THE HONOURS INDUSTRY

Evening Star, Issue 22631, 24 April 1937, Page 19

THE HONOURS INDUSTRY

When Mr Baldwin remarked at question-time recently that 1 ‘ the more democratic the country the longer the honours lists,” he may have been thinking of our neighbours over the Channel and the wide choice of ribbons n available now that hereditary honours are given ,no longer (says the ‘ Manchester Guardian 5 ). Or he might perhaps have been viewing our own history. Probably we should be justiBed in dating the growth of democratic institutions in this country from the time of Walpole, and it was Walpole who began the process of multiplying “ ribbons, 55 though we must not forget the commercial process of baronet-making started by the Stuarts. Among minor expedients for strengthening his influence (wrote Morley, in his 1 Walpole 5 ) was one at which" philosophers may smile and which the party leader may in his heart despise, but which for practical purposes he is not likely to overlook. In 1725 Walpole induced thp King to revive the Order of the Bath. No creation had been made since 1661. “ The Minister bethought himself of it as a cheap way of rewarding a friend or buying off a possible foe. The bestowal of a red riband, moreover, would be convenient for staving off what in every generation is the_importunate demand for the blue. “ They who take the he told the <ud Duchess of Malborough, “ shall the sooner have the Garter. 55 A further step towards democracy was provided by Mr Pitt, “ the Great Levellerl, 55 as he has been called. In seven years Pitt made 85 new peerages, being careful to break down any nonsense about nobility. “ He*ennobled land owners, bankers, merchants, nabobs, and contractors, 55 and his example has since been followed with enthusiasm. ’ , , , So, too with ribbons. _ In Walpole s time the only ones available were the Garter, the Bath, and the Thistle, the latter being reserved principally for Scotland. The Union brought in Ireland with St. Patrick. The growth of the Empire produced St. Michael and St. George in 1818. India made new possibilities; the pressure of applicants added the Victorian Order, to be followed bv the immense Order of the British Empire and the much smaller Companionship of Honour. The Order of Merit is a thing as yet apart.