Smyrna times., 1877-07-18
American Women and Foreign Allan
CeS.

| tivato European gentlemen of title was a |
subject of comment and wonder some forty |
years ago. Before that period a good many |
adventurcrs had come here from abroad |
who had carried off, on what might be
called false pretenscs, various American |
| girls who had thought title Of nobility the |
greatest of all earthly blessings, and to be
called my lady, countess or marchioness the
most complete paradise which, since the
fall Of Adam, this world had to bcstow. 1t
was curious enough that there should be
such a passion among the republican
people, yet it was quite in keeping with
human nature in all ages, which has not
SO much regard to principles of any kind
in general as to its own advancement in
particular, and which, however stoutly it
may object to aristocracy at its own OK
pensc, has no objections whatever to aris-
tocracy in its own person at the expense Of
other people. Moreover the literature
upon which our people had been fed up to
the period mentioned was calculated to
eXalt rank rather than merit in the imagi-
nations Of the novel-reading public. 1t
would be difficult to find q romance which
was popular in this country before the time
when the works of Charles Dickens ap-
pearcd which had not persons Of title for
its heroes and heroines. No creation of
fiction ever attempted to ignore the pre-
tensions of the nobility to absorb all that
was heroic and gentle in human nature
! | IL a ~ I
to the respect Of mankind is that he could
create heroes and hcroines out Of united
clay and make them quite as popular as
y, any which the greatest geniuses had made
out Of lords and dukes. In fact he rarely
introduced a nobleman into his books cx-
cept as an object Of ridiculc. Perhaps from
l the influence Of Dickcnas books, and the
c fact that so many American girls had como
c to grief by marrying foreign adventures,
! these fascinating creatures were for while
; out of favor with American girls, as they
Il always had been with their sasacous
fathers.
d But still Il snealling fondness for an
. alliance with European nobility remained,
Is that have been contracted by American
girls with baroncts, peers and even dukes
Naturally the English nobility arc higher in
favor than any other with American
women. 1t is true that SO far as antiquity
is concerned English mobiles do not com.
pare lavorably with the nobility of the
:. continent, being mostly of recent origin
and with some exceptions not going back
=" beyond the days of the Commonwealth
when most of the old English families were
dispersed and left no sign, as has been the
:, y case with many old families in this country
u by the operations of the late civil war
'0 Yet, while the continental nobility might
- be more ancient than the English, they
~ have not the broad foundation of money
. upon which the English aristocracy il
general rests. The English mind is practi
cal, and so is the American, and where
- social sign is put out which has not dollar.
:" behind it the suspicion is generated that i
= is thing belonging to the past, and ha
Ps no claims to the Difference and consdera
u ton of tho present. Consequently the con
. tinental nobility, though claiming to be o
III very remote origin, has not much favor il
{" this country, unless in exceptional cases o
10 pure intentions and unusual adaptabilitv
~ ao While no people stand higher as people il
> the United States than the French ant
le Italians, yet the mobiles of those nation
who have made matrimonial ventures her
- have so frequently been found impccuniou
~ persons, looking to an American wife 70
'0 her possessions or her prospective inher
-" tance, that it is felt to be considerabl
- risk for an American girl to take one c
" them for husband, especially in view c
Nv the difference in domestic life betwee
'O their people and our own, and the III
"u happy results which have often followe
'e such marriages. Hence it is that a
English title, as supposed to be restin
W upon something solid and substantial, an
70 as involving no difference in marital rel:
iiS tionship from that which exists in th
No country, seems to be generally preferred b
III American women.
" There are disadvantages, however, eve
us in such connections which it might be we
~ enough Tor American women to conside
~ before they part with their independents
o' for baubles of rank. Where the husban
nv is man Of intrinsic worth of characte
% homo will be made happy no matter wins
' his nationality or station. But no ran
" will exempt married people in Englna
no from the scornful eyes which will be ca.
:" upon awoman Of what is considered plebeia
-, origin by those of her own sex who claii
~ ~ noble blood, even though of no older dat
I a.1 than hundred or two of years. In regar
GOV to marriage with Englishmen of inferic
position they are excluded not only frol
ain court circles, but those of the nobility an
mo. gentry. 1t cannot have escaped the obse
av walton Of intelligent readers that Will
Tho Gen. Grant has been made q lion in Britis
he society no mention is made Of his daugte
,er. who married an Engishman not of IL
;cb noble orders, having not been SO much