The morning times., 1897-01-11
BOOTH MET GLADSTONE
The TIVE Famous, Leaders at
Hawarden Fireside.
THEIR FRANK CONVERSATION
The Great Englishman Made Search
ing Inquiries Into the Organi Ia
ton and Work of the salvation
Arny-His reflections Related
by the Salvation soldier.


Bootr Fucker Of the Salvation Army sent
to The. Times the proofsheets of Gen.
Booths account of an interview he had
recently with Mr.. Gladstone at Hawarden,
which is substantially as follows:
'Hawarden, Dec 21,-Threc O'Clock on
Monday afternoon, December Il f, had been
fixed by Mr.. Gladstone for my inter view
with him at lla warden Castle, and passing
over from keighley, where had been hold
ing meetings the previous day, reached
the beautiful park in which Mr.. Glad
stones house is situated few minutes
before that time ,.
AS we drove rapidly towards the house
I confess to a feeling of deep inte rest in
such of the stumps as could discover
among the fine old trees They seemed
to me just then to be typical of many
things, and TO be still alive with many
lessons Of interest.
Mr.. Herbert Gladstone met me at the
entrance of the castie-kindness itself, as
he always is-and conducted me To the
drawing room. In few moments Mrs.
Gladstone and Mrs. Drew entered, and our
formal Introduction over, they made me
feel at home in a moment / was cold
ting one OF those delightful old-fashioned
easy chairs-the manufacture OF which is
a lost art so far as this country is concerned
before the great open fire, She insisted
upon my getting n thorough warm, and
we were soon talking on many things
with the greatest freedom
In a few moments the door OF the adjoin-
ing room opened, and in walked Mr. Glad
stone, stretching out his hand, greeting
me in the warmest manner possible, and
putting an end to the little colloquy with
the ladies by sunmoning me forthwith to
the library.
The first warm greeting followed by
the mingled invitation and command to
join him in his study, not only ended my
chat with the ladies, but dispeIled any
little trepidation 1 might have felt con-
cerning our interview. and, as to the
opposition raised by Mrs. Gladstone, in
view of the warming operations only just
commenced, Mr.. Gladstone quickly settled
| that. question by saying that 1 should find
| his room the warmer of the two!
Mr.. G1adStone's Portraits.
The art of impressing on paper, by any
sort OF machinery, true resemblance OF
| covered. Anyway, it seems to me that
| photography is usually a misleading affair,
often-very often-its products are so much
| alike. and quite as often SO very much
| unlike
Sitting before Mr.. Gladstone that after
noon, with every side and angle and
| corner OF that room crowded with the books
| he loved so well, every lineament OF his
| counteuance grew familiar, simply from the
recollection of the picture resemblarces SO
| common to us all-for perhaps no living
man has been, 50 frequently pictured aud
| yet l very much question whether | should
have recognized him had been placed op=
| posite to him as a stranger in Il railway
| compartment. Indeed, feel sure / should
not. The features In the public prints are.
as rule, larger and to my fancy seem
TO have hard ana mast erful look about
them-a look which. certainly failed to
| show itself to me for a single moment in
| the original that AFTERNOON.
1 on the contrary, While intelligent, ex
| pressive, quick and commanding in a
high degree, his faes appeared equally
/ sympathetic and kinlly-so much SO NJ
any rate as to make me feel in few
moments as much at home In the library
as | had been a few moments before il
the dra wing-roon. a
He Has Not Been Well.
I 81 have not beentyery well for the las
| week. or ,two,' lie said, as we walked
across the roo,u, land hence things her,
are in rather a confused state whici
| confusion / must confess L saw nothing
| Of Then, drawing up opposite the firi
| . 7 IA
| Just vacated. he said: Now you can
finish warming Yourself and then passeC
over, as l supposed, IN the direction ol
the coal box. | protested that there wa:
abundance of fire for me,
"Yes, yes lie said, throwing a great
| chunk of wood over the bars of the fine
old CRATE, ''but we must do something
to keep it going The next moment he
had settled down in similarly low seat
in front of me, and started the conver
sation by saying; %.
| Il suppose, in addressing you as Gen
| eral, / use the title to which you arr
| accustomed and which harmonizes yiti
| your own feelings"
| I replied: - Yes,'' thut was the appelll
ton ordinarily given to me; that
| thought it correctly signified my position
and that accepted it for that reason.
This led to some observations on botf
sides as to the use Of titles, Mr.. Glad
stone fully recognizing their value.
remarked that our military nomencla
ture had been OF great service to us, in
asynuch as the significance of our title
was understood by the common peopl,
4 without explanation.
His Ouestioa s..----.. -. t+
Yes" remarked Mr.. Gladstone, every
body knows the meaning OF captain"
Mr.. Gladstone preferred wha
seemed to me one of q series uf question
which dealt with the very first principle
OF our organization. by what meth
ods,'' he asked, were we able to main
tain the ce1Itrar authority, extending, a
it did, to so many distant parts OF tit
world, while allowing that free and enel
getic local action so necessary to vigorou
growth?" -iz
L explained briefly-at least as briefl
as l could, for he stopped me at ever
point all through the conversation wher
did not appear intelligiblc-that eac
Of the various countries in which w
were at work constituted separate tel
ritory, under the direct command of a
officer, whom we styled a, Commissione
or Commander, that these territories wer
again subdivided into provinces and agai
into divisions and again into corps, eac
also under the command OF an officer.
But how he asked, .fs the centr;
authority maintained?
replied that. for one thing, the con
missioners in command of each territor
Were selected and. appointed by me fc
five years, q term witch could be extenle
or diminished, as circumstances migf