In January 1815, the first battalion of the SEVENTY-FIRST regiment marched from Limerick to Cork, and embarked as part of an expedition under orders for North America. Peace having been concluded with the United States, and contrary winds having prevented the sailing of the vessels, the destination of the battalion was changed, and subsequent events occasioned its being employed against its former opponents. The tranquillity which Europe appeared to have gained by the splendid successes over the French in the Peninsula was again to be disturbed. Napoleon, who had been accustomed to imperial sway, was naturally discontented with his small sovereignty of Elba. Besides, the correspondence kept up by him with his adherents in France gave him hopes of regaining his former power, which were, for a short time, fully realized. Napoleon Bonaparte landed at Cannes, in Provence, on the 1st of March 1815, with a small body of men, and on the 20th of that month entered Paris at the head of an army which had joined him on the road. This could not be matter of wonder, for the officers and soldiers had won their fame under his command, and gladly welcomed their former leader, under whom they probably expected to acquire fresh honors, which might cancel the memory of the defeats sustained in the Peninsula. Louis XVIII., unable to stem the torrent, withdrew from Paris to Ghent, and Napoleon resumed his former dignity of Emperor of the French. This assumption the allied powers determined not to acknowledge, and resolved to deprive him of his sovereignty, and again restore the ancient dynasty. The first battalion of the SEVENTY-FIRST, in consequence of these occurrences, proceeded to the Downs, and was there transhipped into small craft, which conveyed it to Ostend, where it disembarked on the 22d of April. The battalion next proceeded to Ghent, and, after remaining there a week, marched to Leuze, between Ath and Tournay, and was subsequently placed in the light brigade with the first battalion of the fifty-second, six companies of the second and two companies of the third battalion of the ninety-fifth regiment (Rifles), under the command of Major-General Frederick Adam, in the division of Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton.[31] The strength of the brigade was as follows:-- Rank and File. 52d regt. 1st bat. 997 71st do. do. 788 95th do. 2d bat. Rifles 571 95th do. 3d do. do. 185 ------ Total 2,541 ====== Brevet Colonel Reynell, afterwards Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Reynell, commanded the battalion at this period. Napoleon resolved on attacking the Allies before their forces had been fully collected, and by well-masked and admirably combined movements, a portion of his army was concentrated on the 14th of June between the Sambre and the Meuse.