The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-08-03
THE GREAT UNDECORATEO.
Complaint That England Neglects Her
Truly Great Men.

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Truly Great Men.
Referring to the custom of Queen
Victoria to decorate many of her sub
jects ON her birthday, The Saturday
Review finds fault with the choice Of
recipients fov this honor. 1t says that
to the class al the undecorated belong
half the men Of distinction in the high
est walks Of life. When a man has for
years been in the front rank of his pro-
fession, has served his fellows in art or
science, letters, learning or journalism,
has even been president of his institute
and has won perhaps more than Eu-
ropean reputation, if then he is still ig
nored Dy the court lunkeys who regu-
late the lists of honors, there comes a
time when for him it is the greater
honor to remain untitled. Michael Fara
day remained plain Michael Faraday to
the last, and Mr.. G.. E. Watts declined
a baronetcy, which was not offered
him until he had passed fourscore years.
In science, for instance, there is one
Briton who has received from foreign
governments more decorations than any
civilian in Europe. His name is David
Hughes, and he is the inventor of the
printing telegraph and the microphone
Yet his own ungrateful country has
never shown him the slightest recogni-
ton. Darwin died officially ignored.
Alfred Russell Wallace, the naturalist
who shares with Darwin the fame OF
having discovered the evolution of spe-
cies, will probably never be officially
noticed by his government Other great
men in science who have little chance
of receiving the decorations that are so
freely bestowed on lucky nobodles are
Professor Crookes Swan, who made the
first incandescent vacuum lamp with a
carbon burner; DR.. FARMLAND, the dis
tinguished chemist and analyst, and the
three great astronomers-Dr. Higgins,
Professor Norman Lockyer and Mr..
! Christie, the astronomer royal.
In the world of letters there is a sim
liar tale to tell Let your ltterateur be
a party politician, then, though mere
hack, writing to order, he has more
chance of receiving from his sovereign
a mark of favor than were he the most
distinguished author or the first scholar
of his time. "A deanery or bishoprio
appears to be the only possible reward
for distinguished historian. Froude
and Carlyle both died undecorated. If
Dickens and Thackeray are known
without the prefix Mr., it is not be-
cause of any such reason as precludes us
from speaking Of Mr.. T" Lewis Morris.
Browning died untitled. John Ruskin
drifted into an honored retirement,
while the pygmies in literature have
been rewarded with honors of another
sort. That George Meredith should never
have been offered the slightest distinc-
ton is scandal. England possesses one
name of worldwide fame in philosophy,
that of Herbert Spencer Yet the one
distinction possible to Mr.. Spencer
that of being sworn of the privy coun'
Gil, as the late Mr. Huxley was--has SC
far been withheld from him.
When Nansen visited Paris, on his
! very first lecture a minister attended &c
bestow upon him the insignia Of the
Legion of Honor. When he lectured il
London, the prince took the chair, anc
there the matter ended. When Dr. Lud
wig Mond gave the Davy- Faraday lab
oratory for research; at cost of e1OO,
600, the prince came to the opening
ceremony, but all the title he bestowed
upon the munifcent donor was the mis-
placed epithet of professor. Had hal
the sum been secretly conveyed by some
brewer or tobacconist TO the war ches
Of political party baronetcy at leas
would have promptly followed.