The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-30
BOGUS FRENCH NOBILITY
THREE-QUARTERs OF TITLES IN
FRANCE HAVE BEEN ASSUMED.
Any Honest Citizen of the Republic
May Take a Noble Name and
BE Protected In 1t.
Sterling Heilig's Paris Letter in New Yorl


1t is strange thing that so late as
the present year. the French republic be-
ing more than quarter of a century old.
the consciences of Frenchmen should be
again disturbed-the wrong way-over such
an unrepublican matter as the right to bear
aristocratic titles. Yet this is exactly what
| is happening A lawsuit at Marseilles has
| reopened the ancient controversy, its de-
| cision throwing common and aristocratic
| folk alike into confusion. As its immediate
result there is to be a special feature added
to the coming census, with a parliamentary
inquiry to follow. Later on there promises
to be curious raking up of family histories.
Meanwhile any honest citizen may freely
continue to take a title of nobility, and
the republic will protect him in it,
To the suburbs of Marseilles, some fifteen
years ago, there came a gentleman from no
one knew exactly where; but as he pur-
chased fine property and responded to all
neighborly courtesies with solid hospitality.
the landed proprietors, without much hesi-
| fancy, soon came to accept him as the
| Comte De R, native of Brittany,
whose health required him to seek mild
climate. He was a widower, with young
daughter and as the years went round the
and chose. from many suitors, the young
and handsome Baron c., who would un-
doubtedly have married her had not her
| father most inopportuney died bankrupt.
Then Baron c. refused, and, wishing
to be regular" went into court to have
| the marriage contract set aside Hisf plea
astonished everyone. He asserted, and his
| lawyers proved it, that the Comte De R
was not of noble family, that he had
| amassed his fortune as a manufactures of
| Rouen, and that he had then purchased the
| took his name and title. The girl was will
| ing to let her unworthy sutton go; but as
| she felt that she had been cruelty treated.
| she Gained her grief and listened to her
| lawyers, who assured her that should she
apply for a postponement, they believed
| that they could make the Baron c. re-
greet his unchivalrouS conduct And they
| did it. At the next hearing of the case
| they proved the Baron c. himself to have
no more right to his title than she had to
| hers. Her father had appropriated his til
| tie. The baron's grandfather had appro-
priated his! Both stood on the same foot
ing. Then came. few weeks later, the
| decision of the judges, With a third sur
ANYONE CAN BE A COUNT.
The Comte De r. and the grandfather
| of the Baron c., the judges said, had
| equally the right to take a title. Any
| Frenchman may be baron, count or mar
quis if he so desires to decorate his name.
In the eyes of the republic such homemade
nobility is just as good as direct descent
from the blue-blooded families of the an
cient regime.
Such is the decision, at once humorous
and reasonable, from the republican point
of view. 1t means that the French repub-
lie only looks on titles as so many names,
and will not go out Of its way to take
charge of them. Should any of the old no.
bility be injured by the usurpation of valid
title, they may always go into the courts
and so protect their property; but they have
no exclusive right to go about with handles
to their names: The strange thing is the
cutlery with which the doctrine has been re-
ceived. not only by aristocrats, but by re-
publicans. The aristocratic journals brand
it as an Intentional insult to the noble
names of France. The republicans
ought in that to rejoice in lido not
rejoice In it at ALL. Instead they all unite
to call halt upon practice that has been
going on for many years and bearing with
it danger to republican institutions. In ev-
cry part of France they have begun to pub
lish lists of local titles that have thus been
Jumped" within the memory of man.
Week after week the lists are swelled, until
it begins to look as if three-quarterS of the
pretended nobility of France to-day is
bogus.
As already indicated the practice really
began in 1880 when Louis Philippe was made
the democratic citizen King of the FRENCH,
for the Napoleonic titles are not classed as
limitations. Napoleon created princes,
to build up a new aristocracy to take the
place of that which had been two-thirds de-
stroyed by the French revolution, but he
did not insult the old order by usurping the
old names and styles. To show that the
new aristocracy was to be built on merit
he even connected the new titles with civil
and military grades. A colonel was baron
and general a count. BY analogy projects
could spire tn he title of baron and coun-
cilors of state and senators to that of count.
Napoleon, anxious to be regarded as the
restorer of his country, made great efforts
to melt the two nobilities, the old and the
new, but only partially succeeded. The
amalgamation did not really take place until
after the restoration, after Napoleon's fall.
which, by re-establshng the old titles and
recognizing the new ones, put them on an
equal footing
TITLES NOT HEREDITARY.
If matters had remained in that position
there would not now be more than 10000
families in France that could lay claim to a
title of nobility. The titles attached to GER
tain offices by the Empire were not heredi-
tary, but became extinct at the death of
their holders. Only those titles which had
entailed estates attached to them would
have continued. On the other hand, many
families belonging to what was left of the
old nobility had been wiped out by the mis-
fortunes and hardships of exile The in
demnity act in their favor only slightly re-
paired their disaster. OF the immense sum
of $780, OU, 900 set apart to aid the old no.
blesse in purchasing back it's estates the
greater portion went by favoritism to a
limited number of great aristocratic houses.
The petite noblesse was left unsatisf1ed and
immense sums due them went aStray by
misrepresentation. Then came the demo
cratic revolution" of 1880, aimed ostensibly
at the entertainments of the higher privi-
legged aristocrats. Louis Philippes govern
ment had scarce come into office when it
sought to strike them decisive blow. AL
most it's first act to suppress what re-
manned of the credit of $200000,000 and to
decree, not the suppression of aristrocratic
titles, but their free use by any one who
cared to assume them.
1t was supposed that such a breaking
down of all barriers would bring contempt
upon the aristocrats. Instead it only served
to show the love of Frenchmen for a noble
name. Those who had long been yearniHg
after a title but had not received one either
from the Empire or the Restoration saw
their opportunity First the extinct titles
under the Empire were revived. These had
at least an appearance of legitimacy. Many
a purchaser of an old chateau adopted its
name without ceremony and others bought
chateaux to initiate their neighbors. Names
of landed properties. villages and towns
were assumed, so that in less than eighteen
years the number of noble names in France
increased from 10000 to 100000. Yet Louis
Philippe conferred titles during his
reign, while under Napoleon nearly all the
titles conferred were personal, and not
hereditary. They were afterHard made
hereditary by the holders themselves. Their
sons have even multiplied the countships
and baronies. The baron dies and all his