[CTRL] [2] Behind The Throne

[Kris Millegan]

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</A> -Cui Bono?-

an  excerpt from:
Behind The Throne
Paul H Emden 1934
Hodder & Stoughton
320 pages – First Edition – Out-of-print
-----
--A man like Esher, who behind the Throne saw, experienced, and brought about
many things, should be in a position to tell posterity much; from Esher's
numerous notes and papers it should be possible for historians to fill in
many territories which up to now appear as blanks on the map of the Edwardian
age. But Lord Esher was not only a mysterious but also a cautious and tactful
man, and in his will he appointed that his most intimate documents should be
scaled up and not opened till 1981. A future generation alone will receive an
explanation from Lord Esher's papers of many things which to-day are dark,
and perhaps it will also get many a surprise.--

THE AGE OF WEALTH

THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION

ALL men, even of strong and considerable individuality, are the product of
their time, are advanced or retarded by it. Only very rarely has a great and
outstanding personality succeeded, not merely in not being subject to the
period in which he lived, but also in being able to shape his age, to impress
his stamp upon it. The effect of such an individuality can become so strong
and so general that its influence affects the outlook of a whole nation.
Later on, then, History gives to the age in which such a personality arose,
his name.

If it is possible to a creative genius, possessed of no other means of
expression than language or his art, to exercise such an influence on his
times, how much more numerous and strong are the means at the disposal of a
Monarch. The Constitution of this country in particular grants to the Ruler a
many-sided position which rises into symbolism and borders on to mysticism.
In the name of the King of England it is decided what is right and what
wrong, the law is administered, rewards and penalties are given, and, so far
as concerns his personal conduct and his way of looking at everyday matters,
he is the pattern on which millions model themselves. The sphere of his
influence, however, is not based on the Constitution alone; tradition also
has its share. Thus the King is the Head of the State, of the Church, and, in
addition, the Leader of Society. Owing to this many-sidedness, the Monarch
can influence from the most varied points of view the inner growth of the
country, not only its administrative Government; he can promote or delay its
development, can adapt himself to the spirit of the age, but can also harden
himself against it. The stronger the personality on the Throne, the stronger
is this impression. The sphere of influence of a Monarch ready to shoulder
responsibility became extensive and outstanding in the life of the nation
when for six decades — that is, for two complete generations — it placed on
the country the stamp of his individuality.

Apart from a few intervals of inner weariness, Victoria, both in her youth
and her old age, held with untiring energy and indefatigable zeal the post
appointed to her at the head of the State which, towards the end of the
century, was face_ to face with problems, both at home and abroad, very
different from those which had to be solved sixteen years after the death of
Napoleon.[1] But even the ageing Queen always knew, although sometimes
complaining and often hindering rather than assisting, how to adapt herself
to the changed political outlook. Apart from her Constitutional duties,
however, in her traditional tasks the Queen was, from her earliest years,
except the very first time perhaps, inclined to fall short. Stockmar and the
Prince Consort, the strongest and in effect her most far-reaching advisers,
had changed the merry, cheerful English disposition of the young Princess;
thus the foundations were laid in the Queen of those stern views, that hard
outlook on life, which with the years developed into the most regrettable
intolerance. These two counsellors had made the Queen one-sided in her
conception of her Royal calling — had, so to say, bureaucratised her; ever
prejudiced, they saw in all proposals and measures submitted by Whitehall to
the Sovereign nothing but opportunities for a one-sided fight with the
Constitution, to violate which her Ministers never — or at any rate very
rarely — had the slightest intention. In addition to this, they took no
notice of the claims of tradition, and this for the reason that they knew
nothing of it, were not and could not be familiar with it. After the death of
both the Consort and Stockmar, the Queen for forty years stood almost alone,
for none of the successive personal advisers was allowed to exercise any deep
and far-reaching influence, and she believed herself compelled to renounce
that of her son; thus the Queen, who clung more and more strongly to the
past, gradually became so estranged from the present, refusing to make any
compromise, that in the end she believed that she could put a stop to any
natural development which she definitely would not recognise. This was bound
to end in failure, and did end in failure, and in this lay the tragedy of her
old age. Even Victoria's majestic greatness collapsed: time was stronger, and
trod down antiquated conceptions.

In her seclusion, from which no influence could draw her, the Queen had
forgotten that it is the traditional duty of an English Sovereign to be not
only the Ruler of the wide circles which for centuries had been the strongest
in the country, but also to be the magnificent, widely visible, and
hospitable leader. But Victoria stood apart from Society instead of at its
head, as she ought to have and could have done; she had placed herself
outside it, and left it to its own devices. If the Queen had taken her share
in the social life of her nobility, she would have been in a position to
influence and direct the change in its grouping and composition which in the
course of years had become unavoidable. As it was, there arose a new Society
without her, and there was an Edwardian Society long before Albert Edward was
King. It is with this Society that the Edwardian age itself began.

On its own impulse, almost unconsciously, this Society had gradually drifted
away from the old Victorian ideas; not only, however, had the ideas of those
who by birth and position 'belonged there' undergone a change, but an
entirely new section of leaders had arisen and come forward. Men stepped into
the foreground, not merely because they aimed to be in the limelight and
wanted to have their place in the sun, but because they had become important
— even indispensable.

An age grown exacting was no longer satisfied with the rare and still simple
hospitality of the Royal Court. The reins which slipped out of the hands of
Buckingham Palace were taken up by Marlborough House. There they understood
that section of Society which wanted not the stiff etiquette ruling at
Windsor, but the free and easy life offered by Sandringham, which was
attracted, not by the seclusion of Osborne, but by the appeal of Cowes to
wider circles. When, with a display of temperament which bore no relation to
the task asked of her, Victoria refused to open a bridge or Parliament in
person, or to modernise Court functions, the Queen not merely incurred the
displeasure of those whose request she refused, but in so doing she estranged
the country from herself and from the Crown. Edward and his generation, on
the other hand, catered for the eye also; in their joie de vivre they loved
gorgeous festivities and public pomp; but the wise man also recognised their
value as ratio regis.

The passing from the Victorian to the Edwardian age was no sudden break, no
end and beginning, but a slow adaptation to the drifting of the times which
had become very materialistic. The beginning of the era which history calls
Victorian may be fixed to a day; it began at that moment when the Archbishop
of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham in Kensington Palace told the girl of barely
eighteen, who, from the very first moment, knew exactly what she wanted, that
she was now Queen of England. But it did not end with the death of the Queen;
long ere this the age of Edward had started.

The last third of the reign of Victoria had already stood under the sign of
the new political Imperialism, which, however, did not come into contact with
life at Court; Buckingham Palace remained insular; Marlborough House became
an international centre. The Edwardian age's first lux did not shine ex
oriente, it came ex meridie; its first dawn began when the first diamonds
were found in South Africa, and it grew stronger when a start was made with
the industrial prospecting for the gold found on the Witwatersrand; the sharp
upward curve of the gold output in the Transvaal shows at the same time how
strong was the increase of the influence of Edwardian men. The gold found on
the other side of the Vaal River changed the face of England, and first and
foremost the views and prejudices of Society; this gold brought with it new
Captains of Colonisation and Industry, men who grew powerful on the Stock
Exchange, in finance, and eventually also in politics. The Edwardian age had
become an accomplished fact when in the clubs of Piccadilly and round St.
James's Square members no longer waited till one of their number, returning
from the City, told them of the day's happenings, but had, on the appearance
of the evening paper, themselves read with understanding eyes how things
looked on 'Change. Not only had the Stock Exchange found the way to Park
Lane, but Mayfair had turned towards the City, and the Edwardian regime was
in full swing when the first peer's son, pacemaker for the many who came
after him, went to a stockbroker as half-commission man.

In the Edwardian Society which arose in this manner, the peerage had been
compelled to abandon its exclusiveness; from Marlborough House the smart set
of financiers and millionaires was launched. In the old set there were
families who rebelled against the change and reconstitution of their class,
which was eventually to lose its existence — Society also had its Diehards —
and who, dissatisfied with the present, looked back yearningly to the good
old times when everything was so much better. The heir to the Throne was not
one of these; it was under his banner behind the Throne that the
transformation took place. Rank, intellect, wit, stepped into the background,
and 'distinction gave way to brilliance.' At all times and in all countries
new wealth sought connections with ancient Society, and marriage was ever the
democratising leveller between the rival camps of aristocracy and plutocracy.
Ever the scion of a great house has been very willing to gild his shield
afresh with new gold; ever have there been wealthy fathers whom it flattered
some day to become the grandfathers of peers' sons. At first well-dowered
brides were imported from America, but, in the Edwardian age, home country
and Empire could themselves produce them. And so Society was in the beginning
intermixed with plutocracy, and this amalgamation gave rise to the new
aristocracy.

It was said that the Queen had kept Society 'respectable'; that Edward had
made it 'smart.' Dicta in epigrammatic form must always be looked at with
suspicion, and the same applies here. Old-fashioned heaviness had indeed been
replaced by a lighter view of life, and of fin-de-siecle London it could no
longer be said that 'the general aspect of Society is profound gravity.
People look serious at a ball, at a dinner, or a ride on horseback or in a
carriage, in Parliament or at Court, in the theatres or at galleries.' The
whole world had grown more broad-minded in its views and moral conceptions,
was emancipated from old and worn-out prejudices, but was not for this reason
any the less 'respectable.' There had been scandals under Queen Victoria just
as much as later, only they had been taken more tragically. Under Edward,
people lived more rapidly than formerly and had neither inclination nor time
to throw stones. An artificially dammed love of life broadened out when
Edward ascended the Throne, and was in a hurry to make up for lost time, as
if it had had a foreboding that things would not after all go on like this
for long, and would come to an end much too soon.

In the long years of waiting and inactive looking on, the Prince of Wales had
opened communications in all directions; he knew Frenchmen, Americans,
Germans, Hungarians; he counted among his friends men from all countries and
all continents, and had personal relations with more foreign politicians than
any one of his Ministers. As King he not only refused to give up the circle
which had provided the Prince with stimulation and pleasure; he intended to
cultivate it all the more, for by its means alone, and not through his
official staff, could he remain in touch with the views and the requirements
of his time, which were quite different and far more complicated than those
of his predecessor on the Throne. No one who did not daily have his finger on
the pulse of life could in those days have been a good Sovereign, and the
reason why Edward was such a good King is that he thoroughly knew his
generation, and the men who were of influence in it. Edward was an active man
of the day; no ancient recollections or prejudices impeded his path. Every
hour had to be taken hold of and used up in work and in the exercise of his
delightful profession, from the moment when, at the age of almost sixty, he
ascended the Throne — an age at which Victoria had already reigned for more
than forty-one years. Edward's preparation for his metier was quite different
from that of his mother, hence he 'ruled' less than she did, but his
influence on politics was the stronger, and his mastery of the diplomatic
chessboard was that of an old expert. In a period so strongly Imperialistic,
politics and finance were much more interwoven than ever before, and many
considerations in foreign politics were influenced by economic interests. No
official staff, whether grown old in routine work or formed in his own
school, would have sufficed at such a time and for such a Sovereign who
expected so much from himself and who had no time for a slower tempo. Grateful
ly he retained around him men who had been with him, in some cases for very
many years, and in days not always easy, to whom he was accustomed and who
were accustomed to him and his methods. But in the age of the building of the
Bagdad Railway, of the fight for the petroleum wells, or the settlement of the
 problems raised by the South African mines, the range of the advisers had to
be broadened by the inclusion of men who were in constant touch with
business; who were able, unfettered by official considerations, and looking
at things broadly, to put their knowledge and their experience at the
disposal of the Sovereign. So there were added to the advisory staff, to
Knollys, Probyrt, Frederick Ponsonby, Farquhar, Holzmann, a circle of friends
in great positions in life, amongst whom were Sir Blundell Maple, Sir Thomas
Lipton, Viscount Esher, the brothers Leopold and Alfred de Rotlischild,
various members of the Sassoon family, and above all, Sir Ernest Cassel.

--[note]—
1 In order to show clearly the extraordinary stretch of time included in the
reign of Victoria, it will be interesting to draw an arc over the line of
time, taking as its centre point 1837, the year of her accession. The
half-circle crosses the line at 1901  when Victoria died, and at 1773. In
that year the Boston Rebellion over the tea duties broke out — the start of
the long fight for American Independence. In 1773 Napoleon and Wellington
were both four years of age; in 1773 George III had been on the Throne for
thirteen years, and it was not till forty-seven years later that George IV
took his place.

pps. 279-286
=====

‘THE ROYAL ENCLOSURE’

AMONGST the men in official position at the Court of  Edward, Dighton Probyn
was the most Victorian, Farquhar the most Edwardian type. Horace Farquhar
belonged to an old family the members of which had for centuries provided the
State with trusty servants; amongst the descendants of Sir Walter there may
be mentioned, as falling within the scope of this book, his granddaughter
Caroline Elizabeth, the wife of General Grey, the Private Secretary of the
Queen; his great-granddaughter, Sybille Charlotte, who married Evelyn Ashley,
the Private Secretary of Palmerston and Gladstone; and Horace, subsequently
Earl Farquhar, the great-grandson; old Sir Walter's
great-great-great-granddaughter is Lady Louis Mountbatten, whose grandfather,
Sir Ernest Cassel, together with Farquhar, first brought order into the
King's financial affairs and subsequently managed them. Of the closer
business advisers, Cassel, by far the most successful, was a man of simple
origin, whom his financial genius had raised and brought to that position;
Farquhar was the aristocrat whom strong business instinct and capacity to
make money turned into a business man. To these were added the Rothschilds,
bankers, because they had been born as bankers.

Farquhar did not go through the training usual for an office at Court; he was
neither officer nor Civil Servant, but a trained banker, finally in the
service of Scott's Bank, which was subsequently amalgamated with Parr's Bank,
on the board of which he remained for many years. His business activity was
extraordinarily successful, so that his advice, like that of every successful
man, was often sought and followed. At his instigation Lord Macduff had,
before he became the son-in-law of the King and Duke of Fife, taken a very
profitable part in banking affairs, and was, together with Farquhar, one of
the founders of the British South Africa (Chartered) Company. Through the
Duke of Fife, Farquhar's relations with the Royal House began. A staunch
Conservative, he later turned to active politics, became M.P., and, as
Chairman of the London Municipal Society, a zealous promoter of borough
administration. After Edward had ascended the Throne, he looked for a man who
should modernise the arrangements at Court which, under the Queen, had become
altogether too oldfashioned, and organise them on proper business lines. In
Farquhar, who, in addition, was looked upon as one of London's 'handsomest
and most charming men,' he found the right person. He occupied the office of
Master of the Household for a few years only; and the King intended to
appoint him Lord Steward (in succession to the Earl of Liverpool).
Campbell-Bannerman, however, objected; he saw in Farquhar a political
opponent whom he did not wish to hold that high office, with its immense
possibilities of influence. Edward VII, ever a strong upholder of the
Constitution and anxious to avoid any friction with responsible parties, gave
way, although unwillingly. But Farquhar did occupy this eminent post, for
which he was quite specially fitted, for seven years, up to the date of his
death, under His present Majesty, and devoted in the most unselfish manner
his great organising and business capacities to the service of two
Sovereigns. He died a rich man, and showed his great affection to the Royal
House by leaving, in his will, large sums out of his estate Of £400,000 to
members of the Royal Family.

The official manager of the King's finances was Sir Dighton Probyn, who at
the Court of Edward VII combined the type of the old Victorian courtier with
that of a brave officer. Lord Roberts, in his book Fort -One rears in India, s
everal times mentioned the 'gallant services' of young Probyn, and General
Sir Hope Grant wrote in his Journal that 'it would indeed be difficult to
imagine a, more brilliant, dashing, daring irregular officer than Lieutenant
Probyn,' whose outstanding services in India and China were rewarded with the
V.C. which — a rare case indeed — he wore for sixty-seven years. The gallant
officer did not take on an easy task when, in the latter part Of the
seventies, he became Treasurer to the Prince of Wales, and lie must assuredly
have spent many an uneasy hour; to his foresight and his tact it is due that
the usual commission to inquire into the financial position of the new King —
of which, in addition to Arthur Balfbur and Sir William Harcourt, Sir
Blundell Maple, the great Tottenham Court Road business man, was a member —
was able to report that Edward VII had ascended 'unencumbered by a single
penny of debt.' For thirty-three years Probyn was in charge Of the treasury
of his master, as manager rather than in search of new means, for with time
and from necessity Albert Edward had himself acquired a knowledge of
financial affairs which was much helped by an aptitude for monetary
transactions. After the death of the King, Probyn for another fourteen Years,
and up to the time of his death, took charge of the financial interests of
Queen Alexandra. The 'great gentlemen' who for fifty-two years served his
King and his Queen, received both the civil and the military G.C.B., and was
the only one outside the Royal Family who possessed these decorations.

Lord Esher, who even during his lifetime was looked upon as somewhat of a man
of mystery, died only a little over four years ago, and it is not easy to fit
him into the mosaic of Edwardian figures. He was able, cultured, wielded an
elegant pen, and of such varied attainments that he was actively engaged in
history, finance, politics, art, literature, and military organisation. He
understood everything, and his activities went even beyond the above-named;
he was highly resourceful, and 'displayed that easy Spirit of accommodation
to circumstances which has always been one of the secrets of his success.' To
the King he became of great assistance in a curious and adroit manner; in the
archives at Windsor he had thoroughly examined the correspondence between
Victoria and her Ministers, and had drawn up a study of the numerous
expressions of her wishes. Prepared by this achievement, Esher was always
ready, whenever a question of politics arose, to put his master wise as to
the manner in which an analogous case had been previously decided. (Thus he
reconstructed for the use of the son the Queen's marvellous memory.) It need
hardly be pointed out that in many circles this kind of advice was not
greatly appreciated, and Esher was not looked upon with favour. His
considerable knowledge of the archives and of the Queen's correspondence led
subsequently to his being appointed, in the interests of the Court, to edit,
together with Arthur Christopher Benson, the first three volumes of the Letter
s Of Queen Victoria. Esher by himself subsequently edited the diaries and
letters from Victoria's younger days, under the title of The Girlhood of
Queen Victoria. The list of books from Esher's pen is considerable, and
comprises, in the main, sections of the history of his own times. An article
in the Quarterly Review immediately after the King's death, 'The Character of
King Edward VII,' is by Esher. He held a number of the most varied posts, but
no really great post, either in the Government or at Court. He did not wish
to be tied, and above all was anxious not to have any liability if it could
in any way be avoided; but, as soon as the necessity arose, he shouldered
full responsibility. Both as M.P. and outside the House, Esher was much
occupied with politics, but was not a great politician. Although he spent his
whole life in the public eye, he did not like making speeches, and was a poor
speaker. As negotiator, as obliging and courteous go-between, on the other
hand, he was in his element, be it at the request of the King in a political
matter, or at the request of a friend in a question of finance. He knew many
people in England and abroad, could tell anecdotes of life and politics, of
committee-room and finance, and, as he was really well informed, he was
always in a position to talk; this, more than anything else, helped the
appreciation which the King had for him. The career of young 'Reggie' Brett
began when very unwillingly he became Private Secretary to Lord Hartington
(Duke of Devonshire), and assisted his chief first at the India Office and
later at the War Office; it was here that he acquired the foundations for his
subsequent important and successful activities. Then Brett became Secretary
of the Office of Works and had the brilliant idea of giving the Queen great
pleasure on her eightieth birthday by sending her a box 'made out of one of
the original timbers in the roof of Westminster Hall, of the time of William
Ruffis, 1099,' which brought him this entry in the journal; but apart from
this slight episode his activities at the Office of Works were of outstanding
importance to him when in the nineties, on the occasion of the negotiations
concerning the reorganisation and reconstruction of the Royal palaces, he
made the acquaintance of the Heir Apparent; he came in touch with him again,
as Sovereign, when he represented his department in the discussions as to the
Coronation ceremonies. From this time on, Esher's connection with the King
was lasting, and the first proof of the Royal confidence was his appointment
to the commission of inquiry into the South African War, on which he
displayed great energy. He was Chairman of the Commission on the War Office
Reconstruction, which, as the 'Esher Committee,' has found its place in
history.

A man like Esher, who behind the Throne saw, experienced, and brought about
many things, should be in a position to tell posterity much; from Esher's
numerous notes and papers it should be possible for historians to fill in
many territories which up to now appear as blanks on the map of the Edwardian
age. But Lord Esher was not only a mysterious but also a cautious and tactful
man, and in his will he appointed that his most intimate documents should be
scaled up and not opened till 1981. A future generation alone will receive an
explanation from Lord Esher's papers of many things which to-day are dark,
and perhaps it will also get many a surprise.

The King, who had friends in every camp, in every circle, found his greatest
friend not in those classes who looked upon it as their traditional right to
form the entourage of the Sovereign, and did not choose him from among the
families who for centuries had been accustomed to serve the King as official
advisers or behind the Throne. He came from among those who had their Court
centre in Marlborough House, and only after Edward's accession enjoyed the
hospitality of the Palace also. Sir Ernest Cassel actually belonged to no
caste at all; he was not a banker, nor head of a great business house or
chief director of any board. But he was a personage. His career gives the
impression of a 'romance of finance,' and it was said of him that he never
carried out a transaction which had not originated and ripened in his own
brain, and that he rejected every project which was brought and submitted to
him. Such a man, who had met with unprecedented success, was bound to find
favour in the sight of Edward, who was himself equipped with pronounced
business instincts, and who surely would have become just as great a
financier as he became a great King if he had not been born in the cradle of t
he Heir Apparent. The enormous fortune which Cassel. made in a relatively
short time — his independent activities in the City lasted barely twenty
years — gave him an immense power which — and herein lay his strength — he
never misused; he was 'quick in perception, clear in judgment, almost
unerring,' and consequently wisely kept away from everything which lay
outside his scope. A personality of such strength, brought by his Sovereign
into so high and exposed a light, was bound in the nature of things to be
judged in the most varied ways. Of the many character sketches which were
given of him — the King on one occasion called him 'the cleverest head in
England' — Lady Oxford perhaps uttered the most striking.. 'He was a man of
natural authority, who from humble beginnings became a financier of wealth
and importance. He had no small talk and disliked gossip; he was dignified,
autocratic, and wise.' He never did a deal which he had not himself studied
in every detail, and when he turned his interests to the South American
countries, that implied that he had previously made the most thorough
examination of the budgets, the trade and financial balance sheets, and the
currency conditions of those countries. Thus he was able to be an
authoritative and valuable adviser to the Bank of England when, after the
Argentine stopped payment, a private banking house of the very first rank was
temporarily forced to close its doors — a bank the collapse of which would
have entailed immeasurable difficulties. The next stage in Cassel's affairs
was Mexico; he took a leading interest in the Mexican railways, and
negotiated large loans for that country. Another extensive field for his
activities lay in the rising industries of Sweden. In England it is two great
undertakings which are bound up with the name of Cassel; he amalgamated the
then firm of Vickers Sons & Co. with the Naval Construction Company at
Barrow-in-Furness and the Maxim-Nordenfeldt Guns and Ammunition Company, a
fusion from which arose the world-wide firm of Vickers Sons & Maxim; the
other great undertaking was the foundation of the Central London Railway
Company, which built London's first underground tube. Cassel's real field of
activities, however, was Egypt, which he brought to modern progress and
development. Before Cassel, that country was the playground of financial and
commercial dilettanti and adventurers, and tumbled from one suspension of
payment into another — after Cassel it had become a part of the British
Empire whose banks and commercial activities were functioning perfectly. To
Cassel's financial genius Egypt is indebted for the solution of its ancient
problem, dating back to biblical times, on modern technical lines, when the
firm of John Aird & Co. built the great dam at Assouan, and the blessing of
fertility was brought to the Nile Valley. To have carried out this
undertaking in the face of every opposition and intrigue was a triumph of
financial diplomacy, and Cassel. is entitled to a place in the large number
of empire builders. Sir Ernest had at various times carried through some very
great deals in the United States, and he placed his knowledge of men and
conditions there at the disposal of his country when, in the second year of
the Great War, he joined Lord Reading's Mission to arrange the hundred
million seven per cent loan. In spite of his incontestable services to this
country, Cassel, like so many not British born, was during the war faced with
the greatest difficulties, and his right to membership of the Privy Council
formed the subject-matter of legal proceedings which to-day strike us as very
painful, and in which Cassel was successful. In spite of this injury, and 'in
spite of the sufferings that our contemptible spy-hunters caused him during
the war, no one was ever more loyal or generous to the country of his
adoption' (Lady Oxford). His generosity, like everything else pertaining to
Cassel, was magnificent, and he was 'a veritable prince of charity.' The
donations which during his lifetime he made to hospitals and educational
institutions must have amounted to several millions, if it is remembered that
on the occasion of the accession of his Royal friend he gave £200,000 for a
radium institute, and in the last three years of his life £500,000 for the
promotion of education among the working classes, £200,000 for sanatoria for
tuberculosis, and £225,000 for a hospital for nervous diseases. The
organisation built up and worked out on very extensive lines for
German-English scholarships, which Cassel presented and named after the King,
belongs, like so many pre-war ideals and establishments, to the things of the
past. As a sportsman Sir Ernest was not particularly successful, and he only
managed to win one of the classic races with his stud and training stables
(the mere fact that he tried his luck on the turf does not seem to fit in
with the whole character of the man). In Moulton Paddocks, Newmarket, he
entertained the King every year for several days. How strong were the
undercurrents and prejudices which — even before the war — were working from
many sides against Cassel, although he really was not lacking in influential
friends, may be seen from the fact that it was not until thirteen years after
the registration of his colours that he was elected a member of the jockey
Club.

Within the inner circle of the friends of Edward VII, Sir Ernest Cassel was
among those who had a knowledge of actualities, who knew what was happening.
But none of them had the King's attention to the same extent and so regularly
as Sir Ernest. His political ideal also was the rapprochement between England
and Germany, and together with his friends Alfred de Rothschild here and
Albert Ballin there, he tried to prepare the respective Governments for
direct negotiations.[1] But to the great loss of the whole world the plan did
not go beyond preparations.

In his last hour of clear consciousness Edward VII received his old friend,
and, when Cassel left him about noon on May 6th, 1910, he felt that it was
for the last time. Shortly after, the King became unconscious, and at a
quarter before midnight he died.

In an entirely different category from Farquhar and Cassel were business men
like the Rotlischilds. In that generation their world-important banking house
no longer looked for fresh fields of activity, but was satisfied if it held
what it owned. The firm was run on definite principles, on a kind of family
constitution, and the various partners, who all had to be members of the
family, were allowed little scope for individuality. Since Lionel's death his
eldest son, Nathaniel, subsequently Lord Rotlischild, was the head of the
house and the keeper of the tradition; his brothers Leopold[2] and Alfred[3]
were less prominent in affairs. With great hospitality and in a princely
manner they led the lives of grands seigneurs, had an ever-open hand, spoke
many languages, were independent men of the world . . . and it was natural
that Albert Edward should find them congenial. Thanks to their international
family relationships and still more extended business connections, they knew
the whole world, were well informed about everybody, and had reliable
knowledge even of matters which did not appear on the surface. This
combination of finance and politics had been a tradition with the
Rotlischilds from the very beginning, and, even if New Court no longer
influenced politics by way of the Rue Laffitte, yet in this generation also
assistance was always granted to the departments concerned. The wires which
met in New Court came from many directions, and ever since the days of Nathan
Meyer special importance had been attached to the obtaining of rapid and
reliable information. True, the age of the telegraph and the telephone —
there was no radio in those days — had killed the individuality of private
reports; the newspaper had become a democratic leveller. All the same, the
House of Rotlischild always knew more than could be found in the newspapers,
and even more than could be read in the reports which arrived at the Foreign
Office. In other countries also the relations of the Rothschilds extended
behind the Throne. Not until the numerous diplomatic publications appeared in
the years after the war, the many memoirs of statesmen and diplomatists
written since those days, did a wider public learn how strongly Alfred de
Rotlischild's hand affected the politics of Central Europe during the twenty
years before the war. His greatest exertions lay in the direction of an
English-German alliance, and he worked on both sides towards the conclusion
of this; he it was who succeeded in arranging that Joseph Chamberlain and the
German Ambassador should meet under his roof at Halton, and be able to
discuss at their ease various political questions. Sir Ernest Cassel. and
Albert Ballin, the head of the Hamburg-America Line, subsequently
unofficially, but with the knowledge of both Governments, carried on the
negotiations so far that Haldane's official visit to Berlin tool, place. That
during those days Cassel was, we may say incognito, present in the German
capital in order to bring Haldane and his German friends together, and to
promote the discussions in every way, was not known till much later. But all
these exertions met with no success — and the only visible sign remaining of
that journey, which started so hopefully, is a portrait of Haldane which
Cassel. had painted by Sir Arthur Cope and which hung at Brook House till the
death of Cassel, and was then presented to the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council.

Alfred, with his somewhat robust wit, reminded one rather of the older
generation of the Rothschilds, and was not overfond of reading books.
Alfred's great luxury was not without its peculiarities, but his good humour
and wide hospitality induced people to pass these over. When, after the death
of his wife, Beaconsfield found himself without a home of his own, Alfred on
various occasions put 'a suite of independent rooms . . . in the most
charming of houses in London' at his disposal, and this so tactfully that the
aged statesman would make his own arrangements, whilst the host, in order to
make his guest feel entirely his own master, hardly put in an appearance. 'He
is the kindest host in the world,' wrote Disraeli, and it was from Alfred's
house that he took part in the festivities on the occasion of Leopold de
Rotlischild's marriage with the lovely Maria Perugia, when, in an
after-dinner speech, he stated that he 'always had been of the opinion that
there cannot be too many Rothschilds.' Albert Edward also had been present at
the wedding of his friend 'Leo.' Thirty-six years earlier, when the young
husband of that day had made his first appearance in the world, Disraeli had
written to his father Lionel that he hoped that the new-born infant 'will
prove worthy of his pure and sacred race.'

In his newly built house at Halton, where Albert Edward had been among those
present at the house-warming, Alfred de Rothschild likewise displayed a
'lavish generosity'; the new domain had not met with unalloyed approval, and
Algernon West describes it as 'an exaggerated nightmare of gorgeousness and
senseless and ill-applied magnificence,' calling Leopold's house at Ascot, on
the other hand, 'a beautiful and glorified old mansion.' At the outbreak of
the world war, Alfred de Rothschild placed his country house at the disposal
of the State, and during the war it formed the headquarters of the Royal Air
Force. When he died, his cousin, Lady Battersea, wrote the following lines to
his memory:

What happiness didst thou not erst bestow!
What times of gladsome cheeriness and mirth!
When thou wast host there never was a dearth
Of kindly hospitality and cheer, a flow
Of gracious courtesy, a welcome kind
To all alike whom e'er thou claimest guest.

And Queen Alexandra caused a wreath of flowers from Sandringham to be placed
on the grave of the friend of her late husband.

Like Alfred, Leopold was a collector of works of art and a connoisseur, but
in addition he was an exceedingly keen sportsman, master of hounds, and the
owner of a great and successful racing stable which won for him once — or
twice — the Derby: the first time when 'Mr. Acton's'[4] Sir Bevys won the
blue riband for his anonymous owner; the second time with St. Amant. When
that great horse, St. Frusquin, ran second at Epsom to the Prince of Wales's
Persimmon, Lord Rosebery, Leopold's friend, sports-associate and relative,
had an amusing conversation with his valet: 'When 1 said to my servant John
that I supposed everyone would believe that every horse had been stopped to
enable the Prince of Wales to win the Derby, he replied, "No doubt, but I am
bound to tell your Lordship that many people thought the same thing when
Ladas won and you were Prime Minister.`

When Leopold had for five and thirty years been a partner in the firm of N.
M. Rothschild & Sons, and had reached the age of almost seventy, he found
himself head of the house during the last two years of his life, after the
death of his brother Nathaniel. Up to now he had played no great part in the
City, and had never been prominent; now, however, he did riot for one moment
shrink from taking over the many offices and posts which his brother had
held. His most marked trait was 'his deep and abiding love for, and pride in,
his race and faith' (Lady Battersea), and he said on one occasion, 'I am a
Jew and a Rothschild, and they are the two things of which I am most proud.'
Both brothers had, together with Nathaniel, given enormous sums for
charitable and artistic purposes and for hospitals, but Leopold possessed to
a quite special extent the 'great art in giving, and that art was natural to
him.' When Leopold, who in the world war had lost his son,[5] had himself,
like his two brothers Nathaniel and Alfred, died during its course,

Lord Rosebery spoke these words to his memory: 'I know of no death of a
private individual which will be followed by more general sorrow, for all his
life he was encompassed by love and gratitude, the universal tribute to his
great heart.'

Of all the members of his Court, Sir Maurice Holzmann, a native of Anhalt,
was the first who entered the service of the Prince of Wales; he had belonged
to the entourage of Prince Albert, which had a good opinion of the German
immigrant. His forty-six-year-long activity in the service of his master had
been spent more in the background, and his name had not been too often heard
in public. He was a highly educated man, whose systematic knowledge was
combined with the Liberal views ruling at the Court of Albert Edward. His
great intelligence — there were those who considered him the cleverest mind
in the entourage of the Prince and King — was often appealed to, and so,
although not widely known, he must be included in the advisory staff.

The Knolles, as they formerly wrote their name, have for centuries been in
the service of the Throne, the first one having, more than five hundred years
ago, been Usher of the Chamber to Henry VII. Since the days of General Sir
Williarn Knollys, who instructed the Prince Consort in English military
matters, and who subsequently succeeded General Bruce as Governor of the
young Prince of Wales, the name of Knollys has been constant in the list of
holders of offices at Court. The General's daughter Charlotte was, as
Bedchamber Woman, the lifelong friend of Queen Alexandra. Colonel Sir Henry
was for almost five and twenty years Private Secretary to Queen Maud of
Norway, the daughter of the King and Queen. There were many Knollyses — the
Knollys was Francis.

His career may be summarised in one sentence: Mr. Knollys, Sir Francis, Lord,
and finally Viscount Knollys was for nearly fifty years in the service of
Albert Edward and his family, for forty years the Private Secretary of his
master. He was on one occasion called 'the most powerful man in England,' but
this was not quite correct. Real power — that is to say, energy manifested in
action — he did not exercise, and, if he had, he could not have been the
strong, unassailable adviser behind the Throne; what he did exercise was
influence — a level and wise influence on the King.

Knollys shared every experience of the Prince, lived with him through every
stage of the occasionally difficult days of the Heir Apparent, the quickly
running nine years on the Throne which seemed to comprise a generation; he
lived his master's life in such complete self-effacement that any attempt at
writing a biography of Knollys must result in a biography of Edward VII. The
faithful servant, chosen by the Prince himself in the face of his mother's
objections, was thirty-three when he entered the service of Albert Edward,
who was four years younger. For nearly thirty years they had to wait, united
in comradeship and gradually in friendship, till their own time came. This
long period they had to prepare themselves each for his profession, one as
King, the other as first adviser behind the Throne. Both made good use of
their time, and both, attuned to each other, knew what they wanted. On
questions and problems arising in the most varied departments of the life of
the State — politics, diplomacy, Army, Navy, and Constitution — they had to
make their position clear, and Knollys proved himself not merely a man with a
wide experience of life, but also a politician of no mean standing, and it
may be assumed that Edward's Liberal views owe something to him. It is
difficult to imagine how anyone else could have dealt with the host of
problems which he had to face in his office, and Edward VII could not have
found a better man.

.Knollys knew everything, great and small, the smallest being often the most
difficult, and he knew how to keep silent even beyond the grave. All documents
, all correspondence of the King, were left to him to be dealt with at his
unfettered discretion, and the secrets have one and all been buried with him.
Even after his death, Francis Knollys has no surprises in store for posterity.

His assistant was Sir Frederick Ponsonby, who as a young man worked under the
Queen, and since then has rendered confidential and responsible services
first to her son and then to His present Majesty, and during four decades —
his whole life — has been in the service of the Throne.

In the years of the reign of Edward VII, with his strong international
leanings and relations, the Assistant Private Secretary's extensive knowledge
of foreign languages was particularly useful, as Knollys, the chief, knew
many things, but no foreign language. During the King's journeys abroad
Knollys stayed in London, retained touch with the various Government
Departments, and kept the Sovereign informed of all that happened; Ponsonby
was meanwhile the real acting Private Secretary, the travelling-companion.
During the first years of the reign he was in Cronberg, where the King paid a
private visit to his hopelessly sick sister, and in the foreword of the Letter
s of the Empress Frederick, published by Sir Frederick, there is a most
absorbing description of the way in which he succeeded in removing from the
Palace and bringing to England the chest containing correspondence which the
dying Empress had entrusted to him. He accompanied the King to Portugal and
Italy, Biarritz and Marienbad, and was with him on the two great political
visits to Paris and Reval. Frederick's brother Arthur[6] had in Parliament
raised the sharpest opposition to the journey to Russia, which brought him
into personal conflict with the Sovereign; we may look upon it as impossible
that in any other monarchical country, or even any republic, such
independence of opinion and such freedom of expression in political debate
could have been found as was shown in this case; for neither of the two
brothers did the event have any consequences whatsoever — not even for the
one who, at the side of his master, was sailing into Russian waters.
Frederick Ponsonby was with Edward VII as acting Private Secretary when Sir
Henry Campbell-Bannerman handed in his resignation and Mr. Asquith was
summoned there to kiss hands; this occurrence was sharply criticised;
disapproval was expressed that a Prime Minister should be appointed on
foreign soil, and The Times spoke of 'an inconvenient and dangerous departure
from precedent.' Under a man like Edward VII, whose methods of obtaining
information were confined almost exclusively to conversations with a wide
circle of men from all camps, and to endless reports from his entourage, a
Secretary like Ponsonby, who maintained the best relations in all directions,
was a valuable complement to Knollys, the Principal Secretary.

June 6th of this year was the fortieth anniversary of the day on which
Victoria entered in her diary, '. . . Fritz Ponsonby will replace him[8] as
Equerry. He will be very useful, as he is a good linguist and is well
informed. Sir H. Ponsonby is naturally greatly pleased at his son's
appointment.' What the Queen at that time expected from the young man of
seven and twenty who had already had a good look at the world, and of his
capabilities, the grown man has fulfilled. Sir Frederick's lively
reminiscences of a man born in the Palace, grown up at Court, who stood in
the most intimate entourage of three Monarchs, go far beyond his actual years
of service, and comprise not much short of half a century. He embodies at the
Court of George V, since the death of Lord Stamfordham, the last remnant of
Victorian tradition.


--[notes]—

1.  See P. 299.

2. Leopold de Rothschild, C.V.O., 1845-1917, married Maria Perugia. In 1879
'Mr. Acton's' Sir Bevys, in 1904 L. de Rothsehild's St. Amant, won the Derby;
in 1896, St. Frusquin was second.

3. Alfred de Rothschild, C.V. 0., 1842-19 18, Trustee of the National Gallery
and the Wallace Collection; 1868-90, Director of the Bank of England. In
1884, house-warming at Halton House, Tring, where in 1898 the negotiations
between Joseph Chamberlain and Count Hatzfeld, German Ambassador, took place.

4. See P. 301 note.

5. Evelyn Achille de Rothschild was the last owner of Gunnersbury, the first
country house of the Rothsehilds, which Nathan Meyer had acquired shortly
before his death but had not lived to occupy. Since 1926, Gunnersbury Park,
situated at Acton, has been a public park. The name of 'Mr. Acton' which
Leopold de Rothschild occasionally assumed on the Turf arose from this
ownership.

7. See pp. 162 and 191.

8. Sir H. Ewart, who on that day was appointed Crown Equerry.

pps. 287-305
-----

Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
All My Relations.
Omnia Bona Bonis,
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End

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