86

HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF

JFees.

It is a remarkable feature in the History of the Order of Saint Michael andSaint George, and one by which it is honourably distinguished from all theother British Orders (the sums demanded on admission into which, vary fromthe trifling amount of £6, to ,£800), that no Fees whatever are paid hy theKnights ; and this fact is the more creditable, because none of the Officers haveany salary, emolument, or advantage from their situations. Nor has the usualFee of £108 to the Lord Chamberlain’s Department, on receiving the honourof a Knight Bachelor from the Sovereign, ever been paid by any Knight of thisOrder.

C&e <£ranb faster.

The Letters Patent creating the Order, declared that, “the Lord High Com-missioner in and for the United States of the Ionian Islands for the time being,or such high and distinguished person serving in the Naval or Military Forcesof the Sovereign, in the Mediterranean, as he might appoint, should be theGrand Master of the Order 1 and that Instrument afterwards stated, that theSovereign did “ ordain, constitute, and appoint Our right well-beloved Coun-cillor Sir Thomas Maitland, Lieutenant-General in Our Army, Our Lord HighCommissioner in and for the said United States of the Ionian Islands, OurGovernor of the said Island of Malta and its Dependencies, and Commanderof Our Forces in the Mediterranean, Knight Grand Cross of Our MostHonourable Military Order of the Bath, to be the first Grand Master of thesaid Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, to hold the sameduring the time he shall have and enjoy the said high and important Office ofLord High Commissioner, in and for the said United States of the Ionian

1 Vide p. 7, antea.