It is in fact a miniature court and meant to be impressive.
The Military Secretary has four paid A.D.C.’s under him; by that I mean a staff allowance, which is in addition to their military pay they may be drawing in the usual way, the staff allowance being anything between Rps.250 and 400, possibly 500 a month, and of course they live free. I am speaking of the time that Lord William was Military Secretary, there may be a different arrangement now.
In addition to the four A.D.C.’s I have mentioned there were usually two that were honorary.
The popularity of a Viceroy rests in a great measure in the hands of his Military Secretary, hence the importance of having a man who understands, and is in touch, with the native princes and people, who has the table of precedence at his finger-ends, and is pleasing and courteous to all. Lord William excelled in all this, and one of the reasons why he was from first to last such a phenomenal success, was because he left nothing to chance, everything was carefully thought out, no hurried word of mouth orders, but everything written or printed and placed in the hands of those it concerned, some time before the orders and work had to be carried out.
Lord William was one of the old school who saw nothing amusing in being rude, nothing clever in hurting people’s feelings, and he would not tolerate anything of the kind amongst his A.D.C.’s.
It is not altogether unknown for young A.D.C.’s attached to the staff of Government houses to get swelled heads, treating everybody not in immediate connection with their household as canaille, unless of course they happened to be globe trotters with handles to their names, but anything of this kind was quickly suppressed by Lord William, who was kindly and courteous to all, be they princes, princesses, subalterns, Bohemians or what nots. Perhaps a little extra pleasant to a pretty face, and who will blame him?
Speaking of bad manners occasionally witnessed at Government houses in different countries, I have observed it is a way satellites have at times; while their superiors, like our Royal Family for instance, are unsurpassed for graciousness of manner, those in attendance on them are at times sadly lacking in those amiable qualities. In fact not only have swelled heads, but have grown too big for their shoes. One might think such an uncomfortable combination would lead them to see the error of their ways.