The Times of Monday gives an interesting account of the
revised Belgian Constitution, under which power will pass from 140,000 privileged electors to 1,200,000 citizens, and in which has been inserted a check never before attempted in • the art of Constitution-making. Every citizen of twenty-five is to acquire one vote by one year's residence in the same 'commune A second vote is to attach to the elector if (1) he is thirty-five and married, or a widower with children, and pays to the State 5 francs in direct taxes; (2) if he is twenty-five and a proprietor either of immovable property worth 1,000 francs or if he has 100 francs of renter. Two extra votes are to attach to men over twenty-five who (1) hold superior educational certificates, or (2) hold or have held public or private posts of importance: No one, it is further enacted, can hold more than three votes. This is a rough out- line of the details of the scheme. The experiment is a most interesting one, and has, theoretically at least, a good deal to recommend it. Another feature of the revision is the con- stitution of the Senate. This body is to be partly composed of Senators directly elected, and partly of those chosen by the provincial councils. The Senators must be over forty, and either pay 1,200 francs in direct taxes, or else own land worth 12,000 francs. That does not sound a very strong body. It would have been better to have adopted the French plan, or else to have had direct election with very large constituencies.
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