^8 EMPLOYMENT OF THE PLEBISCITE [376 



recently, for instance, in the remonstrance of the province 

 of Gex in 1776. 



Applying the plebiscite thus as a means towards the end 

 sought, that is, the consent of the population of the territory 

 to be annexed, success was possible only if and when the 

 plebiscite produced a good majority in favor, first of sepa- 

 ration from the old sovereignty, and secondly in favor of 

 annexation to France. Such a result could of course not 

 always be taken without running the risk of jeopardizing 

 the chances of annexation and incurring the odium of con- 

 quest ; in other cases it was sure to be unlikely or impossible. 

 Hence one had to resort to friendly advice and gentle 

 persuasion by means of propaganda and promise of mili- 

 tary assistance against the former sovereign, or even mili- 

 tary pressure against the people to be first freed and then 

 annexed."- Thus the plebiscite, originally purely the means 

 towards the end, became more and more the goal itself. The 

 plebiscite had to be resorted to, for only through it could 

 popular sovereignty, the very basis and cornerstone of the 

 revolution, assert itself and make annexation justifiable 

 within the sphere of revolutionary France.^°^ The plebiscite 

 has become the end itself and plebiscite and self-determina- 

 tion were henceforth considered as synonyms. By plebi- 

 scite, then, was understood, always and never otherwise, a 

 vote favorable to revolutionary France. This being known 

 also to the neighboring states, freed by French troops 

 from their old allegiance, plebiscites were made to order 



^"^ Commissary Chaussard expressed himself to the effect that 

 " le voeu d'un peuple enfant ou imbecile serait nul, parce qu'il stipu- 

 lerait contre lui-mcme." M. Chepy wanted the annexations of Bel- 

 gium achieved "par la puissance de la raison, par Ics touchantes 

 insinuations de la philantropie, de la fraternite, et par tous ies 

 moyens de la tactique revolutionnaire," and, so he added, " au cas 

 que nos efforts soient infructueux, ct que Ton continue a nous op- 

 poser le systeme desesperant de la force d'inertic, j'cstime que le 

 droit de conqucte, devenu pour la premiere fois utile au monde et 

 juste, doit faire I'education politique du peuple beige" (quoted from 

 Borgnet, vol. ii, p. 194). 



^"8 See note loi. 



