DEGRADATION.]

ORDER OF THE BATH.

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thereof: and for so doing this shall be your Warrant. Given at Our Court atCarlton House, under Our Sign Manual, and the Seal of Our said Order, thisfifteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, in the fifty-fourthyear of Our Reign.

“ By command of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, inthe Name and on the behalf of the Sovereign.

“ Sidmouth.”

“ To Our trusty and well-beloved William Vincent,

Doctor in Divinity, Dean of Our Most Honour-able Order of the Bath.”

A Royal Warrant was afterwards issued to Bath King of Arms, to removeLord Cochrane’s Banner, Achievements, and Plate, from his Stall in KingHenry the Seventh’s Chapel, which was done on the 11th of August 1814.

Nothing can be further from the object of these remarks, than to contendthat Heresy, Treason, and Cowardice, are the only offences that should bevisited with Expulsion or Degradation. On the contrary, Expulsion ought,undoubtedly, to attend any act of dishonour, and any conduct incompatible withthe character of a Knight, and a Gentleman; 2 but a provision to that effectshould be found in the Statutes, and the omission of a clause to that effect,renders such a measure open to the objection of being, if not absolutely illegal,at all events inconsistent with the Statutes, contrary to precedent, and atvariance with the principle upon which penal enactments are construed inCourts of Justice.

These remarks are also applicable to the case of Sir Eyre Coote, who wasDegraded on the 25th of July 1816; but the proceedings respecting LordCochrane formed a precedent for expelling a Knight Companion for an offencenot mentioned in the constitution of the Order. The only remaining instanceof a Member being removed from the Order of the Bath, was that of CaptainHanchett of the Royal Navy, a Companion of the Order, who had been struckoff the List of Captains of the Navy; and His late Majesty, King George theFourth, commanded that his name should also be erased from the List ofCompanions of the Bath.

2 See the Statutes of St. Michael and St. George, Art. IX. postea, where a provision to that effectoccurs.