Historical Record of the Thirty-first, or, the Huntingdonshire Regiment of Foot;: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1850Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Thirty-first, or, the Huntingdonshire Regiment of Foot;: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1850
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 31st
The successes of the British arms in Egypt, by which the French
were expelled from that country, were followed by a Treaty of
Peace, which was signed on the 27th of March, 1802, at Amiens,
between the French Republic, Spain, and the Batavian Republic,
on the one part, and Great Britain on the other. The principal
features of the treaty were, that Great Britain restored all her
conquests during the war, excepting Trinidad and Ceylon, which were
ceded to her, the former by Spain, and the latter by the Batavian
Republic. Portugal was maintained in its integrity, excepting
that some of its possessions in Guiana were ceded to France. The
territories of the Ottoman Porte were likewise maintained in their
integrity. The Ionian Republic was recognised, and Malta was to be
restored to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The French agreed
to evacuate the Neapolitan and Roman states, and Great Britain all
the ports that she held in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
In May, 1802, the THIRTY-FIRST regiment sailed from Minorca for
England, and early in June landed at Portsmouth, on the 19th of
which month it was reduced to the Peace Establishment.
[Sidenote: 1803]
In the year 1803 the regiment was removed to Jersey.[24]
Napoleon Bonaparte was now approaching the zenith of his power:
the unsettled state of affairs in France had induced him to quit
his army in Egypt, and on his return the Directory was abolished,
Bonaparte being appointed First Consul of the French Republic. This
occurred in 1799, and in the following year Europe was astounded by
his daring passage of the Alps, followed by the victory of Marengo,
which caused Austria to sue for peace.
The French being driven from Egypt in 1801 by the gallant
Abercromby and his brave troops, in which the THIRTY-FIRST regiment
would probably have shared, had it not been for the circumstances
stated at page 61, the Peace of Amiens was concluded; it,
however, gave but a slight interval of tranquillity to Europe.
The military spirit of the French nation had been aroused by the
genius of Napoleon, who endeavoured to realize his schemes for the
aggrandizement of France;--and England appeared as a barrier to his
designs.
In May, 1803, the war was renewed; Hanover was overrun by the
French, and severed for a time from the British Crown. An immense
flotilla was also assembled at Boulogne for the invasion of
England. The threat of invasion aroused the patriotism of the
British people, and the most strenuous measures were pursued to
defeat the French ruler’s designs; the “_Army of Reserve Act_” was
passed in June, 1803, for raising men for home service by ballot;
numerous volunteer and yeomanry corps were formed in every part of
the kingdom; and all party differences merged into one universal
effort for the preservation of Great Britain.
[Sidenote: 1804]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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