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INTRODUCTION.

Crown, in the year 1834, “ as a National grievance and aNational dishonour.”

That the anomalies and inconveniences which prevail infour of the Orders, should not long since have been removed,is the more surprising, because it would occasion neithertrouble, difficulty, nor much expense; and without presumingin this place to state all the reasons which render suchchanges desirable, to point out what is required, or to suggestthe best means of effecting the alterations, it may be submitted,whether the existing defects do not tend to impair the dignityof the Institutions, and to lessen the value of the Honourswhich the Crown is pleased to bestow ?

If, in reply to these observations, it be said, that an exag-gerated value is here attached to Orders of Knighthood; thatit matters little in what condition they remain, or how absurdor how inconsistent may be their Statutes; that the differencebetween their practical administration and their constitution, isaltogether immaterial; that it is of no consequence, whetherthe instruments required by law, for their existence, have orhave not been duly executed; or whether the Orders begoverned by fixed rules, (to be modified or changed, only ina legal manner), or be subjected to whatever innovations theexigency of any particular circumstances may be supposed torequire, the proper answer would seem to be this :—that, if wellfounded, these might indeed be reasons for the discontinuanceof such Institutions; but that so long as they do exist, theywill be worse than useless, unless the Government considerthem of high importance, and manifest that opinion in every actrelating to them.