Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-10-02

The Growing Embarrassmcnts and nurdens
of Their Position.

Ahe OfoWlng Embarrassmcnts and Ilurdenl
of Their Position.
1t is matter perhaps of little irlpor-
tance, but as observers interested in So
cial as well as political history we rather
wonder how "the royalties f" as people
begin to call them, will settle them.
selves down into European society
Their present position is hardly toler-
able. Owing probably to some little -
ticed change in morals and to Il r, laxa
tion Of the rule against morganatic de.
scent being recognized, the princes OF
the royal houses, the people to whom
you must speak standing, ure becoming
numerous beyond all precedent. There
are literally scores of them, all equal by
birth, all claiming topmost places and
all moro or less cut off from active ca.
rcCrs. They mag be soldiers still if they
like, but they cannot be statesmen OF
ambassadors or viceroys, much less Iler.
chants or captains of industry. They are
not permitted to marry out of theil
own caste, there are 10 islands for them
to conquer, and they must not take tc
the new trade Of agitation. They are
not even allowed to marry heircsse
without renunciations which are CALLING
to their pride. And what are they TO dc
for u living?
Tho question is becoming u pressing
one, for, rich as all royal houcos are, ex.
cept our OWL, no family wealth will
suffice to maintain hundreds Of families
all wanting to live with the wealthy
mobiles and all deprived Of tie means OF
making money. The grand dukes OF
Russia, the archdukes of Austria, the
princes of our own country, nre bcconl.
ing clans, burdensome to The stocks
from which they derive their grandeur.
and at certain point, now by no means
distant, that fact will be officially rocCg.
nized There are royalties even now.
who, in English eyes, would ie account
ed poor men, and in the next generation
there will be royalties literally with
nothing, yet, if the present system con-
tinues, chiefs of society and observed,
as before this generation even kings
were not observed except at intervals.
What are they to do? We can see
nothing for it except for the dynas-
ties to let them go, to make rule
that royalty" shall only extend to,
say, the tenth person from tho throne,
and that the remainder must sink back
among the people and win titles or rank
or fortune like everybody else. Their
pedigrees will help them somewhat
they spring from strong races, and they
may be, if they please, as well educated
as their neighbors. They can help one
another if they like, as Scotchmen and
Jews do, and once lost in the COM
monalty the strange jealousy of them,
which now keeps them out of public
life, would speedily disappear. They
could adopt names as the mobiles sons
do in business and gradually would
come to remember their pedigrees only
as sources of family pride, and, let us
hope, as incentives to specially honor
able lives.
We are not joking in the least or
writing what would be particularly
foolish satire. The maintenance of poor
relations does actually press closely
and heavily ON most royal houses, and
in the next generation, if not i'll this,
will have to be met by some system of
dropping the collaterals. The people
will not maintain whole caste IN idle
ness. The roads to activity once so wide.
ly open to all of royal descent are now
closed to them, and the family fortunes,
great as they are, are insufficient for a
burden which increases so rapidly. Ad-
NIT that the Austrian income from
property reaches e600, 900 a year a
very large admission-and still, if so
archducal houses are to be kept up out
of it there will not be much left for the
sovereign to spend.
The royalties of Europe not actually
close to thrones will, we are convinced,
within 80 years be disestablished, and
we confess to a curiosity to see the form
that painful process will take. Will our
children live to see the princes noble
but unpaid caste, like the descendants
of Confucius, or will they see Haps-
burg taken into partnership by the
Rothschilds or descendant Of George
III seeking fees as barrister or an Ocu-
list? There is "royalty'--a real one,
too--who cures peoples eyes even now
suppose his son takes pay for that
beneficial work? Seriously. the social
privileges which accompany descent
from kings must within one more gen
Grafton be confined somehow to thin
ner and straighter line London Spec
tator.
"aIugwunp" In EIiot's English Bible.
n Tfodaay of this oifv sUTites ne