to commit the Army to the aid of France, if attacked, and Haldane began to consider how best to accomplish this. He quickly concluded that there was a need for a regular Expeditionary Force, specifically prepared and trained for use as a continental intervention force. The question now became how to provide this force, and after a short period Haldane settled on a strength of six twelve-battalion infantry divisions with supporting arms. They would need to be organised in peacetime and prepared to mobilise in the United Kingdom, as they would be committed into action as soon as they reached the Continent. Because the Army was now geared to a specific purpose, it could be reorganised to fit this role, and any elements which did not support it could be discarded. These reforms anticipated that the existing tripartite division of the Army—the Regular Army, the Volunteers/Yeomanry and the Militia— should be changed into a two-part structure, with an Expeditionary Force and a much larger Territorial Force based on County Associations. In a speech in November 1906, he explained that the latter was designed to provide a second line behind the regular Expeditionary Force, with fourteen divisions, each with all the necessary artillery, engineers, commissariat and medical support, together with fourteen cavalry brigades 'as the sole means of support and expansion of the professional army', in a major war, as well as for home defence. This could, he argued be partially trained in peacetime but, upon the outbreak of war, be swiftly trained to the necessary standards. The Volunteers and Yeomanry would form the basis for the Territorial Force, whilst the Militia would be used as a reserve for the all-Regular Expeditionary Force, fully liable for service overseas. He formed a committee— the "Territorial Force Committee", sometimes known as the "Esher Committee" after its chair Lord Esher—of 45 representatives from the Regular Army, the Militia, the Volunteers and the War Office to study the proposals and attempt to reach an agreement. The Committee first met on 22 May and sat until July. It failed to reach any effective conclusion, mostly stalling on the issue of what to do with the Militia— should it be merged with the Volunteers, or should it be formally incorporated into the Regular Army? A secondary problem was the desire of the commanders of individual volunteer units who wished to retain the greater independence their units currently