Lord Rosebery has issued a circular to the Members of
the House of Lords, asking each Peer whether he is favourable to the general principle of a Reform of the Lords, and if he is, in what direction he would be inclined to propose a Reform. We should be much interested, as a matter of intellectual curiosity, to know the character and number of his replies, and strongly suspect that he will find:amongst those who favour reform, no approximation towards harmony of view as to the direction the reform should take. Unfortunately, however much interested the Peers may be in saving their House, the majority of them will probably be much more interested in saving their Order ; and we hold that the two objects cannot result in one and the same policy. If you want to keep the Peers as important socially as they now are, you must adopt one line of policy ; while if you want to get the best possible Second Chamber which would be in general sympathy with the House of Commons, you must adopt a very different one. We fear that no conceivable reform would compass both ends.
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