THE  SOCIALISM  OF  TO-DAY.

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they  organized  a  fête  of  “  international  fraternization  ”  at  the
Freemasons’  Tavern.  The  speeches  were  by  no  means  violent.
On  the  question  of  wages,  it  was  said,  working  men  should
combine  ;  but,  to  smoothen  difficulties,  they  ought  also  to  enter
into  some  arrangement  with  their  employers.  According  as
machinery  was  improved,  there  would  be  a  smaller  demand  for
labour;  a  proportionate  reduction  of  wages  would  therefore
be  threatened.  How  was  a  sufficient  remuneration  to  be
secured  to  the  labourer  ?  It  was  a  difficult  problem,  the  solution ­
  of  which  required  the  attention  of  historians,  philosophers,
statesmen,  employers,  and  labourers  of  all  countries.  Finally,
they  proposed  to  create  committees  of  working  men  “as  a
medium  for  the  interchange  of  ideas  on  questions  of  international ­
  trade.”  The  conception  of  a  universal  association
appears  here  in  embryo.  Two  years  afterwards  it  saw  the
light.
On  the  28th  of  September,  1864,  a  great  meeting  of  working
men  of  all  nations  was  held  at  St  Martin’s  Hall,  London,  under
the  presidency  of  Professor  Beesly.  M.  Tolain  spoke  in  the
name  of  France.  Karl  Marx  was  the  real  inspirer  of  the
movement,  though  Mazzini’s  secretary.  Major  Wolff,  assisted
him—a  fact  which  has  given  rise  to  the  statement  that  Mazzini
was  the  founder  of  the  International.  So  far  was  this  from
being  the  case  that  he  only  joined  it  with  distrust,  and  soon
left  it.  The  meeting  appointed  a  provisional  committee  to
draw  up  the  statutes  of  the  association,  to  be  submitted  to  the
Universal  Congress,  which  was  expected  to  meet  at  Brussels  in
the  following  year.  In  this  committee  Fngland,  France,  Italy,
Poland,  Switzerland,  and  Germany  were  represented  ;  and
afterwards  delegates  from  other  countries  were  admitted.  They
were  fifty  in  all.  They  adopted  none  of  the  ways  of  a  secret
society.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  by  publicity  that  they  hoped
to  carry  on  their  propaganda.  Their  office  was  in  London  :
No.  18,  Greek  Street,  Soho.  The  statutes  that  were  drawn  up
were,  after  all,  by  no  means  revolutionary  ;  indeed,  it  might
have  been  supposed  to  be  a  society  for  the  study  of  social
questions.  A  general  council  was  appointed,  with  Odger  for
president  ;  Wheeler,  treasurer  ;  Cremer,  secretary  ;  and  includ*