GENERAL REMARKS.]
ORDER OF THE GUELPHS.
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Patent, or unless (as in the case of the Knights Commanders of the Bath 5 ) aright to the appellation of “ Sir” were given by a Royal Warrant.
In the case of Knights of the Order of the Guelphs, moreover, instead of itshaving been the intention of King George the Fourth, or of King William, thatthey should, ipso facto, become Knights Bachelors, there is proof that neitherof those Sovereigns ever for one moment supposed that such would be thecase; first, by their Majesties having always Knighted those whom they meantto make Knights Bachelors; and secondly, by King William having expresslyintimated his sentiments to that effect, and taken the opinion of the LordChancellor on the subject. 6
Though the Order may have lost some part of its value from the extraor-dinary number of persons who have received it, great lustre has been impartedto the Institution by its Ensigns having been worn by many Sovereigns,Princes, Statesmen, Warriors, and other Personages whose services have be-come part of the history of their respective Countries; and the List of Knightsis still adorned by various illustrious names, not of Hanover or Great Britainonly, but of nearly every Nation in Europe.
There appear to be, at this moment, about 1300 Members of the Orderof the Guelphs, who may be thus classed:
HANOVERIANS.
Knights Grand Cross. 42
Knights Commanders. 61
Knights. 291
394
FOREIGNERS.
Knights Grand Cross. 217
Knights Commanders. 216
Knights. 472
905
Grand Total. 1299
5 Vide History of the Order of the Bath, pp. 129, 203.
6 Towards the end of October 1831, a Memorandum was submitted to Sir Herbert Taylor, thenPrivate Secretary to King William the Fourth, containing a statement of the grounds (above mentioned)upon which it might be contended that all the Knights of the Order of the Guelphs became ipsofacto Knights Bachelors. That Paper was laid before the King; and Sir Herbert Taylor said, in aLetter, dated 3rd November 1831, that “His Majesty saw so much objection to the admission of the