Immediately on the capitulation of the island General Ruffane, who had commanded a brigade throughout the operations, was despatched to the West Indies with the 69th (Welsh), 76th (Middlesex), 90th Light Infantry, and 98th Regiment, to assist in the reduction of Martinique and Havana. These operations have been rewarded with battle honours, and are fully described in Chapter VIII. Ruffane's brigade, however, with the exception of the Welsh, have been denied the honour.

Before leaving the West Indies, I would wish to draw attention to the fact that, whilst the defence of the Island of Dominica in 1805 is inscribed on the colours of the Cornwall Light Infantry, no recognition is made of the capture of that island by the troops under Lord Rollo in 1762, yet surely the one feat is as worthy of remembrance as the other. The appended table may not be without interest to the regiments concerned in the two transactions:

Capture of Dominica, 1762, for which no Battle Honour has been granted.
Regiments.Officers.Men.
K.W.K.W.
42nd Royal Highlanders2101974
Defence of Dominica, 1805, for which a Battle Honour has been granted.
Regiments.Officers.Men.
K.W.K.W.
46th Cornwall L.I.-1117

Guadeloupe, 1702, 1794, and 1815, are also battle honours well worthy of remembrance.

Simultaneously with the expedition against Havana, which is alluded to above, and set forth in detail in Chapter VIII., a force was despatched from Madras for the reduction of the Spanish settlement in Manilla, thus forestalling by 150 years the memorable exploits of Admiral Dewey on the same spot. This was under the command of General Draper, who, at the head of his own regiment (then the 79th), had done good service in Southern India. The Spaniards were utterly unprepared, and though the troops with Draper amounted to but one battalion of the line, a naval brigade 1,000 strong, and a brigade of Madras sepoys, the little army was thrown ashore, and after one week's bombardment the forts surrendered, our losses amounting to 5 officers and 28 men killed, 5 officers and 106 men wounded.

The prize-money must have been some slight compensation to the troops for the hardships endured. Field Officers received £1,500, Captains £900, whilst the privates received £6. The Spanish colours captured were presented by General Draper to King's College, Cambridge, and he raised a monument to the memory of the officers and men who fell in the grounds of his private residence, still known as Manilla Hall, Clifton. Under the present ruling of the Army Council there would appear to be no prospect of the word "Manilla" being added to the battle honours of the army.

Another missing distinction is "Cape of Good Hope, 1796." There would appear to be no reason why the first capture of the Cape should not be commemorated equally with the second. In connection with this later expedition there is one unaccountable omission, as I have explained on [p. 351]. Sir David Baird detached the 20th Light Dragoons and the 38th Regiment (South Staffords), under Brigadier, afterwards Field-Marshal, the Lord Beresford, to Saldanha Bay. The consequence was that they were not actually present at the operations on January 8, and so it comes about that, although they participated in the hardships of the campaign, and contributed to its results, the 20th Hussars and South Staffords have been debarred from bearing the battle honour.

The battle honours for our campaigns in India have been awarded in the same unequal manner: hard-fought battles are unrecognized, paltry skirmishes are emblazoned on our colours. This is partly due to the fact that in the case of those regiments which were in the service of the East India Company the Governor-General or the Governor of the Presidency authorized the distinction, whereas in the case of "King's regiments" the Sovereign alone was the fountain of honour. So it comes about that the Royal Munster and Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the direct representatives of the old European regiments of John Company, bear on their colours battle honours which have not been awarded to the King's regiments which fought by their side, and which, strangely enough, have also been denied to the Indian regiments which took part in the same operations. "Nundy Droog" is on the colours of the Dublins, but the 36th (Worcesters) and 71st (Highland Light Infantry) are still without the honour. The British troops which captured Pondicherry in 1793 comprised the 36th (Worcesters), 52nd (Oxford Light Infantry), 71st (Highland Light Infantry), and 72nd (Seaforths), with the Madras European Regiment, but the Royal Dublin Fusiliers alone bear the honour.

In some cases a single battle honour, such as "Carnatic," "Mysore," and "Ava," covers a campaign which included in its operations a number of general actions, and had for its results the addition of a province to the Empire. Other campaigns of less severity, and which have had negative results, such as the two wars in Afghanistan and that in Persia, have been rewarded with a profusion of honours, some, indeed, representing the paltriest skirmishes. Battles in which we have lost hundreds are left unnoticed, whilst affairs in which the casualties may be counted on the fingers receive undue recognition.