The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-04-06
A Few Decorations and Orders.

lConte empordry heFleW,I
The matter of orders is one of those
things which have attained such wonder
full development as almost to touch the
border of the ludicrous. There are in
all the German States together 800 spe-
cies of orders and decorations, if we
count all their degrees and variations,
decorations, and ribbons, and medals.
Of these there are in Prussia 1l6 (there
were once 1917, viz: Order of the Black
Eagle, l class, with 2 varieties; Order
of the Red Eagle, 8 divisions, with
~ 8, IA, 7, and 2 varieties re-
spectively, and more in ribbons; pour le
merite with 5 varieties; Order Of the
Crown, 4 classes with s, 6, 4, and 8 varie-
ties respectively; Order of House of Ho-
henzollern. with 21 varieties; Iron Cross,
3 classes; Order of Johanites, classes; 8
tokens of honor; for women, the Order of
Louise, with varieties; Cross of Merit
for women and girls. Besides these, the
Prince of Hohenzollern can, under royal
approval bestow cross of merit which
has 5 variations. In Bavaria there are
33, viz: 8 orders-Order of St. Hubert,
Order of st. George, Military Order Of
Max Joseph, Order of Bavarian Crown,
Order Of st. Michael, Order of Maxi
milan for Art and Science, Order
of Louis, Order of Military Mer-
it, Cross of Merit. -Four of these have
respectively 3, 6, 5, 6 variations. Then
there are medals and crosses of merit
besides. Kingdom of Saxony-5 orders
with 21 variations and l medal, in all
%. Kingdom of Wurtemberg-4 orders
with Is variations, besides 8 medals and
tokens of good service. Baden-3 or
ders with ID variations, besides 7 mill
tary orders and medals, and 2 civil med
ais of merit. Hesse-3 orders with Is
variations, and 2 crosses, in all II. SAKE
Weimar-1 order with variations and
2 medals, in all7, Mecklenburg-1 order
with divisions, ,sof which one has vari-
ations, A medals, and sometimes crosses
of merit, in all Is. Anhalt-1 order with
Variations and medal, in all s. Bruns-
wick-1 order with 3 varieties. Lippe-I
l order with 8 varieties and 2 medals, in
all 5. Oldenburg-1 order with z varia-
tions, medals, sometimes crosses of
honor; in all 10. Reuse orders with
3 variations each, in all 6. Saxon
Duchies--1 order with 9 variations.
Schwarzenburg-1 order with 4 varieties.
Waldeck--1 order with 2 varieties and l
medal, in all 8. All the remaining
States of Europe, including the Domin-
ion of the Pope, have together 76 orders,
with perhaps ITO variations. All the
States of the world, excluding Germany,
have between them 100 orders with, at
most, 210 variations. Consequently,
Germany does more alone in this article
than all the rest of the world put togeth-
er. And when we consider the number
of persons decorated by their own Gov
ernments in proportion with population,
not only Germany, but every single Ger
man State, does more than all the rest of
Europe combined. In this respect also
Prussia heads the list. How great is the
number Of orders given away every year
may be learned from the circumstance
that the budget for the General Orders
Commission shows its expenses for 1875
to have been 214,633 marks; for 1876, to
81 ,292 marks; for 1877, 1926 marks;
for 1878, 176,72l marks; for 1879,
922 marks. OF the last sum, 100000 went
for the purchase Of decorations, &c. 1t
must be understood, however, that every
man who receives an order unless it be
decoration in brilliants, the ir~n cross
or medal for saving life) hGs to sub
scribe deed binding himself to restore
the decoration at his death. This is the
case in most of the other German States
also, and in Austria. Thus the number
of decorations increases in an astonishing
manner.