V "DARKEST ENGLAND" SCHEME. 277 



" So the quotation is not only ' a bitter, over- 

 charged anonymous libel/ as Professor Huxley 

 intimates, but a forgery as well. As to Mr. 

 Hodges, it seems to me to be simply trifling with 

 your readers to bring him in as an authority. 

 He was turned out of the army, out of kindness 

 taken on again, and again dismissed. If this had 

 happened to one of your staff, would his opinion 

 of the * Times ' as a newspaper be taken for 

 gospel?^' 



But in the " Times " of December 29th Mr. J. 

 S. Trotter writes: — 



*^ I find I was mistaken in saying, in my letter 

 of Wednesday, to the * Times ' that Mr. Hodges 

 was dismissed from the service of General Booth, 

 and regret any inconvenience the statement may 

 have caused to Mr. Hodges." 



And on December 30th the "Times" pub- 

 lished a letter from Mr. Hodges in which he says 

 that Mr. Trotter's statements as they regard him- 

 self " are the very reverse of truth. I was never 

 turned out of the Salvation Army. Nor, so far 

 as I was made acquainted with General Booth's 

 motives, was I taken on again out of kindness. 

 In order to rejoin the Salvation Army, I resigned 

 the position of manager in a mill where I was in 



