On the record
Thirty or forty such men, added judiciously and sparingly as years went on, would have given to the House of Lords the very element which, as a criticising chamber, it needs so much.
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Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “Thirty or forty such men, added judiciously and sparingly as years went on, would have given to the House of Lords the…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot suggests that a careful addition of distinguished individuals could have revitalized the House of Lords.
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More from Walter Bagehot
Subject to this saving remark, however, I not only admit, but maintain, that our Constitution is full of curious oddities, which are impeding and mischievous, and ought to be struck out.
But it is natural also that persons used to analyse political institutions should look at these anomalies with a little tenderness and a little interest.
These anomalies, in a hundred instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitutional struggle.
At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.
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