The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-02-07
THE BARoNs OF ISRAEL.
1New York Sum-

The barons of Israel is one of the great opics of discussion in many Parisian ,alous. Within the past six or seven years Israel has achieved position in Parisian society such as it never had in any society since the days when Thus destroyed the temple. Their luxury, their pretensions, their fetes, fill the col uEns of the easy newspapers. They are cited as the fine flower of fashion and Parisianism. Their sumptuous hotels are repused to be models of artistic taste. In fashion, in charity, in the patronage of art, In splendor of life, complacent gazetteers quote the Montmorencies of Judea as examples for the Montmoren- cies of the Faubourg St. Germain.
 The question of the barons of Israel has been started by a recent novel by M. de Bonnieres, called "Les Monach," which gives us the history of Frankfort Jew, who, after failing in the krach of Vienna, comes to Paris and makes fortune in the speculations of the Union GeDerale, having in the meantime pur- chased a title. The Baron Monach in 1881 finds himself once more rich, and proceeds systematically to conquer Paris. He begins by changing his religious habits, much to the horror of his pious old mother, and trying to initiate the manners of the skeptical Parisian Israeli ties. His daughter is sent to fashion. able professor, and is ordered by her father to cultivate the acquaintance of her classmates. The mother pushes her way into society chiefly by participating in charitable works, which are under the patronage of duchesses and countesses of the Faubourg St. Germain, who, after consulting with worldly priest, see no reason for refusing the Jewess' gold. Thus, through the door of charity, the Baroness Monach forces her way into society, aided by her daughter, whose beauty and coquetry captivate the men. Thanks to the support of the penniless and unprincipled aristocrats to whom he open his purse, and who make him pay for their patronage, the baron on his side becomes member of a swell club, and creates for himself circle of titled &C., quaintances. The Baron Monach rents part of a fine mansion in the Faubourg St. Germain, buys chateau in the coun- try, and fills the newspapers with the re- ports Of his fetes and his shooting parties M. de Bonnieres gives very faithful picture of the isfaelite, full of souvenirs of the ghetto of Frankfort, full of mean nesses, vulgar, indelicate, devoting his whole efforts to conquering place in a society where there is no place for him namely the society of the Faubourg St.. Germain.
 M. de Bonnieres, who is by nature a subtle intriguer, and who will certainly one day become a member of the French academy, has made one great, and of course voluntary, mistake Tn his novel. He has represented his Baron Monach as attempting the conquest of the Eau bourg St. Germain that is to say, of the legitimist society of Paris. The real fact is that hitherto the French Israelites have obtained footing only in the Bon- apartists, and to certain extent in the Orleanist society, but as M. de Bonnieres frequents certain Bonapartist salons, and hopes to penetrate into certain Orleanist salons, he could not lay the scene of his novel in Bonapartist or Orleanist society without burning his ships. Therefore, he has sacrificed truth to expediency, and in reality he has caluminated the exclusive legitimist society of Paris. To any one who is not at all familiar with society in Paris, it is easy to see where the author of "Les Monach has made most of his observations, and you can almost put the real names to his fictitious characters-a fact which accounts for the stir the book has made in Paris.
 M. dc Bonniere's observation, with this reserve, is true and amusing. It is curious, indeed, to see the Parisian Israelites.-the Hirsches, the Cahens d'Anvers, the Eph- russis, the Bambergers, or the Sterps = to mention only the nmilies which have in- spired "Les Monach," laying themselves out to continue the traditions and man. ners of worn-out aristocracy. These descendants of the Shylocks and Cob seckA who lived in the ghettos of Frank fort or Amsterdam, or kept vodka coun- ters in the villages of Poland and Rus sia, buy themselves titles, adorn their carriages with armorial bearings, have coronets engraved on their table plate, and seek to appropriate the ideas, the traditions and the manners of the de- scendants Of the Crusaders. It is Gotha and Golgotha combined.
 &sNsaAA6 Ao UNIV e6tuAAA4kG anu uVTG laudable than the efforts of the Jews to conquer rank, honor, and liberty in the world; nothing is more respectable than the position which their activity and in- telhgence enable them to acquire. On the other hand, nothing can be more ab surd and moro disgusting than vulgar Jewish millionaire, with . pronounced German accent, aping the manners of a grand seigaeur and aristocrat who is the product of many generations of culture, traditions, and prejudicss springing out of the institutions of feudalism and chiv- airy, which are essentially hostile to the institutions and traditions of Israel. Can you imagine anything more absurd than an Ephrussi or . Hirsch dressing his valets and srooms in a livery copied from that of the valess of the old court of Versailles, renting the right of hunt ing in the forest of Fontainbleau or St. Germain, from a republican state; and organizing in those forests, still peopled with the shades of Louis XIV and Henry IV stou IuuS~ ~uA k~n, k.>A. >>.>-