The Henson Journals

[137]

Saturday, August 11th, 1917.

1104th day

A wet morning, which cleared at breakfast time. I strolled for half an hour with Hughes to enjoy the sun, which a falling glass reminds us may be but a brief visitant. This idyllic village is not wholly what it looks like. The more vigourous & independent of the villagers are dissenters. The late vicar "drove" them into dissent by introducing a "children's Eucharist". It is the same story everywhere.

The post brought a long & interesting letter from Lord Chelmsford, dated from the Vice–regal Lodge, Simla, July 7th. He describes the many anxieties of his situation, and evidently resents the publication of the Report of the Mesopotamia Commission. Then he sets out his personal position:–

"I laid down for myself two guiding principles when I came here, one that I should work in complete harmony & accord with the Sy [of] State, the other that my rule should be that of Governor General in Council & not of an autocratic Viceroy. Now some of those who welcomed the introduction of the second principle, would like me to depart from the first, & flout the Sy of State because the Govt at home will not or cannot give us an answer on the momentous question of Indian reforms. It is the irony of fate that, having taken up this question in May 1916 in order not to be caught napping, & having provided the Govt with our policy last December, I find myself unable to get an answer out of them in July 1917. My critics say I ought to promulgate my own policy. As I have direct orders not to do this, such a course would amount to positive disloyalty. However I have told you enough, if you have patience to work through this, to show you that my bed is not exactly one of roses. I think I can worry through unless Lloyd George upsets the coach in his impetuous way. He is my chief fear, & he is supremely ignorant of the task we have to shoulder. I cannot speak too highly of Chamberlain, charming, considerate, & loyalty itself. It is a treat to work with such a man, but he is dreadfully overworked & all sorts of jobs are put upon him which prevent him giving his whole time to India – & India wants a whole–time man nowadays."

[138]

Then follows rather a pathetic description of the stress & solitude of his position:–

"What I should give for a day's talk with you! Despite the delight of having my wife and family, this is a dreadfully lonely life. Except for lunch I do not leave my room from 9.15 to 4.30, & I find the greatest difficulty in getting anybody to talk to me as man to man. The Viceroy has been converted into a sort of tin God on a pedestal, & no one ever contradicts him. I think you would!"

I made but small progress with the Warden's letters & speeches, as given in the typed transcripts from the "Times". There is much in them which would have seemed interesting & important before the War, but now one wonders how they could ever have seemed either. His entire educational polemic has now lost meaning. The world has in three years outpaced centuries. An overwhelming majority of the trade unionists has supported Henderson against his critics, but the real significance of the numbers voting is obscured by the confessedly misleading system on which they are reckoned. Yet the effect on foreign opinion can hardly be other than unfortunate.

Rain fell at intervals during the afternoon. We walked for an hour notwithstanding. After tea I sate indoors & read to the end Walter Besant's novel "Dorothy Forster", of which the plot is laid in Blanchland and Bamborough, the Forster properties which Lord Crewe purchased. A very idealized portrait of that time–serving old ruffian is given; and a vivacious account of the futile Jacobite rising of 1715. But the elaborate affectation of an archaic style becomes rather wearisome, and Sir Walter Scott has unquestionably spoiled one for this kind of composition.

The little quadrangle of Blanchland becomes clamourous with children in the last hours of daylight. They are presumably employed on the adjacent farms or by their seniors during the day, and are not visible, but their number is not inconsiderable, and, when they start their play, the whole place rings with their merry shouting & laughter.

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