" DARKEST ENGLAND " SCHEME 297 



object and for the 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-" Com- 

 missioner " 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 re- 

 pentance within three weeks of that time. Mr. 

 " Commissioner " Booth -Clibborn's scandalous in- 

 sinuations 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 fre- 

 quently 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 



