The historical antecedents of England render it all but certain
that, unless in the improbable case of a violent subversion of the
existing Constitution, any Second Chamber which could possibly exist
would have to be built on the foundation of the House of Lords. It
is out of the question to think practically of abolishing that
assembly, to replace it by such a Senate as I have sketched, or by any
other; but there might not be the same insuperable difficulty in
aggregating the classes or categories just spoken of to the existing
body, in the character of Peers for life. An ulterior, and perhaps, on
this supposition, a necessary step, might be, that the hereditary
Peerage should be present in the House by their representatives
instead of personally: a practice already established in the case of
the Scotch and Irish Peers, and which the mere multiplication of the
order will probably at some time or other render inevitable. An easy
adaptation of Mr. Hare's plan would prevent the representative Peers
from representing exclusively the party which has the majority in
the Peerage. If, for example, one representative were allowed for
every ten Peers, any ten might be admitted to choose a representative,
and the Peers might be free to group themselves for that purpose as
they pleased. The election might be thus conducted: All Peers who were
candidates for the representation of their order should be required to
declare themselves such, and enter their names in a list.
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