¹ As for a ‘Catholic’ party—my chief objection to ‘P.R.’ is that it would give a chance for such a party to arise! We should be in a tiny minority, usually in uneasy alliance with a large and alien party that would have little understanding or sympathy for us; while the other large parties, losing any hope of the Catholic vote, would ride roughshod over us. Is it not a fact that ‘Catholic’ parties abroad have arisen, not to express Catholic social principles, but in reply to an anti‐clerical spirit to which Britain is a stranger?

² But I wonder whether Anglicanism would not be stronger in the House of Lords if the bishops were not there. Anglican views might command more Parliamentary agreement if they were put, as ours are, by well‐instructed or well‐briefed laymen. I think that Archbishops are better heard outside, rather than in Parliament.

Cardinal Bourne once told me he considered it would be a great mistake for him to sit in some ‘reformed’ House—as is often suggested by theorists.