The Henson Journals

[14]

Saturday, June 26th, 1926.

["]Of all other Professions (Lawyers) seem least to understand the Nature of Government in general; like Under–workmen, who are expert enough at making a single wheel in a clock, but are utterly ignorant how to adjust the several parts, or to regulate the movement.["]

Swift. "The Sentiments of a C. of E. man".

Clarence Stock arrived at breakfast–time, and I had much talk with him during the day. He has been taking temporary work at some of the great public schools, e.g. Harrow, Rugby, and Oundle, and has formed definite opinions on them. He speaks with enthusiasm of Rugby, with less enthusiasm of Harrow & Oundle, though he thought that Norwood the new Headmaster of Harrow would probably effect a great improvement. For some years past Clarence has been living in Jersey, employed there as an assistant master of the Victoria College. I enquired as to the ecclesiastical condition of the island, & was assured that the clergy were a poor lot, & that of the population (about 45,000) there were many Dissenters. The island is divided into 12 parishes. There appears to be much superstition of a crude kind among the people, and much inter–marriage. The latter fact may explain the comparatively low intellectual quality of the islanders. There is a considerable infusion of English folk, seeking asylum from the income–tax.

[15]

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Professor & Mrs Heawood came to tea. They are excellent Evangelicals, & both members of the Church Assembly, a fact which they take very seriously. Neither of them, so far as I could learn, would feel ready to follow the banner of Bishop Knox. The Bishop of Hereford writes to tell me what the Bishops have decided in the crucial matters of the Canon & Reservation. They will sanction an Alternative, and they will provide for Reservation for the Sick. No point of principle can rightly be said to be raised necessarily by ether decision: & certainly I should not feel myself under any coercion of conscience to resist either. None the less I do not for one moment believe that these concessions will pacify the Anglo–Catholicks: and I feel convinced that the restoration of "Law & Order" in the Church of England is as remote as ever. Under the protection of the general indifference to religion the existing anarchy in the Established Church may be tolerated for an indefinite period. As the habit of church–going declines, the importance of what goes on within the churches declines also. However grave the illegalities may be in themselves; the actual annoyance they cause is extremely small for those who would naturally resent breaches of the law are never in church to witness them!

The death of the Abbé Portal is reported. His acquaintance with Lord Halifax interested him in English Religion, and the persistent efforts of the two men, extended over more than a generation, was not without result. Leo XIII's condemnation of Anglican Orders, and the Conferences at Malines were consequences of real importance. But the Reunion of the Churches is probably as far away as ever.

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