Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/744

Rh The affairs of the Order are managed by a Chancellor elected from the first class, a Secretary, taken from the second class, and an Archivist, who is not necessarily bound to be a member of the Order.

ORDER OF THE WHITE CROSS.

Was founded by the Grand-Duke Ferdinand III., in 1814, after his restoration to Tuscany. This, an_ exclusively military decoration of merit, is named from the colour of the cross: it is not infrequently styled the Cross of Loyalty.

ORDER OF MILITARY MERIT.

On the 19th of December, 1850, the Grand-Duke Leopold instituted, for officers of ail degrees, a long service decoration for thirty years' uninterrupted duty, intimating at the same time his intention of founding, at some future period, a similar badge of distinction for officers who might distinguish themselves by signal acts of merit for the good of their country. Three years afterwards (19 December, 1853,), this promise was fulfilled by the creation of the Order of military merit. It has three classes. The first and second consist usually of officers, and the third, of sub-officers and privates. If a commoner be honoured with the first class decoration, he receives, with it, hereditary nobility designated from some locality near his place of nativity or domicile. The sub-officers and privates, who obtain the third class decoration, have a right to an increase of 100 lire per annum until their promotion to the grade of officer. Should they quit the service from bodily infirmities