The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-11-07
Proposed Changes In the House Of Lords.

All intelligent Englishmen are agreed
that O second chamber OF some kind Is
essential to the working Of parliamentary
institutions. and they also acknowledge
that the House of Lords needs reconstruc-
ton. But how the House Of Lords should
be changed is q problem Of which no one
has offered as yet an acceptable solution.
The latest proposal is put forward by the
Edinburgh Reuie,c. but this. also. on exami-
nation will be found unsatisfactory.
What the Edinburgh Review suggests Is
this: First. that the Grown should be allowed
to create o number Of life Peers, to be
chosen from persons of eminence In every
field of intellectual endeavor. Secondly.
that the English Peers. including the life
PEERS should elect representatives. who. in
conjunction with the representative Peers
of Scotland and Of Ireland should constitute
a deliberative and voting assembly. The
fatal objection to this plan Is that. as the
vote on the Home Rule bill showed. all
the representative Peers would be Of one
political party. The Gladstonians would
be worse Off than they are now. when they
control about one-tenth Of the members OF
the upper House. An attempt is made by
the Spectator to parry this objection by the
provision that the number OF members in
the upper House being fixed. only half of
them should be elected by the Peers. while
the other half should DO summoned by the
Crown for one Parliament. This device for
obtaining an equal representation OF parties
might work when the Liberals happened to
be in power. Under Conservative Prime
Minister all the Peers, whether elected or
summoned. would be Conservative.
1t seems, In truth. to pass the ingenuity
of man to reform the House OF Lords In
such way as to deprive the Tories OF their
present unfair preponderance, IL the ex-
listing Peers are to constitute the sole ma
terial or the major part Of the material
from which the members OF the upper
House are drawn. Alive to this difficulty.
the English Radicals contend that the House
OF Lords. 80 far as 1t consists Of hereditary
legislators or Of their representatives.
should be abolished and replaced by COM
paratively small elective assembly. in
which every county and every city contain
ing certain population should have one
representative. Such body. provided its
members were returned. not directly by
the voters, but by the county and munich
pal councils. would correspond substantially
to the French Senate. It would have this
advantage. that in 1t the great political
parties would have a representation pro-
portionate in the long run to their strength
at the ballot box. Its members. IL chosen
for longer terms than those Of the members
of the House Of Commons. would exercise
certain check upon hasty legislation. while
at the same time they would never venture
to thwart the deliberate will Of the people.
That Is what the French Senate does,
and that Is all which can be expected OF a
second chamber In q centralized country
like France or England. The English Radi-
Gals need not hope to reproduce In their
second chamber the power and indepen-
dence OF the American Senate. OF the Bundles
rath OF the German empire. and OF the
Stande Rath. or Council Of States. of
The authority and impreg-
inability Of those assemblies arise from the
fact that they represent semi-indepen-
dent States united by federal ties.
II. as Mr.. AsQUIrH seemed to forecast In
a recent speech. the passage of the Home
Rule bill should be eventually followed by
the creation Of legislatures In Scotland.
Wales. and England. 1t might be possible
for the imperial Parliament to have an
upper House. or Senate. similar in COM
position to the German Bundesrath. That
is to say. each Of the local legislatures
might elect a number Of Senators proper
tiOnate to the population of the country
In the absence OF such an ex-
tension OF the federal principle. the French
Senate Is the only available model for an
English second chamber