The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-19
Has France an Aristocracy?

Has France an A"ristocracy?
Count DE CALoNNE. who bears the name
of one of the Prime Ministers who
strove to save the monarchy in the
last days Of the Ancien Regime, dis.
cusses in the current Nineteenth Century
the extent to which the old territorial
noblesse survives in contemporary France.
This is a matter about which there Is a
good deal of misconceptions, and it is inter
esting to learn, on trustworthy authority.
that the poSsessors of genuine titles now
constitute but a fraction of French society
in the conventional sense of the word.
The text of the Counts article is the pre-.
vailing notion that the French aristocracy
was decimated by the burning of the
Ba=ar de Ia Charlie. He shows that, out
Of the 1872 victims of that catastrophe, only
a score bore authentic titles, and that
three-fourths of them belonged to the
upper middle class, or hdute bourgeoisie
Pdrtsienne, which Is composed of the
families of bankers, manufacturers, and
people who have attained wealth through
trade or financial speculation. OF the sew
enty-two saleswomen, only twenty-five
could legitimately claim relationship to
a house dating further than a century
back. The Count goes on to distinguish
the titles which go back more than a
century from those which were created un.
der the First Empire, the Restoration, the
reign Of LOUIS PHILIPPE and the Second
Empire. These titles, which, on one ground
or another, may be deemed authentic, have
to be distinguished collectively from tho
so-callcd contraband noblesse, made up of
men whose titles are entirely self-assumed.
1t Is pointed out that many families belong
ing to the old nobility were wiped out by
the guillotine or by the hardships of exile.
OF the survivors a large number lost all
their property under the Contiscation act.
Their consequently precarious position did
not allow them to resume their right
full rank, SO they and their descend
ants voluntarily remained in obscurity.
The Indemnity act, subsequently passed
in favor of the despoiled emligrts, did but
little to repair the disasters which had be.
fallen the old nobility. With regard to tho
nohlesse of the First Empire, we are re.
minded that NAPOLEON abolished two IT,.
ties, those of marquis and Of viscount, but
introduced the title Of prince. lie created
princes, dukes, counts, and barons. A fief
went with the title of duke or of prince,
but the two minor titles were connected
with civil and military grades. A~colouel or
project became a baron, and a general, sen.
ator, or councillor of State, a count. Under
the imperial law only those titles which had
entailed estates attached to them could be
transmitted TIA" titles incidental to offices
were not hereditary, but became extinct
at the death of their holders. Under the
Restoration, the old titles were retstab.
lished, a few new ones were created, and
those OF Napoleonic origin, which were
transmissible, were recognized. Then It
was that n species Of amalgamation be-
tween the old and new nobility took place,
but Count DE- CALoNNE asserts that, II mat.
tiers had stopped there, there would not now
be more than 20, 900 families in France that
could lay claim to a title of nobility. 1t
was after the revolution of 1880, that the
Entertainments of the contraband noblesse
took place on n great scale. The Govern
ment of LOUIS PHILIPPE was compelled to
decree, not the suppression of aristocratlc
titles, but the free use of them by all
who cared to assume them. Those who had
been long yearning after a title. but had
not received one, either from the Empire or
the Restoration, thought the time had come
to ennoblc themselves. First, the extinct
titles created under the Empire were re.
vivcd; these had at least an appearance of
legitimacy. Next, many a purchaser of an
old chateau, paid for in ~asSignats, adopted
its name without ceremony others bought
one in order to initiate their %neiphbors.
There were not enough old chateaux
to go around. so the names of land.
ed properties, villages aud towns were
assumed. The result was that In less
than eighteen years, although Kin
LOUIS PHILIPPE himself conferred very
few titles, the number of noble names
increased from twenty thousand to triple
that figure. On the establishment of the
Second Empire, the registrars of civil
status were ordered 20 inscribe upon their
books no titles the validity of which could
not he proved, The order excited such viz.
lent opposition and brought to light so many
abuses that 1t was suffered presently To he.
come "a dead letter. The additions made In
the noblesse, more or less contraband
under the Second Empire, were brought
about largely through the demands of the