The Henson Journals

[199]

Friday, October 27th, 1922.

Glazebrook was in the Club yesterday, and had speech with me. He is very sure that the Cambridge Conference was a conspicuous success. He says that it has greatly increased the membership of the Churchmen's Union, and has compelled the authorities to treat Liberal Churchmen with more respect. He professed himself contented with the episcopal pronouncements both North & South. I suspect that the unexpected ease with which that crisis was surmounted really was due to the presence in the Liberal Camp of a considerable number of "Catholic modernists" who allow themselves to profess very advanced opinions on N.T. criticism while maintaining the Roman tradition of doctrine & worship. Their position is that of Loisy while he remained a member of the Roman Church. It is too paradoxical to be permanent: but it was strong enough to arrest the zeal of the more orthodox "Catholics", who were restrained by their own friends from pushing matters to a crisis. But the issue remains unsettled, and the fight will be renewed at an early date. The dissensions in the C.M.S. show that the leaven of criticism is working even in the dull stupid mass of what is called 'Evangelicalism'. Wherever modern knowledge and habits of thinking penetrate the crisis begins to develope. What the outcome will be for the Church of England, and for English Religion, who can say?

[200] [symbol]

I left London by the 10 a.m. express, & travelled easily to Darlington, where William met me with the car. There was a large accumulation of letters which Clayton and I dealt with after dinner.

Prebendary Guy Rogers writes to inquire whether in my judgment he ought to consult the Bishop of London before preaching in Westminster Chapel. He "has quite definitely accepted the invitation to preach." I could but reply that he ought not to consult the Bishop unless he was prepared to follow such advice as the Bishop might give.

Fawkes sends me a newspaper cutting reporting the opening of the "Anglo–Catholic" Congress at Brighton. "Pontifical High Mass" with the Bishop of Lewes as preacher is described with enthusiasm. Now which of the two performances – the preaching in Westminster Chapel or the Pontifical High Mass – is truly representative of Anglicanism: can both be reasonably united in the same Church? Is the cause of the Reformers now unable to find any better champions than young Kensit, & the band of illiterate fanaticks which he organizes & leads? The Bishop of Chichester's contribution to the Brighton demonstration was a message of "hearty goodwill" and the invocation of the Divine Blessing on the Congress. He indicates no hesitation: he makes no reservation. The public must necessarily assume that he is essentially in agreement with the Movement. Perhaps he is. In that case what protection can the ordinary parishioner find against a total revolution of the established system?

[201]

October 27th, 1922.

My dear Vice–Chancellor,

I must needs hold it to be a great honour to be invited to add my name to the list of very distinguished men who have delivered the "Rede Lecture": and, although you will understand my hesitation to undertake that responsibility in addition to the burdens which rest on me at present, I cannot think it right to refuse the nomination you so kindly propose. I will, therefore, do my best, & will shortly send you notice of my subject.

It will give me particular pleasure to stay with you when I come to Cambridge for my duty.

Believe me,

Yours sincerely,

Herbert Dunelm:

The Vice–Chancellor of Cambridge.

[202] [symbol]

October 27th, 1922.

Dear Sir,

I received last week from your Publishers a c copy of your book "Secrets of the Bosphorus", which I have read with deep but painful interest. It was very good of you to send me the volume, which I should probably have missed unless you had done so, for books are many, and a bishop's leisure is small. But your book deserves to be read by every man who in any measure wields influence in the nation. It is unhappily the case that there has been a sharp & sudden change for the worse in British opinion on the Near–Eastern question. I fear that the replacing of the Turks in Constantinople as a Sovereign Power, & their return to Thrace will bring great calamities to Christendom in the near future: nor can I doubt that the extinction of the Christian minorities in Asia Minor is not only an appalling crime, but also a political folly of the first magnitude.

It is impossible to read your narrative without perceiving how heavy a burden rested on you during those terrible years, and also, I must take leave to say, how bravely that burden was borne. Service of the kind you were able to render brings its own reward.

More than ever am I convinced that the hope of civilization lies mainly in the mutual understanding & steady cooperation [203] of the two great nations – yours and mine – which share the English tradition and speak the English tongue.

Again thanking you for your book, & with much regard, I am

Yours very faithfully,

Herbert Dunelm:

Henry Morgenthan Esq.

c/o Messrs Hutchinson & Co.

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