The Henson Journals

[3]

December 5, 1913.

KIKUYU

Bishop Tucker came to see me. He brought the "Church Times", and showed me the leader, which is clearly a confession of error. It regrets the Bishop of Zanzibar's publication of his "open letter", and criticizes his procedure as improper from the "Catholic" point of view. Bishop Tucker shewed me type–written copies of resolutions passed by the C.M.S. some while back; an account of a previous conference in East Africa in 1910, and his own letter approving the same as Bishop of Uganda. He also shewed me the resolutions of the C.M.S. committee with respect to the Kikuyu Conference. He wanted my advice as to his own action at the present moment. I told him that the most pressing matter was to urge the Bishop of Durham to come forward with a clear & strong statement of Evangelical principles. I said that a letter from the Bishop himself informed me that he was thinking over some action of the kind, &, therefore, that this was the psychological moment for putting pressure on him. I also told him that it would probably happen that, as the discussion proceeded, there would emerge an occasion when it would be his duty to intervene with a detailed & authoritative account of the history of the matter. He evidently feels very strongly the ill–effects on the converts in Uganda which must follow from the intemperate & violent action of the Bishop of Zanzibar. The Roman Catholic missionaries are active, ubiquitous, & hostile. They may be trusted to make the most of the fact that one Anglican Bishop has announced himself publicly as no longer in communion with two other Anglican Bishops, and has actually delated them formally as hereticks!

---

Issues and controversies: Kikuyu