THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (VISCOUNT CRANBORNE) (Lord Cecil)My Lords, since your Lordships met last week this House has suffered a very grievous loss in the death of the noble Earl, Lord Selborne, and I think it would be the wish of the House that I should pay some tribute to his memory. Lord Selborne was one of those whom we can least afford to spare in times like the present. He was an Elder Statesman in the very fullest sense of the phrase. The son of a Lord Chancellor, he was brought up from his very earliest years in the atmosphere of politics. He went young into the House of Commons, and gave the whole of his life to the service of his country. During his long career he held, as noble Lords know, many posts of different kinds and—which can be said of very few men—he made a success of them all. His work as First Lord of the Admiralty between the years 1900 and 1905 is still very gratefully remembered by the Navy, for it was largely due to the reforms that he instituted at that time that this country in 1914 was, at any rate from the naval point of view, so well prepared for war.
But the crown of his whole career was the five years he spent as High Commissioner in South Africa. No man was perhaps ever faced with a more difficult task than he was. When he went to that country the wounds of the recent war were still open and smarting, and when he left, after only five years of office, these wounds were almost healed by the wisdom, patience, and sympathy which he extended to the British and Dutch communities alike. What is more, the way was paved for the two communities to join, even at such an early date after their conflict, in a political union. No man could have achieved more, and very few men have achieved so much. Lord Selborne had, as a statesman, two out-standing qualities which are all too rare, either at the present time, or indeed at 164 any time. The first was this: he had absolute intellectual integrity. He never compromised with his convictions. The second was this: he had a robust common sense fortified by an intense human understanding. These two great qualities informed and inspired his whole life, and they earned for him the respect and affection of all with whom be came into contact wherever he went. The noble Earl was, we shall all agree, a very great Englishman, and our deep sympathy goes out to his family, for whom the loss must indeed be irreparable.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, very briefly, on behalf of those who sit on these Benches, I should like to associate myself and my friends with all that the noble Viscount the Leader of the House has said on the subject of the late Lord Selborne. We very greatly appreciated all the qualities that he showed in his long career of public service, and it is almost a commonplace that those who have rendered great services to the State are equally admired by all the political Parties. We should also like to extend our sympathy and condolences to the members of his family.
§ VISCOUNT SAMUELMy Lords, noble Lords on these Benches would desire to associate themselves with the tributes that have been paid to Lord Selborne. By his death there is ended a very long career of distinguished public services. He carried on the traditions of a group of families whose sense of public duty has for generations set an example to the whole nation, an example which the historian, I am sure, will record to have had a deep and valuable influence on the public life of this country. As a Parliamentarian, from time to time he was immersed in political controversies which are inevitable in a democracy, and indeed salutary, but he outrode them all.
His most distinguished service was, as the noble Viscount, the Leader of the House, has said, during the first decade of the present century. During five years at the Admiralty, partnered by the dynamic qualities of Lord Fisher, he carried out great changes and great developments which, continued by his successors until 1914, for once made the action of this country not too little and too late, so that when the time came the Navy was equal to its task. Then from 1905 to 1910, as High Commissioner for South Africa, he 165 had on the one hand a Boer population still restless and resentful, and on the other a Government at home animated by political ideas somewhat different from his own. He achieved a success beyond all expectations. He still had before him thirty years of public service, which he devoted largely to the industry of agriculture, to which he was so greatly attached, partly also to the organization and maintenance of the Church of England, a task very congenial to him since he was a man of deep religious convictions which furnished the background for his public and his private life. We offer our condolences to Lady Selborne and his son, and his other children; our congratulations also that they are able to cherish the memory of a husband and a father whose career was so fruitful and whose character was so fine.
THE LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTERMy Lords, I should like to add from these Benches a word of tribute to those which have already been paid to the life and work of Lord Selborne. Others far better qualified than myself have spoken of his great services to the Empire, but I want to give a personal testimony. Some seven years ago I spent a short time in South Africa, and it was then on all sides that I heard of the results of his work and of the great things he had done there. I saw some of the buildings which he had been responsible for starting, I heard of the reforms which he had carried through, and I heard of the soundness of the policies he had laid down. But naturally I want to speak of him chiefly as a great Christian and a great Churchman. No one who came into contact with him could have failed to see in him a man whose whole life and conduct were governed by his religion. I have heard him in speeches in this House appeal directly to some Christian principle on which his opinion was based and which would determine his vote.
He was a great Churchman. I think it is true to say that there was no important Church movement of reform in which he had not taken a most active part, and personally I know how in his own diocese he showed the most practical interest in all its concerns and problems, taking a welcome part in its conferences. Now he has passed from us swiftly and painlessly, we shall miss him greatly, and our deepest 166 sympathy goes out to Lady Selborne, who will miss him most of all. He has gone from us loved and honoured by all who knew him, leaving behind him the memory of a life constant in loyal and whole-hearted service to his God and his king.
§ LORD MOTTISTONEMy Lords, it is perhaps appropriate that a word should be said in recognition of the quite outstanding services that Lord Selborne rendered to the county in which he lived and which he loved so well. In his home in the east of Hampshire he was universally respected, and I may say beloved. It was curious for me, who had known him well during the South African episode (referred to so eloquently by the Leader of the House and by my noble friend Lord Samuel), to see that he who in politics had always taken a strong line, when it came to his work in his county took an equally strong line but took it in a way which I have never seen equalled, for he managed to retain the close friendship, regard and deep affection of men and women of all classes and of all creeds. I have never known a man—and I have been twenty-one years His Majesty's representative in that County—who gathered to himself in his own person so much regard and esteem. He was the senior magistrate of our County, he was the senior Deputy-Lieutenant, he was the High Steward of Winchester. He held a very great position in our County, and all the time there was a simple, humorous kindliness about him which endeared him to all who knew him. I am quite sure I can say that over the whole of the County we shall always revere his memory, remember the high example of public duty that he set, and would wish to express, as I am sure all his friends do, our sympathy with his relatives.
§ LORD DARYNGTONMy Lords, I should like to say a few simple words of Lord Selborne, if I may, because I had the honour of being connected with him in many ways. I do not think your Lordships' House perhaps realizes that first of all he was a member of the Liberal Party, and that when the Home Rule difficulty came he became a Liberal Unionist and was the first Liberal Unionist Whip in the House of Commons, where he was very much esteemed. He afterwards took up the various positions which have been referred to this afternoon, but 167 I want particularly to refer to his work for the Church of England. A month ago he moved a resolution of gratitude to the most reverend Primate, and referred to the work which had been accomplished by him in the past. He was one of those men who always tried to put religion first, and it has been said of him since I have been in this House this afternoon that he was a very great Christian. I remember that on one occasion he went into the pulpit at St. Martin's Church in the middle of the day to speak for the Christian Evidence Society about his religion and his reasons for his belief in Christianity—not a very easy thing to do sometimes for a man in an exalted position like himself. I would add that I think the two great attributes of his life were his wonderful sense of duty and the firmness of his faith.