The condition of the Americans, too, kept pace, for Beasley presently announced further money allowances, so that each prisoner now received 6_s._ 8_d._ per month, the result being a general improvement in outward appearance. On May 20, 1814, peace with France was announced amidst the frenzied rejoicings of the French prisoners. All Frenchmen had to produce their bedding before being allowed to go. One poor fellow failed to comply, and was so frantic at being turned back, that he cut his throat at the prison gate. 500 men were released, and with them some French-speaking American officers got away, and when this was followed by a rumour that all the Americans were to be removed to Stapleton, where there was a better market for manufactures, and which was far healthier than Dartmoor, the tone of the prison was quite lively and hopeful. This rumour, however, proved to be unfounded, but it was announced that henceforth the prisoners would be occupied in work outside the prison walls, such as the building of the new church, repairing roads, and in certain trades. On July 3, 1814, two _Argus_ men fought. One killed the other and was committed to Exeter for manslaughter. On July 4, Independence Day celebrations were allowed, and money being comparatively abundant, a most successful banquet on soup and beef was held. On July 8, a prisoner, James Hart, died, and over his burial-place the following epitaph was raised: ‘Your country mourns your hapless fate, So mourn we prisoners all; You’ve paid the debt we all must pay, Each sailor great and small. Your body on this barren moor, Your soul in Heaven doth rest; Where Yankee sailors one and all, Hereafter will be blest.’ The prison was much crowded in this year, 1814; in No. 4 barrack alone there were 1,500 prisoners, and yet the new doctor, Magrath, who is described by Andrews as being both skilful and humane, gave very strong testimony to its healthiness. In reply to a general petition from the prisoners for examination into their grievances, a Commission was sent to Dartmoor in 1813, and the next year reported that the only complaints partially justifiable were that of overcrowding, which was largely due to the preference of the prisoners for the new buildings with wooden floors, which were finished in the summer of 1812; and that of the ‘Partial Exchange’, which meant that whereas French privateers when they captured a British ship, landed or put the crew in a neutral ship and kept the officers, British captors kept all.