The gallant exertions made on behalf of the Dutch were not seconded by them; and in the meantime the French army had been reinforced. Instead, therefore, of fighting for a people who were not resolved to be free, it was decided that the British troops should be withdrawn from Holland. A convention was ultimately concluded with General Brune at Alkmaar on the 18th of October, and on the following day a cessation of hostilities was proclaimed. The regiment marched on the 28th of October to Colenzugby, near the Helder, embarked the same day on board of His Majesty’s ships “Kent” and “Monarch,” and landed at Yarmouth on the day following. Its effective strength consisted of twenty-four serjeants, twenty drummers, and four hundred and forty-six rank and file. During the campaign from the 27th of August to the 28th of October, the regiment sustained a loss of three officers and ninety-three rank and file, several of the wounded soldiers having died. On the 4th of November the regiment marched _en route_ to Chelmsford, where it arrived on the 10th, and was placed in the eighth brigade, the command of which Major-General Moore assumed on the 25th of December 1799. Here the regiment received canvas knapsacks, painted yellow, having a circle of red in the centre, in which the Crown and Thistle, with the words “_Gordon Highlanders_,” were inserted. [Sidenote: 1800] Napoleon Bonaparte having returned from Egypt to Paris in the previous year, had been appointed First Consul of France, and made overtures for peace; but the British Ministry, considering that the French government had not acquired sufficient stability, showed no desire to accede to the proposal. On the 10th of April, 1800, orders were issued for the regiment to hold itself in readiness to march at the shortest notice; the first division marched on the 12th, and was followed by the others on the 14th and 15th, for the Isle of Wight, where it arrived on the 23rd of April. The regiment, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Erskine, marched for Cowes on the 27th of May, and embarked on the same day in vessels of war. The head-quarters, and five companies in His Majesty’s ship “Diadem,” sailed on the 30th. The officers and men present with the regiment consisted of one lieut.-colonel, two majors, seven captains, sixteen lieutenants, six ensigns, six staff, thirty-six serjeants, twenty-two drummers, and six hundred rank and file. The regiment disembarked at the Isle de Houat, on the coast of France, on the 7th of June, where it encamped, under the command of Brigadier-General the Honorable Thomas Maitland. On the 18th of June, the NINETY-SECOND regiment embarked on board His Majesty’s ship “Terrible,” destined with others to make an attack on Belle-Isle, but which was abandoned; on the 20th the regiment disembarked, and occupied its former encampment on the Isle de Houat.