the  rise  and  fall  of  the  internat/onal.  153
delegates  from  the  Continent  brought  discouraging  news.
Except  in  Switzerland,  adhesions  were  rare.  The  Belgian
delegates  complained  of  the  apathy  of  their  countrymen  ;  the
French,  of  the  vexatious.interference  of  the  police  ;  the  Italians,
of  the  hostility  of  Mazzini’s  followers.  It  was  determined  to
hold  a  General  Congress  next  year  at  Geneva.
The  first  sitting  did,  in  fact,  take  place  on  the  3rd  of  September, ­
  1866,  at  Geneva,  under  the  presidency  of  Jung,  who
represented  the  General  Council.  There  were  in  all  only  sixty
delegates,  seventeen  of  whom  were  French.  Besides  Jung,
the  General  Council  had  sent  Odger,  Cremer,  Eccarius,  and
arter.  1  he  statutes  drawn  up  in  London  under  the  inspiration ­
  of  Marx  were  adopted  almost  without  change.  They
were  very  skilfully  conceived.  They  presented  a  well-planned
application  of  the  federal  system  and  of  voting  by  several
stages.  Local  initiative  was  respected,  while  the  central
authority,  emanating  from  the  several  federated  groups,  was  to
direct  the  whole.  These  statutes  were  framed  so  as  not  to
alarm  Governments  and  to  avoid  the  risk  of  suppression  by  the
law.
The  association  is  founded,  says  the  first  article,  to  provide
a  centre  of  communication  and  co-operation  between  working
men  of  difierent  countries  who  have  the  same  end  in  view,
namely,  “  the  joint  action,  the  advancement,  and  the  complete
emancipation  of  the  working  class.”  The  Association,  and  all
societies  and  individuals  joining  it,"recognize  truth,  justice,  and
morality  as  the  basis  of  their  conduct,  and  take  for  their  motto
“No  duties  without  rights  and  no  rights  without  duties.”
These  were  golden  words.  How  could  the  tribunals  think  for
a  moment  of  prosecuting  such  an  association  ?
The  unit  of  the  Association  is  the  section.  A  section  is
composed  of  the  working  men  of  a  particular  locality  or  trade
who  become  members  and  unite  in  order  to  study  and  defend
their  common  interests.  All  the  sections  of  a  region  are
grouped  so  as  to  form  a  federation.  Lastly,  the  statutes  say,
“as  the  utility  of  the  General  Council  will  be  the  greater  in
proportion  as  its  action  is  less  diffused,  the  members  of  the
International  Association  ought  to  make  every  effort  to  estab-