Major-General Stuart put the British army in movement, having first in view the demolition of the useless fortresses of Wandewash and Carangooly. He arrived at the latter place on the 6th of February, and, leaving there all heavy baggage and encumbrances, proceeded lightly equipped towards Wandewash, the works of which were accordingly destroyed. The army then returned to Carangooly, which experienced the same fate as Wandewash, and on the 23d of February arrived at Poonamallee. [Sidenote: 2d bat.] Meanwhile, the siege of Gibraltar had terminated, hostilities having ceased in February 1783, in consequence of the preliminaries of the treaties between Great Britain, France, and Spain having been signed at Versailles on the 20th of the preceding month. The second battalion during the siege was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable George Mackenzie. [Sidenote: 1st bat.] Notwithstanding private information having been received from respectable sources, overland, of a peace having been concluded between Great Britain and the other belligerent powers in Europe, still the Madras Government was determined to persevere in its original plans for the attack of _Cuddalore_. With this view, Major-General Stuart put the army in movement on the 21st of April, marching by brigades in a southerly direction. Major-General Stuart’s army consisted of the present SEVENTY-FIRST and Seventy-second regiments, the 101st regiment, a considerable body of native troops, and a detachment of Hanoverians under Colonel Wangenheim. Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Elphinston, of the first battalion of the regiment, took the lead, with the fifth brigade, to the command of which he had been appointed, in consideration of his distinguished conduct and important services in the field. Lieut.-Colonel James Stuart, of the Seventy-eighth Highlanders (the present Seventy-second regiment), commanded the first or European brigade, of which the first battalion of the _Seventy-third_ (now the SEVENTY-FIRST) regiment formed part, and which amounted to sixteen hundred men. Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Elphinston, in his advance, possessed himself of Permacoil ruins, from whence could be plainly distinguished the enemy’s advanced parties upon the Red Hills of Pondicherry. The remainder of the army joined at Permacoil on the 2d of May. About this period accounts were received of the decease of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, which intelligence threw a peculiar gloom over those officers and men who had had the honor to serve under his command in India. Major-General Stuart succeeded to the command of the forces in India for the time being. After leaving Permacoil, the army advanced to Killinoor, and from thence directed its course towards the Red Hills of Pondicherry. [Sidenote: 2d bat.] In May 1783, the second battalion embarked in transports, and sailed from Gibraltar for Portsmouth, where it landed in July following. [Sidenote: 1st bat.]