1800
1801

In the summer of 1800 the King's Own were encamped on Swinley downs, near Windsor, where they were reviewed by King George III. They passed the succeeding winter and summer at Winchester; in September, 1801, the first and second battalions proceeded to Horsham barracks, and the third battalion to Lewes. This year the cocked hats were replaced by caps.

In the mean time great alterations had taken place in the affairs of Europe; while several states which in former periods had nobly fought for their civil and religious liberties, were seen crouching beneath the iron rule of republican despotism, the British troops had triumphed in Egypt and the West Indies, and the conditions of a treaty of peace were taken into consideration. The men of the King's Own having been engaged to serve only during the war, they were offered a farther bounty to enlist for unlimited service, and upwards of nine hundred volunteered an extension of their services, and were constituted the first battalion.

1802

In April, 1802, the second and third battalions proceeded to Portsmouth, and in May the first was removed to Chatham. The treaty of Amiens having been concluded, the third battalion was disbanded at Portsmouth on the 24th of May, and the second at Winchester in October of that year. In November the regiment marched to Dover Castle.

1803

The short respite from the horrors of war ceded to Europe by the treaty of Amiens proved, like the calm which precedes a storm, the harbinger of a mighty struggle which shook the basis of the constitution of the states of Christendom. The ambitious designs of Bonaparte, first consul of France, were ripening for execution, and hostile preparations were secretly made under the deceptive cloak of pacific designs. The conditions of the peace were evaded, and, while Britain was reducing the numbers of her land and sea forces, and cultivating amicable relations, Bonaparte was preparing, under the pretence of colonial purposes, a gigantic naval and military power with which he designed to crush, by one mighty effort, the British people, who appeared as a barrier to his schemes of aggrandizement, and were ever ready to oppose his progress.

The formidable preparations carried on in the ports of France and Holland, pending the discussion of an important negociation, occasioned the British government to adopt means of preservation, and King George III., actuated by a concern for the security and welfare of his subjects, exercised the power vested in him by act of parliament, and issued on the 11th of March, 1803, warrants for calling out and embodying the MILITIA. The establishment of the regiments of the regular army was also augmented, the amount of levy money for recruits was increased, and vigorous measures were adopted for completing the numbers of the several corps. In May the negociations with France terminated, the King's ambassador was recalled from Paris, hostilities recommenced, and Bonaparte made public declaration of his intention to invade this kingdom, and assembled an army near Boulogne which was insultingly termed, L'armée d'Angleterre.

This proceeding was met by the British government with suitable measures; the SUPPLEMENTARY MILITIA was embodied; an Act was passed to enable his Majesty to assemble an additional military force, called the Army of Reserve; also an act for indemnifying persons who might suffer in their property from the measures it might be found necessary to adopt; and an Act to enable his Majesty more effectually and speedily to exercise his ancient and undoubted prerogative in requiring the military aid of his liege subjects in case of invasion of the realm, called the Levy-en-masse Act. The captain-general of the army, Field-Marshal His Royal Highness the Duke of York, was also active in making the necessary preparations. The country was divided into military districts; general and staff officers were appointed to each district, and arrangements were made, and regulations issued, for the conduct of all ranks in the event of an invasion taking place.

The moment the enemy landed, all the regulations of civil government and restraint of forms were to cease in that part of the country, and everything was to give way to the supplying and strengthening of the army; the troops were directed to move in the lightest manner, and without baggage; the enemy was to be attacked at the moment of landing, and when his numbers became too great for any chance of success, the troops were to withdraw a short distance to give time for the forces of the country to assemble; correct intelligence was to be circulated; the inhabitants were to withdraw with their cattle, horses, and provision; and all provision tardy in its removal was to be destroyed; the roads were to be broken up, and the country driven and abandoned on the line of the enemy's route.