The Express.
London, England, 1866-09-03 00:00:00

CONGRESS OF WORKING MEN AT GENEVA.

To-day there assembles at Geneva a delegate
meeting of working men from France, Great Britain, Ger-
many, Belgium, and Switzerland, and possibly from other
parts of Europe also. This congress hes been convened by
the provisional central council of the International Work.
ing Men's Association, which central council has hitherto
sat in London. The aforesaid association dates its origin
from a public meeting held in St. Martin's-hall on Sept. 2s,
1861, at which several continental working men were pre-
sent. In the course of its two years' existence the Inter.
national Working Mens' Association has obtained the ad-
hesion of numerous working-class associations and
individuals in the countries named above. In Great
Britain the association, besides some hundreds of indi-
vidual members, has succeeded in affiliating to
itself the following associated bodies: —l, Amal-
gamated Cordwainers ; 2, Operative Bricklayers ;
3, Amalgamated Carpenters, Chelsea branch ; 4, Coventry
Ribbon Weavers ; 5, Packing-case makers ; 6, Alliance
Cabinet Makers ; 7, West-end Cabinet Makers ; 8, Coopers'
I Hand-in-hand Society ; 9, Darlington Tailors ; 10, London
Amalgamated Tailors; 11, Kendal Cordwainers ; 12,
Darlington Conlwainers ; 13, Nottingham Cordwainers;
14, Day-working Bookbinders ; 15, Plumbers' Brass
Finishers ; 16, Cigar makers ; 17, Amalgamated Saddlers
and Harness Makers. There are moreover 13 other
societies which have promised to join, but the
necessary formalities are not yet completed. Seven
delegates have left London to attend the Geneva Congress.
' In France the association bas found favour especially in
Paris and its vicinity, in the departments of Normandy,
the Gironde, and the Lyonnais. Twelve delegates will
represent Paris and its vicinity at Geneva ; five at least
will represent Lyons ; one each from Vienne, Rouen, Caen,
Bordeaux, and some smaller places. We are not informed
of the number of delegates expected from Belgium and
Germany. In Saxony almost all the working-class moods-
tions have joined the International Working Men's Asso-
ciation ; in Belgium an old-established body merged
with the International; but the Swiss working classes,
and the Genovese especially, have been supporters of the
young association. It is partlyin acknowledgment of the
I rapid and unexpected progress of the association in French
j and German Switzerland that Geneva was selected as the
place of assembly for the first congress. The general pro-
gramme of questions to be submitted to and discussed by
the congress, which opens to-day, was settled at a preli-
minary conference of Bri•ish and continental delegates in
London in September last. It is as follows :-1. Organize-
tion of the association. 2. Combination of effort by means
of the association in the different national struggles be-
tween capital and labour. 3. Trade unions. 4. Co-opera-
tire labour. 5. Direct and indirect taxation. 6. Reduc-
tion of the hours of labour. 7. Female and children's
labour. 8. Standing armies—their effect upon the inte-
rests of the productive classes. 9. The necessity
of annihilating the influence of Russia in Europe
by re-establishing Poland on a democratic basis. 10.
The religious idea, its relation to the social, political, and
intellectual development of the people. 11. The institution
of a system of international credit. The delegates from
London are further instructed to press upon the attention
of the congress the expediency of • general inquiry into
the condition of the working classes according to a schedule
of queries which the council have drawn up, and of making
representations to the governments of Europe and America
in favour of an international penny postage. All the above
questions have been discussed by the central council or its
committee, and the delegates from London carry with
them not only a letter of instructions, but also several
papers on some one or other of the questions on the pro-
gramme which have been contributed by members of the
central council who are unable to be present at the
eongreu.

THE HEAVY CALCUTTA AND CHINA HAILE
SOUTFLIMPTON, SEPT. I.—The Peninsular and Oriental
Company's steamship Ceylon, Captain Evans, with the
above mails, arrived this afternoon. She brings 65 passen-
gers ; 38 packages of specie, value 110,0001, and a general
cargo, including 1,988 bales raw silk, value 180,0001. ster-
ling. The Ceylon experienced line weather during the
passage ; on the 22nd she spoke the China, and on the
30th the ?duellist, off Cape Finistere, both bound for
Alus.ndria, with outward mails. Her Majesty's
ships Assurance, Psyche, and Wizard, were at Malta.
Gibraltar, 27th. The following British vessels have arrived
here since the departure of the last mail for Southamp-
ton :—The Alberto from Heath, Liffey from Neort, Alba-
Dian and Arabian from Liverpool, Greathani Hall from Car-
diff, Thracian from Glasgow, and Surat from Southampton.
The brigand leader, Vargas, silo has kept the northern dis-
tricts of Andalusia in constant alarm for some time put,
is said to have been shot by the Guardia Civil, near the
town of Villanueva de San Juan. The British ship J. H.
Joshua arrived here on the 25th. On the 17th May but
she was in eollision with an iceberg, and lost altimeter,
bowsprit, he. Exchanges on London, 90 days' date, 491 to
ii ; Paris, 8 days, sf. 10e. to 12c. ; Mareenlies, tif. 120.
Madrid, 24 to 3 dia. ; Seville, per, to ; Malags, 1 j to
2 dia. ; Bormloom, a pm. ; Valencia, per ; Cadia (pe7 in
gold), to f•