The Henson Journals

[106]

Thursday, July 10th, 1924.

Colonel Birchall said to me yesterday as he thanked me for my speech In the H. of L. that I expressed the mind of nine–tenths of the laity of the C. of E. That must at least mean that he agrees with me, and he is an excellent example of an Anglican squire. Mr Hilken, who is one of the "Protestant" leaders in the Assembly, thanked me heartily for my speech. He is a typical Anglican of the urban, or, perhaps, suburban, variety. Probably it is the case that, in their hearts, the majority of plain men outside the sophisticated coteries of "religious workers" are agreed with me, though rather startled and even a little scandalised by my plain speaking. They are also perplexed, and in a sense disconcerted, by the solitude in which I seem to stand. They have been in recent years inclining to "follow the bishops", and here all the bishops, save this strange Bishop of Durham, seem to be on one side. Of course, the episcopal unanimity is more apparent than real, but it is the case that one result of the essays in reunion with the Nonconformists has been to incline the more "catholic" Anglicans to accept the Nonconformist point of view on all questions which lie outside the range of "Catholick principles". They can compensate their own consciences for being unyielding in religious matters by being entirely complaisant in matters social & economic!

[107]

I attended the National Assembly, and spoke against the measure for creating a Shropshire diocese by cutting down the Diocese of Hereford to the county. The balance of argument was quite clearly against the proposal, and the obvious equities forbade its adoption. Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of the Assembly voted for the measure. That fox Lacey hung on to me as the members dispersed for lunch in order to tell me that he had heard one of my strongest opponents say of me after 18 months experience of my episcopal government – "At least he has a passion for justice". And he said that when he related this episode to a party of my Northern critics, there was dead silence, & then one of them remarked, "It is the same here". I lunched with Jack Boden, & then went to the Athenaeum, from which I was fetched in a car, & carried to Barking, where the Vicar had organized a garden party previous to my opening the new Public Library. I was surprised & moved by the affection expressed to me, & by the vivid memory of episodes in my vicariate disclosed by many persons. I made a speech in the open air to a considerable company, & then inspected the Library. After dinner at the Vicarage, I was carried back to the Athenaeum. The chauffeur, Douglas Sutherland, interested me greatly.

[108]

Is it worth my while to write to the "Times" on the text of yesterday's proceedings in the Assembly, and to point the moral that the interference of Parliament is indispensable if justice is to be guaranteed to the local minorities? Would a letter on the subject assist the division on the Winchester Bill next Tuesday? It would give me the opportunity of dealing effectively with Lords Parmoor & Salisbury. The case of Hereford is really illuminating, for here the quite overwhelming opposition of the diocese is ignored, and a situation of evidently indefensible character deliberately created.

Pelham, the Vicar of Barking, spoke with great emphasis about the effect of my ministry in that parish. He said the people were ever speaking of it, and telling over its episodes. Evidently the gatherings in the garden on Sunday afternoons, and the successful conduct of the rather stormy vestries, made a deep impression on the popular mind, and most of all the services for the Gasworkers' & General Labourers' Union when the men themselves chose the text. Nearly 30 years have passed since I left the parish, & there is great change, so great that Barking is hardly recognizable. And, perhaps, the change in me is even greater. Then I was young, brave and confident: now I have grown old, timorous, and cynical. I fear the change is for the worse.

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