Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-12-06

Nicholas |, succeeded in combining in
herited nobility within these narrower
limits, permitting to the lower ranks
the title of personal nobility.
In Russia nobility as an institution
is fairly democratic one. There
exists no difference between cid and
new families, either in popular estima-
ton or among the mobiles themselves.
Russia is unique in this. In other
countries the great court officials be.
long exclusively to the old nobility. In
Russia a high chamberlain is as often
as not man Of yesterday, and occu-
pies an Office open to every capable or
gifted young official. There is at the
present time one of the great chamber.
lains of the czar, whose father came
from Germany as a poor tutor. The
Skobeloffs, Lamsdorffs and Muravieffs
OF whom we have heard so much in
recent years, were simple peasant
folks a generation or two ago The
present minister of war, Gen. Kuropat-
kim, is tailor's son: the present min
lister Of finance, NJ White, was a
humble railway official on a southern
railroad.
The special privileges accorded to
the noble class in Russia are still very
great, and it is the intention of the
car to curtail them. Until quite re-
Gently they were the only class in the
empire exempt from corporal punish
ment. Until quite recently they were
also exempted from military service.
Every one must now serve in the army.
and except in rare cases, where vii
lage communities have still the right,
fogging has been abolished throughout
the empire. The exclusive right OF the
noble to his own serfs has also been
abolished. But one far.reaching priv
ilege they still possess-their entrance
into the service OF the state is easier
than that of the merchant or peasant
class, their advancement is more Ger.
tain and rapid. 1t tells its own tale
also when one sees in nearly every
town within the empire an institution
with the signboard, institution for
the education Of noble-born girls" or
School for mobiles sons"
What | have written explains the
! -udicgous extent to which the ella SIS
Of mobiles in Russia has grown, and
the comparatively little regard in
which they are held, and the low ebb
I to which the fortunes of many Russian
mobiles have sunk. In European Rus
| STA there are over 600, 600 mobiles by
inheritance, and over 100000 by virtue
OF the Office they hold in the service OF
the state. The consequence of this is
that the noble is found in all ranks o.
society, in all professions and classes
Of business, and not the least in the
very lowest ranks Of the masses OF the
proletariat. l once knew a Russian
noble of ancient descent who drove a
fiacre, and who borrowed five rubles
to help buy better horse. 1t was
his forgetfulness to return the money
thai | did not like. In judging Rus
sian mobiles, we must not measure
with western standards. They are sell
dom aristoerats.
In Russia there is only one native
title OF nobility-kniaz. 1t is akin to
the German furst, rather than the
English prince. A Russian kniez is
usually descended from Ruirk's mobiles,
although in not a few cases his title
comes to him from some Tartar an
cestor. After Peter the Greats time,
when Russia came into more intimate
relations with the west, European
titles chiefly German, were imported.
Grafs and barons are now far more
common that kniaz.
The present car is anxious to do
away with the custom by which the
descendants of eminent men in the
public service confer nobility on their
descendants simply by virtue of their
office. His plan is to make every new
noble distinct creation of his own.
There are to be no self-acting patents
of nobility. A general is not to be
noble because he is a general, but be-
cause the car has specially conferred
nobility upon him, ard the generals
children are not to be mobiles unless
the patent received by the father dis
tinctly says so. The standard for per-
sopal robility is also to be raised. The