Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/237

Rh is in the form of a cross-patée of silver, having the same centre as the Grand Crosses, but without a gold Maltese Cross thereon. The star of the civil Knights Commanders is of the same form and size, only omitting the laurel wreath round the circle containing the motto, and the escrol with the words, "Ich Dien " underneath.

Motto—Tria juncta in uno.

The Officers of the Order are;—the Dean; the Genealogist, and Blanc Coursier Herald; the Bath King of Arms; the Registrar and Secretary; the Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod and Brunswick Herald; and the Messenger.

THE MOST DISTINGUISHED ORDER OF SAINT MICHAEL AND SAINT GEORGE.

Not long after the cession of Malta to Great Britain, and the submission of the seven Ionian Isles to the exclusive protection of the same power, it was deemed advisable to institute an Order of Knighthood for the purpose of bestowing marks of Royal favour on the most meritorious of the [onians and Maltese, as well as on British subjects who may have served with distinction in the Ionian Isles or the Mediterranean Sea.

was founded 27th April, 1818, by letters patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, and a Code of Statutes was promulgated on the 12th August following; but, by its third Sovereign,, the Constitution of 'St. Michael and St. George' was so materially changed, and its importance so much enhanced that His Majesty may almost be considered its second Founder. The new Statutes, framed by that Monarch, ordain that the King of the United Kingdom shall for ever be, that