The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-10-17
QUEER spRIGs OF GENTILITY.

QUEER SPRlGS OF GENIlLlTY.
No more fortunate selection could be
made of successor TO Sir Edward Malet
at Berlin than Sir Frank Lascelles. In
fact, his appointment may be described
is an ideal one. He has none Of that
intense nervousness and restlessness
which Sir Edward kept under control
only with the utmost effort and difficulty
and which somehow or other seemed to
communicate itself unconsciously to those
who were brought into contact with
him. ...
He is q considerably taller man and
bigger in every way, of what may be des-
cribed as the leonine type. He gives one
the impression of repOse, and likewise
inspires one with that feeling, which it
is to be hoped he may Communicate to that
terribly restless young monarch to whose
court he it now accredited. Certainly If
there is any person in the world capable
of soothing and toning down Emperor
William it is Sir Frank Lascelles, whose
very dignity and Quietude end by render
ing a noisy, busting, pushing man
thoroughly ashamed of himself
Sir Frank was secretary of legation ut
Washington during the days of Sir Ed
ward Thornton. Since then his career
has been both brilliant and rapid. He is
the most active man of the British dlplo-
matte service, in that he makes friends
wherever he goes, among both men and
women, even his diplomatic rivals being
unable to resist the singular charm OF
his open, hearty and genial manner. Yet,
with all that, he is very discreet, quick
to take action, very decided III so DONG
and utterly fearless as to the consc-
quences -,
1t was he who notified Khedivc Ismail
of his deposition in 1879, and who, by his
tact and diplomacy, accomplished the
whole affair without any disturbance or
boodshed; and, again, he was at Sofia
when Prince Alexander of Battenbcrg
was kidnapped from his palace ut night,
bundled off into Russia and only permit
ted to return to sign his application.
Since then he has been ut Bucharest,
Tehenran and st. Petersburg, where he
won golden opinions, although he was
called upon to succeed at difficult nom
ent the late Sir Robert MOrier, particu-
lar favorite to Alexander Ill, and of the
Russian court. -.
Sir Frank is one of the best mimics off
the stage, and it is curious that he should
succeed at Berlin man as celebrated as
is Sir Edward Malet for his amateur ac-
ing. He is married to the daughter of
Sir .Joseph Oliffe, whO under the name
of doctor Jenkins" was ridiculed i'll AL
phonse Daudet's novel, THE Nabob."
Dauyille owes its creation to the joint
enterprise of those two bosom friends,
the late Duke dc Morny and the late Sir
Joseph Olffe, the later being the Engllsh
physician of Napoleon Ill, who induced
Queen Victoria to confer upon him a
knighthood.
With regard to Sir Edward Malets
refusal of a peerage the newspapers seem
to be under misaprehension as to the
true reason of his having declined this
honor. In the first place, he has no
children to whom it could descend; sec
ondly. he is not on particularly affection
ate terms with the members of his own
family, and lastly he belongs to house
SO ancient and possessed of so much
prestige that mushroom ute would
merely serve to impair its dignity.
The Malets came over with William
the Conaueror, and almost alone among
the English county families, can trace
their descent in an unbroken line to a
nerson prior to the days of Edward the
Confessor. Sir Edward would therefore
gain nothing in the way of prestige by
becoming q peer, and it is difficult TO
conceive any reason that could possibly
have induced him to accept one.
Refusals of peerages are far more
common in England than most people
would be willing to believe. The queen
has repeatedly offered Mr. Gladstone an
earldom, and on two separate occasions
offers of a peerage were declined by Mr..
Walter, the proprietor of the Times,
grandfather Of the present publisher
thereof. Moreover, it was only about
three years ago that Lord Leigh Whose
eldest son and heir married Miss Beck
with of New York, now prosecuting her