Christie describes Paul Adderley as “a true Renaissance Man”
TRIBUTE BY THE RT. HON. PERRY G. CHRISTIE
PRIME MINISTER
AT THE STATE FUNERAL FOR THE HON. PAUL LAWRENCE ADDERLEY
CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL
FRIDAY SEPT. 28, 2012
One hundred and seventy four years ago, a ship bearing slaves to Cuba
was intercepted by the British Navy and brought to Nassau. There the
slaves were freed. Among these “Liberated Africans”, as they were
called, was a young man of the Yoruba ethnic group from what is
modern-day Nigeria. His name was Alliday. He was an alien in a
bewildering new world, thousands of miles from home with the
unbridgeable vastness of the Atlantic Ocean in between; a man without
connections, without family, with nothing to his name, penniless and
poor.
But not for long.
By the time of his death in 1885, Alliday Adderley had become the
biggest black landowner in all of New Providence. Amongst the lands that
he bought and paid for out of his own pocket was a large tract
stretching from Goodman’s Bay and taking in Stapledon Gardens and the
land lying west of the Tonique Williams-Darling Highway, all the way
down to where Robin Hood used to be. He owned all that, and a lot more
too. And lest we forget, this was a black man who had come to this
country in chains.
But Alliday produced a great deal more than just landed wealth. He
also produced sons. One of them, William Campbell Adderley, would become
the first unambiguously black member of the House of Assembly where
before there had only been whites and the occasional mulatto or two.
A generation passed and a new one came, and with it came Alliday’s
grandson, Wilfred Parliament Adderley – W.P. Adderley, for short. He
became a prominent building contractor and downtown merchant with his
ambitiously-named dry goods emporium on Marlborough Street: “The Big
Store” is what it was called. Of greater consequence, W.P became the
second generation of Adderleys to sit in the House of Assembly. And he
was no ordinary member either. He was an outspoken, combative and
clever legislator, and a social reformer too.
Another generation would come and go, and in the one that followed
would come forth W.P. Adderley’s only son. His name was Alfred Francis
Adderley – better known as A.F. Adderley – and from the beginning of the
Bahamas till now he remains the closest thing we have ever had to black
royalty.
Educated at Cambridge, he became far and away the best barrister at
the local bar, dominating the courtroom from his call in 1919 to his
death in 1953. But A.F. Adderley was so much more than just the
pre-eminent trial lawyer of his times. Of infinitely greater
consequence, he also attained unprecedented heights for a black Bahamian
in the political establishment, first as a member of the House of
Assembly, later as a member of the Upper House – then known as the
Legislative Council – and finally as a member of that most exclusive of
all the power-sets in the colony, the Executive Council.
He would also become Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese. Moreover,
he would serve in 1951 as acting Chief Justice, much to the
consternation of the dominant power clique. His involvement in the life
of the community would extend into other spheres as well, most notably
in sports. He was, for example, the founding President of the BAAA.
The litany of A.F. Adderley’s trailblazing accomplishments goes on
and on. In truth, he went where no black man had ever gone before. No
one of his colour had ever risen higher, or accomplished as much, as
A.F. did, and at a time, moreover, when it was the hardest thing in the
world for any man of colour to make his way upward in the Bahamas,
constructed as it was back then.
And no one gave it to A.F. Adderley. He achieved it all on merit :
by brainpower, by spotless integrity, by discipline, and by the
relentless pursuit of excellence in everything he did.
And of all the things he did, there was none more consequential than
this: by the sheer power of his example, he became the quintessential
role model for successive generations of young black Bahamian men,
throughout the 20s and 30s and 40s and even into the early 50’s,
instilling in them, by example, the confidence, the conviction, that
they, too, could become lawyers and doctors and engineers and that they,
too, could become masters of their own destiny and leaders in their own
land.
There is a transformative phenomenon in human relations called “the
Power of One”. A.F. Adderley’s life and example encapsulated exactly
that.
And then came Paul…..Paul Lawrence Adderley, the fifth successive
generation of Adderleys to make its mark on the life of our country, and
the fourth successive generation of the family to sit among the makers
of laws in the hallowed halls of parliament. That remains a record
unmatched by any other self-acknowledged family of colour in our
country.
But when it came to Paul, it was not just the Adderley lineage that
was at work. Paul also had a mother – Ethel Adderley nee Lunn – and she
hailed from the Lunn/Rodgers clan which, over the course of a century
and more, has produced a distinguished line of medical doctors,
scholars, public servants and diplomats, skilled tradesmen, and
sportsmen of world renown, with names like Dr. Kenneth Rodgers, Dr.
Johnny Lunn, Dr. Jonathon Rodgers, Dr. Patricia Rodgers, and the late
Andre Rodgers of Major League Baseball fame.
So Paul really got it from both sides.
I have begun my tribute as I have not so much to share with you a
remarkable family history that too few of us know about but rather to
submit to you that there was bred in Paul’s very bones from birth a
profound consciousness that he was part of a trans-generational relay,
and that it was now his turn to take the baton and beat a new path into
the future that lay before him.
Just as Alliday Adderley had done in his own time and as William
Campbell Adderley had done in the generation that followed, and as W.P.
Adderley had done in his own time, and as A.F. Adderley had done in his,
Paul Lawrence Adderley knew that he was a part of that continuum, and
that he was in duty bound to enlarge upon the accomplishments of his
ancestors.
Believe me when I say that we cannot comprehend who and what Paul
Adderley was, or what he came to mean to the life and times of our
country over the course of his 84 years, nor can we comprehend what the
lessons of his life hold for us now and for the children of tomorrow
unless we first realize that Paul himself understood that there was a
family tradition of excellence, of high accomplishment, of sacrifice,
and of service that he had to live up to.
Paul was an outstanding historian in his own right. Historical
research was one of his great passions, and there was no subject that he
ever researched more assiduously than that of his own family history.
He knew it inside out, and he knew profoundly that the golden cord that
bound him to his forbears and which, in turn, connected him to the
Bahamian people, was a deep and abiding sense of obligation to apply
himself to the very best of his abilities; to do so in his every
undertaking; and to do so in a way that would uplift not only himself
but the whole of this country that he loved so dearly. That was at once
Paul’s ethos and his mission, and in embracing it he was keeping faith
with the best traditions of his own family.
To whom much is given, much is expected. Paul knew that only too
well. He knew that much was expected of him. And as we recall the
course of his life today, we see only too clearly that Paul not only
lived up to what was expected of him but that he gave a great deal more,
much more than could reasonably have been expected of him.
We saw it in the way he applied his mind. He was a man of immense
intelligence. He was a rationalist, a man who believed in the civilizing
power of logic over mindless passion; a scholarly man of deep learning,
not only in the law but in so many other disciplines and areas of
study, ranging from political philosophy to photography, from history to
stamp collecting, from gardening to golf, from the theatres of London
and New York to Junkanoo on Bay Street.
That’s what always so impressed me about Paul, not just the depth of
his intellect but its scope. He was well versed in so many different
subjects, and it always seemed to me that there was no subject upon
which he did not entertain an informed opinion.
Paul was a true Renaissance Man, well rounded in his interests and in
his learning. He was in my personal estimation, and that of many
others, the most intellectually gifted man of his generation.
We also saw Paul’s passion for excellence in the way that he
practised law. The greatest compliment you can ever pay a lawyer is to
say of him that he is a ‘lawyer’s lawyer’, someone that not only lay
clients go to for advice and counsel but someone that other lawyers go
to as well for guidance on difficult points of law. That was Paul – a
lawyer’s lawyer.
He was an advocate of extraordinary brilliance and tactical skill.
He had an absolutely amazing record of acquittals as a criminal defence
lawyer and he enjoyed equal success at the civil bar, beating some of
the best and brightest of the English bar, including, most famously, the
late Sir Robert Megarry, the pre-eminent real property lawyer of his
time and later one of the truly great judges of the 20th century in
England.
As a lawyer, Paul always prepared his cases with the most thorough
and meticulous of care. And he applied this rigourous standard of
preparation to every case he did, be it large or small, be it a dispute
over a tiny plot of land in Grant’s Town or a case involving the
liquidation of a billion-dollar company with assets all around the
world.
And he was a paragon of ethical rectitude in his profession too. For
him there was no quality more important for a lawyer to have than
personal integrity of the very highest degree. As his own father had
been before him, Paul was a role model for young lawyers to emulate in
this and so many other ways.
We also saw Paul’s passion for excellence in the way that he
practiced his politics. O’ and how Paul loved the cut-and-thrust of
politics! He was a gladiator through and through. He was a master of
parliamentary debate, again because of the thoroughness of his
preparation, the power of his intellect, and because of the fire and
brimstone that he would heap upon his adversaries. He was a fiery
orator, and he was absolutely relentless, even ferocious, in debate.
Words and logic were his weapons and he wielded them with consummate
skill and with pulverizing effect upon the arguments of his opponents.
It was just fascinating to see him in action. He was positively
spellbinding. And I need to add this: Paul, no matter the provocation,
never stooped to character assassination. He would destroy the argument
but never the man.
While on the subject of Paul’s life as a politician I really do have
to publicly acknowledge something that I do not think has ever been
publicly acknowledged before, namely, the enormous debt my Party, the
Progressive Liberal Party, owes him, not just for his unparalleled
service as Minister of State, as Attorney-General, as Minister of
Foreign Affairs, as Minister of National Security, as Minister of
Education, as Minister of Finance, as Chairman of the Hotel Corporation,
and late in his life, as Co-Chairman of the first Constitutional
Commission – not just all that, but also for showing up and always being
there when his Party needed him most.
Some of us here today have no idea of what a great boost it was for
the PLP and its cause when Paul Lawrence Adderley, the Prince of
Poinciana Hill, threw his lot in with the PLP in the late 1950s. People
like Their Excellencies, Sir Arthur Foulkes and the Hon. A.D. Hanna
will know what I’m talking about here. Paul Adderley joining the PLP
gave instantaneous legitimacy to the PLP and its struggle for Majority
Rule among an influential class of Bahamians for whom the PLP would have
had little appeal until then.
Much the same thing happened again in 1971 when, following a period
of estrangement between Paul and the PLP, he re-joined the Party. His
embrace of the then emerging campaign for Independence legitimized it
for many who would otherwise have turned their backs on it. But if
Independence was a good thing to Paul Adderley’s way of thinking, it was
a good thing for such folks too.
And we continue to see this dynamic at work in the years that ensued.
The fact that as Attorney-General and Minister of National Security in
the turbulent 80’s, Paul Adderley was seen by just about everybody, both
here and abroad, as the absolutely incorruptible leader of the war on
drug trafficking, gave local and international legitimacy to the PLP
Government at a time when it was desperately needed. It helped
stabilize the government and, if truth be told, it contributed in no
small way to the PLP’s improbable success in the 1987 General Election
as well. I have absolutely no doubt that future historians will
conclude that it could not have been done without Paul Adderley.
Yes, my Party owes a great deal to the man whose mortal remains we
commit for burial today, and I acknowledge that debt today before all of
you here assembled.
I have up to this point spoken of things that are all pretty much in
the public domain but we would do well to remember this: we gain the
true measure of a man not by what he does or says when the cameras are
rolling or but rather what he reveals about himself when he is
off-stage, unseen by the multitudes. That’s where the public persona
fades and the real man rises out of the shadows to reveal his truer
self.
I was blessed to see that largely unseen side of Paul Adderley too.
More than just a colleague and mentor, he was a close and valued friend
of many years, someone I really loved and admired greatly.
And the side of Paul Adderley that revealed his truer self so clearly
and so beautifully, I thought, was his private life as a family man.
One of the most poignant memories I have of Paul is the look of
absolute delight he would have on his face, long ago, during the time
when we were in our first cabinet together, and when he would be sharing
with me one story or another of how one daughter or another had fared
so well in an examination, or of how impressed he was with some
interesting opinion they had expressed upon one subject or another.
Paul loved walking to the Post Office each day in the hope that there
would be some letter from Catherine or Roseanne or Paula while they
were away in school. And when there was such a letter, it would make his
day. He was so proud of each of them. A more devoted father no child
could have ever asked for.
And what a gem of a wife and life-partner Paul had in Lilith! A
model of love and devotion through and through, she was always at his
side, looking up to him and looking after him in good times and in bad,
in sickness and in health, until his death.
Lilith, you were such a wonderful support for Paul, his best friend
too, and he loved you dearly. And Catherine, Roseanne and Paula, you
brought your father so much pride and joy. And the devotion you showed
him, especially in the time of his affliction at the close of his
earthly life, speaks volumes of the great love that you had for your
father - and have for him still, for love never dies, and the parting
you endure today is only for a time.
Finally, there was Paul the patriot. And there are just two aspects
of that part of Paul’s persona that I want to touch on, and then I will
be done. But I really do have to say what I’m about to say because,
more than anything else, it reveals, I think, the greatness of Paul
Adderley and how faithful he really was to the family tradition of
service to country that I spoke about at the beginning; service with
sacrifice and service with honour.
The sovereignty of The Bahamas is something we all pretty much take
for granted these days but there have been times over the past nearly 40
years of Independence, especially during our infant years as a nation,
when we have had to defend our sovereignty against foreign encroachments
in one form or another. And in nearly all these cases it fell to Paul,
whether as Minister of Foreign Affairs or as Attorney-General or as
Minister of National Security to stand up for The Bahamas and defend its
sovereignty against the bullying or belligerence of others.
Paul was unfailingly courageous and unapologetically bold in this
regard, and he would dress down any representative of any foreign power,
be he or she an ambassador or law enforcement official or congressman
or senator, indeed be they anyone who Paul felt was trespassing on
Bahamian sovereignty. When it came to fighting for his country, Paul
never took last. He was a loyal and vigourous defender of our nation
from its very beginnings and throughout his life.
There can be no doubt that because of Paul Adderley, The Bahamas was
able to withstand many an external threat to its sovereignty and, in so
doing, consolidate its standing among the free and sovereign nations of
the world.
But for me the most singularly convincing and the most poignant proof
of Paul’s patriotism would come in the closing years of his ministerial
career when he served as Minister of Finance.
What few of us in the country appreciated at the time were the heroic
measures that Paul was obliged to take every day to help keep the
country afloat as it tossed about on the turbulent waters of one of the
worst recessions in years. To make matters worse, there was a general
election looming.
It would have been all too easy for Paul to simply embrace a policy
of reckless borrowing and profligate spending but he would have none of
that. Instead, he put country over party. He put statesmanship over
politics, declining to do things that might have made the political
prospects a little brighter for his party but which he knew would
definitely have made the financial situation for the country very much
worse.
Paul ignored the grumbling, endured all the complaints, even from
with his own ranks, because he know that by adhering to fiscal prudence
and discipline and by staying the course with austerity measures, he was
doing the right thing for the country.
But that’s not really the part I want to talk about today. What I
really want to tell you about is something that I only found out about
the day after Paul died.
Even though I sat very close to Paul in the cabinet leading up to the
1992 election when he was Minister of finance and even though I talked
with him all the time, I had absolutely no idea that even as he
struggled mightily each day to hold the country’s finances together, he
was privately battling both bladder cancer and heart disease. Most of
us knew that he had a history of heart problems but none of us ever knew
about the cancer. He never let on. He never complained about that or
anything else. He just got on with the job, as he had always done.
What a man he was! What a patriot! But that was vintage Paul
Adderley, always putting country over self, even at peril to his health,
bearing his pain in silence yet rising from his bed early in the
morning to go forth into the day to lift his people up, and to serve his
country to the very best of his ability.
In making that kind of personal sacrifice, it were as if Paul was
taking directly into his own heart and then pouring into his devotion to
duty the stirring lyrics of a well-known hymn that he would have sung
at Government High long before, in the halcyon years of his youth; a
hymn whose opening stanza goes like this:
‘I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.’
Paul Adderley was a patriot for whom no task was too demanding, no
burden too onerous, no personal sacrifice too great if it was calculated
to preserve the Bahamas and move it forward.
Paul Adderley loved this little country of ours. He loved it with all
his heart and soul, and he never stopped loving it. And he never
stopped serving it either.
Paul Lawrence Adderley, a founding father of the modern Bahamas;
defender of its sovereignty; patriot of the first rank; exemplary
servant of the people; outstanding minister of the government;
illustrious parliamentarian; a lawyer’s lawyer; historian; intellectual;
sportsman; loving husband; devoted father; proud citizen of the country
he helped make, he served his country and its people to the very best
of his ability, doing so with complete integrity and shunning all
honours.
He was indeed a prince among men.
May he rest in peace.
Bahamas Press
