Complaints, Etc.

We are likely to be better friends and so to do more solid work for God and the Empire, if we quite understand each other.

It is fairly well known now that my practice on getting a letter is: to look for the signature. If there is none, or such false ones as: "A Christian Friend," "A True Well-wisher," and so forth, the letter goes unread into the waste paper basket. It is likewise fairly well known now that correspondence in the newspapers does not result in "drawing" the man who is, at present, in the honoured and responsible position of being your Bishop.

But one thing, apparently, is not so well known, i.e., the futility of any person saying to me:—"If you knew what I know about Mr. So-and-so, you would," etc., etc. Then, when I take a pencil and paper and say:—"Yes, I will make a note of it and will use your name as my informant," and am at once met with: "Oh, no, my name must not appear. I don't want to be the one to make a fuss," and so forth.

Well, gentlemen, I decline absolutely to take any action towards any man, Priest or Layman, unless my informant, who poses as a corrector of Righteousness and page 17 Morals, has the courage of his own convictions. When any man tells me that I can act on his information, and that he is prepared to back up, as a Christian man, what he says against the character of another man over whom I possess Episcopal authority, then, but not till then, am I prepared to act, and then, further, to act to the full extent of any powers I may possess.

It always saves trouble in the long run, if we quite understand where we are in dealing with each other.