The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-04-20
Revolution in Belgium Apparently
Averted.

By comparing the somewhat vague and
conflicting reports from Brussels with facts
previously known. We can perceive precisely
what occurred on Tuesday in the Belgian
Chamber OF Deputies. The well-grounded
fear Of a general insurrection caused the
Chamber to pass the NYssEN bill. which the
Conservative majority had hitherto de-
clined to sanction. unless 1t were shorn
Of the provision enfranchising the pro-
~letariat. It was their refusal to make
over the partial concessions embodied
in this measure. which provoked the upris-
ing: and their final acquiescence under
pressure seems to have been accepted by
the popular leaders as for the m a
sufficient victory. The Belgian Radicals
know that they can use the powers which
the NYssEN bill will give them. to enforce
hereafter the one-nan one-vote principle.
The NYssEN bill was framed with a view
to preventing a compromise between three
parties: between the views of the Conserva-
tives. who represent the landowners: those
OF NJ. FRERE-ORBAN. the Liberal EXPIRE
mier. who desired Al educational qualifica-
tion. and those OF the Radicals and Social
lists. who demanded manhood suffrage free
from restrictions Of any kind. NJ. NYssEN
proposed. In the first place. that every clti-
zen over twenty-five years Of age should
have INT vote; this clause. OF course. en-
franchised all the workingmen in towns
and all the agricultural laborers who salts
fed the condition as to age. The same bill.
in Difference to the wishes OF NJ. FRERE-
ORBAN and his handful OF followers. ar
ranged that every man who could pass a
certain educational examination should
rave an additional vote. A third clause.
devised to gain Conservative support, be-
a third vote on every man owning a
certain amount Of property. A fourth pro-
vision. which. In practice. would benefit the
masses more than the classes. gave an ex-
ira vote to every citizen forty years old or
upward. The Radicals and Socialists did not
like the arrangements for plural voting. and
opposed the bill: but they were only driven
to desperation when the Conservatives also
showed themselves hostile to the measure
on the ground that 1t conferred too much
power upon the workingmen. Then the
Radicals perceived that the bill was much
better thar nothing. and they evinced a
willingness to accept 1t as q makeshift. 1t
must be remembered that. even under the
existing law. which confines the suffrage to
about $780, 600 electors. the Radicals have
carried most OF the cities and large towns;
and no one who keeps that fact in view can
doubt that under III act giving q vote to
every workman twenty-five years old. they
will be able. In spite OF the provisions for
plural voting. to return q majority to the
next Chamber Of Deputies. That majority
can set in motion the machinery for a fresh
revision of the Belgian Constitution. and
property-ownlng class.
We have witnessed during the last week
In Belgium the counterpart OF what took
place In England during the years immedi-
ately preceding the passage OF the first Re-
form act in 1882. In England at that time.
parliamentary government was q sham. as
tits In Belgium now the mass OF the people
being dlsfranchised. and the members of the
dominant Chamber being returned by an
ollgarchy largely controlled BY the great
landowners. The English Tories. like the
Belgian Conservatives. were opposed to
any change: 1t Is clear from CRoKER's
Memoir that the former honestly believed
the welfare and dignity OF England to be
bound up with the rotten borough system.
The sympathies OF WILLIAM w.. like those
OF H.. were with the Conserya-
tives. but there WINS one thing that lay still
nearer to the heart Of zach sovereign, and
was the safety of his dynasty. Accord
ingly. zach yielded at the critical moment.
when public discomfort assumed u threat.
ening aspect. and when what began as a
riot seemed upon the point OF becoming a
Thus WILLIAM ". and Leo
PoLD ii. escaped the fate OF CHARLES X.
and Lou PHILIPPE, who were not shrewd
enough to surrender in time.
There Is a marked difference. however.
between the Belgian and English exam
pies OF successful popular uprisings. The
BelgiAns q obtained at one stroke more
than the EDglish gained by the two Reform