The Henson Journals

[103]

Saturday, December 30th, 1923.

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I have spent the day in writing letters. Rather foolishly I yielded to the local editors, & sent them severally a "message" for the new year, & a "statement" on the outlook. I wrote at some length to Gamble, & kept a copy of my letter. Harold Cox wrote to ask me to send an article to the April issue of the "Edinburgh Review"on the Archbishop's letter and I promised to do so.

There are two letters of some interest in the "Times" both from their several standpoints hostile to the Archbishop's announcement of conferences with the Papists. The one is written by the sectary, Perks: the other, by the Jesuit, Woodlock. I received a letter from Fawkes, taking substantially the same ground as Whitelocke. I incline to think that the discovery of approaches to Rome, made at this juncture when the scandal of the Anglo–Catholic Congress is yet recent, will tend to shake confidence in the Archbishop, and to make the progress of Prayer Book Revision still more difficult. Indeed I cannot acquit his Grace of a certain lack of straightforwardness. His position as head of the hierarchy did not authorize him to commission representatives of the Church of England, and yet it could not be doubtful that any persons nominated by the Primate could not but be regarded as possessing a representative character. In any case the Church of England comes out of the foolish affair with a perceptible loss of prestige.

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