§ 2.36 p.m.
§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY)My Lords, your Lordships will, I know, like me, have read with a feeling of deep personal sorrow of the death over the week-end of the noble Earl, Lord Bessborough. Lord Bessborough, as your Lordships know, did not often intervene in debates in this House, though he spoke on occasion with great effect, especially when Anglo-French relations were under discussion. But he was, even in his later years, a faithful attender of this House and a working member of our Standing Committees; and he made, by his kindness and courtesy, many good friends here. After serving for three years on the London County Council, Lord Bessborough began his political career the House of Commons as long ago as 1910, and he sat there as Viscount Duncannon for the best part of ten years until he succeeded his father.
But the main achievement of his earlier years was, of course, his tenure of the great position of Governor-General of Canada. For that country he retained an abiding affection to the end of his life, and the moving tribute paid to him by Mr. Byers in The Times this morning is, I think, some indication of the high regard in which he is still held there. More recently, his chief interest was in 298 furthering close relations between this country and France; and though his work in this sphere, like everything he did, was quiet and unobtrusive, those in touch with the Franco-British Society will, I know, be aware how ceaselessly and how successfully he laboured in a cause which was very near to his heart. The sympathy of all of us will, I am sure, go out to Lady Bessborough and his children in their grievous loss.
§ 2.38 p.m.
§ LORD SILKINMy Lords, I should like to associate my noble friends on these Benches and myself with the tribute which has just been paid by the noble Marquess the Leader of the House to the memory of Lord Bessborough. Lord Bessborough was a great public servant, and he lived a life in the highest tradition of public service. His work for the London County Council, the House of Commons and this House, his Governorship of a great Dominion and the other work which he did, marked him as a man of high principles and high tradition. And he occupied with distinction every one of the positions which he filled. I personally had only a slight knowledge of Lord Bessborough. I came into contact with him as President of the Franco-British Society, and I am glad to recall that I was present at the last annual meeting of that Society over which Lord Bessborough presided. I was immensely impressed with the efficiency and the devotion which he showed at that meeting. It was the most crowded one, he told me, that he ever had. It was held in the Moses Room, and the place was so overcrowded that there were almost enough people for an overflow meeting. I know how gratified Lord Bessborough felt at what he regarded as the success of his efforts to bring Great Britain and France closer together. He was not only a great admirer of France, but one felt that he loved her, and he made a unique contribution towards closer relationship between this country and France. I join with the noble Marquess in extending our condolences to his relations. Lord Bessborough will long be remembered as a faithful and honoured public servant.
§ 2.41 p.m.
LORD REAMy Lords, from these Benches, I support to the full the words of the noble Marquess the Leader of the House and of the Deputy-Leader of the 299 Opposition. Lord Bessborough did not—at least during the period of my presence in our Lordships' House; that is, the last eight years or so—take a great part in our political debates, but he had a very wide circle of friends amongst your Lordships who will all miss his presence, his friendly interest and his readiness (as I found in particular) to take the opinion of an amateur with the same courtesy and attention as that of an expert in the wide variety of subjects in which he himself was interested. Others have spoken, and will speak again, of his great official position as a Proconsul of this Kingdom overseas, but I should like particularly to direct my tribute to his achievement in his long and valuable and, I am sure, lasting work in the interests of Anglo-French understanding and, what is more, cordiality.
Those of us who, like myself, have a pre-eminent admiration and love for the genius of culture and of sensitivity, of beauty, of humour and of lightness-of-touch which is the essence of France and of the French people, recognise with gratitude the considerable contribution which Lord Bessborough, through his own personality, made towards maintaining and enhancing the invaluable relationship of esteem and affection which exists, and which I think always must exist, between our two nations. As an unofficial ambassador of good will, he has left behind him a reputation which we and our French brothers and sisters across the Channel will remember with high appreciation. My colleagues and I sincerely associate ourselves with the expressions of sympathy extended to his wife, his son and his daughter.