On the 13th January, 1763, the thanks of the House of Commons was conveyed to the British troops for "their meritorious and eminent services;" and on the 25th January, their homeward march through Holland commenced; through the provinces of Guelderland, Nimeguen, and Breda, to Williamstadt, where they took ship for England. And, as sleep on the eyes of the weary, so peace descended for a time on those towns and hamlets by the Weser and the Rhine, which had been for so many years unwilling pawns on the great chess-board of war. CHAPTER XX. THE THIRD BATTALION.—THE HISTORY AND PRESENT DESIGNATION OF THE COMPANIES. NOT very long after the Battle of Minden, and while the lessons of the war were urging on the military world the increasing importance of Artillery, the Board of Ordnance resolved to increase the Royal Artillery still further. This was done by transferring five companies from the existing battalions, and by raising five others; the ten being combined into the Third Battalion with a staff similar to that of the other two. Each company of the battalion consisted of a Captain, a Captain-Lieutenant, a First and Second Lieutenant, 3 Lieutenant- Fireworkers, 3 sergeants, 3 corporals, 8 bombardiers, 20 gunners, 62 matrosses, and 2 drummers; making a total of 105 per company. The total of all ranks, on the formation of the battalion, was 1054. At the end of the Seven Years' War, the battalion was reduced to 554; but as the troubles in America became visible, it was again increased; and in 1779, the establishment of all ranks stood at 1145. At the peace of 1783, it fell to 648; rising, however, in 1793, during England's continental troubles, to 1240. It reached its maximum during the Peninsular War, when its strength was no less than 1461 of all ranks. In the year 1778, when the 4th Battalion was raised, two companies were taken from the 3rd; but they were replaced in 1779. For thirty years after the reductions made in 1816, the average strength of the battalion was 700; but from that time it gradually rose until, at the commencement of the war with Russia, it stood at 1128, and in the following year it reached 1220. There is a little obscurity as to the services of this battalion during the American War of Independence. One set of documents claims for Nos. 1 and 6 Companies, no inconsiderable share in the earlier part of the campaign; another asserts that to the 4th Battalion alone does all the credit, which the Artillery during that war especially merited, belong. The truth seems to be, that, in 1778, two companies of the 3rd Battalion were in America, and were engaged in several battles; but that in 1779, the men of these companies were drafted into those of the 4th Battalion, and their officers returned to England.