The Henson Journals

[194]

Tuesday, October 24th, 1922.

I breakfasted with Ld Scarbrough, who is very pleased with the political development. Then I walked to the Athenoeum. On the way I fell in with Ld Stamfordham, & walked with him as far as the Palace. He also professes to be pleased at having got rid of L.G. In the club the Bishop of St David's had some talk with me about 'the Monmouth Use'. He agrees with me that the Bp. of M.'s letter in the 'Times' was quite irrelevant.

I walked with Pearce to Lambeth, and spent the afternoon at the Bishops' meeting. The Archbishop made a woeful report of the situation of the eastern churches, and read out a letter which he proposed send to Bonar Law, and which he wanted to support. Temple and I raised the question of episcopal patronage. He says that L.G.'s speech at Leeds was not heard by nearly two–thirds of the audience owing to the bad acoustics of the Hall in which the meeting was held. He thinks that the Coalition was mainly wrecked by the unpopularity of Birkenhead and Winston Churchill. Athelstan Riley caught hold of me as I was leaving the club, and talked about the ecclesiastical situation. He said that both he and Hugh Cecil thought that disruption could not be much longer averted.

---