What will be the nature of Lord Rosebery's proposals we
do not know, but we sincerely trust that they will recog- nise the principles which have been already set forth in the Spectator. We recapitulate them here :—(1) That mere heredity—heredity without any other qualification—shall not in the future confer the right to sit in the Upper House. (2) That an elected element consisting of not less than half the House shall be introduced, based upon a democratic suffrage, either through direct election, or, if it be thought preferable, through indirect election, as in France, by the votes of the great Town and County Councils, and, in the case of the smaller counties and towns, of groups thereof. [Whether the direct method, or the method which has proved so sound in France of election by County Councils, is chosen, we trust that a system of proportional representation will be adopted.] (3) That the elected Members of the House shall be chosen for a long period of years—say twelve—in order to give them the maximum of stability and independence. (4) That such portion of the Upper House as shall be drawn from the existing House of Lords shall, in the greater part at any rate, consist of Peers who have earned their right to sit by service to the State. (5) That in future the possession of a peerage shall not prevent a Peer from seeking election either to the Lower or to the elected section of the Upper House. (6) That provision shall be made to employ the
Referendum to settle conditions of deadlock between the two Houses after the manner in which in the Commonwealth of Australia Constitutional deadlocks are to be decided.
