Masonic Red Cross Order And The Imperial Constantinian Order Of Saint George.

ample means of refuting any manifestly unfaithful and untrustworthy reference to the then declining organisation of the members of the Order—for it evidently had even then members , otherwise the qnalifying terms used would have been

unnecessery . At the same time , it must be left to be inferred , whether the selected band appointed to guard the " Labarum , " originally represented a strictly chivalric Order of Knighthood , or whether its original constitution did not gradually

conform to the change of the times , until , at a period much later than the fourth century , and yet considerably anterior to the date of the published Statutes , it had perhaps almost imperceptibly merged from the Classic into the Chivalric

typedeveloping itself from a cognate principle , rather than sustaining an orig inal and fully organised character .

Under any circumstances however , we need not pause longer to discuss this point , for no earlier Statutes of any Order than those of A . D . 1192 have reached us ; and although there are records , of a prior date , pertaining to the distinctive

Beligious Military bodies corporate , subject to monastic rule , * the Constitution of these latter fraternities was so essentially dissimilar to that of the Orders of Honorary Knighthood as to form a separate class , in the general system ; and

therefore , it can scarcely be denied , that taking the date of its Statutes , as the legal test of antiquity , on purely historical grounds , this Imperial Order must be considered , the premier of Christendom . But if a looser interpretation were advisable , even then , there is no other Order of Chivalry , that can trace its course throus-h that earlier social

metamorpldc period , to the not however " speechless" ! though remote past , of the Constantinian epoch ; ancl between the fifty Christian champions , that rallied round the Labarum , and the Chivalric Knights of Isaac Angelus , there was probably a difference only , as it were , in degree and not in kind .

The advantage of confining arbitrarily the origin of this Order , to the twelfth century is this , that it cuts off the pretexts of tradition , by which comparatively modern Orders , like those of " The Dannebrog , " and " The Thistle , " might claim an almost coeval , although entirely apochryp hal foundation .

By the second article of the Statutes of the Emperor Isaac Angelus , it is decreed , that " the lawful Emperor alone , of the Roman Empire his heirs and successors , to the throne , shall be for evermore , the sovereigns , of this Most Holy , Host

Noble , and Most Illustrious Order of Knighthood ; ancl that he alone shall have the power of creating , of degrading and of restoring its members—¦ of reforming its Statutes and of judging all differences arising between Knights of all degsees "

The founder , or the sovereign , by restricting the Grand Mastership of an Order to his heirs ancl successors , would scarcely provide for the contingency , of an alien race of princes , while any of the original dynasty existed . But in the nature

of things , a revolution might give to an usurper the opportunity of interpreting to his own advantage the meaning of the term " successors , " and while such a contingency was overlooked by Henry III of France , * at a still later period a similar error was obviated by a special clause , in the Statutes of the Orders of St . Michael and St .

George , of the Ionian Isles . The Byzantine Princes seem to have even when usurpers striven to perfect their power by a family alliance whereby hereditary claims might be transmitted on the mothers' side ; aud indeed , nearly all

claimed a descent from the Flavian family , which of course they had not . As for the competency to sell a family , or dynastic Order — which , however , that of the Byzantine Empire was not—such a power would be incompatible with the nature of an heir loom .

The Grand Master might indeed , by a private arrangement , virtually dispose of the liferent , as it were , of his dignity ; but no such act would have the effect of disqualifying the natural heirs , nor could the former alienate that of which blood

affinity is the essential quality—as in like manner , no man can by his own public advertisement relieve himself of a legal obligation . f It was the practice , when two Emperors reigned conjointly as colleagues , that the Grand

Mastership of the Byzantine Order was invariably vested in the senior ; ancl in the case of a female sovereign , it appertained to her alone , but was conveyed jure-uxoris , to the consort whom she might elevate to the honours of the purple . J And again , in the case of a divided succession , the