§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND LORD OF THE PRIVY SEAL (The Marquess of SALISBURY)My Lords, before the House goes to the business of the day, I wish to say a few words in remembrance of one whom we have lost, whom I, through many years of friendship, deeply valued, and whose death is a very serious loss to the public service of this Empire. I refer to a Member of this House, Lord Pauncefote. I do not wish to say much about him, only to recall to your Lordships' recollection the great loss that we have sustained. He belonged to a class of public servants of whom, perhaps, we do not quite think enough, but whose power of mind, whose unflagging exertions, whose fidelity to their duty and to their chiefs, are among the causes which enable this country to uphold her strength and her isolation, in spite of all dangers and difficulties by which from time to time our history is threatened. Lord Pauncefote, is a very remarkable instance, though he is by no means a solitary one. He was a lawyer in Hong Kong. I am not aware that he had any special means of obtaining the recognition he deserved. He rose because all with whom he came in contact recognised his sterling abilities and his entire devotion to his country. He rose from one position to another. He came into the central Administration of this country. He was taken into the Colonial Office. Prom the Colonial Office he was taken into the Foreign Office, and from the Foreign Office he went to the Embassy at Washington. And he has now left behind him the reputation of having done more than any one man to cement that union between the two great Anglo-Saxon races which is one of the healthiest and most promising indications of our time. He has done a great work for his country. He has sacrificed himself to it, and I do not wish the occasion to pass without recalling him for a moment to your Lordships' recollection, and pointing 1085 out how greatly we benefit by the possession of such men as an example to our public servants and as a sustaining power to the energy of the Empire.
§ LORD TWEEDMOUTHMy noble friend Lord Spencer, I am sorry to say, is detained by business in the country—I think his Yeomanry is being reviewed by Lord Roberts—and, in his absence, I desire, on behalf of the Party he leads in this House, to express our entire and sorrowful concurrence in every word that has fallen from the Prime Minister. We feel that the country has lost a great and devoted servant, whose services have been readily, generously, fully given to his country. We have but too few such men to rely upon in this time of difficulty and trouble, and I can say that the loss of Lord Pauncefote is as much deplored and grieved for by the Members of His Majesty's Opposition as it is by the members of His Majesty's Government.
THE EARL OF ROSEBERYMy Lords, I had no idea that the noble Marquess was going to take this opportunity, very properly, of paying a tribute to Lord Pauncefote, and I should not have intervened in the proceedings were it not that I am, perhaps, the only Foreign Secretary in this House beside the noble Marquess who was associated with him when he was Under-Secretary in that great Department. I desire to associate myself entirely with every word the noble Marquess has said. No one who had to deal with Lord Pauncefote could exaggerate the services which he rendered to the office in which he worked and to the Minister under whom he served. But it was reserved, I think, for the last act of his life to display his value to the Empire in the most conspicuous manner. We cannot but feel that the funeral honours that were rendered to Lord Pauncefote in America, afford a sure text and a sure mark of the esteem in which he was held there and the full reward of his work. I am sure that no one could utter a more auspicious hope over his grave than the aspiration that his death, as well as his life, may have tended to draw nearer the union between the two great branches of the English-speaking race.