]
VII
The “Times,” December 27th, 1890
SIR,–In making use of the only evidence of the actual working of Mr. Booth’s autocratic government accessible to me, I was fully aware of the slippery nature of the ground upon which I was treading. For, as I pointed out in my first letter, “no personal habit more surely degrades the conscience and the intellect than blind and unhesitating obedience to unlimited authority.” Now we have it, on Mr. Booth’s own showing that every officer of his has undertaken to “obey without questioning or gainsaying the orders from headquarters.” And the possible relations of such orders to honour and veracity are demonstrated not only by the judicial deliverance on Mr. Booth’s affidavit in the “Eagle” case, which I have already cited; not only by Mr. Bramwell Booth’s admission before Mr. Justice Lopes that he had stated what was “not quite correct” because he had “promised Mr. Stead not to divulge” the facts of the case (the “Times,” November 4th, 1885); but by the following passage in Mr. Hodges’s account of the reasons of his withdrawal from the Salvation Army:–
“The general and Chief did not and could [281] not deny doing these things; the only question was this, Was it right to practise this deception? These points of difference were fully discussed between myself and the Chief of the Staff on my withdrawal, especially the Leamington incident, which was the one that finally drove me to decision. I had come to the conclusion, from the first, that they had acted as they supposed with a single eye to the good of God’s cause, and had persuaded myself that the things were, as against the devil, right to be done, that as in battle one party captured and turned the enemy’s own guns upon them, so, as they were fighting against the devil, it would be fair to use against him his weapons. And I wrote to this effect to the “General” (p. 63).”
Now, I do not wish to say anything needlessly harsh, but I ask any prudent man these questions. Could I, under these circumstances, trust any uncorroborated statement emanating from headquarters, or made by the General’s order? Had I any reason to doubt the truth of Mr. Hodges’s naive confession of the corrupting influence of Mr. Booth’s system? And did it not behove me to pick my way carefully through the mass of statements before me, many of them due to people whose moral sense might, by possibility, have been as much blunted by the army discipline in the [282] use of the weapons of the devil as Mr. Hodges affirms that his was?
Therefore, in my third letter, I commenced my illustrations of the practical working of Boothism with the evidence of Mr. Redstone, fortified and supplemented by that of a non-Salvationist, Dr. Cunningham Geikie. That testimony has not been challenged, and, until it is, I shall assume that it cannot be. In my fourth letter, I cited a definite statement by Mr. Hodges in evidence of the Jesuitical principles of headquarters. What sort of answer is it to tell us that Mr. Hodges was dismissed the army? A child might expect that some such red herring would be drawn across the trail; and, in anticipation of the stale trick, I added the strong prima facie evidence of the trustworthiness of my witness, in this particular, which is afforded by the “Eagle” case. It was not until I wrote my fourth letter to you, Sir–until the exploitation of the “captains” and the Jesuitry of headquarters could be proved up to the hilt–that I ventured to have recourse to “The New Papacy.” So far as the pamphlet itself goes, this is an anonymous work; and, for sufficient reasons, I did not choose to go beyond what was to be found between its covers. To any one accustomed to deal with the facts of evolution, the Boothism of “The New Papacy” was merely the natural and necessary development of the Boothism of Mr. Redstone’s case and of the [283] “Eagle” case. Therefore, I felt fully justified in using it, at the same time carefully warning my readers that it must be taken with due caution.
Mr. Trotter’s useful letter admits that such a book was written by a person with whom he had the “pleasure of an interview,” and that a version of it (interpolated, according to his assertion) was published against the will of the author. Hence I am justified in believing that there is a foundation of truth in certain statements, some of which have long been in my possession, but which for lack of Mr. Trotter’s valuable corroboration I have refrained from using. The time is come when I can set forth some of the heads of this information, with the request that Mr. Trotter, who knows all about the business, will be so good as to point out any error that there may be in them. I am bound to suppose that his sole object, like mine, is the elucidation of the truth, and to assume his willingness to help me therein to the best of his ability.
1. “The author of ‘The New Papacy’ is a Mr. Sumner, a person of perfect respectability, and greatly esteemed in Toronto, who held a high position in the Army. When he left, a large public meeting, presided over by a popular Methodist minister, passed a vote of sympathy with him.”
[284] Is this true or false?
2. “On Saturday last, about noon, Mr. Sumner, the author of the book, and Mr. Fred Perry, the Salvation Army printer, accompanied by a lawyer, went down to Messrs. Imrie and Graham’s establishment, and asked for all the manuscript, stereotype plates, &c., of the book. Mr. Sumner explained that the book had been sold to the Army, and, on a cheque for the amount due being given, the printing material was delivered up.”
Did these paragraphs appear in the “Toronto Telegram” of April 24th, 1889, or did they not? Are the statements they contain true or false?
3. “Public interest in the fate or probable outcome of that mysterious book called ‘The New Papacy; or, Behind the Scenes in the Salvation Army,’ continues unabated, though the line of proceedings by the publisher and his solicitor, Mr. Smoke, of Watson, Thorne, Smoke, and Masten, has not been altered since yesterday. The book, no doubt, will be issued in some form. So far as known, only one complete copy remains, and the whereabouts of this is a secret which will be profoundly kept. It is safe to say that if the Commissioner kept on guessing until the next anniversary, he would not strike the secluded [285] location of the one volume among five thousand which escaped, when he and his assistant, Mr. Fred Perry, believed they had cast every vestige of the forbidden work into the fiery furnace. On Tuesday last, when the discovery was made that a copy of ‘The New Papacy’ was in existence, Publisher Britnell, of Yonge Street, was at once the suspected holder, and in a short time his book-store was the resort of army agents sent to reconnoitre” (“Toronto News,” April 28th, 1889).
Is this a forgery, or is it not? Is it in substance true or false?
When Mr. Trotter has answered these inquiries categorically, we may proceed to discuss the question of interpolations in Mr. Sumner’s book.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. H. Huxley.
[On the 26th of December a letter, signed J. T. Cunningham, late Fellow of University College, Oxford, called forth the following commentary.]
[286]
VIII
The “Times,” December 29th, 1890–
Sir,–If Mr. Cunningham doubts the efficacy of the struggle for existence, as a factor in social conditions, he should find fault with Mr. Booth and not with me.
“I am labouring under no delusion as to the possibility of inaugurating the millennium by my social specific. In the struggle of life the weakest will go to the wall, and there are so many weak. The fittest in tooth and claw will survive. All that we can do is to soften the lot of the unfit, and make their suffering less horrible than it is at present” (“In Darkest England,” p. 44).
That is what Mr. Cunningham would have found if he had read Mr. Booth’s book with attention. And, if he will bestow equal pains on my second letter, he will discover that he has interpolated the word “wilfully” in his statement of my “argument,” which runs thus: “Shutting his eyes to the necessary consequences of the struggle for life, the existence of which he admits as fully as any Darwinian, Mr. Booth tells men whose evil case is one of those consequences that envy is a corner-stone of our competitive system.” Mr. [287] Cunningham’s physiological studies will have informed him that the process of “shutting the eyes,” in the literal sense of the words, is not always wilful; and I propose to illustrate, by the crucial instance his own letter furnishes, that the “shutting of the eyes” of the mind to the obvious consequences of accepted propositions may also be involuntary. At least, I hope so.
1. “Sooner or later,” says Mr. Cunningham, “the population problem will block the way once more.” What does this mean, except that multiplication, excessive in relation to the contemporaneous means of support, will create a severe competition for those means? And this seems to me to be a pretty accurate “reflection of the conceptions of Malthus” and the other poor benighted folks of a past generation at whom Mr. Cunningham sneers.
2. By way of leaving no doubt upon this subject, Mr. Cunningham further tells us, “The struggle for existence is always going on, of course; let us thank Darwin for making us realize it.” It is pleasant to meet with a little gratitude to Darwin among the epigoni who are squabbling over the heritage he conquered for them, but Mr. Cunningham’s personal expression of that feeling is hasty. For it is obvious that he has not “realized” the significance of Darwin’s teaching–indeed, I fail to discover in Mr. Cunningham’s letter any sign that he has even “realized” what [288] he would be at. If the “struggle for existence is always going on”; and if, as I suppose will be granted, industrial competition is one phase of that struggle, I fail to see how my conclusion that it is sheer wickedness to tell ignorant men that “envy” is a corner-stone of competition can be disputed.
Mr. Cunningham has followed the lead of that polished and instructed person, Mr. Ben Tillett, in rebuking me for (as the associates say) attacking Mr. Booth’s personal character. Of course, when I was writing, I did not doubt that this very handy, though not too clean, weapon would be used by one or other of Mr. Booth’s supporters. And my action was finally decided by the following considerations: I happen to be a member of one of the largest life insurance societies. There is a vacancy in the directory at present, for which half a dozen gentlemen are candidates. Now, I said to myself, supposing that one of these gentlemen (whose pardon I humbly beg for starting the hypothesis), say Mr. A., in his administrative capacity and as a man of business, has been the subject of such observations as a Judge on the Bench bestowed upon Mr. Booth, is he a person for whom I can properly vote? And, if I find, when I go to the meeting of the policy-holders, that most of them know nothing of this and other evidences of what, by the mildest judgment, must be termed Mr. A.’s unfitness for administrative [289] responsibilities, am I to let them remain in their ignorance? I leave the answer and its application to men of sense and integrity.
The mention of Mr. Cunningham’s ally reminds me that I have omitted to thank Mr. Tillett for his very useful and instructive letter; and I hasten to repair a neglect which I assure Mr. Tillett was more apparent than real. Mr. Tillett’s letter is dated December 20th. On the 21st the following pregnant (however unconscious) commentary upon it appeared in “Reynolds’s Newspaper”:-
“I have always maintained that the Salvation Army is one of the mightiest Socialistic agencies in the country; and now Professor Huxley comes in to confirm that view. How could it be otherwise? The fantastic religious side of Salvationism will disappear in the course of time, and what will be left? A large number of men and women who have been organized, disciplined, and taught to look for something better than their present condition, and who have become public speakers and not afraid of ridicule. There you have the raw materials for a Socialist army.”
Mr. Ben Tillett evidently knows Latin enough to construe proximus ardet.
I trust that the public will not allow themselves to be led away by the false issues which are [290] dangled before them. A man really may love his fellow-men; cherish any form of Christianity he pleases; and hold not only that Darwinism is “tottering to its fall,” but, if he pleases, the equally sane belief that it never existed; and yet may feel it his duty to oppose, to the best of his capacity, despotic Socialism in all its forms, and, more particularly, in its Boothian disguise.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T.H. Huxley.
[Persons who have not had the advantage of a classical education might fairly complain of my use of the word epigoni. To say truth, I had been reading Droysen’s “Geschichte des Hellenismus,” and the familiar historical title slipped out unawares. In replying to me, however, the late “Fellow of University College,” Oxford, declares he had to look the word out in a Lexicon. I commend the fact to the notice of the combatants over the desirability of retaining the present compulsory modicum of Greek in our Universities.]
[291]
IX.
The “Times,” December 30th, 1890
Sir,–I am much obliged to Messrs. Ranger, Burton, and Matthews for their prompt answer to my questions. I presume it applies to all money collected by the agency of the Salvation Army, though not specifically given for the purposes of the “Christian Mission” named in the deed of 1878; to all sums raised by mortgage upon houses and land so given; and, further, to funds subscribed for Mr. Booth’s various projects, which have no apparent reference to the objects of the “Christian Mission” as defined in the deed. Otherwise, to use a phrase which has become classical, “it does not assist us much.” But I must leave these points to persons learned in the law.
And, indeed, with many thanks to you, Sir, for the amount of valuable space which you have allowed me to occupy, I now propose to leave the whole subject. My sole purpose in embarking upon an enterprise which was extremely distasteful to me was to prevent the skilful “General,” or rather “Generals,” who devised the plan of campaign from sweeping all before them with a rush. I found the pass already held by such stout defenders as Mr. Loch and the Dean [292] of Wells, and, with your powerful help, we have given time for the reinforcements, sure to be sent by the abundant, though somewhat slowly acting, common sense of our countrymen, to come up.
I can no longer be useful, and I return to more congenial occupations.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. H. Huxley.
The following letter appeared in the “Times” of January 2nd, 1891:–
“Dear Mr. Tillett,–I have not had patience to read Professor Huxley’s letters. The existence of hunger, nakedness, misery, ‘death from insufficient food,’ even of starvation, is certain, and no agency as yet reaches it. How can any man hinder or discourage the giving of food or help? Why is the house called a workhouse? Because it is for those who cannot work? No, because it was the house to give work or bread. The very name is an argument. I am very sure what Our Lord and His Apostles would do if they were in London. Let us be thankful even to have a will to do the same.
“Yours faithfully,
Henry E. Card. Manning.”
[293]
X.
The “Times,” January 3rd, 1891
SIR,–In my old favourite, “The Arabian Nights,” the motive of the whole series of delightful narratives is that the sultan, who refuses to attend to reason, can be got to listen to a story. May I try whether Cardinal Manning is to be reached in the same way? When I was attending the meeting of the British Association in Belfast nearly forty years ago, I had promised to breakfast with the eminent scholar Dr. Hincks. Having been up very late the previous night, I was behind time; so, hailing an outside car, I said to the driver as I jumped on, “Now drive fast, I am in a hurry.” Whereupon he whipped up his horse and set off at a hand-gallop. Nearly jerked off my seat, I shouted, “My good friend, do you know where I want to go?” “No, yer honner,” said the driver, “but, any way, I am driving fast.” I have never forgotten this object-lesson in the dangers of ill-regulated enthusiasm. We are all invited to jump on to the Salvation Army car, which Mr. Booth is undoubtedly driving very fast. Some of us have a firm conviction, not only that he is taking a very different direction from that in which we wish to go, but that, before long, car and driver will come to grief. Are we to accept [294] the invitation, even at the bidding of the eminent person who appears to think himself entitled to pledge the credit of “Our Lord and His Apostles” in favour of Boothism?
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. H. Huxley.
XI.
The “Times,” January 13th, 1891
SIR,–A letter from Mr. Booth-Clibborn, dated January 3rd, appeared in the “Times” of yesterday. This elaborate document occupies three columns of small print–space enough, assuredly, for an effectual reply to the seven letters of mine to which the writer refers, if any such were forthcoming. Mr. Booth-Clibborn signs himself “Commissioner of the Salvation Army for France and Switzerland,” but he says that he accepts my “challenge” without the knowledge of his chiefs. Considering the self-damaging character of his letter, it was, perhaps, hardly necessary to make that statement.
Mr. “Commissioner” Booth-Clibborn speaks of my “challenge.” I presume that he refers to my request for information about the authorship and fate of “The New Papacy,” in the letter [295] published in the “Times” on December 27th, 1890. The “Commissioner” deals with this matter in paragraph No. 4 of his letter; and I observe, with no little satisfaction, that he does not venture to controvert any one of the statements of my witnesses. He tacitly admits that the author of “The New Papacy” was a person “greatly esteemed in Toronto,” and that he held “a high position in the army”; further, that the Canadian “Commissioner” thought it worth while to pay the printer’s bill, in order that the copies already printed off might be destroyed and the pamphlet effectually suppressed. Thus the essential facts of the case are admitted and established beyond question.
How does Mr. Booth-Clibborn try to explain them away?
“Mr. Sumner, who wrote the little book in a hot fit, soon regretted it (as any man would do whose conscience showed him in a calmer moment when his ‘respectability’ returned with his repentance, that he had grossly misrepresented), and just before it appeared offered to order its suppression if the army would pay the costs already incurred, and which he was unable to bear.”
“The New Papacy” fills sixty closely printed duodecimo pages. It is carefully written, and for the most part in studiously moderate language; moreover, it contains many precise details and [296] figures, the ascertainment of which must have taken much time and trouble. Yet, forsooth, it was written in “a hot fit.”
I sincerely hope, for the sake of his own credit, that Mr. “Commissioner” Booth-Clibborn does not know as much about this melancholy business as I do. My hands are unfortunately tied, and I am not at liberty to use all the information in my possession. I must content myself with quoting the following passage from the preface to “The New Papacy”:–
“It has not been without considerable thought and a good deal of urging that the following pages have been given to the public. But though we would have shrunk from a labour so distasteful, and have gladly avoided a notoriety anything but pleasant to the feelings, or conducive to our material welfare, we have felt that in the interests of the benevolent public, in the interests of religion, in the interests of a band of devoted men and women whose personal ends are being defeated, and the fruit of whose labour is being destroyed, and, above all, in the interests of that future which lies before the Salvation Army itself, if purged and purified in its executive and returned to its original position in the ranks of Canadian Christian effort, it is no more than our duty to throw such light as we are able upon its true inwardness, and with that object and for the [297] furtherance of those ends we offer our pages to the public view.”
The preface is dated April 1889. According to the statement in the “Toronto Telegram” which Mr. “Commissioner” Booth-Clibborn does not dare to dispute, his Canadian fellow-“Commissioner” bought and destroyed the whole edition of “The New Papacy” about the end of the third week in April. It is clear that the writer of the paragraph quoted from the preface was well out of a “hot fit,” if he had ever been in one, while he had not entered on the stage of repentance within three weeks of that time. Mr. “Commissioner” Booth-Clibborn’s scandalous insinuations that Mr. Sumner was bribed by “a few sovereigns,” and that he was “bought off,” in the face of his own admission that Mr. Sumner “offered to order its suppression if the army would pay the costs already incurred, and which he was unable to bear” is a crucial example of that Jesuitry with which the officials of the army have been so frequently charged.
Mr. “Commissioner” Booth-Clibborn says that when “London headquarters heard of the affair, it disapproved of the action of the Commissioner.” That circumstance indicates that headquarters is not wholly devoid of intelligence; but it has nothing to do with the value of Mr. Sumner’s evidence, which is all I am concerned about. Very likely London headquarters will disapprove of its French [298] “Commissioner’s” present action. But what then? The upshot of all this is that Mr. Booth-Clibborn has made as great a blunder as simple Mr. Trotter did. The pair of Balaams greatly desired to curse, but have been compelled to bless. They have, between them, completely justified my reliance on Mr. Sumner as a perfectly trustworthy witness; and neither of them has dared to challenge the accuracy of one solitary statement made by that worthy gentleman, whose full story I hope some day or other to see set before the public. Then the true causes of his action will be made known.
Paragraph 2 of the “Commissioner’s” letter says many things, but not much about Mr. Hodges. The columns of the “Times” recently showed that Mr. Hodges was able to compel an apology from Mr. Trotter. I leave it to him to deal with the “Commissioner.”
As to the “Eagle” case, treated of in paragraph No. 3, a gentleman well versed in the law, who was in court during the hearing of the appeal, has assured me that the argument was purely technical; that the facts were very slightly gone into; and that, so far as he knows, no dissenting comment was made on the strictures of the Judge before whom the case first came. Moreover, in the judgment of the Master of the Rolls, fully recorded in the “Times” of February 14th, 1884, the following passages occur:–
[299] “The case had been heard by a learned Judge, who had exercised his discretion upon it, and the Court would not interfere with his discretion unless they could see that he was wrong. The learned Judge had taken a strong view of the conduct of the defendant, but nevertheless had said that he would have given relief if he could have seen how far protection and compensation could be given. And if this Court differed from him in that view, and could give relief without forfeiture, they would be acting on his own principle in doing so. Certain suggestions had been made with that view, and the Court had to consider the case under all the circumstances…. He himself (the Master of the Rolls) considered that it was probable the defendant, with his principles, had intended to destroy the property as a public-house, and that it was not right thus to take property under a covenant to keep it up as a public-house, intending to destroy it as such. He did not, however, think this was enough to deprive him of all relief. The defendant could only expect severe terms.”
Yet, Sir, Mr. “Commissioner” Booth-Clibborn, this high official of the Salvation Army, has the audacity to tell the public that if I had made inquiries I should have found that “in the Court of Appeal the Judge reversed the decision of his predecessor as regards seven eighths of the property, and the General was declared to have acted [300] all along with straight forwardness and good faith.”
But the nature of Mr. “Commissioner” Booth-Clibborn’s conceptions of straightforwardness and good faith is so marvellously illustrated by the portions of his letter with which I have dealt that I doubt not his statements are quite up to the level of the “Army” Regulations and Instructions in regard to those cardinal virtues. As I pointed out must be the case, the slave is subdued to that he works in.
For myself, I must confess that the process of wading through Mr. “Commissioner’s” verbose and clumsy pleadings has given me a “hot fit,” which, I undertake to say, will be followed by not so much as a passing shiver of repentance. And it is under the influence of the genial warmth diffused through the frame, on one of those rare occasions when one may be “angry and sin not,” that I infringe my resolution to trouble you with no more letters. On reflection, I am convinced that it is undesirable that the public should be misled, for even a few days, by misrepresentations so serious.
I am copiously abused for speaking of the Jesuitical methods of the superior officials of the Salvation Army. But the following facts have not been, and, I believe, cannot be, denied:–
1. Mr. Booth’s conduct in the “Eagle” case has been censured by two of the Judges.
[301] 2. Mr. Bramwell Booth admitted before Mr. Justice Lopes that he had made an untrue statement because of a promise he had made to Mr. Stead.*
* This statement has been disputed, but not yet publicly. (See p. 305.)
And I have just proved that Mr. “Commissioner” Booth-Clibborn asserts the exact contrary of that which your report of the judgment of the Master of the Rolls tells us that distinguished judge said.
Under these circumstances, I think that my politeness in applying no harder adjective than “Jesuitical” to these proceedings is not properly appreciated.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. H. Huxley.
XII.
The “Times,” January 22nd, 1891
SIR,–I think that your readers will be interested in the accompanying opinion, written in consultation with an eminent Chancery Queen’s Counsel, with which I have been favoured. It will be observed that this important legal deliverance [302] justifies much stronger language than any which I have applied to the only security (?) for the proper administration of the funds in Mr. Booth’s hands which appears to be in existence.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. H. Huxley.
1, Dr. Johnson’s Buildings, Temple, E.C., January 14, 1891.
MR. BOOTH’S DECLARATION OF TRUST DEED, 1878.
“I am of opinion, subject to the question whether there may be any provision in the Charitable Trusts Acts which can be made available for enforcing some scheme for the appropriation of the property, and with regard to the real and leasehold properties whether the conveyances and leases are not altogether void, as frauds on the Mortmain Acts, that nothing can be done to control or to interfere with Booth in the disposition or application of the properties or moneys purported to be affected by the deed.
“As to the properties vested in Booth himself, it appears to me that such are placed absolutely under his power and control both as to the disposal and application thereof, and that there are no trusts for any specific purposes declared which [303] could be enforced, and that there are no defined persons nor classes of persons who can claim to be entitled to the benefits of them, or at whose instance they could be enforced by any legal process.
“As to the properties (if any) vested in trustees appointed by Booth, it appears to me that the only person who has a locus standi to enforce these trusts is Booth himself, and that he would have absolute power over the trusts and the property, and might deal with the property as he pleased, and that, as in the former case, nothing could be done in the way of enforcing any trusts against him.
“As to the moneys contributed or raised by mortgage for the general purposes of the mission, it appears to me that Booth may expend them as he pleases, without being subject to any legal control, and that he cannot even be compelled to publish any balance-sheets.
“Whether there are any provisions in the Charitable Trusts Acts which could be made available for enforcing some scheme for the application of the property or funds is a question to which I should require to give a closer consideration should it become necessary to go into it; but at present, after perusing these Acts, and especially 16 and 17 Vict. c. 137 and 18 and 19 Vict. c. 124, I cannot see how they could be made applicable to the trusts as declared in this deed.
[304] “As to the Mortmain Acts, the matter is clearly charitable, and unless in the conveyances and leases to Booth, or to the trustees (if any) named by him, all the provisions of the Acts have been complied with, and the deeds have been enrolled under the Acts, they would be void. It is probable, however, that every conveyance and lease has been taken without disclosing any charitable trust, for the purpose of preventing it from being void on the face of it. It is to be noted that the deed is a mere deed poll by Booth himself, without any other party to it, who, as a contracting party, would have a right to enforce it.
“Whether there are any objects of the trust I cannot say. If there is, as the recital indicates, a society of enrolled members called ‘The Christian Mission,’ those members would be objects of the trust, but then, it appears to me, Booth has entire control and determination of the application. And, as to the trusts enuring for the benefit of the ‘Salvation Army,’ I am not aware what is the constitution of the ‘Salvation Army,’ but there is no reference whatever to any such body in the deed. I have understood the army as being merely the missionaries, and not the society of worshippers.
“If there is no Christian Mission Society of enrolled members, then there are no objects of the trust. The trusts are purely religious, and trading is entirely beyond its purposes. Booth can [305] ‘give away’ the property, simply because there is no one who has any right to prevent his doing so.
“Ernest Hatton.”
It is probably my want of legal knowledge which prevents me from appreciating the value of the professed corrections of Mr. Hatton’s opinion contained in the letters of Messrs. Ranger, Burton, and Matthews, “Times,” January 28th and 29th, 1891.
The note on page 301 refers to a correspondence, incomplete at the time fixed for the publication of my pamphlet, the nature of which is sufficiently indicated by the subjoined extracts from Mr. Stead’s letter in the “Times” of January 20th, and from my reply in the “Times” of January 24th. Referring to the paragraphs numbered 1, 2, at the end of my letter XI., Mr. Stead says:–
“On reading this, I at once wrote to Professor Huxley, stating that, as he had mentioned my name, I was justified in intervening to explain that, so far as the second count in his indictment went–for the Eagle dispute is no concern of mine–he had been misled by an error in the reports of the case which appeared in the daily papers [306] of November 4, 1885. I have his reply to-day, saying that I had better write to you direct. May I ask you, then, seeing that my name has been brought into the affair, to state that, as I was in the dock when Mr. Bramwell Booth was in the witness-box, I am in a position to give the most unqualified denial to the statement as to the alleged admission on his part of falsehood? Nothing was heard in Court of any such admission. Neither the prosecuting counsel nor the Judge who tried the case ever referred to it, although it would obviously have had a direct bearing on the credit of the witness; and the jury, by acquitting Mr. Bramwell Booth, showed that they believed him to be a witness of truth. But fortunately the facts can be verified beyond all gainsaying by a reference to the official shorthand-writer’s report of the evidence. During the hearing of the case for the prosecution, Inspector Borner was interrupted by the Judge, who said:–
“‘I want to ask you a question. During the whole of that conversation, did Booth in any way suggest that that child had been sold?’ Borner replied:–
“‘Not at that interview, my Lord.’
“It was to this that Mr. Bramwell Booth referred when, after examination, cross-examination, [307] and re-examination, during which no suggestion had been made that he had ever made the untrue statement now alleged against him, he asked and received leave from the Judge to make the following explanation, which I quote from the official report:–
“‘Will you allow me to explain a matter mentioned yesterday in reference to a question asked by your Lordship some days ago with respect to one matter connected with my conduct? Your Lordship asked, I think it was Inspector Borner, whether I had said to him at either of our interviews that the child was sold by her parents, and he replied “No.” That is quite correct; I did not say so to him, and what I wish to say now is that I had been specially requested by Mr. Stead, and had given him a promise, that I would not under any circumstances divulge the fact of that sale to any person which would ma ke it at all probable that any trouble would be brought upon the persons who had taken part in this investigation.’ (Central Criminal Court Reports, Vol. CII., part 612, pp. 1,035-6.)
“In the daily papers of the following day this statement was misreported as follows:–
“‘I wish to explain, in regard to your Lordship’s condemnation of my having said “No” to [308] Inspector Borner when he asked me whether the child had been sold by her parents–the reason why I stated what was not correct was that I had promised Mr. Stead not to divulge the fact of the sale to any person which would make it probable that any trouble should be brought on persons taking part in this proceeding.’
“Hence the mistake into which Professor Huxley has unwittingly fallen.
“I may add that, so far from the statement never having been challenged for five years, it was denounced as ‘a remarkably striking lie’ in the ‘War Cry’ of November 14th, and again the same official organ of the Salvation Army of November 18th specifically adduced this misreport as an instance of ‘the most disgraceful way’ in which the reports of the trial were garbled by some of the papers. What, then, becomes of one of the two main pillars of Professor Huxley’s argument?”
In my reply, I point out that, on the 10th of January, Mr. Stead addressed to me a letter, which commences thus: “I see in the ‘Times’ of this morning that you are about to republish your letters on Booth’s book.”
I replied to this letter on the 12th of January:–
[309] “Dear Mr. Stead,–I charge Mr. Bramwell Booth with nothing. I simply quote the ‘Times’ report, the accuracy of which, so far as I know, has never been challenged by Mr. Booth. I say I quote the ‘Times’ and not Mr. Hodges,* because I took some pains about the verification of Mr. Hodges’s citation.
* This is a slip of the pen. Mr. Hodges had nothing to do with the citation of which I made use.
“I should have thought it rather appertained to Mr. Bramwell Booth to contradict a statement which refers, not to what you heard, but to what he said. However, I am the last person to wish to give circulation to a story which may not be quite correct; and I will take care, if you have no objection (your letter is marked ‘private’), to make public as much of your letter as relates to the point to which you have called my attention.
“I am, yours very faithfully,
T. H. Huxley.”
To this Mr. Stead answered, under date of January 13th, 1891:–
“Dear Professor Huxley,–I thank you for your letter of the 12th inst. I am quite sure you would not wish to do any injustice in this matter. But, instead of publishing any extract from my letter, might I ask you to read the passage as it [310] appears in the verbatim report of the trial which was printed day by day, and used by counsel on both sides, and by the Judge during the case? I had hoped to have got you a copy to-day, but find that I was too late. I shall have it first thing to-morrow morning. You will find that it is quite clear, and conclusively disposes of the alleged admission of untruthfulness. Again thanking you for your courtesy,
“I am, yours faithfully,
W. T. Stead.”
Thus it appears that the letter which Mr. Stead wrote to me on the 13th of January does not contain one word of that which he ways it contains, in the statement which appears in the “Times” to-day. Moreover, the letter of mine to which Mr. Stead refers in his first communication to me is not the letter which appeared on the 13th, as he states, but that which you published on December 27th, 1890. Therefore, it is not true that Mr. Stead wrote “at once.” On the contrary, he allowed nearly a fortnight to elapse before he addressed me on the 10th of January 1891. Furthermore, Mr. Stead suppresses the fact that, since the 13th of January, he has had in his possession my offer to publish his version of the story; and he leads the reader to suppose that my only answer was that he “had better write to [311] you direct. All the while, Mr. Stead knows perfectly well that I was withheld from making public use of his letter of the 10th by nothing but my scruples about using a document which was marked “private”; and that he did not give me leave to quote his letter of the 10th of January until after he had written that which appeared yesterday.
And I add:–
As to the subject-matter of Mr. Stead’s letter, the point which he wishes to prove appears to be this–that Mr. Bramwell Booth did not make a false statement, but that he withheld from the officers of justice, pursuing a most serious criminal inquiry, a fact of grave importance, which lay within his own knowledge. And this because he had promised Mr. Stead to keep the fact secret. In short, Mr. Bramwell Booth did not say what was wrong; but he did what was wrong.
I will take care to give every weight to the correction. Most people, I think, will consider that one of the “main pillars of my argument,” as Mr. Stead is pleased to call them, has become very much strengthened.
[312]
LEGAL OPINIONS RESPECTING
“GENERAL” BOOTH’S ACTS.
In referring to the course of action adopted by “General” Booth and Mr. Bramwell Booth in respect of their legal obligations to other persons, or to the criminal and civil law, I have been as careful as I was bound to be, to put any difficulties suggested by mere lay commonsense in an interrogative or merely doubtful form; and to confine myself, for any positive expressions, to citations from published declarations of the judges before whom the acts of “General” Booth came; from reports of the Law Courts; and from the deliberate opinions of legal experts. I have now some further remarks to make on these topics.
I. The observations at p. 305 express, with due reserve, the impression which the counsel’s opinions, quoted by “General” Booth’s solicitors, made on my mind. They were written and sent to the printer before I saw the letter from a “Barrister NOT Practising on the Common Law Side,” and those from Messrs. Clarke and Calkin and Mr. George Kebbell, which appeared in the “Times” of February 3rd and 4th.
These letters fully bear out the conclusion which I had formed, but which it would have [313] been presumptuous on my part to express, that the opinions cited by “General” Booth’s solicitors were like the famous broken tea-cups “wisely ranged for show”; and that, as Messrs. Clarke and Calkin say, they “do not at all meet the main points on which Mr. Hatton advised.” I do not think that any one who reads attentively the able letter of “A Barrister NOT Practicing on the Common Law Side” will arrive at any other conclusion; or who will not share the very natural desire of Mr. Kebbell to be provided with clear and intelligible answers to the following inquiries:–
(1) Does the trust deed by its operation empower any one legally to call upon Mr. Booth to account for the application of the funds?
(2) In the event of the funds not being properly accounted for, is any one, and, if so, who, in a position to institute civil or criminal proceedings against any one, and whom, in respect of such refusal or neglect to account?
(3) In the event of the proceedings, civil or criminal, failing to obtain restitution of misapplied funds, is or are any other person or persons liable to make good the loss?
On December 24th, 1890, a letter of mine appeared in the “Times” (No. V. above) in which I put questions of the same import, and asked Mr. Booth if he would not be so good as to take counsel’s opinion on the “trusts” of which so [314] much has been heard and so little seen, not as they stood in 1878, or in 1888, but as they stand now? Six weeks have elapsed, and I wait for a reply.
It is true that Dr. Greenwood has been authorized by Mr. Booth to publish what he calls a “Rough outline of the intended Trust Deed” (“General Booth and His Critics,” p. 120), but unfortunately we are especially told that it “does not profess to be an absolutely accurate analysis.” Under these circumstances I am afraid that neither lawyers nor laymen of moderate intelligence will pay much attention to the assertion, that “it gives a fair idea of the general effect of the draft,” even although “the words in quotation marks are taken from it verbatim.”
These words, which I give in italics, (1) define the purposes of the scheme to be “for the social and moral regeneration and improvement of persons needy, destitute, degraded, or criminal, in some manner indicated, implied, or suggested in the book called ‘In Darkest England.'” Whence I apprehend that, if the whole funds collected are applied to “mothering society” by the help of speculative attorney “tribunes of the people,” the purposes of the trust will be unassailably fulfilled. (2) The name is to be “Darkest England Scheme,” (3) the General of the Salvation Army is to be “Director of the Scheme.” Truly valuable information all this! But taking it for what it is worth, the [315] public must not be misled into supposing that it has the least bearing upon the questions to which neither I, nor anybody else, has yet been able to obtain an intelligible answer, and that is, where are the vast funds which have been obtained, in one way or another, during the last dozen years in the name of the Salvation Army? Where is the presumably amended Trust Deed of 1888? I ask once more: Will Mr. Booth submit to competent and impartial legal scrutiny the arrangements by which he and his successors are prevented from dealing with the funds of the so-called “army chest” exactly as he or they may please?
II. With respect to the “Eagle” case, I am advised that Dr. Greenwood, whose good faith I do not question, has been misled into misrepresenting it in the appendix to his pamphlet. And certainly, the evidence of authoritative records which I have had the opportunity of perusing, appears to my non-legal mind to be utterly at variance with the statement to which Dr. Greenwood stands committed. I may observe, further, that the excuse alleged on behalf of Mr. Booth, that he signed the affidavit set before him by his solicitors without duly considering its contents, is one which I should not like to have put forward were the case my own. It may be, and often is, necessary for a person to sign an affidavit without [316] being able fully to appreciate the technical language in which it is couched. But his solicitor will always instruct him as to the effect of these terms. And, in this particular case where the whole matter turns on Mr. Booth’s personal intentions, it was his plainest duty to inquire, very seriously, whether the legal phraseology employed would convey neither more nor less than such intentions to those who would act on the affidavit, before he put his name to it.
III. With respect to Mr. Bramwell Booth’s case, I refer the reader to p. 311.
IV. As to Mr. Booth-Clibborn’s misrepresentations, see above, pp. 298, 299.
This much for the legal questions which have been raised by various persons since the first edition of the pamphlet was published.
DR. GREENWOOD’S “GENERAL BOOTH AND HIS CRITICS”
So far as I am concerned, there is little or nothing in this brochure beyond a reproduction of the vituperative stuff which has been going the round of those newspapers which favour “General” Booth for some weeks. Those who do not want to see the real worth of it all will not read [317] the preceding pages; and those who do will need no help from me.
I fear, however, that in justice to other people I must put one of Dr. Greenwood’s paragraphs in the pillory. He says that I have “built up, on the flimsy foundation of stories told by three or four deserters from the Army” (p. 114), a sweeping indictment against General Booth. This is the sort of thing to which I am well accustomed at the hands of anonymous newspaper writers. But in view of the following easily verifiable statements, I do not think that an educated and, I have no doubt, highly respectable gentleman like Dr. Greenwood can, in cold blood, contemplate that assertion with satisfaction.
The persons here alluded to as “three or four deserters from the army” are:–
(1) Mr. Redstone, for whose character Dr. Cunningham Geikie is guarantee, and whom it has been left to Dr. Greenwood to attempt to besmirch.
(2) Mr. Sumner, who is a gentleman quite as worthy of respect as Dr. Greenwood, and whose published evidence not one of the champions of the Salvation Army has yet ventured to impugn.
(3) Mr. Hodges, similarly libelled by that unhappy meddler Mr. Trotter, who was compelled to the prompt confession of his error (see p. 277).
(4) Notwithstanding this evidence of Mr. Trotter’s claims to attention, Dr. Greenwood quotes a [318] statement of his as evidence that a statement quoted by me from Mr. Sumner’s work is a “forgery.” But Dr. Greenwood unfortunately forgets to mention that on the 27th of December 1890 (Letter No. VII. above) Mr. Trotter was publicly required to produce proof of his assertion; and that he has not thought fit to produce that proof.
If I were disposed to use to Dr. Greenwood language of the sort he so freely employs to me, I think that he could not complain of a handsome scolding. For what is the real state of the case? Simply this–that having come to the conclusion, from the perusal of “In Darkest England,” that “General” Booth’s colossal scheme (as apart from the local action of Salvationists) was bad in principle and must produce certain evil consequences, and having warned the public to that effect, I quite unexpectedly found my hands full of evidence that the exact evils predicted had, in fact, already shown themselves on a great scale; and, carefully warning the public to criticize this evidence, I produced a small part of it. When Dr. Greenwood talks about my want of “regard to the opinion of the nine thousand odd who still remain among the faithful” (p. 114), he commits an imprudence. He would obviously be surprised to learn the extent of the support, encouragement, and information which I have received from active and sincere members of the Salvation Army [319] –but of which I can make no use, because of the terroristic discipline and systematic espionage which my correspondents tell me is enforced by its chief. Some of these days, when nobody can be damaged by their use, a curious light may be thrown upon the inner workings of the organization which we are bidden to regard as a happy family, by these documents.
[320] (blank page)
[321]
THE SALVATION ARMY
ARTICLES OF WAR,
To be signed by all who wish to be entered on the roll as soldiers.
Having received with all my heart the Salvation offered to me by the tender mercy of Jehovah, I do here and now publicly acknowledge God to be my Father and King, Jesus Christ to be my Saviour, and the Holy Spirit to be my Guide, Comforter, and Strength; and that I will, by His help, love, serve, worship, and obey this glorious God through all time and through all eternity.
Believing solemnly that The Salvation Army has been raised up by God, and is sustained and directed by Him, I do here declare my full determination, by God’s help, to be a true soldier of the Army till I die.
I am thoroughly convinced of the truth of the Army’s teaching.
I believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and conversion by the Holy Spirit, are necessary to Salvation, and that all men may be saved.
I believe that we are saved by grace, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and he that believeth hath the witness of it in himself. I have got it. Thank God!
I believe that the Scriptures were given by inspiration of God, and that they teach that not only does continuance in the favour of God depend upon continued faith in, and obedience to, Christ, [322] but that it is possible for those who have been truly converted to fall away and be eternally lost.
I believe that it is the privilege of all God’s people to be “wholly sanctified,” and that “their whole spirit and soul and body” may “be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is to say, I believe that after conversion there remain in the heart of the believer inclinations to evil, or roots of bitterness, which, unless overpowered by Divine grace, produce actual sin; but these evil tendencies can be entirely taken away by the Spirit of God, and the whole heart thus cleansed from anything contrary to the will of God, or entirely sanctified, will then produce the fruit of the Spirit only. And I believe that persons thus entirely sanctified may, by the power of God, be kept unblamable and unreprovable before Him.
I believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; in the general judgment at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the everlasting punishment of the wicked.
THEREFORE, I do here, and now, and for ever, renounce the world with all its sinful pleasures, companionship treasures, and objects, and declare my full determination boldly to show myself a Soldier of Jesus Christ in all places and companies, no matter what I may have to suffer, do, or lose, by so doing.
I do here and now declare that I will abstain from the use of all intoxicating liquors, and also from the habitual use of opium, laudanum, morphia, and all other baneful drugs, except when in illness such drugs shall be ordered for me by a doctor.
I do here and now declare that I will abstain from [323] the use of all low or profane language; from the taking of the name of God in vain; and from all impurity, or from taking part in any unclean conversation or the reading of any obscene book or paper at any time, in any company, or in any place.
I do here declare that I will not allow myself in any falsehood, deceit, misrepresentation, or dishonesty; neither will I practise any fraudulent conduct, either in my business, my home, or in any other relation in which I may stand to my fellow men, but that I will deal truthfully, fairly, honourably, and kindly with all those who may employ me or whom I may myself employ.
I do here declare that I will never treat any woman, child, or other person, whose life, comfort, or happiness may be placed within my power, in an oppressive, cruel, or cowardly manner, but that I will protect such from evil and danger so far as I can, and promote, to the utmost of my ability, their present welfare and eternal salvation.
I do here declare that I will spend all the time, strength, money, and influence I can in supporting and carrying on this War, and that I will endeavour to lead my family, friends, neighbours, and all others whom I can influence, to do the same, believing that the sure and only way to remedy all the evils in the world is by bringing men to submit themselves to the government of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I do here declare that I will always obey the lawful orders of my Officers, and that I will carry out to the utmost of my power all the Orders and Regulations of The Army; and further, that I will be an example of faithfulness to its principles, advance to the utmost of my ability its operations, and never allow, where I can prevent it, any injury to its interests or hindrance to its success.
[324] And I do here and now call upon all present to witness that I enter into this undertaking and sign these Articles of War of my own free will, feeling that the love of Christ who died to save me requires from me this devotion of my life to His service for the Salvation of the whole world, and therefore wish now to be enrolled as a Soldier of the Salvation Army.
________________________________________
_____________CORPS______________ 18___
____________________________________ ______________________________ Corps ___________________________ Division _____________________ 18____
(SINGLE)
FORM OF APPLICATION
FOR AN APPOINTMENT AS AN
OFFICER IN THE SALVATION ARMY
Name _____________________________________________________________________
Address __________________________________________________________________
1. What was your AGE last birthday? ___________________ What is the date of your birthday? _________________
2. What is your height? __________________
3. Are you free from bodily defect or disease? ____
4. What serious illnesses have you had, and when? ________________________ __________________________________________________________________________
5. Have you ever had fits of any kind? __________________ If so how long, and what kind? ___________________________________________
6. Do you consider your health good, and that you are strong enough for the work of an officer? __________________________________________________ If not, or if you are doubtful, write a letter and explain the matter.
7. Is your doctor’s certificate a full and correct statement so far as you know? ___________________________________________________________
8. Are you, or have you ever been, married? ___________
9. When and where CONVERTED? ____________________________
10. What other Religious Societies have you belonged to? _________________ __________________________________________________________________________
11. Were you ever a Junior Soldier? _____________________ If so, how long? ________________________________________
12. How long have you been enrolled as a SOLDIER? _______ and signed Articles of War? ____________________
13. If you hold any office in your Corps, say what and how long held? ____ __________________________________________________________________________
14. Do you intend to live and die in the ranks of the Salvation Army? ____
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
15. Have you ever been an open BACKSLIDER? ______________ If so, how long? ________________________________________
16. Why? _________________________________________________________________ Date of your Restoration? ___________________
17. Are you in DEBT? __________________ If so, how much? ______________________
18. How long owing? ______________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________
19. Did you ever use Intoxicating Drink? _____________ If so, how long is it since you entirely gave up its use? ________________
20. Did you ever use Tobacco or Snuff? _________ If so, how long is it since you gave up using either? ____________________
————————
21. What UNIFORM do you wear? ____________________________________________
22. How long have you worn it? ___________________________________________
23. Do you agree to dress in accordance with the direction of Headquarters? _________________
24. Can you provide your own uniform and “List of Necessaries” before entering the Service? ____________________________________________________
——————————–
25. Are you in a Situation? _____________ If so, how long? ________________________
26. Nature of duties, and salary _________________________________________
27. Name and address of employer? ________________________________________
28. If out, date of leaving last situation? _________________________ How long there? _____________________________________________________
29. Why did you leave? ___________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________
30. Name and address of last employer? ___________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________
31. Can you start the SINGING? __________
32. Can you play any musical instrument? _________________ If so, what? _____________________________________________________________
33. Is this form filled up by you? ________________________ Can you read well at first sight? _________________________
34. Can you write SHORTHAND? _________________________ If so, what speed and system? ____________________________________________
35. Can you speak any language other than English? _______________________ If so, what? _____________________________________________________________
36. Have you had any experience and success in the JUNIOR SOLDIERS’ WAR? _
37. If so, what? _________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ _
38. Are you willing to sell the “WAR CRY” on Sundays? ____________
39. Do you engage not to publish any books, songs, or music except for the benefit of the Salvation Army, and then only with the consent of Headquarters? ________________
40. Do you promise not to engage in any trade, profession, or other money- making occupation, except for the benefit of the Salvation Army, and then only with the consent of Headquarters? _________________________
41. Would you be willing to go ABROAD if required? _______________________
42. Do you promise to do your utmost to help forward the Junior Soldiers’ work if accepted? _____________
43. Do you pledge yourself to spend not less than nine hours every day in the active service of the Army, of which not less than three hours of each week day shall be spent in VISITATION? ______________________
44. Do you pledge yourself to fill up and send to Headquarters forms as to how your day is spent? ______________________
—————————-
45. Have you read, and do you believe, the DOCTRINES printed on the other side? ____________________
46. Have you read the “Orders and Regulations for Field Officers” of the Army? ________________________________
If you have not got a copy of “Orders and Regulations,” get one from Candidates’ Department at once. The price to Candidates is 2s. 6d.
47. Do you pledge yourself to study and carry out and to endeavour to train others to carry out all Orders and Regulations of the Army? ________
48. Have you read the Order on page 3 of this Form as to PRESENTS and TESTIMONIALS, and do you engage to carry it out? _________________________
49. Do you pledge yourself never to receive any sum in the form of pay beyond the amount of allowances granted under the scale which follows? ___________
ALLOWANCES– From the day of arrival at his station, each officer is entitled to draw the following allowances, provided the amount remains in hand after meeting all local expenses, namely:
— For Single Men: Lieutenants, 16s. weekly, and Captains, 18s.
— for Single Women: Lieutenants, 12s. weekly, and Captains, 15s. weekly.
— Married Men, 27s. per week, and ls. per week for each child under 14 years of age; in all cases without house-rent.
50. Do you perfectly understand that no salary or allowance is guaranteed to you, and that you will have no claim against the Salvation Army, or against any one connected therewith, on account of salary or allowances not received by you? _____________________________________________________
—————————–
51. Have you ever APPLIED BEFORE? ___ If so, when? ______________________
52. With what result? ____________________________________________________
53. If you have ever been in the service of the Salvation Army in any position, say what? ______________________________________________________
54. Why did you leave? ___________________________________________________
55. Are you willing to come into TRAINING that we may see whether you have the necessary goodness and ability for an Officer in the Salvation Army, and should we conclude that you have not the necessary qualifications, do you pledge yourself to return home and work in your Corps without creating any dissatisfaction? ____________________________________________
56. Will you pay your own travelling expenses if we decide to receive you in Training? _____________________________________________________________
57. How much can you pay for your maintenance while in Training? _________ __________________________________________________________________________
58. Can you deposit [Pound] 1 so that we can provide you with a suit of Uniform when you are Commissioned?
______________________________________________________
59. What is the shortest NOTICE you require should we want you? __________
60. Are your PARENTS willing that you should become an Officer? __________
61. Does any one depend upon you for support? _________ If so, who? ______ __________________________________________________________________________
62. To what extent? ______________________________________________________
63. Give your parents’, or nearest living relatives’, full address _______ __________________________________________________________________________
———————————
64. Are you COURTING? ________ If so, give name and address of the person: __________________________________________________________________________
65. How long have you been engaged? _____________ What is the person’s age? __________________________________________
66. What is the date of Birthday? _______________________ How long enrolled as a SOLDIER? _________________________
67. What Uniform does the person wear? ___________________________________ How long worn? ______________________
68. What does the person do in the Corps? ________________________________
69. Has the person applied for the work? _________________________________
70. If not, when does the person intend doing so? ________________________
71. Do the parents agree to the person coming into Training? _____________
———————————
72. Do you understand that you may not be allowed to marry until three years after your appointment as an Officer, and do you engage to abide by this? __________________
73. If you are not courting, do you pledge yourself to abstain from anything of the kind during Training and for at least twelve months after your appointment as a Commissioned Field Officer? __________________
74. Do you pledge yourself not to carry on courtship with any one at the station to which you are at the time appointed? __________________________
75. Do you pledge yourself never to commence, or allow to commence, or break off anything of the sort, without first informing your Divisional Officer, or Headquarters, of your intention to do so? ____________________
76. Do you pledge yourself never to marry any one marriage with whom would take you out of the Army altogether? _____________________________________
77. Have you read, and do you agree to carry out, the following Regulations as to Courtship and Marriage? ___________________
(a) “Officers must inform their Divisional Officer or Headquarters of their desire to enter into or break off any engagement, and no Officer is permitted to enter into or break off an engagement without the consent of his or her D.O.
(b) “Officers will not be allowed to carry on any courtship in the Town in which they are appointed; nor until twelve months after the date of their Commission.
(c) “Headquarters cannot consent to the engagement of Male Lieutenants, until their Divisional Officer is prepared to recommend them for command of a Station as Captain.
(d) “Before Headquarters can consent to the marriage of any Officer, the Divisional Officer must be prepared to give him three stations as a married man.
(e) “No Officer accepted will be allowed to marry until he or she has been at least three years in the field, except in cases of long-standing engagements before application for the work.
(f) “No Male Officer will, under any circumstances, be allowed to marry before he is twenty-two years of age, unless required by Headquarters for special service.
(g) “Headquarters will not agree to the Marriage of any Male Officer (except under extraordinary circumstances) until twelve months after consenting to his engagement.
(h) “Consent will not be given to the engagement of any male Officer unless the young woman is likely to make a suitable wife for an Officer, and (if not already an Officer) is prepared to come into Training at once.
(i) “Consent will be given to engagements between Female Officers and Soldiers, on condition that the latter are suitable for Officers, and are willing to come into Training if called upon.
(j) “Consent will never be given to any engagement or marriage which would take an Officer out of the Army.
(k) “Every Officer must sign before marriage the Articles of Marriage, contained in the Orders and Regulations for Field Officers.”
—————————-
PRESENTS AND TESTIMONIALS.
1. Officers are expected to refuse utterly, and to prevent, if possible, even the proposal of any present or testimonial to them.
2. Of course, an Officer who is receiving no salary, or only part salary, may accept food or other gifts, such as are needed to meet his wants; but it is dishonourable for any one who is receiving their salary to accept gifts of food also.
THE DOCTRINES OF THE SALVATION ARMY.
The principal Doctrines taught in the Army are as follows: —
1. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.
2. We believe there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things.
3. We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence, coequal in power and glory, and the only proper object of religious worship.
4. We believe that, in the person of Jesus Christ, the Divine and human natures are united, so that He is truly and properly God, and truly and properly man.
5. We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness; and that, in consequence of their fall, all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.
6. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has, by His suffering and death, made an atonement for the whole world, so that whosoever will may be saved.
7. We believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, are necessary to Salvation.
8. We believe that we are justified by grace, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself.
9. We believe the Scriptures teach that not only does continuance in the favour of God depend upon continued faith in, and obedience to, Christ, but that it is possible for those who have been truly converted to fall away and be eternally lost.
10. We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be “wholly sanctified,” and that “the whole spirit and soul and body” may “be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is to say, we believe that after conversion there remain in the heart of the believer inclinations to evil, or roots of bitterness, which, unless overpowered by Divine grace, produce actual sin; but that these evil tendencies can be entirely taken away by the Spirit of God, and the whole heart, thus cleansed from everything contrary to the will of God, or entirely sanctified, will then produce the fruit of the Spirit only. And we believe that persons thus entirely sanctified may, by the power of God, be kept unblamable and unreprovable before Him.