12 EMPLOYMENT OF THE PLEBISCITE [3 10 



It is the plebiscite in this narrower sense of the " refer- 

 endum " that concerns us here — the plebiscite as a popular 

 decision of matters affecting the existence of the state, such 

 as a change of government, peace and war, the acceptance 

 of a constitution and amendments thereto, the transfer of 

 territory, and the like — and not the recurring elections of 

 representatives to legislatures and referenda on similar mat- 

 ters subject to, or growing out of, an accepted policy or 

 practice. Drawing the lines still closer, plebiscites on 

 changes of government, on the question of peace or war, 

 etc., will be considered only in so far as they have been in- 

 strumental in popularizing the use of the plebiscite in inter- 

 state or international relations and in so far as they have 

 been cited in justification of, and as precedents for, the 

 application of the plebiscite in the transfer of territory. 



The plebiscite is thus identified with universal sufTrage, 

 or, at least, universal suffrage is considered as its indis- 

 pensable attribute. The history of the plebiscite, however, 

 reveals the fact that this view is not supported by actuali- 

 ties, though a growing practice seems to tend in that direc- 

 tion. Only where "the whole of the electors," or "the 

 whole body of voters," terms used in the definitions quoted, 

 imply a direct and unrestricted casting of the ballot, can 

 we speak of a plebiscite by universal suffrage. 



The Roman plebiscitum, for instance, originated not as 

 an expression of the will of the entire Roman people but of 

 the plebeian members only. 



The reign of oppression and extortion, practiced at the 

 end of the 6th and the beginning of the 5th century B. C. 



in the Alpine cantons of Switzerland," and to the referendum as 

 "the acceptance or the rejection, by universal suffrage, of the laws 

 voted by the deputies" (Revue des deux mondes, Dec. 15, 1882, vol. 

 liy, p. 47). Borgeaud speaks of a legislative and an executive ple- 

 biscite (C. Borgeaud, Histoire du plebiscite, le plebiscite dans 

 I'antiquite — Grcce et Rome — Geneve, Paris, 1887, p. xiii). Laveleye's 

 is a distinction of form, Borgcaud's one of content. Francis Lieber 

 distinguishes between the national plebiscite in matters of internal 

 affairs and the international or annexationist plebiscite in interna- 

 tion relations (Lieber, De la valeur des plebiscites dans le droit 

 international, in Revue de droit international et de legislation com- 

 paree, 1871, vol. iii, pp. 140-141). 



