The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1891-12-26
HE Is NEAR The QUEEN.
Arduous Duties Of Victoria's Private
Secretary.
OF NOBLE BLOOD BOTH SIDES.
Sir Henry Ponsonby Has Plenty OF Hard
Work to Do-Nevertheless He Occupies
High Position in England and Meets
Many Great Men of the World.

Sir Henry Ponsonby is private secretary
to the queen. He Is of noble blood on both
sides, being grandson Of the Earl OF Bess-
borough and of Lord Bathurst, and con-
nected in various ways with half the great
families of England. Then he is n distin-
guished soldier, guardsman, a Crimean
hero and lieutenant general in the army
He entered the army when only seventeen,
and when little more thau boy was APP
pointed aid-de-camp 90 the lord lieutenant
of Ireland, who in those days was more
like monarch than an official.
At the age of twenty-four he became pri-
vate secretary TO Lord Clarendon. one of
the most distinguished of Irish viceroys,
and he did so we'll that he Kept his position
under Lord st. German and Lord Carlisle
On the death of Sir Theodore Martin. in
1870, the queen sent for him and offered
him the private secretaryship. He was
then forty-fve, six years younger than the
queen. 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.
Not only is he the paymaster of all those
officials, male and female, who are not on
the regular pay sheets of the nation, but
he is also the sole channel Of the queens
benefactions, which amount to an immense
sum in the year. You can hardly pick up
a newspaper in England without dropping
on some such paragraph As this
"The Queen has forwarded, through Gen
eral Sir III. X. Ponsonby, her annual sub
scription OF fifty pounds to the Army and
Navy Pensioners Employment society, OF
which her majesty is patron"
THE sECRETARY's DUTIES.
In addition to these regular subscrip-
tions there are innumerable miscellaneous
gifts made in the same way. II a married
woman in any part Of the empire gives
birth to triplets or any larger number of
children all at once, and the fact Is duly
certified, the mother receives by first mail
letter from Sir Henry Ponsonby, inclos-
ing golden sovereign for each child, with
the queens good wishes for her new sub
jects.
Ii an explosion takes place in mine in
the north of England and n lot Of men are
killed, the next morning arrives tele-
gram or letter from Sir Henry Ponsonby
conveying the queens condolences to the
widows and orphans, and fl00 toward a
fund for their relief.
A serious part OF his duty, indeed, con-
sists of ascertaining whether these appeals
10 the queens sympathy are genuine, and
preventing her from being imposed upon.
She always acts on the maxim, bis dat qui
cito dat, and in numberless cases Sir Hen
ry's kindly worded letter, with the small
sum of ready money inclosed, is the earli-
est alienation Of sorrow, the first balm to
a bleeding heart. But for that very rea-
son ID is all the more necessary for him to
be prompt and searching in his inquiries.
In all such matters as these Sir Henry
Ponsonby Is the queens direct and only
adviser.
WHEN VICTORIA BEHAVED FooLIsHLY.
On two or three occasions the queen has
behaved so foolishly or so wrongheadedly,
that people have wondered whether she
was in her right mind aud what sort of
idiots she had about her. A good many
years ago the royal yacht, while crossing
the Solent at the rate of seventeen knots
an hour, with the queen on board, cut
down sailing boat and drowned four per-
sons, including one or two women. The
Prince of Leiningen, a near relative of the
queen, was in command, and there was Sc
rious talk of having him tried for man
slaughter, and very angry feeling about
the whole affair.
Clearly the proper thing for the queen to
do was to express sympathy with the rela-
tives of the deceased, to offer compensa-
ton for the boat, and above all things to
give every facility for inquiry as to who
was to blame But she yielded to some bad
advice and did the wrong thing in every
way. She took no notice OF the sufferers
by the accident, but she sent a handsome
present to the Prince of Leiningen for tax
ing such good care of her and her yacht,
and, most foolish of all, she allowed him
to refuse to give evidence at the coroner's
inquest on the absurd ground that he was
an officer in the navy.
This all came of her listening TO cour-
tiers and foreigners instead of consulting
an experienced and level headed man of
affairs like Sir Henry Ponsonby,
HAS TO WORK VERY HARD.
The post of private secretary to the
queen Is, after all, little better than gilded
slavery He has a snug house allotted TO
him within the precincts of st. James pal
ace, where his wife and family live, and he
also has separate establishment at Wind
sor castle. But wherever the queen is,
whether in London or at Osborne or at
Balmoral or on the Continent, he has to
be, and from early morning until late at
night he is at her beck and call.
The queen IL very nara worker, with
very methodicRl habits. and she never
spares any OF her employees She is an
early riser and often before breakfast Sir
Henry Ponsonby is sent for 70 go through
the letters that have come by the first mail
or by special messenger, aud by 10 O'clock
the regular business of the day is in full
swing, the queen looking into everything
herself, asking innumeraLle questions. re
curing minute explanations of every sub
feet, often having the leading newspapers
read aloud to her, and discussing each item
of her huge correspondence in a sharp,
peremptery way.
The whole morning is thus occupied,
with the result that, while the queen goes
for drive or attends some public fupc-
ton In the afternoon, Sir Henry Ponsonby
is hard at work in his Office, with a bevy
Of trained clerks, dispatching letters or
other communications, preparing replies
TO addresses and getting rid Of the load Of
business piled up in the morning. Every
single communication from the queen TO
anybody else, except such as are strictly