[119] Gough speaks of his reply that ‘evacuation would be contrary to the spirit of General Campbell’s instructions,’ as if given at an earlier date, but, the 29th seems fixed by King’s letter to Napier in appendix to the latter’s _Peninsular War_, iv. pp. 443-4, quoted above. Skerrett’s resolve was shaken--he still held to his opinion, but dismissed the council of war without coming to a decision: he tried to avoid responsibility by requesting the officers who voted for further resistance to deliver him their opinions in writing. This King, Smith, and Gough did, in the strongest wording. The first named of these three resolute men sent that same night a messenger by boat to Gibraltar, to inform General Campbell of Skerrett’s faint-hearted decision, and to observe that, with a few companies more to aid his own flank-battalion and the Spaniards, he would try to hold first Tarifa and then the island, even if Skerrett withdrew his brigade. Campbell, angry in no small degree, sent a very prompt answer to the effect that the town should not be abandoned without the concurrence of the commanding officers of artillery and engineers, while the Gibraltar battalion should be concentrated in the island, in order to ensure its defence even if Tarifa itself fell. Still more drastic was an order to the officers commanding the transports to bring their ships back at once to Gibraltar: this decisive move made it impossible for Skerrett to carry out his plan[120]. A few days later Campbell sent two more flank-companies to join the garrison--but they only arrived after the assault. [120] See especially the notes from officers on the spot in Napier’s appendix to vol. iv. pp. 442-4. The idea of evacuating the town without attempting any defence was all the more ignominious because Copons had declared his intention of holding it to the last, had protested against the spiking of the heavy gun in Guzman’s tower, and next morning, when Leval summoned the place to surrender, sent in a most unhesitating, if somewhat bombastic[121], note of refusal. If Skerrett had withdrawn into the island, or taken to his ships, and Copons had been overwhelmed, fighting in the streets, the disgrace to the British flag would have been very great. As a sidelight on the whole matter, we may remember that this was the same officer who had refused to land his troops to defend the breach of Tarragona six months before. He was no coward, as he showed in many fights, and he died gallantly at Bergen-op-Zoom in 1814, but he was undoubtedly a shirker of responsibilities. [121] ‘Sin duda ignorará V.S. que me hallo yo en esta plaza, cuando se prononce á su gubernador que admite una capitulacion. Á la cabeza de mis tropas me encontrará V.S. y entonces hableremos.’ See Arteche, appendix to vol. xi. p. 524.