§ EARL GRANVILLEMy Lords, I rise for the purpose of asking the noble and learned Lord (Lord Westbury) to postpone the Motion which stands in his name. It would only be in accordance with my own wishes, and I am sure with the general feeling of your Lordships' House, if I move the adjournment of the debate on the Irish Land Bill—indeed, if I consulted my own feelings, I should take the course of moving the adjournment of all business this evening. Your Lordships are aware of the loss which the Sovereign, the people, and the family and friends of Lord Clarendon have this day sustained. My Lords, I had known him from a boy; he was one of my dearest and most intimate Friends; and I have had an opportunity in political life and as a political Colleague, of observing his singular ability, his great sagacity, his vast experience, the moderation of his views, and those brilliant conversational powers which were almost exclusively used for the purposes of conciliation, and which gave him such, personal weight, not only with his own countrymen, but with all the Sovereigns of Europe with whom he came into contact, with their political Ministers, and with all the diplomatic representatives of the whole civilized world. I feel that your Lordships would gladly pay any mark of respect to the memory of one lost to us so recently. I believe there is no Member of this House who has so 951 many warmly attached friends as Lord Clarendon had. I am quite sure he had no enemy here, and I believe there are very few of your Lordships who had not feelings almost of personal friendship towards him. It was decided on the occasion of the death of Lord Campbell that your Lordships should adjourn as an expression of regret at the loss of one who occupied so high and responsible a position; but in the case of other illustrious Members of the House it was thought undesirable that you should adjourn business, on account of the difficulty of creating a precedent, and of drawing a line where you should pay that great compliment and where you should not. If we are on any occasion to adjourn, I feel there could be no fitter occasion than on the death of the great man whom we have lost, dying under the weight of affairs, in the very act of trying to arrange a matter necessary with regard to civilization in Europe—but I also feel that he who, though he enjoyed life, socially and domestically, as much as anybody I ever knew, would postpone everything to Public Business and his duty to his country—would himself have preferred that we should not adopt an unusual course, whatever our feelings may be.
§ THE DUKE OF RICHMONDMy Lords, I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without expressing the very deep regret which, in common I am sure with, your Lordships, I feel at the melancholy event which has deprived this country of one of the most esteemed Members of your Lordships' House. Lord Clarendon's connection with the diplomatic service and with the Foreign Office is too well known, too widely spread through the inhabited globe, to require from me any remarks. Though, on some occasions, I might not fully agree with the views which he held, I am convinced that on all occasions and at all times he was only actuated by the sincerest desire and wish to uphold and maintain the honour and credit of his country. How little could we imagine during last week, when we saw him occupying his accustomed seat and taking that part in public affairs which it was his habit on all occasions to do—how little could we have imagined that we should so soon have to lament his loss! Though politically opposed to Lord Clarendon, I have for many years enjoyed his personal friendship, 952 and I can say in all sincerity that I sympathize most deeply with his Colleagues and his numerous friends at the irreparable loss which they have so lately sustained.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYMy Lords, as it was my fortune to precede Lord Clarendon in the Office which he held, and having been connected with him by ties both of personal regard and of family, I may be allowed to add my humble tribute to that which has been paid to his memory by the noble Earl opposite and by the noble Duke beside me. This is an occasion when the voice of political criticism is necessarily silent, and when no sentiment can be indulged, no language employed, except that of private sympathy and public respect. I am sure I am only giving utterance to feelings which are in the minds of all your Lordships when I say that in Lord Clarendon England has lost an experienced and sagacious statesman, and the Foreign Office a chief whose heart was in his work; and that society will long and deeply deplore the loss of one who, more than any man I have ever met, knew how to disarm criticism and to conciliate sympathy by the charm of his manner and the warmth of his heart. To the Members of this House—and not to us only, but I may venture to say to all the upper class of this country—Lord Clarendon set the example of a life of indefatigable industry in a career passed in the service of the State. He has died in harness. Never again shall we be privileged to listen to that conversation in which counsels of the maturest wisdom were conveyed in language at once so simple, so unaffected, and so full of point. But by his many friends, his memory will long be cherished; and even in these days of rapid change and restless moments England will not lightly forget a character so remarkable and a career so brilliant.
§ EARL COWLEYattempted to add his tribute to the memory of the deceased statesman; but after a vain attempt to utter more than a few words, he resumed his seat.
§ LORD WESTBURYexpressed his willingness to postpone the Motion on the arrears of Business before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.