KNIGHTS OF THE THISTLE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 413, 22 February 1877, Page 3

KNIGHTS OF THE THISTLE.

In spite of its unfortunate designation, the Order of the Thistle is and deserves to be one of the most coveted distinctions. Sir William Stirling Maxwell is the first commoner on whom the honor has been conferred since the revival of the order by James 11. in 1867 under the name of the " Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of St. Andrew," or of the Thistle. The original Knights, eight in number, were George, Duke of Gordon ; John, Marquis of Athol; James, Earl of Arran, afterwards Duke of Hamilton ; Alexander, Earl of Moray ; James, Earl of Perth ; Kenneth, Earl of Seaforth; George, Earl of Dumbarton; and John, Earl of Melfort. The Duke of Hamilton had the rare distinction of: being Knight both of the Garter and Thistle. In 1711 he was created Duke of Brandon in the peerage of England ; but, upon applying for his seat in the House of Lords, it was objected that, by the 23rd Article of the Union, no peer of Scotland could, after the Union, be created a peer of England ; and their lordships so resolved after a protracted, debate. The decision was an eminently unjust one, and reversed in 1782; but Scotchmen were not beloved by the English of ■ Queen Anne's days. Leaders of Thackeray 1 may be interested to learn that at the time when Beatrix Esmond desired to wed the Duke, he must have been far on the road, of life between fifty and sixty, and either a widower or married for the second time. Of the other original Knights, Lords. Perth, Seaforth, and Melfort were subsequently attainted for high treason ; Lord Melfort by the Parliament' of Scotland, in .1695, " for having been seen at St. Gennains." "His heir is the present Earl of Perth and Melfort, who was restored to the honors of his house by Act of Parliament in 1853. The order, hoWever, as initiated above, is older than the.re.ign of James 11. Some Scottish historians trace it back to a very remote antiquity. The .Abbot Justinian says it was instituted by Achaius 1. in 809, when that monarch made •an alliance with Charlemagne, and took for his device the thistle. It is also stated that King Hungus, the Pict, had a dream in which St. Andrew paid him a midnight visit and promised him a sure victory over his foes, the Northumbrians ; next day St. Andrew's Cross (x) appeared in the air, and the Northumbrians were defeated. On this legend King Achaius founded the knightly brotherhood named after the saint. But the first' historical foundation of the order was by James V. in 1549. It consisted originally of himself, as Sovereign, and twelve Knights, in commemoration of Christ and his twelve apostles. Two years later King James, " the Knight of Snowdown," whom Scott has raised into a national hero of the whole British race, died of a broken heart, like too many of the House of Stuart, and the Order of the Thistle perished with him. Curiously enough, his great-great-grandson—-though a convert to Roman Catholicism—seems to have forgotten the religious significance the Thistle (like all true orders of chivalry) was meant to have; and named, as we have seen, but eight Knights. Queen Anne increased the number to twelve, and King George IV. to sixteen, at which it now stands, not counting Princes of the blood. The officers of the order are five in number, and include a Dean, Secretary, Deputy, Lyon King-of-Arms, and Gentleman Usher of the Green Rod.

Beyond the privilege of wearing a green riband across his waistcoat and a silver star on the left breast of his coat, a Knight of the Thistle is scarcely in substantial advantage better off than his less favored brother mortals ; but Sir William Stirling Maxwell's appointment may raise a weighty question of heraldic lore. Peers are entitled to no precedence in respect of any decorations with which they have been invested, but a Knight of the Garter, being a commoner, ranks immediately after the eldest sons of Barons and before Privy Councillors according to letters patent 9, 10, and and 14 James I.) Now the Knights of the Thistle claim to rank with, or at least immediately after, the Knights of the Garter, but it seems doubtful whether this claim has received even the implicit sanction of any Act of Parliament or letters patent,. For the wisdom of our ancestors thought it not beneath the dignity of Parliament to reguUte the scale M' precedence ; which

was accordingly done by the 31 Henry VIII., cap. 10, by I. Edward VI., cap. 7, and by I William and Mary, cap. 21. But of course none of these Acts apply to Scotland ; and the Act of Union, while regulating the precedent e of English and Scottish peers, inter s", is silent on the question of Knights of the Thistle. Nor have any letters patent issued by the Sovereign of Great Britain settled the point. It is possible that the Queen may be advised to settle the matter by the issue of letters patent in her own name. But it may be observed that generally the table of social precedence stands urgently in need of revision. As it now rules, the youngest son of the latest made peer is entitled to rank before a Field-Mar-shal or an Admiral of the Fleet, to say nothing of a G.C.B. The youngest son of an Earl ranks before all Privy Councillors and before the Lord Chief Justice of England and his ermined colleages. In the life of Ersk'ne it is recorded that the future Chancellor was one day at a Lord Mayor's dinner, to which the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas had also been invited. The absurd statutes of precedence were then, as they are now, often infringed, according to the dictates of good sense: and as ErsMne was then merely a young barrister, it had been arranged that the Chief Justice should go into dinner before him. Under ordinary circumstances Erskine would have submitted with the best grace in the world; but the Chief Justice had once, as he fancied, been rude to him in court, and he determined to take his revenge ; he accordingly insisted that afternoon on his right of precedence, which it was impossible to disallow. The Prime M'nister, again, has no precedence as such ; his office, indeed, never having been recognised in any Constitutional instrument. If a commoner, he ranks simply as a Privy Councillor, below such functionaries as the Master of the Horse and the Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, the eldest sons of Barons, Knights of the G-arter, and most of the members of his own Cabinet. Lord Beaconsfield, indeed, holds very high official rank, for the Lord Privy Seal, being a peer, takes precedence of the whole peerage, excepting Dukes of the Royal blood, the two Archbishops, the Chancellor, and the President of the Council. But this is the result of accident; the last Prime Minister who held the office of Lord Privy Seal having been Lord Chatham. In old times it was a special mark of distinction claimed by Bcions of Royal houses that they should be admitted to orders of knighthood while still young. There is a story that one of these gentlemen, whose chief consolation m life was to think himself descended from Louis the Fat, one day •sent for his son, of whom he had heard terrible tidings. The dutiful youth arrived post haste, to find his sire in bed and feigning to be ill from the shock of the intelligence he had received. "Is it true," Sir," Baid the old man, looking his offspring steadily in the face, " that you are thinking of accepting the Order of the Holy Ghost now that you are past the age of fourteen?" "Never, Monseigneur, never!" was the energetic reply. " Monsieur," continued the father, " this resolution does you infinite honor. I may add that it is fortunate you have taken it, , for had you answered otherwise than as I wished I should have blown out your brains." Here the fond parent drew forth a pistol loaded and cocked, which he had held under the bedclothes during the interview. Gulliver says that at the Court of Lilliput the King rewarded those of his lords who jumped the highest bv presenting them with threads of red", blue, or green silk ; but men commonly spoke with respect of stars and ribands till a much later period. The United States had hardly conquered there independence before an attempt was made by some officers in the American army to found an Order of Chivalry. On the badge to be worn by the Knights-Companions was a figure of Cincinnatus. Puritan and Republican opposition, however, proved ultimately too strong for eighteenth-cen-tury chivalry in the New World, and the renowned Order of Cincinnatus dissolved itself. But in France the Revolution could suppress the old orders but not the national taste for tinsel; and Napoleon restored the public worship of the Catholic Church and founded the Legion of Honour about the same time, to the great contentment of divers men of " moral order," who were flourishing in the year 1801-2.— ' Pall Mall Budget.'