The Henson Journals

[52]

24th Sunday after Trinity, November 11th, 1923.

"O Lord, we beseech Thee, absolve Thy people from their offences; that through Thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed: Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour".

Amen

An admirably suitable prayer for Armistice Day. The world, it is becoming daily plainer, will not right itself, until it goes back in repentance on its great moral failure at Versailles, and takes up again in a humbler & juster spirit the Task which the Victory imposed. Along the lines which France has steadily pursued, dragging Great Britain more or less reluctantly with her, there is nothing but total destruction in front of Europe. At all hazards we must get off those lines, and direct our course in another spirit towards another end. The League of Nations is the one part of the Treaty of Versailles which can justify itself after five years, as in principle and purpose, right: and we must on no account allow it to perish in the returning flood of cynical nationalism, which finds its victims & champions in such politicians as the Duke of Northumberland, and Lord Birkenhead. In view of the actual situation in Germany it is impossible to avoid the fear that our repentance may be too late.

[53]

William motored me to Darlington, where I caught a train which left at 11.20 a.m., and arrived at King's Cross ten minutes after the scheduled time 5.15 p.m. there was a half of twenty minutes at York. I drove to 21 Park Lane, where I found Lady S. at tea with the Countess Merry del Val, the Spanish Ambassador's wife, whom I met once at old Lady Londonderry's.

Lord Grey & his wife came to dine, & a Papist named Leslie. The conversation was very interesting. Grey spoke about Ambassador Page & said how very fortunate it was that he was the representative of American during the War. The relations with America were very difficult. Page used to read the furious letters from his Government, & then say, "Now I don't agree with this at all: but it's got to be answered. How can we arrange an answer?" After America "backed out" of the Treaty, we ought to have insisted on re–assembling in Paris and making a new Treaty. He thought that it was quite probable that Germany wd renounce the Treaty, & France wd seize the Rhineland. He had heard that the French were on the verge of an agreement with the Ruhr magnates to accept the situation & work for the French. Intermarriage of black soldiers and French women was being encouraged by the French. Hence Poincaré's insistence on equality of races under the Republic!

[54] [symbol]

I asked Lord Grey whether the theory of bird–territories was accepted by ornithologists, and he replied in the affirmative. He added that the theory was remarkably illustrated in the case of the robin redbreast, which not only drove out its own fledglings at the earliest opportunity, but also insisted on the hen's departure as soon as the nesting business was finished. For this reason robins were never encountered in pairs but only singly.

Both Lord S. and I were much impressed by the youthfulness of Lord Grey's appearance. It was very evident that he and his wife are devoted to one another, so that the credit of his rejuvenation may fairly be assigned to his 2nd marriage.

Conversation turned to spiritual healing & other dubious phenomena, and I contented myself with saying bluntly that to my thinking these things, whatever measures of truth might belong to them, had nothing to do with Religion, since they were not morally conditioned. The worse rogues were sometimes the most successful Faith healers e.g. D. Dowie. This observation was received with politeness rather than agreement, & it was sufficiently apparent that both Lord Grey & his wife were something more than sympathetic in their attitude towards these questionable and perilous speculations.

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