THE SECOND CHAMBER. (To Sal EDITOR OR TUN .4 SPROTATOR.1
Ste,—Your correspondent Mr. W. Whitaker in your last number objects on historical grounds to the House of Lords being called the Second Chamber : a more practical objection to this terminology is that the expression "Second Chamber" is not unfrequently used abroad in an exactly opposite sense to signify the popular or more representative House or Chamber, the First Chamber being the Upper one. Thus, for instance, in Mr. A. Lawrence Lowell's well-known work on" Government and Parties in Continental Europe " we read in his account of the Constitution of Saxony, Vol. I., p. 336:— "The Standeversammiung, or Assembly of Estates, which must be summoned to a regular Landtag at least every other year, consists of two Chambers. The first contains the royal princes; certain nobles ; high officials, clerical, educational, and municipal ; members appointed by the crown ; and representatives elected by certain privileged bodies. The second is composed of thirty-seven members from the cities and forty-five from the country, each of whom is chosen by direct secret ballot in a separate district fixed by the Minister of the Interior. The franchise extends to all men who pay three marks a year in taxes."
Claverton Manor, Bath.
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