GENERAL REMARKS.]

HONORARY MEDALS.

49

The number and classes of Distinctions conferred, will, however, be bestshewn by the annexed table:

Medal only. 469

Medal and One Clasp. 143

Medal and Two Clasps. 72

Cross. 61

Cross and One Clasp. 46

Cross and Two Clasps. 18

Cross and Three Clasps. 17

Cross and Four Clasps. 8

Cross and Five Clasps. 7

Cross and Six Clasps. 3

Cross and Seven Clasps. 2

Cross and Eight Clasps. —

Cross and Nine Clasps. 1

Total number of Distinctions conferred.. 847

To these Remarks on the Military Medals, it seems proper to add the obser-vations of the Duke of Wellington, respecting the principle upon which herecommended Officers for the Distinction; together with his opinions on thesubject generally.

On the 11th of July 1811, His Grace replied in the following terms to aLetter from the Earl of Liverpool, Secretary of State for the War Department:

“ I have had the honour of receiving your Lordship’s letter of the 22nd June,in which your Lordship desires to have my opinion, as to the restrictions whichit may be expedient to put upon the grant of Medals to British Officers, for dis-tinguished merit displayed upon such occasions as the Battles of Vimiero,Corunna, Talavera, and Barrosa.

“ My opinion has always been, that the grant of a Medal to an individualOfficer, ought to have been founded originally, partly on the importance of theoccasion or action which it was intended to commemorate, and partly on theshare which the individual Officer had had in the Action to be commemorated;and that Medals should have been granted for important Actions only, and tothose engaged in them in a conspicuous manner, whatever might be their rankin the service.

“ It was decided, however, that Medals should be granted on the same prin-ciple only, but following strictly the example of the grant of Medals to theNavy, notwithstanding, that an Action on shore is very different from anAction at sea; and the merit of the different classes of individuals are likewise

H

¥