HL Deb 27 January 1942 vol 121 cc457-67

LORD PORTSEA rose to ask His Majesty's Government if any arrangement could be made for the sending of a shipload of food to Jersey and Guernsey or if they would give facilities for private enterprise to effect the same purpose; and to move for Papers. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I am a little anxious in bringing forward this Motion, for I am fully aware of the inadequacy of the person who brings it forward. I have raised the matter once before in your Lordships' House, and the Government have, I trust, had time for consideration and for a favourable decision. Something must be done. The matter is pressing, very pressing—the starvation of the remnant of a great people, the people of a royal domain, a royal link of over one thousand years, nearly eleven hundred years, a people who are renowned for loyalty and valour in every part of the world where the flag is flown. Thousands of them are now serving His Majesty. Their homes are desolate, their people are starving, body and soul. Think of the effect that that must have not only on the people who are suffering physically, but on those people who are serving His Majesty and perhaps imagining that the islanders are suffering even greater hardships than they are actually suffering, if that be possible.

They are a people small in numbers. Now that a number of growers and such like, honest men, who were making money in the islands, have left, there cannot be above 70,000 or 75,000 people in the whole place. They are, as I say, small in numbers; they are small in nothing else, and they deserve some recognition of their efforts, of their services, of their sacrifices. I think such must be coming, and I ask your Lordships to ensure that it does come. In a few moments I shall be followed by the noble Lord opposite (Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede), who will give the House the benefit of great experience and much persuasive eloquence on behalf of the peoples—aliens for the most part—in Europe who are also starving. I do not want to cut across his line, and I am sure he would not want to cut across mine. I wish him all the satisfaction he can get. My Motion deals with men, women and children of our own blood, and it cries unto God, not for retribution, not for vengeance—we do not want that—but for some justification of fair play, if not of love, to which they have a right, for a people who have always given their best without thought of reward; it asks that we should give them the help which they have a right to claim, according to me, if the hand of timidity does not prevent it. I do not want an Armada sent there: on the contrary, I want food, I want help sent.

It is said that we are going to offer food assistance to Greece. A great newspaper to-day has a leading article on the matter. The Greeks did wonderfully. They faced the foe; they were almost the first to do so. They fought for their homes, they fought for their country, they fought for their families. All honour to them. Our people, my Lords, are fighting for us. They are fighting for their own hearths, for their own homes, and, last but not least, for their own King. A few months ago we read a wonderful letter from a man to his mother. The poor boy has since been killed. It was a letter which stirred the world. There was one sentence in it which perhaps, with its context, does not mean exactly what I think it means. He said: Those who fight for England must expect no reward from her. It is a hard saying, and it is not one that I personally believe. I much prefer the statement of one of the greatest men I have ever known who sat in this House and whose son sits now in his place. He said—and I think I remember his saying it— Sooner than be a silent witness, which in effect is a willing accomplice, to the tragic triumph of barbarism over freedom, of force over law, the law of self-respect and of honour, I would see this country of ours blotted out from history. That is my sentiment, my Lords. Those are the views I hold. They are better than the views of those that claim that England will never reward. I think she will.

I cannot believe that the Government will remain indifferent. Here at our very door we have our own people starving, and it is suggested that we send help to aliens, aliens worthy no doubt, but as far from us in blood as they are in feeling and in distance. This morning again, the papers are full of Australia and her demands. The efforts that Australia has made in this war and made in the last war are marvellous—that is the only description I can think of using—splendid, wonderful, self-denying and marvellous, and her people got little reward; they even had to pay their own debt. They demand, and they will receive, because Australia is strong. Surely that cannot be the reason, surely it cannot be because they are strong, but because they are our own folk, for they are of course more English than any of the great Dominions. Can it be that the Government will bow to her, and that they will not assist the weak, and will give them cause to laugh at the weakness of their own country, which is, after all, their own parent?

We have heard an extraordinary account of the debacle at Pearl Harbour, and we are told that in a few weeks there is to be a Court-Martial to get the true story of that debacle. The true story of the handing over of the Norman Islands, which took place now two years ago, is not yet known. Who was our Ephialtes? We shall, I suppose, presumably find him in time. I put no blame, I say at once, on our Prime Minister. He was hardly in the saddle before this act was perpetrated. He had no time to consider the views and Report of the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the Islands, and I believe that the counsel given by those views was that the Islands, if they were allowed, could defend themselves. They had always done so in the past against a relatively stronger enemy, France. I had the honour of serving in the Royal Jersey Militia at the time of the centenary of the last attack that the French had made on our island. They made it in force and they took the Commander-in-Chief in bed. He signed a surrender immediately and bade his other officers do the same. When the French officer presented himself at one of the forts with the General's orders in his hand and told the officer in command ''We are here thick upon the ground" the officer's reply was "Thick upon the ground are you? Thick upon the ground, then there will be the more to kill." That was the spirit of the islands and it is the spirit that is not yet dead in these islands. If these Commanders with the oath that they have taken before them thought the islands could be defended, or at least could defend themselves, I can see no reason why authority on this side cleared the islands of all arms and ammunition, hauled down the flag, and made a very undignified bolt.

We would have defended our islands; of that I am quite sure; and if we could not have defended them we would have died there. After all, we must all die and none of us can choose the moment or the situation of our death. What death could be finer than that of dying while fighting for your own country, "For the ashes of our fathers, for the temples of our God"? I do not blame the Prime Minister in the least. He was hardly in the saddle. He never betrayed his trust, of that I am sure. His blood had its source in old Normandy, as your Lordships are aware, and many of your Lordships trace from the same course. We affectionately call him by his Christian name or by his last name, but his real surname is a Norman name. He is a dispenser and his roots are in Normandy. I do not believe that any man of that blood would betray his country. There is an old French proverb: Bon sang ne ment pas—Good blood always tells. What did the Prime Minister say in Bermuda the other day? I will read a very short extract. He said: When Britain stood alone we did not flinch, we did not weaken. We said 'We will do our duty, we will do our best. The rest we must leave to Providence.' And what a reward did come. What a lesson it is never to give in when you guard the cause of freedom.

Let no man tell me that the man who could make that speech could be a party to such an act as the lamentable act of giving away these islands. So much the easier for him now to see fair play—a small effort in a great cause—much easier for the Government than for private friends. But if the Government cannot help as a Government, as England herself, then lease or lend me a ship, a small ship. We will undertake to load that ship, we will undertake to man her, we will undertake to take her across the channel and to succour the starving people there—those who know us and who trust us—and we will further endeavour to bring her back, though that might be a more difficult task. I will meet the stereotyped objection. I know it. It is the objection of the chipmunk, that timorous little beastie. It is an argument that might be used in relation to a wild country such as Albania—which I know very slightly—or a country such as Greece, but not in relation to two small islands like Jersey and Guernsey. They are so small that it must be very hard for your Lordships to realize that although there are 1,100 people to the square mile there are only 40,000 people now in Jersey. The islands are so small that there would not be a single ounce of food sent to the island which could not be traced from the ship to the consumer. If the Germans were so foolish, so unwise, as to take the food, what would be the result? It would be but a small consignment, they would not let the ship return and they would get no more food. I ask the Government for their help.

LORD MOTTISTONE

My Lords, I do not follow the noble Lord into the question of how tar it was possible to hold the Channel Islands, but I would remind him that it was not a military problem as in the days to which he referred. It was notably an air and naval problem, and looking back I suppose that the decision taken was really unavoidable. At any rate that is the conclusion I have come to after discussions with those who have very good reasons for knowing, especially naval authorities. Nor will I follow my noble friend into the question of where the Prime Minister's ancestors came from. I do not think that comes into the question. But I promised the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester, in whose diocese the Channel Islands are, that I would try to keep a watchful eye on their interests in your Lordships' House. Therefore I would appeal to the Government to meet the noble Lord's specific requests so far as it is possible.

But at the same time it does fall to be said that the Channel Islands stand in quite a different position from almost every other part of the world's surface. Until Hong Kong was temporarily lost to our new enemies the Channel Islands formed the only considerable part, or well known part of the British Empire, which the enemy has occupied. More than that it is a fact that for centuries they have been the most loyal part of the British Empire. Perhaps I may be allowed to remind your Lordships, because so many members of your Lordships' House have served ever since the time we were attacked in regions which I know very well—where they are now I have no means of knowing—that nearly every one of the able-bodied men of the Channel Islands who escaped to this country at once joined the Forces of the Crown and nearly all of them are still serving. These brave men are all determined to support us, and bear us no ill will for the evacuation of these islands more than one and a half years ago. Therefore, while I could not join in making this Motion in any way hostile action if the Government cannot meet us, I would venture, in my own name and on behalf of the right reverend Prelate, to urge the Government to give the most favourable consideration they can to the plea of the noble Lord.

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA AND BURMA (THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE)

My Lords, I cannot help feeling rather sorry that my noble friend should have raised this question again so soon after he last raised it. I endeavoured then to make it plain to him that this question of possible relief to the Channel Islands was having the most earnest consideration of my right honourable friend. I also tried to convey to him that I could hardly say one single word on the subject without doing real harm—harm possibly to the interests of the Channel Islands, harm possibly to the even greater issues involved, issues of the blockade and of the effect of the blockade on occupied territories in general. The weapon of the blockade is a very formidable and a very terrible weapon. It is also a very cruel weapon and one which takes a long time to operate. It is beginning to operate now. If we do anything, no matter how little, to blunt the edge of that weapon we are doing real harm to our cause in the war. We are in fact prolonging the war, and I would, therefore, beg my noble friend not to press this question too strongly.

He is in fact urging us to send supplies into enemy-occupied territories. Once we begin doing that we may be involved in very difficult and very complicated issues. I can only assure my noble friend that my right honourable friend is considering this question most carefully. I feel the deepest sympathy with my noble friend in what he has said. Quite clearly he feels deeply about the great hardships through which the Channel Islanders are going, and on behalf of the Government, I would fully subscribe to all he said about their magnificent service. It is true that many of their men are now serving in the Fleet. I regret that the noble Lord thought for one moment that the Government could be laughing at the weakness of the people of whom he speaks. I assure him that the Government are thinking, and thinking very earnestly of them, and of their need. I can only say, however, that since he last raised this question there has been no such alteration in the circumstances as enables the Government to take a hopeful view of the possibility of arranging for shipments to the islands. While the matter will continue to receive my right honourable friend's most earnest consideration I cannot on his behalf say any more at the present moment.

LORD PORTSEA

My Lords, I thank the noble Duke for his very sympathetic speech. It is not a general rule that speeches on behalf of the Government turn things, but his speech has at least shaken my resolution to push this matter as I had intended to do if his speech had not been at all satisfactory. I cannot follow him when he puts the case of the Norman Islands on the same basis as the case of any other part of the world, or of any other people. But that, of course, is a historical matter, and it may be a question of personal opinion. I do thank him for the favourable terms in which he has referred to the islands, and to the islanders. When he speaks of delay in connexion with Jersey and Guernsey he must remember, that it needs only a very short delay and everyone there will be dead. I do not know if any of your Lordships have ever suffered from what I may call real starvation. I trust not; and it may be that many of you may never have seen it. I do not mean starvation extending over one day or two days, or three or four days, but starvation of week after week, month after month. It is under such suffering that a man's belief leaves him, and he feels like Job. We all remember, of course, that all Job wanted to do was to curse God and die. Those are the feelings that take hold of men.

Those are the feelings that come on you—I know for I have tried. As I say these feelings come on you and your hope goes. You require a man's resolution to face the situation and die quietly and like a man. And that is the only alternative that is offered to these islanders. I must admit that it does not satisfy me, and I hope that I may be allowed to raise the point again in your Lordships' House before very long. I do not see the argument of my noble friend who knows a great deal more about military matters than I do—I only served for four years in the last war, and I certainly had enough. To say you cannot fight because the other fellow has got some arm or some instrument better than your own seems to me not to bear out what we were brought up as children to know about Sir Richard Grenville in the Azores. In his case, it was fifty-three ships to one, but that did not frighten him. He had his flag and he sank with it. Things were different, too, on Saint Crispin's Day. Our men at Agincourt did not run away because the enemy were stronger than themselves. That sort of thing has apparently been left to a later date. As I say, I see no argument in that. Furthermore I do not follow my noble friend in his reference to Normandy. I have given him the reference myself and he can follow it up in any standard work on heraldry or lineage. I again thank the noble Duke for his reply and I beg leave to withdraw the first Motion which stands in my name.

Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.

LORD PORTSEA had the following Notice also on the Paper: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will cause a sympathetic message to be sent to the people of Jersey and Guernsey in the second year of the occupation of the islands by Germany; and to move for Papers. The noble Lord said: My Lords, this is a different and a smaller matter, but it will give great relief and great satisfaction to the islanders of whom I have been speaking if the Government can see their way to assent to what I am asking. The radio does reach the islands, and the B.B.C. broadcasts are received there. It is permitted by the Germans for the very simple reason that anything which is received there by means of wireless cannot get any further. If broadcasts were received at a place like Paris, they might, of course, be sent out again somewhere else, but to permit the reception of wireless broadcasts in Jersey is absolutely and perfectly safe. I want to ask the Government if it is possible for an influential member of the Government—the noble Duke himself would satisfy me perfectly—to let the people there know that they are not absolutely forgotten; that they are not, as it were, regarded as a sort of thistledown in the air. Naturally I want no recriminations; I want no insults.

I want merely a plain statement of things on this side, and a message to tell these people that they are not forgotten, that their services in the field are not forgotten, and also to tell them something of their men here. I would like to say here, that those men were in His Majesty's Service before the evacuation of Jersey. Every able-bodied young man went at once and joined up to serve His Majesty. There were about a hundred men or thereabouts on leave after Dunkirk. The Government left them in Jersey and they are now in a concentration camp in Germany. I heard from the chief of them the day before yesterday. That is the true story of how the men of the island served. If those few words could be sent to the islands by a responsible Minister I have no more to say. I ask it. I almost think that it is a demand I can make to the Government. I do not like the word "demand" because I have no power to enforce my request, out I think the Government, after what has happened, ought to send some words of encouragement to the islands, a word that can give no offence to the Germans, who are well disciplined and who are behaving themselves, according to their code, as well as Germans can ever be expected to behave. Greater praise than that I will not give them. Remember that in the islands they are all free men, all freeholders—there is no conquered blood there—and for the first time in history they are under the heel of these men whom you can hardly call conquerors, because "they could not conquer what was handed over to them: but at any rate they are there under the heels of our enemy. I beg to move.

THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE

My Lords, I am sure that all your Lordships will share the very deep sympathy felt by the noble Lord for the position of his and our fellow-countrymen in the Channel Islands. No one who knows anything of the history of the Channel Islands is unmindful of the services rendered to the Crown by the men of these islands, both in remote and in recent times, and at the present day their services are again being freely given. The temporary severance caused by enemy occupation can weaken in no way the ties between the islands and this country. We know that the hearts of the islanders are with us, and they know that our thoughts and our hearts are with them. The Government are confident that our fellow-countrymen who remain in the islands realize that the Government, though they have not been able to address them directly, have not forgotten them. Several broadcasts, which it is hoped have been of interest to Channel Islanders, have been included in the general programme of the B.B.C., some of them quite recently, and I am given to understand that there will probably be others.

But the question of whether a direct message from the Government here should be addressed to the Channel Islands is one which I think quite clearly requires very careful consideration. At the present moment the islanders have, I gather, almost unrestricted use of their wireless sets. For us to advertise the fact that we intended to broadcast a message to the Channel Islands might well have the effect of having the use of wireless in the islands prohibited, which would be a very grave addition to the hardships which the islanders are suffering already. If it were the intention of the Government to send a message it would clearly be impolitic in the highest degree for me to make any announcement of the fact in advance. I can only, therefore, assure my noble friend that this matter has not been lost sight of. As I said before, the Government are conscious of the really cruel time through which the islanders are going, and if there is any way of alleviating their lot the Government will be very careful to do what they can, but at the same time not to do anything which would aggravate it.

LORD PORTSEA

My Lords, I thank the noble Duke very sincerely for the remarks he has made. It seems to me it would be possible in a speech, say by the Prime Minister in Parliament, for a reference to be made to the islands, and as such to be printed and broadcast. It would not be in any sense a direct message to the islanders, but it would cheer them to know that in this great assembly of the nation their name was mentioned and the fact was broadcast. I beg to withdraw my Motion.

Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.