§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (The Marquess of SALISBURY)My Lords, before we commence business, I cannot but say a few words as to the great loss which this House and the country have sustained by the lamentable death of Lord Herschell yesterday. It is very pathetic from many points of view. He died suddenly, apart from all he loved, 3,000 miles away, in a foreign capital, when the work in which he was deeply interested, and which he was carrying to a successful conclusion, was only half finished. His death is in any sense and from any point of view a lamentable event to think of. But it touches us more deeply. It is a loss of a very great public servant, of a very eminent public man. He was connected at the time of his death with the service of his country, in that particular branch of the service with which, for the moment, I have the honour to be connected, and that is my excuse for perhaps taking out of the hands of those who have a better title, especially the noble Earl opposite, or the noble Earl on the Woolsack, the opportunity of first paying their tribute to his worth. My Lords, to us, of course, the loss is almost irreparable. His many peculiar abilities enabled him to fill a place which others could not fill. He enjoyed the width and grasp of a statesmanlike mind, with the profound training of a brilliant lawyer, and the habits 1002 and knowledge of one who was not unacquainted with diplomatic traditions, and who practised them with a singular success. His great popularity, especially his popularity with our kindred race on the other side of the Atlantic, pointed him out for the duties which he was so willing, at great sacrifice and with great labour, to undertake, and we shall hardly supply his place. Of his other distinguished qualities it is hardly for me to speak in a House of so many lawyers. I need not point out his qualities as one of the most remarkable lawyers of the day, whose decisions men in the future will look back upon with pride. I need not tell your Lordships, above all, of his appearances in this House, of his courtesy in debate, of his dialectical skill, of his vast erudition, and of the great influence which he exercised alike upon friends and foes. I can only express what all your Lordships will be quick to follow me in expressing—our deep sense of the loss we have sustained, and our sense that we have parted from, a bright intellect, from a personal and fascinating influence, to which all of us for many years will look back as a cherished memory.
THE EARL OF KIMBERLEYYour Lordships will easily understand that I can scarcely find words in which to express the deep sorrow which I feel at the loss of Lord Herschell. I have lost in him a personal friend, with whom I have been for many years in most intimate connection; but we have lost, as the noble Marquess has well pointed out, something more. We have lost a man who enjoyed, I think, the singular position of being alike respected and esteemed by political friends and foes. As to his great legal abilities, as the noble Marquess has said, I also am not one who can say anything. His legal attainments were no doubt high; but I can speak of his political eminence, and I can say with truth, having sat with him in more than one Cabinet, that a wiser, more straightforward, more fearless, more honest adviser, a more high-minded servant the Crown never possessed. Another quality he had which is unusual: he was singularly a many-sided man. He was not only a great lawyer, but, as the noble Marquess has pointed out, he was able to undertake 1003 the most difficult diplomatic employment with great ability and success. Whatever he touched he showed he was capable of touching, and that can be said of very few men. There may have been in particular walks of life men more eminent, more able, more brilliant than Lord Herschell, but I think none of us remember, and few will be able to recollect, a man who was more many-sided and more successful in the variety of walks of politics and statesmanship In this House especially, we, on this side, of course, have suffered an irreparable loss, but I am sure I speak the feelings of all who hear me when I say the House itself has sustained a most painful and irreparable loss. He was an adviser of the House of the greatest value, he was one of those who desired to uphold the honour and authority of this House, and I am sure every one of your Lordships will share the deep sorrow which in very imperfect words I have endeavoured to express.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (The Earl of HALSBURY)Not only on my own behalf, but on behalf of the profession which for the moment I represent, I desire to associate myself with what has been well and justly said of our lamented Friend, Lord Herschell. No one can have been associated with him so long as I have been, and as some of your Lordships have been, in the study and administration of the law, without recognising in him a profound and most able lawyer—a man with a degree of energy and inexhaustible industry which made him master of any subject to which he applied himself. My personal relations with Lord Herschell go back many years, before either of us was a Member of this House. Although we have been opposed in contests in the courts, and although we have taken different views on public questions, I think I can say—indeed, I know I can say—nothing has ever occurred to mar the personal friendship that existed between us. Even the lay Members of your Lordships' House will be able to recognise the great loss which the judicial strength of the country has sustained, and I am quite sure that those who have known him in this country, or any other country, recognise the fact that this country is the poorer for the loss of a most able and upright judge, the loss 1004 of one who was probably, in the best sense of the word, a law reformer, and who devoted his best energies to putting right in the law whatever was wrong. I am sure it will also be recognised, not only in this country, but throughout the English-speaking race, that we have lost a jurist whose counsels were most valuable.
§ *LORD JAMES OF HEREFORDMy Lords, I hope you will grant me the privilege of adding a few words to the eloquent tributes that have been paid to Lord Herschell's memory. I do not make that request for the purpose of telling you of a sincere friendship of 30 years' duration, or with the object of swelling the expressions of regret for the irreparable loss this House has sustained. But my claim to address you is founded on the circumstance that I had opportunities of judging of Lord Herschell's great qualities which few men had. We served as Law Officers of the Crown together for some five years. We served under circumstances of a true friendship. Our labours were ever jointly done, and my paramount recollection of that colleagueship is that Lord Herschell ever insisted on bearing the greater share of those labours, and in always striving that I should reap the heavier harvest of the reward. During that period I learned to know how great was the area of his knowledge, how strong and discerning were his perceptive faculties, and with what a true and just judgment he always determined every question that came before him. This House may thank him for his labours, and friends may regret him, but the whole nation ought to recognise how well he deserved their thanks. In almost one of the last interviews I had with Lord Herschell he told me of the claim that had been made upon his services by the Prime Minister to represent this country under circumstances of great delicacy. At the same time, he told me of his system being overwrought, and how weary and worn he was by the constant mental labour of many years, and how he had been looking forward to a long period of rest and repose with those who were very near and dear to him; but he turned aside from that prospect of restoration to health, and cast, I believe, not one lingering look upon it, in order that he might go far away to do his duty 1005 to his country, and in its performance he has died. Under the circumstances, surely, his friends may be proud of the recollection of the true friendship they enjoyed with him, and not only your Lordships, but the whole country, ought to be grateful to him for the services which, as a good and faithful citizen, he was ever ready to render to his country.