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Abercromby orators, rather than on the populace who would take part in a rebellion. And this populace had been inflamed to revolution pitch more by the arbitrary and cruel proceedings of the troops in Ireland than by the declarations of demagogues or the bribes of the French directory. The late commander-in-chief Luttrell, Lord Carhampton, had been ferocious enough, but it was rather of the conduct of the troops than of their commanders that the Irish people complained. The garrison of Ireland consisted nearly entirely of English and Scotch militia and protestant Irish yeomanry. Without the discipline of soldiers, they committed most fearful excesses, and the officials wished to condone their offences because the militia were only serving in Ireland as volunteers, and could demand to be sent home. Abercromby was too thorough a soldier to meet their wishes, and on 26 Feb. 1798 issued his famous general order, that the militia were far more dangerous to their friends than their enemies. The castle soon wished to get rid of this obnoxious Scotchman who would abuse their yeomanry, on which they depended, and try to remove the militia, whose services they wanted, and who seemed to expect that the Irish peasants should not be wantonly ill-treated; the authorities soon made a pretty quarrel between him and Lord Camden, the lord lieutenant, on which Abercromby resigned his command. He soon found he was not in disgrace at home, for he was at once appointed commander of the forces in Scotland.

In 1799 he was summoned to London by Mr. Dundas to discuss a project for a descent on Holland. He was appointed to command the first division, and was informed of two distinct projects. The first was to co-operate with a fleet in capturing the remnant of the Dutch fleet which had been beaten at Camperdown, and the second to make a powerful diversion, with the help of the Russians, in favour of the Archduke Charles and Suwaroff, who were both marching to invade France. On 13 Aug. he set sail with his division of 10,000 men, effected a landing at the Helder after a smart action on 27 Aug., and on 30 Aug. heard that the Dutch fleet had surrendered to Admiral Mitchell, though nominally to the Stadtholder. Thus the first project was accomplished; the second could not be attempted without a larger force. On 10 Sept. he defeated an attack made on his position by General Daendels, and on 13 Sept. was superseded by the Duke of York. When the Russians had disembarked, the duke ordered an attack on Bergen, which took place on 19 Sept., but was foiled by the impetuosity of the Russians. On 2 Oct. a yet more elaborate attack on Bergen failed. In this Abercromby had to lead the right column along the sand to Egmont-op-Zee. He was completely successful after an engagement in which he had two horses killed under him, but the operation failed through the failure of the other columns. These failures were followed on 20 Oct. by the disgraceful convention of Alkmar, by which the English restored their prisoners, on condition that they should be allowed to embark undisturbed. This failure disgusted Abercromby, but the ministry were so pleased with the capture of the fleet that they wished to make him a peer as Lord Egmont or Lord Bergen, but he refused indignantly to have his name associated with a disgraceful failure.

He now had a very few quiet months in his command in Scotland, where he was immensely popular, as was shown by his unopposed re-election for Clackmannan during his absence in the West Indies; but he had for ever renounced political life, and resigned in favour of his brother Robert. He was then appointed to succeed Sir Charles Stuart in the command of the troops in the Mediterranean. He reached Minorca in June 1800, but the battle of Marengo prevented his being able to land in Italy as the ministry had directed. He therefore waited for orders, and spent his time in trying to improve the physical condition and the morale of his army. Orders at last came for him to proceed to Gibraltar, absorb a force under Sir James Pulteney, and make a descent on Cadiz with the co-operation of Vice-admiral Lord Keith. He accordingly arrived at Cadiz on 3 Oct. with 20,000 men, but failed to make a landing. The causes of the failure have been the subject of bitter controversy, but it may be asserted that no blame is to be laid on either side. Keith, who must have known, declared the anchorage unsafe; Abercromby refused to land unless the fleet would stop with him a fortnight. He, however, made an attempt to land on 5 Oct., but, owing to the slowness of the men in getting into the boats, not more than 3,000 men could have been got to shore in a whole day, and it would have been too dangerous to leave them unsupported. Admiral and general agreed, therefore, to retire. The latter had not to wait long for further orders, for on 24 Oct. he was directed to proceed with all his troops to Egypt to expel or capture the French army left there by Napoleon. He reached Malta on 19 Nov., and was delighted with its power of defence, about which he wrote to the government, begging them to make Malta the head-quarters of the Mediterranean army instead of Minorca. On 13 Dec. he left Malta,