The Henson Journals

[142]

Monday, August 13th, 1917.

1106th day

In the 3rd book of the Prelude Wordsworth has a notable description of Cambridge as the microcosm of the greater world of human society:

'tis enough to note

That here in dwarf proportions were expressed

The limbs of the great world: its eager strifes

Collaterally portrayed, as in mock fight,

A tournament of blows, some hardly dealt

Though short of mortal combat;

……………………………………………………………

And yet the spectacle may well demand

A more substantial name, no mimic show,

Itself a living part of a live whole

A creek in the vast sea; for, all degrees

And shapes of spurious fame and short lived praise

Here sate in state, and fed with daily alms

Retainers won away from solid good;

And here was Labour, his own bond–slave: Hope,

That never sets the pains against the prize;

Idleness halting with his weary clog,

And poor misguided Shame, and witless Fear,

And simple Pleasure foraging for Death;

Honour misplaced, and Dignity astray;

Feuds, factions, flatteries, enmity, and guile

Murmuring submission, and bald government,

(The idol weak as the idolater)

And Decency and Custom starving Truth,

And blind Authority beating with his staff

[143] The child that might have led him; Emptiness

Followed as of good omen, and meek Worth

Left to herself unheard and unknown.

The hotel was clamourous with the hearty voices of the sportsmen, taking their departure for the moors. An Englishman is at his best in such a situation, pleased with himself, confronted by a task which he thoroughly understands, unaffected and good humoured.

I wrote to Sir Henry Craik and to Douglas Eyre seeking information about the Warden. Also I wrote to Miss Anson sending on Arthur Balfour's letter.

The post brought me a letter from George saying that he had received from Messrs Holt & Co. a warning "to hold himself in readiness to receive a call to join his ship next week". I at once sent to Lawrence Holt the money (£5.00) which I had promised for George's use during the voyage: & I wrote to the boy himself. I should like to see him again before he fares forth to face the torpedoes!

The paper reports the resignation of Henderson and Neville Chamberlain. These are ominous signs for the Lloyd–George cabinet. The last has but little significance but the first must shake confidence abroad, & create a difficult situation at home. There can be no doubt that the "Labour" politicians are very embarrassing colleagues. They are, of course, appallingly ignorant of much that is the common stock of statesmanship: and they have no conception of "honour" as it is understood among gentlemen. So far as the facts have been disclosed, it looks as if Henderson has illustrated both defects. He has been "gulled" by the Russian revolutionaries: & he has not "played the game" by the cabinet. Probably his head has been turned by the publicity into which he has been brought, & the adulation which he received in Petrograd. Ramsay Macdonald, whom I judge to be crafty & ambitious man, is acquiring the mastery over the feebler Henderson.

[144]

The "Nation" publishes a letter with the heading "A Parallel", which is interesting. It quotes Macaulay's account of the wasting of the Palatinate in 1689 by the army of Louis xiv. The French troops were guilty of the same atrocities even to the destruction of fruit trees, which have marked the retreat of the Germans in France.

"Not a vine, not an almond tree, was to be seen on the sunny slopes of what had once been Heidelberg. No respect was shown to palaces, to temples, to monasteries, to infirmaries, to beautiful works of art, to monuments of the illustrious dead. The far–famed Castle of the Elector Palatine was turned into a heap of ruins. The adjoining hospital was sacked. The provisions, the medicines, the pallets on which the sick lay, were destroyed. The very stones of which Mannheim had been built were flung into the Rhine. The magnificent Cathedral of Spires perished, & with it the marble sepulchres of eight Caesars. The coffins were broken open: the ashes were scattered to the winds."

It would seem that the gravamen of the charge against the Germans is that they are morally anachronistic. They exhibit in the xxth century the moral callousness which was regarded as abnormal and repulsive in the viith.

We had tea at the Vicarage, and, while the meal proceeded, a violent thunderstorm burst over the village. The lightning was very brilliant, & the thunder most menacing. As we returned to the Hotel in an interval of sunshine, we fell in with Arthur Robinson. I joined him in a walk for an hour and a half, during which we had a great discussion on the present ill posture of Anglican affairs. He professes to be in substantial agreement with me, but I do not deceive myself. He said that Gore had a thoroughly Roman habit of mind. He also said that he was prepared to accept the baptismal franchise coupled with some kind of a declaration of Anglicanism. The sportsman shot 70½ brace, which they thought rather disappointing. They had the grace to send a bird to our table. It was excellent eating, though so recently killed.

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