,,, 



BELGIUM. 



hut with intcre.-t added. The advances under the 

 cnnv.-iiti"!)- "I l s '- l(l and l' S!> '> wt ' re i"*de to ex " 

 trii-ate tin- Congo Stale from financial difficulties, 

 but MOW that its linam-es were in a flourishing 

 condition the .-overeign was reluctant to submit 

 tin- administration to tlie caprices of parliament- 

 ary majorities. As there was opposition to an- 

 nexation in certain sections of the Belgian people, 

 M. de Smet de Naeyer proposed to adjourn the 

 (i nest ion for a further term of ten years, and in 

 the meantime to allow the loan to stand over 

 without interest. Ex-Premier Beernaert opposed 

 this project. believing that the rights of Belgium 

 would lapse. Even the Socialists, opponents of 

 colonial expansion hitherto, demanded the asser- 

 tion of those rights or a new convention to pre- 

 MTVP them. M. Beernaert proposed a bill declar- 

 ing the annexation of the Congo State and provid- 

 ing for the continuance of the existing administra- 

 tion for a year, during which the Legislature 

 should decide on a special rcyimc, legislative, ad- 

 ministrative, and judicial, for the new Belgian pos- 

 scs.-ion. This would likely have been carried had 

 not the sovereign intervened, declaring in a letter 

 to M. Woeste that the Congo administration 

 would naturally refuse to participate in that sort 

 of hybrid government which would be chaos and 

 would produce friction and loss, both externally 

 and internally: and stating that the time had not 

 yet arrived when the Free State was able to as- 

 sure to Belgium all the advantages that he desired 

 should accrue to her, while, on the other hand, 

 Belgium was for the moment unable to set up 

 a substitute for the present administration. This 

 declaration was tantamount to a threat of resig- 

 nation as sovereign of the Free State if the an- 

 nexation scheme were pressed. M. Beernaert with- 

 drew his proposals, and a Government bill was 

 presented, preserving Belgium's right of annexa- 

 tion by reaffirming the option and suspending 

 financial relations between Belgium and the Congo 

 State, thereby wiping out the various loans ad- 

 vanced by Belgium in the event of annexation. 

 It was thus left to King Leopold to choose the 

 moment when he shall transfer the Free State and 

 under what conditions. The principle was ad- 

 mitted by both Chambers that the organic law of 

 the new colony must be elaborated and approved 

 by the Legislature before annexation, but the 

 ministers intimated the kind of administration 

 on which the sovereign will insist, which will be 

 one entrusted entirely to the executive power, 

 with native affairs left completely under his own 

 control, the only intervention of Parliament to 

 be in financial affairs, and in those it should have 

 only the right to make suggestions, not to vote 

 the budget. An annual report of the financial and 

 economical condition of the colony will be sub- 

 mitted to the Belgian Chambers for formal ap- 

 proval, and only when it is. a question of borrow- 

 ing or other matter affecting Belgian taxpayers 

 II the Legislature be called upon to take action, 

 while King Leopold will exercise the same super- 

 vision and control that he has as sovereign of the 

 Free State. Before the passage of the Government 

 bill perpetuating the right of annexation, but post- 

 poning indefinitely its consummation, the French 

 Government, which under the treaty of 1884 ac- 

 quired a right of preemption, gave 'an assurance 

 that it would in no way contest Belgium's rMit 

 to annex the Congo territories. The total amount 

 Of the advances remitted to the Congo State as 

 the condition of keeping the right of annexation 

 alive is about 32.000.000 francs. The bill was 

 passed. In the event of the King's death the 

 Congo is definitely secured to Belgium by the 

 King's testament. 



Agitation for Electoral Reform. More im- 

 portant than any question that came before Par- 

 liament was the question of suffrage which the 

 Socialists brought to the front by a lively popu- 

 lar agitation. At their annual congress in April 

 they decided to continue the struggle for the aboli- 

 tion of plural voting by every possible means, in- 

 cluding, if necessary, a universal strike and street 

 agitation. The fruit of ' the universal strike of 

 1893 in favor of universal suffrage pure and sim- 

 ple was the present electoral law establishing uni- 

 versal suffrage complicated with plural voting. 

 This was voted in 1894 by the Catholic party 

 then in power with M. Beernaert as Prime Min- 

 ister. The tax qualification giving two votes 

 shuts out 765,000 family men of the working class, 

 about 70 per cent, of the total number, and the 

 professional qualification for the triple vote gives 

 disproportionate influence to ecclesiastics, who 

 constitute one-sixth of the 42,000 electors so privi- 

 leged. The Moderate Liberals in the former cam- 

 paign for electoral reform were more averse to 

 universal suffrage than the Clericals, who granted 

 it because the Flemish peasants would strengthen 

 their party as much as the working-class vote of 

 the Charleroi and Liege districts would increase 

 the Socialist representation, while the Liberals, 

 their real political rivals, would derive from it 

 little accession of voting strength. Now the 

 Moderate Liberals were willing to support the 

 Socialist demand. The Clerical majority, which 

 has been preserved, through the various changes 

 in the suffrage and representation laws since 1884, 

 has aroused much opposition by its legislation, 

 and can hardly overcome a fusion of Liberals and 

 Socialists at the polls. The education bill passed 

 in 1895, prescribing religious instruction in the 

 communal schools, unless parents apply for a 

 special dispensation on the ground of religious 

 scruples, this latter clause having been inserted in 

 deference to public opinion, was never put into 

 operation in communes where Liberalism is strong 

 until 1901, and then only in a modified form. In 

 Brussels the communal authorities rejected the 

 list of priests nominated as religious instructors, 

 and the Government law officers acknowledged 

 that the communal council has complete adminis- 

 trative autonomy in school matters. The appli- 

 cations for special dispensation were so numerous 

 in Brussels that religious instruction became a 

 farce. The ministry narrowly escaped defeat in 

 the Chamber on the*question of text-books. Thus 

 the revolt against secular education that brought 

 the Catholic party into power has lost its mo- 

 tive and its energy. The Government in 1899 at- 

 tempted to force through Parliament a redistribu- 

 tion bill that would rearrange the constituencies 

 in such a way as to secure a permanent Catholic 

 majority. The Moderates and Socialists saw 

 through the maneuver, and the bill aroused such 

 hostility that rioting took place in the streets of 

 Brussels, and the Government yielded before the 

 popular storm. The election of 1900 was held- 

 under the system of proportional representation 

 enacted on Dec. 29, 1899. Voting is by scrutin dc 

 liste. The number of seats allotted to each party 

 is proportioned to the number of times the total 

 party vote contains the electoral divisor, obtained 

 by dividing the total number of registered voters 

 by the number of tickets in the field. Parties 

 Avhose list of candidates obtains a less number 

 of votes than the electoral divisor are left out 

 of the representation, and thus second ballots are 

 unnecessary. In the election of 1900 the Clericals 

 won 85 seats, the Liberals and Radicals 33, and 

 the Socialists 34. reducing the working majority 

 of the Government from 70 to 18. In the session 



