During this short but eventful campaign the British troops had maintained their ancient reputation; but the army was not of sufficient numbers to cope with the enormous masses of the enemy, which darkened the land like a gloomy tempest. In the retreat through Holland, and in the distresses and privations of the winter campaign amidst snow and ice, the FIFTH DRAGOON GUARDS took part, and in the early part of 1795 they arrived in Germany. The regiment remained in Germany during the following summer, and encamped in one of the plains of the Duchy of Bremen, under the orders of Major-General Sir David Dundas; and in November it embarked for England. [Sidenote: 1796] In October, 1796, the regiment proceeded to Ireland, which country was in a state bordering on open rebellion. The malcontents had entered into arrangements with the republican government of France, and a French armament was prepared, under the orders of General Hoche, to assist the Irish Roman Catholics in effecting their separation from England, and in forming themselves into a republic. On the 24th of December the French fleet appeared in Bantry Bay; and the FIFTH DRAGOON GUARDS were despatched by forced marches to oppose the landing of the enemy. The French fleet was, however, partly dispersed by a storm, and the remainder returned to France without attempting to land. [Sidenote: 1797] In 1797 the regiment was encamped, with several other corps, on the Curragh of Kildare, and was there reviewed by Lieutenant-General Sir David Dundas, who expressed, in orders, his approbation of its discipline and appearance. Its establishment at this period was seven hundred officers and men. [Sidenote: 1798] The disaffection which had so long prevailed among the Roman Catholics in Ireland, had continued to acquire additional rancour and vehemence, and the passions of the misguided peasantry having been wrought, by wicked demagogues, into fury and madness, they neglected the affairs of civil life, provided themselves with arms, and broke out into open rebellion in the summer of 1798. The FIFTH DRAGOON GUARDS were on Dublin duty at the time, and were so distinguished for loyalty and steady conduct that the Lord-Lieutenant committed to the regiment the military charge of the capital. One squadron under the command of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Sherlock was detached from Dublin into the counties of Wicklow and Wexford, and was engaged in the action at _Arklow_ on the 9th of June, when thirty thousand insurgents, headed by their priests in clerical vestments, attacked the town with great fury, but were repulsed with the loss of an immense number of men. From the circumstance of there being no force of any consequence to prevent the rebels marching upon the capital, this was an action of the greatest importance, and was most obstinately contested.