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diff --git a/old/39120-8.txt b/old/39120-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b05e69 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/39120-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1398 @@ + SALVATION SYRUP; OR, LIGHT ON DARKEST ENGLAND + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost +no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it +under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Title: Salvation Syrup; Or, Light On Darkest England + +Author: G. W. Foote + +Release Date: March 12, 2012 [EBook #39120] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALVATION SYRUP; OR, LIGHT ON +DARKEST ENGLAND *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger. + + + + + *SALVATION SYRUP; OR, LIGHT ON DARKEST ENGLAND* + + _By_ + + *G. W. Foote* + + _A REPLY TO GENERAL BOOTH_ + + + _1891_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + SALVATION SYRUP; OR, LIGHT ON DARKEST ENGLAND + POSTSCRIPTS TO SECOND EDITION + + + + +SALVATION SYRUP; OR, LIGHT ON DARKEST ENGLAND + + +Twenty years ago the Hallelujah Band spread itself far and wide, but +soon spent itself like a straw fire. Then arose the Salvation Army, +doing the same kind of work, and indulging in the same vagaries. These +were imitations of the antics of the cruder forms of Methodism. Even the +all-night meetings of the Whitechapel Salvationists, ten years ago, were +faint copies of earlier Methodist gatherings, especially of those in +Cornwall, which were described by the Rev. Richard Polwhele.(1) "At. St. +Agnes," said this writer, "the Society stays up the whole night, when +girls of twelve and fourteen years of age ran about the streets, calling +out that they are possessed." At Probus "the preacher at a late hour of +the night, after all but the higher classes left the room, would order +the candles to be put out, and the saints fall down and kneel on their +naked knees; when he would go round and thrust his hand under every knee +to feel if it were bare." The Salvationists never went so far as this. +Freaks of such description are left, in this age, to the followers of +King Solomon in the Brighton Glory Hole. But a friend of ours, who +visited an all-night Salvation meeting at Whitechapel in 1882, told us +that the light was very dim, the voices were low, cheeks came perilously +close in prayer, and at one moment the proceedings threatened to +develope into a thoroughgoing love-feast. + + 1. Anecdotes of Methodism. + +As far as a more cultivated age would allow, the Salvation Army +advertised and recruited itself by the familiar practices of what +Professor Huxley calls "corybantic Christianity." During the last six or +seven years it has grown more decorous, but prior to that time its +vulgarity was excessive. Its songs, its rowdy meetings, its coarse, +imbecile language, its ludicrous street processions, were enough to +furnish a Swift with fresh material for his indictment of mankind. The +names of its officers, as reported in its journal, were curiosities to +the student of human aberration. There was the "Hallelujah Fishmonger," +the "Blood-washed Miner," the "Devil Dodger," the "Devil Walloper," and +"Gypsy Sal." Many of the worshippers of success who are now flocking +around General Booth as a new Savior of Society, would be astonished if +they were to turn over the old pages of the _War Cry_. + +No one can pretend that "General," Booth is a man of spiritual genius. +He is essentially a man of business. His faculty is for organisation, +not for the promulgation of new ideas or the creation of new material. +His eye for a good advertisement is unequalled. Barnum forgot Booth in +calling himself the greatest showman on earth. As the present writer +said in 1882, the head of the Salvation Army is "a dexterous manager; he +knows how to work the oracle; he understands catering for the mob; in +short he is a very clever showman, who deals in religion, just as other +showmen deal in wild animals, giants, dwarfs, two-headed sheep, fat +women, and Siamese twins." + +Everything in the Salvation Army is subordinated to "business." At the +head-quarters a minute register is kept of all the officers. Few of them +are paid a regular salary. They are largely dependent on "results." +Whatever their faculty may be for "saving souls," they must rake in +enough shekels, or they are drafted from post to post, and finally +discharged. On the same principle, Booth has married his family "well," +as the world calls it, and put them into all the higher posts. + +By this means he secures a select circle of trusted subordinates, who +convey his orders to the lower circles of the Army, and see to their +execution. While this plan lasts there will be no dangerous mutiny; +especially as, in addition, the whole of the Army's property is held in +the name of William Booth. There is, in fact, a Booth dynasty; though it +may be doubted if the dynasty will long outlast its founder. Certainly +his death will cause changes, and his empire will probably split up like +Alexander's. + +Eight years ago the General's eldest sun was married to a young lady of +''great expectations," who joined the Booths against her father's +wishes. With a keen eye for business, the General resolved to turn the +marriage into a public show. Of course, the legal ceremony had to be +performed elsewhere, but the Salvation performance came off at the +Army's biggest meeting-place. The price of admission was a shilling a +head, and £300 was taken at the doors. A collection was also made +inside. During the speech of "Commissioner" Railton, an able man who has +had an eccentric career, the crowd began to press towards the door. +"Stop," cried Booth, "don't go yet, there's going to be a collection." +But the audience melted faster than ever. Then the General jumped up, +stopped Railton unceremoniously, and shouted, "Hold on! we'll make the +collection now." + +During the farcical marriage ceremony the General was duly facetious. +His remarks tickled the ears of the groundlings. There was also the +usual spice of blasphemy. Before Bramwell Booth marched on to the +platform a board was held up bearing the inscription, + + "Behold the bridegroom cometh." + +Begging letters were sent out by Commissioner Railton, though cheques +were to be "payable to William Booth, as usual." It was sought to raise +a good sum, not for Bramwell personally, but to reduce the Army's debt +of £11,000. The printed slips were headed, + +"Wedding Presents to Mr. Bramwell Booth," who was stated to have worked +so hard for the Army that his hair was grey at twenty-seven. But the +piety was properly mixed with the business, and subscribers were told +that their cash would not only gladden the hearts of the Booths, but +"make the devil tremble," and "give earth and hell another shock." + +This experiment was so successful that the General has repeated it on +several occasions. But he carried indecency to the point of +disgustfulness at the funeral of Mrs. Booth. The poor lady's corpse was +dragged hither and thither by the inveterate old showman. It was brought +up from Clacton-on-Sea and exhibited to the public at Clapton. +Collection boxes were well in evidence, and although there was no charge +to see the corpse, there were significant hints that a trifle was +expected. Then the corpse was removed to Olympia, the scene of Barnum's +triumphs. No effort was spared to secure a great success. Officers were +ordered up from all parts of the kingdom. The rank and file of the Army +were also invited, and tickets were available for any number of +outsiders. With regard to the performance, we must remember that tastes +differ. But one portion of it was calculated to shock every person with +any delicacy of feeling. Booth and his kindred stood up to sing around +the coffin the hymn they sang around Mrs. Booth's death-bed. The +performers seemed to say, "Ladies and Gentlemen, you were not present +when we sang your mother to glory, but just look and listen, and you +will see how it was done." + +For a third time the corpse was shifted to Queen Victoria-street. +Unlimited advertising brought a tremendous crowd of sight-seers. Booth +headed the procession, followed by the Booth dynasty, and all of them +bowed and smiled to the cheering multitude. + +Even in a funeral coach the Grand Old Showman had an eye to business. + +Such being General Booth's attitude towards the public, what is his +attitude towards the Salvation Army? Any one who reads his "Orders and +Regulations" will see that he has his cattle well in hand, and not only +can drive them where he pleases, but flick them smartly on any part with +his long-reaching whip. He subjects them absolutely to his persona! +despotism. Every part of his soldiers' lives is regulated. They must +court and marry within the ranks. "Should a soldier," he says, "become +engaged to an officer who afterwards gives up or forfeits his or her +commission, the soldier would be justified in breaking off the +engagement." The General wishes to _breed_ Salvationists. He tells them +what to eat and what to wear. He informs them that they are only +passengers through this world. "Though still living in the world," he +says, "the Salvationist is not of it, and he has, in this respect no +more business with its politics-- that is, the public management of +affairs--than he has with its pleasures." When the General wants his +soldiers to vote or act politically, he will issue a manifesto, and +every one is then expected to "act in harmony with the rules and +regulations laid down for him by his superior officers." These superior +officers, who take _their_ orders from General Booth, must be perfectly +obeyed, for "they have the Spirit of God, and will only command what is +right." + +Now it is well to remember all this in discussing General Booth's new +scheme of social salvation. He insists on retaining absolute command of +all the funds, and on working the whole scheme through the Salvation +Army. All who assist him, therefore, are helping to promote the +development of a vast body of religious fanatics, under the despotic +control of a single man, who will not scruple, when it serves his +purpose to, use his voluntary slaves, for political as well as social +objects. For General Booth has his own notions-- crude as many of them +are--and it is not in human nature to refrain from using power for the +realisation of one's ideas. And Pope Booth is more absolute than Pope +Pecci. The Vicar of Christ at Rome is unable to move without his Holy +Council of Cardinals; but the Vicar of Christ in Queen Victoria-street, +London, is the unchecked and irresponsible ruler of the whole Salvation +Army. + +General Booth's success as an organiser is great, though he has had a +comparatively easy task in organising _sheep_. Now, however, he proposes +to deal with the _goats_. Some of his scanty leisure has been devoted to +studying the social question, and as the interest in the Army's old +methods is obviously declining, he proposes to raise a million of money, +and reform that part of the population which John Bright called "the +residuum." In other words, the wily old General has launched a new boom. + +Plaudits are heard on nearly every side. The religious bodies give him +the homage of fear. They shout approval because they dare not show +hostility. Next come the mob of cheap philanthropists. This consists of +rich ladies and gentleman, who feel twinges of remorse at living +sumptuously while others are starving, and who are ready to pay +conscience-money to any social charlatan. When they have written out a +cheque they feel relieved. "On with the dance, let joy be unconfined." +But it is not thus that the spectre of poverty and misery will be laid. + + Evil is wrought by want of thought, + + As well as by want of heart. + +If the so-called lower classes are to be elevated, the so-called upper +classes will find they will have to do some _thinking_. Social knots +cannot be cut, they must be untied. The Sphinx says you must _read_ her +riddle. All the money-bags in the world will never smooth her terrible +brow. + +General Booth's scheme of social salvation is before the world in the +form of a book. Let us examine the prophecy of this would-be Moses of +the serfs of poverty and degradation. + +An ordinary author would sign himself "William Booth," but this one is +"General" even on a title-page. In Darkest England is an obvious +plagiarism on Stanley, and The Way Out is suggested by his long travel +through the awful Central African forest. + +In the preface General Booth acknowledges the "valuable literary help" +of a "friend of the poor, who, though not in any way connected with the +Salvation Army, has the deepest sympathy with its aims, and is to a +large extent in harmony with its principles." The friend is Mr. Stead. +This gentleman has "written up" the scheme in the manner of "the born +journalist," that is, in the fashion of the Modern Babylon" and the +adventures of Eliza Armstrong. He contributes the descriptions, the +gush, the hysterics, the sentences crowded with adjectives and adverbs. +Sometimes he writes a whole chapter, unless our literary scent misleads +us; sometimes he interpolates the General, and sometimes the General +interpolates Stead. One result of this twofold authorship is that the +book is twice as big as it should be; another result is that it often +contradicts itself. For instance, the General states in the preface that +he has known "thousands, nay, I can say tens of thousands," who have +proved the value of _spiritual_ means of reformation, having "with +little or no temporal assistance, come out of the darkest depths of +destitution, vice, and crime, to be happy and honest citizens and true +sons and servants of God." Elsewhere (p. 243) he speaks of them as +"multitudes." Yet in the very next paragraph of the preface Mr. Stead +(if we mistake not) breaks in with the assertion that "the rescued are +appallingly few," a mere "ghastly minority." + +This little contradiction may throw light on the rumor that Booth has +been urged into this scheme of temporal salvation. Once upon a time he +was down on "Commissioner" Smith, whose tendencies in this direction +were obtrusive; and how long is it since he wrote in the new Rules and +Regulations, that the members of the Salvation Army had nothing to do +with the world, its politics, its business, or its pleasures? The hand +is the hand of Booth, but the voice seems the voice of Stead. + +Here is another contradiction, and this time a vital one. The General +curls his upper lip (p. 18) at those "anti-Christian economists who hold +that it is an offence against the doctrine of the survival of the +fittest to try to save the weakest from going to the wall, and who +believe that when once a man is down the supreme duty of a +self-regarding Society is to jump upon him." Without dwelling on the +fact that this is a shocking and perfectly gratuitous libel, probably +meant to pander to Christian prejudices, we content ourselves with +drawing attention to a contradictory declaration (p. 44) that "In the +struggle for life the weakest will go to the wall, and there are so many +weak. The fittest, in tooth and claw, will survive. All that we can do +is to soften the lot of the unfit and make their suffering less horrible +than it is at present. No amount of assistance will give a jellyfish a +backbone. No outside propping will make some men stand erect." Thus the +General, or Mr. Stead, joins hands with the "anti-Christian economists" +in the doctrine that it is useless to try to save the weakest from going +to the wall. Of course he does not endorse the policy of jumping on +them, but that policy is merely a production of his own pious +imagination. + +This contradiction we say is vital. The first statement is a sneer at +Natural Selection, the second is a frank admission of its supremacy. +They represent two antagonistic philosophies. They mark the parting of +the ways between the Christian and the Evolutionist. They are as +incompatible as oil and water, and no thoughtful man would attempt to +reconcile them. But Booth (or isn't it Stead?) combines incompatibles +with the alkali of sentiment. And this failure to discern the +distinctiveness of opposite first principles shows the book to be the +work of sciolists, and vitiates its scheme of social reform from +beginning to end. No work can succeed without a knowledge of materials. +Every effort at improvement has in it the elements of success or failure +as it recognises or ignores the special laws of human nature, and the +more general laws of biology that lie behind them. + +An amusing contradiction occurs in another place (p. 14), to which we +call attention in order to show the chaotic character of the writing; +and this time, we judge from the style, it is Stead contradicting Stead. +Speaking of the harlot, he says-- + +"But there, even in the lowest depths, excommunicated by Humanity and +outcast from God, she is far nearer the pitying heart of the One true +Savior than all the men who forced her down, aye, and than all the +Pharisees and Scribes who stand silently by while these fiendish wrongs +are perpetrated before their very eyes." + +The theology of this passage is worthy of the wild exaggeration with +which it closes. The poor harlot is "outcast from God," but near the +"pitying heart" of Christ; in other words, God the Father is on the side +of injustice and cruelty, and God the Son on the side of justice and +mercy. One person of the Trinity is played off against another, and it +is not for us to settle the difference between them. We leave the matter +to the second thoughts of Mr. Stead, or the divine illumination of +General Booth. + +Indeed, the entire theology of this book is worthy of Bedlam, and +especially of the criminal lunatic department. A personal Devil is +seriously trotted out (p. 159) for the laughter of intelligent men and +women, and even of decently educated children. Prosperous people, we are +told, see something strange and quaint in the language of the Bible, +which "habitually refers to the Devil as an actual personality," but +Hell and the Devil are certitudes to the Salvationists who work in the +slums. + +Well, if the Devil is so active, what is God doing? Apparently nothing. +Booth is going to reform our drunkards, or try to if we give him the +money, but he candidly admits (p. 181), perhaps in a moment of +forgetfulness, that the confirmed toper will drink himself "into a +drunkard's grave and a drunkard's hell," unless he is "delivered by an +Almighty hand." It is God alone, then, who can save the most fallen. +Their fate lies in his hands. And what does he do for them? The answer +is to be found in General Booth's appeal. A million of money, and the +co-operation of a multitude of men and women, are requested for the +purpose of saving at least _some_ of the poor wretches who are beyond +the power of self-help, although "the Almighty hand" could easily pluck +them out of their degradation. Nor does Booth expect that _all_ will be +saved by his scheme, however well supported and successful. It is +perfectly clear, therefore, that the God he worships will allow men and +women to perish whom he might promptly save; yes, allow them to perish +in this world, physically, intellectually, and morally, and afterwards +torment them for ever and ever in Hell. And it is this God, this +incredible monster of wickedness, in whom General Booth trusts, and whom +he bids the Freethinker look up to with admiration and love. Nay, he +regards "trust in Jehovah" (p. 241) as the chief credential of the +Salvation Army for carrying out an enterprise which is to cost a million +sterling. Let the worshippers of Jehovah support him then. The +Freethinker will necessarily regard this insane theology as a rottenness +at the very heart of the experiment. + +Without going through all the insane theology of this book, we may--nay, +we must--give a crowning instance of it. + +"I am quite satisfied that these multitudes will not be saved in their +present circumstances. All the Clergymen, Home Missionaries, Tract +Distributors, Sick Visitors, and everyone else who care about the +Salvation of the poor, may make up their minds as to that. If these +people are to believe in Jesus Christ, become the Servants of God, and +escape the miseries of the wrath to come, they must be helped out of +their present social miseries. They must be put into a position in which +they can work and eat, and have a decent room to live and sleep in, and +see something before them besides along, weary, monotonous, grinding +round of toil, and anxious care to keep themselves and those they love +barely alive, with nothing at the further end but the Hospital, the +Union, or the Madhouse. If Christian Workers and Philanthropists will +join hands to effect this change, it will be accomplished, and the +people will rise up and bless them, and be saved; if they will not, the +people will curse them and perish."--(p. 257). + +Did ever a human being excogitate such blasphemous nonsense? God is +openly declared to be a passive spectator of the great struggle between +good and evil. At the end of it he will save the succeeders and damn the +failers; although, according to Booth's own admission, hosts of both +classes are what they are through the pressure of circumstances. +Compared with such a God the bloody Moloch was a respectable deity. + +Four men are living within sight and sound of each other, and one of +them goes to the bad. Thereupon it is the duty of Smith, Jones, and +Brown to rescue Robinson. If they succeed, God will give him a seat in +Heaven; if they fail, or neglect their duty, God will cast him into +Hell. Thus Robinson's fate depends upon the sympathy, self-sacrifice, +and wisdom of Smith, Jones, and Brown. Want of heart on their part, and +even want of sense, are alike fatal to his chance of salvation. God lets +them do their best; if they do nothing, he is just as serene; and at the +day of judgment he sends Robinson to bliss or damnation, accordingly as +Smith, Jones, and Brown--separately or collectively--have succeeded or +failed in keeping him out of the gutter. + +What a view of God! And what a ghastly, roundabout way of stating the +truth that religion is powerless to save the fallen, that men and women +can only be elevated by secular agencies! + +This truth has always been proclaimed by Freethinkers. It is a +commonplace of their teaching. Yet the Churches have ignored or denied +it. Here is General Booth, however, announcing it clearly enough to all +who will take the theological wadding out of their ears. True, the +discovery is late, but better late than never. + +It is upon this truth that Booth's scheme is founded. Sometimes, indeed, +he forgets it, and talks as though the preaching of Christ and him +crucified were enough to regenerate society. But this truth, that man is +very largely the creature of circumstances, and that evil circumstances +should be changed if there is to be any improvement, is the governing +idea of his project. + +No doubt the "General" seeks an escape from the logical consequences of +this truth. He says, for instance, that (p. 286) "to me has been given +the idea," as though God _had_ intervened and selected him as the human +agent. But this is all nonsense. In the first place, if God gave Booth +the idea, he might as well have given him the cash. In the second place, +the idea--or rather, the set of ideas--is by no means a revelation. +Every part of Booth's scheme has been advocated by other men, and +several parts are already reduced to practice, though not on the +gigantic scale he contemplates. His Farm Colony is admittedly borrowed +from Mr. B. T. Craig, a veteran Freethinker who was the soul of the +Ralahine experiment. With this gentleman Booth has had interviews; +indeed, the "General"--perhaps with Mr. Stead's assistance--has simply +picked other men's brains, although he takes care to conceal his +indebtedness. + +Naturally, too, the astute leader of the Salvation Army recognises the +necessity of a _pious_ appeal to wealthy Christians. He therefore +"asserts in the most unqualified way that it is primarily and mainly for +the sake of saving souls" that he "seeks the salvation of the body" (p. +45). And he declares (p. 3) it must not be supposed that he is "less +dependent upon the old plans" or that he "seeks anything short of the +old conquest." At the same time (p. 279) he "does not think that any +sectarian differences or religious feelings whatever ought to be +imported into this question." Is it not better, he asks, that miserable +crowds of men and women should have work, food, clothes, and a home, +even with "some peculiar religious notions and practices," than that +they should be "hungry, and naked, and homeless, and possess no religion +at all"? Put in this way, of course, the question admits of only one +answer. But this way of putting it begs the wider question; for it does +not follow that Booth's is the only possible scheme of social reform, or +even that it is calculated to succeed. + +The real fact is, disguise it how it may, that Booth's scheme is only an +extension of the Salvation Army. He promises that there shall be no +compulsion, that the poor he gets hold of shall not be pressed into any +form of faith, that religious freedom shall be respected. But what will +the promise avail? The whole scheme, from top to bottom, is to be worked +by the Salvationists; every penny is to pass through Booth's hands, and +every order is to issue from his brain. Outsiders are only wanted in the +shape of subscribers. Is it not idle then, to suppose that the scheme +will, in practice, be anything else than a huge recruiting system for +the Salvation Army? We venture to say that if Booth's _first_ thought +were for the poor, he would invite the formation of an influential +Committee, and not seek the monopoly of all the cash and credit for his +own sect. + +Let us now turn to the scheme itself. Let us see what evils are to be +remedied, and the nature of the remedy proposed. + +In the opening chapters, written almost exclusively by Mr. Stead, there +is a vivid, but, of course, exaggerated, picture of the diseases of +society. The writer has walked through the "shambles of our +civilisation," until "it seemed as if God were no longer in this world, +but that in his stead reigned a fiend, merciless as Hell, ruthless as +the grave." Of course the grave is neither ruthless nor tender; and, of +course, it is not Hell, but the God of Hell, that is merciless. But, +apart from these criticisms, it is evident that Mr. Booth-Stead or Mr. +Stead-Booth, is aware of much preventible evil; nor are we disposed to +quarrel with him for calling it "a satire upon our Christianity," +although we might suggest the impossibility of satirising a creed which +has to make such shameful confessions after so many centuries of wealth, +power, and privilege, and such a supreme opportunity of cleansing the +world if it had the capacity for the task. This Christianity has failed +--disastrously and ignominiously; yet has it played the dog in the +manger, and refused to allow Science and Philosophy a trial; and even +now, when condemned and self-condemned, it only whines for another +chance, like an old offender for the hundredth time in the prisoners' +dock. + +Eighteen centuries after the advent of "the Redeemer," and in the most +pious country in the world, it is Booth's calculation that one-tenth of +the population, or about three millions of men, women, and children are +sunk in destitution, vice, and crime. In London alone, the city of +churches, where everything but religion is tabooed on Sunday, there are +100,000 prostitutes, 85,000 thieves, and drunkards galore, to say +nothing of the paupers, the idle, and the temporarily unemployed. And +the disease is getting worse, according to Booth, who declares that +something must be done immediately. Well, we will neither dispute his +statistics nor his forecast, but just take his plan of campaign and see +whether it has the remotest chance of success. + +What is General Booth's scheme for dealing with the "submerged tenth," +or three millions of the poor, the unemployed, and the vicious? And in +what spirit will he set to work if he gets the hundred thousand pounds +down, with the prospect of the rest of a million pounds afterwards? + +Booth is a bold man and his promises are magnificent. + +"If the scheme," he says, "which I set forth in these pages is not +applicable to the Thief, the Harlot, the Drunkard, and the Sluggard, it +may as well be dismissed without ceremony." + +We suspect that the Sluggard will be the toughest subject of all. Booth +has to solve the insoluble problem of how to put nervous energy into a +body in which it is constitutionally lacking. Common sense says the +thing cannot be done. You may galvanise the Sluggard for a while, but +the effect will not last. Energy is not acquired, it is congenital. If +Booth would take the trouble to read Mr. Havelock Ellis's book on +Criminals, not to mention more recondite ^ works, he would see that the +Sluggard and the Thief are first cousins. Both have a defective +vitality, only the Thief, and the Criminal generally, is capable, like +all predatory creatures, of spasmodic activity. The type is well known +and should be dealt with scientifically. Inveterate criminals should be +segregated. There is no necessity to treat them with cruelty. They +should be surrounded with comfort, but they should be rigorously +prevented from procreating their like. Science shows us that the only +permanently successful way of dealing with these classes is to cut off +the supply. + +Certainly there are many persons in gaol who are not congenital +criminals, and these should be dealt with in a spirit of wisdom and +humanity. Were they treated like men, subjected to proper discipline, +and rewarded for good behavior and industry, instead of being punished +so liberally for bad behavior and idleness, most of them would be +reclaimed. In ordinary prisons --so wretched, so inhuman, and so +imbecile is the system--eighty per cent, of first offenders come back +again; while in the one great American prison which is conducted on a +better method the percentage is exactly reversed, only twenty per cent, +returning to gaol, and eighty per cent, joining the ranks of decent +society. + +General Booth is not a scientist. He knows nothing of the lessons of +Evolution. He is not aware that thousands of men and women are born in +every generation who are behind the age. They are types of a vanished +order of mankind, relics of antecedent stages of culture. Natural +Selection is always eliminating them, and General Booth proposes to +coddle them, to surround them with artificial circumstances, and give +them a better chance. He does not see that most of them, however propped +up by the more energetic and independent, will always bear the stamp of +unfitness; nor does he see that he will enable them to beget and rear a +more numerous offspring of the same character. + +The law of heredity is a stern fact, and it will not budge a +hair's-breadth for General Booth and all the sentimental religionists in +the world. + +Take the Harlots, for instance. We are far from denying that many girls, +after being seduced by men, are pushed into a life of vice. Christian +society has no mercy on female frailty; it drives a girl who has +listened to the voice of a tempter, or the first suggestions of her +sexual passions, into a career of infamy; and then, when it has helped +to poison her life, it hypocritically sheds tears over her and sets up +associations for her rescue. This is true enough--damnably true--but it +is not the whole truth. Just as there are congenital criminals, there +are congenital harlots. They are cases of survival or reversion. +Discipline of every kind is hateful to them. They prefer to do what they +like, how they like, and when they like. Animality and vanity are strong +in them, but they have little steady energy and no self-control. In a +polygamous state of society they would find a place in a harem; but in a +monogamous and industrial state of society they are hopelessly out of +harmony with the general environment. Here is an instructive little +table from General Booth's book. He takes a hundred cases "as they come" +from his Rescue Register. + +Twenty-three of these girls had been in prison. Only two were pushed +into vice by poverty. Seduction, wilful choice, and bad company, come to +much the same thing in the end. In any case, one-fourth of the whole +hundred deliberately took to prostitution. Now: + + Causes of Fall: + + Drink 14 + + Seduction 33 + + Wilful Choice 24 + + Bad Company 27 + + Poverty 2 + + Total 100 + +if General Booth fancies that the money he spends on these is a good +investment, while a greater number of good girls are trying to lead an +honest life in difficult circumstances, with little or no assistance +from "charity," we venture to say he is grievously mistaken; and we +think he is basking in a Fool's Paradise, unless he is trading on pious +credulity, when he looks forward (p. 133) to the girls of Piccadilly +exchanging their quarters for "the strawberry beds of Essex or Kent." + +Facts are facts. It is useless to blink them. The present writer did not +make the world, or its inhabitants, and he disowns all responsibility +for its miserable defects. But when you attempt to reform the world +there is only one thing that will help you. Humanity is presupposed. +Without it you would never make a beginning. But after that the one +requisite is Science. Now all the science displayed in General Booth's +book might be written large on thick paper, and tied to the wrings of a +single pigeon without impeding its flight. + +General Booth himself, in one of his lucid intervals, recognises the +hard facts we have just insisted on. "No change in circumstances," he +says (p. 85), "no revolution in social conditions, can possibly +transform the nature of man." "Among the denizens of Darkest England +there are many who have found their way thither by defects of character +which would, under the most favorable circumstances, relegate them to +the same position." Again he says (p. 204): + +"There are men so incorrigibly lazy that no inducement you could offer +will tempt them to work; so eaten up by vice that virtue is abhorrent to +them, and so inveterately dishonest that theft is to them a master +passion. When a human being has reached that stage, there is only one +course that can be rationally pursued. Sorrowfully, but remorselessly, +it must be recognised that he has become lunatic, morally demented, +incapable of self-government, and that upon him, therefore, must be +passed the sentence of permanent seclusion from a world in which he is +not fit to be at large." + +These very people, who are the worst part of the social problem, Booth +will not trouble himself very greatly about. Here are a few extracts +from the Rules for the "Colonists," as he calls the people who come into +his scheme. + +(a) Expulsion for drunkenness, dishonesty, or falsehood will follow the +third offence. + +(b) After a certain period of probation, and a considerable amount of +patience, all who will not work to be expelled. + +(c) The third offence will incur expulsion, or being handed over to the +authorities. + +_Expulsion_ is Booth's whip, and a very convenient one --for him! He +will soon simplify his enterprise. All who come to him will be taken, +but he will speedily return to society all the liars, drunkards, +thieves, and idlers; so that when the scheme is in full swing, society +will still have the old problem of dealing with the residuum, and in +this respect Booth will not have helped in the least. + +General Booth's scheme is thus, in the ultimate analysis, merely one for +dealing with the unemployed. On this point his ideas are simply +childish. He seems to imagine that _work_ is a thing that can be found +in unlimited quantities. He does not suspect the existence of economic +laws. It never occurs to him that by artificially providing work for one +unemployed person he may drive another person out of employment. Nor has +he the least inkling of the law of population which lies behind +everything. + +In his Labor Shops, in London, he proposes to make match-boxes. Well, +now, the community is already supplied with all the match-boxes it +wants. The demand cannot be stimulated. And every girl that Booth takes +in from the streets and sets to making match-boxes, which are to be put +on the market, will turn some other girl out of employment at Bryant and +May's or other match factories. + +Similarly with the Salvation Bottles (p. 120) and the Social Soap (p. +136). Booth's soap, if it gets sold, will lessen the demand for other +people's soap, and thus a lot of existing soap-makers will be thrown out +of work. If he collects old bottles, and furbishes them up "equal to +new," there will be so many less new bottles wanted, and a lot of +existing glass-bottle makers will be thrown out of work. The wily old +General of the Salvation Army, owing to a want of economic knowledge, +falls into a most obvious fallacy. He is like the Irishman, who +lengthened his shirt by cutting a piece off the top and sewing it on the +bottom. + +Getting hold of fish and meat tins, cleaning them up, and manufacturing +them into toys, is hardly worth all the eloquence spent upon it by +Booth's literary adviser. Nor is there much to be said in favor of an +Inquiry Office for lost people. If it be true that 18,000 people are +"lost" in London every year, it may be assumed that the majority of them +do not want to be found, and it is the business of the police to look +after the rest. Neither is there any necessity to subvention General +Booth to obtain workman's dwellings out of town instead of ugly, dreary +model dwellings in the midst of dirt and smoke. Nothing can be done +until provision is made by the railway companies for conveying the +workmen to and fro for twopence a day, and when this step is taken, as +it must be, private enterprise will construct the dwellings without +Salvation charity. With regard to the scheme of the Poor Man's Bank, it +would have been but fair to say that the idea is borrowed from infidel +Paris, where for many years a benevolent Society has lent money to +honest and capable poor men with gratifying results. + +The giving of legal advice gratis to the poor would be a good thing if +it did not lead to unlimited litigation. Of course General Booth does +not say, and perhaps he does not know, that Mr. Bradlaugh has been doing +this for twenty-five years. Thousands of poor men, not necessarily +Freethinkers, have had the benefit of his legal advice. No one in quest +of such assistance has ever knocked at his door in vain. Finally, with +respect to "Whitechapel-at-Sea," a place which Booth projects for the +reception of his poor people when they badly need a little sea-air and +sunshine, it must be said that this kind of charity has been carried on +for years, and that Booth is only borrowing a leaf from other people's +book. In fact, the "General" collects all the various charitable ideas +he can discover, dishes them up into one grandiose scheme, and modestly +asks for a million pounds to carry out "the blessed lot." + +Singly and collectively these projects will no more affect "the +unemployed" than scratching will cure leprosy. Every effect has its +cause, which must be discovered before any permanent good can be done. +Now the causes of want of employment (if men desire to find it) are +political and economical. The business of the true reformer is to +ascertain them and to remove or counteract them. Pottering with their +effects, in the name of "charity," is like dipping out and purifying +certain barrels of water from an everflowing dirty stream. + +At the very best "charity" is artificial, and social remedies must be +natural. Work cannot be _provided_. People have certain incomes and +allow themselves a certain expenditure. If they give Booth, or any other +charlatan, a hundred pounds to find work for "the unemployed," they have +a hundred pounds less to spend in other ways, and those who previously +supplied them with that amount of commodities or service will +necessarily suffer. Shuffle one pack of cards how you will, the hands +may differ, but the total number of cards will be fifty-two. + +General Booth talks infinite nonsense about the "failure" of Trade +Unions because they only include a million and a half of workmen. Rome +was not built in a day, and even the Salvation Army, with God Almighty +to help it, is not yet as extensive as this "failure." Nor does the +world need Booth to tell it the benefits of co-operation. He looks to it +as "one of the chief elements of hope in the future." So do thousands of +other people, but what has this to do with the Salvation Army? + +The only part of Booth's scheme which is of the least value is the one +he has borrowed from a Freethinker. The Farm Colony is suggested by the +Rahaline experiment associated with the name of Mr. E. T. Craig. But not +only was Mr. Craig a Freethinker, the same may be said of Mr. Vandeleur, +the landlord who furnished the ground for the experiment. At any rate, +he was a disciple and friend of Robert Owen, who declared that the great +cause of the frustration of human welfare was "the fundamental errors of +every religion that had hitherto been taught to man." "By the errors of +these systems," said Owen, "he has been made a weak, imbecile animal; a +furious bigot and fanatic; and should these qualities be carried, not +only into the projected villages, but into Paradise itself, a Paradise +would no longer be found." + +The Rahaline experiment was a co-operative one, while Booth's is to be +despotic. He proposes to put the unemployed at work on a big farm, and +afterwards to draft them to an Over-sea Colony, where the reformed +"thieves, harlots, drunkards, and sluggards" are to lay the foundations +of a new province of the British Empire. Something, of course, might be +done in this way, but it is doubtful if Booth will get hold of the right +material to do it with, or if his Salvation methods will be successful. +Much greater effects than "charity" could realise would be produced by a +wise alteration of our Land Laws, which would lead to the application of +fresh capital and labor to the cultivation of the soil. It is, indeed, +one of the prime evils of Booth's scheme, no less than of almost every +other charitable effort, that it helps to divert attention from +political causes of social disorders. No doubt charity is an excellent +thing in certain circumstances, but the first thing to agitate for is +justice; and when our laws are just, and no longer create evils, it will +be time enough for a huge system of charity to mitigate the still +inevitable misery. + +So far we have discovered nothing original in General Booth's scheme. +Its elements may be reduced to three. There is (a) the reformation of +weak, vicious, and criminal characters, which is a rather hopeless task +especially when the attempt is made with _adults_. Something might be +done with _children_, and in this respect Dr. Barnardo's work, with all +its defects, is infinitely more sensible than General Booth's. Then +there is (b) providing labor for the unemployed, which, whether +attempted by governments or charitable bodies is an economical fallacy. +Finally there is (c) the planting of town populations on the land, which +has a certain small promise of success if the scheme were to take the +form of allotments to capable cultivators; but which, on the other hand, +will surely come to grief if the experiment is made with even the +selected residuum of great cities. + +But supposing the scheme of General Booth were in itself full of social +promise, a reasonable person would still ask, What are the +qualifications of a religious body like the Salvation Army for carrying +out such a scheme? + +First of all, let us take the General. He plainly tells us he is to be +the head of everything. He is not only to be the leader, but the brain; +in fact, he expounds this function of his in a long passage of dubious +physiology. Now, the General is undoubtedly a clever man. + +But is he such a universal genius as to "boss" everything, from playing +tambourines to making tin toys, from preaching "blood and fire" to the +administration of a big farm, from walking backwards for Jesus to +superintending a gigantic emigration agency? Unless he combines a vast +diversity of faculties with supernatural energy, he is sure to come to +grief; for absolute obedience to him is indispensable, and if _he_ +fails, the whole experiment fails with him. + +Even if General Booth prove himself equal to the occasion, the despotic +nature of the management makes the success of the scheme precarious. +Everything hangs upon the single thread of his life, which may be +snapped at any moment. Even if we admit his consummate and comprehensive +genius, what guarantee is there that his successor will inherit it? + +General Booth bids us remember that the Salvation Army _has_ succeeded, +and its past achievements are a pledge of its future triumphs. But let +us look into this, and see how much it is to the point. + +That the Salvation Army is a striking success is not to be disputed. But +what is the _character_ of its success? This is an all-important +question: for a man, or an organisation, may be very successful in one +direction, and hopelessly impotent in another. + +Undoubtedly the Salvation Army caters for hysterical persons who are +sick and tired of the "respectable" forms of religion. But is it true +that the Army reforms the thief, the drunkard, and the profligate? Now +in answering this question it is well to bear in mind that solitary +cases prove absolutely nothing. There is no principle, no system, no +organisation, which has not absorbed some persons who previously led +lives of selfish indulgence, aroused in them an interest in impersonal +objects, and surrounded them with a restraining public opinion. The real +question is this --How is the Salvation Army in the main recruited? + +Again and again it has been asserted by outsiders, and admitted by +candid members, that the Army is principally recruited from other sects. +Some years ago this assertion was publicly made in the _Times_ by the +Rev. Llewellyn Davies, who was prepared to prove it in his own parish of +Marylebone. Mr. Davies was answered by "Commissioner" Railton, who +indulged in vague generalities, which were cut short by the simple +request to produce the notorious sinners converted in that parish. Of +course they were not produced: for the most part these "converts" exist +on paper. + +The Army's pretensions are disproved by statistics. It boasts of nearly +ten thousand officers and a million of adherents. Now if these, or a +considerable proportion of them, had been drawn from the moral residuum +of England, a very serious impression would have been made on the ranks +of vice and crime. But what are the facts? While the Education Act has +made a difference in the number of young criminals, there is no +perceptible diminution in the number of hardened offenders. Prostitutes, +also, are as numerous as ever, and the national drink-bill actually +increases. + +Revival movements have always boasted of moral successes, but history +shows that they make no real impression on the community. The method is +unscientific and doomed to failure. A salvation meeting, with its noise +and excitement, has as much effect on public morality as a savage's +tom-tom has upon the heavens. The noisy things in nature are generally +futile. Whirlwinds and earthquakes affect the imagination, but it is the +regular action of air and water that produces the greatest changes, and +the gentle action of rain and sunshine that ripens the harvest. These +"spiritual," and nearly always hysterical, agencies for human +improvement, are based upon a denial of the physical basis of life, and +of the doctrine of moral causation. They attract great attention, and +their leaders gain tremendous applause. But all the while the real work +of progress is being done by other agencies--by the spread of knowledge, +the growth of education, the discoveries of science, the silent triumphs +of art, and the gradual expansion of the human mind. Agitation is not +necessarily progress. What is wanted is a new ingredient, and that is +furnished by the more obscure, and often lonely men, whose greatness is +only known to a few, although their thoughts are the seed of future +harvests of wisdom and happiness for the human race. + +Suppose, however, we concede, for the sake of argument, all the claims +of the Salvation Army as a religious agency of reform. This would afford +a presumption of its continued success _on the old lines_. But the _new +lines_ are a fresh departure. General Booth himself admits that "the new +sphere on which we are entering will call for faculties other than those +which have hitherto been cultivated." What guarantee has he then, beyond +an unbounded and possibly exaggerated belief in himself, that those +"faculties" will come when he "calls for" them? Will men of the required +stamp of character and ability enrol themselves under the despotism of +General Booth? And if they did, how long would he be able to hold them +together? First of all, at any rate he has to get them. The ordinary +Salvation Army captain is not equal to these things. This is obvious to +General Booth; hence his fervid appeal to persons of greater capacity to +throw themselves into his enterprise. But we do not believe he will +obtain their assistance. It is far easier to extract a hundred thousand +pounds, or even a million, from a gullible public, than to induce men +and women of the stamp required in the successful conduct of a big +social experiment to place themselves at the absolute command of a +religious revivalist. + +Let us now turn to a tremendously important aspect of General Booth's +scheme, which up to the present has been only alluded to. Lady Florence +Dixie has pointed out, with her accustomed courage, that the scheme +would, if successful, increase the pressure of population in the worst +way by multiplying the unfit. Booth does not believe in celibacy, and we +agree with him. But we are far from approving his idea of setting up a +Matrimonial Bureau and bringing marriageable persons together. The +marriages he is likely to promote will, of course, be chiefly among the +classes he will try to reclaim. Such a prospect is anything but pleasant +to those who understand the population question, and is quite appalling +to those who understand the philosophy of Evolution. + +When Archdeacon Farrar was preaching at Westminster Abbey on behalf of +General Booth's scheme, he made this observation:--"The country is being +more and more depleted, the great cities are becoming more and more +densely overcrowded, and in great cities there is always a tendency to +the deterioration of manhood--morally, physically, and spiritually. Our +population is increasing at the rate of a thousand a day, and the most +rapid increase is among the destitute and unfit." Precisely so; and it +is among these very classes that General Booth, if he honestly means +what he says, will do his best to promote an increase of population. In +this respect his scheme involves a grave social danger. On the whole, it +seems pretty plain, as Professor Huxley observes, that if General Booth +does sixpennyworth of good, he will do a good shillings-worth of harm. + +To conclude. Except for the Farm Colony, which we do not see how Booth +is to manage successfully, we are able to perceive nothing in his scheme +which really touches the heart of the social problem; while as a remedy +for the "unemployed" it seems to us perfectly ridiculous. The whole +project, at bottom, is a new gigantic device for furthering the +interests of the Salvation Army. If the other Christian bodies do not +see this they must be lamentably deficient in insight. It is all very +well to say that no pressure will be put upon the men and women in the +Refuges and the Colonies, for they will be subjected to the omnipresent +influence of the Salvation Army, which is to carry out the scheme to its +minutest details. + +Unless we "are greatly mistaken, this truth is very apparent to General +Booth. He insists on having absolute control of the funds and the +arrangements, and although he may have no mercenary motives, he is +doubtless seeking to gratify his ambition and love of power as well as +to promote the "salvation of souls." + +On the whole, however, we shall be glad to see the "General" get the +money he is soliciting. The cash he collects will probably be diverted +from other religious enterprises, and in this respect a Freethinker need +not be in the least afflicted. His experiment will, in our opinion, do a +real service to society. It will demonstrate before the very eyes of +people who know next to nothing of history or economics the absolute +futility of religious efforts to reform the world. When it is discovered +that the poor rates, the statistics of drink, the number of the +unemployed, the condition of the very poor, and the miseries and +degradations of what is compendiously called the social evil, are not +perceptibly affected by General Booth's efforts, the very dullest will +see the deception of such enterprises, and turn their attention to the +scientific aspects of the great social problem. This will be a great +gain, and will amply compensate for the waste of a hundred thousand or +even a million pounds. + + + + +POSTSCRIPTS TO SECOND EDITION + + +General Booth signalised the inauguration of his Social Scheme by +quarreling with Mr. Frank Smith, who had acted as the chief officer of +the Social Wing of the Salvation Army. Mr. Smith felt obliged to resign. +From the correspondence which appeared in the newspapers, it seems that +the principal ground of his complaint was General Booth's refusal to +keep a separate account of income and expenditure for the Social Scheme. +The accounts were to form a part of the general book-keeping of the +Army. This was in defiance of the spirit, if not the letter, of Booth's +promises, and Mr. Smith would not connive at what he considered a +deception. After his resignation, however, the General declared there +had been a misunderstanding, and the accounts would be kept separate. +Whether they have been so kept, is a question which outsiders have no +means of determining. + +(2) General Booth has raised his £100,000. He has found, however, that +his success in this direction has diverted about £10,000 from the +ordinary income of the Salvation Army. He does not state--probably he +does not know, and perhaps he does, not care--how much he has diverted +from the ordinary income of other bodies. Many loud complaints have been +raised, which, taken in conjunction with Booth's own confession, seem to +vindicate our contention that there is a certain amount of money +available for philanthropical purposes, and that what is gained by one +solicitant leaves so much less for division among the rest. Here, as +elsewhere, there is a struggle for existence, and the fittest, in the +circumstances, survive. + +(3) Many persons have desired to know how the profits of General Booth's +book have been alloted. It has had a very large sale, and there must +have been a considerable sum to be disposed of. Probably a generous +remuneration has been received by Mr. Stead, who generally succeeds in +reconciling profit with enthusiasm. + +(4) General Booth declares that he has never derived a penny of profit +from the operations of the Salvation Army. This may be literally true, +but virtually it must imply a reservation. Booth began as a very poor +man. He is now in a more flourishing position. It was reported in the +newspapers, a year or two ago, that he had paid £4,000 for a new +residence. Mr. Bramwell Booth recently lost a considerable sum of money +by the failure of a stock-broker. The other members of the Booth family +seem to be well provided for. The present writer has seen them +travelling first-class when he has been riding third, and they looked +fully conscious of their importance as they walked along the platform. + +(5) Up to the present the Social Scheme has made no appreciable +impression on the poverty and misery of London. General Booth has set up +a match-factory, and is now selling Salvation matches. They are said to +be worth their price, but it must be remembered that the General gets +all his capital for nothing. It will also be obvious that every box of +matches he sells will diminish by so much the demand for matches +supplied by other firms. He therefore gives employment to one man by +taking it away from another. + +(6) The foreign and the colonial tours of General Booth are a curious +illustration of English modesty. It is difficult to understand why the +inhabitants of Berlin and Paris should be expected to contribute towards +the cost of reclaiming the poor and depraved in London. Every country +has its own troubles, and should meet them in its own way. It is worthy +of notice, however, that General Booth recognises far less misery in +"infidel" Paris than in orthodox London. + +(7) The recent "riots" at Eastbourne, where the Salvation Army insists +on playing bands through the streets on Sunday, in defiance of the local +bye-laws, suggest a curious reflection. General Booth takes his leisure +and recreation at Clacton-on-Sea, and I am given to understand that he +does not encourage the noises of his Army in that seaside retreat. If +this be true, it must be allowed that he acts like a sensible man--but +why does he keep the Army out of Clacton-on-Sea and inflict it upon +Eastbourne, where other persons go to restore their jaded constitutions? + + ---- + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALVATION SYRUP; OR, LIGHT ON +DARKEST ENGLAND *** + + + + +A Word from Project Gutenberg + + +We will update this book if we find any errors. + +This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39120 + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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