Sitting of 25 January 1901

Preamble
Several other Members took and subscribed the Oath, and one other Member made and subscribed the Affirmation required by Law.

THE DEATH OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
MR. SPEAKER informed the House that he had received the following Telegrams of Condolence with the British. Nation in the Joss it had sustained by the death of Her late Majesty:—
Telegram, dated Athens,
23rd January, 1901, 8 p.m.
From the, President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Hellenes, to the Speaker of the House of Commons.
The Chamber of Deputies, respectfully associating itself with the grief and mourning of England, has charged me to transmit to your Excellency, and by your intervention to the House of Commons, its heartfelt and sincere condolence. The Creek people will ever honour, and hold in grateful recollection, the glorious Queen who in their hours of difficulty graciously showed Her sympathy and goodwill.
From the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Roumania, to the Speaker of the House of Commons.
The Chamber of Deputies of Roumania, deeply moved by the calamity which has struck the noble English nation, associates itself with the national grief, and mourns with it the noble Sovereign it has lost.
From the President of the National Assembly of Servia, to the Speaker of the House of Commons.
The Servian National Assembly, sharing in the grief of the English people for the loss of the great, noble, and wise Queen Victoria, has expressed in its sitting of yesterday its very deep respect for the memory of the deceased Sovereign.

MESSAGE FROM THE KING RESPECT ING THE DEATH OF HER LATE MAJESTY.
Mr. BALFOUR (at the Bar)acquainted the House that he had a Message from His Majesty the King to this House signed by His Majesty's own hand. And he presented the same to the House, and it. was read by Mr. SPEAKER (all the Members of the House being uncovered), and is as followeth:—
EDWARD REX.
The King is fully assured that the House of Commons will share in the deep sorrow which has befallen His Majesty and the Nation by the lamented death of His Majesty's mother, the late Queen. Her devotion to the welfare of Her country and Her people, and Her wise and beneficent rule during the sixty-four years of Her glorious reign will ever be held in affectionate memory by Her loyal and devoted subjects throughout the dominions of the British Empire.

ADDRESS IN REPLY TO THE KING'S MESSAGE.
THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,): The history of this House is not a brief or an uneventful one, but I think it has never met in sadder circumstances than to-day or had the melancholy duty laid more clearly upon it of expressing a universal sorrow—a sorrow extending from one end of the Empire to the other, a sorrow which fills every heart and which every citizen feels, not merely as a national, but also as a personal loss. I do not know how it may seem to others, hut, for my own part, I can hardly yet realise the magnitude of the blow which has fallen upon thecountry—a blow, indeed, sorrowfully expected, but not, on that account, less heavy when it falls. I suppose that, in all the history of the British Monarchy, there never has been a case in which the feeling of national grief was so deep-seated as it is at present, so universal, so spontaneous. And that grief affects us not merely because we have lost a great personality, but because we feel that
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the end of a great epoch has come upon us—an epoch the beginning of which stretches beyond the memory, I suppose, of any individual whom I am now addressing, and which embraces within its compass sixty-three years, more important, more crowded with epoch-making change, than almost any other period of like length that could be selected in the history of the world. It is wonderful to reflect that, before these great changes, now familiar and almost vulgarised by constant discussion, were thought of or developed—great industrial inventions, great economic changes, great discoveries in science which are now in all men's mouths-—Queen Victoria reigned over this Empire. Yet, Sir, it is not this reflection, striking though it be, which now moves us most deeply. It is not simply the length of the reign, it is not simply the magnitude of the events with which that reign is filled, which have produced the deep and abiding emotion which stirs every heart throughout this kingdom. The reign of Queen Victoria is no mere chronological landmark. It is no mere convenient division of time, useful to the historian or the chronicler. No, Sir, we feel as we do feel for our great loss because we intimately associate the personality of Queen Victoria with the great succession of events which have filled her reign, with the growth, moral and material, of the Empire over which she ruled. And, in so doing, surely we do well. In my judgment, the importance of the Crown in our Constitution is not a diminishing, but an increasing factor. It increases, and must increase with the development of those free, self-governing communities, those new commonwealths beyond the sea, who are constitutionally linked to us through the person of the Sovereign, the living symbol of Imperial unity. Hut, Sir, it is not given, it cannot, in ordinary course, be given, to a constitutional Monarch to signalise his reign by any great isolated action. His influence, great as it may be, can only be produced by the slow, constant, and cumulative results of a great ideal and a great example; and in presenting effectively that great ideal and that great example to her people Queen Victoria surely was the first of all constitutional Monarchs whom the world has vet seen. Where shall we find any

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ideal so lofty in itself, so constantly and consistently maintained, through two generations, through more than two generations, of her subjects, through many generations of her Ministers and public men?
Sir, it would be almost impertinent for me were I to attempt to express to the House in words the effect which the character of our late Sovereign produced upon all who were in any degree, however remote, brought in contact with her. In the simple dignity, befitting a Monarch of this realm, she could never fail, because it arose from her inherent sense of the fitness of things. And because it was no artificial ornament of office, because it was natural and inevitable, this queenly dignity only served to throw into a stronger relief, into a brighter light those admirable virtues of the wife, the mother, and the woman with which she was so richly endowed. Those kindly graces, those admirable qualities, have endeared her to every class in the community, and are known to all. Perhaps less known was the life of continuous labour which her position as Queen threw upon her. Short as was the interval between the last trembling signature affixed to a public document and the final and perfect rest, it was yet long enough to clog and hamper the wheels of administration; and when I saw the accumulating mass of untouched documents which awaited the attention of the Sovereign, I marvelled at the unostentatious patience which for sixty-three years, through sorrow, through suffering, in moments of weariness, in moments of despondency, had enabled her to carry on without break or pause her share in the government of this great Empire. For her there was no holiday, to her there was no intermission of toil. Domestic sorrow, domestic sickness, made no difference in her labours, and they were continued from the hour at which she became our Sovereign to within a few days—I had almost said a few hours—of her death. It is easy to chronicle the growth of Empire, the course of discovery, the progress of trade, the triumphs of war, all the events that make history interesting or exciting; but who is there that will dare to weigh in the balance the effect which such an example, con-
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tinued over sixty-three years, has produced on the highest life of her people?
It was a great life, and surely it had a, happy ending. She found her reward in the undying affection and the passionate devotion of all her subjects, where so ever their lot might be cast. This has not always been the fate of her ancestors. It has not been the fate of some of the greatest among them. It has been their less happy destiny to outlive contemporary fame, to see their people's love grow cold, to find new generations growing up who know them not, and burdens to be lifted too heavy for their aged arms. Their sun, once so bright, has set amid darkening clouds and the muttering of threatening-tempests. Such was not the lot of Queen Victoria. She passed away with her children and her children's children, to the third generation, around her, beloved and cherished of all. She passed away without, I well believe, a single enemy in the world—for even those who loved not England loved her; and she, passed away not only knowing that she was—I had almost said adored by her people, but that their feelings towards her had grown in depth and intensity with every year in which she was spared to rule over them. No such reign, no such ending, can the history of this country show us.
Mr. Speaker, the Message from the King which you have read from the Chair calls forth, according to the immemorial usage of this House, a double response. We condole with His Majesty upon the irreparable loss which he and the country have sustained. We congratulate him upon his accession to the ancient dignities of his House. I suppose at this moment there is no sadder heart in this kingdom than that of its Sovereign; and it may seem therefore to savour of bitter irony that we should offer him on such a melancholy occasion the congratulations of his people. Yet, Sir, it is not so. Each generation must bear its own burdens; and in the course of nature it is right that the burden of Monarchy should fall upon the heir to the Throne. He is, therefore, to be congratulated, as every man is to be congratulated who, in obedience to plain duty, takes upon himself the weight of great responsibilities, filled with the earnest hope of worthily fulfilling his task to the end, or, in his own

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words, "while life shall last." It. is for us on this occasion, so momentous in the history of the Monarchy, so momentous in the history of the King, to express to him our unfailing confidence that the great interests committed to his charge are safe in his keeping, to assure him of the ungrudging-support which his loyal subjects are ever prepared to give, him, to wish him honour, to wish him long life, to wish him the greatest of all blessings, the blessing of reigning over a happy and a contented people, and to wish, above all, that his reign may, in the eyes of an envious posterity, fitly compare with that great epoch which has just drawn to a close. Mr. Speaker, I now beg to read the, Address which I shall ask you to put from the Chair and to which I shall ask the House to assent. I move—
"That a humble Address be presented to His Majesty, to assure His Majesty that this House deeply sympathises in the great sorrow which His Majesty has sustained by the death of our beloved Sovereign, the late Queen, whose unfailing devotion to the duties of Her high estate and to the welfare of Her people will ever cause Her reign to be remembered with reverence and affection: to submit to His Majesty our respectful congratulations on His Accession to the Throne, to assure His Majesty of our loyal attachment to His person, and further to assure Him of our earnest conviction that His reign will be distinguished under the blessing of Providence by an anxious desire to maintain the Laws of the Kingdom, and to promote the happiness and liberty of His subjects."
SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN: Sir, the gracious Message which we have received from His Majesty the King and the Address by which the First Lord of the Treasury proposes that we should make reply to that Message concern themselves with a subject on which, happily for us, the House of Commons forgets all differences of party and of political opinion. If I were to borrow a, phrase from the stately Proclamation which yesterday resounded through these islands, I should say that it is "with one voice and consent of tongue and heart" that on these occasions we are accustomed in this country to act. If
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this is so, if we are all of one mind to-day, it is not merely in giving formal expression to constitutional and traditional loyalty; there is a deeper and stronger chord, a more intimate chord, that has been struck by the events of this week. The ties that bind the people of this country to the Throne and the Royal House have not been created, they are not such as could be created, by the wit or theory of philosopher or statesman; they have been knit by the character and the life of Queen Victoria and the members of Her Royal Family. I am not going to attempt to add—because if I attempted to add to it I should spoil it—to the eloquent panegyric which the right hon. Gentleman has passed upon the great Sovereign whose loss we deplore to-day. One might, of course, enlarge upon many points that were most prominent in her character and conduct, on her ungrudging devotion to duty, on her scrupulous observance of constitutional rules, on the soundness of her judgment, on her unfailing discretion, on the unsullied goodness of her life, and on her singularly quick and watchful sympathy with everything that could bring joy or sorrow to any of her subjects. But there is one thing which strikes me as having, above, all, from the earliest days of Her Majesty's reign, won for her the hearts of her people, and which has increased her hold upon them as the revolving years succeeded each other, and this is a certain homely sincerity of character and life and purpose which, amid all the pomp and dignity of her august position, seemed to make the whole world kin. If we were to attempt to appreciate the light in which Queen Victoria has been regarded, and in which her memory will continue to be regarded by her people at home, and by her subjects within the vast bounds of her Empire—if we were to attempt it—we should search in vain down the long list of epithets expressive of pride and affection—admired, beloved, revered, even adored—to find one which accurately or adequately conveyed the real sentiment of her people towards her. I believe that this is because there was between them a friendly, tender, almost familiar, mutual understanding which it is impossible to put into words. Who can measure the strength which the existence of a relation such as this between the Sovereign and her

25
people must have given through all these, years to this kingdom and this Empire? We have been so habituated to it that we hardly realise it; and it is now, when the relentless hand of death has taken Her Majesty from us, that we see how much we owed to her. Let me ask how often it must have happened during her long reign that some policy or action on the part of this country, either by fault of ours or not, may have failed to secure the goodwill of other States and nations among our neighbours, and how often may the evil effects of such a state of things have been averted by the knowledge, which was universal in the world, of the Queen's personal and sincere devotion to the cause of peace and freedom and uprightness. It is, therefore, with a deep sense of gratitude for all the happiness and the strength which Her Majesty, by her own personal qualities, has given to her faithful people that we bow the head before the decree of Divine Providence which has put a close to a reign the most beneficent that has been seen in any nation and in any age of the world.
Happily, the grief with which we suffer this irreparable loss is in some degree assuaged by our well-founded confidence that the Monarch who succeeds to the Throne will follow the same line of public conduct and will adhere to the same principles of life as have wrought so much good in the past. It often happens when a new occupant comes to the Throne of a country, that he is an untried Prince, unversed in public affairs; it may be even that he is little know personally to those over whom he is called upon to reign. It is not so with King Edward. For the greater part of his life it has fallen to him not only to discharge a large part of the ceremonial public duty which would naturally fall to be performed by the head of the State, but also to take a leading part in almost every scheme established for the benefit, material or moral, of the people of this country. Religion and charity, the public
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health, science, literature, and art, education, commerce, agriculture,—not one of these objects appealed in vain to His Majesty, while he was Prince of Wales, for strong sympathy and even for personal effort and influence. We know how unselfish he has been in the assiduous discharge of all his public duties, we know with what tact and geniality he has been able to lend his aid to the furtherance of these great objects. Therefore it is, not only that we hope, but that, from our past experience, we know, that His Majesty understands and enters into and appreciates and sympathises with the desires and needs of his people, and that he will devote himself even to a greater degree than he has been able to do in the past to the promotion of their welfare. And in this, perhaps, it may be light to say that it is an additional satisfaction to us to know that His Majesty will have by his side his august Consort, who has reigned in the hearts of the British people ever since she first set foot on our soil. Sir, there will be no discordant voice in this House to-day. If there were, we should not fittingly represent those who have sent us here. There will be but one universal feeling of sorrow for the lamentable calamity that has befallen the nation, and of hopeful confidence for a happy and prosperous future. I beg to second the motion.
Resolution agreed to, nemine contradicente.
To be presented by Privy Councillors and Members of His Majesty's Household.

ADJOURNMENT.
Motion made, and Question, "That this House do now adjourn till Thursday, the 14th February,"—(Mr. A. J. Balfour)—put, and agreed to.
Adjourned accordingly at ten minutes after Four of the clock.

Preamble
Several Lords took the Oath.
The Earl of Harrow by sat first in Parliament after the death of his father.

THE DEATH OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
  MESSAGE FROM THE KING.
  Delivered by the Marquess of Salisbury and read by the Lord Chancellor, as follows:—

  EDWARD REX.
  The King is fully assured that the House of Lords will share in the deep sorrow which has befallen His Majesty and the Nation by the lamented death of His Majesty's mother, the late Queen. Her devotion to the welfare of Her country and Her people, and Her wise and beneficent rule during the sixty-four years of Her glorious reign will ever be held in affectionate memory by Her loyal and devoted subjects throughout the dominions of the British Empire.
  THE PRIME MINISTER AND LORD PRIVY SEAL (The Marquess of SALISBURY): My Lords, I have to move that "an humble address be presented to His Majesty to assure His Majesty that this House deeply sympathises in the great sorrow which His Majesty has sustained by the death of our beloved Sovereign, the late Queen, whose unfailing devotion to the duties of her high estate and to the welfare of her people will ever cause her reign to be remembered with reverence and affection; to submit to His Majesty our respectful congratulations on his accession to the Throne, and to assure him of our loyal attachment to his person; and further to assure him of our earnest conviction that his reign will be distinguished, under the blessing of Providence, by an anxious desire to maintain the
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  laws of the kingdom and to promote the happiness and liberty of his subjects." My Lords, in making this motion, I have to perform by far the saddest duty that has ever befallen me, and you in voting it will be animated by similar feelings. We are echoing the accents of sorrow which reach us from every part of the Empire and every part of the globe, and which express the deep and heartfelt feeling—a feeling deeper than I ever remember—of sorrow at the singular loss which, under the dispensation of Divine Providence, we have suffered, and of admiration for the glorious reign and the splendid character of the Sovereign whom we have lost.
  My Lords, the late Queen had so many titles to our admiration that it would occupy an enormous time to glance at them even perfunctorily; but that on which I think your Lordships will most reflect, and which will chiefly attach to her character in history is that, being a constitutional Monarch with restricted powers, she reigned by sheer force of character, by the lovableness of her disposition, over the hearts of her subjects, and exercised an influence in moulding their character and destiny which she could not have done more if she had had the most despotic power in her hands. She has been a great instance of government by example, by esteem, by love; and it will never be forgotten how much she has done for the elevation of her people, not by the exercise of any prerogative, not by the giving of any commands, but by the simple recognition and contemplation of the brilliant qualities which she has exhibited in her exalted position.
  My Lords, it may be, perhaps, proper that those who, like noble Lords opposite and myself, have had the opportunity of seeing the close workings of her character in the discharge of her duties as a Sovereign, should take this opportunity of testifying to the great admiration she inspired and the great force which her distinguishing characteristics exercised over all who came near her. The position of a constitutional Sovereign is not an easy one. Duties have to be reconciled which sometimes seem far apart. Much has to be accepted which it may not be always pleasant to accept; but she showed a wonderful power, on the one hand, of observing with the most absolute strict-

  9
  ness the limits to her action which the Constitution draws, and, on the other band, of maintaining a steady and persistent influence on the action of her Ministers in the course of legislation and government which no one could mistake. She was able to accept some things of which, perhaps, she did not entirely approve, but which she thought it her duty in her position to accept. She always maintained and practised a rigorous supervision over public affairs, giving to her Ministers the benefit of her advice and warning them of danger if she saw there was danger ahead: and she certainly impressed many of us with a profound sense of the penetration, almost intuition, with which she saw the perils with which we might be threatened in any course it was thought expedient to adopt. She left upon my mind, she left upon our minds, the conviction that it was always a dangerous matter to press on her any course of the expediency of which she was not thoroughly convinced; and, without venturing to go into details, which, of course, I cannot do, I may say with confidence that no Minister in her long reign ever disregarded her advice, or pressed her to disregard it, without afterwards feeling that he had incurred a dangerous responsibility. She had an extraordinary knowledge of what her people would think—extraordinary because it could not have come from any personal intercourse. I have said for years that I always thought that when I knew what the Queen thought I knew pretty certainly what view her subjects would take, and especially the middle classes of her subjects. Such was the extraordinary penetration of her mind. Yet she never adhered to her own conceptions obstinately. On the contrary, she was full of concession and consideration; and she spared no effort—I might almost say she shrank from no sacrifice—to make the task of conducting this difficult Government more easy to her advisers than it would otherwise have been.
  My Lords, I feel sure that the testimony I have borne will be abundantly sustained by all those who have been called to the counsels of the Crown. We owe her gratitude in every direction—for her influence in elevating the people, for her power with foreign Courts and Sovereigns to remove difficulties and misapprehension which
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  sometimes might have been dangerous: but, above all things, I think, we owe her gratitude for this, that by a happy dispensation her reign has coincided with that great change which has come over the political structure of this country and the political instincts of its people. She has bridged over that great interval which separates old England from new England. Other nations may have had to pass through similar trials, but have seldom passed through them so peaceably, so easily, and with so much prosperity and success as we have. I think that future historians will look to the Queen's reign as the boundary which separates the two states of England—England which has changed so much—and recognise that we have undergone the change with constant increase of public prosperity, without any friction to endanger the peace or stability of our civil life, and at the same time with a constant expansion of an Empire which every year grows more and more powerful. We owe all these blessings to the tact, the wisdom, the passionate patriotism, and the incomparable judgment of the Sovereign whom we deplore.
  I have also to move that we present, our congratulations to His Majesty on his accession to the 'Throne, and to convey the assurance to His Majesty of our loyal attachment to his person, and, further, of our earnest conviction that his reign will be distinguished, under the blessing of Providence, by an anxious desire to maintain the laws of the kingdom and to promote the happiness and liberty of his subjects. His Majesty, indeed, comes to the Throne with great advantages, He has before him the greatest example he could have to follow. He has been familiar with our political and social life for more than one generation: he enjoys a universal and enormous popularity; he is beloved in foreign countries and foreign Courts almost as much as he is at home; and be has that profound knowledge of the working of our institutions and the conduct of our affairs that be begins with provision and security against mistakes that few Sovereigns have enjoyed. We may tender him our allegiance with earnest sincerity and with the belief that he will adorn the Throne to which he is called, and that he will not be an unworthy successor of the most illus-

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  trious Sovereign that has over adorned the Throne of England.
  Moved, That an humble address be presented to His Majesty:
  To assure His Majesty, That this House deeply sympathises in the great sorrow which His Majesty has sustained by the death of our beloved Sovereign the late Queen, whose unfailing devotion to the duties of Her high estate and to the welfare of Her people will ever cause Her Reign to be remembered with reverence and affection;
  To submit to His Majesty our respectful congratulations on His accession to the Throne, to assure His Majesty of our loyal attachment, to His person; and, further, to assure Him of our earnest conviction that His Reign will be distinguished, under the blessing of Providence, by an anxious desire to maintain the Laws of the Kingdom, and to promote the happiness and liberty of his subjects.
  THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY: My Lords, I beg leave to second the motion made by the noble Marquess. I am sure there is not a Member of this House who will not feel that on this occasion it is not a mere formal motion which we make as loyal subjects on the death of our Sovereign. It is something much more; it is an occasion when our in most feelings are touched by remembrance of her happy, glorious reign.
  I agree with every word that has been said, and well said, by the noble Marquess opposite. He has had unique experience, as a powerful Prime Minister, of intercourse with the Sovereign, which, naturally, I have never enjoyed; but it does so happen that my first intercourse with the Queen as a Minister—a subordinate Minister—dates back even further than that of the noble Marquess. I may perhaps be forgiven for mentioning that I occupied the position of Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the last days of 1852. Of course, I was not at that time a responsible Minister, but as Under Secretary I did on more than one occasion come into immediate contact with the Sovereign, and even to some extent upon matters of business. She treated me with that, extraordinary consideration and kindness which always marked her
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  intercourse with all who came near her. From the very first—though I do not claim to have any special insight—I was struck with the extraordinary qualities the Queen displayed, and as years went on my experience of this increased, and I can corroborate every word that has been said by the noble Marquess. The position of a constitutional Sovereign is one which may not be of great direct power, but the Queen has shown that it may be one of far-reaching and most beneficent influence. I suppose no Sovereign who ever sat on the Throne of this kingdom exercised so wide an influence or was so greatly beloved, and her influence extended not merely to the people of this country and the extensive dominions over which she reigned—it extended to every civilised country throughout the world. I should think there is no precedent whatever where a Sovereign—I might almost say any individual—has been so greatly, so sincerely, so universally mourned as in the case of our late Queen. My Lords, that circumstance shows that she must have possessed qualities of the most remarkable kind. Those who have had the great advantage of coming into immediate contact with her must have been, like the noble Marquess, struck with the extraordinary and profound knowledge which she possessed of public affairs. I must say I was always amazed at the sound and real knowledge which she possessed of almost all the important affairs which engrossed our attention from time to time. It was not, as is the case with many, that she had, as she naturally would have, made special inquiry into these matters and put herself in a position to discuss them with her Ministers. It was something much more. You came in contact with one who was profoundly acquainted with all these affairs—probably far more, in many cases, than the Minister who had to transact business with her; and the more you transacted business with her the more you were astonished at the depth of her knowledge and the acuteness of her judgment. She possessed, if I may say so, in a pre-eminent degree, the qualities possessed by women of great ability; but she possessed also that which I have never met with before in a woman—the calm judgment and the wisdom which we generally think are only the

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  property of men. The Queen was a I wise statesman, if I may use an expression which, of course, in itself is inaccurate; and I must say for myself that I never conversed with her on business—and I have had a good many conversations with her—without being struck with her ability and her extraordinary foresight and judgment.
  But, my Lords, there was something much more than that. The noble Marquess touched upon the subject. As a constitutional Sovereign of course, as a rule, she was bound to follow the advice of her Ministers, and I have, even in my own humble case, known instances where the judgment of Her Majesty and my own opinion differed, and I had a long argument with her on the subject, during which not for one single moment did she in any way display any kind of resentment at my not agreeing with her. She argued the question temperately and with moderation and great wisdom. The noble Marquess alluded to the fact, which. I. might not otherwise have mentioned, that, as I suppose has happened in the experience of several of us, there have been cases where the Queen's judgment was better than ours. I remember well a. case which I cannot refer to, in which, unfortunately, I entirely differed from the opinion which Her Majesty held, and, of course, I felt it to be my duty, holding the opinion strongly, to press it, and the Queen ultimately, though with great reluctance, gave way to me. She warned me that I should lament the consequences. The event proved that the Queen was right and that I was wrong; and I well remember that afterwards, when I met her, I said, "Well, Ma'am, I am bound to admit that your judgment was sounder than my own. The apprehensions you entertained have been fulfilled, unluckily, in this case." I only mention that to show how intimate her acquaintance with affairs was, and how wise she was in these matters. It was not only that one consulted her, as one was bound to do, as the Sovereign of this country, but you consulted her because she was a person of the greatest and widest knowledge, and of calm and sound judgment. And I remember very well an old chief of mine, a very able man, Lord Clarendon, then the Foreign Minister, saying to me when I was Under Secretary,
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  after discussing some matter of importance, "Well, let us have the Queen's opinion. The Queen's opinion is always worth hearing, even if you do not agree with it"; and that expresses my own opinion with regard to it. My Lords, a more sagacious Sovereign never reigned in this country; and if you consider the widespread influence which she has exercised as a constitutional Sovereign—if you consider that, year by year, her influence increased, and that year by year, up to the time of her lamented death, the affection of all classes in the country was more and more displayed—I think you will say that the noble Marquess did not exaggerate when he said no more successful, no more beloved Sovereign ever sat upon the Throne of this country.
  But there is something more to be. said. Her influence and the admiration of her qualities extended far beyond this country. In India that great Empire from which she derived one of her titles—in India, by all accounts, there is the greatest sorrow for her loss and the greatest sympathy expressed by all the native Princes, and, I have no doubt, all the native population. I have mentioned what is the feeling in all foreign countries, and observe how remarkable, how singular this sympathy is. I am not going, on an occasion like this, to touch, even in the remotest degree, on any question of our relations with foreign countries, but relations with foreign countries naturally and necessarily involve us very often in disputes, and sometimes one nation is less friendly than another, as must occur; but on this occasion the feeling of all these countries has been shown to be one of sympathy with the death of our Sovereign, quite independently, as far as I can see, of the particular relations that may exist at this time. I am not aware that there is any instance in history where the influence of one person has been so great as to overcome the feelings which arise from the political relations existing between the different nations of the world. That alone shows how unique and beneficent was the influence which she exercised.
  My Lords, I have said enough of Her Majesty's relations with public affairs. The noble Marquess has, with more experience than I have, expressed, and in more admirable language, what we all feel on that sub-
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  ject; but I think there is one other side on which I may say a word. It is this—the extent to which Her Majesty inspired all those who had the great privilege of intercourse with her with a feeling of personal affection which was most remarkable. In the event of any calamity befalling us, no one expressed their sympathy in more kindly and feeling terms, no one conveyed to her subjects sympathy in terms which touched the heart more deeply than Her Majesty; and anyone who has suffered any bitter sorrow will know that from none came more touching words of consolation than from our late Sovereign. I have nothing further to add, but I confess I feel most strongly—and I hope I am not exceeding the bounds of what should be said by any public man when I confidently assert this—that, not only in my own opinion, but in that of many others, our feeling was not merely that of the highest respect for the Sovereign of this country and for her great and eminent qualities, but we felt, as far as it was possible in such a case in our relations with our Sovereign, that she was a personal friend, and we deplore her loss as such. The noble Marquess has also included in his motion an expression of the feeling which we all entertain to wards the successor of the Queen. We have many of us for a long time had an opportunity of witnessing the career of the Prince of Wales. He is now our Sovereign, and I believe myself that his knowledge of affairs, and his tact and good judgment, will enable him to walk in the footsteps of his august mother; and no greater wish can I. express than that he should walk in her steps, and nothing do I more desire, not only for his own reputation, but for the benefit of the great Empire over which he has been called upon to rule.
  THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: My Lords, I desire to be allowed to say a few words upon this matter as representing the Church of England, which, as your Lordships are aware, is connected by closer ties with the Sovereign in this country than in almost any other. For myself, it is impossible to look back over Her Majesty's reign without a deep sense of gratitude to God for having given us such a Sovereign to reign over
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  us, a Sovereign whose powers of statesmanship and powers of advising those who had the government in their hands have been already spoken of, but whose influence as a woman, and, I may add, as a truly religious woman, was far greater than anything which could be exercised by the wisest statesman or the cleverest administrator. Her influence, the character of her Court, the character of the domestic life, of which her subjects were allowed to know something, had a penetrating power which reached far beyond the possibility of our being able to trace it. There can be no question that all society has been the better because the Queen has reigned. There cannot be a question that it has been a blessing to very, very many who knew not from whence the blessing flowed. Thousands upon thousands, I have no doubt at all, are living better lives, although they know not the reason, simply because there was such a Sovereign on the Throne, a Sovereign who gave the people all her intellectual powers, who gave the people all her extraordinary knowledge of what affected their interests, but who also gave the people her very heart, the loving sympathy with which on all occasions she spoke—to those who needed such sympathy-the words by which she made us all feel that she cared for every one of us, the readiness with which she responded to every call made upon her as not only a woman, but a loving woman, amongst her people whose love she longed to win. The influence which such a Sovereign exercised it would be difficult to find anywhere in the history that is past. It would be difficult to find the equal of it; it would be impossible to find anything that could surpass it. She was a religious woman. She prayed for her people. She was a good woman. She set up a, true standard of such lives as Christians ought to live. She made us all feel that we were hers and that she desired to be ours, and so throughout the country good people are lamenting her departure. Throughout the country I do not think there is a single heart that is not penetrated by a sense of gratitude that Cod has given us such a Queen; and we look forward and we trust that the influence which she exercised will not die with her. We trust that the Sovereign who has succeeded her will follow in her

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  footsteps as he has told us he means to do; and, whilst our sorrow at the moment seems stronger than any other feeling, we are yet able to add to that sorrow an expression of true loyalty towards the Sovereign who has succeeded.
  On Question, agreed to, nemine dissentiente, and ordered accordingly: The said Message to be presented to His Majesty by the Lords with White Staves.
  The LORD CHANCELLOR The LORD CHANCELLOR acquainted the House that he had received messages of sympathy on the death of the late Queen from the Roumanian Senate and the Greek Chamber of Deputies, of which the following are translations:—
  1. The Roumanian Senate, profoundly touched by the calamity which has just fallen upon you, associate itself with the grief of the great people which is now mourning Queen Victoria, one of the most glorious of Sovereigns.
  (Signed) BOERESCO,
  President of the Senate.
  2. The Greek Chamber of Deputies, respectfully desiring to associate it self with the grief and mourning of England, has charged me to transmit to you, and through you to the House of Lords, their most earnest and sincere condolences. The Hellenic people will always honour and will always preserve a grateful memory of the glorious Queen who in the most difficult moment deigned to testify to it her sympathy and goodwill.
  (Signed) BOURHIDIS,
  President of the Chamber of Deputies.
  The same were ordered to be entered on the Journals of the House.

  JUDICIAL BUSINESS.
  Ordered, That for the purposes of the Judicial Business of the House, Thursday, the 14th day of February next, be deemed the "first sitting day of the next ensuing Meeting of the House."
  House adjourned at ten minutes past Five of the clock, to Thursday, the 14th of February next.