THE 57th REGIMENT.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 3399, 16 June 1877, Page 2

THE 57th REGIMENT.

3 There is dismay and indignation - throughout the British army, from H.R.H. tbe Commander-in-Chief .down ~ to the latest joined sub-lieutenant. Esprit de corps, th&t sentiment to which 3 every member of a regiment clings, and t which in the field and in quarters has s been a powerful lever for raising the ? - reputation of the British army in peace 3 and war, is iv jeopardy. A committee .. on army re- organisation has recommended that regiments should be auial- - gamated into what it calls " territorial • brigades," and the numbers by which i they have been hitherto known to fame ' dispensed with. Every regiment has • its cherished memories, and in the hour 1 of need an allusion to its past glories I has often acted like, magic on a regi- . ment. Once in the Crimea the 57th • Regiment, hard pressed and fighting • against fearful odds wavered and were on the point of retiring. '-* 57th, re- ' member Albuera !" rung out the voice > pf the commanding officer cle.ir and • distinct amid the din of battle. The ' effect was instantaneous. With a cheer „ the men, who the moment before had . been faltering, followed their gallant leader and carried all before them, i Not one of those men had fought at • Albuera, but they all kuew how the . 57th had covered themselvs with glory j there, and the mere name was more to j them than a reinforcement of another , whole regiment would have been. That : is what Esprit de corps means.