The Henson Journals

[149]

Friday, February 4th, 1921.

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The committee stage of the Parochial Councils Bill was finished by lunch time. After lunch Lord Parmoor moved, and the Bishop of Ely seconded the following resolution: "That it is not desirable at the present time to add to the causes for which matrimony may be dissolved". This relatively moderate motion was the occasion of uncompromising speeches on the main question. I moved, and Rashdall seconded the previous question. I spoke from hastily pencilled notes, and was well listened to by an entirely hostile audience. The resolution was carried with but three or four dissentients. One of the younger laymen, a stranger to me, came up afterwards and thanked me for my speech, which, he said, was very helpful to himself & many others, both inside the Assembly, & outside. Sir George Parkin also, in the Club, said something to the same effect. I can but hope they are right, & that there may be some compensation for the inevitable immediate loss of confidence and influence within the Church, & specially within one's own diocese. Anyway, by speaking out at all costs one preserves one's self–respect. The newspaper hoardings announced a woeful clerical scandal of a more than commonly startling kind; for the "hero" was a very well–known Archdeacon in the Lincoln diocese, whose eloquence & singular zeal for purity were notorious! What miserable creatures are all of us, even the best!

[150]

There was a pleasant dinner–party at the Deanery. Colonel Murray & his wife, Costley–White, the Headmaster of Westminster, & his wife, Linetta, myself, and mine host & hostess. Also Archdeacon & Mrs Spooner. There was much talk, but nothing worth calling conversation. I cross–examined Mrs Costley–White about her next–door neighbour, Mrs Temple. She said that Mrs T. was certainly a very "High" Churchwoman: that she was "an excellent manager": that she would probably not be over–patient with 'all sorts & conditions of men': that she was very clever: & so forth: which all goes to confirm what has been reported to me from other quarters.

The Bishop of Manchester already assumes the air of a master. He spoke of the people outside whom he represented in the Assembly, a palpable reference to "Life & Liberty". He has the Archbishop "in the hollow of his hand", and carries the double prestige of his maternal connexion with the aristocracy, and his father's fame. He "stands in" with the governing clique of Cecils, Palmers, Talbots, & Lytteltons, and he offers himself as the representative of the semi–socialist movement known as the "Workers' Educational Association". Add that he has exceptional gifts as an orator, a good mental equipment, academic distinction, and a boundless ambition & It is obvious that the Bench possesses in its youngest recruit a powerful personality, marked out for the largest measures of success, & so–to–say designated for the Primacy.

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