THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (VISCOUNT CRANBORNE (Lord Cecil)My Lords, your Lordships will, I know, have heard with deep regret the news of the death of Lord Wedgwood. Lord Wedgwood was only a member of your Lordships' House for under two years, but during that short period he took a very active part in our debates, and he came to be well known to many of your Lordships. The noble Lord would, I think, have liked to have been regarded as a typical Englishman. He was not, indeed, typical in the sense that he conformed to a common pattern; he was, if I may so put it, sui generis. There was nobody completely like him. But though he did not belong to any standard type of Englishman, he had, I think, to an outstanding degree some of those qualities which Englishmen most respect and revere. He was completely fearless, both personally and politically, as his record in South Africa and in the last war, and indeed his whole political life, have shown. The heavier the odds that were against him, the better he was pleased. He was never so happy as when he was standing absolutely alone in defence of a cause in which he believed. Moreover he had, I think, to a very notable degree, a deep and sincere sympathy with the under-dog. He would fight always to the very last breath of his being for those whom he considered to be the suffering and the oppressed.
He was essentially a partisan. He hated and despised what one may call the middle way. Everything to Lord Wedgwood was either white or very, very black, and once he had made up his mind to take sides on an issue, nothing was bad enough for those who were enemies of the cause which he espoused. This often brought him into Parliamentary conflict with many of us who could not see altogether eye to eye with him. I. personally, as representative of the Government, 757 had, as your Lordships know, several sharp passages of arms with the noble Lord, especially over matters of foreign affairs. But these political differences never clouded our personal relations. Nor did he ever bear the slightest ill-will, even after the most heated exchanges in which we had been engaged.
I think he was utterly without any personal ambition or any of those lower motives which taint the lives of so many politicians. He was in political life not for what he could get from it but for what he could give to it. He was courageous, single-minded, and a lover of England. Above all, he was a lover of individual liberty, which, I believe, was the guiding passion of his life. I wish that he could have lived to see the events of the last two days. I am sure that your Lordships will share the deep personal sorrow that I feel in the passing of such a crusader from our midst. I am sure, also, that the House will wish me to express your Lordships' very deep sympathy with his family in the grievous loss they have sustained.
§ LORD ADDISONMy Lords, I should like on behalf of my noble friends to associate myself with what the noble Viscount the Leader of the House has said. Our friend Lord Wedgwood, known to every one of us, I should think, on all but formal occasions, as "Josh," was a lover of Parliament. He loved Parliament, and Parliament in this country owes much to him for his initiation of the writing of its history and for the immense amount of labour which, as many of us know, he devoted to it for many years. He did that because he was a lover of Parliament and of Parliamentary institutions. As the noble Viscount has said, Lord Wedgwood was ever a champion of those whom he thought needed an advocate. He was fearless and uncompromising always. He never feared, as the noble Viscount has said, to stand alone. What the noble Viscount said reminded me of a scene which I well remember occurring in the House of Commons, it must be now some thirty years ago, when Lord Wedgwood, alone, took it upon himself to oppose a Bill— I think it was a measure promoted by the Home Office. He covered the Paper with Amendments, and he, alone, kept the House of Commons up till about six in the morning, single-handed, fighting by himself, because he intensely believed in 758 his cause and feared not at all to be alone —in fact, he rather rejoiced in it.
As the noble Viscount has said, he was not a Party man, because he was such an intense individualist. But he was absolutely loyal, as every one of us who was associated with him in Party knows well. He had one other passion beside his love of Parliament and love of individual liberty, and that, I think, was his love of the land. That was behind his enthusiastic advocacy of his particular prescription for many years of the taxation of land values. But it arose, I think, because in his heart he loved the land, and rebelled against anything which he thought was a restraint upon its use. With all his impatience—and he was impatient sometimes—to every one of us who knew him well, regardless of Party, he was ever a patient and a lovable friend, and I think that it is fair to say that every one of us who has known Wedgwood a long time is richer in his own life by the influence of his indominable and unselfish spirit.
THE MARQUESS OF CREWEMy Lords, I should like to add a few words to what has been so eloquently said from the two Front Benches. I knew Lord Wedgwood for a longer time, probably, than most of your Lordships, and, I imagine, than most of his colleagues on these Benches, because we were country neighbours, and I was often brought into contact with him on one side of his interests which was very strong and permanent—his close study of old histories, old families and particularly of all matters of local interest, it might seem almost a paradox that with his love for and interest in all the diverse social conditions of the past, he should have joined a Party for which, I take it, social uniformity is the main ideal. But Lord Wedgwood was something of a paradox in himself because, although I think that he would have described himself as a Socialist, I imagine that there never was another such individualist in the world as he was.
All that has been said of his character and of his intense feeling for the poor and oppressed has been too well expressed for me to attempt to repeat it. I recall an observation made by John Morley in one of his studies of the great Frenchmen of the eighteenth century; he said that it was a great mistake to judge the characters of public men on the basis that 759 if most people were of the same sort society could not go on. That was eminently true of the late Lord Wedgwood. I have no doubt that when he was a Cabinet Minister his colleagues, although they must have been fond of him and have delighted in his society, must often have felt that an Administration entirely composed of Lord Wedgwoods would be a very difficult engine of government to control. So long, however, as the qualities of honesty and courage command the respect and appeal to the imagination of mankind, Lord Wedgwood will be remembered by all who knew him and by all who watched his career as a most honourable man, and as a very brave man.
§ VISCOUNT CECIL OF CHELWOODMy Lords, I hope that you will forgive me if I add a brief word, because the late Lord Wedgwood was a very old friend of mine and a relative of my own, and I knew him extremely well both in this House and in the other House. I most fully agree with everything that fell from my noble friend the Leader of the House. I recognize, as he does, Lord Wedgwood's warm-heartedness, his friendship for the friendless, his efforts to assist anyone whom he could help. To say that he was disinterested is a very moderate statement of the facts; his disinterestedness probably exceeded that of anyone else with whom I have been acquainted. Whatever may be said as to his particular opinions, or as to the action which he took on particular questions, he has left a great example behind him. I cannot help feeling that his standard of honesty, his straightforwardness and courage may well be regarded as a beacon and a guide to all those who are engaged in public life.
THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF ONSLOW)My Lords, as one who was Chairman for several years of the History of Parliament Joint Committee, in which I was closely associated with my late noble friend, I should like to add one word to express the deep regret which we all feel at his death. I think he will be remembered always for the part which he took in taking the initiative in that great work. It has not progressed very far yet, but it is contemplated that it will cover the whole history of Parliament from the very begin- 760 ning onwards. I think it is probable that my late noble friend will be remembered for taking the intiative in that great work more than for any other activity.
LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, I crave your indulgence to add a few words to the very handsome tributes paid to the late Lord Wedgwood. My excuse is similar to that offered by the noble Viscount, Lord Cecil of Chelwood. The late Lord Wedgwood was my intimate friend for twenty-seven years, and a very close collaborator for many years in another place. I doubt whether any other country in the world could have produced a man of the character, qualities and public career of the late Lord Wedgwood. He had something of the hatred of injustice of Charles James Fox, the crusading ardour of Wilberforce, the sympathy for the oppressed of Gladstone and the intellectual integrity of Morley. Perhaps the nearest approach to his character and career in the period between the wars was the late Senator Borah.
Of course he made enemies, especially amongst the more orthodox upholders of the Party system. He frightened the timi[...] men of all Parties, but he enjoyed to the end the admiration and friendship of many of the leading figures in our public life, including the Prime Minister, and he earned the gratitude of scores of millions of poor people in every country in the world where there is oppression and cruelty, or where liberty is cherished. His name was a symbol for something which is precious in British political traditions— the fearless determination to expose abuses, and to uphold at any cost the cause of liberty and justice. He was the very embodiment of a great liberal tradition, for the preservation of which we are lighting this war.