Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/533

242 THE ORDER OF SAINT STANISLAUS

Was founded on the 7th May, 1765, by Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowsky, to procure friends and adherents to his throne. He placed it under the patronage of St. Stanislaus, the patron saint of his country, as also of his own name.

The number of Knights was fixed at one hundred, exclusive of foreigners. The badge was a red enamelled cross, attached to a poppy red ribbon with white borders, worn across the right shoulder towards the left side: the middle of the cross, rested upon the Polish White Eagle, and on the obverse appeared a representation of the patron saint of the Order clad in the episcopalian ornaments, with the initials 'S. S,' (St. Stanislaus) at the side, while the reverse showed the initials of the King. The star which the Knights wore on the left side of the breast, was of silver, and exhibited in the middle the red initials of the King twisted round a lancet, and in the red ring, with golden edges, the legend: 'Praemiando incitat ' (Encouraged by reward).

The lavishness, however, with which the Order was distributed, soon lost it all due respect, while the division of Poland brought it into entire oblivion, though it reappeared on the stage for a while on the restoration of the other Polish Orders in 1807.

When the Duchy of Warsaw, subsequently, united her ill fate with that of France, the Emperor Alexander, as King of Poland, confirmed the Order on the 1st December, 1815, but wrought various modifications in it; he divided into four classes, and imposed upon the Knights (16th December, 1816) the annual tax of 4, 3, 2 and 1 ducats (according to the respective four classes), in support of the Foundling Hospital at Warsaw, a contribution that had indeed been instituted already at the first foundation of the Order.