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insurrection of June, 1848, has left its indelible stigma. The division of labour amongst the members of that Government looks awkward. The Orleanists have seized the strongholds of the army and the police, while to the professed Republicans have fallen the talking departments. Some of their first acts go far to show that they have inherited from the Empire, not only ruins, but also its dread of the working-class. If eventual impossibilities are in wild phraseology promised in the name of the Republic, is it not with a view to prepare the cry for a 'possible' government? Is the Republic, by some of its middle-class undertakers, not intended to serve as a mere stop-gap and bridge over an Orleanist Restoration?
The French working-class moves, therefore, under circumstances of extreme difficulty. Any attempt at upsetting the new Government in the present crisis, when the enemy is almost knocking at the doors of Paris, would be a desperate folly. The French workmen must perform their duties as citizens; but, at the same time, they must not allow themselves to be swayed by the national souvenirs of 1792, as the French peasants allowed themselves to be deluded by the national souvenirs of the First Empire. They have not to recapitulate the past, but to build up the future. Let them calmly and resolutely improve the opportunities of Republican liberty, for the work of their own class organization. It will gift them with fresh Herculean powers for the regeneration of France, and our common task—the emancipation of labour. Upon their energies and wisdom hinges the fate of the Republic.
The English workmen have already taken measures to overcome, by a wholesome pressure from without, the reluctance of their Government to recognise the French Republic. The present dilatoriness of the British Government is probably intended to atone for the Anti-Jacobin war and the former indecent haste in sanctioning the coup d'état. The English workmen call also upon their Government to oppose by all its power the dismemberment of France, which part of the English press is shameless enough to howl for. It is the same press that for twenty years deified Louis Bonaparte as the providence of Europe, that frantically cheered on the slaveholders' rebellion. Now, as then, it drudges for the slaveholder.
Let the sections of the International Working-Men's Association in every country stir the working classes to action. If they forsake their duty, if they remain passive, the present tremendous war will be but the harbinger of still deadlier international feuds, and lead in every nation to a renewed triumph over the workman by the lords of the sword, of the soil, and of capital.
Vive la République!
THE GENERAL COUNCIL.
Robert Applegarth; Martin J. Boon; Fred. Bradnick; Caihil; John Hales; William Hales; George Harris; Fred. Lessner; Laysatine; B. Lucraft; George Milner; Thomas Mottershead; Charles Murray; George Odger; James Parnell; Pfänder; Rühl; Joseph Shepherd; Cowell Stepney; Stoll; Schmitz.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARIES.
| Egune Dupont | For | France. | |
| Karl Marx | For„ | Germany and Russia. | |
| A. Serraillier | For„ | Belgium, Holland, and Spain. | |
| Hermann Iung | For„ | Switzerland. | |
| Giovanni Bora | For„ | Italy. | |
| Zévy Maurice | For„ | Hungary. | |
| Anton Zabizki | For„ | Poland. | |
| James Cohen | For„ | Denmark. | |
| J. G. Eccarius | For„ | The United States. | |
| WILLIAM TOWNSHEND, Chairman. | |||
| JOHN WESTON, Treasurer. | |||
| J. GEORGE ECCARIUS, General Secretary. | |||
Office,—256, High Holborn, London, W.C., September 9th, 1870.
