The Henson Journals

[435]

Friday, September 12th, 1913.

A whole sheaf of letters arrived, mostly requests of one sort or another. I spent the morning in writing refusals!

Ella arrived at lunch time, having walked from the Station. After lunch we drove with our hostess into Aberfeldy and beyond. To dinner came two Episcopalian parsons of the neighbourhood. These gave me a vivid impression of the fanatical narrowness of Scottish Episcopacy. I was interested to hear the younger of the two appeal to the exhortations of his Bishop who had privately admonished him at the time of his ordination to accept no invitations to unite with the Presbyterian clergy, as 'we don't allow the validity of their ministry, & association with them could only cause misunderstanding'.

Yesterday's "Times" contains a three–columned letter from Lord Loreburn appealing for a conference on the Home Rule question. It is certainly an impressive indication of Liberal misgiving, & must indicate that the Ulster demonstrations have made more impression in Ministrerial quarters than the official braggadocio would suggest. But it is difficult to see how a Conference could be of any real use, so long as there is no approach to agreement on the main issue. Mainly the effect of the letter must be to make the position of the Government even more difficult of defence than it is at present.

[436] [symbol]

"There's no doubt that feelings run high in this country", said the younger parson, adding with a candour that did him credit, "I look down on the presbyterians myself: I can't help it". "You will allow, however', I observed, 'that your attitude is more natural then reasonable, & that, before you can judge justly, you must be at the pains of making a personal equation, which may be a little disconcerting'. The older man was a tub–thumping bigot, who seemed to think that vehemence clothed assertions with something of the authority of proof, & that reiteration was a good working substitute for evidence. "After all", he said, "we're the old church; there's no getting away from that. These Presbyterians are really only dissenters". I asked him wherein he supposed the identity of a Church to consist: & when he replied, as I expected, that it depended on the episcopal succession; I inquired whether he had read Laud's repudiation of that kind of succession, & his insistence on the succession of faith & morals as truly essential. But he had read literally nothing. Mine hostess says that this man is well liked by his people, that he plays games with the young, & gossips with the old, but that his preaching is lamentable. The younger man seemed impressed by the discussion, & told me that he never heard the matter presented in such wise before. He is about to take up duty as chaplain on a battleship. I told him he had best emphasize the moral rather than the ecclesiastical factors there.

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Issues and controversies: irish home rule