ionelle
integrale (Paris, 1910); Barriety, La
representation proportionelle en Belgique (Paris,
1906); Dubois, La representation proportionelle
soumise a l'experience belge (Lille, 1906); and J.
Humphreys, Proportional Representation (London,
1911). A careful account is contained in the Report
and Evidence of the British Royal Commission on
Electoral Systems (1910), Report, Cd. 5,163;
Evidence, Cd. 5,352. Useful articles are: E.
Mahaim, Proportional Representation and the Debates
upon the Electoral Question in Belgium, in _Annals
of American Academy of Political and Social
Science_, May, 1900; E. Van der Smissen, La
representation proportionnelle en Belgique et les
elections generales de mai 1900, in _Annales des
Sciences Politiques_, July-Sept., 1900; and J.
Humphreys, Proportional Representation in Belgium,
in _Contemporary Review_, Oct., 1908.]

*600. The Elections of 1906, 1908, and 1910.*--The first parliamentary
election following the adoption of the proportional system--that of
May, 1900--left the Catholics with a larger preponderance in the lower
chamber than they had dared expect.[766] None the less, the effect of
the change was distinctly to revive the all but defunct Liberal party,
to stimulate enormously the aspirations of the Socialists, and, in (p. 546)
general, to replace the crushing Catholic plurality of former years by
a wide distribution of seats among representatives of the various
parties and groups. Prior to the election of 1890 the Catholic
majority was 32. The election of 1900 left it at 16; that of 1902, at
26; that of 1904, at 20; that of 1906, at 12; that of 1908, at 8; and
that of 1910, at 6. Following the elections which took place in five
of the nine provinces in 1906, party strength in the Chamber was as
follows: Catholics, 89; Liberals, 46; Socialists, 30; Christian
Democrats, 1. After the elections in the other four provinces in 1908,
it was: Catholics, 87; Liberals, 43; Socialists, 35; Christian
Democrats, 1.

[Footnote 766: It will be recalled that the term of
deputies is four years, half retiring every two