But though the granting of campaign medals was a step in the right direction, it tended to level up the ordinary brave soldier and the soldier possessing exceptional merit, and this, of course, was a principle unsympathetic to English feeling. Accordingly, we find that running side by side with the campaign medals are decorations for special merit. Undoubtedly the most popular and the most coveted of all such awards is the V.C. The Victoria Cross was instituted by a Royal Warrant of January 29, 1856--during the Crimean War, in fact--and its inception was largely due to the thoughtfulness of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort. The cross itself is severe and plain in design, but loses nothing on this account; it was formerly struck from the metal of old cannon taken in the campaign against the Russians, but to-day we can only claim that its metal composition once formed part of artillery pieces of some kind or other. The pattern is too well known to need description, but it may be added that the shape and design were modelled on the Peninsular gold cross. The ribbon is crimson for the Army and blue for the Navy. The Victoria Cross may be won by soldiers of all ranks; when awarded to non-commissioned officers and privates it carries with it an annuity of £10, though this sum may be increased in special cases. If the medal be sold during the life-time of the recipient the pension can be withdrawn, and if the possessor be convicted in the civil or military courts for any but trivial offences, the same punishment may be enforced. There are many rules regulating the granting of this coveted award; the following are perhaps the most interesting:-- "It is ordained that the cross shall only be awarded to those officers or men who have served Us in the presence of the enemy, and shall then have performed some signal act of valour or devotion to their country. "It is ordained with a view to place all persons on a perfectly equal footing in relation to eligibility for the decoration, that neither rank, nor long service, nor wounds, nor any other circumstance or condition whatsoever, save the merit of conspicuous bravery, shall be held to establish a sufficient claim to the honour.