by the Provincial Councils; the Second Chamber of 100
members, chosen by an electorate of male persons of not less than 25
years of age with a residential qualification and possessing "signs of
fitness and social well-being"--a vague phrase requiring future
definition. The number of electors was increased from (in round numbers)
100,000 to 350,000, but universal male suffrage, the demand of the
socialists and more advanced liberals, was not conceded.

The elections of 1888 were fought on the question of religious education
in the primary schools. The two "Christian" parties, the Calvinist
anti-revolutionaries under the leadership of Dr Kuyper, and the
Catholics, who had found a leader of eloquence and power in Dr
Schaepman, a Catholic priest, coalesced in a common programme for a
revision of Kappeyne's Education Act of 1878. The coalition obtained a
majority, 27 anti-revolutionaries and 25 Catholics being returned as
against 46 liberals of various groups. For the first time a socialist,
Domela Nieuwenhuis, was elected. The conservative party was reduced to
one member. In the First Chamber the liberals still commanded a
majority. In April, 1888, Baron Mackay, an anti-revolutionary of
moderate views, became first minister. The coalition made the revision
of the Education Act of 1878 their first business; and they obtained the
support of some liberals who were anxious to see the school question
out of the way. The so-called "Mackay Law" was passed in 1889. It
provided that "private" schools should receive State support on
condition that they conformed to the official regulations; that the
number of scholars should be not less than twenty-five; and that they
should be under the management of some body, religious or otherwise,
recognised by the State. This settlement was a compromise, but it
offered the solution of an acute controversy and was found to work
satisfactorily.

The death of King William on November 23, 1890, was much mourned by his
people. He was a man of strong and somewhat narrow views, but during his
reign of 41 years his sincere love for his country was never in doubt,
nor did he lose popularity by his anti-liberal attitude on many
occasions, for it was known to arise from honest conviction; and it was
amidst general regret that the last male representative of the House of
Orange-Nassau was laid in his grave.

A proposal by the Catholic minister Borgesius for the introduction of
universal personal militar