TTTE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, POTITLAXD, OCTOBER IS, 1914.
3
ORDERS, jSr LQR on) MERIT
Wl oT NATIONS
$pr W I M f"': : r- . , i , cSr)
JgOR valor!"
These words upon the Vle-
toria Cross tell why the proud
est nobles, the greatest generals ot the
British forces, the master spirits of the
fleet, are as passionately desirous of
possessing this unpretentious bronze
medal as is Tommy Atkins of the rank
and file.
Tommy Atkins, warned off the fir
ing line by Father Time, may sit in his
iavorlte "pub" nowadays telling his'
tales of other days. If the listener
grows weary of the old soldier's prattle
there will always be some one to ex
plain: " 'E's a Victoria Cross man, Is
Tommy."
Then the listener may prick up his
ears and ask when and where the
treat deed was done.
Perhaps he will be lucky enough to
win from the superannuated soldier a
vivid account of the day when he bore
himself with such exceptional boldness
In the presence of the enemy that his
or her gracious majesty heard all about
It and sent him, In recognition of his
deed, this glorious cross of bronze.
And as he tells his tale there may
pass some very elegant old. person, 'one
'of the great ones of the land.
Victoria Cross Men.
Far removed Is this great personage
from the private soldier, now unfit for
service with the allies, one would say.
But "Tommy" may tell you of a hid
den bond which unites him to this pa
trician person, despite the terrible
chasm formed by caste and wealth.
" 'E's another of us," the old soldier
will say. The patrician person Is also
a Victoria Cross man. He may possess
In addition the orders of the Garter and
the Bath, but these don't so much mat
ter. They are only for the very great.
It is true, but they are not necessarily
a mark of service to the country.
The other orders have a part to play
In politics, and politics and social strat
egy affect their award. Not so the Vic
toria Cross. That is for valor always,
come high, come low. That is why men
wear the Cross with swelling hearts.
And why Tommy Atkins and the pa
trician are united by a common bond.
To each the bronze medal is but the
outward expression of the red badge of
oourage that flames in the heart.
The order was instituted In 1856, at
the close of the Crimean War, by Queen
Victoria, from whom it takes Its name;
and the Insignia, which Is said to have
been originated and designed by the
Prince Consort, is a small Maltese cross
pattee, of bronze, in the center of which
Is an imperial crown, with a lion above
It' and a scroll below, with the simple
Inscription, "For Valor." Indicative of
the care with which the Victoria Cross
Is awarded Is the significant fact that
no royal member of England's nobility
has ever worn this bit of bronze made
from a portion of a Russian gun cap
tured in the Crimean War. .
Any additional act of bravery Is de
noted by a bar affixed to the ribbon
from which the medal is suspended.
The ribbon Is blue for the navy and '
red for the army. The cross Is worn
on the left breast.
Awarded for Bravery.
To Rear Admiral C. D. Lucas, R. N.,
who died a short time ago, belonged
the distinction of receiving the first
award of the Victoria Cross "for con
spicuous bravery." In this connection
the story is told of the bombardment
of the Russian fortress of Bomarsund,
In the Baltic Sea, by an Anglo-French
force. In the midst of the hotly con
tested engagement a fused shell fell
sputtering on the deck of the Hecla,
to which Rear Admiral Lucas was then
attached as mate. But a fraction of
tinburned fuse lay between him and
annihilation, yet Lucas cooly picked up
the sputtering explosive and, with a
Jerk, flung It overboard. For this act
he was immediately promoted to a
lieutenancy and awarded the coveted
decoration.
Intrinsically worth but nine cents, it
Is Britlan's highest award to her In
trepid sons a bit of bronze whith no
royal personage has as yet worn, but
Is the outward stamp of royal courage
In a man, whether low born private or
peer In command.
All the other British orders are
awarded to royalty as a matter of
course, but the award of the Victoria
Cross merely as a prerogative of royal
ty and without its having been earned
by valorous deeds would excite a wave
of intense displeasure in England.
Although primarily a military medal,
the Victoria Cross was extended to
civilians who took up arms' in the In
dian mutiny. The decoration was ex
tended to officers and men of the In
dian army in 1911.
.The Iron Cross of Prussia bears
Romiwhat the same position among the
medals of honor of that country as
dues the Victoria Cross among the
medals of Great Britian.
An iron cross with a silver edge. No
prrent treasure certainly from a decora
tive or monetary standpoint.
Yet, when Emperor Wilhelm wanted
to testify his appreciation of the valor
of his sons in the recent engagements
In Belgium he sent a messenger scurry
ing across country to bear to the
Crown Prince and his brother the Iron
Cross of the second class. The humb
lest private of the German forces may
win the Iron Cross, and the Emperor's
son glories in its possession. No doubt
as the news of its bestowal on the
princes spread through the German
camps many a soldier, many a fiery
young officer who had given his all
for Germany and lay wounded, possibly
dying, felt sn added pang as he realised
that his own services, with all his try
ing, had not been sufficiently distin
guished to win for him this longed for
emblem.
Iron Cross of Prussia.
The Iron Cross of Prussia was found
ed in 1813 at Prussia's greatest moment,
when after her subjection by Napoleon
she summoned all her courage and
Military Order of Maria Theresa.! - tH J V ?'fv H U J Order ot St Andrew Husaa.
II &Jk$p WJ r i 2 v i" ft i , - i I i t , .Z tvwww!y ' I
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Military Order A William I ' K 1"' 1 "V -. g n-tT. .cru,. ' Tf1
jufcert Vtctoria Disibutmo)e CriiheanMedaU . Nl
Order of the Crescent, Turkey.
patriotism for the war of liberation.
King Frederick William IIL founded
the Iron Cross. It was revived again
In the Franco-Prussian' war of 1870.
The older medals have a crown and
the Initials "F. W. above the cross,
and the date 1813-1815 below. The
medals conferred in 1870 bear a W. for
King Wilhelm, Instead of the F. W.
(Frederick Wilhelm) of the older
medals.
There are three degrees of the cross.
The first, that of the grand cross, is
worn at the neck. The second, that of
the Iron Cross of the first class, Is
suspended by a ribbon, and the Iron
Cross of the second class, which was
the one which the Emperor conferred
upon his sons, is worn at the breast.
There is a unique decoration waiting
for the Russian General who may cap
ture Berlin.
This is the Grand Cross of the Order
of St. George. To win this order It Is
necessary for a Russian General to cap
ture the capital of an enemy or to de
feat decisively an army of not fewer
than 50,000. In the modern acceptation
of the order's meaning It would prob
ably be necessary to defeat a larger
army than 50,000. A modern general
could hardly hope to encounter so small
an army. The present standard of the
service required to win the order is
the command of a victorious army In
the field or the capture of an enemy's
capital.
Since the foundation of the order 150
years ago the Grand Cross of St.
George has been conferred upon only
four members of the imperial family.
Tsars Alexander I and Nicholas I. al-
uiuusu mcjf uwiii eerveu in wio
against Napoleon, received only the
fourth class of the order. Alexander
III received the order of the third
class. There were two women knights
of the order, the Empress Catherine,
who founded it. and Queen Marie of
Naples, who lost her throne hi spite
Emperor Alexander II of Russia con
ferred the cross upon Queen Marie be-
cause of her courage in defending the
fortress of Gaeta. Her heroism on this
occasion aroused the admiration of the
world.
In all ranks the Order of St. George
is awarded for exceptional bravery
The present war has already called
forth so many examples of remarkable
heroism in the Russian ranks that
numbers of soldiers have been made
members of the Order of St. George of
On September 3 It was announced
that 20 survivors of an Infantry com
pany which under a withering fire
from the enemy had saved a disabled
battery and rescued the wounded
gunners had received crosses of St.
George.
At the same time the Order of St.
Vladimir of the Sword was conferred
on General Rennenkampf, of the Rus
sian forces, according to the dispatches.
This order was instituted by Catherine)
II of Russia and Is an order of merit
having four classes. The decoration Is
a red "cross with the initial of St.
Vladimir.
The Order of Saint Andrew of Russia,
like the Order of the Garter in England,
is aristocratic There are usually not
more than a dozen men who are not
members of the imperial family of
Russia who are Knights of the Order of
St. Andrew. Its possession carries with
it admission to all other Russian orders
except that of St. George. Two women,
the present Empress and the Empress
Dowager, are knights of the order. The
insignia is a gold collar with a medal
lion pendant bearing the cross of St.
Andrew. On ordinary occasions the em
blem Is worn on the left hip attached
to a broad blue ribbon which crosses
from the right shoulder. On the left
breast Is worn the silver star with the
St. Andrew cross and crown.
Although the French Legion of Honor
confers honors upon those who serve
Legion of Honor (FraJ f SSy "f 8 Ct
' i J - . k
fV Order 0f the Crown ol naly7(fflllJ0nJr of Savoy. Itaty. kV j . 1 ?f
jjMedal ot toj- Wa r Depart metn( y ijUI NS The Iron Crost (Pnistia) ' 1
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the state in civil as well as In military
life, three-fifths of all the medals
awarded must go either to the army or
the navy. -Napoleon instituted this or
der in 1802 and it has since been modi
fied so that there are now five classes.
There are fewer than 100 men who
hold the grand crosses which are the
highest award of the order. Including
beth civil and military chevaliers the
order numbers 25,000. In each class
three-fifths of the members must be
soldiers or sailors.
The badge of the order is a five-rayed
white enamelled star. On the obverse is
a female head representing the republic
surrounded by the words "Republique
Francalse."
On the reverse are two crossed flags
with the words "Honneur et Patrle."
The star is suspended from an oak and
laurel wreath by a ribbon of scarlet
watered silk.
The members rise in rank from the
case of distlnKulshed foreignera No
ifrnoble pun,8hment can be Inflicted
any membeT as , he ronlalnB
jn the order
The order of Military Merit was in
stituted in 1759 by Louis XV, of France.
It has not been conferred since 1830.
Even more difficult to obtain than
the cross of St. George of Russia is the
croM f Maria Theresa- To wln tho
rand cro88 Jt ,s nQt alone necessary to
conquer an army In the field, but the
enemy's force must be superior in num-
MarJa Tbere b fc members of
theae alaQ aU generais admlrals or
th office of very hl rank wno
. ... ... ?
,,, ,, .,i
unvQ uccu anaiucu s.iis ucUi auuilB lur
hundred members' of the Order of t!t.
norcr nf T7im n K11 tV llvlno- lrnlo-rit.
of MarJa There8a number le88 than a
score. From 1815 until 1900 only 66
knights had been admitted to the order.
Visitors to Vienna once in a decade
may behold a 8tran(Je ,mpre8alva fu
neral cortege that of one of the
knights of Maria Theresa, The greatest
ceremony attends these obsequies, and
a knight in full armor, black with in
crustations of gold, rides before the
hearse on an ebon horse. Both horse
and rider are selected for their impres
sive appearance, and the mourning
trappings of the horse and gorgeous
mediaeval armor of the knight produce
an astonishing effect on the streets of
a modern city. The knight rides with
vizor lowered and bin lance and mace
are draped with crepe.
Those who know their "Vanity Fair"
very well will remember the great Lord
Steyne's penchant for stroking his
garter" knee and that other occasion
when the bitter old nobleman chose to
comment somewhat caustically on the
manner in which the fair Becky's hus-
band, Rawdon Crawley, rooked the
young Lord Southdown at the gaming
table.
"Damme what a tender mutton, what
a snowy fleece!" said Lord Steyne of crimson moire ribbon, which is re
Southdown as he watched the young placed on very spectacular occasions
nobleman at play with Rawdon.
The brilliant Backy chose to give
Lord Steyne a little thrust in return.
"Tour Lordship should know." she re
marked. "You are a knight of the or
der." By which bit of repartee she meant
not only to intimate that Lord Steyne
was a member of that most noble Order
of the Golden Fleece; but that In his
f
,
. : jcr--j
.,, .v,.t ,m
nrietv have carried the same name. He
had been, in other words, a very heavy
gamester in his day and much more se
riously damaging to his friends than
Rawdon himself.'
Order of Golden Fleece.
The Order of the Golden Fleece,
which Becky thus forced to serve Her
in verbal combat. Is a royal order . of
both Spain and Austria The two coun-
tries fought bitterly for its possession,
when at the death of the last Haps
burg who was to occupy a Spanish
throne, the German Emperor claimed
the order for the Hapsburgs.
The Golden Fleece was founded by
Phllip.'the Duke of Burgundy, in 1429.
The order remained with the House of
Burgundy until the death of Duke
Charles the Bold, when It passed to
the Emperor Maximilian of Germany.
When the HapBburgs ceased to occupy
the throne of Spain they declared that
the order belonged with them, but the
Bourbon kings of Spain thought dif
ferently and a furious contest arose.
The order is sometimes conferred
upon foreign dignitaries, but no one
who receives it from Spain may wear
it at the court of Austria,
The Insignia Is a golden fleece of a
ram worn around the neck on a broad
by a golden collar or Jewelled chain.
The Insignia is returned to the order
after the death of the knight, and in
this manner many famous men often
wear the same emblem of the order.
The fleece worn by Bismarck bad pre
viously been worn by that most un-
popular nobleman, the Duke of Alva,
Of "the Most Neble Garter," that
splendid British decoration of which
mf J
Victoria Cross (Enjjland).
? , Order of the Golden Kite (Japan), g
The Iron Cross (Prussia).
Lord Steyne was so proud. Lord Pal-
merston frequently said: "There Is no
FIGHTING QUALITIES OF THE AUSTRIAN
(Continued From Page 2.)
slan fighting man to defeat the wonder-
ful Napoleon, which was accomplished
in the three-day battle, October 16 to 1.
1813. It was the first real cood whack
the Austrian soldier had got in on
Bonaparte and the blow was a3minis-
tered with force in remembrance of past
humiliations. Then came Waterloo, in
which, through the vagary of fate, the
fighting man of Austria was to have no
part, the battling being done by an
allied army of British,
Dutch, German
and Belgian soldiers.
In 1849 the Austrian soldier was
called upon to subdue rebel Hungary.
He was beaten again and again' and
Vienna was occupied by revolutionists
who drove out the loyal troops. Louis
Kossuth was made head of the Hun-
garlan republic proclaimed. Austria,
unable to conquer Hungary, called on
Russia for aid. Joined, by Russian
soldiers, the Austrian fighting man
subdued Hungary. In 1859 the war
, of Italian liberation began, and
Austria, possessing a good portion of
Italy, sent her soldiers there to fight
the combined armies of France and
Italy. The Austrian fighting man was
whipped at Magenta and again at Sol-
ferino. Prussia came to the aid of Aus-
tria in the way of a covert ultimatum,
and peace was declared with Austria re-
taining Venetia and the Quadrilateral,
In 1864 the Austrian soldier Joined
wlth hls Prussian kinsman in a war on
Denmark ln th dispute over the ruling
Or tne bCnieSWlg-HOISteln dUChieS,
which had been part of the Danish
King's dominions under certain restric-
tlons. Victory Was SO easy OVer thlS
comparatively weak kingdom that It
could hardly be called a war. Austria
an. T mtfM M-n. .t... ...... X. I . I . 1
Then camo th war Detwoen iUBtr
and Prussia over the prize bone as
Bismarck had planned it should. The
fighting man of Austria was sent
against the fighting man of Prussia,
and at the battle of Sadowa, July S,
1S66. he bit the dust again, 20,000 Ans
trians being killed and wounded, and.
18,000 were taken prisoners. It was
just a one battle war and its result
was that Austria had to pay 40,000.000
thalers Indemnity and resign all her
rights in Schleswlg-Holsteln. And as
a finality and consequence Austria was
denied all future .participation in Ger
man affairs and forced through lost
prestige to grant Hungary a separate
Diet and Ministry and to change the
official title of the oountry, after cen
turies of usage, to the "Austro-Hun-g'arian
Monarchy." The Austrian BOldler
lit his pipe and smoked complacently as
next caU for &gbtiDg
There shines through the dusk of cus
tomary Austrian- reverse the gleam of
many noteworthy feats of arms that
serve as militant palliation.
For nearty ZOO years tne fighting man
of the Hapsburg line struggled to keep
the Tnrk out of Austrian dominions.
It is an episode in one of these
Turkish wars that the Austrian looks
back with a broad national pride in his
fighting man.
A mighty army of Turks under Soly-
man X marched Into Styri during the
damned nonsense about merit in It."
Its membership is restricted to English
and foreign royalties and to British
peers whose political Influence is
needed by the sovereign.
Very few commoners have ever re
ceived the order. Sir Robert Walpol
was the only one to receive the honor
for S00 years. Lord Palmerston, who
possessed it, sat In the House of Com
mons, but only because he was an Irish
peer. It was not given to Lord Nelson.
The garter .was Instituted by King
Edward III. who wished to have some
method of signalizing his successes in
Franca
An insignificant episode of the court
year 1532 and came upon the hitherto
obscure town of Guntz. near the fron-
tier of that district: The place was
badly fortified and defended by only"
800 troops. But these troops were un-
der an Austrian soldier, Nicholas Juris-
sits. The town was assailed on every
side by the Turks, who planted their
artillery on the neighboring hills and
even on mounds of earth raised above
the tallest buildings ot the town. Breach
after breach was made and assault fol-
lowed assault. But the skill, vigilance
and bravery of Jurissitz and his in
trepid garrison withstood a siege of 28
days, and the Sultan's army or the
portion devoted to the siege had to
march on defeated, leaving the town
still in Austrian hands. The event is in
itself apparently only a petty incident
of war, yet the delay of 28 days so
affected the Sultan's plans that he had
to 'abandon the campaign and, Anally
retreat. Hungary was not attacked
again for years. The story of the de-
fense of Guntz is one of the glory spots
of Austrian history.
During the Thirty Tears' War there
developed three famous war Captains
whose names are still celebrated in
military annals. They fought under
the banner of Princes arrayed against
one another because of religious differ-
ences. and their deeds for this reason
have a lamentable brilliance. During
these 30 sanguinary years it was con-
stantly -Catholic against Protestant. and
the8e g.reat Captains marched back and
frtVi nv. R.ntiin anil t snhilna nr
defend, entirely because of religious
differencea Against a foreign foe their
t.l..l. ni,tH hovo Immnrlal.
ity for them.
The greatest of these fight leaders
was probably Albert Wenceslaus Euse-
blue Waldsteln, commonly called Wal
lensteln, He offered to levy, equip and
maintain an army of 60,000 men pro
vided he was named as absolute com
mander and permitted to appoint his
officers. The Emperor accepted, named
Wallensteln Duke of Friedland. and
soon the duke had raised a force of be said that no fighter of the other
more than the number promised, find- nations can match the Austrian bat
ing little trouble in enlisting recruits tier In one important respect forti-
under the banner of the Austrian mon
arch because of the hope of plunder.
Another famous General was John
Tzerclas, afterward Count of Tilly.
who had greatly distinguished himself
In Hungarian wars. The third famous
commander of the period, but enlisted
in the service of the Elector Palatine,
or Protestant champion, was Count
Mansfield, natural son of Ernest Count
Mansfield, who had commanded
the
Spanish army In the Netherlands.
Wallensteln invaded Denmark and
forced King Christian to flee and final-
ly sue for peace. Because his mer
cenaries had become as obnoxious to
Catholic as Protestant, Emperor Ferdi
nand dismissed him. but not before he
tad defeated Mansfield at Dessau, in
1627, and had ravaged large areas and where the much beaten Austrian sol
threatened to obtain control of the dier replenishes his fight vim. If you
Baltic This last act brought the re- should ask him about It he would
doubtable Gustavus Adolphus Into the probably look at you In a tolerant way.
fray. Tilly laid siege to Magdeburg shrug his shoulders heft his gun, test
In 1631. finally taking it by storm and the trigger and fall in with an "lea
permitting his bandit so Idlers to rob die a."
furnished the suggestion for both em
blem and motto for the order. If the
beautiful Countess of Salisbury had
been more carefully dressed on a cer
tain evening when It was her privilege
to dance with the King, England might
never have had a great Order of the 1
Garter. But the careless Countess of
Salisbury lost her garter while she
was dancing with the King, and the
King picked it up and. being a gay
blade, he tied It around his own leg.
The Countess of Salisbury was great
ly diverted by this humorous perform
ance, but the Queen, so historians de
clare, could not see the Joke at all.
Being something of a diplomat, the
King sought to dissipate the coming
domestic storm by giving back the
garter to the lovely Countess.
Order of the Garter.
For a King, he was a well-instructed
person, and as he returned the garter
he remarked:
"Honl soit qui mal y pense."
There you have It the garter and
its" motto. The King immediately said
that they would do perfectly well for
his new order, which immediately be
came an Immensely aristocratic organ
ization. The Order of the Bath comes down
from the days of knighthood, when the
Investiture of a knight Included the
administration of a thorough bath. Af
ter the candidlates for knightly honors
had been bathed be was put to bed
until he dried. When dry he was
dressed in splendid new clothes, after
which he went to chapel, and then ap
peared before the King to be knighted.
Both military and civil services to
the state are rewarded by the Order of
the Bath. There are several classes
of knighthood, and also a grade below
the knights, called the Companions ot
the Bath.
There are scores of other orders be
longing to the European countries,
among the most famous being the
Black Eagle of Prussia, the Red Eagle
of Prussia, the Prussian Crown, the
Hohenzollern. the Cross of Merit of
Prussia, an order conferred on women
for war services; the Order of the An
nunciation of Italy, the Military Or
der of Savoy, the Crown of Italy, the
White Eagle of Servia, the Crescent of
Turkey, the St, Michael and the St.
George of Great Britain and the Vic
toria and Albert of Great Britain.
Switzerland is In fact the only coun
try in Europe that has no orders. And
yet Switzerland has more patricians
than any other place and the Swiss
patricians are more patrician-like than
those of elsewhere.
and murder. Later at Leipzig. Sep-
tember 7, 1631, Tilly was beaten by
Gustavus and within a few months was
killed while rallying his troops to at-
tack the Swedish King at the crossing
of the .Lech. On this field 7000 Aus-
trians were killed or wounded. Mans-
field took Pllsen, in Bohemia, early in
the war after an obstinate resistance,
Mansfield died, shortly after and the
war progressed with varying fortunes
for years, until the victories of Gus
tavus forced the Emperor Ferdinand to
recall Wallensteln. He demanded un
limited authority and received it. An
other army soon gathered around him.
He quickly drove the Saxons out of
Bohemia. Near Nuremberg he was at
tacked by Gustavus, but beat the great
Swede back. At Lutzen, November 15.
1632, the celebrated battle was fought
between Wallensteln and Gustavus.
The Swedish King was killed and the
Austrian commander had to withdraw,
leaving his artillery. Wallensteln was
assassinated early in 1634.
There are those students of history.
who might claim that the often de-
feated Austrian soldier is in reality a
Swiss soldier gone wrong. For a close
tracing of the Hapsburg line shows
that the earlier members of the dis
tinguished family were certainly Swiss.
The Castle of Hapsburg, built In the
11th century on a great shelf of rock
along the banks ot the Aar in Switzer-
land, was the home from which their
history . is reckoned. Surrounding
lnnria wr nirir! n nri lst.r thon wra
formed into an archduchy. If the
original Hapsburgs were Swiss, so was
ti nrlirinal Hunshnri; nllr SwIul
As soon as the Hapsburg Swiss became
a landgrabber he changed into a Haps-
burg Austrian.
Then came the clash.
Three great battles participated in by
the Austrian soldier were waged against
his Swiss brother. As usual the Aus
trian soldier was beaten. But the fights
proved the courage of both battlers.
Weighing the martial ingredients
that go to make the soldier, it may
tude in defeat. Nowhere will you find
a man in uniform who will come back
for more so often and thrive so on
bullets and bayonets. .
It may be the Austrian soldier has
always had an Intuition that he must
fight to keep his country on the map.
and be satisfied with that. Remem
bering how Austria In the past has
used her soldier to help all he could
toward the annihilation of Hungary,
Bohemia and Poland nationally, it is
very possible such Intuition is his, and
with good reason.
Echoing down through the Tyrol
there is always a bugle call to battle.
It is ever in the mountain air, borne
on the breeze from crag to crag, the
defi of the Alps. Perhaps this Is
V