Napoleon Bonaparte, against whose legions in the Peninsula, in subsequent years, the THIRTY-FIRST regiment acquired great renown, was now rising step by step to that Imperial sway which he afterwards attained. The French Directory, jealous of his ambition, sent him on the expedition to Egypt, with the view of acting from that country against the British empire in India. Napoleon took Alexandria by storm, and soon established himself at Cairo. The Sublime Porte, incensed by the invasion of Egypt, declared war against France, and formed an alliance with Russia. The fleet, which had conveyed the expedition to Egypt, was almost destroyed by Admiral Nelson in Aboukir Bay on the 1st of August. So large a portion of the French army being thus secluded in a distant land, gave fresh impulse to the Allies, and in November the island of Minorca surrendered to the British arms. In December the co-operation of Russia against France was secured by Great Britain.
1799
At this period of the war the soldiers of the English militia regiments were permitted to extend their services to the regular army;—the THIRTY-FIRST regiment received eight hundred and fifty-three volunteers from the militia.
In March, 1799, war was declared by the French Directory against Austria, and the combined Austrian and Russian armies were so successful as to recover the greater portion of Italy.
In August, 1799, a corresponding attempt was made by Great Britain to recover Holland from the dominion of France, and a numerous army was selected to proceed to that country, under His Royal Highness the Duke of York. Previously to the arrival of the Duke of York, the army was commanded by Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, K.B., with the local rank of General.
The THIRTY-FIRST regiment marched to Deal, embarked for Holland on the 8th of September, and arrived at the Helder on the 15th of the same month. The THIRTY-FIRST and other regiments were embarked after the departure of General Sir Ralph Abercromby, in order to reinforce his army. The Duke of York, having preceded these additional troops by two days, was already in command of the army, which was intrenched in the advance of the Helder on the Zuype, in which lines Sir Ralph Abercromby had, on the 10th of September, near the village of Crabbendam, repulsed the attack of the French and Dutch under General Brune.
Immediately on landing, the THIRTY-FIRST marched to the lines, and joined Major-General the Earl of Chatham’s brigade, in the division of General Sir Ralph Abercromby, on the 15th of September. The Duke of York, having been reinforced by the expected arrival of a corps of twelve thousand Russians, under Lieut.-General Hermann, resolved on attacking the French position in advance of Alkmaar, reaching from Zuyder-Zee on the right, to Camperdown on the left, and embracing the town of Bergen.
The attack was made on the 19th of September, in four columns: the right, formed entirely of Russians, under Lieut.-General Hermann, moved on Bergen; the centre divisions, under Lieut.-General Dundas and Lieut.-General Sir James Pulteney, forced the village and post of Oude Carspel, on the road to Alkmaar; while the left column, in which was the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, under General Sir Ralph Abercromby, advanced to the capture of Hoorne.
The point of attack selected for Sir Ralph Abercromby’s division being at a considerable distance beyond the extent of the line, the THIRTY-FIRST, and other regiments, marched at eight o’clock on the night of the 18th of September, and the movement was performed with such skill and secrecy, that Hoorne was surprised and carried on the following morning without loss, which placed the French position in considerable peril. The Russians having failed in holding Bergen, after having entered it in gallant style, rendered it impossible for the centre division to continue in possession of the posts it had acquired. The British troops were therefore withdrawn to their former lines upon the Zuype, to which the Russians had retreated. Hoorne was evacuated, and the THIRTY-FIRST, with the other regiments of Sir Ralph Abercromby’s division, returned on the night of the 19th of September to the ground they had quitted on the former evening.
From the 20th of September until the 1st of October, both armies remained within their intrenchments, strengthening their lines of defence; the French had received reinforcements, and had inundated a large tract of country on their right by cutting the sluices, thus contracting the ground of operations to six or seven miles.