1 88 EMPLOYMENT OF THE PLEBISCITE [486 



discretion would forbid the exercise of it without the con- 

 sent of the local governments who are interested, except in 

 cases of great necessity, in which the consent might be 

 presumed."" 



A recent case of the alienation of British territory is the 

 cession of Heligoland to Germany in 1890. On June 24, 

 the First Lord of the Treasury, W. H. Smith, was asked in 

 the House of Commons by Mr. Summers " whether he will 

 undertake that the proposed Anglo-German Agreement shall 

 not be signed by the British Plenipotentiary until Parlia- 

 ment has had an opportunity of expressing its opinion on 

 the bill for the cession of Heligoland ; and also whether the 

 proposed . . . Agreement will contain a clause providing 

 that the portion of the Agreement which relates to the ces- 

 sion of Heligoland shall not take effect until it has been 

 ratified by the passing into law by the British Parliament 

 of a Bill authorizing the cession?" To this Mr. Smith 

 answered that " no such clause is necessary, for the Agree- 

 ment will only provide that a Bill shall be introduced to 

 enable Her Majesty to make a cession. "°° 



The British Government's attitude in the question of 

 popular consent as a pre-requisite to the validity of the 

 transfer is found in the statement made in the House of 

 Lords by the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for 

 Foreign Affairs, The Marquis of Salisbury, on June 19, 

 1890: "The plebiscite is not among the traditions of the 

 country. We have not taken a plebiscite, and I see no 

 necessity for doing so. . . ."^^ 



Returning to the consideration of the forces acting in 

 favor of the international sanction of the plebiscite as the 

 mode of expression of popular consent, it is to be observed 

 that the negative opinions of Hall, Hershey, Oppcnheim 

 and others, are opposed by some writers. Thus Hershey 

 cites " among the few advocates of the plebiscite in the 



*" Quoted from Willoughby, vol. i, p. 511. 

 ""Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. 345, col. 1796. 

 »* Ibid., vol. 345, col. 131 1. 



