Evening star., 1923-04-20
BY THE MARaU1sE DE FoNTENoY.

Every German newspaper advertis-
ing titles of nobility for sale should
be prosecuted for fraud, and every
transaction in which a German title
is transferred from its original owner
to profteer. through alleged adop-
ton. is a swindle.
Before the, overthrow Of the mon
archieS in Germany, and in what was
once the HapsburE empire. citizens
were permitted to adopt young men
ditions and following certain rules.
But. while the adoption, when legal
ly performed, gave to the adopted
person the right to the surname of his
adaptive father, there was no possible
means by which the latter was able
he possessed to his adopted son or
daughter. 1t was only through the
favor of the crown, and then in par
ticularly rare cases, that the SOW
ereign would revive in an adopted
son, or in a son-in-law, the adopter's
title. But it had to be new grant
Now that the various republican
governments of Germany and of the
former Hapsburg dynasties have lost
their crowns, there is no longer any
means of reviving such distinctions
or, indeed, Of creating titles Of no
bility. In fact, most of the new re-
publics have not only abolished titles
of nobility, but even prohibited their
use under heavy pains and penalties
1t naturally follows that II IT was i'm
possible to transmit d title through
adoption in the days of the mon
archies, it is still less possible now
that the powers of creation OF these
titles no longer exist, and that their
use is barred by law.
The same restrictions have always
existed in France. alike in royal, i'm
perial and republican regimes. There
is the case, for instance, OF the last
Duke of Aumont, who after the revo-
luton in Paris of 1880, which drove
King Charles y from the throne, re-
tired to. Egypt and spent all the re-
mainder of his life on an island of the
Nile near Cairo. 1t was the Duke of
Aumont who in his youth mad been
one of the pages of King Louis XVIII.
While in Egypt, having no children,
he ended by adopting his secretary,
not related to him by any ties of
blood, and on his death bequeathed to
silver plate, all his art treasures, and,
indeed, all his property.
But he could not transmit to him
his title of nobility by adoption, and
SO 1t was as plain Mr.. d'Aumont. and
not as Duke d'Aumont, that he ran
the racing stable which he had in
herited from bis beuefactor. The
only way a woman can acquire a
title is by marrying the possessor of
some such distinction. and then she
Is only allowed to retain the honor
until her union Is dissolved and she
Is compelled by the courts to resume
her maiden name. So l would urge
any Americans travelling abroad to
beware of any offers.-which may be
rendered to them by swindlers offer
ing to secure the distinction in ques-
tion through adoption or purchase.
=, \ *,*%
King George and Queen Mary will
avail themselves of their impending
sojourn in Rome to visit the magnifi-
cent monument erected by the great
sculptor Canova, at the instance of
Plus VII, over the tombs of the son
and grandson of James III of Great
Britain, known. respectively. as the
old pretender and as the young pre-
tender. both of whom died at Rome.
as did alsQ the young pretender's
mother. ri Pncess Maria Clementina
Sobieska. ENauddaughter Of the war.