the glories of public office, after they have officially come to an end, embalmed in such clumsy quasi-titles as /ex-United States Senator/, /ex-Judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals/, /ex-Federal Trade Commissioner/ and /former Chief of the Fire Department/. But perhaps the greatest difference between English and American usage is presented by /the Honorable/. In the United States the title is applied loosely to all public officials of apparent respectability, from senators and ambassadors to the mayors of [Pg119] fifth-rate cities and the members of state legislatures, and with some show of official sanction to many of them, especially congressmen. But it is questionable whether this application has any actual legal standing, save perhaps in the case of certain judges. Even the President of the United States, by law, is not /the Honorable/, but simply /the President/. In the First Congress the matter of his title was exhaustively debated; some members wanted to call him /the Honorable/ and others proposed /His Excellency/ and even /His Highness/. But the two Houses finally decided that it was "not proper to annex any style or title other than that expressed by the Constitution." Congressmen themselves are not /Honorables/. True enough, the /Congressional Record/, in printing a set speech, calls it "Speech of /Hon./ John Jones" (without the /the/ before the /Hon./--a characteristic Americanism), but in reporting the ordinary remarks of a member it always calls him plain /Mr./ Nevertheless, a country congressman would be offended if his partisans, in announcing his appearance on the stump, did not prefix /Hon./ to his name. So would a state senator. So would a mayor or governor. I have seen the sergeant-at-arms of the United States Senate referred to as /Hon./ in the records of that body.[22] More, the prefix is actually usurped by the Superintendent of State Prisons of New York.[23] In England the thing is more carefully ordered, and bogus /Hons./ are unknown. The prefix is applied to both sexes and belongs by law, /inter alia/, to all present or past maids of honor, to all justices of the High Court during their terms of office, to the Scotch Lords of Session, to the sons and daughters of viscounts and barons, to the younger sons and all daughters of earls, and to the members of the legislative and executive councils of the colonies. But /not/ to members of Parliament, though each is, in debate, an /hon. gentleman/. Even a member of the cabinet is not an /Hon./, though he is a /Right Hon./ by virtue of membership in the Privy Council, of which the Cabinet is legally merely a committee. This last honorific belongs, not only to [Pg120] privy councillors, but also to all peers lower than marquesses (those above are /Most Hon./), to Lord Mayors during their terms of office, to the Lord Advocate and to the Lord Provosts of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Moreover, a peeress whose husband is a /Right Hon./ is a /Right Hon./ herself.