In recognition of his many and varied services to Scotland and of his eminence as one of His Majesty's Secretaries of State.
"Our country of Scotland, with the city of Edinburgh as its capital, is one of the ancient, traditional, historic units of Europe. In these days, when frontiers change overnight, and great states vanish away, it is worth while to remember that the frontier which I left this morning is a frontier which for a thousand years, and a thousand years before that, has marked a division across this island, north of which are the Scots and south of which are all the lesser races of the world. We have held that frontier against worthy adversaries. We have known our own country, we have not wished to extend its boundaries, but we have known very well what fate we reserved for those who tried to trespass upon ours.
But I need not talk to the city of Edinburgh about the defence of our liberties. We all hope that is a tradition it will not be necessary to renew.
The tradition of learning, which was the other great tradition of our country, is a tradition for which Edinburgh is famous. The Town Council, almost unique among Town Councils, is the parent of a university. The tradition of Scottish learning is the second great strand in our nation. There is a third great strand - the strand of equality and democracy - and that, too, Edinburgh is well fitted to guard and to cherish.
The three great traditions of arms, of learning, of equality, are enshrined here in Edinburgh as perhaps they are enshrined in no other city in the world, and certainly enshrined no better in any other city in the world."