T "DARKEST ENGLAND" SCHEME. 251 



Mr. Booth tells us, with commendable frank- 

 ness, that " it is primarily and mainly for the sake 

 of saving the soul that I seek the salvation of the 

 body " (p. 45), which language, being interpreted, 

 means that the propagation of the special Sal- 

 vationist creed comes first, and the promotion of 

 the physical, intellectual, and purely moral wel- 

 fare of mankind second in his estimation. Men 

 are to be made sober and industrious, mainly, that, 

 as washed, shorn, and docile sheep, they may be 

 driven into the narrow theological fold which Mr. 

 Booth patronises. If they refuse to enter, for all 

 their moral cleanliness, they will have to take 

 their place among the goats as sinners, only less 

 dirty than the rest. 



I have been in the habit of thinking (and I 

 believe the opinion is largely shared by reasonable 

 men) that self-respect and thrift are the rungs of 

 the ladder by which men may most surely climb 

 out of the slough of despond of want; and I have 

 regarded them as perhaps the most eminent of the 

 practical virtues. That is not Mr. Booth's opin- 

 ion. For him they are mere varnished sins — 

 nothing better than " Pride re-baptised " (p. 46). 

 Shutting his eyes to the necessary consequences 

 of the struggle for life, the existence of which he 

 accepts as fully as any Darwinian,* Mr. Booth 

 tells men, whose evil case is one of those conse- 

 quences, that envy is a corner-stone of our com- 

 ♦ See p. 100. 



