Sir, The passage of the Address of the General Council of the International Working Men s Association, On the Civil War in France, which gave the signal to shouts of moral indignation on the part of the London press, was this: The real murderer of the Archbishop is Thiers. From the enclosed letter, addressed to M. Bigot, the counsel for M. Assi at the Versailles Court-martial, by M. Eugene Fondeville, who is ready to confirm his statements by affidavit, you will see that the Archbishop himself actually shared my view of the case. At the time of the publication of the Address, I was not yet informed of the interview of M. Fondeville with M. Darboy, but even then the correspondence of the Archbishop with M. Thiers revealed his strange misgivings as to the good faith of the Chief of the French Executive. Another fact has now been placed beyond doubt viz., that at the time of the execution of the hostages the Communal government had already ceased to exist, and ought, therefore, no longer be held responsible for that event. I am, etc., London, August 29
Karl Marx in The Examiner 1871