Note 140 — Chapter V · 1817-1848. THE FIRST WAR WITH CHINA.

In the MS. accounts of this engagement, the writers all mention that the regiment marched off “left in front.” The XVIIIth must have been very well drilled to be able to do this, for in those days very few regiments could move otherwise than “right in front.” This innovation is interesting in connection with the formation of the Royal Irish in the attack on the Dockyard Creek at Sebastopol on June 18, 1855, described in chapter vii.