Colonel Macleod remained Deputy Adjutant-General: General Lloyd was commandant of Woolwich: General Blomefield, Inspector of Artillery: Sir William Congreve, Comptroller of the Laboratory; and General Duncan Drummond, Director-General of Artillery.

Chevrons were put on the arms of non-commissioned officers, according to the rules of the Army generally, instead of epaulettes, in the year 1802. The Royal Artillery Band was increased from 10 to 21 in the same year.

Two allusions to methods of discharging men at this time, which are found in the official correspondence, speak for themselves. The first is an order to discharge a man for his bad conduct, and to hand him over to the press-gang: and the second is a reply to a request from Lord Napier, that a man might be discharged, to enable him to support his Colonel Macleod to Colonel Hadden, 9 Jan. 1802. family; and is as follows: “Charles Copeland; 5 feet 11 inches in height; a wife and two children. It is observed that he would have been discharged, if he had been lucky enough to have three.”

Note.—By inadvertence, it was omitted to be noticed in the first volume of this work, in giving the list of Masters-General of the Ordnance, that Lord Chatham held that appointment from 18th June, 1801, to 14th February, 1806, and was reappointed on 4th April, 1807, the date given in vol. i. as that of his first appointment. Lord Moira was Master-General from 14th February, 1806, to 4th April, 1807.

CHAPTER VIII.
The Eighth Battalion.

The Treaty of Amiens was not destined to be carried out in its entirety by the nations concerned. Napoleon’s hostility to the English could not be concealed; and the evacuation of Malta, Alexandria, and the Cape of Good Hope, which had been commenced by the latter, in accordance with the terms of the Treaty, was never fully completed. On the 13th March, 1803, Lord Whitworth, the English Ambassador, was publicly insulted by Napoleon at the Tuileries; and on the 6th May he quitted Paris. The recommencement of hostilities with France was aggravated by another insurrection in Ireland, which was happily quelled with little difficulty. But the general state of affairs was so serious that an augmentation of the military forces in England became urgently necessary, as well as renewed activity on the part of the fleet. The Government received warm and cordial support from the people, both as a body and individually. Lord Chatham, then Master-General of the Ordnance, received Mr. J. Bagot, London, to Lord Chatham, dated 11 July, 1803. on the 18th July a letter from a Mr. John Bagot, to the following effect:—“Being anxious in the present awful crisis to come forward in any line that my services can be of use to my King and country, I beg leave to offer, for the consideration of your Lordship, to raise a Battalion of Artillery, of 300 men, for the war or such further period as may be necessary, and on such terms as your Lordship or His Majesty’s Government may direct....”

The state of recruiting in England was, however, so favourable, that the Master-General was not compelled to have recourse to private enterprise to obtain the necessary augmentations to the Regiment. The number of non-commissioned officers and men in the Horse Brigade and Marching Mem. to Master-Genl. from Colonel Macleod, 13 Aug. 1803. Battalions of the Royal Artillery on the 1st January, 1803, was 6777; on the 1st June, notwithstanding the loss of 306 men by death or discharge, the total had increased to 7119; and in two months more, it stood at 7439, besides 131 recruits in the country districts, not yet posted. The Corps of Gunner-drivers had increased in the same period by 1109 men. It was therefore resolved to increase the Regiment by another battalion, the 8th, and the first intimation of this resolution is found in a private letter from Colonel Macleod to Lieut.-Colonel Willington, dated 7 Sept. 1803. the Deputy Adjutant-General. “It is at last, I believe, determined,” he wrote, “to increase the Artillery, even under all the disadvantages of a deficiency in officers. The cadets are doubled; and the winter may do a good deal for us: in the mean time we take twenty of the most forward. Our companies will only have two 1st Lieutenants: there will be hardly a 2nd Lieutenant upon the establishment.”

On the 13th September seven companies were formed, and on the 6th December, three additional companies were added to the battalion. The establishment of each company was as follows:—

Lieutenant Kane to R. H. Crew, Esq.