We have already dealt with the reckless statement of the French while dealing with Mr. Pillet. They are wicked calumnies, which, even on a casual examination, carry with them their own contradiction. The British Government expended an enormous sum on the prisoners, and in 1817 made a claim on the French for the maintenance of French prisoners in England. {168} The correctness of that claim was never questioned; whether it was settled is another matter. According to Alison, the British Government generously forgave the debt. The prisoners in each quadrangle were visited daily by the surgeons, and any prisoner complaining of illness, and found by the doctors to have good ground for his complaint, was removed at once to the hospital, where he was, according to the sworn evidence of the French surgeons themselves, carefully and liberally treated. From the pay-sheets accompanying the hospital accounts, the earliest of which at the Record Office is for the year 1806, the staff of the hospital appears to have been at that time, the surgeon (Mr. Geo. Walker), two assistant-surgeons (M. Pierre Larfeuil and Mr. Anthony Howard), a dispenser, an assistant-dispenser (prisoner), dispensary porter (do) and messenger (do), two hospital mates and clerk, a steward of victualling, a steward of bedding, with two assistants (prisoners), two turnkeys, matron, and seamstress (the two last named and the wives of the married turnkeys being, up to the advent of the surgeon’s bride in 1808, the only women within the prison walls), a messenger, and the following thirteen, who were all prisoners, two interpreters, one tailor, one washerman, one carpenter (who made bed-cradles and other appliances for the ward and did odd jobs), an assistant lamplighter (a more important post than it sounds, as it would be very convenient for any prisoner or prisoners wanting to escape to find a careless lamplighter, who would forget to light, or supply with sufficient oil, one or two of the numerous lamps which lighted the prison and its environs), two stocking-menders, two labourers, one barber for the infirm and itchy, and two nurses—in all, thirteen British and twenty French prisoners, the staff of nurses being, of course, increased if necessary. {169} The hospital was evidently conducted on a liberal scale. The dietary was ample; it was as follows: ESTABLISHED DIET 1_st_. _Full Diet_ Tea, or water-gruel with salt, for breakfast; the same for supper. Meat 12 oz., with potatoes or greens, and 1 pint of broth, for dinner. Bread 14 oz., sugar 2 oz., beer 2 pints (of beer at 16_s._ the 38 gallons), and if any other drink is wanted, water, or toast and water. 2_nd_. _Reduced Diet_