MOTION FOR AN ADDRESS. (Hansard, 18 June 1888)

§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)

Sir, I rise to propose a Motion in accordance with the duty and privilege of this House at all times to express its own sympathy and the sympathy of the people of the United Kingdom in all the joys and sorrows of the Sovereign who, as Queen of this Empire, reigns not alone over vast territories, but I am able to say with confidence in the hearts and affections of Her people. The occasion on which the House is invited now to express its sorrow and concern is one of peculiar and certainly of most tragic interest. It was scarcely a year ago that the Crown Prince of Germany received the cordial and hearty welcome of this country, as a son-in-law of the Queen, and the Heir to the Throne of a great and friendly Empire, when he came here to take part in the rejoicings of the people on the completion of 50 years of the reign of a just, a wise, and Constitutional Sovereign. It was then known to many that he was suffering from a painful and distressing malady, which occasioned the greatest concern to all who were acquainted with or suspected its character. But His Imperial Highness, notwithstanding his illness, took part in public ceremonials, and especially on the occasion of the great Procession and Thanksgiving Service on the 21st of June, in which this House joined, exhibiting the deepest interest and taking a prominent and active part in the manifestations of joy and thankfulness in which the nation indulged. Physical weakness and suffering were never permitted by him to interfere with the discharge of his public or private duties. Gradually the disease gained upon him, but it never deprived him of his resolve to go through his daily task, and to devote the powers that remained to him and his unimpaired intellect to the ser- 458 vice of his country; and I venture to say that no more pathetic and touching spectacle of courage and fortitude has been witnessed by the world than that which he exhibited. As a Commander in the field he had displayed courage and capacity; he could face death with his men in battle, and he knew how to care for the wounded and the sick after the struggle, and to see that order was restored among the civil population. But these qualities are common as compared with the fortitude that enables a man, on whom a fatal disease has fastened, making slow but sure progress from day to day, cheerfully and uncomplainingly to endure long and grievous suffering, and to go about his daily work sustained in the discharge of his duty by the sense of devotion to his country. A few weeks ago Europe lamented the death of the great Ruler whose reign had been prolonged beyond the ordinary life of man, and whose people had become great and prosperous and united under his rule. Now we mourn the death of his son, who possessed qualities which we believe would, in no less a degree, have tended to secure the good government and prosperity of Germany and the peace of the world. It is fitting, Sir, that we should carry to the foot of the Throne the expression of a nation's sorrow at the loss which the Sovereign has sustained in her domestic relations at the premature death of one who, in every position which he filled, obtained admiration and affection; and we may venture to hope that the sympathy which we now offer to Her Majesty may be some consolation to those on whom bereavement has fallen so heavily. I have now to move an Address of Condolence to the Empress Victoria, and I shall do so in very few words, lest by any expression of mine I should jar on the sanctity of the grief of the widow. Thirty years ago, amid general rejoicing, the Princess Royal of England was married to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. It was a marriage which we knew at the time was founded upon affection, confidence, and esteem, and on a thorough knowledge of the character of her husband. It was not brought about by political considerations—although the people of this country rejoiced at a union between the reigning families of two great Kingdoms which had much in common, and whose 459 interests ought not at any time to be divergent—but we were assured that it proceeded from the purest impulse of natural affection, and the Princess Royal of England has had the happiness in her married life which was permitted to our widowed Queen in hers. The virtues and the results have been the same, and the people of England have watched with affection and pride the happy domestic life and the recent discharge of public duties, which have been imperious and exacting in their character, in the intervals permitted to the wife and the sick nurse. Sir, we desire to convey the expression of our deepest sympathy to the Empress in her sorrow—a sympathy which is extended to the people who are bereaved of a Sovereign whom they loved and trusted. I venture, Sir, to move the Address, which is— That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, to express the deep concern and sorrow of this House at the great loss which Her Majesty has sustained by the death of His Imperial Majesty Frederick William, German Emperor, King of Prussia, and to condole with Her Majesty on this melancholy occasion, and to pray Her Majesty that She will be graciously pleased to express to His Majesty, the present Emperor, the profound sympathy of this House with the Imperial and Royal Family, and with the Government and People of Germany. To assure Her Majesty that this House will ever feel the warmest interest in whatever concerns Her Majesty's domestic relations, and to declare the ardent wishes of this House for the happiness of Her Majesty and of Her Family. That the said Address be presented to Her Majesty by such Members of this House as are of Her Majesty's Privy Council. That this House doth condole with Her Imperial Majesty Victoria, German Empress, Queen of Prussia, Princess Royal of Great Britain and Ireland, on the great loss which she has sustained by the death of His Imperial Majesty. That a Message of Condolence be sent to Her Imperial Majesty, and that Mr. Speaker do communicate the said Message to Her Majesty's Ambassador at Berlin, with a request that he will attend the Empress Victoria for the purpose of conveying it to Her Imperial Majesty.

§ MR. W. E. GLADSTONE (Edinburgh, Mid Lothian)

Sir, I rise for the purpose of seconding the Address which has been moved by the right hon. Gentleman the First Lord of the Treasury in terms so just and appropriate. With regard to the Joint Address to which we are asked to give our assent, I observe it is proposed we should express to Her Majesty and to the German Empress our share in the sorrow at the loss they have sustained, and that we should likewise convey to the German Empress the ex- 460 pression of our sympathy with her in the trial, which is probably the greatest which can in any instance happen to a human being, and which in her case has been enhanced, and, I may say, illustrated, by a devotion, a courage, and a patience during the trial, fluctuations, suspense, and pain of 12 months—a devotion second only to that of her illustrious husband. I am sure that every man among us feels that on this occasion we are discharging very much more than a formal duty; and, in truth, if we did not entertain that sentiment, we should differ from the whole of Europe and the entire civilized world. With regard to the event which has just taken place, and the survivors of that event, in the whole course of the experience with which we have been made familiar from day to day, we have followed them with a pitying as well as an admiring sorrow. I greatly doubt whether there ever has been a case in which one so exalted in rank and station as was the Crown Prince of Germany, and subsequently the German Emperor, has had such claims—I will not say merely upon the admiration, but upon the sympathy and pity of the world. Sir, it is touching to reflect on the enhancements of that great trial—the circumstances under which it occurred, the peculiar slowness and subtlety of the disease, the extreme and extraordinary strength of constitution of the sufferer, and the great advance in the resources of medical science which enabled its most skilful Professors to procure for the illustrious Prince a considerable but ineffectual and unavailing prolongation of life—and that prolongation we fondly hoped might be the precursor of recovery, but was in truth an addition to his suffering. Our recollections of the Emperor Frederick reach back for a long period of years, for it was in the first period of his happy marriage that he made a deep impression upon the minds of the people of England, and they felt that their interest in him was a personal interest, not only because of his association with our beloved Sovereign, but also on account of the qualities which he displayed in early life—the high intelligence, the wonderful simplicity and gentleness of character, the kindliness which laid him open to the access of all men; and those qualities as time went on were destined to be followed up by fresh displays of the 461 highest qualities I have stated. When he came back to this country after the War of 1870, it was impossible not to be profoundly struck with the fact that, after he had shown that in skill and valour he was worthy to take his place among the heroes of the world, he still displayed in a peculiar degree all the modesty of his youth. It seemed as if all were conscious of these facts but himself. His character remained precisely the same in its unassuming gentleness, and in its total absence of pretension, as it had been before he had had an opportunity of manifesting to the world the claims he had so well entitled to make upon its admiration. Sir, there may be a disposition to regret that the Reign of the Emperor Frederick was too short for the display of the qualities of the Ruler; but there is another view which, I think, will change that regret into thankfulness. The circumstances attending his ascent to the Throne made him still more conspicuous to the eyes of the world, and, I have no doubt, caused a yet deeper impression of the invaluable qualities of his mind and character to be made both upon the German people and upon mankind at large. It may well be said of him that in the course of a short time on the Throne he fulfilled a long time, for there was not an expectation, however fond, that had been entertained before he became Emperor which was not fully realized by all who heard of his daily share in the labours of the State, and the wise and comprehensive manifestation of his views on the condition of Europe, which were at the very earliest date made known to the German nation and to the nations around him. Sir, we have to hope that so far as human sorrow can be alleviated either by the expression of sympathy, or by glorious recollections, or yet by more glorious hopes—all that consolation will be enjoyed by those who are now mourning over the death of the German Emperor. But one wish, I think, remains to us, and it is this—that the recollection of his great qualities, of his singular union of wisdom with virtue and valour, that his known attachment to the liberties of his country and his respect for its Constitution, which made him so secure a guardian of the privileges of the people no less than of the honour of the Throne, and that all the winning personal qualities 462 which in him showed forth that most beautiful and appropriate of all associations, the extreme of gentleness with the highest manhood; and, again, that the holy fortitude to which the right hon. Gentleman has referred which he had displayed upon the bed of suffering, a fortitude greater in degree than that of many a soldier, and, perhaps, of many a martyr—these recollections constitute a great and noble inheritance to the German people; and we trust that that great nation, through long periods of strength, prosperity, and virtue, will cherish the recollection that the Emperor whom they have lost was among the most precious possessions that can accrue to the lot of any people upon earth.