The Henson Journals

[261]

Wednesday, August 16th, 1911.

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The 'Times' reports continued riots in Liverpool, & great extensions of the strike mania all over the country. The men threaten a general strike of railway men tomorrow. This would paralyze the nation, & could hardly be tolerated even by the most complaisant of Governments. But the hypnotizing power of the Labour Party is illimitable as politics stand. We finished our packing, & got away by the 9 a.m. from Charing Cross. The steamer was small & crowded: the sea was not so calm as it promised to be: we were not sick, but, by the time we backed miserably into Ostend, we were on the verge of surrendering ourselves to our fate. The steamer was nearly an hour late at Ostend: we caught the 4.5 train; & reached Bruges about 4.30. [262] We went to the Grand Hotel, induced to go there by Baedeker's discriminating asterisk mainly, but also by the circumstance that the Grand Hotel's 'bus' was angling conveniently at the station. After tea in our room we walked about the town for nearly two hours, & then returned to the Hotel in time for table d'hôte, nominally at 7 p.m., really at 7.30 p.m.

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