We are greatly in want of money. … The affair of the Commune increased our
duties and obligations, while with the war preceding it cut off our
Continental supplies. We are now almost overwhelmed with letters from
different parts of this country (England), from people wanting information
about the
International
, and sections are
being established in the provinces. There are also Irish sections in the
course of formation, and we now have an Irish secretary on the Council in
the person of
MacDonald
, of
Fenian notoriety. Besides that, we have had applications from the East
Indies and New Zealand. The Paris Federal Council is to be reorganized.
After all
Thiers
has caught but
very few of our men. There is not a prominent member of our association
amongst all his prisoners, and there are but two or three missing, who must
have been killed in the last days of fighting, as we cannot get either tale
or tidings of them. Many who were reported over and over again as shot, even
detailed accounts given, have turned up again, and are now safely here or in
Switzerland. There is great distress among the refugees here, and between
fifty and sixty are without the means of subsistence. Money comes in very
slowly. There is to be an appeal issued to your working-men which we trust
will be liberally responded to.