Tim  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL.  149
to  be  handed  over  to  national  factories.  It  was,  however,
added  that  the  transformation  of  existing  society  would  not  take
place  according  to  the  preconceived  ideas  of  any  reformer,  but
on  the  initiation  of  the  entire  labouring  class.  The  manifesto
closed  with  the  appeal  :  “  Proletarians  of  all  countries,  unite  !  ”
This  idea  of  uniting  all  associations  of  working  men  into  one
universal  interdependent  federation  has  been  attributed  to  a
Frenchwoman,  Jeanne  Derouin.  It  was  decided  to  call  an
International  Congress  of  working  men  at  Brussels  in  the
following  year;  but  the  revolutionary  movements  of  1848  and
the  subsequent  reaction  prevented  this  from  being  done,  and
the  idea  remained  in  abeyance  for  fourteen  years.
In  1862  certain  manufacturers,  such  as  M.  Arlës-Dufour,
and  certain  newspapers,  such  as  Le  Temps  and  L  Opinion
Nationale.,  started  the  idea  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to
send  delegates  from  the  French  working  men  to  the  London
Exhibition.  “The  visit  to  their  comrades  in  England,”  said
L'Opinion  Nationale,  “would  establish  mutual  relations  in  every
way  advantageous.  While  they  would  be  able  to  get  an  idea
of  the  great  artistic  and  industrial  works  at  the  Exhibition,  they
would  at  the  same  time  feel  more  strongly  the  mutual  interests
which  bind  the  working  men  of  both  countries  together;  the
old  leaven  of  international  discord  would  settle  down,  and
national  jealousy  would  give  place  to  a  healthy  fraternal  emulation.” ­
  The  whole  programme  of  the  International  is  summed
up  in  these  lines;  but  the  manufacturers  little  foresaw  the
manner  in  which  it  was  going  to  be  carried  out  Napoleon
III.  appeared  to  be  very  favourable  to  the  sending  of  the
delegates  to  London.  He  allowed  them  to  be  chosen  by
universal  suffrage  among  the  members  of  the  several  trades
and,  naturally,  those  who  spoke  the  strongest  on  the  rights  of
labour  were  chosen.  By  the  Emperor's  orders,  their  journey
was  facilitated  in  every  way.  At  that  time  Napoleon  still
dreamed  of  relying,  for  the  maintenance  of  his  Empire,  on  the
working  men  and  peasants,  and  of  thus  coping  with  the  liberal
middle  classes.
At  London  the  English  working  men  gave  the  most  cordial
welcome  to  “  their  brothers  of  France.”  On  the  5th  of  August