THE  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL.  1/5
working  men  are  interchanging  messages  of  peace  and  brotherhood—this ­
  grand  fact,  without  precedent  in  the  history  of  the
past,  enables  us  to  foresee  a  brighter  future.  It  shows  that
a  new  society  is  arising  whose  International  rôle  will  be  peace,
because  the  basis  of  nations  will  be  everywhere  the  same,
namely,  labour.”
After  Sedan  and  the  fall  of  the  Empire,  a  movement  of
sympathy  in  favour  of  the  French  Republic  took  place  in  all
the  sections  of  the  International,  even  in  Germany.  On  the
5th  of  September  the  German  Social  Democrats,  assembled  at
Brunswick,  published  a  manifesto  containing  the  following
passage  :—“  It  is  Germany’s  interest  to  conclude  a  peace  which
France  can  accept  with  honour.  It  is  asserted  that  the  annexation ­
  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  will  preserve  us  for  ever  from  a  war
with  France.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  surest  way  to  transform ­
  into  a  European  institution  and  to  perpetuate  in  United
Germany  the  system  of  military  despotism.  Peace  on  such
terms  will  be  only  a  truce,  until  France  shall  be  strong  enough
to  reconquer  her  lost  provinces.  The  war  of  1870  bears  in  its
train  a  war  between  Germany  and  Russia,  as  certainly  as  the
war  of  1866  bore  that  of  1870.  Unless  a  revolution  breaks
out  in  Russia  beforehand,  which  seems  improbable,  the  war
between  Germany  and  Russia  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  certainty. ­
  If  we  take  Alsace  and  Lorraine  from  France,  she  will
ally  herself  to  Russia.  It  would  be  useless  to  point  out  the
deplorable  consequences.”  These  warnings  by  no  means
pleased  the  general  in  command,  Vogel  von  Falkenstein,  who,
by  virtue  of  the  state  of  siege,  sent  the  leaders  to  dream  of  the
coming  peace  in  the  casements  of  Königsberg.
I  have  endeavoured  by  these  extracts  to  throw  light  on
the  cosmopolitan  tendency  of  the  International.  It  is,  in  fact
one  of  the  characteristic  traits  of  modern  Socialism.  It  is
clearly  derived  from  the  ideas  of  the  Manchester  school  and
ultimately  from  the  teachings  of  Political  Economy,  which
always  considers  the  good  of  humanity  and  readily  forgets
the  existence  of  separate  States.  Establish  universal  free
trade,  say  the  Economists,  abolish  custom-houses  and  standing ­
  armies,  make  the  laws  everywhere  identical,  and  soon