and extent. It is known that these societies exist in Germany,
France, Spain, Italy, and England, as well as in our own country,
and that they have in some measure an international character. In
France, before the war, there were 438,785 men in the organization,
and in Germany 150,000. Yet this is but the beginning. [Footnote:
La Solidarite, 25 Juin 1870,--as cited by Testu, _L' Internationale,
(me edit.,) p. 275.]

At the menace of the present war, all these societies were roused.
The society known as the International Working-Men's Association,
by their General Council, issued an address, dated at London,
protesting against it as a war of dynasties, denouncing Louis
Napoleon as an enemy of the laboring classes, and declaring "the
war-plot of July, 1870, but an amended edition of the _coup
d'etat_ of December, 1851." The address then testifies generally
against war, saying,--

"They feel deeply convinced, that, whatever turn the impending
horrid war may take, _the alliance of the working classes of all
countries will ultimately kill war_." [Footnote: The General
Council of the International Working-Men's Association on the War,
(London, July 23, 1870.) p. iv.]

At the same time the Paris branch of the International Association
put forth a manifesto addressed "To the Working-Men of all
Countries," from which I take these passages:--

"Once more, under the pretext of European equilibrium, of national
honor, political ambitions menace the peace of the world.