The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-08-05
BRIDES FOR PEERS.
Colonia1s Outnumber Americans In
the British Aristocracy.


EngIishmen of rank This is, however,
a mistake, for the reverse is the case.
1t is quite true that American heir
esses outnumber rich colonials in Lon
don society, but that is not quite the
same thing, and the number OF potn
has been absurdly exaggerated. The
peerage stands where ii did, the most
purely English element of the popula-
ton. At the end of 1896 there were
nine peers with American wiveS-tWo
more than there were ten years Garner.
AS there are three dowager peeresses,
the total number of transatlantic brides
brought to this country by English
peers since 1860 is twelve. OF these
ladies four are either the second or
third wives of noblemen with families
of sons and daughters. 1t can there
fore be seen how small IS the influence
exerted by the American element on the
peerage. 1t is curious, too, 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 no children. There are 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 baronets, nine as
the wives of knights. In round num-
bers, since 1860, about seventy titled
Englishmen have married Americans.
AS there are about twelve thousand
hereditary, courtesy and honorary IL
ties the number is not large, and GER
tainly not equal TO the popular opln-
ion on the same To read the accounts
Of irresponsible paragraphists, and to
hear the blaring of transatlantic
trumpets, the bewildered Briton would
imagine that "Burke's Peerage" was
made in America, and that all the
great officers of the Crown the Embas-
sailors to foreign courts, the Viceroys
and Governors of the provinces of the
empire-all the noblemen of weight and
influence in the country-were welded
to Americans, whereas the exact con-
trary is the case. The truth is, Eng
lish peers seldom marry out of Eng
land, or, if they do, it is to connect
themselves with the aristocracfes of
Europe 1t is chiefly in the lower ranks
of the nobility that colonial and Ameri-
can wives are to be found.
There are seventy-seven colonial
women in the ranks of the British arts
tocracy-that is to say, thirteen more
than there are Americans. OF these
eight are peeresses, one fewer than
those of American birth.
The only consideration which is alb
solutely Indispensable to an Anglo
American match is dollars. English
i 20 vrNit cd
States in search of wives, but rich
American girls do come to Europe in
search of husbands. The scandals and
divorces in connection with such ALI
ances have become a byword. In An
gIo- Colonial unions, however, these
striking features are not Characters
tic. In the first place, the colonial
heiress, as such, is almost unknown
Neither the local press nor the London
correspondent is aware of her existence,
and in society she comes after her par
ents, not before them. A list of titled
colonials in a reputable newspaper any
where in the empire would be regarded
as undignified. 1t is only in democra-
cies that they do these things. In the
colonies, too, wealth is not paraded,
millionaires, any mention of it in a per-
sonal sense is carefully avoided by the
press. Stranger still, the Canadian and
Australasian paterfamilias looks upon
his wife and daughters as his, and
would no more dream of allowing them
to wander alone over Europe, or keep
an establishment in London while he
was working at home for the money
to support their extravaganza, than
his British prototype. He is master
in his own house, and his wife is mis-
tress. Young girls in the colonies are
therefore not permitted to have too
great an idea of their own Importance.
Perhaps this accounts for the fact tb~-
colonials do not yet figure IN Lcldon
and Paris as great social lights. They
are even more domestic in their tastes
than Englishwomen, as fond of the
country and outdoor sports, and as
incapable of the feverish energy and
nervous necessity for excitement of the
American. Very few rich colonials
have, so far, married Englishmen of
title, and nearly all of them have been
wooed and won in their own homes.
Indeed. many of them never saw Eng
land until they came to it as brides.
Even more creditable to colonial girls
who have married Englishmen of rank
is the fact that neither their own nor
their married names have figured in the
divorce court nor in a public scandal.
So far as the world knows, Anglo Colo
NAL unions turn out happily. Indeed,
the world hardly knows that they ex-
list. Yet at the present moment the
wives of the commander-in-ch chief Of
the British Army, the late commander
in-chief of the China station, the late
COMMUNICATIVE chief of the Australian
station, the Queens physician, the
Governor Of Hongkong, the High Com
missioner of the Pacific, and the I'm
perial Secretary in South Africa, are
colonials.-St. James Budget.
Miss Brown told me that you paid
her such a charming compliment the
other evening" said Mrs. Coddington
10 her husband, something about her
being pretty. The poor girl was so
pleased. / don't see how you men can
be so untruthful.n
II should think you'd know by this
time that I'm never untruthful," said
Mr.. Coddington. reproachfully Il said
she was just as pretty as she could
be, and so she was."-Harper's Bazaar
It sounds funny to hear the most