256 LETTERS TO THE " TIMES " V 



wholly ignorant namely, that 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 de- 

 gradation 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 de- 

 tailed exposition and criticism of these pieces 

 justificatives of my forecast. I say criticism, be- 

 cause 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 partc 

 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 



