Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/489

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DECORATIONS.

salutary and effective in all directions of our present age, and on the other, remove and remedy chivalrously all that is evil and obnoxious in society, not by means of the sword and combat, not by secret workings, but solely by those means in which all Christian confessions might and should unite, by active exercise of the will of God, in the consciousness of success and divine love.

"The motto of the Order is to be: 'Gott mit uns' (God with us).

"FREDERICK WILLIAM.

"Berlin, Christmas Eve, 1843,"

MEDALS AND DECORATIONS OF HONOUR.

1. Medal for 1813 and 1814.—This bronze medal was instituted on the 24th December, 1813, at Frankfort-on-theMaine, by King Frederick William III. It was presented to all the military who were present at any one of the battles or sieges during the war in 1813 and 1814. The obverse shows beneath the crown the initials of the founder, with the inscription: 'Preussen's tapfern Kriegern' (To Prussia's brave warriors), surrounded by the legend: 'Gott war mit uns, ihm sei die Ehre' (God was with us, to him the honour). The reverse exhibits a cross upon rays, and in the middle surrounded by a laurel wreath, are the years: '1813 or 1814,' or both, according to the share the recipient has had in either or both of those campaigns. On the edge is the legend: 'Aus feindlichem Geschütze' (From the enemy's guns). (Tab. III. No. 18).

2. A similar medal of iron, containing the inscription ' Für Pflichttreue' (For faithful duty), was instituted for the civil officers who had taken part in the above campaigns. (Tab. III. No. 17.):