The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-07-28
ORDER OF THE GARTER.
what BeRCOnsfIeId Has Received - An
Honor that MynarChs Have
WeRn Proud of.
[St. Louis Globe-Demoorat.l

When Lord Beaconstfeld landed at
Dover after his return from the con-
gress at Berlin, the cheers of the peo-
pie were but the earnest Of the hOnOrs
to be conferred upon him by the nation
at large. The applause was reiterated In
London, where the population OF the
vast metropolis welcomed him with an
affectionate enthusiasm scarcely ever
before shown even upon regal or mill
tary entry. TO seek for its parallel we
must 90 back q century and three
quarters ago, when Queen Anne, after
the battle Of Blenheim, attended in
state the Thanksgiving services at st.
Paul's. Even the Te Deum, In which
Handel celebrated in triumph music
the victory Of Dettingen, did not
arouse ferver Of excitement and
peculiar acclaim equal to that excited
by the Premier's triumph at Berlin.
= All that was wanting was the seal of
the approval Of the sovereign. Accord
ing to the theory Of the country he
served and it's time honored doctrines,
the sovereign is the fountain Of honor
from whom all distinctions flow, The
various grades OF the peerage, from the
Baron to the Duke, owe their value to
the comparative nearness OF the peer to
that impossible gulf which In the final
issue separates even the highest eleva-
cially, the highest and the lowest peer
ages are technically equal. The straw
berry leaves of the ducal coronet Of q
Northumberland or Norfolk, q Devon
shire or Bedford confer no greater
privileges Of nearer access to an audi
enCe with Majesty than the simpler law
titles of the Baronage won by the gent
us and eloquence Of q BrOuEham or. q
Lyndhurst, an EldOn or u Cairns. The
,,,t al rryht ,,h
makes Portugal the equal of Great
Britain, Germany or Austria, is repeated
in the social equality before the law Oh
every one whose name is written in the
Red Book, where titles are CatalOgued.
But from the whole Of this mass of the
400 or more peers who form the House Of
Lords, the Queen has the power OF ele-
waiting some above their fellows. The
ancient order of knighthood, pure and
simple, has sunk into disrepute when
unassociated with any distinctive order.
But in proportion to its degeneration
from the rank it held in the days Of the
CrUsades and in the reigns Of the Henrys
and the Edwards, and which, in fact,
only began with the accession OF James
I, in 1903, the great orders have grown
in dignity. And the greatest Of all these
is that Of the, Knights OF the Garter.
The rank to which Lord Beaconsfield
was raised by the Queen the day before
yesterday Is the most illustrious In Eu-
that of the Golden Fleece Of Spain, the
Iron Cross, or the Maria Theresa
OF Austria The significance Of all
other decorations pales in comparison
with it. Its antiquity Is so great that
its origin is disputed Some antiquari-
ans have traced it to the time when
Richard /, the Lion-hearted,. besieged
Acre, and babe nineteen Of his Knights
TO wear a ribbon OF leather stained with
blue tint round their left leg as a pledge
of valor at the final assault. But there
is q more romantic tale than this. It is
said that In 1850, four years after the
battle of Greasy, when Edward Ill, of
England, was at the height and power
OF his glory, before the Black Prince
had sullied his fame by an alliance
with Pedro Of Spain, tn re was q great
ball at the palace. The Countess Of
Salisbury lost her garter in the dance,
and when the King picked it up and
noticed the smiles Of his courtiers, he
exclaimed, "Honi soft qua NAL q peaose, F"
and vowed that he would make the gar
ter an object Of ambition to the bravest
OF his knights and followers. Be this
story true or simply ben trOcGtO, las it may
be, it Is certain that the constitution of
the order, as 1t at present
exists. was founded at date
no later than 1850, and the number
OF the knights in Great Britain Is to-
day limited to twenty-six, precisely as
It was more than five centuries ago. In
this respect the only change was made
In the chapter which was held upon ST..
Georges day in l776, when statute
was passed In the chapel Of the order
providing for an extension of the limit
for foreign kings and princes and the
royal family Of England. The Queen is