§ 4.47 P.m.
§ VISCOUNT ADDISONMy Lords, I am sure I shall be expressing the feeling that is in the hearts of all of us when I say that we are impressed with the solemnity of this day. Never before, I think, has this House in the course of a single year had the opportunity of sending to His Majesty two messages of congratulation on the victorious conclusion of a great war. More remarkable still that this occasion should coincide with the opening of a new Parliament.
The end of the war with Japan has come with greater suddenness than could have been expected a few months ago. We know how much is due to the bold leadership and high courage of the Allied Forces, especially those of the United States, on the sea, on the land and in the air in the Pacific. But we do not conceal from ourselves the fact that this abrupt conclusion must have been due, in great measure, to the application of a terrible new force discovered by science. We thank God that the control of that force, so far, is in safe hands. But in our hearts I think that everyone of us must feel humbled by the immense re- sponsibility the discovery and application of this new and almost immeasurable force casts upon all leaders of peoples everywhere.
It is indeed right to seek to express our feelings in a message of thankfulness and congratulation to the Head of the State 14 on the occasion of a victory of such vital importance to the whole world. Much more proud are we to do so because His Majesty the King is the gladly acknowledged Head of the British Commonwealth of Nations; of an association of free peoples such as has no precedent in history, and one also that has the ready allegiance of Colonies and Dependencies in all parts of the world. All, united in a love of freedom, have endured through these hard and terrible years and willingly given of their lives, of their substance and of their labour in the manifold fields of activity that have made up our common efforts. We rejoice that Kingship with us is the badge of freedom. It is possessed therein of a strength infinitely beyond any allegiance that is based on servitude. We would, above all, include in this message an expression of the gratitude we feel to all those who have served in any capacity, however humble, to those also whose power and activity in life has been crippled by the war, and especially to those who mourn the dead.
I think also, my Lords, it is seemly to-day to mention three great war leaders to whom we owe much: Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin.
I beg to move, That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty as followeth:
§ "Most gracious Sovereign—
§ "We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to express to Your Majesty our heart-felt congratulations on the attainment of final victory over Japan, the last of Your Enemies.
§ "This victory has been won after long years of war, in which the freedom-loving nations of the world have struggled with united arms to conquer the forces of evil, and we are able with great gladness to rejoice with you. We rejoice also at the liberation which will come to our prisoners and to all those who have suffered from the barbarous oppression of the Japanese, and at the prospect of the return to their homes of the members of Your Majesty's Fighting Forces after long and arduous service overseas.
§ "At the same time, we do not cease to sorrow for those many thousands who cannot share with us the victory 15 for which they died and to whose memory we shall dedicate our future endeavours, working to lay the foundations of an enduring peace.
§ "In this hour of victory also our thoughts are with Your Majesty's Chinese Allies whose long and gallant fight against the Japanese aggressors will not be forgotten.
§ "During all these times Your Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen have inspired and sustained Your peoples by Your example and Your constant sympathy, and have encouraged Your Majesty's Armed Forces, drawn from all parts of the Commonwealth and Empire, who, in company with the Forces of Your Majesty's Allies, have by their skill, bravery and sacrifice secured the deliverance of the world from bondage.
§ "We acknowledge with gratitude the work of that great body of civilians who, in their various capacities have, by their endurance and fortitude sustained the life and ensured the safety of this realm.
§ "And we pray that under God's guidance, all nations will now work together to ensure that the peace, for which so many lives have been given, may never again be broken by evil men, and that the nations of the world, freed from the fear of aggression, may enjoy secure happiness and increasing prosperity."
§ Moved, That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty as followeth:
§ "Most gracious Sovereign—
§ "We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to express to Your Majesty our heart-felt congratulations on the attainment of final victory over Japan, the last of your enemies.
§ "This victory has been won after long years of war, in which the freedom-loving nations of the world have struggled with united arms to conquer the forces of evil, and we are able with great gladness to rejoice with you. We rejoice also at the liberation which will come to our prisoners and to all those who have suffered from the barbarous oppression of the Japanese, and at the prospect of the return to their homes 16 of the members of Your Majesty's Fighting Forces after long and arduous service overseas.
§ "At the same time, we do not cease to sorrow for those many thousands who cannot share with us the victory for which they died and to whose memory we shall dedicate our future endeavours, working to lay the foundations of an enduring peace.
§ "In this hour of victory also our thoughts are with Your Majesty's Chinese Allies whose long and gallant fight against the Japanese aggressors will not be forgotten.
§ "During all these times Your Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen have inspired and sustained your peoples by your example and your constant sympathy, and have encouraged Your Majesty's Armed Forces, drawn from all parts of the Commonwealth and Empire, who, in company with the Forces of Your Majesty's Allies, have by their skill, bravery and sacrifice secured the deliverance of the world from bondage.
§ "We acknowledge with gratitude the work of that great body of civilians who, in their various capacities have, by their endurance and fortitude, sustained the life and ensured the safety of this realm.
§ "And we pray that under God's guidance, all nations will now work together to ensure that the peace, for which so many lives have been given, may never again be broken by evil men, and that the nations of the world, freed from the fear of aggression, may enjoy secure happiness and increasing prosperity."—(Viscount Addison.)
§ 4.58 p.m.
VISCOUNT CRANBORNEMy Lords, on behalf of those who sit on these Benches, I rise to support the humble Address to His Majesty the King which has been moved by the Leader of the House on this occasion of the final defeat of the Japanese enemy. It is not easy to find words adequate to such an occasion as this. To-day we are passing through one of the great moments of our long history. Inevitably, as the Prime Minister said in his broadcast last night, our minds go back to those grim days of 1941 and 1942 when, amid all the storms and stress of the European War, a new and terrible 17 cloud arose on the Eastern horizon, and when in turn Hong Kong, Malaya and Burma fell and Australia, New Zealand and India were immediately threatened by a savage and ruthless foe. Perhaps never in the whole history of the world has the cause of freedom stood in such jeopardy as it did at that moment. In that black hour, what was it that sustained above all the British people? First of all, I believe it was faith in our cause and with it: a deep and unquenchable loyalty to our King. To-day at last, through the unremitting efforts of our own brave fighting men and those of our American Allies, that menace has been finally removed.
The King's enemies have been beaten to their knees, and we can turn again from war to cultivate the arts of peace. In this moment of victory our thoughts win surely go first to God, who has brought us through so many and so great dangers, and next to our King, the cornerstone of this old Empire of which we are so proud to be citizens. His Majesty has shared with us in our sorrows and our anxieties, and to-day we share with him in his rejoicing. At this notable moment we send him our devoted greetings and congratulations. He has passed with us through the valley of death. Long may he live to guide us towards the sunny uplands of prosperity and peace.
§ 5.1 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT SAMUELMy Lords, it is three months since this House met to pass an Address of congratulation to His Majesty on the conclusion of the war against Germany, and on that occasion we expressed an unfaltering resolve to pursue, in common with our Allies, to a victorious conclusion the war against Japan. Now, happily, after so short an interval, we again meet, that resolution having been so gloriously achieved. The noble Lords who have already spoken have expressed our sense of gratitude to the Forces and to the civilians, to all who have been engaged in this great conflict, but perhaps your Lordships would wish that expression should be given to a special meed of gratitude to the great British and Indian Armies who have so long been engaged in the campaign in Burma: to them and to the Naval and Air. Forces who supported them in a campaign arduous, prolonged, skilfully conducted and completely victorious, which has contributed so largely to wearing 18 down the Japanese resistance. I was especially glad to hear the noble Leader of the House express our sympathies and our congratulations to the Chinese people, who have borne with such stubborn endurance and for so long a period an ordeal not less severe than has fallen upon any other nation, and who are now happily to see their efforts rewarded by the return of all they have lost.
It is a unique circumstance, I believe, in the long history of this Parliament, for the same day to witness a speech from the Throne at the beginning of a new Parliament and also the passing of an Address to the Sovereign of congratulation on the final ending of a long-continued, worldwide and dreadful war. It has been the custom for centuries in the great moments of our national history for the representatives of the nation to turn to the Throne. And this is a Throne not based upon a mere myth nor on some irrational mysticism and endowed with excessive power, dangerous because it is unlimited, but a Throne based upon the conscious, deliberate decisions of a free people, who know from experience that it gives to a fully democratic system of government stability and continuity.
On the previous occasion I ventured to suggest that the thanks of Parliament should also be expressed to the Government of the day, then drawn from all Parties, including the heads of the present administration, which had given such efficient guidance to the war effort and. had brought about victory over Germany; and I suggest to-day that we should express our thanks to the same Government for this victory over Japan, for it will be acknowledged on all sides, irrespective of any Party allegiance, that it was that Government which massed the forces necessary for this victory, which pursued the invention which has brought about the final collapse of the Japanese enemy, and which completed all the military plans which, in conjunction with our Allies, have brought about this glorious result. Primarily, then, we express our thanks to the then Prime Minister, Mr. Winston Churchill. He has since suffered a swift and sudden electoral reverse of a kind not infrequently experienced in our politics. But that was not due to any dissatisfaction on the part of the nation with the conduct of the war, and certainly no one would wish that it should be regarded as cancelling those expres- 19 sions of gratitude, frequent and sincere, which emanated from the whole nation during the course of that long ordeal. It was because the country was turning its mind from the events of the last five years to the possibilities of the future. When the surrender of Japan was announced there was no man in Britain more entitled to pride and gratification than Mr. Winston Churchill, and it is fitting that at this moment, and in this place, that sentiment should find expression. My noble friends on these Benches cordially concur in the Resolution which is now before your Lordships' House.
§ 5.8 p.m.
THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTER-BURYMy Lords, with a very full heart I would associate those for whom I speak with the words which have been already spoken, and to them I would add hardly anything, for indeed it is not necessary. In this message which we are sending to His Majesty with all our loyalty, devotion and personal affection, we summarize and express symbolically those deep feelings which move us at this moment and which cannot be adequately expressed at all. We rejoice here with our nation and with our Empire. We rejoice here with all our Allies. We rejoice—and I am thankful that this has been especially noted in the message—with the Chinese people, who were the first to be the victims of aggression, who have suffered far longer than we have with far fewer resources with which to meet it, and have patiently endured year by year the enemy in possession of great tracts of their country and their life disrupted and destroyed.
We rejoice not only with our Allies; we rejoice, I would say, for our enemies that they have been arrested in their evil courses and have been set free to learn 20 from other nations a better way. We rejoice with all those who have borne the burden and heat of the day. Especially, as the noble Viscount has mentioned, do we rejoice for those prisoners and people interned in the Far East who have suffered unendurably, and now can look for speedy relief and release. I would say that we rejoice with those who gave up all and laid down their lives in this conflict and who now, from a purer world, know that their labour was not in vain. Above all, the Christian conscience rejoices that this great evil has now gone from the world and, we pray in faith and hope, never to return. Other evils remain and to them we shall have to address ourselves but this evil which threatened the very springs of human life and civilization has gone. Men no longer plot and strive to destroy each other. With fresh hope, with fresh courage and with fresh faith we can turn to those tasks and responsibilities which by victory to-day God now lays upon us.
On Question, Motion agreed to nemine dissentiente. The said Address was ordered to be presented to His Majesty by the Whole House, and the Lords with White Staves were ordered to wait on His Majesty to know when His Majesty would be pleased to appoint to be attended with the Address.