BELGIUM. 



77 



in>,' the cri-is. Socialism had spread among the 

 army to an unsuspected extent. The Socialists 

 bad posted up placards calling on soldiers and 

 recruits to refuse to obey or servo until uni\et>al 

 suffrage was iriuinpliant. Soldiers of then-si TV. 

 lia>l fought in uniform alongside of the strikers 

 against the worthless, undisciplined militia. On 

 April 17 the Government announced its accept- 

 ance of the Nyssens proposal. The bill was re- 

 ported liv the committee on the following day, 

 and was passed by 119 votes against 12, with 14 

 abstentions. The minority was composed of a 

 sect ion of the Moderate Left, under the lead of 

 Frcre-Orlian, while those who did not vote were 

 members of the Right and followers of Woeste. 

 The result was acclaimed with cheers by the 

 crowds assembled round the building. The lead- 

 ers of the Labor party sent out a manifesto ad- 

 vising abandonment of the general strike, but 

 reallirmed their demand for universal suffrage 

 pure and simple in the following resolution : 



The Labor party, through its general council, re- 

 1-or.ls the inscription ot manhood suffrage in the Con- 

 stitution. It <.!(.(. lares that it is thanks to the pressure 

 <>t' the universal strike that the Labor party has won 

 this lirst victory. It resolves to persist in the work 

 of propaganda, and to continue the struggle until it 

 obtains the suppression of the plural vote and the 

 establishment ot political equality has been won. 



The Senate passed the Nyssens bill on April 

 2? by 52 votes to 1, with 14 neutrals. 



The scheme of plural or cumulative voting 

 provided for in the Nyssens bill confers a vote 

 on every male citizen at the age of twenty-five 

 who has resided at least one year in the same 

 commune and has never been convicted of a 

 breach of the law. The bill confers an additional 

 vote (1) upon every male citizen aged thirty- 

 five years, who is either married or a widower, 

 paying a Government tax of at least 5 francs, un- 

 less exempted from the tax on account of his pro- 

 fession ; (2) upon every male citizen aged twenty- 

 five years who is an owner of real estate of the 

 value of at least 2,000 francs, or who has been 

 inscribed for at least two years on the ledger of 

 the public debt as the possessor of at least 100 

 francs in Belgian rentes, or has an equal income 

 from savings-bank deposits ; (3) upon every male 

 citizen aged twenty-five years who is the bearer 

 of a diploma of superior education, or of a simi- 

 lar certificate showing that he has attended a 

 complete course of higher instruction in a public 

 or private seminary, or that he is filling or has 

 filled a public office, or is holding or has held 

 a place, or is exercising or has exercised a pro- 

 fession implying superior education, the question 

 as to what positions and professions are to be re- 

 garded as qualifying under this clause to be de- 

 cided by law ; no person is to be entitled to more 

 than three votes, even though he possesses all four 

 qualifications. The Government had embodied 

 in its scheme of revision the new principle of 

 obligatory voting. Many objected to making an 

 experiment of it in Belgium, but the Labor 

 party favored the idea because it would help to 

 protect the independence of the workingman's 

 vote by rendering illegitimate influence and in- 

 timidation difficult of concealment and prevent- 

 ing official obstruction of the ballot. The ex- 

 tension of the franchise made it necessary to 

 Lave a polling place in each commune. Previ- 



ously voters have gone to the chief town of the 

 arrondissement to cast their votes, the Liberals 

 desiring to remove them from the influence of 

 the parish priests and landlords. The Govern- 

 ment secured a two-thirds majority in both the 

 Chamber and the Senate for compulsory voting 

 and communal polling. The readjustment of 

 electoral divisions was left to be arranged after 

 the new Constitution goes into force. The im- 

 mediate result of the extended franchise is ex- 

 pected to be some increase of the Catholic plu- 

 rality. The number of electors under universal 

 suffrage exceed 1,200,000. The number of sup- 

 plementary votes under dual or plural qualifica- 

 tions is estimated at 700,000, of which 640,000 

 belong to heads of families and owners of prop- 

 erty, and 60,000 come under the capacity quali- 

 fication. A proposition to dispense with the 

 necessity of the re-election of a member of Par- 

 liament on his being appointed a minister of the 

 Crown was rejected at first by the House, but 

 was reinl reduced in the Senate and became a 

 part of the amended Constitution. 



Other Constitutional Amendments. The 

 Constituent Assembly had four other matters to 

 deal with besides the reform of the franchise. 

 One was the introduction of proportional repre- 

 sentation or the representation of minorities in 

 some form. The ministry advocated this inno- 

 vation for the reason that the outcome of the 

 elections under the new electoral system was so 

 uncertain that the method of voting collective 

 tickets established in Belgium might result in 

 the deprivation of an entire political party of 

 representation in Parliament. Of still more im- 

 portance was the reorganization of the Senate. 

 A third question to be decided was whether the 

 constitutional right to acquire colonies should 

 be accorded to the Legislature. This question 

 had already been settled in principle, and the 

 Constituent Assembly had only to register the 

 decision reached by the previous Parliament, 

 and thus reniove the constitutional restriction 

 that stood in the way of the transfer of the 

 rights and duties connected with the Congo 

 State from King Leopold to the Belgian state, 

 and the execution of the arrangement for mak- 

 ing it a Belgian colony. The other subject to be 

 dealt with, in which also the King had a deep 

 concern and which was brought forward at his 

 express request, was the alteration of the law of 

 succession to the throne. Since the death of 

 Prince Baldwin, the continuance of the dynasty 

 depends on the chances of life of Prince Albert, 

 a youth of eighteen years. If Leopold II or his 

 successor should die without leaving a male heir, 

 or without choosing a successor and obtaining 

 the approval of both Chambers, then Parliament 

 can dispose of the throne by its free vote, or can 

 even proclaim a republican form of government. 

 The Senate initiated an amendment by which a 

 crown prince who is excluded from the succes- 

 sion by reason of a morganatic marriage, is en- 

 abled to recover his rights. 



The first proposal of the Government for the 

 reorganization of the Senate left the method of 

 election the same as for the Chamber, and made 

 only a formal change in the conditions of eligi- 

 bility. Property owners would be eligible whose 

 possessions were valued at 500,000 francs, or in 

 default of such, those who paid the highest taxes 



