BKLGIUM. 



75 



1,000 inhabitant* ; also to persons producing a 

 DniYersity diploma or a certificate of college cdu- 



rai ii n, nr \s ho pass an examination in the ele- 

 mentary standards. The ago for exercising the 

 franchise would be raised to twenty-five, and 

 vi it ing would be compulsory and penalties en- 

 fmvi'd against oil i/ens who neglected to fulfill their 

 duty toward the state. The Moderate Liberals 

 were not enticed by this specious concession to 

 their it Iras, because, on computing the effects of 

 the scheme, they saw that it would insure Cler- 

 iral predominance. In treating for the co-opera- 

 tion of the Moderate Liberals, IBeernaert dropped 

 tin' projectsof minority representation and a ref- 

 erendum to which he had committed himself in 

 the previous session, and in dealing with the Sen- 

 ate proposed only a sham reform which would 

 leave it an Assembly of the very rich not less ex- 

 clusively than before. The leaders of the vari- 

 ous parties and subordinate groups brought in 

 their plans for revision, some 16 in all. Frere- 

 Orban, the former Minister-President and leader 

 of the powerful united Liberals, now followed by 

 less than 20 old-fashioned doctrinaire Liberals, 

 adhered to a simple capacity qualification, sug- 

 gesting the exclusion from the franchise of all 

 who have not passed an elementary educational 

 standard. Janson, the Radical chief, called for 

 universal suffrage, with twenty-one as the elec- 

 toral age and a year's residence. Nothomb sug- 

 gested raising the age for voting to twenty-five, 

 and requiring a domicile of two years as a con- 

 servative counterpoise to universal suffrage. 

 Graux would exclude illiterates and persons in 

 receipt of public or private assistance. Beernaert, 

 despairing of an alliance with the Moderate Left, 

 approached the Radicals with a suggestion that 

 the lowest educational test a knowledge of read- 

 ing and writing should confer the right of suf- 

 frage equally with the restricted household quali- 

 fication demanded by the Clericals. 



A Popular Referendum. The King on 

 various occasions had shown his sympathy with 

 the popular demand for universal suffrage 

 voiced by the Radical-Socialist combination. 

 II" also cherished a plan for placing the sover- 

 eign in peculiar direct relation with the enfran- 

 chised democracy by an adaptation of the Swiss 

 referendum. He desired to have embodied in 

 the revised Constitution a law granting him the 

 liberty of consulting the people in regard to any 

 bill that should come to him, by ordering of his 

 own motion a popular vote on the advisability 

 of signing or vetoing the measure. The Prime 

 Minister had given his approval to this scheme, 

 but he had omitted it from the programme on 

 failing to secure for it the support of the Right. 

 The people were pleased with the idea, and it 

 occurred to the Labor leaders and Radicals to 

 exhibit the workings of the machinery of the 

 referendum in a plebiscite on the various proj- 

 ects of electoral reform that were before the 

 Chamber. The communal councils of the sub- 

 urban communes of Brussels were the first to 

 vote at a joint meeting to hold an unofficial 

 referendum on Feb. 26, in which all male citi- 

 zens over twenty-one years of age should be in- 

 vited to take part, those who were electors under 

 the existing law being distinguished by ballots 

 of a special form. The city of Brussels and all 

 the chief towns and many rural communes took 



up the idea. The advocates of universal suf- 

 frage carried on a lively propaganda, and went 

 about everywhere explaining the project and 

 urging the people to take part. The country 

 was flooded with pamphlets and placards, and 

 party orators even made the rounds of the cafes 

 and eating-houses. The Clerical-Conservatives 

 and the Moderate Liberals generally ridiculed 

 the project, and advised their constituents to 

 abstain from voting. The referendum was 

 taken, in some places earlier, but generally 

 throughout the kingdom on Sunday, Feb. 26. 

 About 56 per cent, of the electors went to the 



Soils, a larger proportion than is common in the 

 wiss referendum. An overwhelming majority 

 of votes were given for universal suffrage, in 

 Brussels ; for instance, 78 per cent, for manhood 

 suffrage at twenty-one years, 14 per cent, for 

 manhood suffrage at twenty-five, and only 8 per 

 cent, for the various schemes of Graux, the 

 Prime Minister, and Frere-Orban. 

 ' A Political Strike. The Chamber, which 

 resumed its discussion of the franchise question 

 on Feb. 28, was impressed by the results of the 

 unofficial referendum, and the Prime Minister 

 showed anxiety to effect a compromise that 

 would not sacrifice the principle of household 

 suffrage. The popular referendum was resorted 

 to in Antwerp and other places which had not 

 voted before as a protest against the apathy of 

 the Chamber, which came to a deadlock and 

 seemed inclined to evade a decision by adopting 

 a compromise arranged between the Clerical 

 leaders and the Moderate Liberals, and an- 

 nounced by Count Kerchove de Denterghem, 

 one of the latter, on April 9. It was proposed 

 to admit all communal voters to the franchise 

 immediately, which would increase the number 

 of electors from 135,000 to 500,000 ; and, in case 

 no completer solution could be reached by the 

 Constituent Assembly, to delegate to the ordi- 

 nary Chamber the power to enact or amend elec- 

 toral laws at any time by a two-thirds majority. 

 These proposals roused so much opposition that 

 the Prime Minister refused to give them his 

 sanction. Beernaert's revised plan of occupa- 

 tion suffrage would increase the number of elec- 

 tors to 800,000, which he considered a prudent 

 half-way stage on the road to universal suffrage, 

 as Belgium could not safely conform to this 

 ideal expression of political equality by at once 

 increasing the electorate from 135,000 to nearly 

 1,500,000. Vanderkindere and others of the 

 Moderate Left were disposed to accede to the 

 principle of occupation, provided rent and not 

 the value of houses should be made the crite- 

 rion, and on condition that the rural and urban 

 districts should be separated. Janson receded 

 from his original proposition, and accepted 

 twenty-five years as the age qualification. 

 Others of the Radicals fell in with a proposal, 

 which emanated originally from the Young 

 Right or Clerical Democrats, to establish man- 

 hood suffrage at twenty-five years of age and 

 give dual votes to heads of families. For this 

 compromise Feron obtained the adhesion of half 

 the members of the advanced Left. 



The Chamber on April 11 and 12 rejected all 

 the revision propositions that had been sub- 

 mitted. When Janson's proposal for universal 

 suffrage at twenty-five years of age and twelve 



