Soon afterwards the regiment was detached, with a small force under Colonel Wemyss, to the coast of Italy; the troops landed on the 7th of November, and, having driven the French from the principality of Piombino, occupied the towns of Campiglia, Castiglione, and Piombino, with some advanced posts in the Tuscan states. The ROYAL IRISH were commanded by Lieut.-Colonel H. T. Montresor, and distinguished themselves on several occasions. They waded through an inundation of near three miles, to attack the town of _Campiglia_, and made the French garrison prisoners. The enemy receiving considerable reinforcements, and advancing in force against those towns, the British troops were withdrawn from Italy, and returned to Elba. During the winter, the EIGHTEENTH regiment sailed for Gibraltar, where it arrived in the beginning of 1797, and was stationed at that fortress during the two following years. [Sidenote: 1800] In the spring of 1800, the regiment was withdrawn from Gibraltar, to join the armament preparing for active service in the Mediterranean: it proceeded to Minorca, where the land-forces were assembled, and in the summer sailed under the orders of Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby for Genoa, to co-operate with the Austrians; but the victories gained by the French in Italy occasioned this enterprise to be abandoned, and the EIGHTEENTH returned to Minorca. The regiment afterwards sailed with the expedition against _Cadiz_, and it had entered the boats of the fleet for the purpose of effecting a landing and attacking Cadiz, when orders were received to return on board the shipping; the attack of this place having been relinquished in consequence of an infectious disease of a fatal character ravaging the city; and the armament sailed to Gibraltar. After some delay, the EIGHTEENTH regiment again proceeded to Minorca. In the meantime a powerful French army had taken possession of Egypt, with the view of colonizing that country, and making it the base of future conquests in the east, and the ROYAL IRISH regiment was called from Minorca to take part in the expulsion of the boasted invincible legions of France from Egypt. The regiment accordingly quitted Minorca without landing, and sailed to Malta, where it joined the armament under Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, and was formed in brigade with the thirtieth, forty-fourth, and eighty-ninth, under the orders of Brigadier-General Doyle. The troops were soon restored and reanimated, after having been so long at sea, by the abundance of fresh provisions which the island of Malta afforded, and the comforts of the beautiful city of Valetta, and on the 20th of December the fleet sailed for the bay of Marmorice, in Asiatic Turkey, where it arrived in nine days. [Sidenote: 1801]