The Washington herald., 1911-08-07
FOREIGN TOPICS.

| Siciuials oI froVluence, H. L., the re-
port is gaining ground in London society
that their bethrothal soon is to be an
nounced oficially In New York This
kind OF diplomatic denials as rule leaves
room for speculation, and when Lord
Camoys made the remark: 1.-THE lady is
SO charming I wish 1 were able to say
| the report is now true" 1t may-and It
may not have been a denial. 1t is just
a matter of take your choice"
Mrs. Bradley Martin, who is a relative
| of Miss Sherman, also Denies but II
is remembered from a former occasion
what her denial amounts to. Besides,
she has shown the greatest interest in
! bringing those two young people to-
| gether since their arrival from America,
| where both met at the wedding of Lord
Decies and Vivien Gould, in New York
last February.
Certain circumstances indicate that
there are substantial grounds for an eX-
pectation of the announcement of the be-
trothal Most convincing seems the fact
that Lord Camoys has notified the Hon.
Mrs. Henry Coventry CformerIy Mrs.
Richard McCreery, of New York and
Pittsburg) that he is desirous of again
| occupying his family seat. Stonor Park.
near Observation-Disclosures in Oxford
shire. Mrs. Coventry leased the stately
old mansion four years ago right after
her marriage and has spent large sums
in restoring the building and improving
the estate in the expectation of making
1t her residence for years to come. She
was greatly chagrined at the unexpected
notice to yacate, and has offered Lord
Camoys a substantial bonus for a twen-
ty-one-year lease, agreeing to expend
considerable sum every year for improve
ments
Should Miss Sherman become Lady
Camoys she will be admitted into
family that dates its origin back to the
thirteenth century The present Haron
Camoys. Ralph Francis Julian Stonor,
who succeeded his father in 1897 as
fifth holder of that title in the British
peerage, was born in 1884. and is, there
fore, only twenty-seven years OF age.
The founder of the family was Ralph
de Camois, who, in 1864, was summoned
to Mountfords Parliament as Baron
Camoys. The family of Stonor, 1t is re-
corded. was in possession of the Manor
of Stonor before the Conquest. and
hence can lay claim to being of the
most ancient Anglo-Saxon nobility. But
in 1925 Hugh de Camoys, the second
baron, died in his minority, in the reign
Of Henry VI, when the baronby of
tinued until 1889. But the different
branches of the Stonor family -four
ished. One of them, Thomas Stonor. as
the heir of his great-grandmother, Mary
Biddulph, became one of the co-heirs of
the second Lord Camoys, and in his IA
vor Quen Victoria lifted the allegiance
Of the barony by summoning him to
Parliament by royal writ The family
never was very wealthy. but it is proud
Of its ancestry.
The Japanese tower in Laeken Park,
close to the royal residence, near Brus-
sells. has been converted into a Japanese
trade museum. The late King Leopold
turned that tower over to the Belgian
nation when, just before he died, he was
giving away everything he thought of,
in order to leave nothing to his daugh-
tiers.
That tower for years has been a mys-
terious building. No one was allowed 10
enter 1t, not even high officers of the
royal household. and strange whisperings
were INDUCED in about what was gong
on in there. 1t was furnished with ex-
quisite specimens of Japanese furniture
and art, and il was said that King Leo
pold delighted when alone in the tower
TO dress up like the Mikado and TO re-
ceive pseudo geisha girls.
The japanese tower was bought at the
last Paris exposition, with It's contents,
but the magnificent portal, with its rich
carving and deep red colortng, was i'm
ported from Japan by King Leopold's
order
Japan, ever ready to expand her trade
interests, through her department of
commerce. has obtained permission from
the Belgian government to use the
unique tower as a commercial museum,
where all the products Of Japanese in
dustry can be viewed, and to have King
Albert encourage the plan the Mikado
has sent the Belgian ruler some exquisite
specimens of antique japanese art when
the tower was formally opened.
The Deutsche Tageszeitung, the organ
of the feudal landed proprietors. takes
Emperor William to task for starting a
social revolution by making friends with
q number of untitled persons like Herr
Ballin (chief Of the Hamburg-American
Lne) and other ''Boersen-Magnaten" and
captains of industry. Herr Won Buelow,
a relative OF the former German chan
cellor. discussing the recent Count Wolff
Won Metternich disclosures in connection
with Frau Wertheim, a Jewess, and the |
widow of the founder of Berlin's largest |
department store, writes to the ultra |
Norddeutsche Allgemeine |
(Kreutz) Zeitung as follows:
THE middle class referred to in the |
Metternich case seems to be composed of
people who have made fortunes in trade. |
We are surprised to find officers visiting |
the homes of such people, yet, frankly !
speaking, one must be surprised also to
discover people very much higher in So
ciety finding entertainment in very COM |
monplace company"
Herr Won Buelow and other aristocrats |
forget that in Germany army officers are