River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-01-13
EUROPEAN TITLES.
some Facts and some Anecdotes.
Cnrnhjn lfagaZiue

Germany They represent houses
| which once exercised sovereign power,
and are still accorded semi-regal hon
ors. On this point, Britons caring for
these things should beware of suppos.
ing that every foreign prince" is a
! highness. The vast number of them
are entitled to no other recognition of
/ their rank than Prince" or Mon
Prince" and this need not be repeated
more than once in the conversation.
One says advisedly, the vast number
| of Russian princes alone, can be count
ed by thousands, not to say tens of
thousands. There are said to be 600
! of the house of Galitzin alone.
Scarcely inferior in dignity to the
mediatized princes are the members of
those comital houses, the chiefs of
which, by decision of the German
diet of 1929, have right to the title of
''Most Illustrious Count" (Erlaucht).
They are all counts-fath =, son, grand
son, great-grandson. they and all their
male descendants ad infinitum.
The serene and illustrious compose Il
mighty host occupying 127 closely
printed pages of the 4lnldaach de Gothd.
Next to them in universally recognized
rank are those princes of the Holy Ro-
man empire (all the sovereign and
mediatized princes of Germany are
princes of the empire; the emperors of
Germany having been also emperors of
| the Romans whose titles were honor
airy from the first. Three English
peers, the dukes of Marlborough and
Leeds and Earl Cowper, are princes of
| 10 10 a3I Id Il
earl of Denbigh and Lord Arundel Of
! Wardour are counts of the empire
Lord Denbigh claims to come of the
same stock as the emperor of Austria;
but the best title of his family to fame
is that it produced the author Of tom
! Jones'"
Amongst other British subjects en-
! joying foreign titles are the Duke of
Hamilton, who is Duke of Chatelher-
/ aulf in France; the Duke of Wellington
who is Prince of Waterloo in the Meth
erlands, and Duke of Vittoria and
grandee ofthe first class in Spain; Earl
Nelson, who is Duke of Broute in Italy,
the Earl of Clancarty, Marquis of
Hensden, in the Netherlands; Sir
Nathaniel Rothschild, an Austrian
Baron; Mr.. Albert Grant, an Italian
Baron; and Sir Edward Thornton,
Count of Cassilhas in Portugal This
last title may be called semi-hereditary,
having been granted to Sir Edward
father for three lives and no more.
Sir Edwards is the second life.
The title of marquis carries more
prestige with it nowadays in France
than that Of the duke; and for this
reason: The empire made no mar
! quises, ergo, a marquis unless the son
of an imperialist duke must derive his
title from the old dynasty; and it is UNI
questiOnably more honorable to have
been ennobled by the Pompadour than
by Napoleon. The first emperor Great
ed some thirty dukes and princes, all
more or less men of talent; but none
of their sons or grandsons appear to
have done anything. Nor is this be-
cause they are frowned upon by the
monarchy. On the contrary, every
thing was done by the Bourbons to CON
ciliate the marshals. Soult was presi-
dent of the council to Louis Philippe,
and ultimately glorified in the magnifi-
cent title of marshalgeneral of the
armies of France. His son the Marquis
of Dalmatia, was named secretary of
legation at Vienna, whence arose an
unforeseen difficulty. The court of
Austria objected to receive a man
whose title was taken from an Austrian
province, though the matter was ulti-
mately arranged. BY the courtesy of
nations a sovereign is allowed in one
title taken from locality in brother
| =, Il A ,lof
has won a victory may be ennobled by
the name of the battlefield Thus
Austria would cheerfully accord their
full honOrs to Prince of Wagram or a
Duke of Magenta. The same rule holds
good in the case of naval victories.
Spain would have no right to object to
a ViscOunt Trafalgar, or Holland to an
Earl of Camperdown.
Apropos of Holland, .it is not gener-
ally known that the old earls of Hol-
land, the English earls of the house of
Rich, and the late Lords Holland (house
of Fox derived their title from dis
trict of Lincolnshire called Holland.
Holland was probably common name
enough at one time, signifying hollow
land or valley, though some say it
meant wooded land. The first English
title derived from a place out of
England was that of Viscount Barfieur,
conferred, together with the earldom of
Oxford, on Admiral Russell, the victor
of La Hogue 1t was near Cape Bar
fleur that the battle was won, but the
French fleet was followed up into the
Bay OF La Hogue, and terribly handled
there. But there is another Anglo-for-
eign title which has such martial origin,
yet against which no protest was ever
| raised.
A youthful Due d'Enghien, whom his
relatives frequently tipped, laid by his
pocket-money till he had amassed fifty
louis, when he took the purse to his
father and proudly exhibited its con
tents, expecting to be praised for his
economical habits. The prince of Con-
de emptied the purse and flung the
money out of the window. Let that
be lesson to you, SIR" he then said,
turning to his son, "tO think and act
more like a gentleman" Too many of
the peers of England descend from mer-
chants or lawyers to make it likely that
one of them should ever exhibit such a
reckless contempt for the stamped
effigy of the monarch.
There is finer story of Spanish
Grandee, where the sentiment of the
noblesse oblige and the highest CONNER
cial spirit lin its true essence) are hap
PLY blended Somebody forged the
Duke of Ossuna's name, appending it
to a bill for 10000 ducats. On the bill
being presented the Duke saw that the
signature was counterfeited, but paid
the money at once. The name Of Ossu-
ma was not to be dishonored by a ras-
cal. 1t would be uncharitable to ask
whether a second forged bill of the
same amount would have been equally
honored. Non opepia yosSunus.
Talking of the Spanish aristocracy, it
may be observed that the titled part of
It is by no means so large as is suppos-
ed. The heads Of noble families num-
Der about 1900, and they alone, as a
rule, bear titles. Even the eldest son
Of Duke (say of Alicante would only
be called Don Juan or Don Alfonso
| dAlicante during his fathers lifetime.
The younger sons remain simply Dons
the Spanish equivalent Of Esquires.
As to the qualificatives Of titles, they
are lightly esteemed inasmuch as even
beggar must be addressed as "Your
Grace" (Mercer). The superscription
on an envelope addressed to a Duke