60 AWARDED FOR VALOUR
to the ambition of the humblest soldier – a road is open to honour which
thousands have toiled, and pined, and died in the endeavour to attain;
and private soldiers may now look forward to wearing a real distinction
which kings might be proud to have earned the right to bear. The old
spirit of exclusiveness, which, while limiting the Order of the Bath to
field-officers only, yet dissipated its honours on the whole staff, may be
considered to have terminated when policemen and parkkeepers, officers
and privates, captains and foremost sailors stood side by side as they did
yesterday in the presence of their Sovereign to receive at her hands that
high reward for deeds which all had earned alike. Let us hope that with
this last bright episode of the great Russian war the old regime under
which the heroism of the private soldier was ignored is at an end, and that
the Victoria Cross will muster among its wearers a glorious roll of rank
and file, who have always signalized their bravery, but until now in vain.
If the campaign in the Crimea has effected only this, it has done more
towards maintaining the high efficiency of our Army than any military
distinction founded since the days of Marlborough.^59
The cases arising out of the Crimean conflict did not resolve all of the
potential questions concerning the award. The units involved in the Crimea
represented only a fraction of the military establishment of the British Empire
and a narrow range of the tasks those forces performed. Even as the Queen
made the first presentations of the Victoria Cross on 26 June 1857 a series of
events unfolded half a world away that would result in further clarification
of what the Cross was and was not.
The Indian Mutiny opened several new controversies and contributed to
the further definition of the official boundaries of heroism. For the first
time since the inception of the award troops not under the direct control
of the Crown were engaged in combat against the foes of the Empire. Also
for the first time Clause VII of the warrant, providing for the provisional
bestowal of the VC by a commander in the field, came into play. There
were opportunities to fine-tune other clauses as well through situations that
arose on the subcontinent and elsewhere in connection with the Mutiny.
The main question facing the masters of the armed forces was whether
or not to include troops employed by the British East India Company as
eligible under the provisions of the warrant, and if so, how and to what
extent. The troops in question were a mixed bag of white troops hired
directly by the company and native units commanded by white officers. This
unusual amalgamation was further complicated by a lack of central control
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