Robert Boyd, le gouverneur de Gibraltar, met les choses au point.

«It's true, my dear, good friday correspondent, that you have not been inattentive to the supplying me with a list of officers, who you suppose, are come out in the Resistance & Ulysses 44 gunships which arrived here the 11th jan.» Mais il y a 6 officiers qui font défaut, dont il donne les noms et les régiments. «Upon this, I shall only say that if proper notice is not taken of such inattention to orders issued from the war office, we can never be sure of the necessary attendance of officers in this garnison. The poor unhappy man, who has the Kings commission for the office of Provost Martial, shews extreme reluctance to be an executioner, and altho the sherriff of a country, as I understand, if a hangman is not to be had is, by law, obliged to perform that office, I am not clear that there is such a law for a Prevost Martial. The inclosed return will show the time the officers there mentionned have been absent beyong the 18 months allowed [...]».