Three hundred Salvation Army bands from outside of London had arrived. These, with the fifteen hundred bandsmen of London, constituted a company of five thousand instru­mentalists.In addition to these there were gathered together sixty thousand Salvationistsrepresenting every section of the globe.

The War Office of the British Government commissioned an agent of the Secret Service to watch the proceedings and report on the Army's organization. That at the time was not known, but was afterward stated by W. T. Stead, an ally and firm friend of the Army. More than fifty members of Parliament, nearly all of them from the Labour representatives of the Tom Burt type, were seen on the Crystal Palace grounds. Men of wealth like John Cory, John T. Denny, one of the Rothschilds, Samuel Morley and others were present ; as were Robertson Nicoll, W. T. Stead, Morgan, of Morgan & Scott, publishers, Lady Frances Balfour, sister-in-law of the Earl of Balfour, and many more of that intellectual order.

No small attraction of the day was the Musical Festival, defined on the programme as "The Battle of Song". Nothing even approaching this in spectacular display and volume of song was ever before seen or heard in the Crystal Palace. (or since? Sven)