The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-03-15

IN URING and soon after our lit
tie war with Spain, many
IL English writer's said very COM
plimentary things about their
American cousins, and two humorous
ly inclined fellows. spoke of us as
"brother Anglo-Saxons." -. .. This stupid
bait was eagerly snapped at and swal-
lowed by many of our Anglo-maniacs.
o. B. Flower,l of the: "Arena," and
Richard Harding:sDavis demonstrated
in glowing magazine articles that we
really were the genuinel article, i. e.,
Anglo-Saxons. GAS matter of fact
and truth, the appellation of Anglo
Fiddlesticks would have been fully as
appropriate. Z The prefix "Anglo" is in
place; for many of our jeaaaesse doree,
especially in New: York, have been
"angling" so persistently for English
men, Englishwomen, English manners
and clothes, and English twang and
slang, that it wouldsbe shame to be-
grudge them this questionable ac-
acknowledgement.
The following data about the English
nobility may shed some light on the
subject as to whether or not seven the
highest aristocracy of the United
Kingdoms can trace their origin to the
Anglo-Saxon race:
The Norman kings used to invite
their vassals to court festivities, at
which the monarch informed these
vassals as to his decisions in regard to
peace and war, and::to other important
affairs of state. Whenever the royal
exchequer needed replenishing, the
faithful vassals were also called to de-
wise ways and means Sfor the obtain
ance of funds. But; inEthe Magma
Charta (12l5), King John was forced
to concede that henceforth all extraor-
dinary taxes had to be granted by a joint
vote of all crown vassals, that is, those
who had received their: estates direct
from monarch. This was the birth
of the English Parliament. Two gener-
ations later, chosen representatives Of
the counties; and cities took part in
these meetings, and the number of
personally invited" lords gradually
decreased. About the: middle of the
fourteenth century the representa-
tives of the counties and cities COM
menced to meet separately; also the
personally appointed lords. This led
to division of Parliament into an
Upper and a Lower House. According
to English law, everybody is entitled
to trial by jury of his equals. In
the fourteenth century the ibarons de-
manded and obtained the privilege
to be tried only by their equals of the
realm, by the pares tearae, with
which the members of the Upper House
were meant. These pores te1rde be-
came the peers of England. A legal
distinction was formed by granting to
the barons the hereditary right to a
seat in Parliament; and in 144O the
peers of the Upper House extended their
legal status to their wives and widows.
The barOns who had been called to
the Upper House were the great land
ed proprietors. Not the possession of
estates alone, but at the same time the
participation iii the highest councils
of the crown, formed the basis from
which the English aristocracy devel-
Oped into an hereditary class. The
highest council of the crown had to
be composed of the mightiest, richest
and most influential of the vassals,
which necessitated Limitation of their
number. This, in conjunction with the
right to feudal tenancy by entail, gave
cause to the enactment that the title
of nobility should descend to the eldest
son only. 1t has remained so to the
present day. AS formerly the right to
feudal tenancy, so is now the title of
nobility, and the landed estate, inherit
able only according to the principle Of
the right of the first born male child.
This is the reason why the English
titled aristocracy is much smaller in
number, but also much richer, than
that on the Continent of Europe. And
The figures and part of the titles have been
compiled from statistical fragments by Hans
Plehn, Phi. D., an authority on heraldry, pub
lished in the January edition of "Daheim,''
Berlin.