The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-12-21

best matrimonial traditions. for it shows
that the market for manageable princes Is
by no means in tiourishing condition. OF
direct heirs to European thrones who are at
this moment OF manageable age and are as
yet unbetrothed there are twelve. Each one
OF these Is expected to marry princess, and
the list Of unmarried princesses extends to
nineteen. While prince who is In the line
of succession, and Is therefore reasonably
sure-barring dynamite or revolutions-to
nineteen princesses IL he wishes to obey the
rules of good monarchical society, the
nineteen princesses are not limited in
the matter of husbands TO the twelve Crown
Princes, but they can marry any Prince
who is Of manageable age and unpr0vided
with a wife, even If he is only the son Of
Prince Of Monaco. Now, there are at least
seventy European Princes who are looking
for wives, or, rather, for whom that duty Is
performed by royal mother on an astute
Chancellor. Adding these to the twelve
Crown Princes, we find that there are eighty
two Princes who have to confine themselves,
so far as the selection of wives Is concerned.
to nineteen Princesses. The slightest ac-
Quaintance with arithmetic will show that
only nineteen Of the eighty-two Princes can,
IN the nature Of things, obtain wife, except
in the shape Of a widow Of some one OF the
fortunate nineteen. That this state OF things
should be extremely depressing to royal
mothers with families Of unmarried Princes
need hardly be pointed out.
AS may be readily surmsed, this dearth of
manageable prlncesses is due partly to the
steady demand for them which has charac-l
terized the British royal matrimonial marke-
since Queen Victoria's family began to ar
rive at manageable age. The Continental
monarchs took alarm some years ago at
similar demand in England for German
princes, and 1t Is generally known to those
Bismarck notified the English prime minis
ter that the export of marriageable princes
from Germany to England would be, on and
after such and such date, absolutely pro-
hibited. This is why the Queen undertook
goods into the royal matrimonial market.
brother monarchs that stout
Tweed Marquis or a sober Balmoral Duke
would outlast two ordinary Princes, and was
outside of Queen Victoria's family has
showed any taste for Scotchmen. The Ger
man Chancellor sent over his son, Count
Herbert, some years ago, to see II the Scotch
bands for the daughters of several dispos-
sessed Grand Dukes, but Count Herbert re-
ported that, however cheap Scotch Duke
or Marquis might be at the start, he would
prove to be dearer in the end than real
Prince. Thereupon the Chancellor dismiss
ed the subject from his mind, remarking
that If the English Queen thought that by
investing in Scottish noblemen she could re-
duce expenses, she had right to do it, but
that he did not propose to follow her exam
pie.
As the substitution of Scotchmen for
Princes was not successful, the proposal to
provide the European princes with Scotch
wives Is not for moment to be dreamed OF.
Those unfortunate GO princes who see the
complete series Of 10 princesses married and
withdrawn from the market must either die
in single blessedness or they must marry
girls who are not princesses. Hitherto, with
a single exception, it has only been parve-
nu or dissipated prince who has married
outside of the sacred circle. Napoleon Ill.
married casual Spanish Countess, but he
was merely man Of ability and the repre-
sentative If man Of genius, and lie was
not therefore expected to act like an ordl-
nary prince The ex-Prince of Bulgaria, the
gallant Alexander, recently married lady
Of the ballet, either because he wanted q
wife venerable in point of years who would
be mother to him, or because he wanted to
spite the German Emperor, who had refused
to let him marry the Princess Victoria. But
Alexander is reckless young fellow and
VIGOROUSLY cares nothing about the dignity
of his position. Some years ago Prince
| Amadeo, the brother of the King of Italy,
did mary lady without drop of royal
blood in her veins. and subsequently made
her the Queen Of Spain, but Prince of the
House OF Savoy can afford to do things
| which smaller Princes with ancestries reach
| ing back only few centuries cannot afford
| to do. A man like Mr.. Evarts can wear
without injuring his position hat which it
| would ruin young lawyer to wear.
| There is matrimonial opening for the 60
| princes, provided they have the intelligence
| to perceive it. If they cannot without loss
| Of dignity marry European girls without
| titles, they can marry American girls, for
nothing Is better established, at least in
| American opini on, than that every American
| girl is the daughter Of sovereign-or rather
| would be were ballot reform to be universal
| ly adopted. There are quantities of fair
| American girls with imposing
| dowries who are ready to marry re-
| putable princes The market, in fact, is
| so overstocked with them that they will
readily accept mere duke, or even casual
| count. The sixty-three princes viii have no
difficulty in obtaining wives here who will
not only be good wives, but will also be far
superior in good looks and ready money to
| any of the nineteen manageable princesses.
There is hope for the princes yet, and some
| charitable person ought to remind those of
them-if there are any-who do not read the
Times of the glorious matrimonial possibli-
ties which await them in these United States.