Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/75

Rh The two smaller medals show on the face the effigy of the Emperor, with the inscription: 'Franciscus Aust. Imp. Hun. Boh. Gal. Lod. Rex. A. A.' (Tab. IV. No. 31), the reverse, the Scales of Justice, Sceptre, and Mercury's staff, and above them a crown with the inscription: ' Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum' (Justice is the foundation of empires). These medals are worn on the left side of the breast, suspended by ared ribbon. Of particular distinction is the great medal suspended by a golden chain.

5. The Cross of the Bohemian Nobility.—It was conferred, 1814, by Francis I. on those of the Bohemian nobility, who had formed, during the war of that year, a volunteer body guard, which accompanied the person of the Emperor throughout the whole campaign. It is bestowed on no one else. It is red enamelled, bears in the centre the white Bohemian lion, with the inscription: 'Nobilibus Bohemis bello gallico fidis corporis custodibus Franciscus Augustus, MDCCCXIV.' It is worn on the left side of the breast, suspended by a ribbon of three equal stripes, red in the middle and white at the two extremes.

6. The Military Decoration of 1814 (Tab. IV. No. 30), is a cross of the same shape as the Civil Cross of Honour, but rests, in distinction, on a laurel wreath; is cast from the French guns captured in the war, and is worn at the button hole suspended by a dark yellow ribbon with black borders. It belongs indiscriminately to all uniforms of the military who served during the campaigns of 1813 and 1814, and may be worn by them even after their retiring from service. The owners are also allowed to have their names engraved on the edge of the Cross. There were originally only one hundred thousand of them manufactured, viz. four thousand large, six thousand middling, and nine