The three Guards Battalions reached Malta about the same time, and were commanded by Colonel Bentinck (Coldstream Guards), who was appointed Brigadier-General, February 21st. There they remained for about seven weeks, awaiting events; while other troops, all infantry, poured into the island, without General Officers, Staffs, or Departments, wherewith to form an army. At first it seemed somewhat doubtful whether they would go further. Our Government at home still dreamt of peace, and could not make up their minds that war was upon them; they even seemed to have thought that, though a naval demonstration had signally failed at Constantinople, a military display in the Mediterranean might frighten the Russians! The interval, however, was not misspent; it was utilized in preparing the men for active service, principally in the exercise of musketry, which was practised without interruption. With reference to this important subject, the following, written by a Coldstream Officer (Colonel Wilson), who was present with the Battalion, will be of interest:— “When the Household Brigade was ordered abroad, the military Court of Chancery had come to no decision relative to the suitableness of the Minié rifle for the general use of infantry. As yet that amazing tool was in the possession of only a few _select_ men in every regiment.[192] Hence, Lord Hardinge, who, it must be confessed, did much for the improvement of English small arms, judged it expedient that the Guards should take 'Brown Bess' to Malta; but, at the same time, he despatched thither cases of Miniés, under the charge of a competent instructor of musketry, Captain Lane-Fox [now General Pitt-Rivers, late Grenadier Guards].... Thanks to Captain Fox’s exertions in favour of modern betterment, and a few experiments, a right verdict was at length delivered. At Scutari, old Brown Bess was marched off ignominiously to the Ordnance stores, and the Minié maiden became the faithful consort of every foot soldier. How completely have subsequent events substantiated the truth of Fox’s arguments!”[193] ----- Footnote 192: The Battalions of the Brigade proceeding on foreign service, started with 200 stand of Minié rifles and 650 percussion muskets (_Brigade Order_ , Feb. 21st). Even as late as February, 1854, the respective merits of these two firearms were so little determined, that we find parties from each Regiment of the Brigade, ordered to fire 100 rounds “of the common balls out of the old musket,” and to report upon the comparative accuracy of the fire (_ibid._, Feb. 8th). Footnote 193: “A Regimental Officer” (Colonel C. T. Wilson, late Coldstream Guards), _Our Veterans of 1854, in Camp and before the Enemy_ , p. 15 (London, 1859). The exchange of these firearms was not effected in the Battalion till the end of May, 1854. -----