375] THE PLEBISCITE IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 77 



tionalistic point of view, seemed to be fully justifiable. But, 

 in order to annex a territory, formerly in bonds of allegiance 

 to another sovereignty, the former connection had to be 

 broken, if necessary by force of arms. However, to employ 

 arms for a such a purpose would be nothing short of con- 

 quest. Hence, in order to divest these annexations of the 

 character of conquest, the principle of popular sovereignty, 

 the alpha and omega of the French Revolution in matters 

 of internal state affairs, was applied to external state 

 relations. 



The mental and logical process was simple. The people 

 are the state and the nation ; the people are sovereign. As 

 such they have the right to decide, as the tdtima ratio, by 

 popular vote and simple majority, all the matters affecting 

 the state and the nation. A people held by force and against 

 their will within the boundaries and under the sovereignty 

 of any state are not in reality a part of that state as a 

 nation. They have, consequently, the right to declare their 

 separation from the dominant state and to proclaim their 

 independence. Having declared their freedom they are 

 themselves a nation and state and as such they are conceded 

 the right to assume a new and different allegiance, where 

 and whenever they wish. 



Thus the French Revolution proclaimed the dogma of 

 what we now term national self-determination. It pre- 

 scribed as the mode of expression of this self-determination 

 the plebiscites"^ employed in French political life of the 

 past in the form of a more or less restricted expression of 

 opinion or will (vocu), direct or indirect; in feudal times 

 in cases of change of allegiance to liege lord or suzerain, in 

 the election of deputies to the fitats Generaux, and more 



quetes, nous n'avons pas declare que nous repousserions de notre 

 scin des hommes rapproches de nous par I'affinit^ des principes et 

 des iiUerits ct <|iii, i)ar iiii cliuix librc, dosircraient s'identificr avec 

 nous" (Arch, pari., scr. I, vol. Iiii, p. 61.;). 



•"I .See case of Nice, wliere the request for annexation was refused 

 with tlie advice that it wouM be accepted only on condition of a 

 po|)ular vote to that effect (above, p. 67). 



