There seems to have been a want of zeal on the part of the chaplains, if one may judge from the following order:—"Palais, 26 November, 1761. Whenever any patient dies in any of the Grand Hospitals, the principal surgeon attached to the Hospital where the patient dies is immediately to send a written report of his death, and the time he would have him interred, to the visiting chaplain then in waiting, who is, conformable to a former order of Major-General Hodgson, to attend the corpse at the grave, and read the burial-service over it. General Hodgson is extremely concerned that he has occasion to repeat the latter part of this order, and expects for the future that he shall not hear any complaints on this subject." It may be mentioned, in concluding this chapter, that at the Peace of 1763 Belleisle was returned to the French in exchange for Minorca, which England had lost at the commencement of the Seven Years' War. CHAPTER XXII. PEACE. AT the conclusion of the war in 1763, the reductions in the Regiment were carried out on a different system from that which had hitherto prevailed. At the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, entire companies had been reduced, and the establishment of the remaining companies was left unchanged. Now, the cadres of the three Battalions with their companies remained, but the establishment of the latter was materially reduced. Besides the Cadet company, there were now thirty others; and the total in each company of all ranks was—as it had been twenty years before—107. But the following reduction was now ordered—one Lieutenant-Fireworker, one Sergeant, one Corporal, four bombardiers, twelve gunners, and thirty-two matrosses per company, reducing the total from 107 to 57, a fifer having been added to each. The supernumerary fireworkers were put on half-pay, and brought in as vacancies occurred,—the last being absorbed in 1767. From 1763 to 1771 was a singularly uneventful period in the history of the Regiment. One Battalion was quartered in America, its head-quarters being at Woolwich; the companies of another were divided between Gibraltar and Minorca, and the third was in Great Britain. The companies in the East Indies remained as before until 1765. A relief of the 2nd by the 1st Battalion took place towards the end of this time; and the companies at home were periodically relieved as at present. One peculiarity, however, existed then, which does so no longer. When two or more companies were required from Woolwich for out-stations at home, the Captains were ordered to meet at the Commandant's office, and draw lots for their destinations. As a means of silencing grumblers, it was certainly advantageous.