The Henson Journals

[155]

Tuesday, April 27th, 1920.

The weather was woeful, chilly and wet all day long. I went to the dentist by the underground to Earl's Court, & the tube to Piccadilly Circus: then a taxi took me to Queen Anne Street. Proceedings in Convocation were very dull. The new Bishop of S. Alban's (Furse) read the Litany. He is a huge man with a fine voice, but he will be a steady supporter of the wrong side. The Bishops of Gloucester & Norwich assumed that the Church was unanimous on the subject of the Divorce Bill now before the House of Lords. I thought it needful to tell them that they were mistaken. The Archbishop thinks that there is little chance of the Bill becoming law this year. His Grace read a letter from Lloyd George on the method of making Crown appointments. It gave nothing away, & was a judicious & effective pronouncement. There was a desultory discussion of a resolution on emigration sent up from the Lower House. The Bishop of S. Alban's made a successful maiden speech, stigmatising the resolution as vague & futile. The Bishop of Peterboro & I set out to walk to Fulham, but the rain was so persistent that we changed our minds & shared a taxi (6/–). Then I wrote several letters. I found myself antagonized by Bishop Woods. He is so unblushingly conventional. The National Mission was for him a triumphant success: the Enabling Act is a spiritual victory and the Lambeth Conference (of which he is episcopal secretary) an epoch–making event. All this irritates while it amuses me.

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