The Committee of officers, Peers, and Members of Parliament appointed
by the War Office to report upon the best method of improving the Brigade Depot system have decided in favour of the total abolition of the present system of regimental nomen- clature. The " Regiment " would consist of all the Line and Militia battalions said the depot battalion, and would bear a terri- torial designation, the Line battalions being the 1st and 2nd, say, of the Kent regiment ; the Militia battalions, the 3rd and 4th, and so on. The officers would be interchangeable between the Line battalions of the territorial regiment. The effect of this change would be that a regiment could be strengthened when neces- sary, either by a sudden increase in its depot battalion, or by calling out one or more of its Militia battalions for service, an immense addition to its effective power. The grand objection is the decrease of esprit de corps, some regiments having histories as separate and a tone as peculiar as that of a nation, but the Committee note that the numbers of many regiments have already been changed, and the "territorial regiment" would moon acquire an esprit which would spread through all its battalions.
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