242 LETTERS TO THE " TIMES " v 



whenever it becomes too prosperous, they are 

 sure to bring about a catastrophe by their corrupt 

 use of the poKtical and social influence which 

 their organization and their wealth secure. 



With these examples of that which may happen 

 to institutions founded by noble men, with high 

 aims, in the hands of successors of a different 

 stamp, armed with despotic authority, before me, 

 common prudence surely requires that, before ad- 

 vising the handing over of a large sum of money 

 to the general of a new order of mendicants, I 

 should ask what guarantee there is that, thirty 

 years hence, the " General " who then autocrati- 

 cally controls the action, say, of 100,000 officers 

 pledged to blind obedience, distributed through 

 the whole length and breadth of the poorer 

 classes, and each with his finger on the trigger of 

 a mine charged with discontent and religious 

 fanaticism ; with the absolute control, say, of 

 eight or ten millions sterling of capital and as 

 many of income ; with barracks in every town, 

 with estates scattered over the country, and with 

 settlements in the colonies — will exercise his 

 enormous powers, not merely honestly, but wisely ? 

 What shadow of security is there that the person 

 who wields this uncontrolled authority over many 

 thousands of men shall use it solely for those 

 philanthropic and religious objects which, I do not 

 doubt, are alone in the mind of Mr. Booth ? Who 

 is to say that the Salvation Army, in the year 



