Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/73

Rh equally of gold, pantaloons of white casimir with golden trimmings.

The decoration (Plate 7. Tab. IV. Nos. 23 and 24) is a white octagonal cross suspended by a black ribbon; but the embellishments attached to it, are different in the different countries where the Order exists under royal authority. (See Spain and Prussia).

MEDALS AND DECORATIONS OF HONOUR.

1. The Civil Cross of Honour.—This, of all the decorations of honour in Austria, deserves peculiar notice. It was founded by the Emperor Francis I. in 1814, and distributed personally by him on the 26th May, 1815. It occupies the first rank in public estimation next to the Orders of Theresa and St. Stephen, and forms a sort of transition from Orders to decorations of inferior degree. It was conferred as a civil honour for zeal and merit displayed during the critical years of 1814 and 1815.

A committee of several Ministers of State, under the Presidency of the Minister of Justice, Count Wallis, had been formed to judge of, and enquire into the merits of the candidates.

Only two hundred out of four thousand competent candidates were honoured with the Cross. The strict and rigid enquiry into the merits of the candidates has caused this distinction to be highly prized by the public.

Upon the obverse of the Cross (Plate 7. Tab. TV. Nos. 25 and 29) are the words: 'Libertate Europæ asserta 1813—14' (Europe's liberty maintained), and upon the reverse: 'Grati Principes et Patria, Franciscus Imp. Aug.' (the Prince and country are grateful). It was presented in gold and silver,