The Henson Journals

[262]

Friday, November 26th, 1926.

The City Churches Measure was defeated in the House of Commons by 126 to 27. This is the second instance of Parliamentary rejection of the Assembly's Measures. The one – the Shropshire Bishoprick Measure – was defeated in the Lords: the other is defeated in the Commons. The combined forces of the City of London, the Artistic Folk, & the Times were too much for the Ecclesiastical partisans. This final assertion of the power of Parliament to override the Church Assembly will certainly facilitate the rejection of Prayer Book Revision, which will probably be attempted in both Houses. Bishops Pollock & Barnes, possibly joined by Bishops Pearce & Nickson in the House of Lords, will work to that end: and in the House of Commons there will be the party led by the Home Secretary and the Solicitor General, assisted probably by Labour Members & Liberals. The prospect is gloomy.

Ernest and I walked round the Park: and then I wasted my time by reading the book on the Kaiser by Ludwig, which Lord Balfour was recommending so strongly at Grillions. It is written in a dramatic style, and treats the Life as a tragedy, which indeed it was from its unhappy beginning to its humiliating close.

James and Maimie Parker Smith arrived for the week end: they are moving from Bath to their house in North Berwick.

Seven new volumes of the Loeb Classical Library arrived. They include a volume of Eusebius.

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