Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/701

334 ber, 1798, while Charles XIII. added to them, on the 9th July, 1814, supplementary bye-laws.

The Order consists of:

1. Commanders with the Grand Cross.

2. Commanders.

3. Knights of the Grand Cross, first class, and

4. Knights.

The first class, that of Commander of the Grand Cross, is only conferred in time of war, for some signal victory gained by land or sea. Not even the King himself can obtain this cross without the unanimous approval of the army—an instance of which happened with Gustavus in 1789.

To be eligible for commanders, the rank of, at least, a general is required. To this class belong the royal princes by birth.

No one below the rank of Major-General is admissible to the third class. The candidate must have commanded a division or a corps at a siege, or in a battle, or been employed against the enemy in the capacity of a Division-General.

To be admitted to the fourth class, the rank of Captain and a service of twenty years are required.

The reception of the Knights takes place without religious ceremonies in the royal apartments, in the presence of the Grand Cross members of the Order, of the Knights of the Seraphim, and the Commanders of all the other Swedish Orders. By the oath, the Knight binds himself "to defend with life and property the Evangelico-Lutheran religion, to serve faithfully the King and the country, and to combat courageously against the foes of the country." When a foreigner is elected Knight of the Grand Cross, the insignia are sent to him abroad, while he, in his turn, transmits to the Archives of the Order a statement of the services rendered by him.

The revenues of the Order are applied to pensions granted by the Chapter to the Commanders and Knights.