The morning call., 1894-03-02
OUR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS.

At the time these lines are gead the
Princess ColOnna will be reposing after
the tedious overland trip in the shaues OF
Monterey, while simultaneously the Prince
and Princess HatZfeldt are breathing the
bracing air of the PaciIic on the sum nit nf
Nnh Hill. lu some less conspicuous abode
an energetic traveller may discover another
scion of nobility, Prince Ponistow ski.
Three more familiar historic names could
hardly be recalled. The Colonnas robbed
their way through the middle ages aud es-
tablished the business of road agency on
paying basis; they were the hold ups of
their age. and their descendants TO this
day live in the castles and farm the es-
tates which they wrested from their
weaker neighbors. The Hatzfeldts only
acquired the titles OF Furst and DurchlauchT
in comparatively modern times, but men,
bers of the famiy-of which cur present
visitor is an offshoot-did good work for
Prussia in the diplomatic service. One of
POnIatOwskps ancestors fought at Pull
iowa; another served under that Kos
Kiusko whose fall is said, by the poet, to
have caused freedom to shrek. Alto
gether, the trio are good examples OF the
Continental aristOcracy.
America aristocracy, who though they
wear o titles, and blaZon their shirts with
no escutch cons, may still command their
attention as examples OF men who have
risen TO the top Of the ladder without adj
vsDtages of birth. One of these is Ben
jamin Harrison, who little while ego was
chief magistrate of a nation of sc. 000, coo
people, and who now, TO borrow his own
words, Is schOolteacher. He also can
boast of a lineage which includes a con-
quering hero. but what he is he owes not
to his ancestry but 10 himself. In an en-
counter of wits between him and the
Princes and Princesses be is not likely to
come off second best. He may not be as
familiar as they with the Almanac de
Gotha. but be knows good deal more
than they do about law.
Equally remarkable with the ex-Presi-
dent will be the group of New York aristo-
Gratis which will arrive in this city next
week. This will comprise Thomas F.
Gllroy, Mayor Of New York, with his
righi-hand man, Richard Croker, boss of
Tammany; Thomas E. Crmmins. boss of
the Twentieth; Patrick Diver, boss of the
Second; Barney O'Rourke, boss of the
Third, and w. II. Burke, boss of the
Twenty-sixth. They will on this occasion
dispense with the blanket. Ratchet ana
pipe of the TammaDy sachem, though
they all belong to that organ ization; they
will graciously wear the clothes of ordi-
nary mOTtals, including the dress coat,
without which they will never appear, and
the flashing diamond stud In the center of
their broad chest. The European aristncrats
will find in them an object lesson. Their
behavior will show the Europeans how
course Of municipal politics improves the
manners and polishes wits. II will pay
the Princes 10 sit at the feet of Patrick
Diver aud Barney O'Rourke in order to
learn high political science as applied to
the government of great cities. When
they return to their own countries their
highDesses will be able to explain what
sort IT people the political trade winds of
the United States lift up to high places
they may submit to European communities
whether il would not answer to found
Tammany Halls in Berlin and Paris.
Be all this as it may, we are glad to see
our visitors. We shall welcome them to
our hospitable boards, and bid them 10 fill
their lungs with the invigorating air
which blows fresh from the Pacific. We
can show them country which is with
out parallel in the meridians they know.
and people which. while 1t makes its
mistakes. is moving more rapidly in the
direction of intelligent self-government
than perhaps any other community in the
world. They will find here conditions
which are strange and problems which
are new. but they will also find people
that is honestly bent on adjusting itself to
the conditions and solving the problems
without allowing itself TO be permanently
misled by false teachers. and without even
allowing itself to forget that two and two
make four here as everywhere.