Sir John Stuart, who commanded the army in Sicily, now undertook, at the solicitation of the Court of Palermo, an expedition against the French in Calabria. The detachment of artificers at Messina, reduced to twelve in number, furnished ten men, under Captain C. Lefebure, royal engineers, to accompany the troops. They were present on the 4th July at the battle of Maida; and afterwards at the siege of Scylla Castle from the 12th to the 23rd of the same month. Shortly after the capture, six of the party returned to their old quarters at Messina, leaving two non-commissioned officers and two artificers under Lieutenant George Macleod of the engineers, to superintend the restoration of the castle defences. In October the four men rejoined the detachment at Messina, where the whole continued to be employed in various engineering services for several years. Artificers under military control and discipline being much required for the works at Malta, Lieutenant-Colonel R. T. Dickens, R.E., recommended the formation of three companies of Maltese tradesmen for the service of the engineer department; two to be stationed at Malta and Gozo, and one for employment in general duties in the Mediterranean, Gibraltar, and Egypt. English companies of artificers would have been proposed for the works of the stations named, had the efficiency and conduct of detachments previously sent from Gibraltar to Minorca, Sicily, and other parts of the Mediterranean, warranted it; “but,” says Sir Charles Pasley, “as the Gibraltar companies were, from circumstances, the worst in the corps, the detachments formed from them * * * * were found so very inefficient, that Maltese and Sicilians were preferred to Britons in the Mediterranean, for the important service of the royal engineer department.”[141] As well from this, as from other local[142] and economical considerations, the Government approved of the measure, and the royal authority for its accomplishment being obtained, the companies were formed on the 1st May. ----- Footnote 141: Pasley’s ‘Elementary Fortification,’ note A, p. iv. Footnote 142: In the treaty of Amiens it was stipulated that _one-half_ the soldiers in the garrison at Malta should be natives; and although the treaty had been violated by Napoleon, Great Britain still regarded its provisions, in this respect at least, as sacred and obligatory. ----- The Mediterranean or war company consisted of— 4 sergeants, 4 corporals, 100 privates, 1 drummer, 10 boys. —— Total 119 and the companies for Malta and Gozo, numbered each—