The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-05-13
WHAT TO CALL THEM.
DISCUSSION AS TO PROPER TITLES
FOR GREEK DlGNITARiES.

No Appeliations Indicative Of Rank Are
Recognized-OtherN Nations That Observe
This sRuie--Roumanians Taboo Titles. but
Call Themselves princes" When Abroad.
A considerable amount of discussion
has been in progress recently in connec-
iion with the proper titles to be accorded
10 Greek dignitaries. People have won
dered if it was right to describe the
new premier at Athens as "Mr. Ralii,
while others are wondering where the
Greek envoy to Constantinople ever got
the title Of "prince, with which his
name is 80 frequently adorned.
The fact is that Greece is the most
democratic country in the world and
declines to recognize any kind Of titles,
even that of "Mr. being tabooed. Per
SONS of the highest aid of the lowest
class are addressed merely by their
Christian names and patronymics, with
out any kind of prefix, except in official
documents, when a word equivalent to
"citizen" is used. Not even the princes
of the reigning house have any titles,
save those which they acquire abroad
of Denmark. The crown prince, it is
true, is styled the ''Diodakos. - But his
younger brothers, George, Nicholas, An
drew and Christian, all 60 merely by
their Christian names.
Very much the same is the case in
Russia. No ono ever dreams of address
ing prince, a count or baron by his
title, and not merely mobiles, but princes
of the blood and even the czar himself
are addressed by rich and poor alike,
not by their titles, but according to the
old Biblical fashion, as, for instance.
Nicholas, the son of Alexander;"
"Sergius, the son of Michael" the pres
ent head of the princely house Of Gort-
chakof being styled in conversation
merely Michael Alexandrovitch"-
that is, Michael, son of Alexander.
With regard to the soi-disant Prince"
Mavrocordato and Ypsilanti, they are
merely princes by courtesy and have no
right whatsoever to the title which they
bear Thus the Greek diplomat who
has been representing King George
at Constantinople dubbed himself
Prince" Mayrocordato. while the late
Hellenic envoy at Vienna, who got
into a financial scrape and blew his
brains out, bore the title and name Of
Prince" Ypsilanti. The only reason
for this altogether unwarrantable as
sumption is that in times gone by, when
Roumania and the other Balkan states
were still Turkish provinces, the digni-
taries sent from Constantinople to ad-
minister the government usually were
accorded the title Of "hospodar." The
latter means lord" and was borne by
the sultan's governor only as long as he
remained in Office. Many Of these gov
ernors were Greeks in the service of the
sublime porte, and among them were a
Mavrocorrlato and an Ypsilanti.
On the strength of this their descend
ants have coolly adopted not merely the
title of lord, which is the correct trans
lation of hospodar. but that OF prince.
as sounding finer. That is the sole rea-
son which the Ypsilantis and Mavrocor-
datos have for their assumption of the
princely title, and it is needless to add
that the dignities which they have
usurped find no mention or record in
the "Almarack de Gotha"
Another country where titles are ta-
booed and strictly forbidden by the con
stitution is Roumania, where princes
nevertheless abound, each petty land
owner or "boyar" styling himself
prince" as soon as he leaves his
country for trip abroad Let me add
however, that the scions of the oldest
families in Roumania, such as the Ca
targis, the Rossettis, the Couzas and the
StourdZas, absolutely decline to make
use Of any title. The same is the case
IN Servia, in Montenegro and i'll Bull
garia, and the result is that the rulers
of these countries, as we'll as their min
listers, being debarred by law from con-
ferring hereditary dignities, are pre-
served from the annoyance of being cen
tinually pestered and harassed by people
desirous of securing handles TO their
names. .-Marquise de Fontenoy in Chi
cago Record.