§ The SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (EARL KITCHENER)My Lords, by the death of Lord Roberts the British Army has lost its senior Field-Marshal, and your Lordships will, I doubt not think it right that we should pay our tribute of admiration and affection towards one whose achievements as a soldier and character as a man will be an abiding memory not only in this House but for the whole nation. Lord Roberts served for 63 years in the Army, 41 of which were passed in India. He joined the Bengal Artillery in the year 1851, and, after 34 years of soldiering in many campaigns, he reached the highest post of Commander-in-Chief in India. During that period there is no page of the history of the military forces in that great Dependency which does not bear his name, and there has hardly been a battle within its confines to which he did not contribute by his valour and his skill. His fame will ever be associated with the memorable march to Kandahar, and the affection I and confidence he inspired in all ranks of the Native Army are a signal proof of his exceptional personality. His name and that of Nicholson—under whom he served in the glorious siege of Delhi—are a proverb in every bazaar in India. To the very end Lord Roberts took the keenest interest in India and Indian troops, and it was to greet our Indian forces in the field that he made the journey which was to be his last.
After a term of command in Ireland, Lord Roberts was selected in a moment of emergency to lead the forces fighting in 58 South Africa. He took with him the confidence of the whole nation, and, notwithstanding his heavy sorrow at the loss of his only son, justified it by the masterly and soldier like manner in which he carried out the difficult problems of that campaign. On his return from South Africa he became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, and in that capacity was able to inculcate those lessons of the South African War which we may see bearing fruit on the hard-fought fields in France and Belgium. On vacating that office at an age when other men might have looked forward to spending in well-earned leisure the evening of a glorious day, he was not content to abandon his lifelong work for the Army. Anything that would seem to benefit the military forces of the Crown or to promote the welfare of officers and men claimed his energetic support and his untiring advocacy.
When the present war broke out all his thoughts, as I know well, were for the troops in the field, which, but for his age, he would have undoubtedly either directed or commanded. His indomitable spirit led him, in spite of his weight of years, to face the discomforts of a journey to the Army in France, and, although he died on this mission of encouragement to those of whom no small number had served under him before, lie would himself, I feel sure, have wished for no happier end than to pass away, the greatest soldier of our day, in the midst of the greatest Army the Empire has ever put into the field, with the sound of the shells and the cheers of his comrades still ringing in his ears. Lord Roberts's reputation as a soldier stands secure, and no words of mine are needed to praise hint. He was one of the most tried and proven leaders of men the British race has ever produced, and the country at the present crisis can ill afford to lose the services of so eminent a military adviser. It has fallen to my lot as Secretary of State for War to attempt to give expression to the sense of affectionate veneration and high esteem with which the Army regarded the late Field-Marshal, for whom, as my old chief, I entertain feelings upon which I cannot expatiate here. I, more than most men, had occasion to learn and admire his qualities of head and heart; his ripe experience and sage counsel were fully and freely offered to me to the end. To us soldiers, the record of his life will ever be a cherished possession. We mourn his loss, but hope to profit by his illustrious example.
§ *EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTONMy Lords, the noble Marquess who leads the Opposition greatly regrets his continued absence from this House, and never more so, as he has asked me to say, than this afternoon. He would have liked to be present here to bear his part in the tribute that is being paid from all quarters of this House to the illustrious Field-Marshal who has just passed away in the golden sunset of a glorious life. They were colleagues as Viceroy and as Commander-in-Chief for four momentous years in India. Again at a later date they were associated as Secretary of State for War in this country and as Commander-in-Chief in the field in the dire perils and the ultimate triumphs of the South African campaign; and still more were they linked to each other by the strongest ties of personal attachment and affection. If I stand for the moment, by accident, in the place of the noble Marquess, I am only encouraged in the performance of this duty by the consciousness of the privilege that I also enjoyed the close friendship of Lord Roberts in the concluding years of his life, and that I had the honour of being associated with him in some of his undertakings.
Nothing, if I may say so, could be more appropriate than that the tribute to which your Lordships have just listened should have come from the lips of the noble Earl the present Secretary of State for War, who was the colleague of Lord Roberts in some of his greatest achievements, and who can speak with a higher authority than any man living in this country upon his qualities and attributes as a military commander. The House has listened, venture to say, with deep respect and emotion to the clear and moving words which we have just heard from the Secretary of State for War. He lots portrayed to us some, at any rate, of those qualities which ensured the remarkable success of Lord Roberts both as a commander of troops and as a leader of men. It would be, I feel, impertinent on my part to dilate at. any length upon this aspect of Lord Roberts's character and career; but this perhaps I may be permitted to say—that a General who never knew defeat, who more than once retrieved the trembling fortunes of Armies and who conducted great operations on large fields of warfare with an amazing rapidity and with astonishing, success must have possessed rare gifts of foresight, insight, patience, resolution, and 60 courage. Those who remember the historic march from Kabul to Kandahar, which was rightly mentioned by the noble Earl, and the victorious sweep of our Armies, which for obvious reasons he did not mention, from Capetown to Pretoria, in the South African War, will be best able to appreciate the qualities of quick initiative and boldness in execution that were responsible for-those results.
But, my Lords, there is another respect, I think, in which Lord Roberts excelled as a leader of men. I speak of his extraordinary understanding of the soldier. He seemed by a sort of instinct to know what were his wants and desires. He was not merely the commander of the troops but their comrade, and hence believe it to be true to say that Lord Roberts was more loved by the troops' whom he led, both in this country and in India, than any commander in modern, and I dare say also in ancient, times. Especially was this true with regard to Indian soldiers. Born in India eighty-two years ago, spending, as the noble Earl reminded us and as the title of Lord Roberts's book tells us, one-half of that period in service in India, his greatest military achievements were won either-inside India or just beyond its frontiers. He was really the embodiment of the finest traditions of Indian service, and might almost himself be called the incarnate spirit of the Indian Army. How fitting it is, we cannot but recognise, that after going out to visit and to encourage those Indian troops whom he had so often led to victory, and who are now fighting under such novel and terrible conditions, but with a bravery equal to anything' which we might have expected from theirhistory—how fitting it is that he should have laid down his life almost in contact with those troops and almost within sight of the battlefield. Felix opportunitate mortis is the hackneyed but inevitable quotation that leaps to the lips of everyman, and we feel sure that Lord Roberts, himself would not have wished it to be otherwise.
Perhaps I may be allowed to add one or two words upon another aspect of Lord Roberts's life and character, which may well come more fittingly from the lips of a civilian. Lord Roberts was first and foremost a great patriot. Like the Duke of Wellington, he invariably thought of 61 the welfare of his country. To the Duke of Wellington the first thing was always how the government of the King could be carried on. To Lord Roberts it was how the safety of this Kingdom and the integrity of the Empire could be maintained secure. Throughout his whole life he gave to the country all of character, of purpose, of energy, and of strength and devotion that a man had to give. He gave to the country his only and dearly loved son. Finally, he gave to the country his own life. It was truly a patriotic enterprise that took him last week to France, and which brought about his end. Those who saw him or conversed with him in the last few weeks of his life will appreciate what I mean when I say that for any other or more onerous call that might have been made upon him he was ready. At the age of eighty-two he was prepared to take up any burden in connection with the war that the voice of his country might lay upon his shoulders.
Secondly, Lord Roberts was emphatically a statesman, if by a statesman we mean a man of wide outlook on affairs, who foresees and attempts to provide for the future, and who is never switched aside from his main object by minor considerations or by petty abuse. Is not the present position of affairs in this country, and in Europe, the best testimony to the statesmanlike prevision of Lord Robert? During the last ten years of his life he held the view, with intense and passionate conviction, that a war with the adversary with whom we are now contending was only a question of time, that the call of faith to our Allies and of duty to ourselves, would impel us to place a large force upon the Continent, and that the military preparations of this country were not adequate either to that task or to the defence of our own shores. I am speaking within the recollection of every one of you when I say that he preached the remedy for that state of affairs with all the fervour and intense conviction of a prophet, only to meet. I fear, with the proverbial prophet's fate. But, toy Lords, who now will say hint nay? Who will call him a false prophet new that he is dead? I venture for my own part to express the opinion that this last campaign which Lord Roberts waged in this House and outside of it in defence of the principles which he held most dear was not the least noble episode, perhaps the most noble episode, in his long and crowded career. 62 It will be remembered when other and more martial exploits are forgotten, and not the least characteristic and admirable of its features was the dignified self-effacement., the honourable silence with which he declined to take the credit to himself for his foresight and refused to reproach those who had turned a deaf ear to his warnings.
Lastly, we shall remember Lord Roberts as a man. We recall, every one of us, his genial presence in our midst in this House. We see his alert figure seated at the corner of that Bench [indicating the Front Cross Bench], kindly in manner, exquisite in courtesy, modest in bearing. In the later years of his life he seemed to combine the ripe wisdom of years with the eternal fresh-heartedness of youth, and that was perhaps the explanation why he found himself so easily in touch with men of every age and period of life, and became the friend, and even the confidant, of those who very likely had only entered the world when Lord Roberts's name had already been made. No Englishman, at any rate of our time, has set so rich and rare an example of simplicity and purity of life, and none has been more religious-minded or devout in the beliefs as well as in the external observances of religion.
Only a little more than a fortnight ago I received a letter from Lord Roberts, the last that he ever wrote to me, in which, amidst the trials of this war, while he was busily occupied in providing for the comfort of our troops in the field, and whilst all his larger thoughts were turned with anxiety to the issues of the campaign, he nevertheless found time to write to me a strong plea in defence of family prayers. These were his words—
We have had family prayers for fifty-five years Our chief reason is that they bring the household together in a way that nothing else can. Then it ensures the servants and others who may he in the house joining in prayers which for one reason or another they may have omitted saying by themselves. Since the war began we usually read a prayer like the enclosed, and when anything important has occurred I tell those present about it. In this way I have found that the servants are taking a great interest in what is going on in prance. We have never given any order about prayers; attendance is quite optional, but as a rule all the servants, men and women, come regularly on hearing the bell ring.My Lords, the man who penned those words was not only a great soldier, a patriot, and a statesman, but he was also 63 a humble-minded and devout Christian man, whose name deserves to live, and will live, for ever in the memory of the nation whom he served with such surpassing fidelity to the last hour of a long and glorious life. May I, in conclusion, say on behalf of those who sit with me; on these Benches that we would desire to associate with our tribute of deep and sorrowing respect the gracious lady who has for more than half a century been the partner of his joys and sorrows, has shared the ordeals and the triumphs of his life, and whose tender devotion was the main cause of the great happiness that he enjoyed.
*THE LORD PRIVY SEAL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (THE MARQUESS OF CREWE)My Lords, I asked my noble and gallant friend behind me [Earl Kitchener] to pay the first tribute to the memory of the great man who has gone, for his title to do so is beyond all dispute; and now, although we might well leave this tribute where it stands after the beautiful and touching allusions to Lord Roberts by the noble Earl opposite, I feel that I ought to say a few words on behalf of my political friends in this House. It is a great pleasure to me personally to do so from the unvarying kindness which I always myself received at Lord Roberts's hands.
The fullest justice to Lord Roberts's fame as a soldier has been done in this House, and also outside by the unanimous voice of the country which owes so much to him. It is impossible for me to add anything of value to those eulogies. But as it happens I have witnessed as a civilian assessor a number of those discussions, to which the noble Earl opposite made some reference, connected with the defence of the country, in which Lord Roberts played so conspicuous a part, and I like to recall the distinguished courtesy with which Lord Roberts always advanced his arguments, his freedom from any tinge of bitterness in reply, and his refusal to attribute any ill motives to any opponent whom he might meet in debate.
It is something of a happy accident that the three speakers this afternoon have all been in different capacities officially connected with India, because India will mourn Lord Roberts as she would mourn no man who is now alive. The Indian 64 Army Neill always, I am sure, cherish the thought that his last visit was paid to them in their day of stress. When the news came we all felt, as the noble Earl opposite has said, that Lord Roberts was fortunate in the occasion of his death. The imagination is kindled by the picture of a great commander dying in the arms of victory, like a Gustavus Adolphus or a Nelson; but emotions not less real are stirred by the spectacle of an honoured leader full of years passing away in the midst of the soldiers to whom for long his example has been a guiding star, and to whom the thought of his presence in his last days will remain an enduring inspiration. Like the noble Earl, I desire on behalf of this House to convey our most respectful tribute of sympathy to the lady who for five-and-fifty years has been the partner and the stay of Lord Roberts's life, and to the family who are left behind to mourn his loss.