THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 272, 21 December 1914, Page 4

THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

HOW IT ORIGINATED. Of "the Most Noble Garter," that splendid British decoration of which Lord Steyne was so proud, Lord Palmerston frequently said: "There is no damned nonsense about merit in it." Its membership is restricted to English and foreign royalties and to British peers whose political influence is needed by the Sovereign. Very few commoners have ever received the order. Sir Robert Walpole was the only one to receive the honour for 300 years. Lord who possessed it, sat in the House of Commons, but only because he was an Irish peer.. It was not given to Lord Nelson. The garter was instituted by King Edward 111., who wished to have some method of signalising his successes in France.

An insignificant episode of the court furnished the suggestion for both emblem and motto for the order. If the beautiful Countess of Salisbury had been more carefully dressed on a certain evening when it was her privilege to dance with the King, England might never have had a'great Order of the Garter. But the careless Countess of Salisbury lost her garter while she was dancing with the King, and the King picked it up, and, being a gay blade, he tied it around his own leg. AVERTS DOMESTIC QUARREL, FOUNDS ORDER OF THE GARTER. The Countess of Salisbury was greatly diverted by this humorous performance, but the Queen, so historians declare, could not see the joke at all. Being something of a diplomatist, the King sought to dissipate the coming domestic storm by giving back the garter to the lovely Countess. For a King he was a well-instructed person, and as he returned the garter he remarked:— '' Honi soit qui mal y pense.'' There you have it—the garter and its motto. The King immediately said that they would do perfectly well for his new order, whieh immediately became an immensely aristocratic organisation. —"New York Herald."