399 J FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE I9TH CENTURY 1 01 



possesses them, and that it will appertain to His Majesty, 

 the Emperor of the French, to come to an understanding on 

 the subject, both with the Powers represented at the Con- 

 gress of Vienna, and with the Swiss Confederation, and to 

 give the guarantees required by the stipulations referred to 

 in this Article. "^^ Prompted by the Swiss protest, Napoleon 

 suggested three proposals for the settlement of the issue of 

 which England officially accepted the first, that of a con- 

 ference of the interested Powers^^ to be held in Paris. The 

 proposed conference, however, has never taken place.^^ 



It is this first ground of the Swiss protest which ex- 

 plains the wish of part of the Savoyan populace to be an- 

 nexed not to France, but to Switzerland. 



While the French revolutionary plebiscites had led to 

 practically no permanent acquisitions, the unification of 

 Italy was and remained a fact. Furthermore, the accession 

 of Savoy and Nice on the basis of a plebiscite, that is, of 

 national self-determination, was, though challenged, finally 

 acquiesced in by the Powers of Europe. Napoleon III, 

 who had gained the imperial crown through a plebiscite at 

 home, had, by his support of the same institution in the 

 relations of the Italian states, learned to appreciate the 

 value of this instrument for his political ambitions in the 

 affairs of Europe. It was chiefly by his support and in- 

 sistence that the plebiscite, as the mode of expression of 

 national consciousness and will, was employed in the settle- 

 ment of matters of international character involving the 

 change of allegiance or determination of sovereignty. 



The next important occasion of this kind offered itself 

 in the attempted settlement of the Roimianian ([ucstion. 

 At the Conference of Vienna, convened on March 15, 

 1855, to consider the preliminaries to peace between Russia 

 and Turkey and her allies, the Moldo-Valachian ([uestion 

 was given a place of prominence for the reason that these 



'" Ibid., vol. ii, p. 1430. 



" Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 1448-1450. 



'* Ibid., vol. ii, p. 1450, foot-note. 



