[Illustration: "_What have I ever done to deserve this tribute._"]
Some 50 years ago two Statesmen were discussing the merits of Mr. Pitt
and Mr. Fox. The first statesman said the oratory of Mr. Pitt was
remarkable because he was never at a loss for a word. The other
statesman replied, "Yes, but Mr. Fox was never at a loss for the right
word." I, this afternoon, cannot find the right word. I can hardly
find any word at all to express adequately to you what I feel on this
occasion. I have put this question to myself many times in the last
month or so--"What does it all mean? What have I ever done to deserve
this great tribute?" I thought that my duty was to go back over my
past life, and I began very early, a very long time ago. I went back
to the Chartist Riots. I don't suppose there are any of you here who
know much about them except by hearsay. I was a very little boy at the
time, spending my holidays at Ruperra Castle, and I was just going
with my little terrier to hunt a rabbit that had got into the cabbage
garden, when the post-boy, who had been sent to Newport to bring out
the letters, rode in, pale and quivering, and flung himself from his
pony and said that the Chartists were in Newport--"they are lying dead
all over the street, and the streets were running with blood. He
passed through a lot of people with swords and pikes, but whether they
were coming on to Ruperra he did not know." What he effectively did
was to pose as a great hero among the maid-servants, and I remember
afterwards going up to the post-boy, saying, "Bother your Chartists;
come out and help me to catch this rabbit."
That was my first beginning in sport--my first excitement. Then I
thought a little bit more. I have a distant recollection that very
soon after, I was gazetted as a Viscount. I saw in a newspaper which
does not hold the same opinions as I do, the question, "What on earth
is Lord Tredegar made a Viscount for?" and the answer was, "I suppose
because he has been Master of the Tredegar Hounds for 30 years." I
thought, therefore, that I had better leave sport alone for this
occasion. For some time I have had running in my mind a stanza written
by one who may be called the Australian bush poet, Mr. L. Gordon, a
gallant man, who spent most of his time roughing it in the bush. The
lines are as follows:--
I've had my share of pastime, I've had my share of toil,
It is useless now to trouble. This I know;
I'd live the same life over if I had the chance again
And the chances are I'd go where most men go.
Mr. Gordon thought he knew where most men go; I don't. I don't pretend
to know, but I had thought, until lately, that I would not wish to
live the same life over again. But now, when I am here this afternoon,
and have received from the hands of so many of my greatest friends
these magnificent testimonials of their opinion of me, I can hardly go
wrong if I say I would live the same life over if I had to live
again.
Well, when I went on with my early history, I found that very, very
soon I got among tombstones and family vaults, and I thought that the
less I called to mind those among whom I spent my early life the
happier it would be for me, certainly on this occasion. But still I
wonder what it is that I have done, that has caused so many of my
friends and neighbours to gather together to present me with this
great tribute of their affection and respect.
It is true that I have had more than my share of this world's goods.
There is one thing that has always comforted me when this has been
thrown in my teeth, and that is that it was a young man who went away
sorrowfully because he had great possessions. I believe I have tried,
more or less successfully, to help those in difficulties, and to give
to many comfort and happiness who otherwise would have been in much
distress and suffering; but I am quite sure that there is no person in
this hall who would not have done exactly the same under the same
circumstances. I have no doubt that I shall be able to find a place in
Tredegar House for this picture. It will, I hope, be a monument in
Tredegar House to help those who come after me to try and do some
good in their generation with the wealth which may be at their
disposal. I thank you from the very bottom of my heart for this great
tribute you have paid me.
_This Speech was made in December, 1907, in acknowledgment of
Monmouthshire's tribute to Lord Tredegar, which took the
form of an oil painting of himself, a gold cup, an album,
and L2,000, which his Lordship handed over to various
Hospitals._