§ THE LORD PRIVY SEAL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (THE EARL OF CREWE)My Lords, I have the honour to move, "That a humble Address be presented to His Majesty to assure His Majesty of the heartfelt sympathy of this House in his grievous affliction and loss by the death of the late King, His Majesty's Father, of blessed and glorious memory. That we shall ever remember with grateful affection the zeal and success with which our late Sovereign laboured to consolidate the peace and concord of the world, to aid every merciful endeavour for the alleviation of human suffering, and to unite in justice and freedom all races and classes of his subjects with His Imperial Throne."
My Lords, the House re-assembles to-day in the shadow of a great calamity, all the more overwhelming from the suddenness of its approach; for although the conditions of human life forbade the expectation that our late Sovereign could reign for so long a term as did several of his illustrious line, yet his robust constitution, his active way of life, and his abundant vitality all entitled us to hope that the span of his life might equal that of any of his predecessors on the Throne.
We look back at these last nine years with feelings of thankfulness and of pride. I think we all recognised at the time of the late King's Accession that the task before His Majesty was one of exceptional difficulty. He succeeded at a comparatively advanced age to the great Queen who had become in her lifetime almost a legendary figure, and whose person seemed to be, as it were, part of the British Constitution itself. Whatever King Edward's reign might be, it could not be the same as that of Queen Victoria; and now as we cast our thoughts backwards we are able sincerely to declare that, though different, the late reign does not suffer by comparison. The prosperity and orderly progress of the nation, the strengthening of Imperial tics, and, above all, the maintenance of peace—if these be the signs and tests of a great and glorious reign, they are fulfilled in that of which we are now lamenting the close.
My Lords, we all know the capacity, the diligence, the sense of duty with which the late King performed his part as Constitu- 825 tional Sovereign of those realms. Not less aware are we of his conspicuous position in international politics. That position, indeed, has sometimes been misunderstood and misinterpreted both here and abroad. British Sovereigns do not engage in the direct negotiations and transactions of diplomacy; but His Majesty's influence was none the less real and potent. His close knowledge of the continent of Europe, his freedom from insular prejudice, his absolute straightforwardness—these, added to his position as an elder and beloved relative in so many Sovereign and Princely Houses, all gave him frequent opportunities which he used, needless to say, always for the benefit of this country, but never to the detriment of any other country, and with a perpetual and engrossing desire for the preservation of peace.
I think that we are all profoundly touched by the evident sincerity which has inspired the manifestations of sorrow throughout Europe. On His Majesty's subjects all over the world the loss falls with a different weight. From the Dominions over seas, from the Colonies and from India, there is but one voice of mourning. In the whole of the United Kingdom, over which His Majesty ruled with an equal affection, it is the same. Other Sovereigns may have been popular, but I do not think that any Sovereign has ever been the personal friend of his people in the sense in which King Edward was. Certainly no British Sovereign has ever known and conversed with in the course of his life so many different classes of his subjects and so many individuals in those classes. This was both the origin and the outcome of the keen interest in social questions which so distinguished His Majesty. The result was that he always understood, if he did not always adopt, the point of view of any particular section of his people; that he was sensible to public opinion without being in any degree afraid of it; while those who have been privileged to serve him have been often indebted to his shrewd judgment and the fruit of his large experience.
As we all know, the King came in contact with the nation at many other points. His devotion both to his Navy and his Army is well known. His encouragement of science and art, his interest in agriculture, his enjoyment of our national open-air sports and amusements—these are familiar to us all. 826 When, too, we consider that there never was seen such unaffected dignity of bearing united to a cordiality so spontaneous and so irresistible, can we be surprised that the country feels that it has lost not only its Sovereign, but its best friend? My Lords, when a great figure such as that of the King passes off this earthly stage we are, indeed, apt first to think of the splendour which surrounds his name, and of the high affairs quorum pars magna fuit. But many will turn to the touches of personal character, the little nameless unremembered acts of kindness, unremembered, indeed, by their doer, but not forgotten by those for whom they were done. Those who in different degrees were honoured by personal intimacy with the King can recall a hundred instances of these kindnesses, and they never, too, will forget his dislike of affectation in every form, his qualities of courage, of generosity in thought and deed, and of toleration which only recoiled from anything that was hard or anything that was insincere.
My Lords, I have further to move, "That an Address of Condolence be sent to Her Majesty the Queen-Mother to assure Her Majesty of the deep and warm sympathy which this House feels for Her Majesty in this melancholy time of sorrow and of irreparable loss, and that this House and the Nation will ever preserve towards Her Majesty sentiments of unalterable reverence and affection." Ever since Queen Alexandra came to these shores, forty-seven years ago, she has held a secure place in the hearts of the people of Great Britain. This is not the time to enumerate the qualities which have won for Her Majesty these feelings of affection in an ever-increasing degree. I will only say that if anything could have endeared her more closely to us, it would be the very moving and beautiful Message which we have all read to-day, and none, I am sure, without profound emotion.