pretence of balance of power and questions of dynasty as excuses
for war, and then rising to "a cry of reprobation against war,"
the Berlin branch of the International Association replied:--

"We join with heart and hand in your protestation..... Solemnly we
promise you that neither the noise of drums nor the thunder of
cannon, neither victory nor defeat, shall turn us aside from our
work for the union of the proletaries of all countries."
[Footnote: Testu, pp. 284-85. The General Council, etc., p. iii.]

Then came a meeting of delegates at Chemnitz, in Saxony,
representing fifty thousand Saxon working-men, which put forth the
following hardy words:--

"We are happy to grasp the fraternal hand stretched out to us by
the working-men of France.... Mindful of the watchword of the
International Working-Men's Association, _Proletarians of all
countries, unite!_ we shall never forget that the working-men
of all countries are our friends, and the despots of all countries
our enemies." [Footnote: The General Council of the International
Working-Men's Association on the War, p. iii.]

Next followed, at Brunswick, in Germany, on the 16th of July,--the
very day after the reading of the war document at the French
tribune, and the "light heart" of the Prime-Minister,--a mass
meeting of the working-men there, which declared its full
concurrence with the manifesto of the Paris branch, spurned the
idea of national antagonism to France, and wound up with these
solid words:--