§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy Lords, perhaps I may be allowed to say one word on a sad subject, namely, the loss which your Lordships have sustained by the death of the noble Viscount, Lord Milner. Lord Milner's great position, of course, is well known, and also his achievements in the public service. He was not a very prominent Parliamentarian. He was not a Party man in the strict sense of the word. I do not think that his political opinions fitted in altogether with the mould of any Party. He did not, as it were, stand between Parties, because he was independent of both: but when he did address your Lordships, or when he spoke in the country, I need not say his words were listened to with deep interest, coming, as they did, from a man of great talents, the widest experience, and the most prolonged public service. I think, perhaps, the most marked 253 characteristic of his mind was independence. He brought to bear upon every question his own views, and he was not susceptible—I need not say he was purely disinterested, because that goes without saying—to pressure in modifying his opinions. He was a man of great talents, wide experience, of a lofty ideal, and with a most profound interest in the responsibilities of this country and in its great Imperial position, and I think your Lordships will agree with me that in his death the country has sustained a real and a deep loss.
§ LORD PARMOORI should like, my Lords, to say one word, rather on a personal note, in answer to the tribute so justly and rightly paid by the Leader of the House to the late Lord Milner. I was almost an exact contemporary of his in my undergraduate days at Oxford, and had many opportunities of seeing him and meeting him in those days. Of course, even in that early time his intellectual supremacy was of a very marked character, but in addition to that he always had those qualities of intellectual sincerity and courage to which the noble Marquess has referred, and in his later life he gave those great qualities of intellectual sincerity and courage with unsparing labour and industry for the benefit of this country and the Empire. All honour to his memory! Especially, I think, I may speak on behalf of his old Oxford contemporaries, who will never forget the value of his friendship in those days, and who have since that time always appreciated that in his public life he carried out the great principles which we acknowledged. All his Oxford contemporaries have throughout watched his career with great sympathy and a feeling of its greatness. Let us give all honour to him for the great work he has done.