The Victoria Cross was awarded to Lieut. Frederick Sleigh Roberts, Bengal Artillery, for distinguished bravery at Khodagunge on January 2, 1858. Two Sepoys were seen in the distance going away with a standard. Lieut. Roberts went after them and engaged them both. They pointed their muskets at him, and one of the men pulled his trigger, but the cap did not explode, and Roberts immediately cut him down and seized the standard.] [Illustration: [_Photo by the London Stereoscopic Co._ FIELD-MARSHAL LORD ROBERTS OF KANDAHAR AND WATERFORD, V.C., K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. This portrait, perhaps better than any other of the many which exist, brings before one the true character of this great soldier. There is no fencing with the steady, penetrating, and yet not unkindly gaze of the eyes. The whole face speaks of that perfectly-balanced combination of justice and mercy, vigour and refinement, inflexibility and consummate tact, which have made Lord Roberts equally loved and feared. "His army," says Mr. Julian Ralph with absolute truthfulness, "will do anything for him; march longer, starve harder, go without tents, blankets, and rum more days and weeks, and die in greater numbers for him than for any other man alive."] [Sidenote: DEC. 16-23, 1899.] _Lord Roberts of Kandahar._] [Sidenote: [DEC. 16-23, 1899.] In his character was that strength which simple faith and reliance upon a Higher Power gives to the greatest among men. "Pray as if everything depended upon God, act as if everything rested with yourself"--the motto of the saint--was, it may be, one secret of his success. "He has never been known to use an oath," writes Mr. Ralph in his exquisite sketch of this noble figure. "And, indeed, there must be comparatively few men whose religion influences them so deeply as does his in every affair of life. He never parades his piety, never forces it upon those around him. Yet on every Sunday since he joined his army he has attended Divine service. Not a word has he ever spoken to his staff suggesting or ordering their presence--yet he is certain to attend the weekly service--an example to the army so modestly and so persistently presented that it cannot help but be powerful. When he took the sacrament at Driefontein, the other day, in the face, one might say, of the whole army, it was without a hint of the parading of religion. All saw in it an act of simple faith. It is almost as hard to reconcile his gentleness and sympathy with the firm--sometimes stern--course which a general so supreme in command, and at the head of so large an army, must often have to follow. I have asked many of his friends how he can be both sorts of men at once--how he can possess traits which we imagine must war with one another. 'He does possess them, that's all,' is the best answer I have had; 'I don't know how, but he does.'" [Illustration: _W. W. Ouless, R.A._] [_By permission of Messrs. Graves._ LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR FREDERICK SLEIGH ROBERTS (NOW LORD ROBERTS).