New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-04
COLONIAL BRIDES FOE PEERS.
THEY OUTNUMBER FAIR AMERICANS IN
THE BRITISH ARISTOCRACY. :.

From st. James's Budget
1t Is a poular idea that more Americans than
colonies married to Englshmen of rank
This is however, a mistake, for the reverse Is the
case. 1t is quite true that American heiresses
outnumber rich colonas in London society, but
that is not quite the same thing, and the num-
Der Of both has been absnrdly exaggerated The
peerage stands where 1t did, the most purely
English element of the population. At the end OF
1896 there were nine peers with American wives
two more than there were ten years eapier AS
there three dOwager peeresses, the total num-
Der Of transatlantic brides brought to this coun-
try by English peers since 1860 Ii twelve. Or
these ladies four either the second or third
wives Of nobkemen with families Of sons and
daughters. It can therefore be seen how small
Is the influence excred by the American ele-
ent on the peerage II is curious, toe, that there
is not single Irish peer on the list, and only one
ScOtch-a viscount. OF the wives OF the eldest
sons of peers five are American, and OF these two
have children There five Americans who
hold the courtesy title of lady, nineteen with
the courtesy title Of honorable. fifteen who hold
the title of lady as wives Of baronots rinc as the
wives of knights. In round numbers, since 1860.
about seventy titled Engl5hmen have married
Americans. AS there are about twelve thousand
hereditary courtesy and honorary titles, the
number Is not large, and certainly not equal to
the popular opinion on the same. To read the
accounts of irresponsible paragraphists and to
hear the baring Of transatlantic trumpets, the
bewdered Brton would imagine that "Burkes
Peerage was made In America, and that all
the great officers Of the Crown the AmbaSsa-
doris to foreign courts, the Viceroys and Gov
ernors of the provinces Of the empire-all the
noblemen Of weight and influence in the coun-'
try-were welded to Americans, whereas the ex-
act contrary is the The truth Is English
peers seldom marry out Of England, or if they.
do, 1t is to connect themselves with the aris-
tocracies of Europe. 1t is chiefly in the lower.
ranks of the nobility that colonial and American
wives are to be foupd.
There are seventy seven Colonial women in:
the ranks Of the British aristocracy-that is to
say, thirteen more than there are American or
hos pir Moor
OF American birth. ii
The only consideration which is absolutely in
dispensable to an AnglO-American match is dol
lars. Englishmen Of rank do not go to the
United States in search Of wives but rich Ameri-
can girls do come 10 Europe in search OF bus
bands. The scandals and divorces in connection
with such alliances have become a byword- In
AngiO-C Colonial uaiops, however, these striking
features not characteristic In the first place,
the colonial heiress, SUCH is almost unknown
Neither the LEGAL press nor the London CORE
spOndent is aware Of her existence, and in socie-
~ she comes after her parents, not before them
A list of titled cOlonials in q reputable newspa-.
per anywhere in the empire would be regarded
as urdsnifcd. 1t is only in democracos that
they do these things. In the colonies, too wealth
is not paraded. and, except in the case Of Well
known millionares, any mention OF 1t in per-
sonal sense is carefully avoided by the press.
Stranger still. the Canadian and Australasian
patcrfamas looks upon his wife and daughters
his, and would no more dream of allowing.
them to wander alone over Europe, or keep ana
establishment in London while he was working
at home for the money to support their eXtrava-
gance, than his British prototype. He is master
Ia his own house, and his wife is mistress. Young
girls in the colonies are therefore not permitted
to have too great an idea Of their own import
ance. Perhaps this accounts for the fact that
colonials do not yet figure in London and Paris
rs great social lights. They are even more do
mestc in their tastes than Englishwomen, as
fond of the country and outdoor sports and as
incapable Of the feyerish energy and nervous
necessity for excitement Of the American. Very
few rich cOlOnials have, so far married English
men of title, and nearly all Of them have been
woocd and won in their own homes. Indeed,
many of them never saw England until they
came to Il as brides Even more creditabe to
colonial girls who have married Englishmen of
rank is the fact that neither their own their
married names have figured in the Divorce Court
nor in a public scandal. SO far the world
knows Anglo-Coonial unions turn out happily.
Indeed. the world hardly knows that they exist
Yet at the present moment the wives Of the COM
mandrr-in-chief Of the British Army the late
ccmmander-in-c chief If tn China station the late
commander rim chief Of the Australian station,
the Queens physician. the Governor of Hong
Kong. the High Commissioner of the Pacific. and
the Imperial Secretary in South Africa, are
coOuials.