criminal, and have, in fact, by tradition devoted themselves to the
commission of crime. The only agency which has been able to effect a
reclamation and improvement of these tribes is the Salvation Army,
which, by general consent, even of those who have no sympathy with its
particular religious views, has achieved wonderful results. There is no
doubt, too, that some of the worst parts of certain seaports in our own
country have been vastly improved by the same agency. This has been done
by a definite appeal made on religious grounds, and those who have made
it have been inspired by religious motives. It required, however, a body
which had peculiar methods of its own to do it. The basis of the action,
also, of such organisations as the Church Army and the Young Men's and
Young Women's Christian Associations is definitely religious, and the
vigorous and successful way in which their work has been carried on by
such associations is due mainly to the influence of religion. It would
be well for our present purpose to treat the question from a position,
whether real or assumed, of absolute detachment from any particular
religious belief, and from any special religious community. Looked at
even from such a detached position, it appears that the first condition
required to enable religious influence to be effectively exercised is to
secure religious peace. It is impossible to deny that there has been a
kind of jealousy and hostility between those who hold different opinions
about theological and ecclesiastical questions which injures the work of
all. Anyone, for example, who was in the habit of meeting educated
Indians at the time of the Kikuyu controversy could not have helped
noticing the harm done to the cause of the Christian religion by that
controversy. There were Indians, whose attitude to Christianity before
might almost have been called wistful admiration, seeing the brighter
hope and fuller life it opened to all classes, and the universal
brotherhood of men which it proclaimed, who then spoke in an altered
tone, and their feeling seemed to be tinged with a half-concealed and