126 EMPLOYMENT OF THE PLEBISCITE [424 



The plebiscite taken in Denmark on December 14, 1916, 

 on the question of sale, resulting in a vote of 283.694 for 

 and 157,596 against the cession of the islands,"^ does not 

 concern us here since it does not include the voice and votes 

 of the inhabitants of the territories to be transferred. 



In 1879 the South American States, Peru and Bolivia, 

 became involved in war with Chile. The conflict lasted 

 several years. After a series of defeats on land and sea 

 Peru and her ally were forced to sign a treaty of peace, 

 ratified on March 8, 1884. Articles two and three of this 

 Treaty stipulated that: 



II. Tarapaca to be ceded to Chile unconditionally forever. 

 III. The territories of Tacna and Arica, as far as the river Sama, 

 are to be held by Chile for ten years, and it is then to be de- 

 termined by popular vote, whether those territories are to be- 

 long to Chile or Peru.^''^ 



This plebiscite has however never been held because "at 

 the close of the ten years Chile apparently distrusted the 

 result of the plebiscite, and the matter was allowed to drag 

 on.""" 



The significance of the plebiscites in American politics 

 is to be found in the fact that though the effect of the As- 

 sembly votes and referenda in the seceding States was an- 



107 w^ Westergaard, The Danish West Indies, New York, 1917, 

 p. 261. 



108 C. R. Markham, A History of Peru, Chicago, 1892, pp. 423-424. 

 100 The New International Encyclopedia, Peru. On August 13, 



1900, Abraham Konig, Chilean Minister to Bolivia, made the follow- 

 ing statement in a note to the Bolivian Foreign Office : " Chile has 

 occupied the coast and taken possession of it by the same right 

 which Germany exercised when she annexed Alsace and Lorraine. 

 . . . Our rights are the result of victory, which is the supreme law 

 of nations. That the coast is rich and worth many millions, we 

 already know. We keep it because it is valuable. Were it worth- 

 less, we would have no interest in retaining it" (The Question of 

 the Pacific. America's Alsace and Lorraine. The Conquest by 

 Chile in 1879. Illuminating Documents from the Department of 

 State of the United States of America). For a detailed account of 

 the negotiations between Peru and Chile since the signing of the 

 Peace treaty of 1884 see Wambaugh, pp. 156-165. 



