The Henson Journals

[399]

Wednesday, August 20th, 1913. Brussels.

We went to Ghent, and saw the Exhibition. The British Section reflects credit on the country, and gives pause to the economic pessimism which is now common among Englishmen. The display of pottery and machinery was large & varied. There was also a good show of artistic printing & binding. But mostly I was interested in the astonishing parade of exhibits designed to illustrate the nature, ravages, & treatment of tropical diseases. Agriculture also made no insignificant appearance. We visited the French section which was mainly given up to furniture & goldsmith's work. We were rather disappointed in it. We had no time to inspect the other national exhibits. There was an Exhibition of old Belgian Arts & crafts which was admirable. The illuminated manuscripts of the 15th century especially interested us. In a wooden carving of some saint's story the unjust judge while condemning the martyr was shown to be under the direction of the Evil One, who was pumping bad thoughts into his ear with a bellows! There was much lace, tapestry, furniture, ecclesiastical vestments, & many pictures – making up together a very notable display.

[400]

Before going to the Exhibition we hired a carriage, and visited some of the more famous 'lions' of Ghent. We went over the Chateau des Comtes de Flandre, & wondered again at the strength and cruelty of a feudal fortress. We noticed that much restoration work has been done since our last visit two years ago. Then we drove to the Cathedral, and feasted our eyes on Van Eyck's incomparable picture. We noticed with special interest the 4 great bronze candlesticks in the sanctuary bearing the arms of the Tudors. They were originally made for the unfinished monument of Henry VIII at Windsor, & were sold by Oliver Cromwell. What a collocation of names! What eloquent candlesticks, attesting two tremendous crises in the history of England, & linking two famous names! We were more than ever impressed by the size & magnificence of Ghent. When we emerged from S. Bavon's [sic] Cathedral it was fully the time for lunch. Inspired by a greedy recollection of good feeding in a Restaurant which we thought we could identify, we wasted our time & spoiled our tempers in seeking of it; &, finally had to be content with a coarse & greasy refection in a narrow & rather unclean establishment, preposterously called "Universal". In this melancholy meal the piéce [sic] de résistence was some repulsive pork – a meat utterly hateful to me in any circumstances [401] & in these actually nauseating – by my total declinature of the delicacy must have suggested to the waiter nothing more than the damaging probability of my Jewish origin!

The Belgian papers are evidently interested in our Suffragettes. Today, a fresh series of outrages is reported, including the rending of a valuable altar cloth in a Welsh Church. This is, indeed, a new departure, and may be the beginning of a new series of outrages. Already a beginning has been made by disturbing the services at S. Paul's, & the Abbey. It is an easy & obvious method of advertising the cause, & worrying the public. The frequent & blasphemous identification of the Suffragette–anarchists with Our Saviour, Whose Death on the Cross is made a parallel to the sufferings of Mrs Pankhurst, appears to serve all the purposes of an unanswerable argument. Many of the clergy are far gone in this preposterous folly. Probably many soft–headed persons, who were unaffected by other forms of violence, will be mightily perturbed by an attack on Altar–cloths! This is sacrilege indeed!! But all measures & perspectives have been lost in this frenzy of feminism: & one can but hold one's peace, & stand aside to watch the progress of events, & 'wait for the day'.

[402]

'Catholiques defendez vos écoles' – this was printed in large letters, & posted prominently in the porch of S. Martin's Church at Liège. Within was hung against the wall a map of the district showing the distribution of schools, & the sites on which new schools were to be built. Plainly the design of the ecclesiastical authorities is to cover the whole ground, and offer over the whole area an alternative to the State Schools. What else is on the mind of our 'Church School' champions in England? Here on the continent there is no version of Christianity generally possible save only the Roman: and the State is necessarily therefore secular & anti–clerical. In England the secular policy is being most vehemently pushed forward by the Nonconformists, who appear to think that their influence in the nation will be sufficient to keep a Christian atmosphere in society strong enough to restrain the anti–Christian tendency of a secularized State. But what words can picture adequately the short–sightedness of those Anglicans who would deliberately create the dual system which curses the continent? Unification of the educational system is essential in the modern state: but at best in England that unification may be consistent with Christian Principles. A direct challenge to a fight for the children thrown down by the clergy to the State can only end in the definite laicisation of the whole system in the worst sense of the ugly phrase.

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Issues and controversies: female suffrage