The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1882-12-07
Our ArIstOcracy Defined at Last.

us 10 nave an aflStOcfacy IN TINS he-
public. But the difficulty has always
been TO determine its metes and bounds
in satisfactory way. ii is impossible
TO have an aristocracy until you have
settled that matter. Unless you decide
exactly what credentials a man must
present to entitle him to belong to the
aristocracy, anybody may creep in, es-
pecially after he has got rich.
A recent convention at Baltim ore,
however, grappled with the difficulties
of the situation, and boldly solved the
whole question. The solution, too is
simple, and any one who can find out
his genealogy will be able at once to de-
termine whether he is an American
aristocrat or not.
The aristocracy is to be banded to-
gether under the name of the Aryan
Order of America, of which General A.
2. Stewart, President of the University
of Mississippi, was elected Provost-Gen-
eral. Possibly in time the limits may
be extended, but at present no one can
claim 'really gentle lineage" and
be entitled to join the order, unless
he belongs to one of the following
classes:
IL Male descendants from the colonial Gov
ernors. Generals aud Chel-Justices.
so. Male descendants from the sigpers of the
Declaration of Independence.
-. Male descendants of the knights of the
oflicers,.
~ Resident European nobility"
1t will be seen that the aristocratio
line was very rigidly drawn at Balti-
more. But, it must be remembered,
you cannot have an aristocracy based
on birth which is not limited in some
such way. 1t must be very exclusive at
the beginning, certainly; and the
smaller it is the prouder those will be
who belong to It.
Yet if the Baltimore aristocrats think
their decision will be accepted without
violent protests, they are greatly mis-
taken. Here in New York. for instance,
we have "Society." Exactly what is
the composition of that "Society'' has
never been authoritatively settled; but
we infer that only a small part of its
members would be recognized as aristo-
Gratis under the Baltimore rules. So
far from being of noble blood, the an
cestors Of most Of them probably emil
grated from Europe as steerage passcn-
gers, in order TO get to Republic
where their humble birth would not
tell against them as it did at home. Some
gardens on this island, very much as
Industrious Germans are now doing
along the railway lines in the north
ern part of the city, with the advan-
tage, however, of owning their land in
stead of hiring it or squatting on it, as
is now the custom. Some. we regret to
say, were convicts sent to America as
to penal colony. Some were small
/ ftsad ghA IN .arhf al
they conducted their humble business
are now standing in many cases. 9th
ers were sons of New England farmers,
who came hither to make their fort
unes, beginning by sweeping out shops
started otherwise than MS u poor man
who had his fortune to make. There
was very great equality among them
in that respect Very few of them had
received many advantages in the way
of education, and still fewer had been
softened by luxury.
Indeed, large part of " Society," de-
scends from people who were poor and
uncultivated, from people who had ro-
publican ideas of the dignity of labor.
They worked and enjoyed their leisure
among their neighbors, about whose
/
not Of honest people Ike themselves.
But they were shrewd and thrifty, and
gathered fortunes.
That was generally a good stock to
come from, but it was not one of whose
aristocracy, according to European
ideas, anybody who is not foolish would
boast. Only few of those men took
part in the Revolutionary war either as
| ~. -
them came here after the struggle. and
their distinction was that they were
successful traders; not patriots who had
risked their lives for the republic. They
did not come from colonial Governors or
Generals or Chief-Justices. Neither
they nor their ancestors signed the Dec
laration of Independence, and their
names cannot be found in the records oi
the Order of the Cincinnati. They were
not resident European MOBILES, for scarce
ly any of the nobility came over in the
early days to stay. just as very few
come now. The steerage was all the
great mass Of our ancestors could afford
to pay for.
An aristocracy from which Society
is excluded can of course never be
hailed with satisfaction. For Ii is pre-.
cisely Society which wants an aris.
tocracy We therefore predict failure
for the Baltimore experiment. Yet
how an aristocracy could be built uT
which would exclude Society it j,
not easy to see. No law which would
be comprehensive enough TO take in al
of Society" could be framed without
destroying its every pretext TO be called
, aristocratic. And, on the other hand
no prudent man would be prepared tt
admit TO his house or his acquaintance
every body who could show title tc
, belong to the aristocracy set up at Bal
, timore. He might find the aristocra
an underbred fellow, utterly ignoran
| of the ways Of polite society; and thu
! majority of the aristocracy might mo-
! be half aspresentable as the descendants
of people who held no sort Of oiiicialpo
, sition in the old colonies or in the Rev
, olution-as the descendants of some o.