The Henson Journals

[189]

Wednesday, May 19th, 1920.

I wrote letters in the Athanaeum, and then went to the barber & had my hair cut. Then I lunched in the Club at the same table with Pelham, the Vicar of Barking. Archdeacon Gibbs, & the Bishop of Chester.

I walked to Lambeth, and attended the meeting of Bishops. An opportunity presented itself, I said what I thought about the Bishop of Salisbury's foolish letter to the "Times". He made a rather heated reply, but the general sense of the bishops was with me. Lang expressed much approval of the Anson Memoir, and so did Buckle, whom I saw in the Club. Then I visited the dentist, and, when I had finished with him, I returned to the Club, and wrote to Ella.

Two items of news in the evening papers strike me as more than commonly grave. The dockers are refusing to load ships with ammunition for Poland: and the agricultural labourers are organizing marches to London in order to demand 50/– a week. The hearing of the Railwaymen's monstrous demand for an additional pound a week all round is evoking some suggestive evidence. They do not base the demand on the increased price of necessaries, but on the increased wages of other classes of workmen. The Railwaymen find themselves out–bought in the shops by the dockers and pitmen. Hinc lacrymoe rerum [hence weep about affairs]! We must come to a catastrophe on these lines.

[190]

"Truth" has a paragraph about the vacant see of Durham, and mentions the Bishops of Bristol and Hereford as likely to be offered Moule's succession. It adds that the latter would be welcomed & useful in the North. I ran into Charles, &, of course, he began to talk as if it were a settled thing that I must be Bishop of Durham! I told him that it was one of the unlikeliest events in the world. The Bishop of Newcastle mentioned Strong as both likely and a desirable successor to Moule. I must need think that, if Strong would accept the Bishoprick (and I think he would) his appointment would be excellent.

Wild tells me that the old days of capitular strife have returned in Durham to the scandalous amusement of the people. I am glad my resident there is associated in the people's rememberance with capitular peace. Caröe reports much bitterness and bickering. He says that Welldon is universally detested, and that Watkins is openly his enemy. It is all very woeful & scandalous.

Why are these little societies of dignified & learned clergymen so frequently distinguished by their internecine quarrels? I have often asked myself that question, and never yet succeeded in finding an answer which is satisfying. About the scandalous fact, however, there can be no shadow of a doubt.

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