3731 '^^^^ PLEBISCITE IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 75 



began on February 24, " in the midst of a profound silence, 

 broken only by the sound of the church bells and the patrol- 

 ing cavalry."®* According to Soliere only 260 electors ap- 

 peared.®" Another attempt to increase the number of voters 

 succeeded in producing 345 on March 5.®^ At Worms 250 

 and at Speier 342 electors cam.e forth to choose, like those 

 of Mayence, their representatives for the Rhenish Conven- 

 tion."^ In these three cities, as in practically all the 125 

 communities, the population was obdurate and rebellious. 

 Submission was finally achieved only by way of expulsions, 

 arrests and military force."' 



The Rhenish-Germanic Convention, thus " nominated in a 

 revolutionary manner under the pressure of the sabre and 

 by the minority of the electors,""* convened in March 

 1793,"^ and voted by acclamation the acceptance of the fol- 

 lowing decree on the 21st of March : 



The National Rheno-Germanic Convention, considering that the 

 state formed of the territories situated on the left side of the Rhine, 

 between Landau and Bingen, owes its independence, decreed on the 

 18th of March 1793, to the French Republic and to its victorious 

 arms, that the ties of friendship, of recognition and of reciprocal 

 advantages invite the two nations to a fraternal and indissoluble 

 union, unanimously decrees : that the free Rheno-Germanic people 

 desire the incorporation with the French Republic and that they ask 

 such incorporation ; that a deputation be nominated from the body 

 of the National Rheno-Germanic Convention, to make manifest this 

 will to the National Convention of France. . . .^^ 



The following quotation from Chuquet suggests the dif- 

 ficulties that were to be encountered in the enforcement of 

 this decree at home: 



While Foster"^ and his two colleagues hurried on their way to 

 Paris to offer the Rhenish lands to France, the Convention at May- 

 ence, directed by Hofmann, took the most rigorous steps against its 



*^ Ibid., pp. loo-ioi. 

 °" Soliere, p. 59. 



81 Chuquet, Mayence, p. loi. 



82 ll)id., pp. 10H-109. 

 "•■' Ibid., pp. 103-113. 

 »* Il)id., p. III. 



"•■* The AsscMnl)ly consisted of 130 representatives for at least 12$ 

 localities (Cliu<|uet, Mayence, pp. 111-116). 



"•' Chnqutt, Mayence, pp. 126-127. 



"■'One of tlie three members of the committee chosen (Chuiiuef. 

 Mayence, p. 127). 



