The Henson Journals

[77]

Saturday, March 6th, 1920.

"Of the 7,590,000 primary electors in France, it is reckoned that not more than

630,000 registered their votes, while of the secondary electors 25 per cent

abstained. The conclusion is that the Convention was elected, the Republic proclaimed, the King executed, & the Terror established on the mandate of about 6 percent of the electors of France.

Cambridge Modern History VIII. 248

Yet the French Revolution passes for the triumph of democracy. All accounts agree that the tragical occurrences in Russia are the work of a tiny minority of the population. If any considerable political changes take place in England they will be repulsive to the majority of citizens. What escape is there from this grotesque situation? It is with the Churches as with the Nations. The tiny minorities of fanaticks prevail.

Binstead came from Mordiford to instruct the gardener on the subject of pruning the trees. I started for a "constitutional", and picked up Lomax, the Bank Manager, with whom I walked in the rain for nearly an hour.

I worked at the Bradford sermons, but not very fruitfully. It is amazingly difficult to determine how much it is serviceable to say. The 'Church Times' is full of letters from the signatories of the latest Oxford pronouncement on "Reunion", all disclaiming any intention of sanctioning such a proceeding as Jowett's preaching in Durham Cathedral. There was no sincerity in that Conference at least on the "Catholick" side.

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