To the records of the 2nd battalion Colonel Macleod appended the following remarks:—
“Colonel Macleod, in reading over the history of the 2nd battalion of the 78th Regiment, and considering its progress and termination under such happy circumstances, would do violence to his own feelings did he not subjoin his testimony to the interesting narrative in which he bore his share for nine years of the period. Were he capable of doing justice to his sentiments on a review of the proceedings of that period of his services in the battalion, those results from the grateful and best feelings of his heart must render the expression of them impracticable.
“To record the merits of all the officers that served under him would be unavailing, but he will sum up with an assertion, that no commanding officer in His Majesty’s service has the pride to boast of never having for nine years found it necessary to place an officer under arrest; that no regulation for the discipline of the army had ever been violated, and that in every instance the rules of good breeding regulated the discharge of the duties of the officer and the gentleman; he never witnessed a dispute at the mess-table, nor ever heard of a quarrel from it: with what pleasure must he ever meet those who contributed so much to his personal comforts as a friend, and pride as an officer.
“To the conduct of the non-commissioned officers and men his exultation is equally due in their degree; their order and discipline on every occasion attracted the notice and approbation of general officers and inhabitants in quarters, and their marked admiration in the field. For their individual and collective attachment to him, he must ever consider them the dutiful children of a fond parent....
“As a lasting testimony of his approbation, and thanks to Lieut.-Colonel Lindsay, Major Macpherson, Major Colin Mackay, Lieut. and Adjutant Smith, Lieut. Chisholm, Quartermaster Gunn, and Surgeon Munro, the field officers and staff who so ably assisted him in the more immediate discharge of his duties at the concluding services of the battalion, he desires that their names, as well as that of every officer composing the battalion, may be inserted in this conclusion of the narrative. He will retain a copy of it to remind him of those who have been his faithful friends, his valuable associates, and sharers in his everlasting esteem.”
The reduction having been carried into effect, and the claims of the men to be discharged settled, the dépôt proceeded to Aberdeen, where it remained quartered till July 1817, when it was joined by the 1st battalion newly returned from India, and the two battalions of the 78th were once more consolidated.
On the 13th of July 1817, the 1st battalion landed at Aberdeen, and marched into barracks occupied by the dépôt of the 2nd battalion, with which it was immediately amalgamated, and the regiment has since remained as a single battalion. The regiment, now consisting of 638 rank and file, maintained its headquarters at Aberdeen, with detachments at Perth, and Forts George, William, and Augustus.[497]
Having received a route for Ireland, the headquarters marched from Aberdeen on the 31st of October, embarked at Port Patrick on the 22nd of November, and a few hours later landed at Donaghadee. Thence the regiment proceeded to Belfast, and having there received orders for Mullingar, it marched thither, and arrived at its destination on the 3rd of December; headquarters and four companies remained at Mullingar, and the remaining five (the 5th company being still in India), under Lieut.-Colonel Lindsay, proceeded to Tullamore, two small detachments being sent to Ballymahon and Longford.
We need not follow the movements of the 78th during its stay in Ireland for nearly nine years, during which time it was broken up into numerous detachments, stationed at various small towns throughout the country, for the purpose of keeping in check the many disturbers of the peace with whom the country was at this period infested. Wherever the regiment was stationed while in Ireland at this time, it invariably won the good-will and respect of the magistrates and people. When about to leave Mullingar, in June 1819, an extremely flattering series of resolutions was sent to Colonel Macleod by a meeting of magistrates and gentlemen held at Trim.
In October 1818 the Highland Society of London presented to the regiment twenty-five copies of the Poems of Ossian in Gaelic, “to be disposed of by the commanding officer of the regiment in such manner as he may judge most expedient, and as best calculated to promote the views of the Society.” At the same time the secretary of the Highland Society conveyed the high respect which the Society entertained “for that national and distinguished corps and the wish on their part that it may long continue to cherish, as it now does, the noble sentiments of the patriotic Ossian.” We need scarcely say that these sentiments were warmly reciprocated by Colonel Macleod, who then commanded the 78th. About a year after this, in September 1819, Colonel Macleod was promoted to the rank of major-general, and was succeeded in the command of the regiment by Lieutenant-Colonel Lindsay, who, on the reduction of the establishment of the regiment in September 1818, had been placed on half-pay.