The route of the regiment lay across the Soane, which it passed at Quilwur Ghaut, through the Shahabad district to Buxar, beneath the fort of which place it crossed the Ganges by ferry, and marched towards the military station of Ghazeepore, then occupied by the forty-fourth regiment. After passing this post, the regiment crossed the Goomtee by a bridge of boats, where it falls into the Ganges, near the village of Kitee; then to the cantonment of Seerole, near the city of Benares; again reached the banks of the Ganges, at the little village of Joosey, and recrossed it to Allahabad; thence the route lay through Kurrah, Futtehpore, and Korah to Etawah, a city on the Jumna. From Etawah through Shekohabad and Jellasir, in the province of Agra; passing the dilapidated fort of Shasnee, the road led through the city of Coel, to the celebrated fortress of Allyghur; thence by Khorjah Bolundshuhur and Haupper to Meerut, where the regiment arrived on the morning of Saturday, January 13th, 1827, after a march of sixty-seven days, during which time the men continued very healthy;--the number in hospital never exceeded thirty, many for trifling cases, and but two men died. On the same day the THIRTY-FIRST occupied the lines vacated by the fourteenth regiment. Meerut was the head-quarters of a division of the Bengal Army, commanded by Major-General Reynell; and a considerable force was assembled, as a check upon Delhi, thirty-six miles from Meerut, as well as upon the province of Rohilcund, on the opposite shore of the Ganges. The THIRTY-FIRST had been without colours since the destruction of the “Kent,” but a new stand, which, for want of an opportunity, had not yet been presented, was in possession of the regiment; and the Governor-General of India, the Right Honorable Lord Amherst, being at Delhi, in the course of a tour of the upper provinces, his Lady was solicited to present the new colours to the regiment. They were presented by her Ladyship on the 7th of March, 1827, and the Governor-General addressed the following speech to Lieut.-Colonel Cassidy on the occasion:-- “I am persuaded that Lady Amherst will consider herself fortunate in having been selected to bear so distinguished a part in the ceremony of this day. It will be her earnest prayer that so dire a calamity as that which befell your former colours may never occur to these which she has had the honor to present to you. From the ordinary perils of war they are safe in your hands, and she confidently trusts that Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST will ever march to victory under the colours now consigned to your charge.” To celebrate the event, the officers of the regiment entertained a large party at a ball and supper in their Mess-house. [Sidenote: 1828] During the years 1828 and 1829 the regiment continued at Meerut. [Sidenote: 1829] In 1829 orders were received to reduce the establishment of the regiment to 736 rank and file.