138 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

democratic Governments today is not that they take action
too rapidly, but that they do not take it rapidly enough. If
democratically elected assemblies think of legislating against
tbe popular will, there is always one powerful check—the thought
of what will happen at the next election. No doubt, if the House
of Lords were abolished the Commons could, in law, prolong
their own life indefinitely and become a dictatorial Government.
This, as has already been shown, would be unconstitutional;
should a majority party intend to do any such thing it would not
be deterred by die legal obstacle of a Second Chamber; it would
no longer be thinking of legality and votes but of military
strength and a coup d'etat.

These traditional arguments for a Second Chamber lack
force because they ignore realities. They suppose the State
to be a collection of people all desirous of discovering the best
scientific principles of Government. In fact, there is, within
States, conflict between some advocating one change in the
order of society, some another, and some no change at all. In a
democratic State the conflict is resolved by periodic appeals to
tbe will of the people. The effect of Second Chambers, in the
real world, is to make certain kinds of change more difficult.
They have been created or preserved in order to protect particular
interests, not because political philosophers demonstrated the
superiority of bicameral Government. The special interests of
the House of Lords have been examined; the Senate in France
gives special weight to the opinions of the rural district?. When
the First Chamber itself fevours the protected interest, the
Second Chamber is its echo; when this does not happen,
Government is hampered by conflict between the Chambers.

The problem takes a special form in Federal States where
the Second Chamber usually has the task of preserving the
rights of the various members of the Federation, The Congress
of the U.S A is composed of Two Houses. To the House of
Representatives each State in tbe Union sends a number of
Congressmen varying with its population; but to the Senate