The Henson Journals

[38]

Friday, May 16th, 1924.

A Frenchman, M. André Siegfried, has written a book about England – 'L'Angleterre d'Aujourd'hui, Son évolutioné économique et politique' – of which the "Times" gives an account. He is astonished at the Christian sympathies of "Labour" – "Labour politicians, in their speeches, always lay claim to be as good Christians as anybody else".

"In its attitude towards Europe, the English people is all impregnated with this Protestant spirit, with its doctrinal idealism, its habit of treating all questions from a moral angle, its inclination to preach sermons & to consider that English Protestants are the salt of the earth, &, finally, its unconscious pharisaism, which persuades it that it is performing a duty when it is really only consulting with its own interests".

This is very acute, very unflattering, and very suggestive.

I motored to Durham, & instructed Wilson to prepare the petition to the King asking that a new Bishop suffragan might be appointed, & recommending the names of Knight and Derry in that order. Then I went to Castle Eden, & confirmed 84 candidates. Returning to the Castle for tea, I went out again to New Shildon, where I confirmed 123 candidates:

Trimdon Grange	118	–
Ferry Hill	138	–
Castle Eden	84	455
New Shildon	123	463
–	463	918 confirmed this week

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