The same confidence was placed in this regiment by King William during the campaigns in Flanders from 1691 to 1697, for which the most distinguished honours were conferred by His Majesty on the corps on account of its heroic services.
In the war of the Spanish Succession, during the reign of Queen Anne, from 1702 to 1712, the EIGHTEENTH, ROYAL IRISH, regiment is recorded as having shared in the numerous sieges and victories under the Duke of Marlborough, as detailed in the Regimental Record.
After the cessation of hostilities by the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, the services of the regiment were equally efficient and useful in the British possessions, particularly at the island of Minorca, from whence it proceeded in 1727 to Gibraltar, when the Spaniards again besieged that fortress.
The ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT was again employed in Flanders during the war of the Austrian Succession, from 1743 to 1748.
The regiment shared also in the arduous duties of the British troops employed during the early part of the American war, which commenced in 1775.
The next important service on which the EIGHTEENTH, ROYAL IRISH, regiment was engaged, was the ever-memorable campaign of the British army in Egypt, which succeeded in repelling from that country the French army, which had vainly styled itself "invincible," and through the efforts of which Napoleon Bonaparte intended to open a route to India, and thereby disturb, if not annihilate, the British possessions in Asia.
After returning from Egypt, the services of this valuable regiment were employed in guarding the colonial possessions in the West Indies for a period of twelve years, during which the British army acquired additional honours and distinctions by its services in the Peninsula, which terminated in 1814, and afterwards by the decisive battle and overthrow of the French army at Waterloo.
The EIGHTEENTH was employed on garrison duty from 1821 to 1832 in the islands of the Mediterranean.
In 1837 the regiment was embarked for Ceylon, and in 1840 it formed part of the expedition to the Chinese seas, and by its gallantry eventually compelled the government of the "_Celestial empire_" to cede a portion of territory to the British Crown, and to pay an indemnity for losses sustained: the word _China_ and the device of the _Dragon_, authorized by Her Majesty to be borne on the colours and appointments of the regiment, are proud memorials of its services in this distant scene of warfare, which was a novel arena, not only to the EIGHTEENTH, but to European troops generally. The regiment was again employed during the military operations on the Canton river in 1847, and towards the close of that year proceeded to the East Indies.