Most Enviable Order

An ex-private soldier in a shiny blue serge suit stood in the House of Lords last week and, grinning, plumped himself down on the woolsack, the oblong red cushion. traditional seat of the Lord Chancellor of Britain, and, next to the throne, the most honorable sit-spot in the empire.*

"This is the greatest moment of my life," said he. "I have heard of the House of Lords all my life, and here I am in it."

Chauffeurs, colonels, farmers, and a few noble lords, laughed and patted him on the back. Three hundred and twenty-one holders of the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military award, had gathered to dine with Edward of Wales, were waiting to walk in to tables laid in the royal gallery. In age they ranged from Lieut. Colonel James Henry Reynolds, 86, who won his cross fighting Zulus in 1879, to Sergeant Thomas Ricketts, 28, who won his when 17 on the Western Front. So poor are many V. C.'s that H. R. H. had had his invitations tactfully footnoted "lounge suits" to avoid embarrassment.

Seating at banquet was by numbers drawn from a hat. Chance arranged that the Prince of Wales should sit between Sergeant William F. Burman, now a chauffeur, who won his cross for silencing a machine gun singlehanded, and John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, Viscount Gort, acting Colonel of the aristocratic Grenadier Guards.

After a meal during which Britain's heroes studiously avoided the topic of warfare, talked of their families, their businesses and the Lord Mayor's show which they had just witnessed (see p. 26), Edward of Wales rose to speak. Said he:

"There are those of us here on whom the Sovereign has conferred the most honorable Order of the Bath, the most exalted Order of the Star of India or the most distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George. Tonight I speak of--if I may call it so--the most enviable Order of the Victoria Cross, the most democratic and at the same time the most exclusive of all orders of chivalry. . . . /- It is recruited from that very limited circle of men who see what is needed to be done, and do it at once at their own peril, and having done it, shut up like an oyster.

"... I have spoken in my time at a number of public dinners and have proposed toasts on almost every subject under the sun. Tonight I speak with considerable embarrassment. ... It is not our national habit to invite men to dine to tell them how brave they are. . . .

"I will assume that whatever 'small deed of arms' as the knights of old used to call it, stands to the credit of each one of you, you committed--perpetrated--it from the motives of self preservation or because you happened to notice that someone on the staff was watching and admiring you.

"I suggest this because every V. C. that I have ever talked to always dishes up some explanation of this sort to account for his peculiar conduct, whether by land or sea, by air or under ground. ... I need not say that I would be proud to be of this company."

To the scandal of all England the Earl of Birkenhead when Lord Chancellor occasionally rested his foot on the august woolsack.

/-Holders of the Victoria Cross "for conspicuous bravery, daring of a pre-eminent sort ... in the presence of the enemy" are entitled to a salute from all officers of the British Army, including Field Marshals and the Prince of Wales. The small bronze crosses are made from sections of Russian cannon captured at Sebastopol.