The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-23

The grand Gordon of the Imperial OF
toman Order of the Shefakat. Just con.
ferred upon Mrs Roosevelt and Mrs.
Nicholas Longworth by the Sultan of
Turkey, is beautiful jeweled star fast,
ened upon sash of white watered silk
striped with red and delicateIy edged
with green, to be worn over the right
shoulder.
The star, of red enamel, has five points
edged with gold, and its golden center
contains the sultan s cipher, which we
frequently see upon Turkish embroid.
cries. From the angles of the points
issue FIVE clusters of rays, each set with
seven diamonds, the whole hanging from
a golden edged red enamel crescent.
This decoration, whose name in En-
glish would be the '.Order of Benevol-
ence, was founded in 1873, for women
exclusively, by the Sultan Abdul Hamid
III, TO commemorate the noble work of
the foreign women, notably the late
Baroness Burdett- Coutts, who during
the Russo Turkish war amassed the
compassionate fund.- for the relief
of fugitive non-combatants in Constan.
tinople and the surrounding territory
The Fgrand cordon,' which is the
highest of the three degrees of this
order, Mrs. Roosevelt and her daughter
viii share with Nine Fallieres, wife OF
the President of France; Queen Alex.
andra of Great Britain, the Empress Of
Russia and the Queen of Roumania.
While our Constitution forbids pres
idents or any other government officials
receiving such a decoration from q
foreign government, and while special
act OF Congress would be necessary for
its acceptance in such cases, Mrs Roose-
Welt and Mrs. Longworth are free to
accept it without permission from any
one, and although the honor comes to
them unsolicited. and. in fact as a
great surprise, it would be a serious
diplomatic blunder, as well as an insult
to the sultan, should they decline it.
Sultan Decorates Mrs. Griscom.
The sultan lately conferred the grand
Gordon of the same order upon Mrs
LLOYD Griseom, wife of our ambassador
to Rome, formerly Miss Elizabeth Duer
Bronson, daughter of Frederick Bronson
of New York, and relative of Miss
katherine Duer, the author, who mar
ried Clarence III. Mackay, the capitalist.
To his wife s graees and tact Ambas-
sadoF Griscom. who has been the youth
full prodigy of our latter day diplomacy,
owes great share of his success in Per-
STA, Japan, Brazil and Italy, where he
has been stationed since their marriage
in 1901, about the time of his departure
from ConStantinoDle to become minister
to Persia. The sultan s decoration
came almost as a wedding present to the
young bride, whose wedding tour in.
Guided triumphal journey of thou /
sand miles from Bagdad to Teheran.
The sultan also decorated Mrs. Sam. |
uel Sullivan (tsSunset') Cox with this |
order when her husband was minister to /
Turkey. and if I remember Alright it has |
been conferred blythe sultan also upon |
Mrs. Oscar Straus when her husband, /
now IN the cabinet, was minister TO |
Turkey, and upon Mrs. Leishman, wife /
of our present ambassador to the SUBJ t
lime porte, as well as upon the wife of !
one of the Goelets.
An American woman who, in Japan.
might properly be called g the Lady Of |
the Decorations is DR.. Anita Newcomb |
MCGEE, upon whom the mikado lately /
conferred the imperial ss0rder of the I
Sacred Crown, very rare distinction, /
and also the special decorations of the
Red Cross of Japan and the war medal /
of that country. It may be remembered I
that this lucky woman, who is the wife
of the well known Washington anthro.
pologist and geologist, Prof. w J. Me,
Gee, received the rank of acting assist,