REFERENDUM AT GENERAL ELECTION. [TO THE Morrell or run -srscr.roa."1
SIR,—The suggestion of " Nominie Umbra " in the Spectator of April 4th that there shall be a Referendum on Home Rule coincidentally with a General Election is reinforced by the practice in America. In thirty of the States it is provided in the Constitution that the Referendum on proposals of Con- stitutional change shall he taken simultaneously with a General Election; in one other State there is a similar Con- stitutional mandate, which, however, may be overcome by a two-thirds vote in each House of the Legislature ; and in five other States, although there is no Constitutional mandate for the taking of a Referendum on the day of a General Election, the custom has been to take it at that time. As a general rule the Referendum vote is not as large as that which is cast for candidates, but there have been occasions on which it has been larger, as, for instance, in Rhode Island in 1842, when the State was on the verge of civil war, the Referendum vote on the Constitution was larger than the vote which was cast for Governor. Students of American history are familiar with the "Dorr War" in that State.—I am, Sir, &c.,
S. R. H.
P.S.—Your readers, of course, know that in every American State but one there must be a Referendum on Constitutional change.
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