The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 1901.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 3537, 9 April 1901, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 1901.

The announcement in our London cable grams yesterday that a South Africai war medal is shortly to be issued, can not fail to be very satisfactory to thosi who have shared in the campaigns againsi the Boers. This alacrity in recognising the distinguished services which have beei rendered by all branches of His Majesty'f troops in South Africa has not always found a counterpart in the annals of the British Army. Here are a few facts which may be of interest at the preseni juncture. We believe that the first Eng lish war medal was issued in 1568 by com mand of Queen Elizabeth. It is knowr to experts as the "Ark in flood" medal, and was issued only to' naval heroes. The first English Army medal was ordered tc be issued by Charles I. in 1643, the yeai .after the battle of Worcester, in whicl Prince Eupert was the victor. Six yean passed away; King Charles was executed; and in the following year the Englisl Parliament ordered a medal to be strucl and issued to all officers and soldiers who had fought under Cromwell at the battle of Dunbar, where he defeated the Scottish Army under General Leslie, or September 3rd, 1650. We can find nc record of an English Army medal betweer that date and 1793, and even then the coveted distinction was not issued till long afterwards—until, indeed, many thousands who would have been entitled tc it had passed away. It was our late venerated Queen, who, in 1847, ordered s medal to be struck, and issued to every surviving officer, non-commissioned officer, and private of the British Army who had served his country in any battle between the years 1793 and 1814. The formei .date marks the opening of the stupendoui war of the French Revolution; the latter, the entry of the Allies into Paris, the first fall of Napoleon, and the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne oi France. What torrent* of British blood were poured out and what heroic deeds were performed by British troops between 1793 and 1814! The period during which the service must have been rendered entitling a soldier to the great war medal covered the whole period of the Peninsula campaigns and stretched beyond them. To give the medal in 1847 was indeed a tardy recognition for what had been done and suffered. Those who fought at Waterloo in 1815, and had the good fortune to survive, received more speedy acknowledgment of their services, for in 1816 the Prince Regent ordered a medal to be struck, and presented to all ranks of tha Army who had-been in the battle. Since that time there have been a good many British war medals, each of the series having been well earned by the troops engaged, the last one on the list being the South African medal. It was stated in yesterday's cablegram that there would be twenty-four clasps in connection with the medal, each clasp representing a separate action; and we have heard the remark that the number constitutes " a record," a slangy expression but one that serves its purpose well enough. It- happens, however, that twenty-four is not a record in clasps, for in connection with the medal which Queen Victoria ordered to be struck in 1847 there were twentyeight clasps, the first clasp being for " Egypt, 1801," in which year Abercrombie fought and won the battle of Alexandria, which forced the French to evacuate the country and restored Egypt to the rule of the Sultan.