Evening star., 1924-01-05
Good-Looking Diplon,atists Demanded
For Foreign Service of Great Britain,
Cabinet Insists Enjoys Should HaUe Physical
Charm as Well as Intellect.

the memberS OF MS family, Is quite
good looking and is. thersfore, In
position to know the value Of come
liness Perhaps the most handsome
Ponsonby who. in. the days OF the
life to his exceptional pulchritude.
Seized by the mob as an artstocrat.
somewherb In the neighborhood OF
La Bastille, he was strung up to Ia
most most convenient % outfit ito to turn into a
gallows. He was actually hanging
by his neck in .midair. when the
women OF the markets--it may be re-
membered what a fiendish part they
by a common impulse, rushed for
ward. cut the rope and let him fall 70
the ground, exclaiming that he was
far too handsome lad to be hanged.
even though he were an aristocrat
and an Englishman. Bearing him
away. they carefully tended him un-
til he had recovered from his ln1u-
ries and then capped the mater p1y 1y
safety.
Arthur Ponsonby, though today
socialist and an ardent advocate OF
the abolition of the house OF lords, on
account of the alleged moral and
physical degeneration and even degra-
dation of the aristocracy." was
brought up at court in the household
of the late Queen Victoria. For he Is
a younger son Of the late Gen. Sir
Henry Ponsonby who, throughout
we'll nigh forty years, was the late
queens chief private secretary and
the keeper of her privy purse wniie @
being a maid Of honor of the queen,
was appointed, on her marriage, to be
a lady-in-waiting. Gen. Sir Henry and
Lady Ponsonby were. therefore, al
ance upon her at Windsor Castle, at
Osborne and at Balmoral. the Pom
sonby children being brought up from
their infancy under the very eye OF
tho queen. Sir Frederick Ponsonby,
at court in the same Official relation
to King George as his father did TO
the late queen. AS for Arthur Pom
sonby he was. in his boyhood. page
of honor to the queen, was educated
and. after leaving the university.
entered the diplomatic service, being
stationed in turn at Constantinople
and at Copenhagen, after which ne
put in three years of service at the
foreign Office. Then he was invited by
the late Sir Henry Campbell Banner
man, when the latter was premier, to
become his private secretary, and II
was after Sir Henry's death that he
entered parliament and seemed to de-
yeiop a revolutionary streak. In fact,
the overthrow of the house OF lords
became a positive obsession to this
grandson Of Earl Grey, the famous
prime minister, to this scion OF the
great house Of Ponsonby. Of which
the Earl of Bessborough is the chief.
1t was only last year that Arthur
Ponsonby, as labor member Of parlia-
ment for Shefneld, introduced bill
for the abolition of the grant OF
hereditary titles, and In which he de-
ridiculous excrescence" and the peer
age as something utterly grotesQue"
The Ponsonbys hail originally from
Cumberland. taking their name from
the lordship OF the Manor Of Pom
sonby, in that county; but they have
been identified with Ireland ever since
tho reign Of Queen Elizabeth. They
do not hesitate to declare that Arthur
Ponsonby Is a throwback to Sir John
Ponsonby, who commanded the Round
head Cavalry there under Cromwell.
For, with his exception. all the re-
mainder of the Ponsonbys have
always been high in favor at
court. The principal homo Of Lord
Bessborough is Bessborough Hall,
near Piltown, in County Kilkenny,
the mansion built OF Kilkenny marble
about 200 years ago, after the design
of the once famous Binton, overlook
! ing a charming line OF country right
away to the Kumara mountains and
standing in a well wooded park Of
several thousand acres The art
treasures include some very fine an
nolds and Sir Thomas Lawrence,
among them being that of Arthur
Ponsonby's great grandfather, the
fourth earl, who died with such
tragic suddenness at Dublin Castle,
while viceroy Of Ireland. His takins
one. for it blighted many Irish hopes
based on the strength Of his close and
intimate friendship with the great
Daniel O'Conne1l.
What Arthur Ponsonby's policies
will be on becoming foreign minister
in the labor cabinet may be gathered
from the fact that, during the great
war. he was associated with the Hon.
Bertrand Russell and Charles r. Bux-
ton in paciflst appeals in behalf OF
guments in favor OF the cessation Of
the war being, DO you want to starve
Germany into submission? This may
take years and may cost millions OF
pounds and hundreds OF thousands OF
lives. The only powers that can stop
many. The allies depend on U.S. Our
financial strength gives us q pre-
dominant position. Would 1t be a
weakness on our part to take the
lead and bring Europe back to peace?"
This appeal was issued in 1916,
shortly before tho United States came
into the war, and, widely printed In
this country, handicapped the United
States government in preparing to
take It's part In the world war in
behalf OF liberty, civilization and
emancipat ton Of the world from the
military terrorism OF the Hohenzol-
lArn4 49,