Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-11-10
Abons Titles.

l.
ways democratic race. But they have
shree orders of knighthood and such
frequent changes of ministers and other
great iunctionaries that nearly every in
dlvidual is ritter or a chevalier. and
fully half the male population are entitled
70 the designation ''excellency." A Mon
tenegrin 'excellency' is almost as
f'cheap' as Liberian honorable. -
and is regarded with about as much re-
spect as was accorded to Haytian dukes
during the reign of Soulque, or Missis-
slppi major generals before the civil war.
Henceforth, however, even Veyevodes
must rest content with plain monsieur.
and brigadiers bear as best they can the
absence of the customary ..excellency''
before their official grade After all,
the little principally of Nicholas Petro-
witch will he nothing the worse, and. in
deed, all the better, for the reformation. [
in SO far that it will be saved something
in time and clerk hire. Titles, as re,
wards for services rendered the State.
need not be here discussed, for, though
the kingdom of Norway has abolished
and the republic of France does not Of
ticially recognize them, we have still to
learn that any Norseman declines the
badge OF the Polar Star, while only re-
Gently President CREW, fndin, the
Legion of Honor insufficient for the pur-
pose OF good government has been
compelled to found second grade of
chivalry in order to soOthe the vanity of
the rural Republicans. Even those OK
ponents of human rights who are con-
sidered too humble for either baldron
would be offended were they not STYLED
III do Al
yen and ''citoyenne' of earlier DAYS
being now reserved by irreconcilables
for public occasions only.
Monsieur" and madam are, VIC
imagine, never likely to be entirely
abandoned, for only two years ago the
French walters and chambermaids is
sued an edict that in future they should
be addressed not as Pierre" or "Al-
phonse,' or ''garcon,' or "Marie," but
as ''monsieur" and 'smademoiselle;p
and perhaps some day the laundress
will decline to wash shirt unless she
is entitled "Mme. la Blanchisseuse,
and that if the coachman is addressed
under any other title than IN. lie
COcher" he will feel himself under arti-
cles to avenge the wrongs of his order.
Nor is this unreasonable. Time was
when monsieur was title which in
France possessed something of the Dig
nifty which it still possesses among the
Norman population of the channel
islands, and even in England the wife of
knight or baronet, who is by cour-
tesy ''my lady," is in reality and le-
gally only una DAME" But for the
last half-century at least monsieur has
ceased to be any more distinctive than
''esquire" in England, 'ssenor'' or
don in Spain, '.signor' in Italy, 'sen-
hor' in Portugal, ''herr' in Germany,
or, we might add, than colonel" or
Judge" in the Western States of Amer
lea. In England, even within the men,
DRY of men still living, the old distinc-
tons of mister and esquire were to
some degree preserved. A gentleman
entitled to ''bear arms'-an "armiger"
had alone the right to the latter desig-
nation, though by courtesy it was ex-
tended to every land owner and justice
of the peace, and in New England the
latter functionary is to this day styled
an ESQUIRE" or esquire" though the
Americans have dropped the redundant
''worship" still claimed by our munich
pal magistrates. Then esquire was ex-
tended to every professional man,
though legally it is in this country con-
fined to the sons of the younger sons OF
dukes and marquesses and their eldest
sons, to the eldest sons of baronets and
knights, to all the untitled sons of mo-
blemen, to Justices of the peace, officers
of the army and navy, barristers, and
doctors of law and medicine. 1t Is not
the right of surgeons or attorneys, and,
curiously enough, does not necessarily
belong to landed proprietors. In some
old books the distinction is carefully
kept up in the predatory list of sub
scribers, the misters and esquires being
divided into separate categories. Even
in the body Of the text the "armiger' Is
always mentioned under his title; while
until recently it was not regarded as
clumsy pleonasm to address letter to
"His Worship the Honorable Algernon
Deuceace, Esq, j. p" just as a for
eigner who prides himself on his knowl-
edge of English etiquette always insists
on appending ESQ to every Britons
name, no matter what may be its imme-
date antecedents.
Mister, or master, has lost all its
original meaning. 1t no longer ex-
presses power or possession, and even
as a conventional superhuity has sunk
SO low that it is almost entirely reserved
for familiar conversation or for referring
to person in writing, almost every one
above the trade OF laborer or petty
tradesman regarding it as little better
than an insult to be addressed on the
back of letter by the title OF PLAIN
"Mr." In Germany it is the same.
Herr IL no longer ''lord, and to be
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