The Salvation Army's “Invasion” - Books and Journals

76 A. M. Eason / Mission Studies 28 (2011) 71–90
missionary circles, it was not without precedent. It is likely, for instance, that
Army leaders gained some inspiration from James Hudson Taylor’s China
Inland Mission, which was already utilizing similar tactics in the mission field. 2
Salvationists surely knew something of Taylor’s mission, which was headquartered,
like the Salvation Army, in the East End of London. Meanwhile, Tucker
himself apparently had some familiarity with the adaptive efforts of the earliest
Roman Catholic missionaries in India, even if the depth of his knowledge on
the subject remains uncertain (Williams 1980:61). What is clear, however,
is that adaptation had been a characteristic feature of the Salvation Army
since its inception.
Even so, there was no getting around the fact that the militarism at the heart
of the Salvation Army’s identity was a potential liability in a colonial setting
like India. This helps to explain why William Booth wrote an open letter to
The Indu Prakash, an Anglo-Marathi weekly newspaper, before the Salvationist
missionary party arrived in Bombay. Recognizing that the religious organization’s
militarism might be misconstrued by the native population, Booth
hoped to head off any possible misunderstanding: “[Y]ou will easily understand
that [the Salvationists] are armed with no carnal weapons – they carry
no gun, no sword: their object is not to kill, but to give life; not to destroy, but
to save. . . . Remember it does not come as an Army of compulsion. God desires
the willing obedience of the people of India” (Booth 1882:3). The fact that
Booth felt compelled to address the issue at all casts doubt on his assertion that
Indians would “easily understand” the true intent of his Salvation Army. Even
before the receipt of Booth’s letter more than one Bombay newspaper had suggested
that misunderstanding was sure to arise over the militarism of Salvationists.
Particularly blunt in its assessment was The Bombay Gazette, a leading
English language daily. Arguing that it was unwise to allow a “detachment of
fanatics” into the country, the paper worried that the military war cries and
uniforms of the missionaries were sure to upset both Hindus and Muslims
(Bombay Gazette Aug. 22, 1882:15–16). Just why this might be so was spelled
out by The Bombay Guardian, a Christian newspaper in the city, which noted
that the Salvation Army’s aggressive tactics might lead the inhabitants of India
to be “convulsed with alarm at the prospect of being made Christians in spite
of themselves” (Bombay Guardian Aug. 26, 1882:530). While such a fear
proved to be unfounded, it is fair to say that Christian militancy was capable
of fostering tensions in a colonial context. It is not surprising, therefore, that
2 For more on the China Inland Mission see Austin 2007.