On the 1st of July a frigate arrived in Cuddalore Roads, confirming the former intelligence, and bringing the official accounts from England of a general peace having been concluded. Hostilities in consequence ceased. The English and French interchanged visits, congratulations, and compliments, and became apparently as cordial friends as they had before been determined enemies.
By the 2d of August the British army had received the supplies of which it stood greatly in want, and the camp was immediately broken up, the troops proceeding towards Madras, where they arrived on the 16th of that month, at St. Thomas’s Mount.
The army shortly afterwards went into winter quarters, the Seventy-third occupying the fort and cantonment of Arcot.
2d bat.
In August the second battalion marched from Hilsea barracks to Stirling, where it was disbanded on the 3d of October; and the officers belonging to the second battalion, who were regimentally senior to those serving with the first, had the option afforded them of joining that battalion in the East Indies, at their own expense, of which some availed themselves.
1784.
On the 11th of March 1784, a general peace was ratified between the Honorable East India Company and Tippoo Saib, and, shortly afterwards, the officers and men, who had been made prisoners in the action fought by Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, on the 10th of September 1780, were restored to their friends, after having endured captivity in irons in an ungenial climate, and most of them suffering from severe wounds.
The regiment had the gratification to receive Captains David Baird and the Honorable John Lindsay. The commission of the latter, as captain, had been antedated to the 12th of September 1780. Both of these officers had recovered from their wounds.
During the remainder of the year the regiment continued at Arcot, and was only employed, beyond the usual routine of duty in quarters, for a short time in quelling a mutiny which broke out in the native cavalry at Arnee. The regiment at this period was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel William Dalrymple.
1785.