The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-04-19
FRENCH TITLES OF NOBILITY.

l Legitimately Worn.
 1 Of nearly eight hundred titles of mo- bility conferred by the first emperor
 just a century vince, there are only
 thirty-seven authentic ones still in ex- istepce-th that is to say, which have been inherited in the male line direct (al-
 though there are a quantity of them which have been assumed without au-
 thority by cousins, nephews, sons-in- law, or even by the husbands of the granddaughters of the original holder of the title) The first emperor in ere ating dukedoms, princedoms and other titles of nobility invariably aceompa- nied the honor by the grant of an an~
 nuity, payable by the government treasury as long as there was ligiti- mate descendant in the male line, the
 idea being, of course, to assure the peo- pie whom he had thus honored and
 their descendants that there should ai- ways be enough to maintain the title with the proper amount of dignity. Re peated attempts have been made to abolish these annuities. But the propo- sal has invariably been opposed by the government of the day, no matter what its political texture. On each change of regime in France one of the first acts of the legislature has been to assure the credit of the nation, and thus facil- itate the financial operations of the na- tional treasury by placing the creditors of the state under the safeguard of the honor and loyalty of the French na- ton. Among the creditors of the state are these thirty-seven holders of annu- ities conferred along with titles of no- bility by the First Napoleon, and which are inscribed, according to official par lance, on the Grand Livre de France" that is to say, on the grand ledger of the state in France As long as the French government continues to pay the dukes of Rlvoli and of Bassano, and Princess of Wagram and of La Moskowa (the latter lineal descendant of Marshal Ney), anhuities from the national treasury for the avowed pur pose of maintaining their titles with the proper amount of dignity, there can be no question of the non existence, of- ficially speaking, of bona fide and au- thentic nobility of France
 It must be thoroughly understood that the revolutionary decree of Au- gust, 17S9, abolishing titles and nobility distinctions in France was modified by the First Napoleon through the grant during his reign of eight hundred titles of nobility and afterward completely restored by King Louis XVIII. on the Bourbon restoration in 1874, when the following decree was substituted in its place. "The old nobility resumes the titles which belong to it. The new mo- billty that is to say, the Napoleonic, is authorized to retain Its titles. The king will also create nobles as he sees fit. But these titles carry with them no exemption from the jurisdiction of the laws of the land or from their civic ob- legations" Alter the revolution of 1S4S the republican government, by decree dated February 29 of that year, de- clared "all titles of nobility are abol- ished and their use is forbidden" Four years later, On February 24, 1852, the government of the same republic. by a decree bearing the signature of Napo- leon as president, curtly aunuled the decree of 1S4S, abolishing the nobility. On May 2S, 1858, another law appeared, prohibiting, under heavy fines and i'm prisonment, the assumption of any title or name without due warrant and au
 thor!zation by the government, and finally, on May 5, 1859 stlll another law was promulgated, forbldding, under di- vers pains and penalties. tho use or adoption of foreign titles without their having previously received in due form, the authorization and sanction of the French government. There is no rec ord or any such sanction having been given since the establishment Of the present republic, in September, 1870. Finally, there Is a law of February, 1924 which declares that the titles of nobility can only descend in the male line direct" and, therefore, not through the distaff side of the house. This shows the position of the law of the present day in the matter of titles Of nobility in France. For no statutes whatsoever bearing upon the matter have been enacted since 1870, and there has been no legislative act or presiden- tial decree since the overthrow of Ma poleon III, abolishing the French no bility The latter therefore, remains in existence, since the laws that were In force in the last ten years of the en- pire continue unrepealed to this day
 In conclusion, it may be stated that the usurpation of titles was not wholly unknown in the monarchical times of the nineteenth century in France al- though there was never anything like the abuse that there is today, when, ac, cording to Comte Almery de La Roche toucauld, and other recognized authori- ties on the questions of genealogy, not more than two or three per cent, of the people bearing titles in France do so le
 ultimately. Louis XVIII. did not feel inclined to question too closely the right to titles which had been usurped by officers who had deserted the cause of Napoleon for his sake, like Colonel, afterward Marshal Castelane, who rose from the ranks and whose ancestry was most plebeian And as for King Phil lppe, it is related of him that when on one occasion he was petitioned by a. wealthy retail dealer at Paris to confer upon his son the title of baron on the occasion of his marriage, he replied; Mon Dieu, my dear sir, I am very sor- ry. I should be delighted to oblige you, but you know I cannot do so without the consent of my cabinet, and of the Chamber of Peers. Alas, I am not the master. But" added his majesty, with that queer little smile which used to flicker on his face whenever he was a hoitt to tNh+nefra 4a ono of thnaa ennhis-