As a result of the violation of the treaty of Yandaboo, which was really never kept, and the refusal of the King of Ava to redress the grievances of the Europeans in Rangoon, who had been compelled to seek safety on board the "Proserpine," a force of 5,767 men, composed of the 18th Royal Irish, 51st and 80th, together with Artillery, Sappers and Miners, Gun Lascars, and three Infantry Regiments of the H.E.I. Co., under the command of General Godwin, occupied, after very little resistance, Martaban and Rangoon. In the reduction of the latter place the naval contingent and the ships of the fleet participated. The key to the position, the Golden Pagoda, Shwe Dagon, was carried by the Royal Irish and the 80th after a very trying time caused by the excessive heat, five of the senior officers being struck down by solar apoplexy—Major Oakes, who commanded the artillery, and another officer fatally. In the capture of Rangoon 2 officers were killed, and 14 wounded; 15 non-commissioned officers and men killed, and 114 wounded, of whom one-third belonged to the Royal Irish, which lost its adjutant at the foot of the Shwe Dagon.

Pegu.—Expeditions were sent out to the north and west, Bassein being captured by one force and Pegu taken on November 21st, 1852, by the other. The province of Pegu was then annexed; but the Burmese continued to harass the garrison which held the city, and it was not until after the arrival of reinforcements from Rangoon that steps could be taken to successfully deal with the enemy. The war was concluded in June 1853, but not before the army had been considerably reduced by disease, cholera claiming a large number of victims, and 22 men had been killed, and 14 officers and 94 men wounded in the taking of the village of Donobyu, held by Myat Toon, a robber chief who had about 8,000 guerillas at his call. It was in the attack on this village that Viscount, then Ensign, Wolseley of the 80th, in leading a small body of men from the 18th, 51st, and 80th, was struck down at the moment of victory. On June 30th, 1853, the war was declared at an end without any formal treaty, and a few months later the troops left a country which had claimed a terrible toll of brave men's lives in the swamps and jungles, the 18th Royal Irish having alone lost 365 officers and men mostly by disease.

First India General Service Medal.—On January 23rd, 1854, Queen Victoria sanctioned the issue of a silver medal with bar for PEGU to those who had taken part in the Burmese War of 1852-3. This, later called the India General Service Medal, 1854, has been given for all the various campaigns up to the fighting in the Kachin Hills in 1892-3. Twenty-three bars were given, representing the different "little wars" in which the recipients were engaged during forty-one years. This medal, illustrated facing page 120, has the same kind of suspender and bars as the Punjab medal, likewise the same head of Victoria, but on the reverse a figure of Victory crowning with laurel a seated warrior in classic pose, holding in his right hand a Roman sword, and in his left a sheath. In the exergue is a lotus flower and leaves, and L. C. WYON beneath it. The medals, 1? in. in diameter, have the rank, name, and the regiment or ship, impressed in Roman capitals for Pegu, Persia, North-West Frontier, Umbeyla, Bhootan, but for Perak and the rest of the series, except Jowaki, the lightly engraved running hand or Roman capitals were used for naming. The ribbon, 1¾ in. wide, is dark crimson with two dark-blue stripes.

The regiments entitled to the medal with bar for Pegu were the 18th, 51st, and 80th; Artillery; Sappers and Miners; 1st Bengal Fusiliers; 1st Madras Fusiliers; 5th Madras Native Infantry; and the Naval Brigade from thirteen of Her Majesty's ships.

The V.C. and Distinguished Conduct Medal.—These were comparatively small but significant campaigns, although the period between Waterloo and the breaking out of the Crimean War has been termed the long peace. The war in the Crimea was of a very different kind. Once again it was the meeting of Europeans face to face, and a long struggle resulted. An important outcome of the war from one point of view was the institution on January 29th, 1856, of that coveted decoration, the Victoria Cross, preceded by the institution of the Distinguished Conduct Medal on December 4th, 1854, and the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal for naval men on August 13th, 1855. The ribbon for the V.C. is dark red—dark blue for the Navy—that for the Distinguished Conduct Medal (illustrated facing page 140) dark blue with broad, red stripe down the centre, and the ribbon blue with a white stripe down the centre for the Conspicuous Gallantry medal. In the first issues the names were impressed on the edge, but in the later issues they are engraved, and the date of the action is also included. It is particularly noteworthy that the first medals of this class issued were struck from the Meritorious Service Medal, the two words being erased and Conspicuous Gallantry engraved in place thereof (see facing page 140).