Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/516

Rh and ten of the second, thirty-one of the third, and ten thousand two hundred and twenty of the fourth classes.

It may, by the statutes, be conferred:

1. On every ecclesiastic who has converted, at least, one hundred infidels, or heretics, to the Greek Church; who has brought back to loyal obedience some revolted peasants, or given important assistance to the soldiery. Also on those ecclesiastics, who have built cloisters or churches from other than Crown or State resources, who have served the State without pay for at least five years, or who have distinguished themselves in the arts and sciences.

2. On Military Commanders of a corps (stronger than a company or squadron), or of one thousand recruits, though in various divisions. To entitle the Commander to the decoration, the corps under his command must have occupied a distinguished position in the army for, at least, three years, and the number of its sick, or of the soldiers dismissed from service for bad conduct, ought not to have exceeded one in one hundred.

3. On persons in the Civil Service, who have managed to settle amicably, within three years, ten pending law-suits; on justices of peace who have arranged all the disputes before them; on those who have secured the future subsistence of widows, orphans, or the poor; who have procured to government an unexpected important advantage; have risked their life or property for public good; or have conducted satisfactorily an educational establishment for, at least, ten years, without any support from government.

The deliberations on the merits of the proposed candidates take place with closed doors, and are secretly voted in the Chapter of twelve Knights, composed of the eldest of each class residing in St. Petersburg. In war, the General-in-chief has the right to confer, at discretion, the decorations of the three lower classes.

The entrance-fee of the Knights of the first class is 60, of