St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1882-12-09
Our Aristocracy Defined at Last.

Our Aristocracy Defined at Last.
Certain people have for a long time
felt that it was absolutely necessary for
us to have an aristocracy in this Re-
public. But the difficulty has always
been to determine its metes and bounds
in satisfactory way. It is impossible
to have an aristocracy until you have
settled that matter. Unless you decide
exactly what credentials 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.
P. 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 and Chef-Justices.
SO. Male descendants from the signers of the
Declaration of Independence.
30 Male descendants of the knights OF the
Cincinnati Revolutionary
officers,
~ Resident European nobility
It will be seen that the aristocratic
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 small part of its
mem ers 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 Storage passen-
gers, in order to get to Republic
where their humble birth would not
tell against them as it did at home Some
were Dutchmen, and cultivated market
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
tradesmen, and the shops in which
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
and warehouses. Not one in a hundred
started otherwise than as a 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. a large part Of !" Society de-
sends from people who were poor and
uneultivated, from people who had re-
publican ideas Of the dignity Of labor.
They worked and en- ioyed their leisure
among their neighbors, about whose
birth they did not care, unless it was
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
officers or privates. The majority OF
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 ONE 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 Of
the Order of the Cincinnati. They were
not resident European mobiles, for scarce
~ 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 Tor.
An aristocracy from which Society
is axnIndad can Of cnllrse never be