The Henson Journals

[31]

Friday, December 23rd, 1927.

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The morning papers contain the much–expected letter of the two Archbishops On the whole it is much what it was when I left Lambeth on Tuesday night. It can hardly be called pugnacious or provocative, but it does indicate potentialities of conflict. As a sedative for the Festival, it will serve well enough. The Manchester Guardian calls it 'a moderate and dignified statement of their (the Archbishops') view of the position", but perceives 'a veiled threat' in the reference to 'inherent spiritual authority' &c. "One wonders whether this is the language of a State Church; certainly it raises very difficult questions". "Jix" professes to be delighted!

I think here are already signs of disintegration in the Anglican host. The menace to the endowments will be a weightier argument for the acquiescence than any considerations of a non–material character which may be offered for resistance! These are not heroic days, and there is hardly enough faith left in the Church to provide recruits for "the noble army of martyrs". On the other hand, the dervishes of demoralization have greatly multiplied since the War, & they may force the episcopal pace.

[32] [symbol]

Lady Londonderry sends me a message from her cousin, the Duke of Argyll, who voted against the Archbishop's motion in the House of Lords:–

"I hope, should you see the Bishop of Durham that you will tell him that there are inconveniences in the view that, everyone in the Realm is a tacit member of the Church, and has a right to dictate in what forms we should pray. Dean Inge has said this in the past". Niall further added that he particularly wanted your views on this point, as plenty of the 'rag, tag, & bob–tail' of Elizabethan Puritanism clearly act on this view.

The Duke is an eccentric & ^bigoted^ [narrow-minded] Anglo–Catholick, whose religious perplexities ^need not be^ [can never be reckoned as serious] taken too seriously: but it is certainly true that many people continue to think & speak about the Church of England in terms which have come down from the past, & have no relation to the present. Of course the moral is that we ought to be forthwith disestablished, but this involves disendowment, and men still shrink from that.