The Henson Journals

[266]

Saturday, April 9th, 1921.

[symbol]

Injustice always brings punishment in its train, but the spirit of revenge often grows with time, & is stronger in the descendants of those who have suffered than it was in the sufferers themselves: while the penalties fall not on those who did the wrong, but on their more innocent successors who are trying to atone for the past.

Bryce

This is depressing enough: but Bryce is evidently very doubtful about the future of Democracy.

"The doctrine of the Class War, which is to extinguish classes once for all, and the weapon of the General Strike, sound a new note of menace to the progress of mankind. They are not the result of Democracy.... They are in reality an attack on Democracy, the heaviest blow ever directed against it, for they destroy the sense that a people is one moral and spiritual whole, bound together by spiritual ties, and their instrument is Revolution. The sort of revolution contemplated will not be a matter of this year or the next: it opens up a long vista of struggle by armed force, which would subject democratic governments to a strain heavier than they have ever yet had to bear."

Bryce's concluding chapter on "Present tendencies in Democracies" is beautifully written, but there are a pathos & melancholy running through it which create a general effect which can only be called pessimistic. As the bequest of an old and enthusiastic democrat, whose opportunities of studying the working of democracy have been unequalled, this chapter is profoundly significant.

[267] [symbol]

The deadlock continues with this sinister new factor that the Railwaymen and Transport Workers have announced a general strike for next Tuesday if, in the interval, a settlement has not been reached.

Clayton and I motored to Coxhoe, where I consecrated an addition to the churchyard, and gave an address in the church. Everything was very dull and unreal. There was a strong and bitter wind, which made our procession about the blessed ground extremely undignified & comfortless. The curate, Griffith, who holds himself greatly aggrieved for that, after (according to his own statement) having received many promising assurances from Bishop Moule, was passed over by the Crown in the appointment to the living! After the function we had tea with the mining manager, Wood, who inaugurated the High Sheriff's Appeal. He was not very encouraging about the strike–prospects, though he was very confident that the Durham miners were not disaffected, & would be glad to resume work.

We motored from Coxhoe to Sunderland, where we were hospitably received by the Mayor (Councilllor Raine) & his very charming wife. The dear lady has taken greatly to heart my severe observations on osprey–plume wearing females, & has followed the Queen's example, or, rather to speak more justly, has anticipated Her Majesty's lead. There came to dinner several of the Sunderland magnates, and we had much talk about the economic situation. I was much impressed by the sanity and fair–mindedness of their conversation. They evidently have no confidence in Lloyd George!

---