As a token of the esteem of the Magistrates and Council for him as a distinguished Scotsman, and of their appreciation of his personal attainments and his high character as a Statesman; and in acknowledgment of his eminent public services as Secretary for War - particularly in connection with the reorganisation of the Reserve Forces of the Crown - and now in the exalted position of Lord High Chancellor.
"Edinburgh in the commencement of the Twentieth century is in one striking respect a different place from Edinburgh in the commencement of the Nineteenth. In those early days Edinburgh was distinguished for great individualities, for men of European reputation whom you might meet and not be astonished to meet, almost familiarly on the street. To-day we do not meet men of such transcendent distinction. We do not produce them. But we find something different. The feature of the Edinburgh of the Twentieth century is the higher general level - the far greater organisation of individual forces to the attainment of a common end - more complete co-operation to produce a result in the interests of the civic whole and of the community rather than in the interests of the individual. And if those pinnacles which catch the eye are no longer apparent, at least the general level of the city is higher, and the city is a finer city."