The Henson Journals
Thu 7 February 1929
Volume 47, Pages 115 to 116
[115]
Thursday, February 7th, 1929.
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I did not feel well, indeed I suspected that I had caught a chill. But I stayed in the Athenæum all day, & shook it off sufficiently to dine in the Carpenters' Hall, and give a lecture on the Castle. Londonderry presided, & there was a large attendance. [I spoke on the Palatine Jurisdiction and the History of the Castle – repeating much of the lecture I gave some weeks ago at Harrogate – and then acted showman to the slides. After the Lecture, Mrs Tait spoke to me. Londonderry gave me a lift in his car to Park Lane, and talked to me about Robin. I fear the outlook in that quarter is not promising.]
I wrote to young Lacey, declining his rather cheeky suggestion that I should discuss Disestablishment with him: and also to J.G. Wilson, condoling with him on the death of his friend & coeval, Kirk.
[116]
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John Buchan joined me at lunch in the club, and we had some talk. He, and all these Scots, is very confident that they have found a solution of the problem of church & State: & thinks that we in England may build our policy on their precedent. Herein I am persuaded they are gravely mistaken. "You have a great following", he said, referring to my declared policy of "Disestablishment by consent". The Athenaeum is a nest of clever Scots. Buchan, Hugh Macmillan, Archie Fleming, George Macmillan, the Moderator, & a host of others were all in the lunching room together!
I fell in with the Archbishop of Wales, & talked of ecclesiastical matters. I asked him how the Welsh Church was faring under Disestablishment. "It has transformed the country", he replied. "For good? or for ill?", I inquired. "Oh, for good", he answered, adding that no one would desire to return to the former régime. When it is remembered that the Archbishop was a vehement opponent of Welsh Disestablishment, this testimony cannot but be regarded as very impressive [though, indeed, I do not set a high value on the honesty of the witness! Yet why should he not say the truth in the matter?]