New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4297, 29 December 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1874.

We are inclined to think that loading journals in England, and on tho Continent, undervalue tho seventh Congress of Internationalists, which recently met at Brussels. It is true that this formidable organisation which, some three or four years ago, frightened four-fifths of the European statesmen out of their wits, has not yet revolutionised society, nor has it realised anything like its early promise. The Internationalists have been split up into factions ; and as a house divided against itsolf cannot stand, so neither has this labor organisation stood as a united forco, Tho Internationalists have wasted mufjh of their strength in internal wrangling, and devoted most of their attention to details. This has given " Capital," as representing all classes except the proletariat, and " the State," as representing the Civil power, breathing timo. But we are inclined to think that much of tho internal dissension that has palsied tho arm of tho International, lias been brought about by paid agents of the State, whose business it was to sow the seeds of discord, by encouraging the propagation of oxtremo opinions; and most undoubtedly also, the FrancoGerman war, and tho Carlist war in Spain, have been very powerful agents in tho like direction. In short, tho great national conflicts which recently "shook the earth," may be said to have disorganised the International Society. Tho German army was filled with Internationalists. The men who movod with tho precision of the most perfect piece of mechanism in the field ; tho men who fought their way to Paris, and marched silent but grim and pacific under their colors through the captured city—a spectacle of martial courage, forbearance, and discipline such as the world

has never before seen ;—tens of thousands of those men were Internationalists. And the Commune, of which so much evil is spoken and so little really is known ; the men who, under Trochu and Duckot held Paris against the German army till the crowning act of treason at Metz rendered further resistance impossible ; the men who, to save Paris, permitted the German procession to pass through its streets unmolested ;—these men flew to arms, in the assertion of what they conceived to be their communal rights, and resisted the army which had betrayed France, and the leaders whose dissensions, jealousies, and incompetence had brought about a great national calamity, and would have succeeded 111 the long run, but for the suppor; which the Germans gave Thiers and tlia regular troops under MacMahon. No doubt, when the Commune was defeated, ex • cesses were committed ; butexcessss were to be looked for under the circumstances; and as well might we thrust Kaiser William out of the pale of Chrisliamty, and class him with Attilla, be<ause of tho excesses of which some merman soldiers were guilty, as to brrad the International Society with infarnybecause ' a few wretches, in times, of civil tumult, indulged their fiendish instincts by destroying the monuments of nationil greatness in Paris. In like mamer the Spanish Internationalists haw been and defence of Carthagena is now known, and it is certainly a bright page in the dark record of Spanish afhirs during the past three years. The Ca?lists, who have none of the Internatiomlists in their ranks, and the Republicans, who proscribe them, commit acts of tenfold greater atrocity, and appeal to the Courts of Heaven and Earth alike to bear witness to their moderation and assist their cause. The Internationalists, therefore, have failed to effect a social revolution, because thoy have been divided amongst themselves. They could not agree as to what tliey mainly wanted in the first place ; mv were they agreed us to how they were to set to work to secure those results upon which they were agreed. Then, there were race difficulties. Tho mercurial races of the South of Europe could not adapt themselves to the slow-moving, methodical, common-sense British workmei, who knew what they wanted, and by iint of "pegging away," like Grant before Richmond, were gradually carrying tie outworks of the citadel of Capital. Neither could the British workmen nor the F-ench, Spanish, or Italian Internationilists, understand their German allies. But race differences apart, the working men of Europe are all embued with a cemmon spirit. They represent the vital jowor of tho Nations. Their great enemy is international war, because it is from their ranks the combatants are mainly drawn, and every Internationalist who falls "in the service of his country," weakens the kbor organisation. If these men knew thtir power they would very soon bring kings and statesmen to terms. They have simply to refuse to fight, when high and potent princes call upon thorn to lay down their lives to defend a social organisation which they declare oppresses them, and the obnoxious social system will be directly changed. As it is, England has less to fear from labor organisations than any otlwr Power. Her colonies are a safety-valve which prevents excessive over-crowding, and her insular position hinders her from being deeply moved by the pulsations of public thought which are common to every nation on the Continent. At the same time, English society is not exactly what it should be ; and it would be well if British statesmen I looked at facts as they really are, and ! anticipated che wants and wishes of tho working classes, instead of conceiving it to be the highest art of statesmanship to cheat their hope by vain promises, or to amuse them by delusive concessions. The International Society is nevertheless a groat fact. It has been driven from the light of day in several countries, and is therefore all the more formidable as a secret organisation. Doubtless police spies are even there ; but it would have been far better if the Internationalists had been permitted to meet and discuss the social problem in public. Whdt they were doing would then have been known ; and as they neither command armies nor fleets, nor have the control of the police, nor regulate the currency, their wildest talk would have been powerless against the force which " Society" could have opposed to them. But that they will succeed in revolutionising Society we are morally convinced. A social pyramid to be permanent, must rest upon its base and not upon its apex. But it is this inverted order which law and armies support. ' The masses have been uneducated and oppressed. They are, however, learning their own strength. Even the failure of their present organisation will be of use to them. Some master mind will grasp tho situation, and load millions of men, in every country, after him to tho attainment of a common object. It were much better for "Capital" and " Society" to bo beforehand, and make terms with "Labor." 'ithis, and only this, will prevent a social rovolution such as-has had no parallel in the world's history.