REFORM OF THE LORDS.
[To THE EDITOR OP TEE " SPECTATOR.:]
SIR,—You are having a fierce attack on aristocracy. Aristocracy as an instrument of government, powerful in the Middle Ages as it may have been, now in a civilised country is dead. An element of it left in a new Upper House, as Lord Rosebery proposes, would, it is to be feared, provoke, and not un- naturally or unreasonably, a renewal of this jealousy and antipathy and of the evils to which they lead. Everything that the House did that was unpopular would be set down to the aristocratic element. Why should not the two branches of the Legislature, instead of being antagonistic, be united and co-operative P Why should not the Upper House be elected by the Lower House, not of course in the lump, which would only bring on a new set of troubles, but by filling each vacancy in the Upper House as it occurred P You surely might hope on the whole for a fair representation of worth and personal influence in the Upper House. Leading men of all the public Services would of course be eligible whether they were Members of Parliament or not. I have not seen anything of this kind suggested, and am therefore led humbly to commend the idea to your notice.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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