v "DARKEST ENGLAND" SCHEME 247 



and placing themselves before all others. So no 

 faithful man now believes he can be saved, except he 

 is directed by the counsels of the Preachers and 

 Minorites." MATTHEW PARIS'S English History. 

 Translated by the Rev. J. A. GILES, 1889, Yol. I. 



II 



The " Times" December 9th, 1890 



SIR, The purpose of my previous letter about 

 Mr. Booth's scheme was to arouse the contributors 

 to the military chest of the Salvation Army to a 

 clear sense of what they are doing. I thought 

 it desirable that they should be distinctly aware 

 that they are setting up and endowing a sect, in 

 many ways analogous to the " Ranters " and 

 " Revivalists " of undesirable notoriety in former 

 times ; but with this immensely important differ 

 ence, that it possesses a strong, far-reaching, 

 centralized organization, the disposal of the physi 

 cal, moral, and financial strength of which rests 

 with an irresponsible chief, who, according to his 

 own account, is assured of the blind obedience of 

 nearly 10,000 subordinates. I wish them to ask 

 themselves, Ought prudent men and good citizens 

 to aid in the establishment of an organization 

 which, under sundry, by no means improbable, 

 contingencies, may easily become a worse and 



