New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-05-17
FIXES CARDINALS RANK
Writer SAYS Ambassadors Took Prece-
dence at Kings Dinner.

]
Sir. I desire 10 protest against your pub
LEGATION of such ignorant nonsense as re-
Gently appeared in a letter from one OF
your regular contributors undertaking TO
explain for the guidance Of Americans L.
norant Of the rules OF precedence the exact
degree Of social and official consideration
which they must be expected hereafter In
America to pay TO Cardinals
This set forth at considerable length thG I
Cardinal had from time immemorial en-
joyed the social and official status OF
prince OF the blood" II added that under
the rules OF the English court. while tine
Archbishop Of Canterbury had precedence
over every other dignitary of the realm
even he was obliged TO make way for tho
foreign ambassadors and these ambassa-
doris in turn were compelled 10 make way
for any and every Cardinal" Nothing
could be more sbsurdly Inaccurate and ig-
norant
For proof you don't need 10 look turther
than the Court Circular" OF May 3, az
published i'm The London Times Of May
4 or The Morning Post" OF the same date,
or any other leading London paper TINS
court Circular" officially records state
dinner given by tho King the previous even
| ing At Buckingham Palace, and gives n hs'
Of the guests in the exact order or their
official precedence. II happens that one or
these guests was Cardinal Bourne, the head
Of the Roman Catholic Church In England.
and another guest was the American Am
bassador.
What happened Did tho United States
trail along behind tho prince OF tho
Church" on the way TO the dining room
Not 2 hlt Of Il Mr. Whitelaw Reid fol-
lowed Immediately after the KinG, and was
seated at his right hard. Well. then, did
tho prince Of the Church come next, uncer
these alleged regulations ~ Edward VII?
Not a bit Of IT, He waited and saw the
Ambassador of Spain 90 out next and take
bis sea, AT the loft Of the King. Did the
turn Of tho prince 81 the Church come
them SIN not biz 81 e. He waited then
for tho representative of the Master Of the
Faithful the sultan ~ Turkey, Hts High
ness rewdk PachA who went out third ana
took his scat at the table opposite the King.
Then. following the Mahometan ambassa-
DOR came the Cardinal
There isn't p person in London society
who doesn't know these facts as well as his
r c. and there isn't anybody who reads
the Court Circular or the London news
papers who can he excused for trying 70
deceive tho public on the subject.
7, seems scarcely necessary 10 say that
the statement which all this previous mis-
information was obviously intended 20 sup
port is equally untruthful-that ~ any ofi-
cial entertainment at Washington Car
dinal under European rules or proper
American rules. would "outrank not merely
every Cabinet officer the Speaker or the
House OF Representatives and the Vice
President, hut also tho foreign arhassa-
doris" n any official attempted - give
him such rank II ia reasonably certain
that he would hear from II promptly ana
from more than ono country.
Still more absurd is the statement that
when a royal parsonage not Of sovereign
rank visits New York ne should make the
first call on Cardinal Farley" royal per-
sonace not OF sovereign rank did visit New
York recently He may be reasonably pre-
summed TO have known the latest rulings OF
his deceased brother, the late Edward VII.
on the subject Of such precedence, and 1t
is certain that he did not max. tho first
call on cardinal FARLEY.
These things sir, are i'm A sense mere trtvi-
alities. In another sense they are not There
is a very great body Of people In the United
States who are unwilling TO be persuaded
by rIdculously untruthful statements like
those of your correspondent into dlscrlm-
nation IN favor OF the dignitarles of one
church over others. and he is neither a
patriot nor an honest man who tries TO per
sunde them by the use OF such palpable
instrumentation. BROOKLYN.
New York May IS. 1912.