A GREAT COMMONER PRAISES ANOTHER

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 107, 22 May 1937, Page 11

A GREAT COMMONER PRAISES ANOTHER

Mr. Baldwin's Eulogy of the late Sir Austen Chamberlain's High Citizenship: "Reverenced His Conscience As His King " An inspiring aclmowledgement of the high qualities of citizenship that moved the late Sir Austen Chamberlain to devote his life to the service of his country and fell ow men was made by Mr. Stanley Baldwin in-- the House of Commons when affairs of Parliament were halted in order that tribute might be paid to the son ; • of a great Imperialist who had followed the path of duty set by his father. Because of the nobility of the example of service and integrity, and because of the grace of language and depth of f eeling inr Mr, : Baldwin's words, his speech is reproduced in full below.

TT is the practice of this House, before proceeding to the ordinary and sometimes contentious business, on an occasion when we have lost one of our most distinguished members, to pause for a moment, and for the whole House, as a House, to pay tribute to that man's life and work. A most painful duty has fallen to my lot on more than one such occasion, and I would indeed that I could have been spared this duty to-day. It is just 29 years since I entered the House, and on that occasion I had a letter from Austen Chamberlain, whom I lcnew slightly, and had known slightly for some years, asking if he, as the representative for East Worcestershire, might have the pleasure of introducing me to this Chamber. I need not tell the House with what gratitude I, a young and. unlcnown member, accepted that compliment from one who had already held high office as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He introduced me, and from that day till now I have -had nothing but ltindness and consideration from him through all the changes and ehances of political life; and tliough there was a brief period when there was. between ns a fundamental differenceof opinion, that, I rejoice to think to-day, never affected the regard we had for each other,- a regard which, I believe, existed ou his side as it did on mine. Though there will be one speaking later in this debate whoso knowledge of him goes baclc many years before that time, I felt that I must just strike that personal note before I say what I have to say about him. During that period, of course, our relations changed. At one "time I sat supporting him on the back Bench.es, and then ultimatelv he was Foreign Secretary In the Government that I formed in .1924, where no man could have had a more loyal and true colleague than he was, and where he accomplished work for which, I believe, history will givo him the credit, which I always feel he hfts scarcely had yet. "A Great Parliamentarian." Austen Chamberlain was, I think, above all, a very great Parliamentarian.. He loved this House.-' He loved the life of it. He was trained to it. He lived in it, and he has died in it, as I think he would have chosen to do. He was equipped for his task at all points. * He was brought up in a hard school, at a time when political controversy was raging with anintensity that in these cairn days, we find'difficult to realise; and he learned to play his part among the most effective of those on the bench where he worked. He was always .^a formidable .figure in debate, cou'rteotts " a'nd chivalrous, but capable of giving hard blows and capable. of receiving them. There was never his his whole composition, even through those bitter years before the War, anything of malice, anything underhand; he was the open chivalrous foe when fighting had to be done, and he never flinched and never lost his courage. I think the -whole House was prou(l of him as a type of a great Parliamentarian. It will seem to all of us a poorer place now that we shall never again see him in his place It is remarkable to think that, great as his political career was, and numerous ns were the great offices which he held, it was during the last years of his life that he exercised in this House a 'far greater influence than he had ever . exercised before. I attribute that partly to this: It is never easy to grow old, but ho passed from the position of an active and administrqtive statesman to the position of what is now ealled an Elder Statesman in an extraordinary way. He gradually seemed to drop that partisan character which is essenfial to some extent td those who are fighting on the front benches in the House of Commons, and he displayed prominently those gifts of candour and wisdom which were his. "While always ready W— — — ! ' wmmm—mmmmmmmm—mmm—mmmi

to criticise if he felt that criticism was necessary, he never criticised for the sake of criticism, and you always felt that, if you had his approval, it was the approval of that honestinind of his, while if you had not you might wcll search yourself to see what you had dono to merit it. "A Lovable Characteristic" •Many of us, oi course, often felt, in listening to hhn and seeing hioi, that he was one among us, as though he had come from what we sometimes think of as the great days of Parliamentary tradition. We felt that when he left us — and we prayed it might be long — there would be no one who could take his place. I know that that is often said of men, but witn him it is true. He has passed away. Yet, do not let the House aaisunderstand me. Although he was that, and although in. so many ways he loved the old ways and was ta.ithful to them in that studied courtesy of his, and in the style of his eloquence, yet there was no man who had a profounder sense of the organic nature of Parliament and confidence in its ability to meet all the changes and cbaoces of life in this country for centuries yet to come. There* is' rio young man in this House but would say that ono of his most remarkable and • lovable characteristics was his interest in and his kindness to young men. (Cheers.) No one would ever : go to him- to consult him on any poiut without his taking the keenest interest in what they were interested in. To no one did dt give greater pleasure to hear a young man make a good ' speech. : No one was looking out more eagerly in • every quarter of the House to see the men on whose shoulders in his opinion the mantle of- the great men of the past might descend. His pride in this House, his be- • rif.f in its capaeitv was lifelong. • - As we know, his- conversation used so often to turn- to the incidents of his younger life in this House. So in these latter days there was no one of the older ones among us to whoaa X could appeal with -more confidence on que3- ' tions as to how the House of Commons might regard certain actio'ns and certain proposals, or how to deal with a diffieult situation. His judgment in those matters was generaliy uuerrin'g, and it was always at the disposal of his friends. , ' ■ "Supreme and TJnshakable Loyalty" lt is for history to relate tho accomplishments of our great men, and it is for the Press of the day. to give the facts and the details of their lives. But here we dwell for a short period on the | man we Tcnew, and if indeed our words spolien her'e to-day should live at all, they will live for; tlie .ir^strp^on.pf those who come after us to show how avsudden and swift blow ' could affeci the h^arts* and minds of those who sat with' Him for so many years. If I were ask'ed in a word or two to sum up his character- . istics I would say that his chief characteristic may be summed up in that well known line: — He Teverenced his conscience as his king. Among the things most deeply embedded in that conscience was a sense of loyalty. That is a word which is used in many senses and is often on men's lips. In Austen Chamberlain I would say that it was the nupreme and unshakable loyalty to everything that he honestly believed to be right and believed to be the best. It was a loyalty that was shown to his family, to his party, to the House ef Commons and to liis country; and whether it be colleagues, wheIher it 'be friends, whether it be relations, whether it be the members of the Civil Service who gave their service to him in those cnany capacities in which he served each and all I rhink would mark out that loyalty as perhaps the most outstanding characteristic of his. I 'liave never known him let a man down; he was always prepared to take the blame and - always prepared to shoulder responsibility.

"Ao Has Gone Home." * There is one other characteristic which his ' ; friends will recognise, and again* I woiilil qu'ota # " a welXknown line which" may be found' quite . closc to the one I quoted a 'few.minhtes- ago: — He spoke no slander, no, nor *listened to" 'it.i I have known him intimat'ely,;-ancf -I r have never heard him say anything about' any one — mainly, of course, in discilssing .political matters, where feelings often run high — I have never heard him say anything derogatory about a man or anything on hearsay or rumour. Not only that, he was one of those rare men who are incapable of listening to anything of the kind that anyone may desire to put before t them. It was the reflection of a eingularly' simple and ^andid nature. in its best and truesf ' meaning. One remembers, and always will remember, those two things, the loyalty, not only in action in big. things but loyalty of thought and, word, where so many of us go He has left us. In the reinote parts of tha-t countryside where I was born and where old English phrases linger, though they may be dying, even now I hear among old people this phrase about those who ' die, "Ho has gone home. ' ' It was a universal phrase among the old agricultural labourers whose life was one toil from their earlicst dayso to ■ their last, anl I think that that phrase must have arisen from the sense that one day tho toil would be over and the rest would come, and that rest, the cessation of toil, wherever that' occurred, would be home. So.they say, "He has gone home." Burdexi of Public Life. When our long days of work are over hera there is nothing in our- oldest customs which so stirs the. imaginatiou of tho young member as the cry which goes down the lobbies, ' ' Who goes home?" Sometimes when I hear it I think of the language of my own countryside and L feel that for those who have \>orne the almost insupportable burden' of public life there may well bo a day when they will be giad to go home. , tio Austen Chamberlain has gone home. . The sympathy of this Pouse from the heart of every oue of us / will go out to those who are left. (Cheers). The relhtionship of father , and son is not a" thing on which I shall touch here, except to say that no more beautiful .Tela tionship ever existed. In all his domestic relationships it was the same— with his wife, with his brother. There is not a soul in this House but will give that sympathy from the bottom of his hcart. For us the best thing we can do to honour his memory is to cling more closely to the two things to which he" clung throughout his life. He always maintained that public service was the highest career a man could take. In that belief he fitted hinlself for it, and in that belief he worked and died. Let us renew our efforts from to-day to tako furtlicr pride in this work to which we have been called. As I said earlier, he had an infinite faith in the Parliamentary system of this country. Let ns resolve once more that we can best keep iiia memory bright by confirming our own xesolution that government of the people by tho people shall never perish on this earth. (General sympathetic cheers.) Labour Leader's Tribute. Mr. C. E. Attlee, Leader of the Opposition, said: It ds diffieult to add anything to the beautiful and moving trib»te which the Prime Mi»ister has paid to one who was the friend of us all in this House. I desire to express on behalf of the members of my party and myself our sincere sorrow at a loss which this House and the country has sustained by the death of Austen Chamberlain. This House has lost in him one of its most distinguished members, a great House of Commons man, a devoted servant to his country, a kind, courteous and generous man.