The Henson Journals

[144]

Thursday, October 24th, 1912. Washington.

The fact is, that no religion which contains within it such elements of power as still reside in Christianity, can be annihilated by a process of critical dissection.

Robertson Smith. Lectures & Essays p. 313.

'The 'Chautauqua', said Mrs Bryce at breakfast, 'has degenerated into a kind of picnic, at which humourous [sic] speeches are made, but it once served an useful purpose in widening the horizon, & enlarging the interests of the middle class. It was, in fact, very similar to an university extension movement organized as summer holidays. Champ Clerk, the president of the House of Representatives, & very nearly nominated for the presidency in place of Woodrow Wilson, is a typical 'Chautauqua' lecturer.

On the whole my experience teaches me to regard the orator as an unwholesome influence in a modern democracy. This country has no orators, except Bryan, who, however, is a perfectly honest man. But he has an inadequate mental equipment, & lacks judgment & balance. His natural category is that of lecturer to the Y.M.C.A.

Dr R. H. McKim (1623 K. Street, Washington) called on me, & spent an hour in 'talking large' about affairs. He says that the 300,000 people of Washington have no [145] votes, an arrangement which grew out of the desire to deprive the negroes of their vote. The negroes form ⅓ of the population, & contribute ⅔ of the crime. There was a House of Representatives in the time of the Negro domination known as 'the Feather Brush House', because at the close of the session the members appropriated to their own use every article of furniture down even to the feather–brushes.

Mr Bryce spoke at luncheon of his remembrance of Niagara when first he saw it in the early seventies. He said that it made him sad to see it now, so reduced was the volume of the water, & so disfigured were the banks. He thought as much as 20 per cent of the water had been withdrawn from the Falls. He had done his best to hold back the Canadian government from sacrificing by the latest treaty still more of the water. I spoke of the Falls at Minneapolis now totally destroyed: he said that he could recall the time when they were glorious. He said he could remember the buffalo as still numerous.

The Ambassador took me for a walk in the woods near the city. The beauty of the autumnal colouring was exquisite. We kept on stopping to feast our eyes on the scene. Of course we talked incessantly. He told me that Lord Acton was personally persuaded that the Jesuits in Rome had hired men to assassinate him, but he allowed that there had been some genuine scholars among them.

[146]

He said that he thought Lord Acton's Lectures on the French Revolution were the best thing that learned historian ever wrote.

He shewed me a letter which he had just received from the American Steel & Wire Cy, Worcester, Mass. giving particulars as to the men they employed in their works. No less than 55 separate national or ethnical types were represented in 5826 men.

"In all ancient institutions there comes a time when the discrepancy between practice & theory is such that the practice can no longer be defended on the theory. It becomes then a question whether the practice had best be continued on its merits, & the theory ignored." He thought this might perhaps be the case with the Church of England at the present time.

He read through the correspondence between the Solicitors of the Putumayo directors & myself, & said that he thought my language no whit too strong. He thought that the Brazilians were a 'broken reed'; & were probably hand & glove with the Peruvian Government, which was wholly in the Araua interest.

He told me that he had inquired how the Australian artisans used the considerable leisure which they enjoyed: & he had been assured that they spent the day in watching ball–games, and the evenings in gazing at moving pictures!

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There came to dinner Dr & Mrs McKim, & Lord Eustace Percy, who is on the Embassy here. Mr Bryce gives a good account of him, says that he is the first Englishman he has known who has taken an intelligent interest in the Negroes, & prophecies a career for him. He thinks that he is superior in ability to his much lamented elder brother. Dr McKim fought as a young man in the Confederate army, & was present at the battle of Gettysberg [sic]. He told several stories of the campaign. Thus, on one occasion the Confederate army invaded a district peopled by Federals. When the polite demeanour of the soldiers tempted the women to an open display of their political opinions, they began to cast gibes at the invaders. One lady of ample proportions had covered her spacious bosom with the Stars & Stripes, stationed herself conspicuously beside the road as the troops passed, & assailed them with taunts. "Hold mother," cried out a Texan, 'These boys are rare hands at storming breastworks, especially when that flag flies above them'! He spoke of the immense scandal of the Pension Fund, which amounted to 80 million dollars, & still increased, though half a century had elapsed since the war. Even the bar against deserters, of whom there were numbers, had been removed, & now even these were pensioners. The confederate soldiers, however, were excluded from any share in this Fund, which the general taxation of the country provided.

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Issues and controversies: Putumayo