The Henson Journals

[190]

Saturday, August 2nd, 1930.

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A striking feature of this Conference to those who know the previous history of the individuals concerned, is the solidarity created by their academic experience. Lang, Palmer, & Temple are Balliol men. Lang and Headlam have been All Souls fellows. Headlam as Regius Professor of Theology had been the official chief & colleague of Temple. It is ever the sway of unperceived & unacknowledged personal forces that determines the course of public affairs. These four men – Lang, Temple, Headlam, & Palmer – have been the most potent figures in this Conference, and the fact is not solely due to their official position & personal ability, though of course these are very considerable. The habit of personal association and the common loyalty to institutions have counted for much. It is no slight indication of Ingram's essential inferiority that in spite of his personal & academic associations he should have dwindled into one of the minor personal influences.

[191]

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The Times announces that Linton Smith, the Bishop of Hereford, is to be translated to Rochester in succession to Harmer. He was ordained six years after me, and has been ten years at Hereford. He has ever passed as an Evangelical, but supported the Revised Prayer Book. On the whole, I judge it to be a wise appointment. [struck through] [If there be any truth in the rumours that great efforts were being made to secure the appointment of Neville Talbot, there will be considerable disappointment in one quarter.] [end]

As things are working out in the Church of England, special importance attaches to the metropolitan dioceses, which being a the centre, make it possible for the Bishops to take an effective, because a continuous share, in the conduct of ecclesiastical affairs. There will be general satisfaction in the appointment of one who will be some corrective of St Alban's & London.

[192]

Saturday, August 2nd, 1930 [cont.].

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We were engaged all day long with "the Organization of the Anglican Communion" a subject of portentous dullness, and presented with boring prolixity by the Bishop of Salisbury.

St Clair Donaldson is one of the best of men – simple, unselfish, good tempered, & conscientious – but with something of the smugness of a pattern Sunday School scholars, & the reverent pettiness of an Anglo–Catholick devotee! He finds his soul's hunger wholly satisfied by Anglicanism: & every part of our silly conventional make–belief is for him rich in spiritual significance!! He speaks too fast: he has a curiously uninteresting voice: & he is intolerably verbose.

[struck through] We sat until 4 p.m., when I came away, had tea in the Club, & betook myself to Neville Terrace. The weather is warm, but uncertain, & with skiffs of rain. [end]

[193]

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The Indian Bishops have made a good impression, especially Madras and Dornakal. Westcott, the metropolitan, speaks, when he does speak, with dignity, moderation, and good sense. I am not well impressed by the Australian & Canadian Bishops. The Archbishop of Melbourne (Head) has made several speeches, all wonderfully foolish. South Africa is well represented, and if the Bishops, were not such very narrow Anglo–Catholicks, they would count well. Neville Talbot, Walter Carey, and Nash have made many incursions into the discussions, generally on the wrong side. Carter, the Archbishop of Capetown, is, and looks, saintly, but takes no part in the proceedings. The two Irish Archbishops have done well, but the Scottish bishops count for nothing: and the bishops from Wales have hardly uttered a word. Mainly the business of the Conference has been in the hands of the English Bishops, who seem to be superior to most of the others in ability as well as in prestige. Has this superiority any connexion with Establishment?

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