266 LETTERS TO THE " TIMES " v 



" What is the result of all this 7 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 head- 

 quarters 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 con- 

 scientiously 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 



