In 1796 the regiment transferred two hundred and fifty men to the forty-fifth foot, and embarked for England, its numbers being reduced to fifty-three men. It landed in November at Portsmouth, marched to Derby, and active measures were adopted to recruit its ranks to the augmented establishment of a thousand men. [Sidenote: 1797] [Sidenote: 1798] [Sidenote: 1799] Marching northward from Derby, in April, 1797, the regiment proceeded across the border, and was stationed two years in Scotland. It afterwards returned to England, and was quartered at Sunderland barracks. The militia regiments being permitted to volunteer into the regular army, fifteen hundred and thirty-eight men volunteered to the FIFTEENTH, and the regiment was augmented to _two battalions_. [Sidenote: 1800] Both battalions proceeded to Ireland in 1800, the first under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Madden, and the second under Major Lord Sinclair; Lieut.-Colonel Barry afterwards succeeded to the command of the first battalion. [Sidenote: 1802] In 1802, the war was terminated by the treaty of Amiens; when the British army was reduced, and the second battalion was disbanded,--the establishment of the regiment being fixed at seven hundred and fifty rank and file. [Sidenote: 1803] The conduct of Napoleon Buonaparte, then First Consul of France, occasioned hostilities to be resumed in 1803, when the British army was augmented, and preparations made to repel a threatened invasion of the French. The FIFTEENTH regiment remained in Ireland. [Sidenote: 1804] Preparations to repel the menaced French invasion were continued in 1804, and a _second battalion_ was added to the regiment. It was formed of men raised for limited service under the Additional Force Act passed on the 29th of June, 1804, and was quartered at Scarborough, in Yorkshire. [Sidenote: 1805] During the winter, the first battalion again embarked for the West Indies, and landed at Barbadoes on the 12th of March, 1805. In May, Surgeon Shaw died at Barbadoes. This year is celebrated in the naval annals of Great Britain for the splendid achievements of the marine forces of the kingdom. Rear-Admiral Viscount Nelson having proceeded to the West Indies in quest of the French fleet, the FIFTEENTH regiment received orders to embark and serve as marines. It went on board on the 4th of June, Lieut.-Colonel Barry and the staff being appointed to the "Conqueror" of seventy-four guns; but after a cruise of fourteen days, the fleet returned to port, and the regiment landed: it therefore missed sharing in the glorious victory of Trafalgar, on the 21st of October, 1805. During the months of July, August, and September, the regiment lost nine officers and two hundred and twelve men by fever. [Sidenote: 1806] In May, 1806, a draft of one hundred and twenty-four men joined from the second battalion, and a few volunteers from the eleventh regiment. [Sidenote: 1807]