The Henson Journals

[153]

Tuesday, August 21st, 1917.

1114th day

The day began with rain but improved as time passed, though showers were occasional throughout. There are ill reports of damage to the Harvest. The high temperature which goes along with the rain makes the corn sprout in the stooks. The post brought a civil and informing letter from Sir Frederick Pollock in answer to my inquiries about the Warden's legal work and reputation. Also, an interesting letter from Ernest. I was touched by the following letter from a stranger:

Macedonia, 28.7.17

Sir,

I wd feel highly honoured if you wd kindly sign & return to me the enclosed quotation. If you wd grant me this favour, I wd be much obliged. My address is:– 315527 Sergt A. Morris: No 12. Platoon. 'C.' Coy. 13th (Scottish Horse) Batallion: Black Watch R. H. Salonika Force.

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant,

Alec Morris.

The quotation is, I think, from a recent sermon of mine, preached in the Cathedral:

"Christian principles seemed to have broken down, the whole view of human duty wh the Gospel presented had been challenged, & the nations called Christian were locked in a conflict wh carried them from one extreme of cruelty to another as though there were no longer any power left in the sacred Name. But if they wd be true to their inner knowledge of God, there wd come to them a bigger knowledge & a longer vision."

The words are not quite accurately quoted, but they convey the general sense. It sets one thinking to learn that a Scottish soldier on campaign in Macedonia is so far impressed by them that he is at the pains of cutting out the paragraph containing them, sticking the excerpt on a piece of paper, & sending it to the author for signature.

[154]

In a letter from Oxford to his mother dated March 9th 1864, the Warden gives a lively account of the meeting of Convocation wh threw out the statute for endowing Jowett's Chair.

"Yesterday I went to the theatre to see the voting for the new Statute, about which I dare say you will have seen the article in the Times. I got into the gallery with some difficulty, as Archdeacon Denison wanted us to be kept out: but I would not have missed the sight for anything. Imagine over 700 people, mostly clergymen, packed quite close together, and making a most unclerical uproar. Archdeacon Denison began the proceedings by a Latin speech of wh I did not hear much as I was groaning at it all the time, & then they separated into two bodies and voted. It was such a shame that we were beaten by such men. On one side were a crowd of sleek–looking country clergymen who certainly looked as if they were not restricted to £40 a year, and on the other everybody of any note or eminence in Oxford, besides many other great people from other places. And yet we were beaten, & to make the disappointment the bitterer, the Proctor gave it out wrong, & for two minutes we thought we had won. However we did our part, for in the first place Balliol brought up 60 voters, and in the second we closed the proceedings up in the Gallery by giving 3 cheers for Professor Jowett and 3 groans for Archdeacon Denison. It was quite a sight, but I have felt so angry ever since that I almost wish I had not been there."

In after years he witnessed similar scenes, & with hardly less disgust, though he was not an excited undergraduate groaning & cheering in the gallery but one of the grave senators of the University. Human nature changes little, and clerical human nature least of all. A "heresy–hunt" would still crowd the Sheldonian with excited country clergymen with the manners of bargees, and the principles of inquisitors!

---