The charges of incompetence in the conduct of the war and of greed among those who made profit out of it have a painfully familiar ring. Generals, beginning with Lord Hardinge, were too old; or they were "blundering cavalrymen." Heroism was kept severely in its place or inadequately rewarded, as when a drummer-boy, who had shown conspicuous gallantry at the battle of the Alma, was given £5 by the Prince Consort; or, again, when a gallant sergeant was given a silk handkerchief hemmed by the Queen. Why, asks _Punch_, was he not made an ensign? Of a review of wounded soldiers by the Queen he observes that it would have been more gracious if she had gone to the hospital instead of having the invalids brought up to the palace to be inspected. In the same vein is the dialogue, "Honour to the Brave":-- _Flunkey_ (reads): "Yesterday thirty of the Invalids from the Crimea were inspected ... many of the gallant fellows were dreadfully mutilated at the Alma and Inkerman....After the inspection ten of the Guards were regaled in the Servants' Hall." _Flunkey_ (loq.): "Regaled in the Servants' 'All! Eh? Well, I don't think they've any call to grumble about not bein' 'Honoured Sufficient!'" [Illustration: A DISTRESSED AGRICULTURIST LANDLORD: "Well, Mr. Springwheat, according to the papers, there seems to be a probability of a cessation of hostilities." TENANT (who strongly approves of war prices): "Goodness gracious! Why, you don't mean to say there's any DANGER OF PEACE?"] [Sidenote: _Combatants and Non-Combatants_] The navvies who volunteered for service in the Crimea are not forgotten by _Punch_. When cheers are raised for the fighting men and their commanders, As loud a cheer give, England, to the Navvies' gallant band, Who have gone to lend our warriors a stalwart helping hand. These to their work with shovel and crowbar as true will stand As those to theirs with bayonet, with rifle and with brand. The Charge of the Light Brigade[10] prompts Leech's picture of "A Trump Card(igan)"; but, rather than with the officers, _Punch_, throughout the war, was more concerned with the rank and file, and with instances of unfair differentiation between officers and men, notably in regard to the sale of promotions and the grants of leave, satirized in the cartoon, "The New Game of Follow my Leader," in which a very diminutive bugler, advancing in front of a long file of soldiers, addresses the commander-in-chief: "Please, General, may me and these other chaps have leave to go home on urgent _Private_ affairs?" The efforts of the Peace Party are a constant source of derisive criticism, as in the bitter stanzas, "Mr. Gladstone's Peace Song." Even more bitter is the onslaught in the year 1856 on John Bright:--