The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-11-10
RUSSIA'S CHEAP NOBILITY.
THE CZAR WANTS TO TONE IF
 UP.
Plans for Reforming the Nobility sys-

|
 sidering for some time how best to re- ] form the Russian nobility system
 which is rapidly becoming the laugh
 ing stock of Europe. He is anxious to l lessen the number of nobles, to make
 the class as a whole more useful to the
 state, and to raise the standard by passing which a plebeian may enter their ranks. Native families sprung | from ancient races of noble blood are
 few and far between in Russia, Those
 which still remain are said to be able to trace their descent back to Rurik and his boyars, contemporaries or Charlemagne. The boyars in their
 turn were little more than high otfi-
 cials, whose office and propinquity to
 their prince conferred title, and whose
 dignities and privileges depended on
 his grace.
 With the introduction of ranks into
 the public service, new class of no-
 ble was created. Each officer of the
 army, each civil servant was a noble
 by virtue of his office, and if he
 ItSlC1lthl tt olllh lllo NlillNL|li Ut
 herited his nobility. This lasted until
 the reign of Alexander I, well into the
 nineteenth century This monarch
 saw that admission into the noble
 caste was far too easy an affair, and
 that the class as whole was in con-
 sequence in danger of losing it's digni-
 ty. So he created or rather distin-
 guished between the two classes of
 nobles, the personal nobility and the
 inherited. The personal noble was
 only such by virtue of his office, his ti-
 ties and privileges ceasing with his
 death The noble by inheritance
 transferred his rank and dignities to his descendants. Alexander I also raised the standard of personal service
 by virtue of which public servant be-
 came noble He limited the privilege to the four highest ranks in the ser
 vice-in the civil service to ranks above state councillor, in the army to
 ranks above a brigadier-gener in the
 navy to ranks above captain. Alex
 ander, and after him Nicholas I, sue ceeded in confning inherited nobility within these narrower limits, permit ting to the lower ranks the title of personal nobility.
 In Russia nobility as an institution is a fairly democratic one. There eX- ists no difference between old and new families either in popular estimation or among the nobles themselves. Rus sia is unique in this In other coun- tries the great court officials belong ex- clusively to the old nobility. In Rus sia a high chamberlain is as often as not man of yesterday, and occupies an office open to every capable or gift ed 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 Skobeleffs, Lamsdorffs and Muravieffs of whom we have heard so much in re- cent years, were simple peasant folks a generation or two ago, The present minister of war, General Kuropatkim, is tailor's son; the present minister of finance, M. Witte, 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 czar 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 village communities have still the right, flogsing has been abolished throughout the empire. The exclusive right of the noble to own serfs has a leo oha reaching privilege they still possess their entrance into the service of the | state is easier than that of the mer- chant or peasant class, their advance ! nent is more certain and rapid It | tells it's own tale also when one sees in | nearly every town within the empire . m institution with the signboard, Tn | for the education of noble < born girls or school for nobles' sons"
 What l have written explains the . udicrous extent to which the class of 1obles in Russia has grown, and the little regard in which they are held, and the low ebb to which the fortunes of many Russian lObleS have sunk. In European Rus via there are over six hundred thou iand nobles by inheritance, and over wo hundred and fifty thousand by virtue of the office they hold in the ervice of the state. The consequence If this is that the noble is found in all 'anks of society in all professions and ,lasses of business, and not the least Il the very lowest ranks of the masses f the proletariat. l once knew q Rus ian noble of ancient descent who rove ffacre, and who borrowed five ubles9 to help buy a better horse. It vas his forgetfulness to return the money that l did not like. In judging fussian nobles, we must not measure , with western standards They are sell om aristocrats.
 In Russia there is only one native ti- le of nobility-Sniaz. It is akin to he German furst rather than the lnglish prince. A Russian kniaZ is sually descended from Ruirl<'s nobles. though in not a few cases his title |, omes to him from some Tartar ances- pr. After Peter the Greats time, U hene Russia came into more intimate alations with the West, European ti- es, chiefly German, were imported. rafs and barons are now far more lmmon that kniazs. The present czar is anxious to do way with the custom by which the