PRIME MINISTER'S TRIBUTE. (Hansard, 19 March 1917)

§ The PRIME MINISTER
I rise to move the two Resolutions which stand in my name on the Paper:

(1) "That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty to express the deep concern of this House at the loss which His Majesty has sustained by the death of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Connaught, and to condole with His Majesty on this melancholy occasion; and to assure His Majesty that this House will ever participate with the most affectionate and dutiful attachment in whatever may concern the feelings and interests of His Majesty."

(2) "That this House do condole with His Royal Highness the Duke of Con-naught on the great loss which he has sustained by the death of Her Royal High ness the Duchess of Connaught."
When a country, which for nigh on three years has mourned for the loss of multitudes of its very best, displays a special grief over the death of one of its adopted children, it is a proof of the deep impression made by her upon the minds of the people of that country. The late Duchess of Connaught had won in a remarkable way the esteem of the people of her adopted country. She was the wife of a soldier, and the mother of a soldier. She had lived all her life in an atmosphere of war and of preparation for war, and she died within sound of the fiercest war in history. In spite of that, her life was devoted to healing, not to hurting. Her latest public activities were associated with efforts to alleviate the sufferings of this terrible conflict. It was that tenderness which won for her the affection of millions in many lands. In the course of a strenuous life, she dwelt in many countries, and the lofty example which she gave of gentle simplicity, of goodness, of tactful and unostentatious kindliness, of purity, and of devotion to duty enriched each of those countries.
It is recorded that when the Duke and Duchess of Connaught left India at the end of the official career of His Royal 1586 Highness, the people of that country thronged to give them farewell and wept tears over their departure; and a shrewd observer on that occasion said that "those tears were dropped not merely for the sagacious and sympathetic soldier who was leaving his sphere of activity, but for the quiet and unassuming figure by his side, whose myriad deeds of kindness had won the hearts of that gentle race." Every society in which she lived was the better for her sojourn. There was no country from which she departed but dropped a tear when she left, and the country the shores of which she left for the last time on Wednesday is no exception to that rule. If the mere repute of her merits endeared her to so many millions who had never met her, what must have been the love felt for her by those who came in daily contact with her? It is to them, I think, that the House would wish to express its deepest sympathy—to the Royal Household, who have lost a gracious figure; to her children, who have lost a good mother. But above all we especially grieve for the distinguished soldier to whom she had been an affectionate and a wise partner amid the high and trying responsibilities of a strenuous life, and I feel certain that the representatives of the people he has served so long and served so well in so many spheres would wish to extend to him their deep-felt sympathy in the great sorrow which has befallen him.

§ Mr. ASQUITH
I desire to add only two or three words to those which have been so well said by my right hon. Friend. This House always associates itself with the domestic experiences, whether joyful or sad, of His Majesty the King and his family, and rarely has their sympathy been appealed to more poignantly than by the lamentable blow which has now afflicted the Royal Household. The Duke of Connaught has endeared himself to the people of this Kingdom, of India, of Canada, and of the whole Empire by the willingness with which he has undertaken, and the self-sacrificing zeal with which he has performed, every kind of public duty. As soldier, as citizen, as administrator, he has never shrunk from, but has always welcomed every call which has been made upon him. No one enjoys in greater measure the confidence of the Army. In these latter years he has presided with a skill and sagacity which all Canadians recognise with great respect and gratitude over 1587 the fortunes of that great self-governing Dominion. In all these varied spheres of activity he was sustained, his hands were strengthened, his task lightened, his work rendered more complete by the gracious presence and the untiring co-operation of the loved Princess whose death we mourn to-day Of her—if I may venture to speak for a moment as one who had the privilege and honour for many years to enjoy her personal friendship—I will only trust myself to say this: Rarely has there been combined in one person to the same degree all the qualities of what is called a "great lady"—sweetness, simplicity, un-affectedness, independence, quick insight, and the warm heart of the most womanly of women, and in the heart of this country and of this Empire her memory and example will be a precious and an abiding possession.

§ Mr. GINNELL
I am sure the House is greatly edified with the expressions of regret coming from both Front Benches. They are in strange contrast with the expressions we have heard from those two same benches during the last two and a half years with reference to this lady's countrymen. I understand she was a German lady by birth. If, as I have no doubt at all is the case, the deceased lady deserves the eulogiums passed upon her, of which the House is about to approve unanimously, that in itself amounts to a keen rebuke not only to this House, but to the Press and the people of this country for the foul abuse—[Interruption]—with which they have been treating this lady's country during the last two and a half years. It would be impossible to produce on the stage any contrast so dramatic as the treatment of this lady's countrymen and countrywomen compared with the treatment of herself to-day. We have had, even from ministers of religion in this country, beastly expressions of opinion that to kill Germans was the duty of every English Christian on the same principle that rats in a trap are killed. [Interruption.] We have been told that it is the first duty of a Christian to kill Germans, and yet this German lady is held up to this House to-day as an example of all the virtues. [Interruption.] Furthermore, in spite of the language in which this lady has been referred to in this House, we have had offensive epithets against her countrymen and countrywomen. We have been told 1588 it is our duty to kill Germans like rats in a trap, and I want to know if those who have said that will stand at her grave in white sheets and apologise to the Germans for their language, and make this a starting point in a great Peace movement. [Interruption.] I do not know if there are any Christians in this House at all—[Interruption]—but I would like to propose an Amendment to the Resolution; I would like to substitute the words "Their Majesties" for "His Majesty," and to add the name of His Imperial Majesty the German Kaiser. [Interruption.] It is a matter of indifference to me whether or not this House approves of what I am saying. [Interruption.]

§ Mr. SPEAKER
The Amendment of which the hon. Gentleman has given notice that he wishes to move is irrelevant, and cannot be accepted.