Disraeli
selected him for a place in his Ministry. A year later he was made
First Lord of the Admiralty. How serviceable he had been in the former
post may be judged by the remark made by Sir Stafford Northcote when
he lost Smith's assistance on his promotion to the higher position: "I
am troubled to know what to do without my right hand. I don't think he
made a slip in the whole three years."
Writing to his wife when he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty,
Mr. Smith says: "My patent has come to-day, and I have taken my
seat at the Board, who address me as 'Sir' in every sentence. It is
strange, and makes me shy at first; and I have to do what I hardly
like--to send for them, not to go to them; but I am told they expect
me, as their chief, to require respect."
He often wrote to his wife whilst the debates were going on in the
House of Commons. "Here I am, sitting listening to Arthur Balfour, who
is answering Mr. J. Morley," he writes; "and I have ears for him and
thoughts for my dear ones at home."
"Remember me in your prayers" is a request he often makes to his wife
and children. In 1886 the Rt.
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