An Indictment of Mrs. Besant by a Resigning Member of Her E. S.
Further very recent testimony and criticism is furnished by a letter of resignation from Mrs. Besant’s Esoteric School by Mr. Hugh R. Gillespie, of Krotona, California, one of the strongholds of the “Liberal Catholic Church.” The letter, dated May 29, is printed in the O. E. Critic of August 16, and the Editor in a prefatory note says:—
The writer... is well-known to Theosophists of three continents as a lecturer and as a fearless, persistent and uncompromising fighter for honesty and cleanness in the T. S. For almost three years he was attached to Adyar as architect and sanitary engineer.... He was at Adyar during the trial of the “Cases” in the Madras courts and saw the whole sordid drama in action. During this period he had abundant opportunity for getting light, as well as sidelights, on the working of the Adyar machine and on the personal peculiarities of the gods and demigods of the Theosophical Olympus. Later he was resident three years at Krotona, where similar opportunities were not lacking.
Mr. Gillespie writes that he resigns as a protest against the actions and utterances of Mrs. Besant as “Outer Head” of the E. S. and President of the T. S., and continues:—
These actions and utterances have, since her assumption of the above mentioned positions, been of such a character that, to use the words of H. P. B., the Theosophical Society is
“... being made a spectacle to the world through the exaggerations of some fanatics, and the attempt of various charlatans to profit by a ready-made programme. These, by disfiguring and adapting Occultism to their own filthy and immoral ends bring disgrace on the whole movement.”
As a result of Mrs. Besant’s methods we learn that the T. S. and E. S. in almost every section is seething with dissension. England, Australia and America are racked and torn; Germany is split; Finland is shattered, and the closing of the E. S. for some four years in Switzerland indicates the conditions there.
Mrs. Besant’s arrogance and vanity in office and her lack of dignity, as exemplified in her ridiculous “Whom will ye serve?” tirade, and her letter of March, 1922, have drawn the attention of the great London weekly Truth, and in its pages the T. S. is held up to the scorn and ridicule of the world. [I have dealt with these under the heading of “Mrs Besant’s Latest Assertions and Claims Examined.”—A. L. C.]
So far as the E. S. is concerned, my experience of its working under Mrs. Besant in Australia, Adyar, England, and America enable me to assert that it is nothing but a political machine used for the purpose of securing the ascendancy of Mrs. Besant in the various bodies to which E. S. members have gained access. [I would draw particular attention to this important statement. It is especially true of India, which is the principal scene of her political activities.—A. L. C.]
... Mrs. Besant’s parade of thrusting the L. C. C. out of the T. S. door while bringing it in by the E. S. window, added to her condonement of the vile practices of the L. C. C. bishops and priests, fall little short of a betrayal of the T S. and could only be adequately met by her resignation from all office....