Lieut.-Colonel Leith gained another distinction, and the THIRTY-FIRST afterwards received the Royal Authority to bear the word “ORTHES” on the Regimental Colour and Appointments, in commemoration of the conduct of the second battalion in that battle. Advancing rapidly against the enemy, Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill engaged him at _Aire_, on which occasion the THIRTY-FIRST had Ensign Hardcastle (Captain in the third Portuguese Caçadores) one serjeant, and two rank and file wounded. On the 10th of April, the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment was in action with the French in the suburbs of _Toulouse_, and had one private wounded. During the night of the 11th of April, the French army evacuated Toulouse, and the white flag was hoisted. On the day following, the Marquis of Wellington entered the city amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants. In the afternoon of this day intelligence was received of the abdication of Napoleon; and had not the express been delayed on the journey by the French police, the sacrifice of many valuable lives would have been prevented. A disbelief in the truth of this intelligence occasioned much unnecessary bloodshed at _Bayonne_, the garrison of which made a desperate sortie on the 14th of April, and Lieut.-General Sir John Hope (afterwards Earl of Hopetoun) was wounded and taken prisoner. Major-General Andrew Hay was killed, and Major-General Stopford was wounded. This was the last action of the Peninsular war. The advance of the Allied troops into the heart of France led to a Treaty of Peace, by which Louis XVIII. was restored to the throne of that kingdom, and Napoleon Bonaparte was permitted to reside at Elba, the sovereignty of that Island having been conferred upon him by the Allied Powers. The war being ended, the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment was ordered to return to England. It marched from Toulouse to Bourdeaux on the 3rd of June, and on the 12th of July embarked in the Rodney, disembarking on the 23rd at the Cove of Cork, whence it immediately marched to Middleton. In commemoration of the services of the second battalion, the THIRTY-FIRST subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “PENINSULA,” on the Regimental Colour and Appointments, in addition to the names of the several actions in which the second battalion had taken a prominent part, during the war in Spain from 1808 to 1814, namely, “TALAVERA,” “ALBUHERA,” “VITTORIA,” “PYRENEES,” “NIVELLE,” “NIVE,” and “ORTHES.” Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Leith was nominated a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath for his conduct in command of the second battalion during the Peninsular war.