The sun., 1910-07-30
THE EvNOBLED 4YERIC N.
History % IN Attempt TO PenaIi'e Accept
anee of . Title.

To rHE EDIroR or THE SUN SU The
news Of the ambition of'A. Patterson.
q native born citizen. to become a noble.
and the opinions given him by Mr.. Bryan
and Mr. Bacon. are Of Interest There ~ no
provision OF Law. constitutional or statn-
tory. that would forbid his accepting THE
OF that would impose any penalty on him "
he did venture 10 accept and do not be-
Iieve there il the slightest warrant for the
position that any penalty could he imposed
upon him merely for accepting.
The Constitution provides in Article ] ,
section o. clause \. No title OF nobility
shall he granted by the United States. and
no person holding any once Of profit or trust
under them shall. without the consent of
Congress accept Of any present. emolument.
once or title OF any kind whatever from any
king prince or foreign state II further
prov ides. in Article I section 10, clause I.
No state shall grant any title
Of nobility" These are all the legal pro-
Visions on the subject in the laws Of the
United States while neither the United
states nor any state can grant title OF
nobility. the Constitution evidently ex-
pressly provides that with the consent OF
Congress such q title can he accepted by
q person holding any once OF proht or trust
under the United states Further. there IL
In the Constitution or laws OF the United
states no prohibition on q private citizen
The subject recalls q curious and for gotten
page in our political history. On April %.
1910, the United States Senate. by vote Of -
to !. passed the following amendment TO the
Constitution If any citizen OF the nited
States shall accept. claim. receive or retain
any title of nobility or honor. or shall " ith-
ont the consent OF Congress accept and re-
tain any present pension. once or emolu-
ment Of any kind whatever from any em-
peror. king, prince or foreign power. nuch
person shall cease to be = citizen of the
nited States and shall be Incapable OF
holding any once OF trust or proht under
them, or either Of them On MAY l, $50.
the House passed this amendment by
The amendment being submitted thus TO
the Statc- eleven OF the states ratified u.
namely Maryland. Kentucky. Ohio. Della
ware. Pennsy wanna. New Jersey vermont
New Hampshire Three Of the States re-
Iected H. namely New York. Rhode Island
and Connecticut and three OF the States
failed Ia act upon IT namely South aro-
lima. Virginia and Ma--Ar Arhusetts Thus fail
ing to secure the approval OF three -fourths
Of the states the amendment wa- lost.
In view of the democrats" sentiment then
80 pronounced ami vigorous. the failure OF
he amendment u curious The failure OF
thre" 81 the states to act upon u. either in
acceptance or r"isrtion. II even more
curious south Carolina and MAs-ar husetts
probably faded 10 act owing To their FEEDER
nouncedly democrats state. should not
at Un the amendment AT all n the most
curious taSt In the entire series OF events
MCMa~teT. IN his History OF the I nited
state, nut-- the fact thai this PROPOSED
amendment Tor many years was printed
N school books and histories a. tn. end 81
The Constitution a. the Thirteenth Amend
mrnf, though " Na- not accepted bN three
iourth- oi the states VA ~" mon
hIy,H,fu y Iuly -