The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-06-09
TIE PACIFIC
SATURDAY. JUNE 9.
A Hawaiian Nobility.

10 EG E1AHQF q 20 L 8-EsC SHattA- ~&As <aANNsttS q =
srR: The French Republicans, notWiths,aJ ding
all their admiration Of their grand rrJ .ciple (:
Li5srts, eza!iss, frGtsrnits, have continued to allow
titles Of nobility to be publicly borne il tha. country.
In all the uouarchical countries Of Europ E, as well
as in the Empire Of Brazil, titles Ct mob lily are also
legally recognized. In Great Britsi n, the titled
nobility are hereditary legislators, AID SIT in the
House Of Lords. In Asia, a feudAl and titled aris-
tocracy likewise is met with. In this Kingdom Of
Hawaii nei, the chiefs represented 3 sort Of fendal
aristOcracy before the conquest. At present there is
q House Of Mobiles. which may be supposed to re-
present the aristocracy of the Kingdom but in
reality, it does not. 1t is simply a legislative body.
nominated by the crown, and its member bear an
official. not an aris,Ocratic title. There are two
orders Of chivalry, or knighthood, but knighuy
orders are also quite distinct from titled nobility.
The people of the United States Of North America
have no titled nobility, ike their brother Republi-
cans of France; but it must be allowed that the
Yankees are just as fond of a handle to their
name " as any other people under the sun. Thus
the title of President, Governor, Senator, General,
Colonel, Captain, Admiral, Commodore, Judge.
Squire, Bishop or Parson, is as ambitiously dis
played in that country, as Prince. Duke, Count or
Lord, elsewhere. Whenever q real Prince of the
DlOOu mdhSS MS appearance III II eClaless u cA-
element is something amusingly dreadful, psrticu-
larly amongst the fair sex, who idoliIe everywhere
80 men Of distinction . very naturally to be sure.
With these preliminary remarks, 1 proceed to sug-
gest, as a means of recruiting the finance of the
country, a plan which is adopted by mOnarchs in
Europe of ''raising the wind :" by the sale of
90 Brevets Of Nobility The name explains itself.
In Great Britain, no titles are actually sold, but a
- F. = Ill g.. II r4r 4,.lo. 1000 ~ 80
patent; it costs about e3O0 for a simple Baronet's
creation fee, the lowest hereditary title, not even q
lords rank. In Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Russia
and in short, in all the rest of Europe, Switzland ex-
cepted, titles may be had for money one way or the
other. In some countries, as in Germany and Italy,
the title is attached to an estate, and the purchase of
the estate includes that of the title, with the payment
of a fee for the . Brevet.' In Italy, this is the con-
slant rule. Some time ago, 1 was corrected by a
friend for speaking of his grandfather as the Prince
of Canino-I was told that the principality of
Canine had been sold by that parsonage to another
individual.
Now this is what 1 would suggest here. Why not
sell "Brevets of Nobility here as in other
mOnarchies If money can be got for them, how fool
ish it would be not to pocket it Other monarchs
are very glad to put money into their pockets by the
6aAS VI OAOfSNS u OOAAI 1hC InR "a
Brazil has got a regular mob of Barons. Wheu 1
travelled in the interior of that Empire, in Rio
Grande do Sur, in 1884, I met so many Barors
that l wanted to be shown q man who was not a
Baron, as a curiosity. Brazil has only one Duke,
the Duke of Caxias, whose creation dated from
before the Empire to the time of Portuguese Rule.
As We want to sell our crown lands here at a fair
price, a very good plan it would be to fix on q GER
tain number of acres of land, the purchaser of
which at a certain price settled by government
would entitle the purchaser to apply for a tBrevet
of Nobility F" besides, on payment of an additional
fee, his estate being thus erected into a "Barony,' >
the title of Baron to be borne by its owner, as long
as he possessed the land. On sale of the land, the
new purchaser might also acquire the title, on pay
ment of the fee for a new Is Brevet of Nobility or
be might not-just as he pleased-and the Vendors
title would be extinct. This would be something
like the system of titles in Italy. The adoption of
some such system here would enable government to
sell crown lands at a good price, and also bring
money into the treasury, by the fees for g Brevets of
Nobility People may ask where would pur-
chasers be found? We think that many commoners
in Europe, especially young men of fashion with
lots of money but without a title, would jump at
the chance of buying a Barony - in these roman
tic Isles of Hawaii mel, and thus sporting the title
of q " Hawaiian Baron , in the salons of Paris and
the continent of Europe. To limit the number, L
would say that ten or twenty, or even forty thou
sand pounds,-a million of francs should be fixed
as the amount of the purchase of the " Baronial -
lands, FIVE or ten thousand acres. 1t might be
objected that these lands, if purchased by foreigners,
would be let lie uncultivated. But convenient legis-
lation could meet this especial case. In the case of
present owners of lands, of course any man pos
sessed of the requisite number of acres to form a
&" Barony'' could apply for his "Brevet of
Nobility paying the fee required if the project
were adopted and he so desired Neither could
there be any objection to women becoming the
owners of g Baronies.'' and sporting the title of
4" Baroness 1t is almost needless to remark. that
"a Brevet of Nobility would confer no legisla-
torial rights on its holder, just as in Italy and
France the Senators are quite distinct from the
Mobiles. In conclusion, these remarks are merely
suggestive, and are countenanced by the practice in
several other monarchies of the world. Since we
have a monarchy here why not make all we can out
of it? A Hawaiian Baron . would be as respect
able as a sc Brazilian Baron - at all events.
A. B. C.