In the spring of 1797[14], the regiment proceeded to York, where the non-commissioned officers and soldiers evinced their loyalty and zeal for the preservation of the constitution of their country, by a contribution in aid of the war, for which they received the thanks of Lieutenant-General Scott, commanding the district. In the autumn the regiment marched to Lincoln. Field-Marshal Lord Frederick Cavendish was succeeded in the colonelcy of the regiment in July by George Frederick Lord Southampton, from captain and lieutenant-colonel Second Foot Guards. [Sidenote: 1798] [Sidenote: 1799] The regiment remained in England during the years 1798 and 1799, and, having been brought into a high state of discipline and efficiency, it was selected to proceed on colonial service. [Sidenote: 1800] In January, 1800, the regiment marched from Hilsea barracks, and embarking on board an Indiaman, sailed to the Cape of Good Hope, where it landed on the 21st of May, and occupied barracks at Cape Town until September, when it pitched its tents at Wynberg, where a numerous force was encamped under Major-General Dundas. [Sidenote: 1801] [Sidenote: 1802] [Sidenote: 1803] After remaining two years and a half at the Cape of Good Hope, that colony was restored to the Dutch, at the peace of Amiens, in 1802, and the regiment embarked for the East Indies, where it arrived in January, 1803, and landed at Madras on the 2nd of February. The regiment was stationed at Madras several months, during which period the conduct of the officers and soldiers on the occasion of an alarming fire, elicited the following communication to Colonel Dickens, from the merchants of that place:--“Impressed with a grateful sense of the extraordinary exertions manifested by the officers and men of His Majesty’s THIRTY-FOURTH Regiment, under your command, on the occasion of the late calamitous fires, we feel it incumbent upon us to offer you and them our public acknowledgements for the service rendered to the commercial interests in particular, and at the same time to request you will be assured of our sincere respect for the public spirit which uniformly animates the British military on every emergency.” The peace of Europe was violated by the ambitious projects of Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, and the war was resumed in 1803, in July of which year two companies of the regiment embarked, under Captain Everard, for the island of Ceylon, which had been captured from the Dutch, and they were followed by two additional companies, under Captain Roberts, in October. [Sidenote: 1804] In 1804 the head-quarters were removed from Madras to Wallajabad, where they arrived on the 21st of August. In December a detachment returned to Madras, where it embarked for Vizagapatam, to protect the shipping.