irty-eight
seats. The number of popular votes cast for candidates of the _bloc_
was approximately 4,500,000; that for candidates of the Left
approximately 7,500,000.[348] In Berlin, five of whose six constituencies
were represented already by Social Democrats, there was a notable
attempt on the part of the socialists to carry the "Kaiser district"
in which is located the Kaiserhof, or Imperial residence, and the seat
of the Government itself. The attempt failed, but it was only at the
second ballot, and by the narrow margin of seven votes, that the
socialist candidate was defeated by his Radical opponent. As has been
pointed out, the parties of the Left are entirely separate and they
are by no means able always to combine in action upon a public
question. The ideal voiced by the publicist Naumann, "from Bassermann
to Bebel," meaning that the National Liberals under the leadership of
Bassermann should, through the medium of the Radicals, amalgamate for
political purposes with the Social Democrats under Bebel, has not as
yet been realized. None the less there has long been community of
interest and of policy, and the elections of 1912 made it possible for
the first time for a combination of the three groups and their allies
to outweigh decisively any combination which the parties of the _bloc_
and their allies can oppose. Before the election there was a clear
Government majority of eighty-nine; after it, an opposition majority
of, at the least, fourteen. When, in February, 1912, the new Reichstag
was opened, it was only by the most dexterous tactics on the part of
the _bloc_ that the election of the socialist leader Bebel to the
presidency of the chamber was averted.

[Footnote 347: Many of the socialist victories
were, of course, at the expense of the National
Liberals and Radicals.]

[Footnote 348: The number of electors inscribed on
the lists was 14,236,722. The number who actually
voted was 12,188,337. The exact vote of the Social
Democrats was 4,238,919; of the National Liberals,
1,671,297; of the Radicals, 1,556,549; of the
Centre, 2,012,990; and of the Conservatives,
1,149,916.]

*254. The Parties To-day: Conservatives and Centre.*--The principal
effect of the election would seem to be to accentuate the already
manifest tend