MADAME BLAVATSKY FOUNDS THE ESOTERIC SCHOOL; HER LIFE-LONG TRUST IN WILLIAM Q. JUDGE In 1888, H. P. Blavatsky, then in London, on the suggestion and at the request of her Colleague, William Q. Judge, founded the Esoteric School of Theosophy, a body for students, of which H. P. Blavatsky wrote that it was "the heart of the Theosophical Movement," and of which she appointed William Q. Judge as her sole representative in America. Further, writing officially to the Convention of the American Societies held in Chicago, 1888, she wrote as follows: To William Q. Judge, General Secretary of the American Section of the Theosophical Society: My dearest Brother and Co-Founder of the Theosophical Society: In addressing to you this letter, which I request you to read to the Convention, summoned for April 22nd, I must first present my hearty congratulations and most cordial good wishes to the Society and yourself--the heart and soul of that body in America. We were several to call it to life in 1875. Since then you have remained alone to preserve that life through good and evil report. It is to you chiefly, if not entirely, that the Theosophical Society owes its existence in 1888. Let me thank you for it, for the first, and perhaps for the last time publicly, and from the bottom of my heart, which beats only for the cause you represent so well and serve so faithfully. I ask you also to remember that on this important occasion, my voice is but the feeble echo of other more sacred voices, and the transmitter of the approval of Those whose presence is alive in more than one true Theosophical heart, and lives, as I know, pre-eminently in yours. This regard that Madame Blavatsky had for her colleague William Q. Judge continued undiminished until her death in 1891, when he became her successor. Madame Blavatsky, in 1889, writing in her Theosophical magazine published in London, said that the purpose of the magazine was not only to promulgate Theosophy, but also and as a consequence of such promulgation, "to bring to light the hidden things of darkness." She further says: As to the "weak-minded Theosophists"--if any--they can take care of themselves in the way they please. IF THE "FALSE PROPHETS OF THEOSOPHY" ARE TO BE LEFT UNTOUCHED, THE TRUE PROPHETS WILL BE VERY SOON--AS THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN--CONFUSED WITH THE FALSE. IT IS HIGH TIME TO WINNOW OUR CORN AND CAST AWAY THE CHAFF. The Theosophical Society is becoming enormous in its numbers, and if the _false_ prophets, the pretenders, or even the weak-minded dupes, are left alone, then the Society threatens to become very soon a fanatical body split into three hundred sects--like Protestantism--each hating the other, and all bent on destroying the truth by monstrous exaggerations and idiotic schemes and shams.