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, Vol. I. 



II 



The " Times;' Dccciiibcr dth, 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 



