The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-23
THE QUEENS ADVISER
Olr Henry Ponsonby, yictoria's
Private Secretary.
Ne EXACTLY FITS THE PLACE,
Ms Advice Always Good-ne DI,tr,,.
.ss cnarity. Settles Royal ouarrsls
sAa - the Friend of Everybody.


Oul YET never out of the way and such
men are few and far between To 6u
properly the post of private secretary
even to private person. requires a preat
oeai OF tact and patience. coupled with a
rare faculty of self-efacement. II can he
Imagined, then, how difficult it is to find
man who knows how to DISCHARGE the rnui-
tnarlous and important duties of conf
uential medium between a great sovereign
sna the world at large, without ever as
sorting his own personality at all. The diff
cuity Is doubled when the sovereign han
pens to be woman and widow. The queen
OF England, however, has a knack of
choosing efficient as well as faithful SER
wants, and she has for her private
secretary man who seems to have been
made for the position. The truth is he
mas had training for il such as very few
men could get. His predecessor, Sir Theo-
oore Martin, who was the first private sec
retary the queen ever had, never raised
the ONCE to half Its present importance.
he was too much of clerk, and too much
o. courtier, and the public always re-
garded him as sort of superior turnkey
or personal attendant Of the queen, not
dinering very much in status from the late
lamented John Brown. 1t was not con-
ndered much of an honor to receive COM
munication from the queen through him,
because he had way of making it appear
70 have come from himself, or at all events.
rom the queen on his suggestion; and he
mad not enough of social rank on his own
account to make that pleasant.
Dir Henry Ponsonby is very different.
he Is OF noble blood on both sides, being
grandson of the Earl of Bessborough and
OF Lord Bathurst, and connected in vari-
Gus ways with half the great families of
England. Then he is distinguished SOL
der, aguardsman, a Crimean hero, and
acknowledgement in the army. At one
time he commanded battalion of the
Grenadiers and acquitted himself well in
deed. This military service in the corps
d'elite gives him peculiar kind of pres
tige which no civilian could acquire. Yet
his chief experience has been in connec-
ton with courts. He entered the army
when only H. and when little more than a
boy was appointed aide-de-camp to the
lord lieutenant of Ireland, who, in those
days was more like monarch than an
official.
At the age of "a he became private secre-
tary to Lord Clarendon, one of the most
distinguished of Irish viceroys, and he did
10 well that he kept his position under
Lord st. Germaine and Lord Carlisle. He
only left Dublin castle. in fact, to join his
regiment before Sebastopol. On his re-
turn from the war his abilities were recog-
nized by his being appointed equerry to
the prince consort; not a very agreeable
or dignified post but one which was
sure stepping-stone to the favor of the
queen, who has never once overlooked
good service rendered to her husband. On
the princes death Colonel Ponsonby, as he
then was, turned soldier again and went
to Canada with the guards, but on the
death of Sir Theodore Martin in 1870, the
queen sent for him and offered him the
private secretaryship. He was then As,
six years younger than the queen, and
very handsome and attractive man. Court
Rossips Would probably have had good
deal to say about the appointment, had
not all wagging tongues been silenced by
bis marrying one Of the prettiest and incest
Of the queens maids of honor. From that
time until now, twenty-one years. he has
been her right hand man and one of the
best known, though least seen, men in her
domains.
In former times the keeper of her majes-
TVS privy purse, a court official with very
Sesponsible and delicate functions, had
always held a distinct and separate office,
but on the death of Sir Thomas Bid
duiph. in 1878, the queen conferred it on
G her private secretary. an arrangement
Il which, while il doubled his work, raised
/ him to very influential position. Ii gave
q him, in fact. the control of all the inner
&husiness of the court, and at the same
time brought him into daily communica-
ton with the public in very satisfactory
4 way. Not only is he the paymaster of all
those officials, male and female. who are
not on the regular pay sheets of the ma
tsen, but he is also the sole channel of the
qncen's benefactors. which amount to an
immense sum in the year You can hardly
1ick mp newspaper in England without
Nropping on some such paragraph as this:
be queen has forwarded, through General Sir
ERsF. Ionsonby. her annual subscription OF SD
70 the Army and Navy Pensouers' Employment
Society. OF which her majesty is patron.
In addition 10 these regular subscrip-
lions, there are innumerable miscellane-
Gus gifts made in the same way. If amar-
ried woman in any part of the empire
: gives birth to triplets or any larger num-
Der of children all at once, and the fact is
duly certified, the mother receives by first
mail letter from Sir Henry Ponsonby
enclosing golden sovereign for each
child with the queens good wishes for her
new subjects. IL an explosion takes place
in mine in the north of England, and n
lot of men are killed. the next morning
arrives telegram or letter from Sir Henry
ponsonby, conveying the queens con-
siolence to the widows and orphans, aud
fIO0 towards a fund for Their relief. There
A. a ludicrous story told about a poor
woman whose husband had lost his lite at
= fire under circumstances of special hero
Ssm- The news had not been sent very
clearly TO the mans home. and there was
some doubt there as to the fact Of his
death. The neighbors were all pressing
round the widow making inquiries, when
= letter arrived bearing the royal arms.
The woman tore il open, glanced at It's
~artapt. and exclaimed: "Oh, yes, poor
y;,n moor Jimi Ii must be true, because
ca sEnry Ponsonby's wrote TO say FER
r,s,ustv congratulates me and sends me
ave- noilndin She meant "eondoies with
-. u hnt she was too agitated 10 read the
rords. though she understood them well
enough. ,,.;,,;os -
-,.rv hundreds of infinite variety, some
:,aa y,,av he gained of the way III which
Co. Henry Ponsonby is known 20 the peo-
s,ia as the distributor of the queen $
bounty. S,,, ;,aaaa .>,-
-. - sscertaining whether these appeals
- tbe Queens sympathy are genuine, and
~ her from being imposed upon.
Eha ai,says acts on the maxim. 5ss dat qUi
4 - 10, and in numbersess eases Slf
! IT, IIorrv,s kindly-worded letter. WITH the
s,,salisum of ready money lncloseG, Is the
! earliest alienation OF sorFeS, 'ie ntss
hahn TO a bleeding heart. but lor ta t1
xsrv reason it is all the more heoysSSIS io'
a him 10 be prompt and sesrOhi"S 80 n's "a,
/ -.sis;as The queen has set wise ana
quiIl .e s,,,,,ne example in positively reius-
..a-s i've ANYTHING 70 promlscuons
ihs shSch simply means encouraging
3 Shal b-inging discredd on real be-
.iauJ g. and the keeper OF the prlvy