The Henson Journals

[11]

Tuesday, April 30th, 1918.

1366th day

I attended the Convocation, & took part in the discussions. My speeches were unsuccessful & unwise, especially in the afternoon, when I followed the Bishop of Lichfield on the motion of the Bishop of Peterborough. The Bishops of Oxford & Winchester were more to the general taste. How hollow & futile these discussions are!

I lunched with Gow: and had tea with Linetta. After dining at the Club, I walked to the Queen' Hall, and attended a meeting of the Church Reform League, convened to listen to a discussion of a reform of our present system of appointing bishops. My presence on the platform had perhaps a depressing effect on the speakers. The Bishop of London mainly declared the excellencies of the present system, & the relative failure of the elective systems in the colonial churches! After this Balaam's speech, the Bishop of Oxford took up his parable: he also was strangely unconvincing. Then followed a large man named Kemp, & then the Dean of Lincoln. There did not seem to be much genuine enthusiasm. I walked back to Garland's under a maze of search–lights.

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