years. There is, therefore, a parliamentary
election, but not throughout the entire country,
every second year.]

The elections of May, 1910,[767] were contested with unusual keenness
by reason of the fact that the Liberal-Socialist coalition seemed to
have, for the first time in a quarter of a century, a distinct chance
for victory. The Catholics were notoriously divided upon certain
public issues, notably Premier Schollaert's Compulsory Military
Service bill, and it was believed in many quarters that their tenure
of power was near an end. The Liberal hope, however, was doomed to
disappointment; for, although both Liberals and Socialists realized
considerable gains in the popular vote in some portions of the
kingdom, in only a single constituency was the gain sufficient to
carry a new seat. The consequence was that the Catholic majority was
reduced, but not below six, and party strength in the Chamber stood:
Catholics, 86; Liberals, 45; Socialists, 34; Christian Democrats, 1.
Among reasons that may be assigned for the Liberal failure are the
fact that the country was prosperous and not disposed to precipitate a
change of governments, the alienation of some voters by the working
relations that had been established between the Liberals and the
Socialists, and the advantage that regularly accrues to the Catholics
from the plural vote.

[Footnote 767: In the five provinces of Brabant,
Anvers, Namur, West Flanders, and Luxemburg, the
term of whose deputies was about to expire.]

*601. The Catholic Triumph in 1912.*--During the years 1910-1912 the
Catholic tenure of power, prolonged uninterruptedly since 1884, seemed
more than once on the point of being broken. Most of the time,
however, the legislative machine performed its functions sufficiently
well with a majority of but half a dozen seats, and the drift of
affairs operated eventually to strengthen the Catholic position. In
March, 1911, Premier Schollaert introduced an education bill looking
toward the placing of church schools upon a footing financially with
the schools maintained by the communes, and the opposition to this
measure acquired such intensity that the author of the bill was forced
to retire. But his successor, De Broqueville, a man of conciliatory
temperament, formed a new Catholic cabinet which, by falling back (p. 547)
upon a policy of "mark