the United States titles are prohibited by the constitution, in Great
Britain they go by prescription. But it is possible to imagine titles
and privileges that are not hereditary, and that would be real symbols
of human worth entirely in accordance with the Republican Idea. It is
one of the stock charges against Republicanism that success in America
is either political or financial. In England, in addition, success is
also social, and there is, one must admit, a sort of recognition
accorded to intellectual achievement, which some American scientific
men have found reason to envy. In America, of course, just as in Great
Britain, there exists that very enviable distinction, the honorary
degree of a university; but in America it is tainted by the freedom
with which bogus universities can be organized, and by the unchallenged
assumptions of quacks. In Great Britain the honorary degree of a
university, in spite of the fact that it goes almost as a matter of
course to every casual Prince, is a highly desirable recognition of
public services. Beyond this there are certain British distinctions
that might very advantageously be paralleled in America, the Fellowship
of the Royal Society, for example, and that really very fine honour, as
yet untainted by the class of men who tout for baronetcies and
peerages, the Privy Council.

There are certain points in this question that are too often
overlooked. In the first place, _honours and titles need not be
hereditary_; in the second, _they need not be conferred by the
political administration_; and, in the third, they are not only--as
the French Legion of Honour shows--entirely compatible with, but
_they are a necessary complement to the Republican Idea_.

The bad results of entrusting honours to the Government are equally
obvious in France and Great Britain. They are predominantly given,