After passing a period of nearly eighty years in Ireland, the regiment, having previously had a considerable augmentation made to its numbers, was ordered to hold itself in readiness for foreign service. This event was occasioned by the revolution which had taken place in France, where a party of republicans had seized the reins of government, had imprisoned the royal family, and had brought their sovereign to the scaffold; a proceeding which disorganized the state of society in one of the most civilized parts of the world,--gave rise to the formation of a new dynasty,--removed the basis on which the sovereign power was established,--and involved the great European states in a succession of destructive wars for a period of more than twenty years. Great Britain joined the confederacy against the regicide government of France, and sent, in the spring of 1793, a body of troops to the Netherlands, under the command of His Royal Highness the Duke of York. At the close of the summer, reinforcements were sent to Flanders, and on the 18th and 19th of September, the FIFTH DRAGOON GUARDS embarked at Dublin for the same destination. [Sidenote: 1794] After occupying winter quarters in Flanders, the regiment took the field under the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel the Honourable R. Taylor, and entered on a scene of action in a part of Europe where it had, nearly a century before, acquired numerous honours under the great MARLBOROUGH, and its conduct did not derogate from its ancient reputation. It was first employed in the attack of the enemy's post at _Prêmont_, on the 17th of April, 1794, but was not called upon to charge; and it subsequently formed part of the covering army during the siege of _Landrécies_.