New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-27
London. July 20.

r,,,arston was another. They are his
,o,ical instances. The late Duchess Of
0evonshire was a third and not the
last remarkable Of the three To round
an, career like any one Of these there
r,ust be something more than character
o- exceptional gifts. There must be OPP
rortunity. and circumstances must COM
bine with fortune. They did in the late
Duchess's case. but rather late in life
vet cannot remember a time when she
was not a great power in London.
Whether her foreign birth was against
her know not London has a great
-ower Of assimila ton. It has adopted
many a woman not OF English blood into
that charmed and sometimes charming
circle known as Society. With German
Kings and Queens 10 rule over them and
an army Of their kin encamped in May
fair. why should there be any hesitation
about the social naturalization of the
Alien? There is none. In one sense
There is only a process Of selection. OF
the American women who have married
English husbands. some have been taken
and others left. but. on the whole. the
American record is a good one. We per
haps think il a tribute to the charm Of
the American woman. as il is. though
churish patriots at home take a view
different from that. But we 90 not al
WAYS stop 10 think how many wives of
English husbands are neither English
nor American.
The great lady who died on the 18th
OF this month was the daughter Of
Charles Francis Victor, Count Won Alien.
a Hanoverian nobleman. From her girl
hood she had a renown for beauty. She
was an ornament Of the Court Of King
George V OF Hanover: who never saw
her poor blind King that he was. Born
they say. in 1S22, but that has always
been disputed. There has always been a
question how old she was; parity be-
cause she was so long young. What is
certain is that in 1852 she married Lord
Vaudeville. son and heir TO the sixth
Duke OF Manchester. It was not sup
posed 20 be a prominently fortunate
alliance. There was an ancestor, an
Earl Of Manchester, who was one Of
CromweHs generals. and a good one, as
he proved at the battle Of MarstOn Moor
and elsewhere. But when Mile Won
Alien married Lord Vaudeville the pos
sessions OF the family were not precisely
splendid. and the scope for Lady Mande-
villes ambitions was not so wide as she
desired.
But in 1855 he succeeded to the Duke
dom. and in 1858 the Duchess was made
Mistress Of the Robes. a great post
about the Court. This was in Lord
Derby's second administration. There
was. therefore. no question about her
social position. nor could it have been
long before her personal qualities made
themselves felt If there was a diff
Guilty IL was finance; as everybody knew.
= II is a subject on which people talk
more freely here than in New York.
Poverty is no reproaCh; IL is only an in
convenience, and nothing is more COM
mon than 70 hear a woman in high
place say bluntly she cannot afford
position in New York would perish
sooner than make such a confession;
many such ladies'. II not ALL and all de-
lectable in all other respects; as they
ell are
Ny English memories do not 60 back
10 so early a date as this, so I will come
down to a time Of which I know some
thing personally. stop only 10 set
down one fact which she would forgive
no one for emitting; that she had three
daughters who became, the first
Duchess Of Hamilton, the second Coun-
tess Of Gosford. the third Countess Of
Derby IN that way was one of the
supreme ambitions of an English
mother satisfed-she married her daugh-
tiers Well Two Of the three were eat
alliances. one Of them has come to
touch us, since IL was the eldest son Of
Lady Gosf0rd Viscount Acheson, who
last year married Mildred. daughter Of
Mr. Ridgely Carter long Secretary Of
the American Embassy in London, In
succession 90 Mr. Henry White. Mr..
II
Rumania post by no means adequate
to his abilities and experience. Miss
Carter was before her marriage one Of
the flowers c. the American Colony IN
London. and still is; regardless Of the
fiction u law which makes the Ameri-
can wife of an Englishman herself Eng
ish.
II is tradition that among the many
who admired the Duchess Of Manches-
ter was Mr. Disraeli; a man whose ad-
rirations were discriminating. The two
names were never that I heard OF other
wise connected Disraeh was not
man % he permanently attracted by
beauty unless there was something more
than beauty. He required Of woman
that she should be able TO interest him.
Now the Duchess had a maxim Of inter
course which ran like this: Listen 10
everything: answer nothing Not a
maxim 10 be acted on strictly. 1t Is.
however. true that for a woman OF giIts
80 transccndent as hers she talked win
reserve. What she liked was 10 form
her own estimate Of character; 70 weigh
social forces; TO form conclusions and to
act on them Dsraefs was a glance
which went deeper than the surface
He. too. had a gift Of silence. But TWO
sIleDces beget speech. The genius Of the
man and the genius Of the woman had
much in common: and though neither
might care for mere talk with an un-