appointed by the crown in heredity or for life; and, on the
authorization of this measure, there was promulgated, October 12,
1854, a royal ordinance by which the composition of the body was fixed
substantially as it is to-day. The act of 1853 forbids that the system
thus brought into operation be further modified, save with the assent
of the Landtag; but this does not alter the fact that the present
composition of the Prussian upper house is determined, not by the
constitution of the kingdom, but by royal ordinance authorized by
legislative enactment.

*275. The House of Lords To-day.*--The component elements of the House
of Lords to-day are: (1) princes of the royal family who are of age;
(2) scions of the Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen,
and sixteen other once sovereign families of Prussia; (3) heads of the
territorial nobility created by the king, and numbering some fifty
members; (4) a number of life peers, chosen by the king from among
wealthy landowners, great manufacturers, and men of renown; (5) eight
titled noblemen appointed by the king on the nomination of the
resident landowners of the eight older provinces of the kingdom; (6)
representatives of the universities, of religious bodies, and of towns
of over 50,000 inhabitants, presented by these various organizations
respectively, but appointed ultimately by the king; and (7) an (p. 258)
indefinite number of members, chosen by the king for life on any
ground whatsoever, and under no restriction except that peers must
have attained the age of thirty years.

The composition of the chamber is thus extremely complex. There are
members _ex-officio_, members by royal appointment, members by
hereditary right. But the appointing power of the crown is so
comprehensive that the body partakes largely of the character of a
royal creation. Its membership is recruited almost exclusively from
the rigidly conservative landowning aristocracy, so that in attitude
and policy it is apt to be in no degree representative of the mass of
the nation, at least of the industrial classes. As a rule, though not
invariably, it is ready to support cordially the measures of the
crown. In any event, through exercise of the unrestricted power of
creating peers, the crown is in a position at all times to control its
acts. The number of members varies, but is ordinarily about 300.[380]

[Footnote 380: Lebon, Etudes sur l'Allemagne
pol