THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DOMINION AFFAIRS (VISCOUNT CRANBORNE(Lord Cecil): My Lords, since I last had the opportunity of speaking to your Lordships this House has suffered a grievous loss by the death of one of its most eminent and respected members, Lord Hardinge of Penshurst. There can rarely, I think, have been a servant of the Crown whose career in the variety of its distinction can compare with that of Lord Hardinge. Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador at St. Petersburg and at Paris, Viceroy of India—any one of these positions would have entitled him to be regarded as a successful man; but he occupied all these high positions, and occupied them with equal advantage to his country.
What was the secret of his great record of achievement? He had, of course, outstanding ability, but I think that he had more than that. He had to a pre-eminent degree those attributes of courage, insight, and shrewd common sense which are the essential qualities of a statesman, and which indeed separate a statesman from the lower categories of officials and politicians. He was in the fullest sense of the word a wise man. Everybody respected him and everybody trusted him. During the later years of his life, when he had retired from active public life and his health was failing, he was still constant in his attendance in your Lordships' House. He did not take a prominent part in our debates; I think we all often wished that he would speak more, for we had so much to learn from his wisdom and experience. But there can be no one who had the opportunity of talking with him who did not come away strengthened by his serenity and courage.
116 A long life such as his was bound to bring him personal losses and sorrow. These losses he bore with characteristic fortitude. Nor did he allow increasing infirmity to interfere with his enjoyment of life and his interest in men and affairs, which he retained to the very end. He was a great Englishman, and I know that your Lordships will wish me to express your deep sympathy with his family on a loss which is not only theirs but the country's as well.
§ LORD ADDISONMy Lords, I should like, in association with my noble friends, to join with the noble Viscount, the Leader of the House, in his tribute to Lord Hardinge. There are few men in our time who have held a greater succession of high and responsible offices. I remember that Lord Hardinge, who for a time was Ambassador in Paris, was one of the representatives who assisted our Mission at Versailles at the end of the last war. I was not one of those who had the honour of personal association to any considerable extent with him, but I must say that I greatly admired the fortitude he showed in his attendance, even in his later years, at the debates in this House, which he attended with remarkable regularity. He was, I think, one of those great Englishmen to whom this Empire owes more than it is easy to assess, because his example of rectitude and patience inspired that respect by which the allegiance of all parts of our Empire is maintained. Looking through the list of Lord Hardinge's appointments, I realized that he must have acquired an unusual experience of men and affairs in a very intimate degree. One cannot but feel a certain regret that the crystallized experience of men of his character is not more available than it is for our guidance and help. I am quite sure that the tribute which the noble Viscount has paid is one in which every one of us will be anxious to join, with deep respect.
§ VISCOUNT SAMUELMy Lords, the noble Lords who sit on these Benches desire to associate themselves with the tributes which have been paid by the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition to Lord Hardinge, whose illustrious career has been outlined by the noble Viscount, Lord Cranborne. Lord Hardinge entered the diplomatic service as long ago as the year 1880 and until comparatively recent years he occupied a 117 succession of high offices in the service of the State. The most eminent of them was that of Viceroy of India in the years 1910 to 1916—years of great difficulty and indeed of peril, of which he himself had personal experience. In this House, where he was so regular an attendant, it was in the Indian debates perhaps that he took the greatest interest of all. This House and the nation will be grateful to one who for so many years rendered such distinguished public service with ability, authority and success.