The Washington herald., 1910-10-10
HELIE DE SAGAN
AND HIS ESTATES

ner present husband, hele de Sagan,
made his pilgrimage thither by request
of the Crown TO pay his homage to his
liege the principally of Sagan being
Prussian ''Fidei-Commiss.
Our valiant French contemporary
either IS misinformed or deliberately
tries "to make talk. dishing up spicy
tid-bits for the delectation OF IFS women
readers in the way Of gossip in high life.
To start with. Helie de Sagan. who by
right Of inheritance is a member OF the
Prussian house of lords Qferrenhaus),
upon the death of the late Kaiser and
the accession of Emperor William TO the
Prussian throne as King of Prussia was
Obliged by the laws governing success
sions in that country 10 betake himself
to the Prussian court and offer his hon.
age 10 the new ruler. We all know
that thaa was quite a number Of years
before Helie had laid his plans to take
Countess Anna away from her husband.
Count Boni de Castellani, his first cousin.
The principally OF Sagan, I'm lower ST.
lesia, is an entailed estate. Hele, the
present incumbent, got little when he
succeeded to the estates. for his prede-
cessors. Frenchmen who got the prop
erty through marrias lived too high,
barely once in ten years condescending
10 pay a visit 10 that unclviiized Prus-
STA" but draining TO the last cent the
income of a fine estate, which for gen
erations had been left to the manage
ment and good graees Of managers
COberamtmann" is their official title).
IN any other country, perhaps, that
would have been the last Of the Sagans.
the creditors selling them out on fore
closure. Blu: not so in Prussia, with its
'paternal" government. which the Amer
lean press ridicules So necessarily.
Men who, lured by the high-sounding
titles Of Sagan, Talleyrand, &c, had
loaned their cash 10 the spendthrifts,
soon found this out TO their sorrow.
When promise after promise remained
unfulhIed. they At last were forced 10
bring suit which was all they got for
their pains; for they could attach nothing
In an entailed PTussian estate Tor F'idei-
Commiss), nor would the courts allow
them 20 have mortgages recorded on pro-
tested notes IL Is the law In Prussia.
This is some side Of H. But the Prus-
sian government is not crooked" While
IT punished those foreign creditors the
punishment was merely a temporary one.
The law provides that. where the owner
OF an entailed estate overburdens II with
debts and shows himself incapable OF
managing his own affairs. and 10 the det-
riment of others. who lose by his actions.
the government is 10 take full charge OF
the estate and administer it just so long
as ii VIII take 10 clear il from all In
debteeness. \ complete list is kept Of
me spendthritts debts, and the annual
income is distributed. pro rata, 10 the
creditors. until all have been paid OF.
This done, the King again returns 20
the recalciuant exile his estate IN fine
condition and free from Jebt, and with
draws without asking or getting a
Thank your Now. Il ought 10 strike
every fair-minded reader that this Is
mot so bad" and that HelIe. Prince Of
Sagan should be a very grateful subject
OF HIS King. who Is making a man OF
him once more.
But not so Helie, When William
assembled the Prussian throne the provin-
cial authorities gave the thigh and
mighty" aristocrat who lived IN Paris
as an exile from his native country,
owing 10 his debts. a hint that It was
his duty to show up at Berlin and
pay ms homage. Ike the rest OF the
lords Of the realm, 10 his Hege, and be
good. Oh. no, He would not 90 10 see
that barbarian land and his barbarian
boy ruler-he TaIeyrand- Pertgord.
who held French titles every bit as
good and as old as that Prussian prin-
cipality (even il he had inherited them
Donly through a stepmother. and there
was not a cent 10 back all that glory.
When William heard such talk he sim
ply said; Well and good; let that scape-
grace stay where he is. Prussia does
not lose anything by not having a man
like him as one Of its representative
lords. Let him stay; but just tell him
that I said. IL he is too heightened TO
come 10 my court and acknowledge me
as his sovereign. Prussia will not be
bothered with retaining his estafes,
which his and his predecessors folly has
brought 70 the verge OF ruin. We viii
conhscate the Sagan properties and make
OF them Crown domains II is only for
loyal subjects that this government sx-
erts its power and offers its aid, not to
expaTiated fools"
Helie de Sagan went TO Berlin, and
when you read In the dispatches that
Princess Anna plans restoring the ancient
feudal castle OF Sagan 10 its former
glory, you may be assured that the pa
rernal" Prussian government soon will
have completed saving those fine estates
to her husband. The report that she
prefers TO reside there in future is Well
founded for all the Taneyrand-P erlgord
titles do not weigh one-half as much
IN the scales of lineage and true aris-
tocracy as that despised On France)
name Of a Princess de Sagan. Anna IS
no fool She inherits some OF her
fathers Yankee shrewdness. She knows
that as Duchess of Talleyrand she has
very little. show, If any, among the no
bility OF Paris and London. owing to the
unsavory doings or the last dukeFtwhere-
as. as Princess de sagan, she leads in
grandeur and "noblesse.'
The Segan title was bestowed upon a
Crusader in the twelfth century. It came
TO the Talleyrands through marriage,
when the third Duke Of Talleyrand mar
ried the Princess Dorothea of Courland.
OF an ancient Russian family. who also
was the owner of the Prusslan prin-
eipality of Sagan. He was the grand
father of the Helle OF to-day. King
Friedrich Wilhelm " of Prussia BY de-
cree made at Sans Souci. near Potsdam,
in 1916, granted that duke permission 70
adopt the name of Sagan. His son. Bo-
son. the fourth duke, was the one who
so shamefully wasted the Sagan income.