“Sir,
“I am directed by Major-General Sir T. Brisbane to express to you, and to request that you will communicate to the regiment under your command, the very sincere regret he feels in losing the Eighty-Eighth regiment from his brigade: but he begs to assure them that his best wishes accompany them, and he will always be happy to have again under his command a regiment that was surpassed by none, either for gallantry in the field, or orderly conduct in quarters, during the seven years they have been with him.
“I have, &c.
“J. Campbell,
“Brigade-Major.
“To Colonel Wallace,
Commanding the Eighty-Eighth Regiment.”
1816
1817
From January, 1816, to the end of the spring, 1817, the Eighty-Eighth was in garrison at Valenciennes, when it returned to Great Britain, and was quartered in Edinburgh about two years. Some time after its arrival in Scotland, a letter was received from Lieutenant-General the Honourable Sir Charles Colville, who had frequently had it under his command, as part of the third division, in the Peninsula, and more recently during its stay at Valenciennes, “expressing his hearty wish for the honour and well-being of the regiment in whatever situation it may be placed, and requesting the Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates, to accept his thanks for the ready attention paid to his orders during the period the regiment was under his command.”
1818
During the period of repose at Edinburgh, it occurred to Colonel Wallace to establish an Order of Merit in the regiment, by conferring some honorary mark of distinction on the non-commissioned officers and privates, proportioned to their regimental character, length of service, and the number of general engagements in which they had been present. This was, however, a design which could not be carried into execution without the consent and approbation of the Commander-in-Chief, which Colonel Wallace applied for in the following letter:—
“Edinburgh Castle, June 4, 1818.