§ 4.5 p.m.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DOMINION AFFAIRS (VISCOUNT ADDISON)My Lords, I think it will be in accordance with your Lordships' wishes if at the opening of our sitting to-day we make reference to the loss sustained by the death of the noble Viscount, Lord Bennett, which occurred suddenly at the end of last week. A particular reason why we should do so is that the noble Viscount was a Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada, and he was, I believe, the first of our Dominion Prime Ministers whom we had the honour to receive in this House. It is a sad coincidence that he should have died when he did, as to-morrow is the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the Dominion of Canada, and is known as "Dominion Day." The noble Viscount himself would have achieved his seventy-seventh birthday on Wednesday of this week.
In this country we always knew the noble Viscount, even before he came amongst us, as a champion of Commonwealth interests, not only the interests of Canada but those of all the nations which we now describe collectively as the British Commonwealth of Nations. He was particularly distinguished, as we know, during his term of office as the leader and champion of movements which, in his view, were destined to consolidate and improve the mutual trading interests of the different parts of our Empire. Indeed, he devoted his life to those causes. Since the noble Viscount came here, we in this House on a number of occasions have had the opportunity of listening to him. I remember well a speech—I think it was one of his first in this House—which greatly impressed me with its inspiration 504 and breadth of view regarding the possibilities for the future contained in the development of the British Commonwealth of Nations. First and last that was his political allegiance, and it was the subject of which he thought the most.
I had heard many accounts of his personal generosity and private helpfulness to all manner of deserving causes. One only discovered these by accident, as he never mentioned them himself; in fact, he rather deliberately concealed them. But I happen to know, as many of your Lordships will know, that they formed a very prominent interest in his life. We remember the noble Viscount to-day, and we respect the enthusiasm and earnestness with which he helped to consolidate and improve that great ideal of which our Commonwealth is the manifestation to all the world.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy Lords, I should like, if I may, to associate myself on behalf of those who sit on these Benches with what has been so well said by the noble Viscount the Leader of the House about the noble Viscount, Lord Bennett, of whose death we were sorry to hear over the week-end. Viscount Bennett, whom we mourn to-day, occupied, I think, a very special position in your Lordships' House. He was, as the noble Viscount the Leader of the House has said, in the fullest sense of the word, an Empire statesman. After a career of high renown in his own country of Canada, where he won fame as a most distinguished Prime Minister, he came here and gave us the benefit of his wisdom and experience. No one, I think, who heard him speak will forget the contributions which he made to our discussions. To an unrivalled knowledge of the constitutional structure of the Commonwealth, and to a passionate belief in its mission to mankind, he added a robust common sense which was as stimulating as it was moving.
Like the noble Viscount, Lord Bruce, whom we are lately so glad to welcome to our councils, Viscount Bennett brought a wider vision to our discussions. I think it is fitting that these great Empire figures should come to mellow and mould our judgment; it is, indeed, one of the most notable and one of the most fruitful developments of recent years. We mourn the noble Viscount, Lord Bennett, as a great statesman, and as a great man who won our affection and esteem. We all 505 have happy recollections of his personal kindliness, and of his shrewd advice. To the very end of his life the noble Viscount remained a loyal and devoted son of Canada, and to Canada, who lent him to us to our so great advantage, we offer our heartfelt sympathy.
§ VISCOUNT SAMUELMy Lords, on behalf of my noble friends on these Benches, and on my own behalf, I desire to join in the tributes that have been paid to the noble Viscount, Lord Bennett. He was a man in politics of strong convictions, as we all know, of keen public spirit, and of abounding energy. As a speaker, he had a natural gift of eloquence, informed by common sense and seasoned with humour. As a man he was kind-hearted, generous and affectionate. He quickly won the esteem of your Lordships' House, and its good will. Visiting Canada during one of the years of the noble Viscount, Lord Bennett's Premiership, I heard much of his forceful personality and confident leadership. He was never averse from controversy. It might be said of him that "the battle was his pastime." That visit was a few months after the Ottawa Conference and Agreements, of which he had been one of the principal sponsors on that side of the Atlantic, and I had been one of the active critics on this side; and he left me in no doubt that I had earned his complete disapproval. That, however, did not prevent the circumstance, in later years when he had retired and settled in this country, that I received from him always the kindliest personal friendship. Sitting under his Presidency in the Council of the Royal Society of Arts in recent months and years, one realized the untiring devotion and meticulous interest which he gave to the affairs of that long-established and valuable institution.
This country is fortunate in having an unwritten Constitution which adapts itself easily to the changing circumstances of the successive centuries and it has made possible, through no formal decision but as a matter of practice and wisdom, the expansion of the membership of your Lordships' House to include representatives of the Commonwealth. So far they are few in number but fully qualified in their representative capacities, and we hear from them the standpoint and the opinions of the whole of the British Commonwealth. Lord Bennett's family, having lived in North America for nine generations, at last in his person came 506 home again, and from his lips Westminster could hear the authentic voice of Canada. We welcomed his coming here, and we grieve that he has gone.
THE EARL OF BESSBOROUGHMy Lords, for the five years that Lord Bennett was Prime Minister of Canada I had the honour of serving there as Governor-General. With the permission of your Lordships, therefore, I would like to add a few words to the eloquent tributes which have already been paid to a very remarkable man. During the months when the Federal Parliament was in session, when we were both always in Ottowa, I naturally saw a very great deal of him, sometimes even daily. No Governor-General could possibly have had an adviser more considerate and more helpful, and I very soon learnt not only to admire his qualities as a public man but to have a very real affection for him as a. man and a friend.
The early 'thirties, at the beginning of his Premiership, were years of great depression in Canada, a very harrassing time for whoever occupied the position of Premier. I do not think indeed that any Prime Minister of Canada ever had to deal with such a difficult period. But Lord Bennett always preserved the utmost equanimity combined with great political courage. He took his decisions fearlessly, however difficult the problems, and he always stuck to his guns in taking whatever action he deemed necessary to the situation. While very strongly Canadian, as has been said, the United Empire loyalist blood in him was very strong too. He was, as the noble Viscount, the Leader of the House, has said, a profound believer in the British Empire but also in the qualities and the destiny of the British people. He was a tremendous worker and was fortunate to be gifted with a truly remarkable memory. After a few years as Prime Minister his health suffered under the strain but he continued in the same indefatigable way in the conduct of public business.
I have seen it suggested in some quarters that he was not a great popular figure in Canada. Can that be so, seeing that he was known affectionately by thousands and thousands as "R.B."? But even during the busy years of office he constantly spoke to me of his intention to spend his declining years in retirement in England. He visualized a quiet time. 507 How different in reality were the years that he spent here. His work during the war is well known to all your Lordships. In addition, as the noble Viscount, Lord Addison, has said, he was extremely liberal in all good causes and gave them the support both of his voice and his great generosity. Another thing I soon learnt to know about him was his great admiration for the standard of the conduct of public life in this country and of its public men. It is, therefore, fitting that he should, at the end of his career, have sat as a member of your Lordships' House here at Westminster. The death of this great Canadian is a loss, not only to many friends, both in Canada and here, who will always remember a kindly generous and courageous man, but Canada, Great Britain and the Empire have lost a very able and devoted public servant.
§ VISCOUNT BRUCE OF MELBOURNEMy Lords, I would desire to associate myself with the tributes which have been paid by all noble Lords who have preceded me to the memory of the late Lord Bennett. As an ex-Prime Minister of one of the Dominions I would like, if I may, to add a word. I was never privileged to attend an Imperial Conference with Lord Bennett, as I had gone out of office before he came into office, but I was at the Ottawa Conference in 1932, and there I got to know and learnt to respect Lord Bennett, both as a man and as a statesman. I also learnt from him at that time a fact which has been referred to by the noble Earl, Lord Bessborough, that his period of office coincided with the economic and financial crisis of 1929–1932. He told me of some of his problems and some of his difficulties and they were, of course, transcending in character. I was filled with admiration for the courage and the determination with which Lord Bennett had faced, and was continuing to face, the almost insoluble problems of that period. In the Ottawa Conference, over which he presided, he played a very great part which impressed all of us who were associated with him. He gave leadership and he showed great devotion. He realized that the Ottawa Conference was a Conference called of the countries of the British Empire to see whether, in the storm and stress of those days, we could not do something to help the Empire as a whole in the position in which its members found themselves, until such 508 time as the world came back to sanity again. I think the success of the Ottawa Conference is a tribute to Lord Bennett's work there. Lord Bennett was also a man with a very receptive mind, and I am sure the noble Earl will endorse the statement if I say that he proposed, in those years succeeding the economic crisis, certain measures in Canada which were regarded as unorthodox and novel, and which created a great deal of criticism and dissent in the ranks of those who subscribed to his own political faith. I wonder whether to-day the views he then expressed would be regarded as quite so unorthodox and quite so novel.
Lord Bennett was a man of a very forceful personality, and he had great characteristics of leadership; but he was also a very kindly man with a streak of sentiment—and a very marked streak of sentiment—which I think few, save those who knew him well, realized. I am certain that we shall in the future miss his wise counsel in your Lordships' House; and many of us to-day are mourning the passing of a very dear friend.
§ LORD DARYNGTONMy Lords, as I do not often trouble your Lordships' House with any words of mine, I hope I may be forgiven if I say a few words on this occasion, as I had the privilege of knowing the noble Viscount, Lord Bennett, extremely well and have been connected with him in a particular way. When His Majesty the King made his appeal for prayer about two or three years ago, a picture was produced with the words underneath, and Viscount Bennett thereupon gave a copy of this to every public school in England. Last Thursday he was to have attended a meeting of the Public Morality Council in London, as honorary secretary, a position which he had just taken. I would like to say one word in reference to what the noble Viscount the Leader of the House has said to-day in regard to Viscount Bennett's private helpfulness. I do not suppose there ever was a man with a more sympathetic soul. He wanted to help everybody he possibly could, not only in Canada but in the world generally. As the noble Viscount, Lord Bruce, has just said, he also had almost extraordinary courage. When he was taken ill I think I was one of the first to know of his illness. Since that time he not only did not retire, but he worked much harder and went all over the country 509 taking positions which he need not have occupied. I could of course speak about his work as a statesman, but I do not think this is my province. I would only add that when we look round the world to-day we can hardly find any son of Empire who has done more service for that Empire.