LORD HARRISMy Lords, I desire to ask His Majesty's Government what procedure is adopted by the Foreign Office when the name of a British subject is submitted for His Majesty's gracious consideration for permission to wear a foreign decoration; and to call attention to a particular case. I am sorry to have had to draw public attention to a case where, it seems to me, one of the British Departments has done something which has brought discredit upon a British subject—a British subject who, as I think I can show your Lordships, has done something very creditable to the British name. The sufferer is a neighbour and friend of mine who before the War was for a good many years working on ethnological and archæological inquiries in Northern Africa and in the southern part of Algeria. He has published important papers on the subject and presented them to the Royal Geographical Society and they have been highly commended. He is himself a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of England and of many scientific societies in England, France and Belgium.
This work that he has done in Algeria was considered by high French authorities so valuable that they communicated with the representative of the French nation in this country a desire that he should be permitted to wear the decoration of the Legion of Honour and he was invited by the French Consul-General to attend at the Consular Office in London, so that he was aware that he was being recommended for this distinction. He subsequently discovered here that the gentlemen and officials who were recommending him were the Governor-General of Algeria; M. Doumer, the President at that time of the Senate; M. Honorat, former Minister of Education; M. Marin, the Director of the Trocadero Museum; and also the Director of Pensions. I 633 should have thought that those names were sufficient to give some security to the Foreign Office. His name not appearing in The Gazette, his French friends made inquiry of their representative in London and received a reply. It was in French and I asked the Foreign Office to give their translation of the expression used. I have not been able to get any translation from them, but I asked the man himself what he considered the words meant and he said he thought they meant that the Foreign Office did not consider it was any part of their business to support his candidature.
I will cut short that part of the story by saying that in consequence he asked me whether I could do anything. I communicated with Sir Austen Chamberlain and I am glad to say that he has received His Majesty's gracious permission to wear the decoration of the Legion of Honour. That is quite satisfactory, but I submit that it is not satisfactory that it should have happened if not propter hoc at any rate post hoc my request to Sir Austen Chamberlain to have inquiries made as to why this recommendation had been turned down. I never take a matter up publicly until I am dissatisfied with the reply I get from the Department and in this case I am not satisfied with the reply I have received. I have communicated with the Under-Secretary and he is very staunch and loyal in his defence of his Department, but I cannot get from him the reason why it was turned down. All I got was the expression, used more than once in the correspondence, "in consequence of further information" the decision was reversed. I do not know whether the Foreign Office makes out that it has received further information.
As I have said, you have here a very distinguished scientific man and I should have thought it would have been perfectly possible for the Foreign Office to have discovered what his qualifications were. Instead of that a British subject who has brought credit on the British name in a French Colony is subjected to very serious searchings of heart. He thought there must be something against him, whereas in fact he had put in four years' excellent service in the War, for which he was mentioned in Despatches, and had also done important civil work. 634 It has caused him great distress of mind, and naturally his friends in France remained under the impression for some weeks, and indeed for some months, that there was something in his career or about his character which would not justify the Foreign Office in supporting this recommendation. I apologise for keeping the noble Earl here so late, but I hope he will be able to give me a satisfactory reply. I have not mentioned my friend's name, because he is a very modest person, and now his character has been vindicated he has no wish to receive any public attention.
§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (THE EARL OF BALFOUR)My Lords, as my noble friend has not thought it desirable to mention the name of the gentleman in whose interest he speaks I will imitate his discretion and will not mention it. I can assure him, however, that he is quite wrong in supposing for a moment that any slur was intended to be inflicted upon the gentleman about whom he speaks. There are rules laid down for the wearing of foreign decorations, rules entirely in His Majesty's discretion and laid down by His Majesty's command. These rules require that any recipients of such honours should, as it were, have as justification for them some important service rendered to the Power which gives the Order. This country does not desire that foreign orders should be worn in this country unless the person receiving an Order is one who has really rendered important service to the country which presents him with the Order.
It seems that imperfect information or inadequate information upon that point was given to the Foreign Office. As the case first appeared to the Foreign Office the gentleman to whom my noble friend refers did not seem to have rendered important service to the country which offered him the decoration. That ought not to be interpreted, I think, as a slur upon the gentleman in question. It had nothing whatever to do with his ability or character or the general value to learning, let us say, of the service he had rendered. However that may be, surely he may be now content with knowing that as soon as further information reached the Foreign Office, as soon as they became fully acquainted with all the facts of the case, they reversed their decision. My noble friend's friend is now 635 in full possession of all the honours which I have not the slightest doubt he most fully and amply deserves.
If any regret is to be expressed upon the matter I am ready to express it on behalf of the Government. Evidently a mistake was made, but it was made, I am informed, in consequence of the fact that the original information given to the Foreign Office was inadequate to justify under existing rules the wearing of the Order in this country. That has now been put right, and I hope the distinguished gentleman for whom my noble friend 636 speaks will now feel that full justice has been done to the services which we now know he rendered to the country which gave him the Order, and which I am quite ready to add are services which do not merely benefit the country which gave him the Order but are of general value to mankind.
§ House adjourned at ten minutes after eight o'clock.