GENERAL REMARKS.]

HONORARY MEDALS.

55

in a defensive position. This distinction is fairly deducible from the differentnature of the operations. In the former it is very difficult to tell who is, andwho is not engaged in musketry. All are at times, to a certain degree, exposedto it; and I perfectly recollect seeing the Household Brigade at one time in asituation in the pursuit in which they were so. In an Action in a defensiveposition, there are always some troops so situated as to have no share whateverin the Action; some may be at the distance of miles from it, and in those casesI apply the rule strictly. In Actions such as Salamanca and Vittoria I do not.” 2

On the extension of the Order of the Bath in January 1815, the SecondClass, or Dignity of Knight Commander, was conferred upon such Colonelsand Lieutenant-Colonels as had obtained five or more Medals, or equivalentMarks of Distinction ; 3 and it was understood that Medals were never again tobe given, either for Naval or Military Services; but that the merits of Officerswere in future to be rewarded with the Crosses of that Order.

The Medals, Clasps, or Crosses of Honour can only be worn with theUniform; but there does not appear to be any sufficient reason for thatregulation.

The Medals instituted in 1830 and 1831, to reward the long services andgood conduct of Seamen, Marines, and Soldiers, shew that the Governmenthad at length become sensible of the expediency of encouraging the lower ranksof the Army and Navy by Honorary rewards. But a serious mistake wasmade, in declaring that those Distinctions should only be given when the manwas discharged, instead of their being conferred during the period of his service.The true object of rewards, as of punishments, is that they may act as anexample to others; and the effect of those Medals must be much greater whenthey are conspicuously worn among a soldier’s comrades, or a sailor’s ship-mates, than when those on whom they are intended to act as an incentive, seethem only for a moment just before the man departs, perhaps for ever, fromamong them. Honorary Distinctions should be given to the faithful Soldieror Seaman while the Country can have the advantages which they are likely toproduce upon himself, as well as upon others. They should be conferred inthe most public manner, on parade, or before the whole crew on the quarter-deck, attended by some forms of solemnity,—such as the display of the Colours,

2 Dispatches of the Duke of Wellington, vol. XI. p. 6t20.

3 Ibid. vol. XII. p. 519.