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LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


335 . 973 
Sh2i 


I  •  H  •  S  • 


ICARIA 


Chapter  in  the  History  of  Communism 


BY 


ALBERT   SHAW,  Ph.  D. 


NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S    SONS 

1884 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

1884 


Press  0/ 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York 


:; 


335-.  <H3 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Preface v 

I. — £tienne  Cabet,  the  Founder  of  Icaria  ....  3 

II. — Colonization  in  Texas 29 

III. — Community  Life  at  Nauvoo 47 

IV.— The  Cheltenham  Episode 67 

V. — Pioneer  Life  in  Iowa 75 

VI. — The  Sons  versus  the  Fathers 91 

VII. — Reorganization — "  The  New  Icarian  Community  "        .  113 

VIII.— "  La  Jeune  Icarie  " 127 

IX. — In  California — "  Icaria-Speranza  "        ....  139 

X. — Personal  Sketches 155 

XI. — Some  Kindred  Social  Experiments        .         .         .         .173 

XII.— Appendix 189 

Index 217 


111 


PREFACE. 


A  GREAT  number  of  books  and  articles  have  been 
written  in  recent  years  discussing  socialism  and 
communism  in  the  abstract.  Some  of  these  have 
been  thoughtful  and  profound  ;  most  of  them  have 
a  partisan  tone,  and  are  either  in  sympathy  with 
the  doctrines  and  projects  discussed,  or  else  are 
given  up  to  condemnation  and  warning.  The  sub- 
ject has  been  treated  from  almost  every  conceivable 
standpoint,  and  there  would  be  no  reason  for  the 
present  monograph  if  it  also  undertook  to  enter  the 
field  of  general  discussion.  Such  is  not  its  purpose 
or  plan.  Certainly  the  most  common  defect  in  the 
current  literature  of  social  and  political  questions 
consists  in  the  tendency  to  generalize  too  hastily. 
Too  little  diligence  is  given  to  searching  for  the 
facts  of  history  and  to  studying  with  minute  atten- 
tion the  actual  experiences  of  men.  In  the  follow- 
ing pages  the  attempt  is  made  to  present  the  his- 
tory of  a  single  communistic  enterprise.  I  have 
endeavored  to  explain  its  origin,  to  follow  the  ex- 
ternal facts  of  its  checkered  and  generally  unfortu- 
nate career,  to  picture  its  inner  life  as  a  miniature 
social  and  political  organism,  to  show  what  are,  in 


VI  PREFACE. 

actual  experience,  the  difficulties  which  a  com- 
munistic society  encounters,  and  to  show,  by  a 
series  of  pen-portraits,  what  manner  of  men  the 
enterprise  has  enlisted. 

Whether  or  not  such  a  study  of  a  community 
now  small  and  obscure  is  trivial  and  useless,  must 
depend  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  study  is 
made.  If  made  with  the  requisite  intelligence  and 
thoroughness,  it  may  give  a  better  knowledge  of 
what  communism  really  is  and  what  it  wants  than 
can  be  obtained  from  reading  abstract  disquisitions 
about  communism.  Minuteness,  far  from  being  a 
fault,  will  be  the  chief  merit  of  such  a  study.  To 
be  of  any  value  it  must  be  conducted  in  the  true 
historical  spirit.  Truth  must  not  be  distorted  in 
the  interest  of  picturesque  narrative.  A  didactic 
spirit  and  a  conviction  that  communism  and  social- 
ism in  every  form  are  dangerous  heresies  must  not 
be  allowed  to  make  the  investigator  over-anxious  to 
condemn  or  disparage ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
should  sympathy  with  good  intentions  and  brave 
efforts  lead  him  to  a  blind  praise  of  projects  in 
themselves  useless  or  unpraiseworthy.  I  have  tried 
scrupulously  to  avoid  all  preaching  for  or  against 
communism,  and  it  is  hoped  that  no  reader  of  the 
following  pages  will  interpret  expressions  of  respect 
for  well-meant  attempts  to  alleviate  the  condition 
of  our  fellow-men  as  signifying  approval  of  particu- 
lar projects  about  which  I  write  without  any  dis- 


PREFACE.  VI 1 

tinct  word  of  disapprobation.  To  speak  well  of 
certain  men  who  participated  in  the  Paris  Commune 
of  1 871  is  not  to  justify  that  terrible  episode. 

There  are  two  reasons  in  particular  why  this  frag- 
ment of  communistic  history  should  be  written. 
In  the  first  place  it  is  a  story  which,  except  in  the 
most  meagre  and  inaccurate  way,  has  never  before 
been  told,  and  therefore  it  furnishes  students  of 
social  science  with  a  new  bit  of  illustrative  material ; 
moreover,  when  compared  with  the  annals  of  other 
communistic  enterprises,  the  Icarian  story  is  a  pecul- 
iarly romantic  and  interesting  one,  and  my  oppor- 
tunities for  collecting  the  necessary  materials  have 
been  exceptionally  favorable. 

In  the  second  place,  as  an  example  of  communism 
in  the  concrete,  Icaria  has  illustrative  value  beyond 
all  proportion  to  its  membership,  wealth,  and  suc- 
cess. Most  of  the  communistic  societies  of  the 
United  States  might  better  be  studied  as  religious 
than  as  socialistic  phenomena.  Their  socialism  is 
incidental  to  their  religious  creeds.  They  believe 
themselves  honored  with  special  and  direct  divine 
revelations,  and  those  revelations  furnish  them  with 
governments  of  a  theocratic  character.  They  do 
not  justify  their  socialism  by  any  kind  of  philosophy 
of  society,  but  simply  refer  the  inquirer  to  a  man- 
date received  through  their  prophet  or  prophetess. 
I  would  not  be  understood  as  speaking  con- 
temptuously of  these  religious  societies  or  their  pe- 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

culiar  creeds ;  but  I  must  insist  that  the  experiences 
of  such  societies  can  afford  little  material  to  aid  in 
the  discussion  of  rational,  democratic  communism 
or  socialism.  For  example,  the  Amana  Inspiration- 
ists,  a  German  communistic  body,  are  to  be  found 
in  the  same  State  with  the  Icarians ;  and  while 
Icaria,  with  its  handful  of  members,  has  been  strug- 
gling, in  poverty  and  dissension,  for  very  existence, 
Amana  has  numbered  its  many  hundreds  of  people, 
has  accumulated  great  wealth,  and  has  lived  in 
peace  and  harmony.  And  yet,  for  all  that,  the 
history  of  Icaria  is  as  superior  to  that  of  Amana  for 
the  student  of  social  science  as  the  history  of  Greece 
is  superior  to  that  of  China  for  the  student  of  politi- 
cal science.  Icaria  is  an  attempt  to  realize  the 
rational,  democratic  communism  of  the  Utopian 
philosophers,  hence  its  value  as  an  experiment. 
The  movement  most  akin  to  Icarianism  was  Owen- 
ism  ;  but  Robert  Owen's  colonies  were  all  dissipated 
before  their  communistic  life  was  fairly  begun. 
Fourierism  gained  much  prestige  and  made  a  con- 
siderable history  in  this  country;  but  Fourierism 
was  not  communism  by  many  degrees  ;  and  even 
those  two  or  three  phalansteries  which  developed 
most  strength  and  lived  longest,  died  very  young. 
If  then  it  is  proper  to  distinguish  what  I  call  the 
rational,  democratic  community  from  the  religious 
community  (Shaker,  Amanist,  Rappist,  etc.),  which 
seems  only  incidentally  concerned  with  the  solution 


PREFACE.  IX 

of  the  social  problems  which  confront  the  civilized 
world,  I  must  conclude  that  Icaria  is  the  most  typi- 
cal representative  of  the  former  sort.  Feeble  and 
disappointing  as  its  career  has  been,  Icaria  has  per- 
severed for  more  than  a  generation  ;  and  its  ex- 
periences should  not  be  left  unrecorded. 

To  both  Icarian  communes  acknowledgments 
should  be  made  for  courtesies  and  hospitality. 
Especially  from  Messrs.  A.  A.  Marchand,  J.  B. 
Gerard,  A.  Sauva,  and  E.  Peron,  valuable  assistance 
has  been  received.  Many  others  have  rendered 
material  aid  in  the  gathering  of  facts  which  were 
scattered  almost  beyond  recovery.  It  may  not  be 
inappropriate  to  add  that  this  study,  which  was 
first  undertaken  at  the  instance  of  Professor  Rich- 
ard T.  Ely,  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  has 
been  accepted  by  the  University  as  a  thesis  for  the 
degree  of  Ph.D.,  upon  the  completion  of  a  course  in 
the  department  of  history  and  political  science. 

Johns  Hopkins  University,  June,  1884. 


I. 

ETIENNE  CABET,  THE  FOUNDER  OF  ICARIA. 


ICARIA. 


i. 

^TIENNE   CABET,    THE   FOUNDER   OF  ICARIA. 

In  the  year  1848,  the  readers  of  the  London  Quar- 
terly Review,  and  also  those  of  Taifs  Edinburgh 
Magazine,  were  entertained  with  accounts  of  a  con- 
temporary social  movement  in  France  which  had 
attained  remarkable  proportions  and  influence, — a 
movement  which  even  then  had  reached  its  zenith, 
and  was  destined  to  be  obscured  and  almost  forgotten 
in  the  intensity  of  the  political  events  crowding  that 
memorable  year  of  revolutions,  and  the  years  imme- 
diately following.  The  foreign  tourist  of  to-day,  as 
he  passes  through  southwestern  Iowa  on  his  wonted 
pilgrimage  from  Chicago  to  the  Pacific,  may  see 
from  his  car-window  a  forlorn-looking  little  hamlet 
of  a  dozen  cottages  grouped  about  a  larger  wooden 
building,  the  whole  irregularly  flanked  with  the  un- 
picturesque  sheds,  stacks,  and  cattle-yards  of  a 
prairie  stock-farm.  Such  is  the  Icaria  of  to-day,  the 
humble  survival  of  a  movement  which,  a  generation 
ago,  numbered  its  zealous  adherents  by  hundreds  of 
thousands,  and  which  assumed  the  mission  of  re- 
organizing human  society  with  as  pure  an  enthusiasm 
and  as  sublime  a  confidence  as  has  ever  attended 

3 


4  ICARIA. 

the  birth  of  any  reform  movement.  The  story  of 
Icaria  is  a  record  of  hardships,  dissensions,  and  dis- 
appointments almost  innumerable;  but  it  is  also  a 
record  of  endurance,  and  of  unswerving  devotion 
that  commands  respect  and  honor.  And,  especially 
as  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  few  surviving  pioneers 
of  1848,  it  is  a  story  that  awakens  unusual  interest 
and  sympathy.  Certainly  no  sincere  and  generous 
attempt  to  improve  the  condition  of  mankind,  how- 
ever disappointing  in  its  outcome,  is  entirely  un- 
worthy the  notice  of  the  student  of  sociology  or  of 
the  practical  reformer. 

The  first  French  Revolution  was  essentially  a 
political  upheaval.  Nevertheless,  Voltaire,  Rous- 
seau, and  the  Encyclopedists,  in  their  glittering 
doctrines  of  the  equal  rights  of  man,  had  pro- 
pounded a  philosophy  which  did  not  reach  its  logi- 
cal ultimatum  with  the  undermining  of  the  Church 
and  State  of  the  ancien  regime  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a  political  democracy.  The  emancipation 
of  humanity,  as  preached  by  the  doctrinaires,  meant 
more  than  the  subversion  of  kingcraft  and  priest- 
craft ;  it  meant  also  a  revolution  in  the  industrial 
organization  of  society.  The  communistic  con- 
spiracy of  Babceuf  against  the  Directory  shows  the 
strength  that  communism  had  thus  early  gained  as 
a  practical  creed.  Marat,  Robespierre,  all  the 
great  revolutionary  leaders  were,  in  theory,  advo- 
cates of  the  levelling  philosophy.     But  it  was  not 


ETIENNE   CABET.  5 

until  the  later  revolutions  of  1830  and  1848  that  the 
socialists  and  communists  took  the  leading  part,  and 
that  the  u  tyranny  of  property '  became  a  more 
pervasive  cause  of  discontent  than  the  rule  of  the 
restored  Bourbon,  or  the  republican  "  king  of  the 
barricades."  At  the  period  of  the  first  revolution, 
the  new  philosophy  had  scarcely  reached  the  French 
people.  The  masses  knew  that  they  were  op- 
pressed, but  they  had  not  yet  imbibed  the  doctrines 
of  the  "  social  compact  "  and  the  "  rights  of  man," 
nor  had  they  yet  learned  that  "  property  is  rob- 
bery." But  the  revolution  wonderfully  aroused  the 
intellect  of  the  proletaire  ;  and  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury dawned  on  a  French  nation  of  thinkers,  readers, 
philosophers.  It  is  not  strange  that  ignorant  arti- 
sans and  peasants,  severed  from  all  the  moorings  of 
the  past  by  a  revolutionary  cataclysm  which  effaced 
every  traditional  landmark,  and  stimulated  by  novel 
circumstances  to  an  unparalleled  mental  acuteness, 
should  have  adopted  the  new  social  philosophy 
with  the  ardor  of  intoxication.  If  the  revolution 
of  1789  was  the  work  of  lawyers,  journalists,  and  men 
of  education,  those  a  generation  later  were  genuine 
movements  of  the  people, — though  diverted  from 
accomplishing  the  popular  objects.  The  ouvrier 
had  become  a  doctrinaire. 

It  is  only  by  recurrence  to  these  peculiar  condi- 
tions and  transformations  of  French  society  that  we 
can   thoroughly  understand  the    career  of    a  man 


0  I  CARTA. 

whose  own  life  strikingly  illustrates  them,  foienne 
Cabet  the  founder  of  Icaria.  Cabet  was  born  Jan. 
I,  1788,  at  Dijon,  in  the  department  of  the  Cote 
d'Or,  his  father  being  a  cooper  by  trade.  He  had 
the  advantage  of  a  general  education  under  the 
tutelage  of  his  celebrated  fellow-townsman  Jacotot, 
whose  attainments  as  one  of  the  leading  educators 
of  the  age,  and  whose  career  as  a  revolutionary  pa- 
triot must  have  had  weighty  influence  in  forming 
the  character  and  opinions  of  young  Cabet.  Our 
subject  next  appears  as  a  student  of  medicine, 
which  profession  was  soon  abandoned  for  the  more 
congenial  study  of  the  law.  He  acquired  a  speedy 
reputation  as  an  eloquent  advocate  at  the  Dijon 
bar,  and  probably  made  himself  well  known  as  a 
republican  ;  for,  in  1825,  two  years  after  Charles  X. 
had  succeeded  his  brother  Louis  XVIII.  to  the 
throne,  we  find  that  Cabet  has  transferred  his  resi- 
dence to  Paris,  where  he  becomes  at  once  a  leading 
man  in  the  new  democratic  movement  which  cul- 
minated five  years  later.  Associated  intimately 
with  Manuel,  Dupont  de  l'Eure,  and  other  patriot 
leaders  in  Paris,  he  became  a  director  in  the  secret 
revolutionary  society  of  the  Carbonari,  which  had 
lately  been  introduced  into  France  from  Naples  ; 
and  he  threw  himself  fearlessly  into  the  dangerous 
work  of  extending  this  society  and  its  principles 
throughout  the  realms  of  his  majesty  the  last  French 
Bourbon.     He  was  an  active  participant  in  the  July 


ETIENNE   CABET.  7 

revolution  of  1830,  heading  the  popular  movement 
as  member  of  an  insurrectionary  committee.  The 
abdication  of  Charles  X.  was  a  triumph  won  by  the 
democrats,  but  they  reaped  small  advantage  from 
their  success.  By  superior  adroitness,  Lafitte, 
Thiers,  Guizot,  and  their  coterie  succeeded  in  out- 
witting the  democrats  and  in  placing  Louis  Philippe 
on  "a  throne  surrounded  by  republican  institu- 
tions." However,  the  men  who  had  precipitated 
the  revolution  must  needs  be  recognized  and  con- 
ciliated :  and  we  now  find  our  subject  representing 
the  government  of  Louis  Philippe  as  Procurer-Gen- 
eral in  Corsica.  But  Cabet  continued  to  be  a  thorn 
in  the  crown  of  royalty,  and  soon  identified  himself 
so  notoriously  with  the  radical  anti-administration 
party  that  he  was  removed  from  orifice.  Already, 
however,  his  old  neighbors  of  the  Cote  d'Or  had 
elected  him  as  their  deputy  in  the  lower  chamber, 
and  he  took  his  seat  with  the  extreme  radicals. 
This  was  in  1834.  During  his  absence  in  Corsica 
there  had  been  incessant  democratic  intrigues,  the 
most  formidable  being  the  outbreak  in  Paris  at  the 
funeral  of  General  Lamarque,  in  the  summer  of 
1832.  The  ministry  had  entered  upon  a  course  of 
severely  repressive  measures,  undoubtedly  exceed- 
ing their  constitutional  powers.  Cabet's  opposition 
in  the  chamber  was  intense.  His  denunciations 
and  predictions  were  too  revolutionary  to  be  tolera- 
ted, and  the  government  allowed  him  to  choose  be- 


8  ICARIA. 

tween  two  years  of  imprisonment  and  five  years  of 
exile.  He  preferred  the  latter,  and  found  asylum  in 
England. 

Hitherto,  Cabet  had  been  a  man  of  action  rather 
than  of  speculation.  He  had  worked  for  the  reali- 
zation of  a  political  democracy.  In  his  own  life- 
time, which  had  not  yet  spanned  half  a  century,  he 
had  witnessed  a  mighty  growth  of  the  people. 
Under  the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe,  he  and  his  dem- 
ocratic associates  had  secured  an  extension  of  the 
elective  franchise,  and  had  seen  the  downfall  of  an 
hereditary  peerage  and  an  upper  chamber  of  aristo- 
crats. These  political  reforms  had  engrossed  him, 
but  he  had  lived  to  see  the  popular  movement  shift 
its  grounds.  What  had  been  at  first  a  movement  of 
the  middle  class  against  an  absolute  monarch  and  an 
intolerable  aristocracy,  had  almost  imperceptibly 
come  to  be  a  movement  of  the  lowest  class  against 
the  middle  class.  The  first  and  second  estates  were 
no  longer  formidable  ;  Louis  Philippe  was  the  king 
of  the  bourgeoisie.  Money  was  the  new  tyrant.  Capi- 
tal controlled  the  electorate.  The  government  was 
in  league  with  bankers,  manufacturers,  and  the  mer- 
cantile classes.  Democracy  now  meant  the  move- 
ment of  the  proletariat  against  the  bourgeoisie.  Society 
was  breaking  into  two  more  and  more  clearly  de- 
fined classes :  the  rich  and  prosperous,  the  capital- 
ized class,  numbered  by  thousands  ;  and  the  laboring 
class,  numbered  by  millions.  Oppression  was  no 
longer  conceived  of  as  political,  but  as  industrial. 


ETIENNE   CABET.  9 

During  the  five  years  of  his  residence  in  England, 
Cabet  gave  himself  to  study  and  reflection.  His 
mental  processes  at  this  period  are  well  described  in 
a  little  French  tract 1  by  one  of  his  disciples,  from 
which  I  translate  a  few  sentences :  "  Studying, 
pondering  the  history  of  all  ages  and  of  all  countries, 
he  at  length  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  mere 
political  reforms  are  powerless  to  give  to  society  the 
repose,  the  welfare  which  it  obstinately  seeks ;  that 
the  slavery  of  antiquity,  the  serfdom  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  the  proletariat  of  modern  times  are,  under 
different  names,  one  and  the  same  thing ;  that,  in 
short,  if  the  malady  has  changed  its  name  it  has  not 
changed  its  nature.  He  found  at  all  epochs  the 
same  phenomena :  society  sundered  in  twain  ;  on 
one  side  a  minority,  cruel,  idle,  arrogant,  usurping 
exclusive  enjoyment  of  the  products  of  a  majority, 
passive,  toiling,  ignorant,  who  remained  wholly  des- 
titute. Excessive  wealth  and  excessive  poverty, 
such  was  the  spectacle  which  every  page  of  history 
presented  to  his  eyes.  To  change  all  this,  to  find 
the  means  of  preventing  one  portion  of  humanity 
from  being  eternally  the  prey  of  the  other, — such 
was  his  desire,  the  goal  of  all  his  efforts.  But  how 
was  it  to  be  accomplished  ?  *  *  *  Gradually 
this  idea  gained  possession  of  Cabet's  mind;  he 
comprehended,  he  admitted  that  only  equality  of 
property  could  change  the  aspect  of  the  world  and 


i  << 


Icarie,"  by  A.  Sauva. 


IO  ICARIA. 

set  humanity  in  the  veritable  path  of  its  destiny. 
The  transformation  was  wrought  ;  Cabet  was  a 
Communist." 

Cabet  was  an  honest  man,  with  the  courage  of 
his  convictions.  If  his  thinking  had  brought  him 
to  an  unexpected  result,  he  did  not  shrink  from  his 
conclusions.  He  had  always  ranked  with  "practical  " 
men,  and  he  had  no  taste  for  being  called  a  chimeri- 
cal dreamer,  a  Utopian  theorist,  a  visionnaire ;  but 
nevertheless  he  resolved  to  become  a  propagandist 
of  communism  as  he  had  been  a  propagandist  of 
democracy.  He  was  by  nature  an  organizer ;  his 
temperament  was  hopeful ;  his  mind  was  construc- 
tive. When,  in  1839,  ne  was  again  admitted  to 
France,  he  had  worked  out  his  system  of  social  re- 
organization ;  and  in  1840  the  workingmen  of  Paris 
were  reading  with  enchantment  the  "  Voyage  en 
Icarie."  Cabet  had  wisely  chosen  to  write  his  new 
doctrines  in  a  clear,  popular  style,  and  to  give  his 
book  the  form  of  a  romance.  Little  as  the  work  is 
now  known  or  read,  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
clever  and  captivating  volumes  of  social  philosophy 
ever  written.1 

2The  form  of  the  "Voyage  en  Icarie"  was,  confessedly,  suggested 
by  Sir  Thomas  More's  "  Utopia,"  and  it  contains  many  general 
ideas  common  to  nearly  all  of  the  numerous  books  describing  ideal 
commonwealths,  from  Plato's  "Republic"  down  through  the  list. 
But  the  "  Voyage  "  'is  neither  a  plagiarism  nor  a  mere  imitation,  as 
several  hostile  French  critics  have  pronounced  it.  Thus,  Francis 
Lacombe,  in  his  "  Etudes  surles  Socialistes  "  (Paris,  1850),  refers  to 
the  "^Voyage"  as  "  copiee  presque  textuellement  dans  le  Manifeste 
des   Egaux,  dans  1'  Utopie   de  Thomas  Morus,  et    dans  la  Vie  de 


ETIENNE  CABET,  II 

The  book  purports  to  be  the  journal  of  an  in- 
genuous and  adventurous  young  English  nobleman, 
Lord  Carisdall,  who  has  learned  by  chance  that  in  a 
remote  part  of  the  world  there  exists  an  isolated 
commonwealth  known  as  Icaria,  in  which  the 
government,  the  arts  and  sciences,  the  popular  wel- 
fare and  all  the  accessories  of  life  have  attained  a 
most  astonishing  perfection.  My  lord  determines 
to  see  the  country  ;  and  his  voyage  of  inspection 
gives  title  to  the  book.  Part  I.,  containing  300 
pages,  is  an  exhaustive  and  realistic  description  of 
the  social  arrangements  prevailing  in  this  happy 
country,  as  they  appeared  to  a  man  familiar  with 
the  civilization  of  England  and  France.  Occasional 
allusions  to  current  European  events  lend  an  added 
air  of  reality.  Part  II.  tells  the  history  of  Icaria, 
recounting  the  mode  of  its  transformation  and  mak- 
ing an  exposition  of  its  doctrines  and  theories.  These 

Lycurgus."  And  Louis  Reybaud  in  the  "  Etudes  sur  les  Reforma- 
teurs  ou  Socialistes  Modernes  "  in  a  similar  spirit  remarks  :  "  Ce  Lord 
Carisdall  est  en  outre  le  heros  d'un  recit  dans  lequel  Buonarrotti  et 
Morus,  Fenelon  et  Campanella  se  donnent  la  main  a  travers  les  siecles. 
L'Icarie  est  une  terre  promise  ;  elle  doit  ce  bonheur  au  pontife  Icar, 
qui  a  un  faux  air  de  famille  avec  l'Utopus  du  chancelier  d'Angle- 
terre  et  le  grand  metaphysicien  de  la  Cite  du  Soleil."  It  is  true  that 
there  are  striking  points  of  external  resemblance  ;  but  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  More's  "  Utopia,"  for  instance,  is  a  mere  sketch 
as  compared  with  Cabet's  volume  of  six  hundred  pages.  In  its 
essential  character  the  book  owes  much  more  to  Robert  Owen  than 
to  Sir  Thomas.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  Cabet's  chief  object 
was  not  the  production  of  an  original  and  unique  piece  of  literary 
work,  but  rather  the  promulgation  of  his  new  opinions  in  a  manner 
likely  to  gain  the  widest  attention.  For  his  opinions  he  doubtless 
owed  something  to  each  one  of  the  principal  contributors  to  the 
literature  of  communism. 


12  ICARIA. 

new  and  superior  arrangements  are  effectively  con- 
trasted with  the  vicious  character  of  the  former 
social  and  political  organization.  Part  III.  is  a 
brief  re'sume'  of  the  principles  of  communism.  Lord 
Carisdall,  who  is  supposed  to  make  his  voyage  in  the 
year  1836,  finds  the  history  of  Icaria  to  be  some- 
what as  follows : 

The  country  had  been  under  the  irksome  rule  of 
a  long  line  of  monarchs.     In  1782  a  hero,  patriot, 
and  philosopher  named  Icar  led  a  successful  revo- 
lution.    Long  reflection  had  made  Icar  a  democrat 
and  a  communist.     He  readily  convinced  his  grate- 
ful countrymen  of  the  superiority  of  his  proposed 
method    of    reconstruction,    and    his    plans    were 
adopted  with  enthusiasm.     Ultimately,  the  country 
would  become  radically  and  exclusively  socialistic ; 
but  the  transition  was  to  be  a  gradual  one,  occupy- 
ing fully  fifty  years.     The  government  was  to  be- 
come at  once  a  democratic  republic.     The  country 
was  accordingly  divided  into  a  hundred  provinces, 
and  each  province  into  ten  communes.     Each  com- 
mune was  a  small  self-governing  democracy.     Each 
province  had  its  assembly  composed  of  representa- 
tives of  the  communes,  and  the  nation  had  its  larger 
assembly  composed  of  representatives  of  the  prov- 
inces.    At  the  head  of  administration  there  was  an 
elective  executive  council,  of  which  the  good  Icar 
reluctantly  consented  to  be  President.     During  the 
transitory  regime  existing  proprietors  and  vested 


ETIENNE   CABET.  1 3 

rights  were  to  remain  undisturbed,  but  the  state 
was  to  begin  at  once  a  system  of  national  work- 
shops, tenements  for  workingmen,  and  various  other 
ameliorations.  Taxation  was  to  be  removed  from 
all  articles  of  necessity,  and  a  graduated  income 
tax  was  to  be  an  important  means  of  arriving  at 
equality.  So  speedily  as  possible  the  public  lands 
were  to  be  colonized  by  the  poor,  and  devoted  to 
the  application  of  thorough-going  communistic  prin- 
ciples, being  transformed  into  farms  and  villages 
organized  on  the  industrial  model  of  the  ultimate 
Icarian  constitution.  Meanwhile,  great  attention 
was  to  be  given  to  education.  This  was  to  be  com- 
pulsory, thorough,  and  practical,  and  was  to  fit  the 
growing  generation  for  the  dawning  era  of  perfect 
equality  and  fraternity.  By  the  absorption  of  in- 
heritances under  an  extended  law  of  escheat,  by 
the  mode  of  imposing  taxes,  by  the  legal  regulation 
of  wages,  and  by  the  development  of  large  national 
industries,  the  state  would  absorb  all  private  prop- 
erty and  all  industrial  and  social  functions,  so  that, 
at  the  end  of  half  a  century,  the  people  would  find 
themselves  transformed  into  a  vast  partnership — a 
great  national  hive,  where  each  labored  according 
to  his  abilities  and  consumed  according  to  his  neces- 
sities ;  where  crime  had  vanished  with  poverty,  and 
idleness  with  luxurious  wealth ;  where  peace  and 
plenty,  liberty  and  equality,  virtue  and  intelligence, 
reigned  supreme.     Thus  the  former  political  unit  of 


14  ICARIA. 

the  commune  would  have  developed  by  a  gradual 
and  simple  process  into  the  unit  of  social  and  indus- 
trial cooperation.  The  waste  of  competition  would 
have  been  replaced  by  the  economy  of  general 
organization.  Buying  and  selling  and  all  monetary 
operations  would  obviously  have  become  obsolete. 
Such  is  a  slight  outline  of  Cabet's  elaborate  "  transi- 
tory constitution."  The  author  was  particularly 
proud  of  this  portion  of  his  work,  which  he  believed 
contained  many  original  suggestions  and  consti- 
tuted his  most  valuable  contribution  to  commu- 
nistic thought.  He  makes  one  of  the  characters  in 
the  romance  express  regret  that  France  had  not 
adopted  such  a  constitution  after  the  July  revolu- 
tion of  1830. 

The  English  voyager  arrived  in  Icaria  several 
years  after  the  transitory  period  had  been  com- 
pleted, and  he  found  the  system  in  full  operation. 
Space  will  not  permit  us  to  describe  the  interesting 
and  beneficent  manner  in  which  the  Icarians  man- 
aged to  provide  all  their  people  with  healthful  and 
abundant  food,  pleasant  raiment  and  comfortable 
homes — suffice  it  to  say  that  Icaria  was  a  veritable 
housekeeper's  paradise.  The  educational  system 
was  admirable,  and  is  elaborately  described  by  Lord 
Carisdall.  The  organization  of  industry  was  ingeni- 
ously planned  and  effectively  carried  out.  Hygi- 
enic arrangements  of  all  kinds  were  beyond  praise. 
Writers,  savants,  men  of  high  and  varied    attain- 


ETIENNE  CABET.  1 5 

ments  had  honored  places  in  the  system.  The 
standard  of  morality  was  pure  and  lofty.  Marriage 
and  the  family  were  deemed  sacred.  The  position  of 
woman  was  fully  on  the  par  with  that  of  man.  The 
treatment  of  women  and  children  is  a  cardinal  sub- 
ject in  the  Icarian  philosophy,  and  one  will  search 
in  vain  to  find  more  sensible,  enlightened  views. 
The  religious  beliefs  of  Icaria  were  peculiar.  All 
religions  were  freely  tolerated,  but  the  current 
belief  was  a  species  of  rationalistic  theism.  (Cabet 
himself  had  a  strong  leaning  toward  Comte's  posi- 
tive philosophy.) 

The  second  part  of  the  book  has  a  discussion  of 
the  faults  of  the  old  social  and  political  organiza- 
tion, much  in  the  vein  of  recent  writers  like  Henry 
George.  A  valuable  summary  showing  the  progress 
of  democracy  in  all  ages  and  all  countries  crowds 
sixty  pages  with  historical  facts.  Next  follows  a 
brief  historical  sketch  of  industrial  progress.  And, 
above  all,  comes  finally  a  sort  of  chronological  cyclo- 
pedia of  communistic  philosophers,  bristling  with 
names  like  those  of  Pythagoras,  Lycurgus,  Socrates, 
Plato,  the  Gracchi,  Plutarch,  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church,  Sir  Thomas  More,  F6nelon,  Grotius, 
Hobbes,  Harrington,  John  Locke,  Campanella, 
Rousseau,  Morelly,  Babceuf,  Buonarotti,  Robert 
Owen,  Saint-Simon,  Fourier,  and  scores  of  others, 
all  of  whom  are  most  ingeniously  quoted  as  advo- 
cates  of   the    doctrines   of   human   equality.     This 


1 6  ICARIA. 

plan  of  associating  a  purely  imaginary  picture  of  an 
ideal  society,  with  so  learned  and  comprehensive  an 
array  of  historical  facts  and  distinguished  philoso- 
phers, was  well  contrived  to  give  the  whole  work  an 
appearance  of  verity  and  sober  weight.  As  Cabet 
says  in  his  preface,  the  "  Voyage  en  Icarie  M  is  indeed 
"a  veritable  treatise  on  morals,  philosophy,  social 
and  political  economy,  the  fruit  of  long  labors,  im- 
mense researches,  and  constant  meditations."  And 
he  adds :  "  To  understand  it  well,  it  will  not  suffice 
to  read  the  book ;  it  must  be  re-read,  read  often, 
and  studied." 

The  title-page,  in  an  elaborate  and  symmetrical 
arrangement  of  mottoes,  contains  a  summation  of 
all  Cabet's  philosophy.  It  is  so  curious  that  I  think 
it  worth  while  to  reproduce  it  in  full  upon  the 
adjoining  page.  It  is  transcribed  from  a  copy  of 
the  fifth  edition,  published  in  1848. 

Such  was  the  book  which  Cabet  presented  to  the 
French  public  in  1840,  and  it  met  with  a  reception 
more  immediate,  and  more  serious,  probably,  than 
has  ever  been  accorded  to  any  similar  work.  It 
suited  the  popular  mind  because  it  furnished  a  pro- 
gramme. It  was  easy  to  read  and  to  understand. 
Its  generalizations  were  clear,  and  yet  seemed  pro- 
foundly wise.  Its  morality  appealed  to  the  best 
motives,  and  satisfied  the  ideals  of  the  conscientious. 
Though  rejecting  Christianity  as  divine,  it  accorded 
Christ   the   highest   place   of   honor   as    a   teacher 


VOYAGE 


EN 


ICARIE 


PAR 


M.  CABET. 


FRATERNITE 

TOUS  POUR  CHACUN       —       CHACUN  POUR  TOUS 


SOLIDARITE  AMOUR  EDUCATION 

EGALITE — LIBERTE  JUSTICE  INTELLIGENCE — RAISON 

ELIGIBILITY  SECOURS   MUTUEL  MORALITE 

UNITE  ASSURANCE  UNIVERSELLE  O  R  D  R  E 

PAIX  ORGANIZATION    DU    TRAVAIL  UNION 

—  MACHINES    AU    PROFIT    DE    TOUS  — 

AUGMENTATION     DE    LA    PRODUCTION 
REPARTITION     EQUITABLE     DES    PRODUITS 
SUPPRESSION     DE    LA     MISERE 
AMELIORATIONS      CROISSANTES 

premier  broit  mariage  et  famille  premier  beboir 

tfibre  progres  continuel  (TrubiuIUr 

—  ABONDANCE  — 

A    CHACUN  ARTS  DE    CHACUN 

SUIVANT  SES  BESOINS  Q  SUIVANT  SES  FORCES 

BONHEUR    COMMUN 


PARIS 

AU  BUREAU  DU  POPULAIRE  RUE  JEAN-JACQUES-ROUSSEAU,  14 
Dans  les  Departments  et  k  l'Etran^er  chez  les  Correspondants  du  Populaire. 

1848 

17 


1 8  ICARIA. 

of  human  brotherhood,  of  unselfishness,  of  equality, 
and  of  community. 

The  air  was  already  full  of  social  discontent. 
Babouvism  had  never  wholly  died  out.  Only  the 
year  before  our  book  appeared  the  insurrection  of 
Blanqui  and  Barbes  had  been  recognized  as  a 
socialistic  revolt.  Fourierism  and  Saint-Simonism 
had  each  its  large  body  of  disciples.  But  nothing 
as  yet  had  crystallized  the  vague  longings  of  the 
masses.  Icarianism  met  the  situation.  It  was 
hailed  as  a  new  gospel  to  the  poor.  The  "  Voyage  " 
was  read  not  only  in  Paris  but  throughout  France  ; 
and  it  circulated  widely  in  foreign  countries,  running 
through  a  number  of  editions.1 

In  the  following  year,  1841,  Cabet  founded  a 
journal,  the  Popidaire,  in  which  he  defended  and  ex- 
pounded his  ideas  as  set  forth  in  the  "Voyage." 
From  1843  to  J847  he  printed  an  Icarian  almanac, 
and  a  perfect  flood  of  controversial  pamphlets. 
During  the  same  year  he  published  his  work  on 
Christianity,  and  a  "  Popular  History  of  the  French 
Revolutions  from  1789  to  1830,"  in  five  volumes, 
and  he  had  now  added  the  reputation  of  a  man 
of  letters  to  that  of  a  radical  politician.  His 
"  Christianity "  ("  Le  Vrai  Christianisme  suivant 
Jesus-Christ")  is  a  curious  little  volume  of  over  six 

1  An  English  reviewer  remarked  in  1848  :  "  It  has  already  gone 
through  five  editions — there  is  not  a  shop  or  stall  in  Paris  where  copies 
are  not  in  readiness  for  a  constant  influx  of  purchasers — hardly  a 
drawing-room  table  on  which  it  is  not  to  be  seen." 


ETIENNE   CABET.  1 9 

hundred  very  small  pages.  It  undertakes  to  set 
primitive  Christianity  in  contrast  with  modern  ec- 
clesiasticism,  and  displays  much  ingenuity  in  mak- 
ing it  to  appear  that  the  mission  of  Christ  was 
to  establish  social  equality  among  men,  and  that 
Christ  was  the  chief  teacher  of  communism  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  The  newspaper,  the  almanac, 
the  pamphlets,  and  the  books  were  eagerly  read  and 
circulated,  and  no  propaganda  ever  won  a  more  im- 
mediate success.  It  is  said  on  good  authority  that 
in  1847  the  adherents  of  the  Icarian  doctrine — the 
members  of  the  so-called  "  Icarian  school  " — num- 
bered four  hundred  thousand,  besides  many  more 
who  sympathized  with  the  movement.  These  were 
almost  exclusively  working  people,  especially  the 
better  class  of  artisans  in  the  towns.  So  extensive 
a  movement  could  not  but  attract  wide  attention  and 
could  not  hope  to  escape  prosecution.  The  press, 
the  government,  through  all  its  organs  of  magistra- 
ture  and  police,  the  priests,  and  the  powerful  influ- 
ence of  the  bourgeoisie — the  mercantile  class — were 
combined  to  crush  out  so  dangerous  a  social 
heresy. 

It  is  altogether  improbable  that  Cabet  had  at  the 
outset  any  design  of  putting  his  theories  into  im- 
mediate practice,  or  of  demonstrating  their  feasi- 
bility by  means  of  an  experimental  colony.  But  as 
persecution  and  controversy  increased,  his  sanguine 
friends  on  the  one  hand  and  his  taunting  enemies  on 


20  ICARIA. 

the  other  constrained  him  into  a  project  for  the 
realization  and  vindication  of  his  Icaria.  He  had 
at  first  been  content  to  hope  that  at  some  political 
crisis  the  French  people  would  be  persuaded  to  or- 
ganize a  democratic  republic,  with  a  constitution 
providing  for  a  gradual  transition  to  communism. 
But  now  he  was  urged  to  found  a  colony  whose  suc- 
cess would  be  the  best  Icarian  argument,  and  would 
react  inevitably  upon  the  structure  of  European  so- 
ciety. Cabet  had  won  the  perfect,  unlimited  confi- 
dence of  his  adherents,  and  he  had  but  to  propose 
the  project  of  a  colony  to  meet  with  prompt  re- 
sponses from  large  numbers  who  were  willing  to  go. 
Cabet  was  to  them  what  the  good  Icar  in  the  ro- 
mance was  to  the  grateful  people  who  took  his 
name. 

It  was  in  May,  1847,  that  there  appeared  in  the 
Populaire  a  long  oratorical  proclamation  headed, 
"  Allons  en  Icarie ! "  (Let  us  go  to  Icaria!)  and 
signed  "  Cabet."  The  article  is  now  before  me  as  I 
write.  It  sets  forth  in  the  most  lofty  and  glowing 
terms  the  desirability  of  an  Icarian  emigration.  It 
promises  a  "  new  terrestrial  paradise."  Moreover, 
it  expatiates  on  the  unparalleled  opportunity  for 
achieving  undying  fame  and  for  winning  happiness, 
which  should  extend  its  blessings  to  the  universe. 
For  a  glowing  prospectus  this  certainly  surpasses 
the  best  recent  efforts  of  the  Dakota  land-agents. 
It  promised  a  heavenly  climate,  a  soil  that  would 


ETIENNE   CABET.  21 

produce,  with  scarcely  any  labor,  an  unparalleled 
fruitage,  and,  in  short,  every  thing  was  to  be  mag- 
nificent— perfect.  But  this  first  appeal  did  not 
name  the  location  of  the  new  land  of  promise.  In 
the  next  number  of  the  Populaire  he  completes  his 
appeal,  under  the  title:  " Travailleurs,  allons  en 
Icarie!"  This  address  to  laboring  men  sets  forth 
in  strong  contrast  their  unhappy  lot  in  France  and 
the  delightful  life  that  awaits  them  in  Icaria.  It 
ends  with  these  words  :  "  Let  us  found  Icaria  in 
America!"  The  next  week  an  address  to  women 
appears  in  the  Populaire,  inviting  them  to  an  eman- 
cipated life  in  happy  Icaria.  Only  a  few  weeks  had 
elapsed  when  Cabet  was  able  to  announce : '  "  To-day, 
after  the  reports  and  letters  we  have  received,  the 
accession  to  our  proposal  is  so  prodigious  that  we 
have  no  doubt  of  being  able  to  unite  more  than  a  mil- 
lion of  co-operators  I  " 

Cabet  had  announced  that  a  year  would  be  re- 
quired for  preparations,  but  the  people  were  be- 
coming impatient  to  go.  The  Populaire  from  time 
to  time  drew  flattering  pictures  of  the  success  of 
various  communistic  ventures  in  America.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  the  Rappists  in  Pennsylvania  were 
at  their  zenith  ;  the  Zoarite  community  in  Ohio  was 
flourishing  ;  Robert  Owen  had  failed  at  New  Har- 
mony, but  he  was  still  indefatigably  engaged  in 
socialistic    enterprises.     This   was   the   era   of   the 

1  For  the  use  of  valuable  documents  and  materials,  from  which  this 
portion  of  my  sketch  is  prepared,  I  am  indebted  to  J.  B.  Gerard. 


22  I C ARIA. 

Brook  Farm  experiment,  which  enlisted  such  names 
as  those  of  Ripley,  Margaret  Fuller,  Hawthorne, 
Channing,  Dana,  and  others  as  well  known.  I  find 
in  a  copy  of  the  Populaire,  in  the  summer  of  1847, 
a  quaint  little  notice  of  "  Brouck-Tarm,  sous  la 
direction  du  predicateur  unitaire  Ripley."  The 
Populaire  was  also  kept  crowded  with  letters  en- 
thusiastically endorsing  the  plan  of  emigration. 
Preparations  were  making,  but  the  destination  of 
the  colony  was  not  yet  announced.  In  September 
Cabet  went  to  London  and  spent  some  days  in  con- 
ference with  Robert  Owen.  .  As  the  result  of  that 
conference,  the  Populaire  announced  that  the  choice 
lay  between  three  localities  in  the  United  States 
(none  of  which  were  specified),  and  that  the  final 
decision  must  be  deferred  until  the  most  thorough 
investigation  had  been  made  of  all  such  matters  as 
soil,  climate,  products,  streams,  etc.  This  sounded 
very  business-like.  There  seems  little  doubt  that 
Robert  Owen  advised  him  to  go  to  Texas,  and 
that  Cabet  was  pretty  fully  determined  upon  that 
State.  Nearly  twenty  years  previous,  while  Texas 
was  Mexican  territory,  Owen  had  been  in  negotia- 
tion with  the  Mexican  government  and  had  visited 
the  country  with  the  object  of  planting  colonies,  so 
that  he  was  familiar   with   its    general   character.1 

1  Robert  Owen's  negotiations  with  the  Mexican  Government,  after 
the  failure  of  his  Indiana  project,  and  his  visit  to  Mexico  in  the  fall 
of  1828,  form  one  of  the  most  interesting  episodes  in  Owen's  remark- 
able career.     His  negotiations  were  at  first  very  successful,  and  his 


ETIENNE   CABET.  2$ 

Texas  had  now  been  admitted  to  the  Union  and 
was  entering  upon  an  era  of  prosperity.  She  was 
in  every  way  inviting  immigration  to  her  vast  em- 
pire of  unoccupied  land.  Large  grants  were  made 
to  private  companies  on  condition  of  securing  im- 
migrants. One  of  these  was  the  Peters  Company, 
of  Cincinnati ;  and  it  was  with  this  company  that 
Cabet  arranged  for  his  land.  He  went  through  the 
form  of  sending  a  commissioner  to  examine  the 
the  property,  but  he  was  already  satisfied  and 
sanguine  as  to  his  chosen  location.  In  the  Populaire, 
Jan.  17,  1848,  was  the  following  announcement: 


<{ 


C  EST  AU   TEXAS. 


"  After  having  examined  all  the  countries  suitable 
for  a  grand  emigration,  we  have  chosen  Texas — the 
northeastern  part — as  that  which  presents  the  most 
advantages  in  respect  to  health,  the  temperature  of 
the  climate,  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  extent  of  coun- 
try, etc.  We  have  already  obtained  more  than  a 
million  acres  of  land  along  the  Red  River,  a  beau- 
schemes  of  social  reform  attracted  the  Mexican  President  and  par- 
ticularly fascinated  Mr.  Poinsett,  the  American  Minister,  who  used 
his  official  influence  for  the  success  of  the  negotiation.  Mr.  Owen 
secured  the  promise  of  an  enormous  tract,  thousands  of  square  miles 
in  extent,  in  Texas.  Later  the  Mexican  Congress  refused  to  confirm 
the  grant,  and  the  affair  came  to  nought.  But  Owen  never  forgot 
the  daring  project  of  a  communistic  commonwealth  in  Texas,  and, 
naturally  enough,  twenty  years  later  he  put  the  idea  into  Cabet's 
head.  Though  I  have  no  direct  evidence,  I  cannot  doubt  that  Cabet 
in  choosing  Texas  was  simply  acting  as  heir  to  Owen's  large  plan  of 
1828.  For  an  account  of  Owen's  visit  to  Mexico,  see  San;ant's 
"  Robert  Owen  and  His  Social  Philosophy,"  London,  i860  (pp.  262- 
276). 


24  ICARIA. 

tiful  stream,  navigable  up  to  our  very  settlement, 
and  we  will  be  ^able  to  extend  our  territory  indefi- 
nitely. 

"  Cabet." 

It  had  not  been  intended  to  begin  emigration 
until  the  summer  of  1848;  but  persecutions  multi- 
plied. Cabet  himself  was  continually  charged  by 
the  press  with  being  a  swindler  who  had  no  real 
intention  of  founding  a  colony,  and  who  was  ob- 
taining money  under  false  pretences.  These  irri- 
tating circumstances  made  haste  seem  desirable,  and 
on  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  February  there  were 
assembled  on  the  wharves  at  Havre  sixty-nine 
picked  men,  constituting  the  "  first  advance  guard." 
These,  Cabet  said,  were  to  be  followed  soon  by  one 
thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  men,  composing  the 
11  second  advance  guard,"  and  some  weeks  later  would 
begin  the  general  emigration.  The  scene  of  emi- 
gration was  a  most  impressive  one.  Cabet  and  his 
friends,  many  relatives  of  the  pioneers,  and  hun- 
dreds of  curious  spectators,  thronged  the  piers. 
Before  sailing,  the  sixty-nine  entered  into  a  solemn 
engagement  with  Cabet,  in  the  form  of  a  series  of 
questions  to  which  they  assented  one  by  one.  For 
example,  they  were  asked  if  they  gave  their  adher- 
ence without  any  mental  reservation  to  the  "  Social 
Contract,"  published  in  the  Populaire  some  four 
months  previous.  This  social  contract  was  sim- 
ply a   provisional    constitution,   providing   for   the 


ETIENNE   CABET.  2$ 

organization  of  a  communistic  society,  arranging  for 
its  management  while  in  the  early  formative  stages, 
and  making  Cabet  the  Director-in-chief  for  the  first 
ten  years.  Other  questions  put  to  the  advance 
guard  had  reference  to  their  sincere  devotion  to  the 
communistic  cause  and  their  willingness  to  endure 
privations  for  its  realization.  The  whole  formed  a 
ceremony  well  adapted  to  make  an  indelible  impres- 
sion on  the  minds  of  men  leaving  their  native  land 
under  circumstances  so  romantic  and  peculiar. 

Cabet  himself  was  touched  with  a  sense  of  the  hero- 
ism of  the  spectacle.  He  wrote  in  the  Populaire, 
that  in  view  of  men  like  the  advance  guard,  he 
"  could  not  doubt  the  regeneration  of  the  human 
race."  He  believed  that  the  3d  of  February,  1848, 
would  be  forever  known  as  an  epoch-making  date. 
"  At  length,"  he  writes,  "  on  Thursday,  February 
3d,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  there  was  accom- 
plished one  of  the  grandest  acts,  we  believe,  in  the 
history  of  the  human  race  ; — the  advance  guard, 
departing  on  the  ship  ■  Rome/  has  left  Havre  to 
enter  the  ocean  and  voyage  toward  Icaria.  *  *  * 
These  courageous  Icarians,  placed  on  the  stern- 
deck  of  the  ship,  entoned  in  unison  the  farewell 
chant,  '  Partons  pour  Icarie,' to  which  the  specta- 
tors responded  in  a  thousand  cries  of  '  au  revoir  !  ' 
*  *  *  May  the  winds  and  waves  be  propitious 
to  you,  soldiers  of  humanity !  And  we,  Icarians, 
who  remain,  let  us  prepare  without  loss  of  time  to 
rejoin  our  friends  and  brothers !  " 


II. 

COLONIZATION   IN  TEXAS. 


II. 

COLONIZATION    IN    TEXAS. 

As  the  ship  "  Rome,"  bearing  the  sixty-nine  pi- 
oneers, approached  New  Orleans  on  the  27th  of 
March,  its  passengers  heard  the  booming  of  artillery. 
But  the  salute  was  not  in  honor  of  their  arrival.  A 
faster  ship  had  brought  word  from  Paris  of  the 
Revolution  of  February  24th,  and  the  French  people 
of  New  Orleans  were  celebrating  the  downfall  of 
Louis  Philippe  and  the  establishment  of  the  Second 
Republic.  If  the  advance  guard  had  tarried  three 
weeks  longer  in  France,  the  subsequent  history  of 
Icaria  would  doubtless  have  been  something  very 
different  from  that  which  is  recounted  in  the  follow- 
ing pages.  But  it  is  for  us  to  record  what  was,  not 
what  might  have  been. 

The  Revolution  of  1848  was  the  rock  on  which 
the  great  Icarian  school  split.  Part  of  the  society  ad- 
vocated the  recall  of  the  advance  guard,  the  aban- 
donment of  the  emigration  scheme,  and  the  concen- 
tration of  every  effort  for  the  success  of  the  new 
Republic.  This  party  hoped  for  the  gradual  trans- 
formation of  France  into  an  Icaria.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  the  party  led  by  Cabet  maintained  that 

29 


30  ICARIA. 

Icarians  had  nothing  to  hope  from  a  government 
controlled  by  Lamartine,  Ledru-Rollin,  and  others 
hostile  to  the  Communistic  cause.  In  reality,  Louis 
Blanc,  Blanqui,  Cabet,  and  the  extremists  were  now, 
as  in  1830,  the  men  who  had  precipitated  the  revolu- 
tion ;  but,  as  before,  they  were  unable  to  control  its 
results.  Louis  Blanc  was  the  only  one  of  their 
number  who  obtained  a  leading  place  in  the  new 
government,  and  in  accordance  with  his  views  a 
series  of  reforms  were  at  once  instituted,  almost 
precisely  in  the  line  of  those  contained  in  Cabet's 
"  transitional  constitution,"  described  in  the  "  Voy- 
age."  The  "  right  to  labor  "  was  proclaimed  by  law, 
and  in  a  few  weeks,  more  than  a  hundred  thousand 
men  were  employed  in  national  workshops.  Taxes 
on  salt,  and  other  indirect  taxes  on  the  necessaries  of 
life  were  removed,  and  direct  taxes  were  almost 
doubled.  The  interests  of  the  laboring  man  were 
solicitously,  ostentatiously  regarded  in  the  legislation 
of  the  Republic.  The  length  of  a  day's  labor  was  fixed 
bylaw.  Wages  were  made  matter  of  legislation.  But 
the  triumph  of  socialism  was  brief,  the  workshops 
proved  a  dismal  failure,  and  the  reform  legislation 
survived  only  a  few  weeks.1      The  whole  situation, 

1  It  is  now  established  beyond  controversy  that  Louis  Blanc  and  his 
socialistic  friends  were  not  responsible  either  for  the  founding,  the 
bad  management,  or  the  failure  of  the  national  workshops.  They 
were  doomed  to  failure  from  the  beginning,  because  they  were  de- 
liberately planned  by  anti-socialists  in  order  to  throw  discredit  on  the 
doctrines  and  the  men  represented  by  Blanc.  The  usual  attribution 
of  these  measures  to  Blanc  is  therefore  erroneous.    For  a  proper  state- 


COLONIZATION  IN  TEXAS.  31 

however,  placed  Cabet  in  a  painful  dilemma.  He 
decided  that  he  could  not  wisely  abandon  the  col- 
onization, and  the  hitherto  devoted  and  harmonious 
body  of  Icarians  was  fatally  severed. 

On  the  3d  of  June  the  second  advance  guard  left 
France,  but  it  was  not  the  corps  of  1,000  or  1,500 
men  that  had  been  promised.  It  was  a  resolute  band 
of  only  nineteen  ! 

Here  let  us  turn  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the 
sixty-nine  pioneers.  On  learning  in  New  Orleans 
that  the  Republic  had  been  proclaimed  in  France, 
the  question  of  immediate  return  was  agitated.  This 
view  did  not  prevail,  although  three  or  four  men  left 
the  party  determined  to  go  back.1  It  was  ascer- 
tained that  in  order  to  reach  the  lands  of  the  Peters 
Company  they  must  go  to  Shreveport,  Louisiana,  on 
the  Red  River,  by  steamboat,  and  advance  thence 
to  their  destination  by  teams.  The  Populaire  had 
stated  that  the  land  acquired  from  Peters  was  washed 
by  the  Red  River  and  would  be  readily  accessible  by 
boat  ;  but  on  arriving'  at  Shreveport  the  advance 
guard  discovered  a  very  momentous  geographical 
discrepancy.  Icaria  was  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  distant  (some  thirty  miles  distant  from 

ment  of  the  case,  see  Ely's  "  French  and  German  Socialism  "  (New 
York,  1883),  pp.  111-113. 

1One  of  these  seceders  was  a  young  fellow,  A.  Piquenard  by  name, 
lie  afterward  rejoined  the  society.  In  later  years  he  became  the 
most  distinguished  architect  of  the  West.  Among  other  public  build- 
ings he  designed  the  magnificent  State  Capitols  at  Springfield,  Illinois, 
and  Des  Moines,  Iowa.     He  died  several  years  ago  at  St.  Louis. 


12  ICARIA. 

the  spot  where  the  city  of  Dallas  now  flourishes), 
and  must  be  reached  by  a  march  across  a  wellnigh 
trackless  wilderness  of  plains  and  hills,  prairies  and 
forests,  undrained  swamps  and  unbridged  streams, 
swollen  by  the  spring  rains.  Like  most  emigrants, 
these  pilgrims  were  encumbered  with  much  unneces- 
sary luggage,  and  provided  with  too  little  ready 
money.  They  spent  several  days  in  Shreveport  try- 
ing in  vain  to  procure  wagons  and  teams  for  the 
conveyance  of  their  goods  to  Sulphur  Prairie.  (Sul- 
phur Prairie,  be  it  said,  was  a  farm  about  a  hundred 
miles  from  Shreveport,  which  Sully,  Cabet's  com- 
missioner, had  bought  as  an  Icarian  rendezvous  and 
base  of  operations ;  and  at  this  time  Sully  himself 
was  lying  sick  at  Sulphur  Prairie.)  Finally  a  portion 
of  the  guard  started,  with  two  or  three  ox-teams  and 
one  wagon.  The  others  remained  behind  until  they 
had  completed  a  large  temporary  shed  on  the  edge 
of  the  village,  in  which  shed  they  stored  their  trouble- 
some and  bulky  belongings.  A  most  graphic  account 
of  the  weary  trudge  on  foot  from  Shreveport  to 
Sulphur  Prairie  and  thence  to  Icaria  was  written  by 
Levi  de  Rheims  on  the  2d  of  June,  a  very  few  days 
after  his  arrival  on  the  scene  of  the  "  new  terrestrial 
paradise."  This  letter,  written  to  relatives  and 
friends  in  France,  found  its  way  into  print,  and  a 
copy  of  it  is  among  my  materials  for  this  sketch. 
From  the  arrival  at  New  Orleans  to  the  arrival  at 
Icaria,  almost  two  months  had  elapsed.      Strangers 


COLONIZATION  IN   TEXAS.  33 

in  a  strange  land,  unable  to  speak  English,  ignorant 
of  almost  everything  which  a  pioneer  should  know, 
their  hardships  were  only  exceeded  by  their  forti- 
tude and  good  cheer.  Sickness  by  the  way,  the 
breaking  down  of  their  one  wagon,  the  wading  of 
dangerous  streams,  the  insufficient  supply  of  food, 
sleeping  on  the  damp  ground, — the  whole  situation 
can  hardly  be  realized  by  one  who  has  not  ex- 
perienced something  of  life  in  a  wilderness. 

At  Sulphur  Prairie  they  found  a  new  cause  of 
anxiety  and  haste.  They  had  been  assured  by  Cabet 
and  by  the  Populaire  that  a  million  acres  of  land  had 
already  been  acquired.  Here  also,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  geographical  situation,  they  found  a  painful  dis- 
crepacny.  The  acquisition  was  discovered  to  be  not 
absolute,  but  on  condition  of  actual  colonization. 
Each  man  could  secure  and  hold  a  half-section  (320 
acres)  by  building  a  house  upon  it  and  living  therein. 
This  would  give  free  possession.  But  this  offer  held 
good  only  until  July  1st.  After  that  date,  land 
would  have  to  be  purchased  at  one  dollar  an  acre. 
When  July  1st  arrived,  it  was  found  that  their  utmost 
efforts  had  availed  to  build  thirty-two  very  small 
log-cabins.  They  were,  therefore,  in  possession,  not 
of  1,000,000  acres,  but  of  10,240.  As  it  was  a  jour- 
ney of  more  than  three  months  from  Paris  to  Icaria, 
emigrants  leaving  France  later  than  the  month  of 
March  could  not  possibly  have  arrived  in  time  to 
secure  land  under  the  contract  with  Peters. 


34 


ICAR1A. 


But  it  remains  to  relate  another  sad  discrepancy. 
The  thirty-two  half-sections  were  not  contiguous  ! 
The  State  of  Texas  had  granted  to  the  Peters  Com- 
pany each  alternate  section  (square  mile,  640  acres) 
of  a  certain  tract  of  land,  on  condition  that  the 
company  should  secure  immigration.  The  company 
had  in  turn  granted  the  Icarians  the  privilege  of 
acquiring  by  actual  residence  the  half  of  each  of  its 


sections,  to  the  extent  of  a  million  acres.  Cabet's 
million  acres  would  therefore  have  been  checkered 
over  a  territory  of  four  millions,  and  the  10,240 
acres  were  scattered  through  two  townships.  The 
accompanying  diagram  represents  a  single  township 
(thirty-six  sections),  the  blank  sections  representing 
the  land  reserved  by  Texas,  the  blank  half-sections 
that   reserved   by   the    Peters   Company,    and   the 


COLONIZATION  IN   TEXAS.  35 

shaded   half-sections  showing  the  disjointed   char- 
acter of  the  Icarian  domain. 

It  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  a  colony  in- 
tending to  live  grouped  in  a  village,  with  a  unitary 
cuisine  and  dining-hall  and  a  cooperative  system  of 
agriculture  and  industry,  must  have  its  land  in  a 
compact  body.  The  possibility  of  buying  the  alter- 
nate half-sections  from  Mr.  Peters  and  the  alternate 
sections  from  the  State  of  Texas  was  entirely  too 
remote  and  uncertain  to  have  been  relied  upon.  In 
spite  of  all  this  disheartening  outlook,  the  pioneers 
kept  pretty  good  spirits,  and  set  resolutely  to  work 
to  establish  a  central  headquarters,  in  anticipation  of 
the  large  arrivals  expected.  A  log-house  fifteen  feet 
wide  by  twenty-five  long  was  achieved,  and  three  or 
four  long  covered  sheds.  The  summer  was  far  ad- 
vanced, but  it  was  obviously  necessary  to  put  in  a 
crop.  A  plow  had  been  purchased,  and  they  set  about 
" breaking"  prairie.  But,  alas!  they  knew  not  how. 
In  turning  the  matted  virgin  sod  of  the  prairie  for 
the  first  time,  the  Western  farmer  never  sinks  his 
plow-share  deeper  than  two  or  three  inches ;  but 
these  young  French  tailors  and  shoemakers  knew 
nothing  about  Western  farming,  and  they  drove  the 
plow  in  clear  to  the  beam.  It  was  what  is  known 
in  Western  parlance  as  a  large  "  breaking  plow/' 
and  they  fastened  twenty  oxen  to  it.  They  broke 
their  plow  very  promptly,  but  they  never  "  broke ' 
any  Texas  prairie.     For  by  this  time  the  middle  of 


36  ICARIA. 

July  was  past,  and  man  after  man  succumbed  to  an 
intermittent  malarial  fever,  till  there  was  not  a  well 
person  in  the  camp.  The  unaccustomed  heat,  their  ar- 
duous and  imprudent  labors,  and  their  unacclimated 
condition  had  subjected  them  to  a  terrible  scourge. 
Their  physician  became  sick,  then  hopelessly  insane. 
Four  men  soon  died  of  the  fever.  Another  was 
killed  by  lightning.  Those  least  sick  prepared  food 
and  cared  for  their  more  helpless  comrades. 

August  was  passing  away.  It  was  now  too  late 
to  think  of  putting  in  a  crop,  even  if  they  had  been 
able  to  do  the  work.  It  took  letters  several  months 
to  reach  France,  and  they  knew  that  before  word 
could  be  received  from  Texas  their  own  wives  and 
families,  as  well  as  many  additional  Icarians,  would 
have  embarked  for  America.  To  prepare  either 
the  settlement  on  the  Peters  lands  or  the  camp  at 
Sulphur  Prairie  for  the  winter-quarters  of  a  large 
body  of  immigrants  was  now  seen  to  be  practically 
impossible.  In  June,  the  pioneers  had  been  cheer- 
ful, and  had  written  home  glowing,  enthusiastic 
accounts  of  the  beauty  and  evident  richness  of  the 
vast  prairies,  with  their  fine  streams  bordered  with 
heavy  timber  fringes.  But  a  wild  southwestern 
prairie  in  the  flowery  months  of  May  and  June 
seems  a  much  more  inviting  and  hospitable  place 
than  under  the  withering  sun  and  scorching  winds 
of  August.  The  fever  had  dispirited  the  Icarians, 
and  the  country  had  become  loathsome  to  them. 


COLONIZATION  IN   TEXAS.  37 

They  resolved  to  abandon  it.  Indeed,  to  have  done 
otherwise  would  have  been  mistaken  heroism. 

About  the  middle  of  September,  after  a  residence 
of  scarcely  four  months  in  Texas,  the  enfeebled 
Icarians  began  a  straggling  retreat  to  Shreveport. 
They  had  produced  nothing  and  had  bought  many 
of  their  supplies  from  the  agent  of  the  Peters  Com- 
pany, whom  they  now  reimbursed  by  turning  over 
to  him  their  oxen  and  other  articles  of  equipment. 
They  were  far  too  numerous  to  march  in  a  body,  for 
the  few  scattered  farm-houses  along  the  three 
hundred  miles  between  them  and  Shreveport  could 
not  be  expected  to  furnish  food  for  a  company 
numbering  several  scores  of  famishing  men.  The 
last  money  in  the  treasury  was  divided,  and  each 
man,  with  gun  and  haversack  and  six  or  seven  dol- 
lars, began  the  journey.  By  different  routes  and  in 
small  squads  of  two,  three,  or  four  men,  travelling 
faster  or  slower  as  their  strength  would  permit,  most 
of  them  had  reached  Shreveport  at  the  end  of  a 
month.  Four  or  five  had  died  by  the  way.  Nothing 
in  Icarian  annals  is  more  doleful  than  this  retreat 
of  the  Texas  invalids. 

The  little  squad  composing  the  second  advance 
guard  participated  in  this  retreat.  They  had  landed 
at  New  Orleans,  July22d,  and  ten  or  twelve  of  them 
had  reached  Icaria  on  August  29th,  others  remain- 
ing sick  at  Sulphur  Prairie.  Two  or  three  days  after 
his  arrival,  Favard,  the  leader  of   the   second  ad- 


33  ICARIA. 

vance  guard,  had  written  home  to  Cabet  the  follow- 
ing letter : 

"  Icarian  Colony,  Sept.  2,  1848. 
"  Poor  Father  : — 

"  How  can  I  depict  to  you  the  situation  in  which  I 
have  found  our  brothers  ?  Almost  all  those  who  survive 
are  sick.  Four  are  dead  ;  the  first  was  Guillot,  the 
second,  Collet,  who  was  killed  by  lightning,  the  third 
was  Guerin,  and  the  fourth  Tange. 

"  Those  least  sick  attend  to  the  cuisine  and  the  fatigue 
makes  them  fall  sick  again. 

"  The  sun  is  so  hot  that  if  one  is  exposed  to  its  rays  he 
is  almost  certain  to  have  the  fever.  I  have  not  hesitated 
an  instant  in  favoring  the  abandonment  of  the  camp — 
which  also  seems  best  to  all  ;  for  many  have  only  awaited 
our  arrival  in  order  to  have  the  assistance  which  would 
enable  them  to  get  away. 

"  We  should  not  be  able  to  bring  the  women  here  by 
these  abominable  roads.  Wagons  could  not  make  more 
than  two  or  three  leagues  a  day.  One  finds  no  villages, 
but  only  farm-houses  at  long  intervals,  and  in  none  of 
them  have  they  beds  for  four  persons.  One  does  not  even 
find  bread  ;  for  the  people  of  the  country  do  not  make 
bread  except  in  small  quantities  at  the  very  moment  of 
eating. 

"  When  we  started  from  Shreveport  we  left  there  our 
trunks  and  mattresses.  We  loaded  our  wagons  with  pro- 
visions for  our  brothers  and  ourselves.  We  placed  in 
our  haversacks  such  clothing  as  was  indispensable  and  a 
blanket,  and  thus  departed.     We  slept  out  of  doors  dur- 


COLONIZATION  IN   TEXAS.  39 

ing  the  entire  route.  We  had  beautiful  weather  all  the 
time  ;  but  that  did  not  prevent  eight  [8  out  of  19]  of  our 
men  from  falling  sick,  and  it  was  necessary  to  leave  them 
en  route.     Edouard  remained  with  them  as  nurse. 

"  I  continued  on  the  road  with  the  others,  and  we  ar- 
rived here  in  good  health.  All  our  attention  is  given  to 
those  who  are  most  ill,  and  to  preparations  for  departure. 
But  what  is  most  annoying  is  that  we  have  incurred  a 
debt  of  seven  or  eight  thousand  francs,  and  we  are  em- 
barrassed for  the  means  to  liquidate  it  under  the  circum- 
stances. If  we  can  arrange  with  our  creditors  we  will 
occupy  ourselves  exclusively  with  our  retreat  to  Shreve- 
port.  We  will  join  in  writing  you  a  letter  making  you 
acquainted  with  all  our  affairs,     *     *     * 

"  Ever  your  devoted 

"  Favard." 

Cabet  received  this  discouraging  letter  early  in 
November,  but  did  not  think  it  best  to  publish 
it  until  about  the  first  of  December.  It  does  not 
seem  to  have  occurred  to  him  that  he  was  in  any 
wise  responsible  for  the  sad  fiasco.  We  read  in 
the  Populaire  in  his  bright,  glowing  style  a  most 
sympathetic  epitome  of  their  hardships, — the  story, 
as  he  says,  "  of  an  ardor,  a  zeal,  a  devotion,  a  courage 
almost  superhuman. "  "  But,"  he  reprovingly  sug- 
gests, "this  was  not  prudent  under  a  new  climate." 
He  proceeds  to  recount  the  praises  which  all  their 
letters  have  bestowed  upon  the  general  features 
of   the  country,  and  he   asserts  that    if    they  had 


40  ICARIA. 

labored  more  moderately,  had  cared  for  themselves 
more  prudently  during  the  heated  term,  and  had 
had  their  baggage  and  medicines  and  proper  food, 
"all  our  hopes  would  have  been   realized."       He 
further  endeavors  to  show  how  the  February  revo- 
lution had  greatly  contributed  to  the  disaster.     It 
had  overthrown  Icarian  plans  in  France,  destroyed 
financial  resources,  prevented  the  sending  of  men 
and  money  to  the  aid  of  the  pioneers,  and  had  been 
in   every  way   paralyzing   and    distracting.     Thus 
Cabet  laid  all  the  blame  on  the  imprudence  of  the 
pioneers  and  the  events  of  the  Revolution,  and  it 
seems  never  to  have  crossed  his  mind  that  his  own 
sanguine  and  immature  sort  of  planning  had  really 
been  the  chief  cause  of  disaster.     He  concludes  this 
rather  unsatisfactory  article  by  saying  that  if  the 
first  and  second  guards  would  decide  to  return  from 
Shreveport  to  Sulphur  Prairie,  which,  he  adds,  they 
were  morally  certain  to  do,  "  all  would  yd  be  saved." 
"  All   would    yet    be   saved."     Just   what   Cabet 
meant  by  this  it  is  difficult  to  say.     Perhaps  it  was 
not  quite  clear  in  his  own  mind.     As  a  practical 
financier   and    manager,    Cabet's    limitations    were 
already  becoming  conspicuous.     By  this  time  the 
general  emigration  had  begun.     In  several  different 
vessels  as  many  as  four  hundred  Icarians  arrived  at 
New  Orleans   toward  the  close  of    1848.     Last  of 
all  Cabet  came  himself.     He  embarked  from  France 
the  15th  of  December  and  arrived  in  January. 


COLONIZATION  IN    TEXAS.  41 

Affairs  had  gone  unfortunately  with  our  politician, 
litterateur,  and  philosopher.  He  had  fully  believed 
that  his  colony  would  be  carried  on  a  tremendous 
wave  of  popularity,  and  had  made  no  provision  for 
possible  reverses.  The  finances  of  the  society  were 
at  low  ebb.  In  fact  the  society  had  never  had  any 
firm  financial  basis.  Before  the  first  advance 
guard  had  sailed,  the  Populaire  had  published  a 
"Plan  Financier"  which  is  rather  a  remarkable 
document.  It  begins  by  frankly  confessing  that 
Icaria  lacks  the  funds  for  the  proposed  emigration, 
and  that  their  cause  would  seem  hopeless  but  for 
the  fact  that  it  was  based  upon  grand  truths,  such 
as  could  be  relied  upon  to  win  universal  confidence 
and  sympathy,  and  open  universal  purse-strings. 
The  "Plan"  proceeds  to  give  five  sources  whence 
the  necessary  capital  would  be  forthcoming.  First, 
the  property  of  the  members.  At  least  600  francs 
for  preliminary  expenses  vrould  be  required  of  all 
who  joined  the  emigration.  Second,  gifts  and  sub- 
scriptions for  Icaria.  An  appeal  was  made  to  all 
classes  to  aid  so  beneficent  and  glorious  a  move- 
ment. Third,  loans,  which  might  be  contracted 
with  companies,  large  capitalists,  and  even  with 
common  people  in  sums  as  small  as  500  francs. 
These  loans  would  be  secured  by  mortgage  on  the 
real  estate  of  the  prospective  Icaria,  which  real 
estate  Cabet  declared  would  "  augment  in  value  ten- 
fold, fifty-fold    and  even  a  hundred-fold."     Fourth, 


42  ICARIA. 

it  was  expected  that  credit  could  be  obtained  for 
the  larger  purchases  and  negotiations.  Fifth,  "  we 
will  establish  a  bank  and  issue  circulating  notes,  as 
is  the  usage  in  America  for  grand  enterprises  which 
inspire  sympathy  and  confidence  !  " 

So  ethereal  and  precarious  a  scheme  may  well 
make  us  smile  ;  but  we  must  remember  that  more 
experienced  men  have  often  embarked  in  less  prom- 
ising enterprises.  The  "  Plan  "  read  smoothly,  had 
a  plausible  appearance,  and  was  not  subjected  to 
very  critical  scrutiny  by  the  enthusiastic  young 
ouvriersy  whose  sublime  faith  in  Cabet  made  them 
ready  to  brave  any  thing  at  his  bidding. 

Besides  the  colonization  scheme  and  its  reverses, 
Cabet  must  have  been  at  this  time  greatly  occupied 
with  French  politics.  It  was  not  possible  for  him 
to  be  in  France  without  being  a  participant  in  the 
incessant  agitations  of  the  entire  year  1848.  Those 
were  times  when  it  was  literally  impossible  to  tell 
what  a  day  would  bring  forth.  If  Cabet  had  some 
political  aspiration,  some  dream  of  being  a  Minister 
or  even  a  President,  it  was  pardonable  under  the 
circumstances.  We  actually  find  him  mentioned 
during  the  fall  as  one  of  the  seven  or  eight  more 
prominent  presidential  candidates,  Louis  Napoleon, 
Cavaignac,  and  Lamartine  leading  in  the  list.  But 
there  was  no  prospect  of  his  election,  and  five  days 
before  the  overwhelming  vote  in  favor  of  Louis  Na- 
poleon was  thrown,  Cabet  left  France  with  declining 


COLONIZATION  IN   TEXAS.  43 

fortunes  behind  him  and   prospects   none  too  bril- 
liant before  him. 

Early  in  1849,  then,  we  find  the  Icarian  pilgrims 
of  seven  or  eight  successive  embarkations,  and  num- 
bering in  all  about  four  hundred  and  eighty  souls,  re- 
united with  their  founder  and  leader  at  New  Orleans. 
Their  treasury  contained  somewhere  near  86,000 
francs — $35  per  capita.  It  is  hardly  too  conserva- 
tive an  estimate  to  say  that  people  founding  a  home 
in  an  entirely  undeveloped  country  should  have  suf- 
ficient capital  to  provide  for  fully  two  years'  suste- 
nance besides  all  other  expenses.  If  it  had  been  de- 
cided to  return  to  Sulphur  Prairie,  the  86,000  francs, 
after  deducting  transportation  and  other  unavoid- 
able expenses,  would  have  furnished  support  for 
only  a  few  months.  Returning  to  Texas  was  there- 
fore out  of  the  question.  In  the  presence  of  hard 
realities,  the  beautiful  dream  of  a  million  acres  on 
the  Red  River,  with  the  fine  roads  and  the  rapidly 
rising  towns  had  faded  away.  For  three  months 
the  Icarian  community  controlled  no  wider  premises 
than  those  pertaining  to  two  large  brick  houses  on 
Saint  Ferdinand  Street,  New  Orleans.  Exploring 
parties  were  sent  in  different  directions  in  search  of 
a  new  location.  Those  were  weeks  of  suspense, 
dampened  enthusiasm,  and  incessant — not  always 
harmonious — discussion.  Many  wished  to  return 
to  France.  Others  desired  to  secure  a  more  suitable 
location  than  Texas,  and  persevere  with  the  colony. 


44  ICARIA. 

At  length  a  minority  of  two  hundred  withdrew, 
Cabet  allowing  them  to  take  $5,000 — nearly  one 
third  of  the  precious  86,000  francs.  Some  of  this 
minority  remained  in  New  Orleans,  but  the  larger 
number  returned  to  France,  no  more  to  embark  in 
Utopian  enterprises.  Some  two  hundred  and 
eighty  souls  remained  with  their  leader,  heard  the 
reports  of  the  returned  explorers,  agreed  upon  a  lo- 
cation, and  early  in  March  took  passage  on  a  Mis- 
sissippi steamer  for  their  new  home. 


III. 

COMMUNITY   LIFE   AT   NAUVOO. 


III. 

COMMUNITY    LIFE    AT    NAUVOO. 

If  these  people  had  been  of  a  religious  mind, 
they  might  well  have  believed  that  their  new  home 
was  providentially  prepared  for  them.  In  1840 
Joseph  Smith  had  brought  his  Mormon  followers 
from  Missouri  to  Hancock  County,  Illinois,  and  had 
built  the  town  of  Nauvoo  in  a  beautiful  bend  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  on  a  magnificent  tract  of  agricul- 
tural land.  In  four  or  five  years  the  Latter-Day 
Saints  at  Nauvoo  numbered  15,000,  and  their  pros- 
perity was  remarkable.  At  this  time  Chicago  had 
only  8,000  people,  and  Nauvoo  was  the  largest  and 
most  flourishing  town  in  the  State.  But,  as  in 
Ohio,  and  afterward  in  Missouri,  so  now  in  Illinois 
the  active  hostility  of  "  Gentile  "  neighbors  was  too 
intense  to  be  withstood.  Smith  was  killed,  and  the 
new  prophet,  Brigham  Young,  organized  the  migra- 
tion to  Salt  Lake — a  migration  as  absolutely  unique 
and  remarkable  as  any  ever  recorded.  This  two 
years'  migration  was  now  practically  completed, 
and  Nauvoo  was  an  almost  empty  town.  The  Mor- 
mons still  had  large  properties  there  in  land  and 
houses,  and  had  left  an  agent  in  charge. 

47 


43  I C ARIA. 

Here,  then,  was  the  opportunity  for  the  Icarians. 
Their  resources  forbade  the  immediate  occupation 
of  the  virgin  soil  on  the  frontier;  but  at  Nauvoo 
they  could  find  good  houses  ready  built,  and  good 
land  that  had  been  brought  under  cultivation.  Best 
of  all,  they  were  not  obliged  to  exhaust  their  scanty 
treasury  by  the  purchase  of  land,  for  under  the  cir- 
cumstances it  could  be  rented  at  a  merely  nominal 
figure.  It  was  indeed  well  for  them  that  they  had 
thus  found  a  ready-made  home,  for  they  were 
dispirited  and  homesick.  On  the  boat  up  the  river 
they  had  been  attacked  by  the  cholera,  and  had 
lost  twenty  of  their  number.  The  division  at  New 
Orleans  had  parted  many  friends.  The  deaths  in 
Texas  and  on  the  Mississippi  had  left  many 
mourners. 

On  the  15th  of  March  they  landed  at  Nauvoo. 
They  purchased  some  houses  in  the  village,  rented 
perhaps  800  acres  o*f  land,  bought  a.mill.and  a  distil- 
lery, and  set  their  social  life  in  the  best  order  that 
circumstances  would  permit.  We  will  not  concern 
ourselves  with  their  doings  for  the  first  year  or  two, 
while  they  were  fitting  themselves  to  their  sur- 
roundings, and  were  at  work  on  the  problem  of 
adjusting  their  actual  life  to  their  Icarian  theories. 
We  must  simply  remember  that  they  were  average 
Frenchmen,  abundantly  endowed  with  the  ordinary 
traits  of  human  nature,  trying  sincerely  to  adopt  a 
more  equal,  unselfish,  altruistic  life  ;  that  they  were 


COMMUNITY  LIFE  AT  NAUVOO.  49 

embarking  in  a  difficult  enterprise  without  the  ad- 
vantage either  of  experience  or  capital ;  that  they 
were  artisans  from  French  cities  founding  a  com- 
munity based  on  agriculture  ;  that  they  were  igno- 
rant of  the  language,  laws,  customs,  and  business 
methods  of  the  country ;  and  that  their  leader  was 
rather  a  patriot,  agitator,  and  theorist  than  a  practi- 
cal business  manager. 

In  1854  or  1855,  the  visitor  would  have  found  the 
colony  well  established  and  measurably  prosperous. 
Suppose  we  imagine  ourselves  shown  through  the 
establishment  by  the  bland  and  affable  Cabet,  presi- 
dent of  the  community.     On  a  tract  of  some  fifteen 
acres  were  the  principal  Icarian  buildings,  clustered 
on  and   about  the   old   "  Temple   Square  "  of   the 
Mormons.     The    Mormons    had    left  unfinished   a 
huge   "temple"  of    dressed  white   limestone,  one 
hundred    and   twenty-eight  feet   long,    eighty  feet 
wide,  and  with  walls  sixty  feet   high.      A  fire    in 
1848  had  destroyed  the  interior,  but  the  bare  walls 
stood  massive  and  uninjured.      Cabet  bought  the 
property  with  the  intention  of  completing  the  tem- 
ple and  transforming  it  into  a  grand  Icarian  assem- 
bly and  dining  hall,  school-rooms,  etc.     But  shortly 
after  the  work  of  restoration  had  begun,  a  tornado 
blew  down  the  north  wall,  and  the   building  was 
henceforth  utilized  only  as  a  stone-quarry  whence 
materials  were   taken    for  other  structures.      The 
main  Icarian  building  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 


50  ICARIA. 

by  thirty,  two  stones  high,  and  the  first  floor  was 
used  as  the  common  dining-hall,  an  assembly  room, 
theatre,  etc.,  while  the  upper  rooms  were  used  as 
dwellings.  A  large  two-story  stone  building  was 
erected  for  educational  purposes.  Another  large 
stone  building,  the  old  Mormon  arsenal,  was  bought 
and  transformed  into  workshops.  For  dwelling 
purposes  a  forty-room  brick  house  had  been  pur- 
chased of  the  Mormons  and  a  number  of  smaller 
houses  were  bought,  built,  or  rented.  Thus  the 
question  of  habitations  had  been  fortunately  dis- 
posed of. 

Membership,  meanwhile,  had  doubled,  and  we  find 
a  community  numbering  upward  of  five  hundred,1 
while  as  many  more  had  come,  tarried  awhile,  and 
departed.  We  find  a  thousand  acres  or  more  of 
rented  land  under  cultivation.  The  chief  industries 
are  a  flouring  mill,  saw  mill  and  whiskey  distillery. 
Various  small  workshops,  tailoring,  shoemaking, 
blacksmithing,  carpentering,  and  the  like  supply  the 
needs  of  the  community  and  are  a  source  of  income 
by  taking  outside  work.  Good  schools  are  main- 
tained in  which  boys  and  girls  are  taught  separately 
and   taken  very  young.     English,    French,   mathe- 

1  Mr.  Nordhoff  is  in  error  when  he  says  that  Cabet  "had  at 
Nauvoo  at  one  time  not  less  than  fifteen  hundred  people."  {Vide 
"Communistic  Societies  of  the  United  States,"  p.  334.)  Member- 
ship never  reached  six  hundred  at  any  one  time.  But  members  were 
coming  and  going  continually,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  as  many  as 
fifteen  hundred  different  individuals  were  at  one  time  or  another 
connected  with  Icaria  between  1849  anc*  I856. 


COMMUNITY  LIFE  AT  NAUVOO.  51 

matics,  drawing,  history,  and  geography  are  taught, 
but  mere  cramming  is  not  the  object  of  the  school. 
Careful  training   in  manners   and    morals,   and    in 
Icarian  principles  and  precepts,  is  work  with  which 
the  schools  are  especially  charged.     The  printing- 
office  is  a  place  of  great  activity.     Newspapers  are 
printed  in  English,    French,  and  German.     Icarian 
school-books  are  published,  treating  of  the  history 
and  doctrine  of  the  community  as  well  as  of  the 
common  branches  of  knowledge.     Pamphlets,  news- 
papers, and  books  designed  to  aid  the  propaganda 
in    France    are    industriously    produced,  and    dis- 
tributed through  the  agency  of  the  Icarian  Bureau 
at  Paris.     It  is  pleasant  to  find  that  the  community 
is  a  model  of  industry,  intelligence,  peace  and  good 
order,  that  family  life  is  sacredly  regarded,  and  that 
the  Nauvoo  neighbors,  whose  experience  with  the 
Mormons  had  naturally  made  them  at  first  suspicious 
of  the  new  French  colonists,  have  now  learned  to  es- 
teem them  highly.    A  library  of  five  or  six  thousand 
volumes,  chiefly  standard  French  works,  seems  to  be 
much  patronized.     Though  obliged,  as  they  explain, 
by  circumstances  to  operate  a  distillery  as  a  leading 
means  of  support,  we  see  the  Icarians   discounte- 
nancing  the  use    among    themselves   of   alcoholic 
drinks  and  also   of  tobacco.     They  have   not  lost 
their  love  for  public  amusement,  and  a  well-trained 
band  discourses  good  music  at  the  numerous  fetes 
of  the  community.     Frequent  theatrical  entertain- 


UNIVERS1TY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARV 


52  ICARIA. 

merits,  social  dances,  and  lectures  are  common  means 
of  diversion,  and  attract  many  outside  visitors.  The 
style  of  living  is  economical,  hard  labor  is  a  neces- 
sity; but  it  must  be  admitted  by  the  intelligent 
visitor  that  the  Icarian  system  is  enabling  these 
families  to  live  a  less  sordid  life,  one  more  social, 
humane,  intellectual,  and  less  grinding,  toilsome, 
and  degrading  than  that  of  the  average  workingman 
under  the  system  of  individualism  and  competition. 
They  are  far  from  the  condition  of  the  happy  Ica- 
rians  in  the  "  Voyage,"  but  considering  the  difficul- 
ties they  have  encountered  they  must  be  accredited 
with  having  done  reasonably  well. 

It  was  from  the  outset  the  intention  to  make  Nau- 
voo  only  a  temporary  home  ;  and  as  early  as  1852 
a  number  of  men  were  sent  into  southwestern  Iowa 
1  to  acquire  government  land,  and  begin  its  improve- 
ment with  the  purpose  of  ultimately  removing  the 
community  thither.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1855, 
we  find  that  the  official  inventory  of  the  community's 
property,  exclusive  of  that  in  Iowa,  sums  up  $76, 
439.76,  from  which  should  be  deducted  a  debt  of 
$11,633.23,  leaving  a  net  valuation  of  $64,806.53. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  community  owned  in  Iowa 
over  three  thousand  (3,115)  acres  of  land  with  some 
crude  improvements  on  the  tract.  Unless  some 
serious  reverses  should  overtake  them,  the  Icarians 
had  now  reached  the  point  from  which  they  might 
expect  rapid  material  prosperity.     Unhappily,   the 


COMMUNITY  LIFE  AT  NAUVOO.  53 

reverses  were  already  impending.  The  difficulties 
were  in  connection  with  the  government  of  the 
society. 

In  an  earlier  chapter  I  have  spoken  of  the  im- 
pressive  scene   at  Havre   when    the    first  advance 
guard  assented  to  the  "  Icarian  Engagement"  and  the 
"  Social  Contract,"  promising  among  other  things  to 
accept  Cabet  as  dictator  for  ten  years.     These  en- 
gagements were  also  taken  by  the  several  parties 
embarking  successively  during  the  year  1848,  and 
were  renewed  at  New  Orleans  and  again  renewed  on 
arriving   in    Nauvoo.      However,   before  the  com- 
munity had  lived  in  Nauvoo  a  year,  Cabet  resolved 
to  relinquish  his  absolute  authority,  and  to  give  his 
people  a  constitution.   The  document  was  submitted 
and  unanimously  adopted  in  February,  1850.     It  is 
so  long  that  a  synopsis  of  its  chief  provisions  must 
suffice  here.     It  provided  for  six  directors,  called  a 
"  Committee  of  Gerance,"  elected  for  a  year,  three 
being   chosen    every    six   months.      One   of  these 
was  to  be  elected  separately  as  President  of  the 
Icarian  Community.   These  six  divided  among  them- 
selves the  work  of  administration  as  follows:   1st., 
Presidency     and    General    Superintendence  ;     2d., 
General  Direction  of  Finances  and  Provisions  ;  3d., 
Clothing  and  Lodging;  4th.,  Education,  Health,  and 
Amusements  ;  5th.,  Industry  and  Agriculture  ;  6th., 
Secretaryship  and    Management   of    the    Printing- 
office.      Legislative  authority  was   vested   in   the 


54  ICARIA. 

General  Assembly,  which  met  every  Saturday,  and 
was  composed  of  every  male  member  of  the  com- 
munity twenty  years  old.  The  Committee  of  Gerance 
were  responsible  to  the  Assembly.  The  constitution 
was  subject  to  revision  every  second  year.  Admis- 
sions to  the  community  were  first  provisional;  then 
definitive,  by  vote  of  the  Assembly,  after  six  months' 
probation.  In  case  of  withdrawal,  half  of  the 
property  brought  into  the  community  by  the  in- 
dividual was  returned  to  him. 

One  of  Cabet's  objects  in  granting  this  constitu- 
tion was  the  procuring  of  a  charter  of  incorporation 
from  the  Illinois  Legislature.  The  Mormon  charter 
had  been  revoked  by  the  Legislature  during  the 
trouble  at  Nauvoo,  and  there  had  remained  a  very 
strong  prejudice  against  chartering  peculiar  so- 
cieties. Cabet's  constitution  contained  a  great 
amount  of  preliminary  and  general  matter  explain- 
ing the  moral  and  social  virtues  of  the  Icarian  sys- 
tem, and  appealing  to  the  approbation  of  the 
average  legislator  by  expressing  many  of  the  glitter- 
ing political  maxims  of  the  American  Declaration 
of  Independence.  Notwithstanding  this  unexcep- 
tionable constitution,  the  community  had  some 
difficulty  in  getting  its  charter,  the  act  finally  pass- 
ing by  a  small  majority.  Under  the  new  organic 
law,  Cabet  was  elected  President,  and  was  unani- 
mously reelected  from  year  to  year.  But  on  more 
than  one  important  subject  differences  of  opinion 


COMMUNITY  LIFE  AT  NAUVOO.  55 

began  to  appear.  Cabet  was  not  always  wise,  and 
a  number  of  younger  and  more  practical  men  found 
themselves  frequently  at  variance  with  him.  He 
was  now  nearly  seventy  years  old,  and  was  perhaps 
growing  more  arbitrary  and  determined  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  power  while  becoming  less  capable  of 
exercising  it  wisely. 

The  breach  was  widening  imperceptibly,  and  its 
extent  was  not  realized  by  either  party  until  in 
December,  1855,  when  Cabet  made  a  proposition 
for  a  radical  change  in  the  constitution.  He  pro- 
posed the  abolition  of  the  governing  board  of  di- 
rectors, the  so-called  "  Committee  of  Gerance,"  and 
the  substitution  of  a  President,  to  hold  office  four 
years,  who  should  have  authority  to  name  and  to 
remove  at  will  all  the  subordinate  officers  of  the 
community.  The  constitution  distinctly  provided 
for  revision  every  two  years,  namely,  in  March, 
1853,  March,  1855,  March,  1857,  etc.  Cabet's  propo- 
sition therefore  came  at  an  illegal  time.  It  should 
have  been  made  nearly  a  year  earlier,  or  more  than 
a  year  later.  Moreover,  it  violated  express  provis- 
ions of  the  Illinois  charter.  Nevertheless,  he  in- 
sisted, and  every  Icarian  took  sides, — the  majority 
being  against  Cabet.  The  contest  grew  serious, 
bitter,  and  disturbing.  A  few  weeks  later,  on  Feb. 
3d  (anniversary  of  the  first  departure  from  Havre), 
came  the  annual  Presidential  election.  In  the 
meeting  of  the  Assembly  on  that  day  Cabet  stoutly 


56  ICARIA. 

refused  to  withdraw  his  proposition,  and  hinted 
darkly  at  abandoning  the  society.  Thereupon  the 
majority  proceeded  to  choose  as  President  a  vigor- 
ous young  leader  of  their  party,  J.  B.  Gerard  by 
name.  Cabet  was  thoroughly  surprised.  He  con- 
sented to  withdraw  his  proposition  for  a  year,  and 
the  whole  Icarian  community  met  the  next  day 
and  showed  their  undiminished  personal  affection 
for  their  old  chief  by  unanimously  electing  him 
President,  Gerard  gladly  resigning  for  that  purpose. 
Peace  seemed  to  be  secured,  but  hostilities  soon 
opened  again.  Cabet  had  most  of  the  Committee 
of  Gerance  on  his  side,  and  therefore  controlled  the 
executive,  while  his  opponents  held  a  steady  major- 
ity in  the  Assembly,  to  which  the  executive  was 
theoretically  subject.  Cabet  controlled  the  printing- 
office  and  newspaper,  and  used  the  press  for  par- 
tisan purposes.  Dissension  now  so  threatened  the 
permanence  and  prosperity  of  the  society  that  many 
withdrew  from  membership.  The  Assembly  ap- 
pointed an  investigating  committee  who  condemned 
the  management  of  the  printing-office.  Another 
committee  investigated  the  affairs  of  the  Icarian 
Bureau  in  Paris.  This  was  in  the  charge  of  Madame 
Cabet  and  other  members  of  the  family.  It  had 
been  a  centre  of  propaganda  and  information,  had 
secured  recruits,  and  had  been  the  European  fiscal 
agency  of  the  community,  negotiating  loans  and 
receiving  donations.     Cabet  had  made  use  of  it  for 


COMMUNITY  LIFE  AT  NAUVOO.  $7 

the  distribution  among  the  thousands  of  Icarians  in 
France  of  bulletins  and  circulars  which  were  secret- 
ly printed  at  Nauvoo  and  were  full  of  denunciations 
against  the  actions  of  the  majority.  The  committee 
reported  that  the  Bureau  was  expensive,  ill-managed, 
and  hostile  to  the  majority  of  the  community,  and 
recommended  its  immediate  suppression.  The  rec- 
ommendation was  adopted  by  the  Assembly.  Ca- 
bet  now  brought  in  proposals  of  separation,  his 
plan  being  that  one  party  should  remain  at  Nauvoo 
and  the  other  occupy  the  Iowa  domain.  But  a 
party  which  was  in  the  majority  and  legally  in  the 
right  could  hardly  be  expected  under  the  circum- 
stances to  cede  half  the  common  estate  to  a  disaf- 
fected, turbulent,  and  law-breaking  minority.  So 
all  hope  of  amicable  separation  fell  to  the  ground. 
Both  parties  rushed  into  print  voluminously 
enough,  with  memorials,  resolutions,  pamphlets, 
polemics,  and  appeals  to  the  world  ;  but  though  I 
have  collected  a  quantity  of  such  materials  relating 
to  this  bitter  little  civil  war,  I  must  hasten  the  re- 
cital lest  the  story  become  tedious.  I  have  al- 
ready stated  that  half  the  Committee  of  Gerance 
were  elected  in  February,  and  half  six  months  later 
— viz.,  August  3d.  The  majority  of  the  Gerance 
were  still  Cabetists.  The  date  of  the  August  elec- 
tion arrived,  and  the  anti-Cabet  party  elected  their 
own  candidates,  thus  at  length  obtaining  preponder- 
ant executive  influence.     Cabet  and  the  minority 


58  ICARIA. 

refused  to  submit  to  the  election,  and  the  old  mem- 
bers of  the  Gerance  would  not  yield  up  their  offices 
to  the  newly  elect.  Excitement  and  enmity  now 
reached  their  climax,  and  the  civil  authorities  of 
Nauvoo  intervened  to  prevent  probable  bloodshed. 
The  new  directors  were  installed  by  force.  The 
whole  Cabet  party  thereupon  ceased  to  work  at 
their  places  in  shops,  fields,  and  mills.  For  months 
the  party  lines  had  been  drawn  everywhere.  In  the 
Assembly  the  opposing  factions  had  occupied  oppo- 
site sides  of  the  hall ;  at  meals  they  had  taken  sep- 
arate tables  ;  the  little  children  at  school  had  be- 
come partisans.  Now  the  majority  decided  that 
those  who  would  not  work  should  not  eat.  The 
new  Gerance  assigned  every  individual  his  work, 
and  gave  notice  that  those  who  absented  themselves 
from  labor  would  be  cut  off  from  rations  after 
August  13th. 

Cabet  rented  a  large  building  in  the  village  of 
Nauvoo,  and  the  minority  made  it  their  temporary 
home.  Their  object  now  seemed  to  be  to  secure 
the  dissolution  of  the  society.  By  secret  letters  and 
messengers  Cabet  had  secured  the  loyalty  of  the 
larger  part  of  those  absent  on  the  land  in  Iowa,  and 
he  undertook  to  effect  the  abandonment  of  that 
estate,  which  would  have  entailed  severe  damage 
upon  the  community,  since  the  titles  were  in  Cabet's 
name,  and  if  the  estate  had  been  deserted,  the 
Nauvoo  Community  would  not  have  the  prestige  of 


COMMUNITY  LIFE  AT  NAUVOO.  59 

"  possession,"  which  "  is  nine  points  of  the  law." 
The  alertness  of  the  majority  foiled  Cabet's  scheme 
in  this  direction.  He  also  endeavored  to  bring 
financial  confusion  on  the  community  by  making 
damaging  statements  to  its  creditors,  and  represent- 
ing it  as  in  an  unsound  condition.  He  had  carried 
away  the  records  and  account  books,  and  as  he  had 
always  represented  the  community  in  its  external 
relations,  he  was  in  a  situation  to  injure  its  credit 
materially.  He  further  attempted  to  secure  the 
dissolution  of  the  community  by  bringing  suit  in 
the  State  courts.  This  plan  was  found  ineffective, 
and  in  a  long  partisan  statement  the  Cabetists  pe- 
titioned the  Legislature  of  Illinois  to  repeal  the  Act 
of  Incorporation.  The  Legislature  refused  to  do  so 
by  a  vote  of  55  to  9.  In  October  a  committee  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose  brought  into  the  Assembly 
a  series  of  formal  charges  against  Cabet  which  were 
sustained  by  unanimous  vote,  and  he  was  expelled 
from  membership. 

The  minority  had  already  resolved  to  spend  the 
winter  in  St.  Louis,  where  their  men,  largely  tailors 
and  mechanics,  could  find  work  pending  the  adop- 
tion of  some  permanent  arrangement.  About  the 
1st  of  November  the  minority,  comprising  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  persons,  left  Nauvoo.  A  week 
later,  Nov.  8,  1856,  Cabet  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy, 
in  St.  Louis.  He  was  in  his  sixty-ninth  year.  In 
his  threescore  years  of  life  in  France  as  a  democrat, 


60  ICARIA. 

revolutionist,  and  doctrinaire,  Cabet  had  suffered  im- 
prisonment, exile,  ridicule,  slander,  persecution  by 
the  officers  of  church  and  state ;  but  nothing  had 
ever  so  pained  and  shocked  him  as  his  rejection  at 
Nauvoo.  He  had  grown  old  ;  he  had  long  since 
abandoned  all  idea  of  preferment  and  power  in 
French  public  life  ;  nothing  was  left  to  him  but  the 
colony  he  had  founded.  And  he  had  so  identified 
himself  with  its  fortunes  that  he  unconsciously  mag- 
nified his  own  importance  to  the  community.  It 
seemed  to  him  his  very  own.  Any  dissent  from  his 
opinion  was  treason.  The  democratic  government 
which  he  had  himself  granted  became  an  evil  thing 
in  his  eyes,  because  it  sometimes  obstructed  his  own 
necessary,  beneficent,  and  pre-eminently  wise  gov- 
ernment. Cabet  must  not  be  too  severely  blamed 
for  the  plots,  subterfuges,  and  machinations  he  em- 
ployed in  the  quarrel.  He  was  hardly  responsible 
for  his  conduct.  He  had  lost  the  power  to  view 
Icaria  as  a  thing  separate  from  his  own  personality ; 
he  was  not  a  part  of  the  community — the  com- 
munity was  a  part  of  him. 

Cabet  was  so  industriously  calumniated  and  un- 
dervalued in  France  by  contemporary  writers  hostile 
to  socialism,  that  the  lies  have,  in  part  at  least, 
stuck  ;  and  neither  his  character  nor  his  ability  have 
been  appreciated  at  their  true  worth.  He  had 
faults,  more  than  one  of  which  I  have  been  obliged 
already  to  show.    But  he  was  a  better  and  truer  man 


COMMUNITY  LIFE  AT  NAUVOO.  6 1 

than  his  Parisian  detractors.  He  was  ambitious ; 
but  more  than  once  he  sacrificed  office,  fortune,  and 
prospects  rather  than  be  false  to  his  convictions  and 
his  sense  of  public  duty.  Disaffected  persons  who 
had  left  the  community  at  New  Orleans  and  re- 
turned to  France  charged  him  with  embezzlement 
before  the  French  courts  and  in  his  absence  secured 
against  him  a  verdict  of  guilty.  Hearing  of  the 
matter  he  journeyed  from  Nauvoo  to  Paris  to 
vindicate  himself.  In  the  spring  of  1852  he 
triumphantly  refuted  all  charges  preferred  against 
him  and  was  formally  acquitted  by  the  court.1 

Cabet's  literary  work,  done  chiefly  in  the  intervals 
of  a  life  busy  with  other  pursuits,  was  considerable 
in  amount  and  not  devoid  of  merit.     A  list  of  his 

1  Professor  Richard  Owen  of  New  Harmony,  Ind.,  a  son  of  the  dis- 
tinguished English  reformer,  Robert  Owen,  furnishes  me  with  two  or 
three  pleasant  incidents  connected  with  this  visit  of  Cabet's  to 
Europe.  It  would  seem  that  on  his  return  from  France  he  stopped 
in  England  to  see  his  old  friend  and  counsellor,  Owen.  For,  says  my 
informant :  "  In  Part  XXI.  of  Robert  Owen's  Journal,  June  5,  1S52, 
an  account  is  given  of  the  toasts  and  responses,  on  May  14th,  when 
celebrating  my  father's  birthday  at  Anderton's  Hotel,  Fleet  St.  My 
father  responded  to  the  first  and  second  toasts,  '  The  Queen,'  '  Robert 
Owen  '  ;  the  third,  '  The  distinguished  social  reformers  from  abroad,' 
etc.,  etc.,  was  responded  to  by  MM.  Cabet,  Pierre  Leroux,  Walter 
Cooper,  and  Lloyd  Jones."  As  to  honors  paid  Cabet  on  his  arrival 
in  New  York,  Mr.  Owen  also  says  :  "  I  find  in  my  father's  periodical 
('  Robert  Owen's  Journal,')  Part  XXV.,  Sept.  25,  1852,  a  paragraph 
copied  from  the  ATew  York  Tribune  of  July  9th  giving  an  account  of 
a  banquet  at  the  Shakespeare  Hotel,  N.  Y.,  on  July  8th,  in  honor  of 
M.  Cabet,  at  which  M.  E.  Chevalier  [the  French  economist]  pro- 
posed his  health,  and  M.  Cabet  '  responded  in  an  interesting  and 
eloquent  speech,'  etc.  On  the  next  page  [of  Owen's  Journal]  is  an 
extract  from  The  Popular  Tribune,  organ  of  the  Icarian  community. 
It  is  headed:  'Arrival  of  M.  Cabet  at  Nauvoo.'  All  this  shows 
the  strong  interest  my  father  took  in  the  movements  of  M.  Cabet." 


62  ICARIA. 

writings  has  never  been  placed  on  record.  Those 
which  I  shall  name  in  this  paragraph  have  all  come 
under  my  notice,  and  I  have  heard  of  no  others  of 
importance.  The  five-volume  "  Histoire  Populaire 
de  la  Revolution  Frangaise  de  1789  a.  1830,"  is  his 
most  extensive  work.  The  "Voyage  en  Icarie ' 
and  the  "  Vrai  Christianisme  '  have  already  been 
sufficiently  described  and  are  without  question  the 
author's  best  productions.  "  Douze  Lettres  d'un 
Communiste  a.  un  Reformiste  sur  la  Communaute  ' 
(1841-2,  pp.  166)  was  published  a  year  after  the 
appearance  of  the  "Voyage,"  in  explanation  and 
defence  of  its  doctrines.  The  "  Refutation  du 
Dictionnaire  Politique  (articles  Babouvisme,  Com- 
munaute, Association,  Propriete)  et  de  la  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes  (sur  le  Communisme),"  the  character 
of  which  is  sufficiently  obvious  from  the  title,  ap- 
peared in  the  fall  of  1842.  In  the  previous  year 
also  he  had  published  an  important  pamphlet  de- 
fending marriage  and  the  institution  of  the  family, 
and  entitled  "  Refutation  de  X  l  Humanitaire  '  (de- 
mandant l'abolition  du  manage  et  de  la  famille)." 
Deploring  the  hostility  between  French  communis- 
tic sects  and  journals,  he  wrote  in  1845  a  little  book 
of  fifty-six  pages, "  Le  Salut  est  dans  TUnion  ;  la  Con- 
currence est  la  Ruine."  "  Les  Masques  Arraches ' 
(1845,  PP«  *44)  is  a  controversial  defence  of  com- 
munism. Cabet  took  advantage  of  his  visit  to 
France   to   publish  in   1852  a  "  Lettre  du  Citoyen 


COMMUNITY  LIFE  AT  NAUVOO.  63 

Cabet  a  l'Archeveque  de  Paris  en  Reponse  a  son 
Mandement  du  8  Juin,  185 1."  The  Archbishop  had 
issued  a  mandate  severely  condemning  communism, 
and  Cabet  in  a  pamphlet  of  forty-seven  pages  refers 
him  to  the  communistic  practices  of  the  Apostles 
and  the  early  Church,  cites  the  opinions  of  the 
Church  fathers,  etc.  "  Proces  et  Acquittement  du 
Citoyen  Cabet  Accuse  d'Escroquerie  pour  1' Emigra- 
tion Icarienne  "  is  a  volume  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
pages,  in  which  are  compiled  the  evidence,  corre- 
spondence, addresses,  etc.,  relating  to  Cabet's  trial 
for  embezzlement.  I  have  seen  no  copies  of  the 
"  Icarian  Almanac,"  published  from  1843  to  j^47j 
— a  work  which  seems  to  have  played  an  important 
part  in  the  propaganda.  The  "  Realization  du 
Communisme"  (1847)  is  a  volume  filled  with  ex- 
tracts from  the  Populaire  respecting  the  proposed 
emigration.  To  this  list  of  writings  might  be  added 
a  very  large  number  of  pamphlets,  some  published 
in  France  and  some  at  Nauvoo. 


IV. 

THE  CHELTENHAM  EPISODE. 


IV. 

THE   CHELTENHAM   EPISODE. 

The  Icarians,  one  hundred  and  eighty  in  num- 
ber, who  had  accompanied  Cabet  in  his  retreat  from 
Nauvoo  to  St.  Louis,  had  relied  in  every  thing  upon 
their  leader ;  and  his  death  was  a  terrible  blow  to 
them.  A  romantic  young  German,  Fritz  Bauer, 
committed  suicide  in  his  grief,  and  the  whole  group 
were  hardly  less  disconsolate.  But,  the  first  mo- 
ment of  stupor  past,  they  took  courage.  They  had, 
on  October  13,  1856,  before  leaving  Nauvoo,  taken 
an  engagement  to  remain  faithful  to  Icaria  and  its 
founder  ;  and  they  now  resolved  unanimously  that 
the  best  mode  of  honoring  the  memory  of  their  de- 
parted leader  and  of  testifying  to  their  faith  in  his 
principles  consisted  in  remaining  united  and  con- 
tinuing his  work. 

They  installed  themselves  as  well  as  they  could  in 
St.  Louis,  intending  as  soon  as  possible  to  acquire  a 
tract  of  land  somewhere  further  west  for  a  perma- 
nent home.  Meanwhile  the  men,  who  were  nearly 
all  tailors,  shoemakers,  or  mechanics  of  some  de- 
scription, found  work  in  the  city.  Explorers  were 
sent  in  various  directions  to  discover  the  promised 

67 


68  ICARIA. 

land,  but  nothing  was  found  which  met  all  the  con- 
ditions requisite.  In  May,  1858,  the  search  was 
given  up  and  an  estate  called  Cheltenham,  lying  six 
miles  west  of  St.  Louis,  was  purchased. 

This  place  afforded  some  advantages  as  a  domicile 
for  the  community.  It  was  near  the  city,  and  the 
men  could  continue  to  work  at  their  trades.  It  pos- 
sessed a  large  stone  house  capacious  enough  to 
lodge  the  greater  portion  of  the  colony,  besides  six 
log-houses.  Unfortunately  there  were  only  twenty- 
eight  acres  of  land,  and  the  price  paid  was  very 
large — $25,000.  Further,  the  location  was  unhealthy, 
and  the  intermittent  fever  was  as  regular  in  its  semi- 
annual visits  as  the  appearance  of  spring-time  and 
fall.  It  was  much  better,  however,  than  remaining 
in  St.  Louis,  crowded  into  several  scattered  houses ; 
and  it  was  with  elation  that  the  new  home  was  en- 
tered on  May  8,  1858. 

During  the  sojourn  in  the  city  a  few  families  had 
withdrawn,  and  at  the  time  of  removal  the  member- 
ship was  not  above  one  hundred  and  fifty.  This  is 
as  large  a  number  as  was  ever  reached  at  Chelten- 
ham ;  for  though  accessions  from  France  were  made 
almost  continually,  the  withdrawals  were  quite  as 
numerous  and  constant.  At  once  upon  their  re- 
moval the  Icarians  set  about  perfecting  their  social 
and  industrial  organization.  They  established  work- 
shops of  tailors,  joiners,  wheel-wrights,  blacksmiths, 
painters,   shoemakers,    etc.      All    these    shops,   of 


THE   CHELTENHAM  EPISODE.  69 

course,  did  work  for  outsiders,  in  addition  to  sup- 
plying the  Icarians  themselves,  and  were  sufficiently 
prosperous  to  furnish  a  comfortable  support  for  the 
establishment  as  well  as  to  meet  the  first  payments 
on  the  property  as  they  became  due. 

The  Cheltenham  community  was  exceedingly 
active  in  propaganda.  It  had  many  correspondents, 
it  published  a  journal  and  a  number  of  books,  and 
it  maintained  at  Paris  the  Bureau  which  the  Nauvoo 
majority  had  so  bitterly  condemned  for  its  partisan- 
ship. The  Bureau  printed  and  circulated  many 
brochures  throughout  France.  Cabet's  name  and 
the  efforts  of  the  bureau  gave  the  Cheltenham 
branch  a  prestige  which  the  Nauvoo  brethren  lacked, 
and  the  formerwas  recognized  in  France  as  the  only 
original  and  genuine  Icarian  community.  Thus  the 
men  and  money  sent  to  reinforce  the  Icarian  cause 
were  all  diverted  to  St.  Louis,  and  the  Nauvoo 
people  strove  in  vain  to  get  a  hearing  in  France. 
Many  recruits  were  forwarded  through  the  activity 
of  the  Bureau,  and  a  loan  opened  in  Paris,  in  1857, 
produced  the  considerable  sum  of  50,000  francs 
among  Icarian  disciples. 

All  now  went  prosperously;  hope  and  enthusiasm 
reigned  in  Cheltenham.  Schools  were  opened  for 
the  boys  and  girls,  and  a  "  salle  d'asile  " — a  sort  of 
kindergarten — for  the  smallest  children.  The  band 
of  music  and  the  theatre,  so  dear  to  the  French 
heart,   were  not  wanting.      In   1858   the   so-called 


70  ICARIA. 

11  Cours  Icarien '  was  inaugurated.  This  was  a 
Sunday-afternoon  assembly  which  contributed  much 
to  the  intellectual  and  moral  well-being  of  the  com- 
munity. The  programme  usually  consisted  of  select 
readings  from  the  works  of  Cabet  and  other  authors, 
recitations  by  the  school-children,  and  discourses  on 
various  subjects  by  the  more  accomplished  members 
of  the  community.  It  was  a  school  for  mutual  im- 
provement in  things  moral  and  mental.  Progress 
was  also  making  in  the  payment  of  the  debt  on  the 
property ;  and  thus  the  material  as  well  as  the  moral 
situation  was  satisfactory.  Still  a  few  years  of  cour- 
age, union,  and  perseverance,  and  the  community 
of  Cheltenham  would  be  in  condition  to  undertake, 
with  good  guaranties  of  success,  its  removal  to  some 
ampler  and  more  suitable  domain. 

But  this  was  never  to  be  realized.  In  May,  1859, 
the  community  entered  upon  a  discussion  of  the 
social  and  political  constitution.  Two  radically  dis- 
tinct parties  were  developed.  The  majority  adhered 
faithfully  to  the  later  ideas  entertained  by  Cabet, 
and  believed  in  investing  very  large  if  not  absolutely 
dictatorial  authority  in  some  chosen  leader, — some 
" gcrant  unique"  directing  the  moral  and  material 
affairs  of  the  community.  The  minority,  however, 
were  unalterably  opposed  to  so  undemocratic  a  sys- 
tem of  government.  Difference  of  opinion  degener- 
ated into  party  strife;  and  the  vanquished  minority, 
numbering  forty-two  persons,  left  the  community. 


THE  CHELTENHAM  EPISODE.  7 1 

This  proved  the  death-blow  to  Cheltenham.  From 
the  date  of  this  withdrawal  the  community  declined 
in  every  way.  Many  of  the  most  intelligent  mem- 
bers, many  of  the  most  skilful  craftsmen,  were 
among  those  who  withdrew,  and  the  loss  was  irre- 
parable. The  depleted  society  struggled  heroically 
for  five  years  longer  in  spite  of  a  series  of  untoward 
events  which  seemed  to  be  in  conspiracy  to  crush  it 
down ;  and  in  1864  there  remained  only  eight 
"  citoyens,"  seven  "  citoyennes,"  and  some  chil- 
dren. Thus  had  the  number  been  reduced  to  a 
residue  of  the  bravest  and  most  persistent  spirits. 

The  mortgagee  was  pressing  for  payment  and 
threatening  to  take  the  property.  Funds  were  ex- 
hausted, and  there  were  no  available  sources  of 
revenue.  The  propaganda  had  ceased,  and  no  more 
aid  came  from  France.  A  last  effort  was  still  made. 
Two  members  were  sent  to  Nebraska  to  find  an 
eligible  location  on  the  public  lands.  But  on  their 
return  the  morale  was  so  weakened,  and  the  funds 
requisite  to  accomplish  the  removal  were  so  com- 
pletely lacking,  that  the  undertaking  had  to  be 
abandoned. 

It  was  a  moment  of  profound  sorrow  for  these 
eight  families  when  they  met  for  the  last  time  in 
the  capacity  of  an  Icarian  Assembly,  to  hear  the 
President,  A.  Sauva,1  formally  announce  the  disso- 

1  For  the  materials  from  which  this  chapter  is  prepared,  I  am  en- 
tirely indebted  to  Mr.  Sauva,  who  at  my  request  wrote  me  out,  in 


72  ICARIA. 

lution  of  the  community.  There  were  few  words 
and  many  tears.  In  March,  1864,  Sauva  bestowed 
the  keys  upon  the  mortgagee,  and  the  last  Icarian 
left  Cheltenham. 

French,  a  little  sketch  of  Cheltenham  upon  which  the  chapter  is 
based.  In  several  places  I  have  rendered  into  English  Mr.  Sauva's 
own  expressions. 


V. 

PIONEER  LIFE  IN  IOWA. 


PIONEER    LIFE    IN    IOWA. 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  community  at 
Nauvoo  had  been  greatly  weakened  by  the  split. 
Much  of  the  movable  property,  all  of  the  account 
books,  a  large  portion  of  the  library,  had  been  car- 
ried off  by  the  seceders.  The  titles  to  the  real 
estate,  both  in  Nauvoo  and  in  Iowa,  were  in  Cabet's 
name,  and  long,  tedious  suits  were  required  in  order 
to  give  the  community  perfect  legal  title  to  its  own 
premises.  The  whole  system  of  industry  had  been 
deranged.  Crops  had  failed.  Debts  had  greatly 
increased.  The  St.  Louis  party,  claiming  as  we 
have  already  shown,  to  be  the  real  Icarians  and 
maintaining  the  old  Bureau  in  Paris,  had  so  indus- 
triously circulated  their  version  of  the  story  in 
France,  that  the  Nauvoo  majority  were  there  re- 
garded by  their  still  numerous  Icarian  fellow-dis- 
ciples as  base  ingrates  who  had  overturned  the 
society  for  selfish  ends,  driven  away  their  noble 
benefactor  Cabet,  broken  his  heart,  and  caused  his 
death  by  their  brutal  treatment.  Letters  of  explana- 
tion sent  from  Nauvoo  to  France  were  returned 
unanswered.      No  more  funds  or  recruits  came  to 

75 


76  ICARIA. 

Nauvoo.  However,  the  community  pursued  an 
active,  resolute  course.  Gerard  was  made  Presi- 
dent, and  Marchand,  a  young  man  especially  quali- 
fied for  the  position,  was  made  Secretary  and  placed 
in  charge  of  the  printing-office.  The  Revue  Icarienne 
was  reestablished  and  it  most  ably  defended  the 
conduct  of  the  majority  in  the  recent  strife. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1857,  the  community 
found  itself  with  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
members,  eighteen  of  whom  were  absent  doing 
pioneer  work  on  the  estate  in  Iowa.  By  the  official 
inventory  of  the  same  date,  the  assets  of  the  com- 
munity (exclusive  of  the  Iowa  property)  had  shrunk 
to  a  little  less  than  $60,000,  while  the  debt  had 
grown  to  nearly  $19,000.  In  Iowa  they  owned 
3,115  acres  of  land,  of  which  273  were  under  culti- 
vation and  about  1,000  were  woodland.  Several  log- 
houses  had  been  built,  and  live  stock  and  farming 
utensils  to  the  value  of  several  thousand  dollars  had 
been  accumulated. 

Four  or  five  years  later,  in  the  flush  times,  such  a 
financial  showing  would  not  have  been  discouraging. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  was  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1857.  The  great  panic  and 
business  depression  of  that  year  could  not  be 
weathered  by  the  community.  Their  industries 
were  no  longer  a  source  of  profit ;  creditors  pressed 
their  claims  ;  Nauvoo  property  was  dead,  and  could 
not  be  made  to  realize  any  thing  like  the  inventoried 


PIONEER  LIFE  IN  IOWA.  77 

valuation.  As  to  the  land  in  Iowa,  the  soil  of 
almost  the  entire  State  lay  wild  and  uninhabited, 
and  there  was  no  demand  for  so  remote  a  track  as 
that  owned  by  Icaria.  To  crown  the  difficulty 
Cabet's  heirs  held  the  title-deeds  and  would  not 
yield  them  up. 

In  this  predicament  it  was  decided  that  the  com- 
munity should  remove  to  Iowa,  and  that  its  prop- 
erty should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  assignees  for 
the  benefit  of  the  creditors.  Mr.  Gerard,  the  Presi- 
dent,' and  another  member  withdrew  from  the 
society  temporarily  in  order  to  be  qualified  to  act  as 
assignees.  These,  with  enough  members  to  consti- 
tute a  board  of  directors,  in  order  to  do  business 
legally  under  their  charter,  remained  at  Nauvoo  till 
the  courts  had  satisfactorily  adjusted  the  titles  in 
Illinois  and  Iowa,  the  Nauvoo  property  had  all  been 
sold,  and  the  creditors  had  all  been  honorably 
arranged  with.  This  required  more  than  two  years, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  fall  of  i860  that  Nauvoo 
was  finally  abandoned  as  the  legal  headquarters  of 
Icaria.  In  September  of  the  same  year  a  new  char- 
ter was  procured  under  the  laws  of  Iowa.1 

1  Section  3  of  the  Illinois  charter  of  1851  read:  "The  busi- 
ness of  said  company  shall  be  manufacturing,  milling,  all  kinds  of 
mechanical  business,  and  agriculture."  But  in  Iowa  it  was  illegal 
for  the  Legislature  to  grant  special  charters  to  corporations.  General 
laws  of  the  State  provided  for  the  formation  of  banking  and  other 
business  corporations.  These  general  laws,  however,  evidently  did 
not  contemplate  the  incorporation  of  a  community  ;  and  their  pro- 
visions were  in  several  respects  unsuitable.  For  the  benefit  of  the 
Icarians  the  Legislature  was  prevailed  upon  in  the  spring  of  i860  to 


78  ICARIA. 

In  these  years  of  removal  and  non-production  the 
society  reached  a  most  unenviable  financial  condi- 
tion. It  retained  the  Iowa  land,  but  subject  to  a 
mortgage  for  a  large  amount.  This  debt  drew  ten 
per  cent,  interest,  and  as  the  community  was  unable 
to  meet  the  interest  payments,  the  debt  was  com- 
pounding at  a  fearful  rate.  Moreover,  membership 
had  become  rapidly  reduced  by  withdrawals  after 
the  assignment  in  1857. 

The  Icarian  land  lay  in  Adams  County,  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  Iowa,  about  thirty  miles  north 
of  the  Missouri  State  line,  and  about  sixty  miles 
east  of  the  Missouri  River.  It  is  upon  a  great 
highway  of  travel,  the  main  line  of  the  Chicago, 
Burlington,  and  Quincy  Railroad  passing  across  the 
tract.  Four  miles  to  the  west  lies  the  prosperous 
town  of  Corning,  and  twenty  miles  eastward  is  the 
city  of  Creston.  But,  twenty-five  years  ago,  the 
railroad  was  not  built,  nor  was  there  a  house  where 

enact  an  additional  section  to  the  general  law  of  corporations.  This 
section  read  as  follows:  "Corporations  for  agricultural  and  horti- 
cultural purposes,  and  cemetery  associations  may  be  formed  to  endure 
any  length  of  time  that,  may  be  provided  by  the  articles  of  incorpora- 
tion thereof:  Provided,  such  corporation  shall  not  own  to  exceed 
nine  sections  [5,760  acres]  of  land,  and  the  improvements  and  neces- 
sary personal  property  for  the  management  thereof  :  and  provided 
further that  the  articles  of  incorporation  shall  provide  a  mode  by 
which  any  member  thereof  may,  at  any  time  withdraw  from  such 
incorporation,  and  also  the  mode  of  determining  the  amount  to  be 
received  by  such  member  upon  withdrawal  ;  and  also  for  the 
payment  thereof  to  such  members  subject  only  to  the  rights 
of  the  creditors  of  such  incorporation."  Under  this  Iowa  law, 
therefore,  which  came  into  effect  July  4,  1S60,  the  Icarians  in  Sep- 
tember following  took  out  a  charter  as  an  agricultural  society. 
Many  years  later  this  became  a  matter  of  vital  consequence. 


PIONEER  LIFE  I  AT  IOWA.  79 

the  towns  stand.  Where  the  traveller  now  finds 
rich  farms  and  clustering  villages,  there  then 
stretched  the  virgin  prairie.  In  1857  there  was 
not  a  squatter  along  the  trail  for  forty  miles  east  of 
Icaria.  It  was  indeed  a  new  country.  Cabet  seems 
to  have  believed  that  it  was  necessary  for  his  colony 
to  begin  its  life  in  the  greatest  possible  seclusion. 
He  wished  its  members  to  be  free  from  the  influ- 
ences and  attractions  of  the  outside  world,  and  to 
be  thrown  in  on  themselves  as  entirely  as  possible 
during  the  early  years  of  the  experiment.  It  was 
with  some  such  thought  as  this  that  he  chose  first 
Texas  and  then  southwestern  Iowa  for  a  location. 
Perhaps,  if  his  community  could  have  grown,  as  he 
had  anticipated,  into  a  very  populous  and  diversified 
society,  it  might  have  found  itself  able  to  maintain 
a  prosperous  existence  independent  of  the  outside 
world,  as  the  Mormons  proved  themselves  able  to 
do  in  Utah.  And  in  that  case  Cabet's  choice  of  a 
remote  location  would  doubtless  have  been  well 
advised.  But  a  small  community,  a  mere  handful 
of  people,  especially  people  like  our  French  Icarians, 
accustomed  to  a  highly  complex  life  in  an  old  and 
populous  country,  can  not  cut  themselves  loose  from 
the  great  world  without  peculiar  hardships.  They 
would  have  done  better  to  remain  at  Nauvoo,  if 
possible,  or  at  least  to  have  sought  a  less  remote 
locality. 

Land  under  such  circumstances  has  no  value,  ex- 


So  ICARIA. 

cept  a  speculative  or  anticipatory  one.  It  is,  in  the 
economic  phrase,  a  "  free  natural  agent."  It  pro- 
duces sustenance  for  the  tiller,  but  it  has  not  begun 
to  yield  rent,  and  therefore  it  gives  no  surplus 
to  apply  toward  the  purchase  price.  The  present 
homestead  law,  which  makes  wild  lands  free  to 
actual  settlers,  is  simply  just  and  reasonable  on 
economic  principles,  and  the  old  law,  under  which 
settlers  like  our  Icarian  friends  were  obliged  to  pay 
$1.25  per  acre,  was  a  hardship.  But,  if  the  actual 
settler  on  remote  lands  can  not  afford  to  pay  any 
purchase  money,  much  less  can  he  bear  an  addi- 
tional weight  of  mortgages  on  his  land.  It  is 
simply  a  foregone  conclusion  that  he  will  forfeit  his 
land  to  the  speculative  holder,  who  can  afford  to 
await  the  time  when  the  growth  of  population  and 
new  facilities  for  transportation  will  give  the  land 
market  value.  What  if  the  Icarians  had  lived  so 
frugally  that  two  thirds  of  their  crop  would  have 
been  net  surplus.  There  was  no  accessible  market 
for  surplus  farm  products.1     Such  was  their  situa- 

1  The  annals  of  the  Western  States  are  full  of  curious  instances  of 
this  kind.  Within  ten  years  quantities  of  corn  have  been  burned  as 
fuel  in  parts  of  Missouri  and  Nebraska  ;  less  because  of  a  fuel  famine 
than  from  want  of  a  market  for  grain.  Being  "  land  poor"  is  a  fre- 
quent expression  in  the  West.  Thousands  of  men  have  committed 
the  mistake  of  buying  lands  on  credit  at  what  seemed  merely  nominal 
prices,  but  have  ruined  themselves  and  forfeited  the  lands  because 
they  had  not  sufficient  capital  to  hold  valueless  land  until  circum- 
stances gave  it  value.  In  1876,  in  Dakota,  the  writer  found  a  solitary 
farmer  who  had  established  himself  on  the  shore  of  a  beautiful  little 
lake.  The  rich  shocks  of  harvested  wheat  dotted  broad  acres,  and 
the  maize  was  maturing  in  his  fields.    In  his  granaries  were  thousands 


PIONEER  LIFE  IN  IOWA.  8 1 

tion  when  they  settled  in  Iowa  on  land  which  had 
no  actual  market  value,  and  yet  was  mortgaged  for 
three  or  four  dollars  an  acre,  on  which  ten  per  cent, 
'annual  interest  was  to  be  paid.  Of  course,  they  paid 
no  interest.  The  small  amount  of  products  which 
they  were  able  to  transport  eastward  to  a  market 
scarcely  sufficed  to  procure  clothing,  salt,  and  the 
most  absolute  necessaries.  The  story  of  their  priva- 
tions and  hardships  in  those  days  can  not  be  written. 
It  is  a  story  which  testifies  to  their  high  faith  in  the 
principle  of  communism,  and  to  their  personal  cour- 
age and  devotion.  The  group  of  small  log-huts  in 
which  they  spent  those  days  remains  as  a  suggestive 
reminder  of  pioneer  privations. 

In  1863  the  debt  had  grown  to  $15,500.  The  war 
of  the  rebellion,  which  was  the  destruction  of  Chel- 
tenham, was  the  salvation  of  the  Iowa  Icaria.  Agri- 
cultural products  rose  to  fabulous  prices.  The  Icarians 
had  acquired  a  flock  of  sheep  ;  and  wool  had  the 
double  advantage  of  being  readily  transportable  and 
of  selling  at  an  enormous  figure.  They  improved  this 
favorable  juncture  and  made  a  settlement  with  their 
creditor  by  allowing  him  to  take  two  thousand  acres 

of  bushels  of  fine  wheat,  stored  up  from  the  crops  of  two  or  three 
preceding  years.  It  was  a  beautiful  sight,  this  flourishing  farm  in  a 
wide  uninhabited  region  ;  but  the  clear  grain  was  almost  as  valueless 
as  the  chaff.  It  could  not  be  drawn  150  miles  to  the  nearest  railroad 
market  over  almost  impassable  wagon  roads  with  any  profit.  To-day, 
however,  a  prosperous  "city"  has  grown  up  close  by,  two  or  three 
railroads  are  accessible,  any  possible  amount  of  farm  surplus  com- 
mands high  prices,  and  the  formerly  valueless  land  now  has  real  and 
high  value. 


82  ICARIA. 

of  their  land  at  five  dollars  an  acre.  For  the  remain- 
ing $5>500  of  the  debt  they  succeeded  in  procuring 
the  money.     It  was  a  fortunate  deliverance. 

They  were  left  with  only  a  little  more  than  eleven 
hundred  acres  of  land  ;  but  it  was  all  they  needed, 
for  their  number  was  now  reduced  (1863)  to  only 
thirty-five,  including  men,  women,  and  children.  The 
withdrawal  of  members  in  those  years  of  hardship 
can  not  in  all  cases  be  attributed  to  selfish  motives 
or  an  unwillingness  to  share  privation.  Members 
had  to  be  fed,  clothed,  and  sheltered  ;  and  to  a  com- 
munity unable  even  to  pay  interest  on  its  debt, 
membership  may  be  a  cause  of  added  expense  rather 
than  a  source  of  advantage  and  profit. 

For  the  ensuing  twelve  or  thirteen  years,  life  was 
any  thing  but  ideal  and  poetic  in  Icaria,  and  we  need 
not  dwell  at  length  upon  its  external  features. 
There  were  few  events  to  break  the  monotony  of 
secluded  farm  life.  These  were  years  of  patient, 
self-sacrificing  struggle,  devoted  to  the  one  object  of 
securing  a  solid  material  basis  for  the  happy  Icaria 
of  the  future.  With  this  end  in  view  these  "  soldiers 
of  humanity  "  shrank  from  no  privation.  Little  by 
little  they  bought  back  portions  of  their  land. 
Through  their  domain  ran  a  stream  known  as  the 
Nodaway  River,  overlooking  which,  on  the  bluffy 
upland  half  a  mile  away,  was  their  cluster  of  a  score 
or  more  of  diminutive  log  dwellings  grouped  about 
a  larger  log  structure  which  was  used  as  common 


PIONEER  LIFE  IN  IOWA.  83 

dining-hall  and  assembly  room.  On  the  river  they 
built  a  grist-  and  saw-mill,  which  was  patronized  by 
the  neighbors,  and  was  the  source  of  a  small  net  in- 
come. Their  industry,  intelligence,  and  upright  con- 
duct gained  the  favor  of  all  the  surrounding  country. 
Now  and  then  an  old  Icarian  family  would  return  ; 
and  by  the  end  of  the  year  1868,  they  were  able  to 
report  a  membership  of  sixty,  a  domain  of  over 
seventeen  hundred  acres,  fairly  well  stocked  with 
horses,  cattle,  and  sheep,  their  mills  paid  for,  and 
their  entire  indebtedness  lifted.  Three  years  later 
we  find  the  domain  increased  by  two  hundred  more 
acres,  steam  introduced  in  the  mills,  a  personnel  of 
seventy  members,  a  new  framed  central  hall,  sixty 
feet  long  and  two  stories  high,  carpenter,  black- 
smith, wagon  and  shoe  shops  in  operation,  and  rail- 
road connections  with  Eastern  markets  furnished  by 
the  completion  of  the  Burlington  and  Missouri  River 
(now  the  Chicago,  Burlington,  and  Quincy)  Railroad. 
Such  are  the  meagre  annals,  for  a  dozen  years,  of 
these  disillusioned  pioneers,  who  had  hoped  that  by 
this  time  their  brilliant  demonstration  and  realiza- 
tion of  a  beautiful  idea  would  have  converted  all 
civilized  nations  and  transformed  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Verily,  the  world  had  even  forgotten  their 
existence. 

Doubtless  their  care  and  toil  for  the  means  made 
them  sometimes  forget  the  end.  It  would  have  been 
strange  had  it   been  otherwise.      When  men   and 


84  ICARIA. 

women  have  spent  the  best  quarter-century  of  their 
lives  drudging  for  the  bare  means  of  subsistence  and 
haunted  by  the  spectre  of  debt,  even  if  they  do  not 
grow  sordid  and  hard,  they  tend  to  become  cautious 
and  conservative  ;  the  generous  enthusiasms  and 
glowing  ideals  of  youth  are  toned  down  and  tem- 
pered by  stern  experience.  The  amenities  of  life 
had  a  poor  chance  in  those  miserably  built,  cramped 
log-huts,  which  were  not  half  as  large  as  the  average 
one-room  log-house  of  the  American  backwoodsman. 
But  even  in  this  condition  the  Icarians  favorably 
impressed  visitors,  as  the  following  extracts  from 
letters  will  show.  An  intelligent  gentleman  who 
visited  Icaria  in  1869  wrote  that  he  found  in  the 
"log-shanties"  "a  degree  of  cultivation,  courtesy, 
and  kindness  not  often  so  generally  found  among 
the  same  number  of  persons."  The  same  writer  con- 
tinues: "The  Icarian  community  is  a  success.  The 
best  of  feeling  appears  to  prevail  among  them,  and 
we  could  but  feel  elated  that  here  at  least  was  a 
demonstration  of  successful  communism.  We  wish 
them  that  good  success  in  the  future  to  which  their 
self-denial  and  perseverance  so  richly  entitle  them." ' 
In  1871,  another  visitor  wrote  as  follows:  "The 
most  surprising  thing  there  was  the  presence  of  so 
many  intelligent  persons  content  to  live  in  such  a 
squalid  way.  The  kind,  hospitable,  and  tolerant 
spirit    of  the  association  was  perfectly  fascinating, 

'Letter  from  Dr.  Briggs,  in  The  Communist,  1S69. 


PIONEER  LIFE  IN  IOWA.  85 

and  almost  gilded  the  quasi  hog-pasture  in  which 
they  live.  I  thought  I  perceived  in  the  young  people 
a  goodness  and  intelligence  which  will  in  another 
dozen  years  revolutionize  their  mode  of  living  and 
doing  business,  and  make  their  society  a  power  in 
the  land.  Indeed,  I  think  there  is  more  vitality  and 
virtue  and  hope  for  humanity  at  Icaria  than  in  any 
other  association."  1 

About  this  time  the  finances  of  the  community 
began  to  justify  the  building  of  better  habitations, 
and  as  these  were  gradually  erected  (arranged  in  the 
form  of  a  quadrangle  enclosing  the  larger  hall),  the 
old  log-huts  were  one  by  one  abandoned.  As  Dr. 
Gaskin  had  predicted,  the  new  generation  began  to 
exert  a  strong  influence  in  the  direction  of  improve- 
ments and  "progress."  Flowers  and  shade  trees 
began  to  be  cultivated,  and  the  village  took  on  a 
better  appearance.  Mr.  William  Alfred  Hinds  visited 
Icaria  in  the  summer  of  1876,  and  the  following  ex- 
tracts from  a  letter  which  he  sent  to  the  American 
Socialist  give  a  true  and  graphic  picture  of  life  in 
the  community  at  that  time  : 

"A  dozen  small  white  cottages  arranged  on  the  sides 
of  a  parallelogram  ;  a  large  central  building  containing  a 
unitary  kitchen  and  a  common  dining-hall,  which  is  also 
used  as  an  assembly  room  and  for  community  amuse- 
ments, including  an  occasional  dance  or  theatrical  presen- 

1  Private  letter  of  J.  W.  Gaskin,  of  Chicago,  printed  in  The  Com- 
munist, 1871.  Mr.  Gaskin  some  years  later  proved  the  sincerity  of 
this  opinion  by  joining  the  community. 


S6  1CARIA. 

tation  ;  a  unitary  bake-room  and  laundry  near  at  hand  ; 
numerous  log-cabins,  also  within  easy  reach  of  the  central 
building — forcible  reminders  of  the  early  poverty  and 
hardships  of  this  people  ;  a  small  dairy-house  near  the 
thatched  stable  to  the  south ;  barns  for  the  horses  and 
sheep  to  the  north  :  all  these  buildings  on  the  bluff  rising 
from  the  valley  of  the  Nodaway  River,  and  surrounded 
by  the  community  domain  of  over  two  thousand  acres  of 
fertile  land,  of  which  seven  hundred  have  been  culti- 
vated, and  including,  with  some  timber  land,  extensive 
meadows  and  pastures,  over  which  range  600  sheep 
and  140  head  of  cattle — the  cultivated  part  having  the 
present  season  5  acres  of  potatoes,  5  acres  of  sorghum, 
100  of  wheat,  250  of  corn,  one  and  a  half  of  straw- 
berries, besides  vineyards,  orchards,  etc.:  behold  the 
present  external  aspects  of  Icaria. 

"  At  the  sound  of  the  bell  all  direct  their  footsteps  to 
the  central  building  ;  and  should  you  enter  at  meal-time 
you  would  see  the  entire  community,  now  numbering 
seventy-five,  seated  at  the  oblong  and  circular  tables,  as 
lively  and  sociable  as  French  people  know  how  to  be. 
Over  the  entrance  door  you  would  notice  in  large  letters 
the  word  'Equality,'  and  directly  opposite  the  word 
1  Liberty,'  and  at  one  end  of  the  room  the  suggestive 
1 1 776-1876.'  You  would  notice  also  that  upon  the  table 
there  is  an  abundance  of  substantial  food,  but  that  every 
thing  is  plain. 

"Should  you  enter  the  same  building  at  evening  you 
might  find  most  of  the  family  assembled,  some  to  con- 
verse, some  to  sing  their  songs  of  equality  and  fraternity. 
Or  should  you  call  on  a  Sunday  afternoon,  as  was  my 


PIONEER  LIFE  IN  IOWA.  87 

good  fortune,  you  might  hear  selections  from  the  writings 
of  their  great  apostle,  Etienne  Cabet,  or  recitals  by  the 
young,  or  songs,  perchance,  which  would  stir  your  social- 
istic enthusiasm.      One  of  these  I  heard  had  this  refrain  : 

'  Travailleurs  de  la  grande  cause, 
Soyons  fiers  de  notre  destin  ; 
L'egoiste  seul  se  repose, 

Travaillons  pour  le  genre  humain.' 

"  A  recital  by  a  maiden  of  fifteen  was  very  effective. 
She  put  great  expression  into  the  words  : 

'  Mes  freres,  il  est  temps  que  les  haines  s'oublient ; 
Que  sous  un  seul  drapeau  les  peuples  se  rallient  ; 
Le  chemin  du  salut  va  pour  nous  s'aplanir. 
La  grande  liberte  que  l'Humanite  reve, 
Comme  un  nouveau  soleil,  radieuse,  se  leve 
Sur  l'horizon  de  l'avenir.' 

"  It  is  indeed  time  that  hatreds  were  forgotten  and  that 
all  people  rallied  under  a  single  flag.  Shall  that  flag  be 
Communism  ?  The  Icarians  will  enthusiastically  answer 
*  yes '  ;  and  yet  should  one  inquire  whether  all  hatreds 
are  forgotten  in  Icaria  itself,  would  the  reply  be  also 
'  yes  '  ? 


>>  1 


This  last  question  of  Mr.  Hinds'  was  a  peculiarly 
significant  one  as  we  shall  proceed  to  show. 

1  This  letter  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Hinds  in  his  "  American  Communi- 
ties," pp.  67-69. 


VI. 

THE   SONS  VERSUS    THE    FATHERS. 


VI. 

THE   SONS   VERSUS   THE    FATHERS. 

Outwardly  Icaria  was  in  a  promising  state.  Its 
assets  were  now  equal  to  about  $60,000  dollars,  its 
membership  was  increasing,  some  of  the  convenien- 
ces and  a  few  of  the  luxuries  of  life  were  finding 
admittance  ;  the  lads  had  grown  up  to  be  good 
farmers;  the  library  was  freely  used,  and  French 
and  American  periodicals  were  eagerly  perused  by 
bright  minds.  A  generation  had  now  passed  since 
the  great  socialistic  movement  which  had  stirred 
generous  souls  in  every  country,  which  had  given 
birth  to  so  many  enterprises  besides  Icaria,  and 
which  reached  its  climax  in  the  eventful  year  of  '48. 
And  now  a  new  tidal  wave  of  socialism  was  sweep- 
ing Europe  and  America.  It  did  not  fail  to  reach 
Icaria;  and  the  community  was  quickened  with  a 
new  sense  of  its  moral  mission.  The  young  people 
felt  a  thrill  of  that  grand  enthusiasm  for  humanity 
which  in  '48  had  transformed  peasants  and  artizans 
into  heroes  and  philosophers.  And  so,  with  a  solid, 
though  moderate,  material  prosperity,  with  a  hard- 
earned  knowledge  of  the  practical  things  of  life,  and 
yet  with  a  high  consciousness  of  a  moral  mission 

91 


92  ICARIA. 

which  lifted  them  above  that  sordidness  and  men- 
tal sloth  to  which  otherwise  their  mode  of  life 
must  have  degraded  them, — with  these  conditions 
existing,  what  stood  in  the  way  of  a  proud  and 
brilliant  future  for  Icaria  ? 

Alas,  the  Icarians  were  again  to  demonstrate  the 
exceeding  difficulty  of  maintaining  harmony  in  a 
community  based  upon  the  principle  of  acquiescence 
in  the  will  of  the  majority.  Party  spirit  had  broken 
up  the  great  Icarian  school  in  France ;  it  had  di- 
vided the  colony  at  New  Orleans  ;  it  had  violently 
rent  the  society  at  Nauvoo  ;  it  had  precipitated  the 
fall  of  Cheltenham.  For  some  years  the  elements 
of  a  new  tragedy  had  been  silently  brewing.  A 
writer  on  American  communities  has  well  observed: 
"  It  is  obvious  that  the  process  of  transferring  the 
interests  of  a  community  from  one  generation  to 
another,  which  always  has  to  be  done  sooner  or 
later,  will  be  at  least  a  painful  one.  The  highest 
wisdom  is  needed  to  make  this  transfer,  and  not 
mar  the  harmony  of  the  society."  The  process  may 
be  a  very  gradual  one,  yet  it  necessarily  involves  a 
more  or  less  serious  crisis.  The  thoughts  and  man- 
ners and  maxims  of  the  fathers  are  not  as  those  of 
the  sons. 

In  the  Icarian  contest,  which  we  must  now  briefly 
describe,  neither  party  was  wholly  right  nor  wholly 
wrong.  As  for  motives  of  conduct,  it  must  be  as- 
sumed that  each  party  felt   itself  justified.     The 


THE  SONS  VERSUS   THE  FATHERS.  93 

party  of  the  old  people,  who  were  in  the  voting 
majority,  and  whom  we  may  call  the  Constitutional 
party,  were  undoubtedly  more  nearly  right  accord- 
ing to  the  tenets  and  written  law  of  Icarianism ;  but 
perhaps  they  may  have  been  too  rigid  and  too  little 
conciliatory.  The  party  of  the  young  people,  whom 
we  may  term  the  Revolutionary  party,  were  chafing 
for  change,  expansion,  progress,  and  to  them  the 
party  of  the  majority  seemed  retrogressive  and 
dead  to  the  cause  of  humanity.  It  is  not  worth 
while  to  trace  in  detail  the  growth  of  these  parties, 
nor  the  points  at  issue  between  them.  Such 
breaches  tend  to  widen  constantly.  The  younger 
party  desired  changes  in  the  business  management, 
and  improvements  in  the  method  of  agriculture. 
They  wished  the  franchise  given  to  women, — only 
males  above  twenty  years  being  voters.  Perhaps 
they  were  the  more  anxious  for  the  emancipation  of 
the  sex  because  it  would  have  changed  the  voting 
majority  in  assembly  to  their  side.  They  were  for 
admission  of  many  new  members  and  for  the  intro- 
duction of  a  varied  industry  which  would  provide 
work  and  maintenance  for  a  much  larger  number 
than  could  be  supported  or  employed  by  ordinary 
agriculture.  The  older  party  were  unwilling  to  try 
any  rash  or  doubtful  experiments,  and  their  long 
experience  had  made  them  cautious  and  circumspect 
in  admitting  strangers. 

The  younger  party  were  eager  for  "  propaganda." 


94  ICARIA. 

They  had  been  fired  by  the  events  of  '71  in  Paris, 
and  felt  strongly  with  the  new  Communism  of 
France,  the  Social  Democracy  of  Germany,  and  the 
Nihilism  of  Russia.  The  new  ideas  were  taking 
sudden  and  rank  growth  in  America.  Socialistic 
labor  parties  and  socialistic  newspapers  were  spring- 
ing up  in  every  city,  and  the  movement  was  rapidly 
taking  shape  which  was  soon  to  culminate  in  the 
rash  and  unfortunate  riots  of  1877.  ^n  tne  West 
the  Greenback  party,  honest  and  earnest  in  its  rank 
and  file,  though  misguided  by  fallacious  doctrines 
and  in  some  cases  by  false  leaders,  was  proclaiming 
a  form  of  socialism.  The  business  depression  that 
had  followed  the  panic  of  1873,  and  which  kept 
thousands  of  workingmen  idle,  contributed  above 
all  else  to  the  menacing  form  assumed  by  social 
agitation.  With  these  new  views,  and  with  the 
anarchical  spirit  of  the  new  agitation,  whether  in 
Europe  or  in  America,  the  older  party  of  Icarians 
had  little  sympathy.  In  its  very  essence  the  Icarian 
doctrine  was  one  of  peace  and  good-will.  Its  mis- 
sion was  constructive  or  nothing.  Its  work  was  to 
teach  the  world  the  philosophy  of  a  better  social 
system,  and  to  demonstrate  the  practicability  of 
that  philosophy.  It  proposed  a  peaceful  and  grad- 
ual evolution  of  existing  society  into  the  society  of 
the  future ;  and  violent  subversions  would  only 
hinder  progress.  Such  were  the  opinions  of  the 
older  party.  , 


THE   SONS   VERSUS   THE  FATHERS,  95 

I  would  not  affirm  that  this  difference  of  sym- 
pathy was  sufficiently  defined  to  form  a  very  dis- 
tinct issue  between  the  two  parties  in  Icaria,  but  it 
certainly  contributed,  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
to  widen  the  breach.  The  young  party  wished  to 
fall  in  line  with  the  large  movements  outside,  to 
wage  a  more  vigorous  propaganda,  to  make  Icaria 
an  asylum  for  communists.  Distrust  grew  rapidly 
between  the  parties.  The  old  people  regarded 
every  proposition  to  admit  a  new  member  as  a  wily 
move  of  the  minority  to  gain  a  vote  in  the  assem- 
bly. The  following  resume  of  the  situation  is  from 
the  pen  of  a  versatile  young  Parisian  communist 
who  came  at  this  stormy  moment  to  join  Icaria,  and 
who  afterward  became  prominently  identified  with 
the  party  of  the  young  people.  The  reader  should 
bear  in  mind  that  this  account,  written  several  years 
after  the  events  it  describes,  is  entirely  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  young  party: 

"  Icaria  was  also  to  furnish  proof  that  all  things  are 
born  of  suffering,  and  that  progress  is  but  the  prize  of 
brave  effort,  and  of  the  discussion,  the  struggle,  and  dis- 
tress which  accompany  it. 

"  For  a  long  time  isolation,  privations,  an  absorbing 
labor,  perhaps  also  the  effects  of  age,  had  totally  effaced 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Icarians  the  moral  mission  of  Icaria. 
Very  little  cared  they  for  its  socialistic  character,  or  de- 
sired to  yield  to  the  consequences  of  its  legitimate  des- 
tiny.    The  age  of  generous  illusions  was  past,  the  desire 


96  ICARIA. 

for  improvements  extinguished  ;  internal  progress  no 
longer  possessed  charms  for  them.  It  is  not  always  ego- 
tism which  makes  one  a  conservative  !  The  recollection 
of  an  unfortunate  past,  while  inspiring  exaggerated  fears 
for  the  future,  also  forces  people  into  inaction  or  immo- 
bility. 

"  Meanwhile  a  new  generation  came  upon  the  stage. 
Some  old  Icarians,  in  whom  the  fire  of  the  cause  of 
humanity  still  smouldered  under  the  ashes  of  years, 
aided  by  communistic  visitors  who  were  attracted  to 
Icaria  by  its  ancient  renown,  communicated  to  the  youth 
of  the  community  the  heat  of  their  convictions  and  the 
light  of  their  counsels.  Nevertheless,  as  it  is  with  the 
earth  on  which  seed  vainly  falls,  some  of  the  young 
people  remained  insensible  to  this  kind  of  magnetism. 
But,  in  general,  the  sons  grew  rapidly  in  the  love  of 
progress,  and  were  not  slow  to  manifest  the  impatience 
and  discontent  which  were  produced  in  them  by  the 
resistance,  unconsciously  systematic,  opposed  by  their 
predecessors  to  every  innovation. 

"  This  divergence  of  views  soon  created  in  the  heart  of 
the  Assembly  a  distinction  of  groups.  The  law  of  affinity 
is  irresistible  !  The  members  yielded  to  its  power,  and 
formed  parties,  one  to  defend  the  progressive  movement, 
the  other  to  oppose  it  and  favor  inertia. 

"  The  struggle  was  at  first  pacific  and  quite  fraternal. 
But  soon  came  the  bad  habit  of  mingling  personalities  in 
the  controversy.  The  friction  of  irascible  characters  and 
an  old  leaven  of  antipathy,  brought  from  Nauvoo  and 
revived  in  the  heat  of  the  combat,  very  quickly  substi- 
tuted absolute  incompatibility  for  the  comparative  homo- 
geneity which  had  previously  existed. 


THE   SONS  VERSUS   THE  FATHERS  97 

"  Two  opposing  parties  encamped  face  to  face.  One 
was  that  of  the  young  Icarians,  including  some  aged 
people  ;  the  other  that  of  the  old  Icarians,  including 
some  young  people.  There  were  the  Progressives  and 
the  Non-Progressives. 

"  As  with  all  parties,  those  of  Icaria  sought  recruits — 
with  this  difference,  however,  between  them,  that  while 
the  old  party  endeavored  to  increase  their  numbers  from 
within,  the  young  party,  faithful  to  the  principle  of  ad- 
mission, especially  sought  to  increase  their  strength  by 
new  members.  Nevertheless,  by  the  law  of  admission, 
the  first  party  possessed  the  '  open  sesame  ! '  of  the  doors 
of  Icaria,  and  it  was  only  with  all  the  fears,  all  the 
anxieties  of  conservatism  that  they  consented  to  pro- 
nounce the  magic  words. 

"  The  necessity  of  gaining  the  ascendancy  became  for 
each  party  more  and  more  urgent.  Menaces  of  ostracism 
had  been  lanced  by  the  majority  of  the  old  party  against 
the  minority  of  the  young  people,  and  the  latter,  while 
conscious  of  the  advantage  it  would  probably  gain  by  the 
admission  of  new  members,  was  anxious,  in  its  turn, 
about  the  future  attitude  of  the  candidates.  It  was 
necessary  that  these  should  offer  to  both  parties  the 
hope  of  a  future  support  in  order  to  overcome  all  resist- 
ance to  their  admission. 

"  The  logic  of  parties  is  to  continually  widen  the  gulf 
which  separates  them.  Sentiment  may  deny  this  ;  reason 
does  not.  Compromises  may  intervene  ;  they  will  never 
unite  the  incompatible.  The  skepticism  which  new  ideas 
profess  toward  old  ways  and  old  notions  is  at  first  an 
obstacle  to  this. 


98  ICARIA. 

"  Subject  to  this  rule,  the  Icarians  were  so  separated 
at  this  point  that  each  party  foresaw  the  imminent  rup- 
ture of  the  material  bond  which  still  held  the  two  groups 
together. 

"  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1876. 

"On  the  17th  of  April  of  the  same  year,  the  minority 
read  in  the  Assembly  a  document  in  which  it  protested 
against  the  retrogressive  acts  of  the  majority,  reproached 
them  for  the  lack  of  regard  for  the  rights  and  opinions 
of  women,  their  hostility  to  propagandism,  their  perse- 
cution of  the  progressives,  etc.  It  affirmed  its  devotion 
to  the  cause,  and  its  purpose  to  pursue  its  ideal  at  all 
cost,  and  to  this  end  signified  its  wish  to  be  separated 
from  the  majority,  amicably  if  possible,  by  legal  means  if 
necessary.  The  majority  refused  to  consider  such  an 
unusual  demand. 

"  Meanwhile,  four  Internationalists  had  made  applica- 
tion for  admission  to  Icaria.  Animated  by  the  fears  we 
have  mentioned,  each  party  considered  it  to  be  its  duty  to 
plead  its  cause  in  advance  before  these  prospective  mem- 
bers. The  majority  wrote  to  them  :  '  Our  enemies  desire 
a  separation,  that  they  may  then  divide  the  property 
among  themselves.'  The  minority  sent  its  reasons  for 
demanding  a  separation. 

"  Thus  forewarned,  the  candidates  left  New  York,  in 
spite  of  a  dispatch  from  the  majority  which  told  them  to 
postpone  their  coming.  On  their  arrival  each  party  de- 
scribed to  them  the  situation  in  its  own  manner.  But  it 
is  in  supreme  moments  that  one  trusts  to  chance. 
Either  from  confidence  in  the  result,  or  because  they 
were  willing  to  risk  every  thing,  the  two  parties  united 


THE   SONS  VERSUS   THE  FATHERS.  99 

in  admitting  the  new-comers  after  only  fifteen  days  of 
novitiation." 

One  of  these  new-comers  was  Emile  Peron  him- 
self, the  author  of  the  paragraphs  quoted  above,  a 
young  man  who  had  come  to  New  York  after  the 
downfall  of  the  Paris  Commune.  Another  was  A. 
Sauva,  who  years  before  had  come  from  France  to 
join  the  Cheltenham  Icarians  at  St.  Louis,  and  had 
supported  that  unfortunate  enterprise  to  the  very 
last.  He  had  then  served  in  the  Union  army,  and 
afterward  had  returned  to  France.  He  was  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  great  organization  of  the  In- 
ternational, and  helped  to  make  French  history  at 
Paris  in  187 1.  Both  were  men  of  marked  ability. 
The  new-comers  bent  their  energy  to  a  restoration 
of  harmony,  and  apparently  with  gratifying  success. 
It  was  during  this  lull  that  Mr.  Hinds  made  his 
visit  to  Icaria  and  wrote  the  letter  to  the  American 
Socialist  quoted  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

The  annual  election,  which  came  on  the  3d  of 
February,  1877,  resulted  most  encouragingly.  The 
directors  of  the  two  departments  of  Industry  and 
Agriculture,  those  most  susceptible  of  improve- 
ments such  as  had  been  clamored  for,  were  chosen 
from  the  young  party.  With  excellent  taste  the 
Presidency  for  the  year  was  confided  to  Sauva,  who 
had  not  identified  himself  with  either  faction,  but 
had  been  a  peace-maker.  This  election  seemed  to 
indicate  a  genuine  spirit  of  concession  on  all  sides, 


100  ICARIA. 

and  a  disposition  to  sink  party  differences  for  the 
good  of  the  whole  which  promised  well  for  the  com- 
munity. 

But  Sauva  did  not  find  his  administration  a  bed 
of  roses.  It  soon  became  evident  that  the  leaders 
of  the  young  party  were  wholly  disaffected,  and 
were  only  waiting  for  an  occasion  to  insist  again 
upon  separation.  Although  three  or  four  more 
"men  of  '71  " — and  certainly  men  of  "progressive" 
views — were  soon  admitted,  the  young  party  were 
not  satisfied  ;  and  the  refusal  of  the  majority  to 
admit  a  young  candidate  whom  the  minority  espe- 
cially favored,  brought  to  the  surface  again  all 
the  old  animosity.  Another  point  of  controversy 
must  be  mentioned  ;  not  so  much  because  of  its  in- 
trinsic importance,  as  because  it  illustrates  a  phase 
of  community  life. 

This  was  no  less  a  matter  than  that  of  "  les  petits 
jar  dins" — the  little  gardens.  Prior  to  1870,  while 
the  families  of  the  community  still  lived  in  the  log- 
huts,  the  privilege  had  been  granted  each  family  of 
using  a  narrow  strip  of  ground  surrounding  the 
house  for  a  flower-garden,  or  for  cultivation  in  any 
way  that  seemed  good  to  the  occupants  of  the 
house,  in  their  hours  of  leisure.  These  poor  pio- 
neers, with  their  Gallic  love  of  flowers  and  of  gar- 
dening, found  genuine  satisfaction  in  their  bits  of 
ground  ;  and  here  a  vine,  there  an  apple-tree,  a 
tobacco-plant,  or  a  fragrant  bunch  of  garlic,  were 


THE   SONS  VERSUS   THE  FATHERS.  101 

added  to  the  original  flower-bed  feature.  Every- 
where else  in  the  community  the  Icarian  motto, 
"  All  for  each,  each  for  all,"  was  the  invariable  rule. 
If  in  the  one  matter  of  these  tiny  plots  environing 
their  humble  domiciles,  the  Icarians  allowe67"the 
idea  of  "meum  et  tuum  "  insidiously  to  enter,  and 
if  they  found  a  keener  enjoyment  in  the  flowers  or 
the  grapes  because  of  the  forbidden  but  delicious 
sense  of  personal  ownership,  we  must  not  condemn 
them  too  harshly,  nor  impeach  their  communism. 
There  was  something  noble  and  pathetic  in  the 
manner  with  which  these  "  citoyens  "  and  "  citoy- 
ennes "  put  away  the  accursed  thing  when  they 
awoke  to  a  realization  of  the  fact  that  the  gardens 
were  introducing  a  dangerous  element  of  individual- 
ism and  inequality.  This  consciousness  was  arrived 
at  about  the  time  when  the  first  half  dozen  of  the 
new  and  more  commodious  houses  were  built ;  and 
it  was  arranged  that  whenever  a  family  should  leave 
the  hut  for  a  frame-house,  the  wicked  garden  should 
be  given  up  and  no  new  ones  should  be  made.1 
"  Years  rolled  on,"  as  the  novelists  say,  and  we 
come  again  to  our  point  of  departure,  the  inauspi- 
cious days  of   1 877.     Three  citizens  still  abode  in 

1  It  is  somewhat  interesting  to  note  that  this  Icarian  village  com- 
munity, in  its  tendency  to  evolve  individual  proprietorship,  began 
precisely  at  the  same  point  as  the  primitive  village  communities, 
which  maintained  common  ownership  and  use  of  arable  lands  and 
pastures  and  woodlands  long  after  the  homesteads  and  their  imme- 
diate environment  had  become  individual  property.  Evidently  the 
"  petits  jardins  "  are  a  modern  reproduction  of  the  ancient  "  toft  and 
croft." 


102  ICARIA. 

their  primitive  log-huts,  and  maintained,  therefore, 
their  "  petits  jardins."  To  the  young  party  this 
was  a  scandal  and  an  abomination  ;  nor  did  the  old 
party  really  approve  of  the  conduct  of  the  three 
selfish  citizens  in  clinging  to  their  truck-patches  and 
vines.  In  the  fall  of  1877  there  was  to  be  a  sale  of 
grapes  ;  and  a  member  of  the  young  party  proposed 
that,  instead  of  gathering  the  fruit  in  the  commu- 
nity's vineyard,  there  should  be  a  confiscation  of 
the  grapes  in  the  three  little  gardens.  The  proposi- 
tion was  certainly  in  keeping  with  Icarian  princi- 
ples. But  the  person  who  made  it,  and  his  manner 
of  making  it,  were  so  offensive  to  the  old  party  that 
they  voted  solidly  against  it. 

All  compromises  were  now  at  an  end,  and  the 
factions  were  openly  at  war  again.  Sauva  had  by 
this  time  identified  himself  with  the  conservative 
party,  and  Peron  had  become  the  fluent  spokesman 
of  the  "  progressives,"  as  they  termed  themselves. 
On  the  26th  of  September  the  young  party  an- 
nounced their  fixed  purpose  to  withdraw  and  found 
an  autonomous  branch  on  a  portion  of  the  domain, 
and  a  few  days  later  they  submitted  a  detailed  plan 
by  which  the  division  might  be  accomplished.  The 
land  was  to  remain  the  common  property  of  the 
two  branches,  but  was  to  be  assigned  for  use  and 
control  to  the  respective  communes  in  a  manner 
which  they  set  forth  in  the  following  paragraph  of 
their  proposition : 


THE  SONS  VERSUS   THE  FATHERS.  103 

"  That  a  division  of  land  and  stock  be  made  pro 
rata,  each  stockholder,  man,  woman,  and  child,  to 
be  given  ten  acres  of  land  ;  that  henceforth  we 
carry  on  our  affairs,  agricultural,  industrial,  and 
financial,  as  two  distinct  branches  of  one  com- 
munity; that  the  land  be  held  on  both  sides  in 
usufruct  only,  each  branch  having  the  privilege  of 
mortgaging  its  land  to  one  fifth  of  its  appraised 
valuation ;  that  each  branch  admit  to  its  ranks  such 
new  members  as  it  may  deem  proper  (births  being 
reckoned  as  new  admissions) ;  and  that  the  surplus 
of  land  remaining  after  the  division  shall  be  made 
according  to  the  above  proposition,  shall  be  held  in 
common  at  the  disposal  of  both  sides  for  the  use  of 
its  new  members.  In  case  of  death  on  either  side, 
if  the  portion  held  in  the  name  of  the  deceased  is 
not  taken  up  by  a  new  admission  within  a  specified 
time,  the  opposite  party  shall  have  the  right  to 
claim  it." 

The  nineteen  voters  of  the  old  party  were  em- 
phatically opposed  to  the  proposition,  while,  of 
course,  the  thirteen  voters  of  the  young  party  were 
agreed  in  urging  it.  The  plan  certainly  was  a  very 
awkward  one,  and  must  have  led,  if  adopted,  to 
continual  friction  and  misunderstanding  between 
the  two  communes.  Having  thus  failed  to  accom- 
plish a  separation  in  lawful  manner  by  vote  of  the 
assembly,  the  "  progressives "  assumed  a  revolu- 
tionary attitude.     They  might  very  easily  have  re- 


104  ICARIA. 

signed  and  withdrawn,  as  at  one  time  and  another 
in  the  history  of  Icaria  many  hundreds  had  done; 
but  they  could  have  taken  with  them  only  a  small 
portion  of  the  property.  At  this  juncture  the 
Icarian  constitution  showed  a  singular  weakness, 
which  was  taken  advantage  of  by  the  revolutionary 
party.  This  faction  had  now  resorted  to  the  civil 
courts,  and  was  doing  every  thing  in  its  power  to 
harass  and  destroy  the  community ;  and  yet  the 
majority  had  no  adequate  defence,  for  the  reason 
that  expulsion  required  a  two-thirds  vote,  whereas 
the  rebellious  minority  cast  one  vote  more  than 
three-eighths  of  the  whole  number.  Though  plot- 
ting its  destruction,  the  community  was  powerless 
to  expel  them.  The  legal  proceedings,  which  were 
pending  for  some  months,  resulted  in  the  forfeiture 
by  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  Icarian  charter,  and  the 
appointment  by  Court  of  trustees  to  "wind  up  "  the 
business  of  the  community. 

Meanwhile  many  fruitless  efforts  at  amicable 
adjustment  had  been  made.  A  new  colony  in  some 
remote  region  where  personal  frictions  would  be 
avoided  was  a  plan  promptly  rejected  by  the  revo- 
lutionists. Both  parties  devised  plans  of  arbitration, 
but  in  neither  case  could  the  preliminaries  be  agreed 
upon.1     The  old  party  grew  so  generous  as  to  offer 

1  The  old  people  proposed  that  arbitrators  should  be  selected  from 
among  former  Icarians,  many  of  whom  were  scattered  throughout  the 
West.  They  maintained  that  a  dispute  between  Icarian  factions 
could  best  be  understood  and  adjusted  by  those  who  had  knowledge 


THE   SONS  VERSUS   THE  FATHERS.  105 

their  disaffected  young  compatriots  a  cash  bonus 
of  several  thousand  dollars  if  they  would  withdraw- 
in  peace  and  set  up  a  community  somewhere  else. 
But  the  young  people  had  other  plans. 

It  is,  perhaps,  not  to  be  expected  that,  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  property  rights  of  the  individual  are 
held  more  sacred  by  the  laws  than  aught  else, 
scarcely  excepting  life  and  personal  liberty,  the 
Courts  should  take  into  consideration  the  peculiar 
nature  of  a  property  accumulated,  and  held  through 
an  entire  generation,  on  the  principles  of  commu- 
nism. Many  an  old  member  whose  toil  had  helped 
to  build  up  the  establishment,  and  whose  donation 
of  his  private  possessions  on  joining  the  community 
had  added  to  the  wealth  of  the  society,  had  long 
since  died  ;  or  perchance  he  had  for  personal  reasons 
withdrawn  from  membership,  taking  next  to  nothing 
with  him,  but  consoled  by  the  thought  that  what  he 
had  left  behind  would  perpetually  promote  the 
good  cause  of  communism.     The  purpose  and  prin- 

of  and  sympathy  with  Icarian  principles.  They  thought  the  vital 
issue  should  be  settled  on  the  basis  of  communistic  and  Icarian  doc- 
trines. On  the  other  hand  the  young  people  proposed  an  arbitration 
by  "old  settlers"  of  the  county,  i.  e.,  by  their  American  farmer 
neighbors.  Now  the  only  point  of  view  possible  for  such  arbitrators 
must  have  been  that  of  individual  rights.  With  them  separation 
would  have  been  a  foregone  conclusion.  Their  only  care  would  have 
been  to  secure  an  equitable  distribution  of  the  property  among  the 
members.  Certainly  the  young  party  were  right  in  regarding  this 
plan  as  the  most  favorable  to  the  end  they  had  in  view,  that  of  sepa- 
ration ;  while  the  plan  proposed  by  the  old  folks  was  of  course  much 
more  in  accord  with  the  peculiar  principles  professed  by  both  parties, 
and  much  more  likely  to  favor  the  object  of  the  old  party,  that  of 
preserving  intact  the  domain  of  the  community. 


106  ICARIA. 

ciple  of  Icaria  was  radically  different  from  that  of 
an  ordinary  business  corporation  or  joint-stock  com- 
pany.    Except  as  recognized  in  a  very  limited  way 
in  cases  of  withdrawal,  there  were  really  no  individ- 
ual  rights   in    the    property    of    the    community. 
Occupiers  held  only  in  trust,  as  it  were,  in  a  line  of 
perpetual    succession.      Unfortunately,  under    the 
laws  of  Iowa  they  had  been  obliged   to  organize  in 
the  form  of  a  joint-stock  company  under  the  desig- 
nation of  an  "  agricultural  society,"  and  each  mem- 
ber was  nominally  the  holder  of  a  share  of  stock. 
The  Court  saw  fit  to  hold  the  community  strictly 
and  technically  as  a  chartered  business  corporation. 
The  plan  pursued  by  the  minority  was  to  secure  the 
abrogation  of  the  charter  by  proving  that  the  com- 
munity had  performed  functions  in  excess  or  in  vio- 
lation of  those  granted.    Of  course  the  plaintiffs  felt 
themselves  justified  in    using   every  influence  and 
every  technicality  to  gain  their  end.     Nevertheless, 
it  did  seem   a  little  surprising  when  they  gravely 
charged  their  elder  brethren  with  being  communists 
forsooth,   and  with  making    the    establishment   of 
communism  the  chief  motive  and  purpose  of  their 
organization,  rather  than  the  tilling  of  the  soil  and 
the  raising  of  live  stock,  as  specified  in  their  articles 
of  incorporation!     When  it  is  remembered  that  the 
young  party  possessed  several  members  fresh  from 
the  Paris  barricades  of  1871,  and  that  the  complaint 
against  the  old  party  all  along  had  been  its  luke- 


THE   SONS   VERSUS   THE  FATHERS.  107 

warm  zeal  for  communism,  and  when  one  further 
considers  the  wholesome  horror  that  an  Iowa  jury- 
would  be  likely  to  experience  when  the  word  "  com- 
munist "  was  mentioned  in  court, — these  things 
taken  into  account,  one  is  in  condition  to  appreciate 
the  fine  humor  of  such- an  accusation.  The  forfeiture 
of  the  charter  seems  finally  to  have  been  pronounced 
by  the  Court  on  the  ground  that  a  society  which  was 
incorporated  for  agricultural  purposes  had  exceeded 
its  powers  in  constructing  and  operating  a  mill  on 
its  estate,  and  in  doing  certain  other  things  of  a 
mechanical  and  manufacturing  character.  The  man- 
ufacture of  lumber  and  flour  had  really  been  a  very 
subordinate  part  of  the  industry  of  the  community, 
and  the  spirit  of  the  charter  had  suffered  no  viola- 
tion ;  for  Icaria,  even  against  the  will  of  the 
accusing  party,  had  remained  an  agricultural  com- 
munity instead  of  becoming  a  manufacturing  com- 
munity. But  the  Court  doubtless  believed  a  recon- 
ciliation to  be  hopeless,  and  being  convinced  that 
substantial  justice  to  all  parties  required  the  disso- 
lution of  the  society,  the  technical  ground  already 
named  was  made  to  justify  a  forfeiture  of  the  char- 
ter. In  1856  the  Cabet  party  at  Nauvoo  had  tried 
in  vain  to  compass  the  abrogation  of  the  Illinois 
charter;  and  after  Cabet's  death,  his  heirs,  probably 
in  behalf  of  the  Cheltenham  community,  had  fruit- 
lessly attempted  to  secure  the  real  estate,  the  titles 
to  which  were  in  Cabet's  name.     Certainly  the  com- 


108  ICARIA. 

munity  had  better  cause  to  expect  protection  from 
the  law  in  1878  than  in  those  former  suits.  The 
decision  disregarded  the  nature  of  the  Icarian  estate 
as  a  perpetual  foundation,  with  its  own  definite 
provision  for  the  withdrawal  of  discontented  mem- 
bers,— a  foundation  in  which  were  involved  the  rights 
of  hundreds  of  predecessors  and  the  rights  of  an 
indeterminate  number  of  prospective  successors,  as 
well  as  the  rights  of  those  immediately  on  the 
ground  and  which  alone  were  regarded.  Possibly 
the  current  feeling  against  communism,  vague  but 
strong,  made  the  Court  the  more  willing  to  reduce 
Icaria  to  its  constituent  atoms. 

On  the  17th  of  August,  1878,  the  Circuit  Court 
declared  the  charter  forfeited,  and  appointed  three 
trustees,  who  were  charged  with  the  task  of  an 
equitable  distribution  of  the  property.  By  mutual 
agreement  between  the  factions,  these  trustees  were 
superseded  by  a  board  of  arbitrators  chosen  among 
the  American  neighbors  ;  and  during  the  months  of 
January  and  February,  1879,  this  board  held  ses- 
sions attended  by  the  delegates  from  the  two  par- 
ties. In  their  apportionment  the  arbitrators  took 
account  of  the  amount  individuals  had  originally 
deposited  with  the  community,  and  the  period  of 
their  service  as  members.  Somewhat  more  than 
half  of  the  property  fell  to  the  party  of  the  old 
people.  Meanwhile,  it  was  understood  that  each 
wing  would  reorganize  as  a  separate  community, 


THE  SONS   VERSUS   THE  FATHERS.  109 

and  it  was  arranged  that  the  domain  should  be 
divided  into  eastern  and  western  portions,  the  old 
party  remaining  in  the  original  village,  and  the 
young  people  building  a  new  hamlet  a  mile  to  the 
eastward,  where  they  had  asked  leave  to  colonize 
themselves  two  years  before. 


VII. 

REORGANIZATION— "  THE    NEW  ICARIAN 

COMMUNITY." 


VII. 

REORGANIZATION — "  THE    NEW    ICARIAN    COMMUNITY." 

It  was  expected  that  the  old  party  would  retain 
the  old  name  and  keep  the  old  domicile  ;  but  it  hap- 
pened otherwise.  The  young  people  were  some- 
what more  prompt  in  their  reorganization,  and  on 
the  16th  of  April  they  were  the  possessors  of  a  new 
charter  under  the  ancient  title  of  "  The  Icarian  Com- 
munity." The  conservative  ex-majority  took  the 
name  of  "  The  New  Icarian  Community"  ;  and  upon 
receipt  of  a  bonus  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  from 
their  successful  adversaries,  they  consented  to  be- 
come the  emigrants,  and  accepted  the  eastern  por- 
tion of  the  domain  for  their  new  home.  There, 
with  a  patience  and  courage  which  enemies  could 
but  respect,  they  took  up  the  broken  threads  of  com- 
munity life,  and  quietly  restored  the  order  of  their 
social  economy. 

For  President  they  chose  Marchand,  who  had  suf- 
fered with  the  first  advance  guard  in  Texas  in  1848, 
and  had  ever  since  been  a  leading  Icarian.  They  built 
a  new  dining  and  assembly  hall  similar  to  the  one  in 
the  old  village,  and  grouped  about  it  eight  of  the 
frame  cottages  which  had  been  assigned  to  them  in 

113 


114 


ICARIA. 


the   division   of   goods,  and  which   they   removed 
bodily  from  the  other  hamlet. 

The  subjoined   diagram  will  show  the    plan    of 
New  Icaria : 


■BH 


(Trees  and  Park.) 
(Hall.) 

mm 


f 


Hi 

mi 


The  group  of  houses  stands  upon  a  level  plateau 
many  acres  in  extent,  and  commanding  a  view  un- 
usually varied  and  charming  for  a  prairie  State. 
From  the  plateau  the  land  slopes  gradually  to  the 
meadows  flanking  the  Nodaway,  a  mile  to  the  north- 
ward. The  stream  is  fringed  with  trees,  and  its 
winding  course  across  the  prairie  is  revealed  for 
many  miles  by  the  waving  timber  line,  now  a  mere 
fringe  of  underbrush,  and  now  widening  into  a  con- 
siderable grove.  On  the  bank  directly  north  of  the 
hamlet  is  to  be  seen  the  mill,  which  in  the  partition 
fell  to  the  portion  of  the  old  party.  Half-way 
between  the  village  and  the  mill  passes  the  railroad. 
East  and  south  of  the  village  recede  long  stretches 
of  rolling  prairie,  broken  now  into  farms.  To  the 
west,  among  the  trees,  lies  the  old  village  ;  and 
still  further  west,  on  the  horizon,  are  the  more 
ambitious  uplands  beyond  the  Nodaway,  on  the 
slopes  of  which  a  glimpse  may  be  had  of  the  town 
of  Corning.     Here,  in  the  summer  of  1879,  some 


REORGANIZA  TIOJV.  1 1 5 

thirty  Icarians  resumed  the  seemingly  discouraging 
experiment  of  communistic  life. 

In  the  spring  and  again  in  the  fall  of  1883  it  was 
my  privilege  to  spend  several  days  among  them 
there.  Their  numbers  had  remained  almost  station- 
ary, and  amounted  now  to  thirty-four,  including  ■ 
twelve  men,  ten  women,  and  twelve  children  all 
under  thirteen  years  of  age.  In  spite  of  its  hardships, 
Icarian  life  has  proved  remarkably  conducive  to 
health  and  longevity ;  and  eight  of  the  thirty-four 
people  were  past  the  age  of  sixty.  While  in  one 
sense  the  whole  community  constituted  one  family, 
there  was  not  wanting  something  of  a  private  home- 
life  in  each  of  the  humble  cottages,  in  which  one  was 
sure  to  find  books  and  papers,  with  perhaps  a  bird- 
cage hanging  in  the  window,  or  a  quaint  picture  or 
two  on  the  plain  walls.  With  no  carpets,  the  scantiest 
furniture,  and  a  sad  lack  of  the  small  household  ac- 
cessories, these  neat  and  tidy  Frenchwomen  had  man- 
aged to  give  an  air  of  decency  and  even  of  comfort 
to  their  little  homes.  Quite  regardless  of  the  old 
scruple  against  the  "  petits  jardins,"  a  number  of 
bright  flower-beds  environed  the  houses.  The  park 
upon  which  the  cottages  fronted  had  been  laid  out 
with  some  care  and  taste,  and  promised  to  be  a 
charming  place  when  the  trees  were  grown.  Young 
vineyards  and  orchards  were  flourishing.  A  large 
kitchen-garden  supplied  abundance  of  all  ordinary 
greens  and  vegetables,  together  with  a  great  variety 


1 1 6  ICARIA. 

of  extraordinary  kinds  known  only  to  Frenchmen. 
The  fare  in  the  common  dining-hall  was  wholesome, 
though  not  served  in  an  elaborate  manner.  The 
visitor  could  not  fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  intelli- 
gence of  every  one,  the  pleasant  and  polite  manners 
of  the  women,  and  the  bright  and  pretty  appearance 
of  the  children. 

In  dress  the  Icarians  are  necessarily  very  plain, 
though  entirely  free  from  the  affectation  of  peculi- 
arities. At  Nauvoo,  when  the  colony  numbered 
some  hundreds,  there  was  more  reason  for  adopting 
uniformity  of  garb  than  in  the  small  community  of 
to-day  where  there  is  no  temptation  to  extrava- 
gance or  to  rivalry  in  dress.  A  dark  blue  calico  is 
the  fabric  most  commonly  worn  by  the  women  on 
week-days.  The  men  wear  the  plain,  substantial 
clothes  of  western  farmers.  Most  of  the  members 
can  converse  in  English,  but  French  is  used  exclu- 
sively in  the  community,  and  it  is  spoken  with  great 
accuracy  and  purity.  The  government  is,  of  course, 
purely  democratic.  The  functionaries  are  a  Presi- 
dent, a  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  and  three  Direc- 
tors, all  of  whom  are  chosen  annually,  on  the  third 
of  February,  the  anniversary  of  the  first  departure 
from  Havre.  The  President  represents  the  society 
in  its  external  affairs,  and  the  Directors  have  charge 
respectively  of  agriculture,  industry,  clothing  and 
lodging.  The  Director  of  Industry  is  superintend- 
ent of  buildings,  fences,  the  mill,  etc.     A  woman  is 


REORGANIZA  TION.  1 1 7 

generally  chosen  Director  of  Clothing  and  Lodging. 
The  acts  of  all  these  officers  are  subject  to  discus- 
sion and  revision  in  the  general  assembly,  which 
holds  frequent  sessions ;  and  in  more  important 
matters,  the  officers  simply  carry  into  effect  the 
decisions  of  the  assembly.  The  women  are  entitled 
to  vote  on  several  questions,  such  as  the  admission 
of  new  members,  amendments  to  the  constitution, 
choice  of  a  Director  of  Clothing  and  Lodging,  and 
some  other  matters  either  of  more  than  ordinary 
importance  or  of  more  than  usual  concern  to  the 
women  themselves.  On  most  current  questions 
they  do  not  vote. 

The  community  has  its  own  tailor  and  shoemaker, 
but  otherwise  little  is  attempted  besides  agriculture. 
The  land  of  the  New  Icarian  Community  amounts 
to  about  eleven  hundred  acres,  of  which  two  hun- 
dred are  woodland.  Since  an  abundance  of  good 
coal  has  been  found  in  the  county,  timber  land  has 
not  the  relative  value  it  once  had,  especially  as 
very  few  of  the  trees  are  suitable  for  sawing  into 
lumber.  Fuel  and  fencing  material  comprise  the 
total  product  of  the  timber  land.  The  sawmill  has 
ceased  therefore  to  yield  much  income,  and  stands 
idle  most  of  the  time.  The  same  is  also  true  of  the 
flouring  mill  which  is  under  the  same  roof.  The 
agriculture  is  of  the  usual  western  character,  corn 
and  hay  being  the  principal  crops,  and  cattle  and 
hogs  the  chief  marketable  products. 


Il8  JCARIA. 

The  amusements  of  the  community  are  not  of  a 
very  gay  and  hilarious  character,  and  are  not  so 
prominent  a  feature  of  the  social  life  as  they  would 
be,  were  the  young  members  more  numerous.  (Al- 
though we  have  generally  referred  to  this  branch 
as  the  "  old  party,"  it  was  not  exclusively  composed 
of  old  people ;  on  the  other  hand  the  party  of  the 
young  people  contained  several  aged  persons.)  The 
younger  members  have  some  musical  taste,  and 
there  is  a  cabinet  organ  in  the  hall.  The  library, 
now  containing  about  a  thousand  volumes — an 
equal  number  having  been  kept  at  the  other  village, 
— consists  chiefly  of  standard  French  works  of 
literature,  philosophy,  history,  science,  and  miscel- 
lany, most  of  them  saved  from  the  wreck  of  the 
Nauvoo  library.  A  number  of  French  and  Ameri- 
can periodicals  are  taken,  and  their  perusal  is  the 
favorite  recreation.  Sunday  is  kept  as  a  holiday, 
and  sometimes  the  little  community  gathers  in  the 
assembly  hall  for  music,  select  reading,  a  dance,  or 
an  amateur  play;  while  on  other  Sundays  a  quiet 
picnic  is  enjoyed  under  the  trees  on  the  Nodaway. 
The  standard  of  morality  is  high,  and  the  ethical 
sense  of  the  community,  trained  by  their  unselfish 
mode  of  life,  is  superior;  but,  though  permitting 
any  form  of  belief  among  their  members,  they  are 
not  religious.  Being  materialists  and  positivists, 
philosophically,  they  exalt  their  communistic  doc- 
trines into  a  so-called  religion  of  humanity.    Cabet's 


REORGANIZA  TION.  1 1 9 

views  of  the  life  and  character  of  Jesus  Christ,  as 
presented  in  his  "  Vrai  Christianisme,"  are  those 
held  by  the  Icarians  to-day. 

Their  relations  with  the  outside  world  show  ad- 
mirable discretion  and  good  sense.  If  a  marriage 
is  to  take  place,  the  nearest  justice  of  the  peace  is 
resorted  to,  and  the  knot  is  tied  in  a  simple  and  legal 
manner.  The  school-house,  which  stands  midway 
between  the  two  villages  and  is  patronized  by  both, 
belongs  in  the  regular  district  school  system  of  the 
county,  and  school-director  and  teacher  are  chosen 
in  the  usual  manner.  As  there  are  only  two  or 
three  families  besides  Icarians  resident  in  the  school- 
district,  an  Icarian  is  always  elected  director,  and 
the  teacher  is  appointed  with  particular  reference  to 
the  character  of  the  school.  For  several  years  an 
intelligent  French  lady,  well  educated  in  Cincinnati, 
and  formerly  an  Icarian,  has  presided  in  the  school- 
room. Until  quite  recently  Icaria  maintained  its 
own  schools,  wherein  Icarian  doctrines,  manners, 
and  morals  received  much  attention  ;  but  the  de- 
pleted membership  of  the  communities  has  of  late 
years  made  the  present  arrangement  expedient. 

From  the  first  the  Icarians  have  been  good 
American  citizens,  taking  a  quiet  but  intelligent 
part  in  public  affairs,  and  showing  high  respect  for 
our  institutions  and  forms  of  government.  Cabet 
and  all  his  comrades  took  out  naturalization 
papers  in  1848,  and  showed  ardent  sympathy  with 


120  ICARIA. 

abolitionist  and  free-soil  doctrines.  They  voted  the 
Fremont  presidential  ticket  in  1856,  and  Marchand 
is  rather  proud  of  having  voted  for  every  Republi- 
can President.  All  his  fellow-members  in  the  New 
Icarian  Community  remain  Republicans.  The  other 
community  has  for  several  years  thrown  its  political 
influence  with  the  "Greenback"  party  on  the 
ground  that  it  represents  dissatisfaction  with  the 
present  state  of  society.  If  the  colony  had  remained 
in  Texas,  its  thorough-going  ideas  of  liberty  must 
have  involved  it  in  trouble  with  its  neighbors,1  and 
the  war  would  have  endangered  its  existence.  A 
number  of  its  members  saw  military  service  in  the 
Union  Army.  They  wisely  keep  aloof  from  the 
strife  of  politics,  and  enter  its  domain  only  as  simple 
voters.  An  Icarian  occasionally  fills  a  township 
administrative  office,  but  never  is  a  candidate  for 
any  position  the  duties  of  which  would  interfere 
with  his  community  life  and  work. 

As  money-getters,  the  people  of  New  Icaria  are 
only  moderately  successful.  However,  by  frugal 
living  and  faithful  labor,  they  are  reducing  and  will 

1  Mr.  Marchand  informs  me  that  the  pioneer  party  in  Texas  in 
1848,  were  everywhere  asked  if  they  were  Democrats.  Their  igno- 
rance of  the  English  language  was  only  surpassed  by  their  profound 
ignorance  of  American  party  distinctions.  Of  course  they  replied  un- 
hesitatingly that  they  were  "  democrats,"  as  they  certainly  had  been 
in  France  ;  and  for  some  reason  not  then  understood  by  them  they 
found  that  this  profession  of  political  faith  made  the  Louisianians 
and  Texans  uncommonly  kind.  Mr.  Marchand  thinks  the  Demo- 
cratic party  wins  the  adherence  of  a  great  many  foreigners  simply  on 
account  of  the  prepossession  they  bring  in  favor  of  the  word 
"democrat." 


REORGANIZA  TION.  1 2 1 

soon  extinguish  the  debt  in  which  their  expensive 
quarrel  and  their  re-establishment  involved  them. 
On  the  ist  of  January,  1883,  the  property  of  New 
Icaria  was  worth  at  a  very  low  estimate  $25,000; 
and  their  indebtedness  approached  $4,000.  Their 
land  is  steadily  appreciating  in  value,  and  one  or 
two  good  crops  will  pay  the  debt  and  leave  them  in 
a  financial  condition  which  will  amply  justify  the 
admission  of  new  members  and  will  permit  the  in- 
troduction of  many  comforts  and  luxuries  now  pain- 
fully lacking.  Of  their  business  policy  and  manner 
of  labor,  one  who  knew  the  Icarians  before  the  sep- 
aration, made  the  following  remarks,  which  are 
quite  applicable  to  New  Icaria  to-day :  "  Having 
learned  from  bitter  experience  that  debt  is  the  bane 
of  societies,  as  well  as  of  individuals,  the  Icarians 
have  adopted  it  as  a  fixed  principle,  to  contract  no 
liabilities,  and  to  avoid  all  speculative  and  hazard- 
ous enterprises.  They  are  content  with  small 
gains,  and  in  an  old-fashioned  way  study  rather  to 
moderate  their  outlays  than  to  increase  their  profits. 
Naturally,  as  they  own  in  common,  they  are  not  in 
haste  to  be  rich.  With  them  the  acquisition  of 
wealth  is  not  a  leading  object  of  life.  They  have 
greater  regard  to  independence,  and  give  more 
thought  to  personal  ease.  They  labor  industriously, 
but  not  exhaustingly,  and  in  such  ways  as  to  make 
their  toil  as  comfortable  and  pleasant  as  possible."  ' 

1  S.  W.  Moorhead  in  The  Western  Magazine,  Omaha,  July,  1877. 


122  ICARIA. 

To  keep  the  world  apprised  of  its  doings  the  com- 
munity issues  a  small  monthly  paper  the  Revue 
Icarienne,  which  is  printed  on  a  curious  and  anti- 
quated little  press — originally  a  lithograph  press — 
brought  from  France  by  the  early  colonists.  An 
edition  of  about  three  hundred  copies  is  printed. 
These  circulate  among  French  people  of  Icarian 
antecedents  in  the  United  States,  and  in  France 
among  the  friends  of  the  colonists. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  an  outline  of  the  modus  vivendi 
prevailing  in  New  Icaria,  as  it  has  come  under  my 
observation.  It  is  a  plain,  monotonous  life ;  yet  I 
cannot  hesitate  to  affirm  that  it  seems  in  some  re- 
spects a  more  rational  and  intelligent  life  than  that 
which  is  to  be  found  in  the  average  American 
farmhouse  of  the  West.  Certainly  a  more  serene 
life  one  will  not  often  discover  any  where,  in  this 
age  of  turmoil,  haste,  and  discontent. 

In  their  reorganization  both  parties  undertook  to 
provide  against  the  recurrence  of  deadlocks  and 
constitutional  crises,  but  resorted  to  different  expe- 
dients. The  New  Icarian  Community  (the  old 
people),  instead  of  filing  articles  of  incorporation 
under  the  State  law,  decided  to  organize  in  the 
form  of  a  general  partnership.  They  drew  up  a 
comprehensive  Contract  of  Partnership  which  they 
all  duly  signed  and  which  was  placed  on  record  in 
the  office  of  the  County  Recorder.  This  organization 
was  found  to  give  the  community  all  the  practical 


REORGANIZA  TION.  1 2  3 

advantages  of  an  incorporated  body,  while  avoiding 
some  of  the  dangers  and  disadvantages.  The  con- 
tract is  itself  so  satisfactory  a  statement  of  Icarian 
principles  and  of  their  ordinary  modes  of  govern- 
ment, as  well  also  as  of  their  constitutional  pro- 
visions for  the  protection  of  the  society  in  case  of 
future  dissensions,  that  I  have  made  a  translation  of 
it  and  added  it  as  an  appendix.1 

So  far  as  the  form  of  organization  can  protect  a 
society  and  provide  safeguards  against  its  dissolu- 
tion, New  Icaria  seems  to  be  well  fortified  by  the 
main  provisions  of  this  contract.  Each  member 
agrees  to  relinquish  all  individual  claims  and  to  re- 
frain from  any  attempt  at  any  time  to  recover  a 
portion  of  the  property.  Permission  is  given  to  a 
majority  to  expel  a  minority  when  in  an  overt 
state  of  rebellion  or  insubordination.  Under  arti- 
cles of  incorporation  the  society  might  at  any  time 
be  dissolved  for  some  technical  violation  of  its 
charter  on  the  information  of  an  outsider  ;  but  under 
this  contract  of  partnership  no  outside  interference 
is  possible.  But  safeguards  like  these,  while  they 
may  assure  the  existence  of  New  Icaria  for  a  long 
time  to  come,  cannot  give  it  life  and  success.  The 
evils  of  stagnation  are  now  more  to  be  feared  in  New 
Icaria  than  those  of  dissension.  If  the  jealousy  of 
personal  leadership  could  be  laid  aside,  and  if  some 
strong  man  gifted  with  executive  ability  and  full  of 

1  See  Appendix  I. 


124  ICARIA. 

enthusiasm  could  be  entrusted  with  the  direction  of 
affairs,  an  auspicious  future  might  yet  await  the  so- 
ciety. As  it  is,  predictions  would  be  worthless  and 
superfluous. 


VIII. 

"LA  JEUNE  ICARIE.1 


VIII. 


"LA    JEUNE    ICAR1E." 


The  new  Articles  of  Incorporation  under  which 
the  young  party  reorganized  on  the  16th  of  April, 
1879,  took  care  to  provide  against  the  fate  of  the 
old  charter  by  stating  the  nature  and  purpose  of  the 
organization  in  terms  so  inclusive  as  to  render  it 
practically  impossible  for  the  community  to  exceed 
its  lawful  powers.  Article  II.  reads  as  follows: 
'*  This  corporation,  having  for  its  object  the  mutual 
support  of  each  other,  and  the  creating  of  a  fund 
with  which  to  provide  for  the  comfort  of  the  young, 
the  old,  the  sick,  and  decrepit,  and  the  carrying  out 
of  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  preamble  hereof 
[welfare  and  happiness  of  humanity  and  demonstra- 
tion of  the  feasibility  of  community  life]  ;  for  that 
purpose  the  general  nature  of  business  to  be  trans- 
acted shall  be  all  kinds  of  agriculture,  horticulture, 
stock-raising,  mechanical  arts  of  every  kind  and 
nature,  milling,  manufacturing  in  all  its  depart- 
ments, and  the  establishment  and  building  of 
towns,  villages,  colonies,  schools,  and  colleges,  also 
the  development  of  the  fine  arts  and  also  all  kinds 
of   commerce."      The    articles  provide   that   upon 

127 


128  ICARIA. 

withdrawal  members  shall  receive  the  amount  of 
property  actually  paid  in  by  them,  less  a  proportion 
of  the  indebtedness  of  the  society,  and  shall  further 
receive  such  sums  for  years  of  service  as  the  by-laws 
of  the  corporation  may  specify.  To  show,  however, 
that  this  liberal  provision  for  a  return  to  the  selfish 
life  of  the  world  was  not  for  their  own  benefit  but 
rather  for  the  reassurance  and  comfort  of  new- 
comers, the  incorporators  at  once  proceeded  to 
draw  up  what  they  entitled  an  "  Act  of  Donation  to 
the  Icarian  Community,"  by  which  they  relin- 
quished all  personal  claim  upon  the  property.  The 
essential  paragraphs  in  this  act  of  donation  are  as 
follows : 

"  Know  all  men  by  these  presents  that  we  :  Antoi- 
nette Cubels,  Therese  James,  Louise  Bettannier,  Marie 
Mourot,  Madeleine  Vallet,  Valentine  Vallet,  Louise 
Peron,  Leonie  Dereure,  Francoise  Leroux,  Adele  Gau- 
vain,  Emilie  Fugier,  Maria  Laforgue,  Henriette  Vallet, 
Caroline  Gauvain,  Jean  Haegen,  Michael  Brumme,  An- 
toine  Gauvain,  Emile  Fugier,  Alexis  Marchand,  Simon 
Dereure,  Jerome  Laforgue,  Paul  Leroux,  Emile  Peron, 
Eugene  Mourot,  Pierre  James,  Justin  Vallet,  Auguste 
Gauvain,  Alexandre  Vallet,  being  members  of  the  Icarian 
Community  of  Adams  County,  Iowa,  and  being  desirous 
of  promoting  its  interests,  and  of  establishing  a  perpetual 
fund  for  the  promotion  of  the  business  and  principles  of 
said  Corporation,  do  hereby  donate,  assign,  and  set  over, 
unto  the  said  Corporation,  each  for  ourselves,  the  several 
sums,  property,  rights,  and  credits  as  follows,  to  wit : 


LA    JEUNE  ICARIE.  1 29 

"All  our  right,  title,  and  interest  unto  the  several  sums, 
subscribed  by  us,  on  the  books  of  said  Corporation,  being 
the  property  and  interest  received  by  us  as  our  share  of 
the  old  Corporation  of  Icarian  Community,  and  which 
we  were  found  to  be  entitled  to  by  a  board  of  arbitration 
that  was  selected  to  settle  up  between  the  members  of 
the  old  Icarian  Community  ;  the  same  to  be  held  by 
said  Corporation  to  them  and  their  successors  forever, 
never  to  be  divided  between  the  individual  members  of 
said  Corporation  under  any  circumstances  whatever  ;  but 
to  be  used  by  the  Corporation  for  the  general  purposes  of 
its  organization,  and  in  case  said  Corporation  shall  for 
any  reason  dissolve,  and  fails  to  keep  its  organization 
renewed  from  time  to  time,  upon  such  dissolution  the 
above  amount  as  donated,  after  the  payment  of  debts  of 
the  Corporation,  shall  be  accounted  for  and  paid  over  to 
any  number  of  Icarians,  who  shall  become  incorporated 
on  the  same  principles  and  for  the  same  purposes  as  are 
set  forth  in  the  Articles  and  By-Laws  of  this  Corpora- 
tion." 

In  the  following  October  Icaria  adopted  a  new 
constitution  which,  in  the  picturesque  phraseology 
of  a  member,  "  extends  the  right  of  suffrage  to 
women,  abolishes  the  presidency,  overthrows  the 
demi-gods  and  their  Jacobin  notions  of  political  in- 
fallibility, associates  the  efforts  of  the  community 
with  those  of  outside  socialistic  agitation,  formu- 
lates the  Icarian  creed  according  to  rationalism 
founded  on  observation,  and  places  it  outside  of  and 
against  all  anti-scientific  revelations."     This  consti- 


130  ICARIA. 

tution,  which  abounds  in  felicitous  and  epigrammatic 
expressions  pointing  to  Mr.  Peron  as  its  author,  is 
a  rather  remarkable  document.  It  has  a  long 
preface  discussing  the  history  of  society  and  main- 
taining the  philosophical  and  scientific  basis  of 
socialism.  The  second  chapter  sets  forth  in  twenty- 
six  articles  the  general  principles  of  the  community 
on  the  subjects  of  Society,  Equality,  Liberty,  Fra- 
ternity, Unity,  and  Law.  The  third  chapter  is  con- 
cerned with  Social  Organization,  and  states  the  views 
of  the  society  as  to  community  of  property;  the 
education  of  the  young  ;  the  institution  of  marriage, 
which  is  approved  ;  voluntary  celibacy,  which  is  dis- 
approved. The  fourth  chapter  deals  with  the 
Political  Organization.  The  government  is  as  purely 
democratic  as  possible,  and  the  office  of  President 
is  given  up.  The  only  officers  are  four  Trustees, 
two  of  whom  are  elected  semi-annually.  One  of 
these  is  Secretary-Treasurer,  and  the  others  have 
charge  respectively  of  Industry,  Agriculture,  and 
Commerce.  These  Trustees  execute  the  mandates 
of  the  general  assembly.  Various  matters  of  detail 
are  entrusted  from  time  to  time  by  the  general  as- 
sembly to  special  commissions  appointed  and  em- 
powered as  the  occasion  requires.  The  general 
assembly  is  itself  the  government.  It  is  not  to  be 
presided  over  by  one  of  the  Trustees,  but  by  a  chair- 
man selected  anew  at  each  meeting.  The  constitu- 
tion states  that  "  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Community 


LA    JEUNE  ICARIE.  131 

to  set  apart  such  sums  of  money  as  it  may  deem 
necessary  to  the  propagation  of  principles  which 
tend  to  the  political,  philosophical,  and  economic 
emancipation  of  mankind,"  and  to  this  end  a  stand- 
ing committee  of  propagandism  is  provided  for. 

For  the  information  of  the  public  and  the  con- 
venience of  applicants  and  inquirers,  a  pamphlet 
was  published  containing  this  constitution  and  other 
laws  and  regulations  of  the  Icarian  Community. 
The  "  Law  upon  Admission  "  and  the  "  Law  upon 
Withdrawal  and  Expulsion  '  are  particularly  full 
and  minute,  and  they  contain  so  much  of  frank  con- 
fession and  sage  reflection,  under  the  head  of 
"  preliminary  considerations/'  upon  the  difficulties 
of  a  community  life,  the  differences  between  Uto- 
pian visions  and  existing  realities,  and  the  inevitable 
embarrassments  of  a  sudden  transition  from  the 
individualistic  to  the  socialistic  life,  that  it  is  thought 
worth  while  to  publish  them  as  an  appendix.1 

Young  Icaria,  freed  from  the  apron-strings  of  the 
conservative  party,  set  in  order  its  household 
economy  with  some  flourish  and  a  great  deal  of  real 
energy.  During  the  period  of  discord  and  interreg- 
num between  the  decision  of  the  court  and  the  reor- 
ganization^ number  of  people  withdrew  altogether. 
Of  the  eighty  persons  in  the  society  before  its  disso- 
lution, forty-seven  belonged  to  the  young  party  and 
thirty-three  to  the  old,   although  as  has  been  ex- 

1  See  Appendix  II. 


132  ICARIA. 

plained,  the  latter  party  had  a  voting  majority. 
Having  paid  their  elders  an  indemnity  to  withdraw, 
the  young  party,  with  a  total  personnel  of  about 
thirty-five,  largely  women  and  children,  found  them- 
selves in  undisputed  control  of  the  old  village.  Their 
enthusiasm  proved  contagious,  and  applications  for 
admission  came  by  the  score.  Before  the  end  of 
1880  there  were  upward  of  seventy  names  on  the 
roll  of  membership,  including  those  admitted  pro- 
visionally. Good  crops  blessed  their  labor.  The 
orchards  and  vineyards  planted  by  the  fathers  were 
now  yielding  bountifully  for  the  sons.  Advanced 
methods  in  agriculture  and  stock-raising  were 
eagerly  adopted.  The  industrial  branch  of  produc- 
tion was  begun  with  a  shoe-shop  and  a  blacksmith- 
shop  in  the  neighboring  town  of  Corning,  and  a 
broom  factory  was  started.  All  labored  with  a  fine 
energy  for  a  reduction  of  the  debt  of  seven  or  eight 
thousand  dollars  with  which  the  community 
property  was  encumbered. 

Peron  made  La  Jeune  Icarie,  the  organ  of  the 
community,  a  bright  and  able  paper.  He  found 
some  time  for  scientific  experiments.  In  the  winter 
he  taught  the  inter-communal  school ;  and  the 
electric  telephone  by  which  he  connected  the  school- 
house  and  his  own  cottage  was  the  first  one  used  in 
the  State.  Among  the  new  members  were  men  of 
intellect  and  experience.  The  communistic  world 
has  its  own  channels  of  communication ;  and  the 


LA    JEUNE  ICARIE.  1 33 

new  vigor  and  promise  of  Icaria  became  known  in 
the  communistic  world.  Ten  applicants  knocked  at 
the  gate  where  one  could  be  admitted.  The  com- 
munity had  only  eight  hundred  acres  of  land,  and 
so  long  as  its  industry  was  chiefly  agricultural,  mem- 
bership could  only  be  increased  gradually,  and 
could  not  safely  pass  a  certain  limit.  Consequently 
it  was  the  design  of  the  society  to  develop  a  variety 
of  industrial  enterprises  as  speedily  as  circumstances 
would  allow.  The  "Act  of  Donation,"  as  an  evi- 
dence of  sincere  devotion  to  the  cause,  had  been 
highly  approved  by  the  communistic  world,  and 
young  Icaria  was  enjoying  an  enviable  reputation. 
And  certainly  its  society  was  not  to  be  despised. 
It  had  men  who  had  seen  military  service  on  two 
continents ;  men  who  knew  languages,  history, 
philosophy,  and  modern  science ;  men  who  could 
discuss  current  thought  and  were  familiar  with  cur- 
rent literature  ;  men  who  had  seen  experience  in 
other  communistic  societies ;  old  Icarians  who  had 
come  back  after  years  of  absence  ;  agreeable  women, 
and  plenty  of  vigorous  infants. 

So  constituted,  Icaria  seemed  to  give  promise  of 
speedy  and  interesting  achievements;  but  the 
promise,  unfortunately,  was  not  to  be  realized, — at 
least  not  without  some  adversity  and  delay.  Under 
the  first  flush  of  excitement  and  novelty,  the  com- 
munity had  seemed  to  be  of  one  heart  and  one 
mind ;  but  when  the  group  had  become  fairly  ac- 


134  ICARIA. 

customed  to  their  surroundings  and  to  one  another, 
little  inharmonies  and  incompatibilities  began  to 
appear.  Decided  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the 
general  policy  of  the  community  were  found  to  be 
entertained.  There  were  too  many  clever  men,  and 
no  one  with  a  gift  of  leadership  sufficient  to  assimi- 
late and  unify  the  group.  To  use  a  favorite  Icarian 
word,  there  was  no  real  "solidarity."  There  were 
no  bitter  party  quarrels,  there  was  no  "crisis,"  nor 
even  much  unfriendliness ;  but  the  most  of  the 
new-comers  soon  deemed  it  expedient  to  withdraw, 
and  the  community  was,  in  a  year  or  two,  reduced 
to  a  membership  of  about  thirty,  most  of  whom 
were  of  the  original  "  young  party  '  who  had 
formed  the  incorporation  and  made  the  "  Act  of  Do- 
nation." Of  those  who  departed,  some  went  into 
private  life  ;  a  family  or  two  went  to  Florida  with 
the  purpose  of  founding  there  a  colony  on  Icarian 
principles;  and  in  the  spring  of  1881  a  group  of 
families  went  to  California  to  inaugurate  a  com- 
munity enterprise  which  will  again  have  mention 
in  these  annals. 

So  many  members  having  departed,  it  became 
for  the  present  unprofitable  to  give  attention  to  its 
new  industrial  enterprises,  and  the  shops  in  Corning 
were  given  up,  the  community  merely  providing  for 
its  own  needs  in  small  shops  on  its  own  estate. 
The  cultivation  of  corn  and  the  cereals  on  a  large 
scale  was  also  given  up,  and  the  land  was  seeded  to 


LA    JEUNE  ICARIE.  1 35 

grass  for  the  maintenance  of  flocks  and  herds,  stock- 
farming  having  been  found  more  profitable  and  less 
toilsome  than  plowing  and  sowing  and  reaping. 
But  our  friends  were  already  becoming  convinced 
that  the  business  of  general  farming  and  stock- 
feeding  in  a  Northern  State  is  not  the  one  best 
adapted  to  the  welfare  of  a  community  like  theirs. 
A  certain  amount  of  leisure  for  mental  improvement 
must  be  regarded  as  an  indispensable  condition  of 
success  in  a  society  based  on  Icarian  or  similar  prin- 
ciples. Community  life  must  provide  something 
besides  bread  and  butter,  or  it  falls  short  of  its  main 
object.  The  young  Icarians  came  to  have  a  painful 
feeling  that  for  them  the  arduous  business  of  gen- 
eral farming  was  an  impediment  in  the  way  of  moral 
and  intellectual  progress,  and  they  began  to  look 
forward  to  a  removal  at  some  time  to  a  warmer 
climate,  where  horticulture,  a  business  so  congenial 
to  the  Frenchman,  might  take  the  place  of  heavy 
farming,  which  seldom  suits  the  Gallic  tempera- 
ment. 

Florida  was  talked  of,  and  those  who  had  gone 
thither  sent  glowing  accounts  of  orange  and  lemon 
groves  and  cheap  lands.  A  committee  which  was 
sent  out  to  "  prospect  "  for  a  location  visited  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  Louisiana,  and  the  neighborhood 
of  the  original  Icarian  station  in  Texas,  now  a  flour- 
ishing region.  The  group  of  families  who  went  to 
California  had   purchased  a  tract  of  fruit-land  in 


136  ICAR1A. 

Sonoma  County,  eighteen  miles  from  San  Francisco, 
and  were  sending  enthusiastic  reports  from  the  Oc- 
cident, and  were  inviting  their  former  associates  in 
Iowa  to  join  them.  At  length  it  came  to  be  gen- 
erally understood  that  the  community  would  leave 
Iowa  whenever  a  favorable  opportunity  to  sell  the 
property  should  be  found,  and  would  resort  to  the 
pleasant  fruit-lands  of  California.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances plans  of  enlargement  and  improvement 
were  for  the  time  postponed,  and  attempts  at  propa- 
ganda were  held  in  abeyance.  The  future  triumphs 
or  failures  of  the  community  were  not  to  be  in 
Iowa, 


IX. 

IN  CALIFORNIA—"  ICARIA-SPERANZA." 


IX. 

IN    CALIFORNIA. "  ICARIA-SPERANZA." 

At  length,  in  the  winter  of  1883-4,  the  negotia- 
tions which  had  been  for  some  time  pending,  resulted 
in  the  adoption  of  a  definite  basis  and  contract  of 
union  between  the  little  Icarian  group  at  Cloverdale, 
California,  and  the  Icarian  community  (young 
branch)  in  Iowa.  It  was  agreed  that  as  soon  as 
Icaria  could  dispose  of  the  Iowa  estate,  its  members 
would  remove  in  a  body  to  California  and  unite  for- 
tunes with  their  friends  on  the  "  Bluxome  rancho." 

Of  the  interesting  personal  history  of  the  little 
group  already  in  California  something  more  will  be 
said  in  a  subsequent  chapter  devoted  to  the  por- 
traiture of  various  Icarians.  Suffice  it  to  say  here 
that  the  leader  of  the  colony  was  a  Mr.  Dehay,  the 
son-in-law  of  an  aged  exile  of  '48,  Jules  Leroux,  and 
that  the  sons  of  the  latter,  Pierre  Leroux  and  Jules 
Leroux  fits,  with  their  families,  with  two  or  three 
additional  families  not  of  the  Leroux  connection, 
made  up  the  entire  membership.  These  families  had 
left  Icaria  in  the  spring  of  1 881,  and  had  wisely  spent 
several  months  in  California  before  deciding  upon  a 
purchase.     In  September   they  found   for  sale  the 

139 


HO  ICARIA. 

Bluxome  ranch  on  the  Russian  river,  in  Sonoma 
County,  two  or  three  miles  from  the  town  of  Clover- 
dale,  and  eighteen  miles  from  San  Francisco.  It 
contained  885  acres,  and  suited  them  precisely.  The 
price  demanded  was  $15,000.  Mr.  Dehay  was  pos- 
sessed of  upward  of  $4,000,  and  the  others  were  able 
to  contribute  enough  to  make  up  the  first  payment  of 
$5 ,000.  The  remaining  payments  were  considerably 
deferred,  and  the  little  colony  set  vigorously  to  work 
to  pay  the  debt.  At  the -end  of  two  years  they  had 
a  farm  worth  $30,000  and  their  debt  was  reduced  to 
$6,000.  Though  living  in  an  associative  way,  they 
had  not  yet  framed  a  formal  and  legal  organization, 
that  being  deferred  in  anticipation  of  some  such 
event  as  the  fusion  with  the  young  Icarian  commune. 
For  a  description  of  the  character  and  capabilities 
of  the  farm,  and  its  charms  of  situation,  I  may  quote 
from  an  article  which  an  editor  in  the  neighboring 
town  of  Cloverdale  inserted  in  his  paper  in  Decem- 
ber, 1882.1 

"  Two  miles  and  one  half  below  town,  skirting  the 
banks  of  our  beautiful  stream,  Russian  River,  lies  the 
extensive  farm  owned  by  the  French  colonists.  *  *  * 
The  commodious  dwellings  and  barns  are  located  on  the 
Healdsburg  road,  where  they  were  erected  several  years 
ago,  and  present  a  rare  picture  of  rural  comfort.  Sweep- 
ing around  over  low,  rolling  hills  and  smiling  valleys,  is 
seen  the  body  of  the  farm,  which  is  destined  in  the  near 

1  The  Pacific  Sentinel,  Cloverdale,  Dec.  21,  1882. 


IN  CALIFORNIA.  I4I 

future  to  become  one  of  the  finest  vineyards  in  California. 
The  entire  tract  comprises  885  acres,  of  which  about  400 
is  first-class  vineyard  land  that  is  being  rapidly  cleared 
and  made  ready  for  the  plow.  Nine  white  men  and  six 
Chinamen  are  at  work  grubbing  out  trees  and  brush,  pre- 
paring the  land  for  cultivation,  and  acre  after  acre  is  rap- 
idly being  added  to  the  improved  area.  At  present, 
forty-five  acres  are  planted  in  rooted  vines,  principally  of 
the  Zin-fandel  variety,  and  enough  will  be  added  in  the 
spring  to  swell  the  area  to  fifty  acres.  *  *  *  Besides 
the  vineyard,  one  hundred  acres  of  fair-grade  wheat  land 
is  under  cultivation,  and  at  this  writing  it  is  all  sown  and 
some  of  the  young  grain  is  already  above  ground.  A 
thrifty  orchard  of  five  acres  stretches  to  the  west  from 
the  Healdsburg  road,  and  includes  many  choice  varieties 
of  trees.  Some  of  the  finest  peaches  we  have  ever  tasted 
were  produced  here.  *  *  *  It  is  the  intention  of  the 
proprietors  to  increase  the  area  of  the  orchard  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  they  will  engage  extensively  in  the  culture 
of  French  and  German  prunes.  They  intend  planting 
nothing  but  the  very  best  varieties,  and  hence  will  make 
a  success  of  the  business.  They  also  propose  establish- 
ing a  first-class  winery  and  distillery  as  soon  as  their  pro- 
duction will  admit  of  the  outlay.  As  soon  as  practicable 
a  French  colony  will  be  formed,  duly  incorporated,  to 
include  some  twenty-five  families,  and  with  this  force  the 
large  farm  will  soon  be  developed.  *  *  *  The  site  on 
which  the  dwellings  intended  for  the  colonists  will  be  built, 
is  located  near  the  road  in  a  beautiful  meadow,  sloping 
on  a  gentle  incline  to  the  banks  of  the  Russian  River,  and 
is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots  in  this  locality. 


142  I C ARIA. 

"  Standing  on  a  vine-planted  mound  near  the  road,  and 
gazing  upon  the  beautiful  valley,  which  will  one  day  be 
the  centre  for  so  much  life  and  prosperity,  we  must  admit 
that  it  is  naturally  an  earthly  Eden.  Geyser  Peak  stands 
boldly  forth  at  no  great  distance  from  the  lovely  vale,  and 
even  Mt.  St.  Helena  is  plainly  visible,  towering  toward 
heaven  in  the  distance.  The  low  hills  on  every  side,  the 
road  winding  along  and  almost  parallel  here  with  the 
curving  river,  the  picturesque  woods  and  the  smiling  vine- 
yards, all  unite  in  forming  a  panorama  transcendant  in 
its  quiet,  peaceful  beauty.  Exclusive  of  vineyard  and 
grain  land,  there  yet  remains  about  three  hundred  acres 
of  rolling  hill-land,  suitable  for  pasture,  and  the  colonists 
will  utilize  this  by  entering  the  cattle-raising  business. 
They  thoroughly  understand  this  class  of  ranching,  and 
prefer  it  to  wool-growing." 

As  thus  described,  the  topography  and  the  capa- 
bilities of  the  new  Icarian  station  are  most  inviting. 
Certainly,  if  the  writer  were  seeking  the  realization 
of  a  Utopia,  his  ideal  would  not  be  met  in  a  com- 
munity of  factory  operatives,  nor  of  toiling  agricul- 
turists engaged  in  the  rough  labor  of  general  farm- 
ing in  a  Northern  State;  but  of  all  places  and  all 
occupations  on  earth  he  would  choose  as  most  con- 
sonant with  the  theories  and  purposes  of  com- 
munism— California  and  horticulture.  In  begin- 
ning life  anew  on  the  Pacific  slope,  an  Icarian  com- 
mune for  the  first  time  finds  itself  in  an  environ- 
ment thoroughly  favorable  to  its  development. 
Few  persons  outside  of  California  have  yet  come  to 


IN  CALIFORNIA.  1 43 

realize  the  marvels  of  its  orchard  products  and  the 
''terrestrial  Paradises"  in  which  its  opulent  horti- 
culturists embower  themselves.  An  acre  there  pro- 
duces more  fruit,  and  of  vastly  superior  quality, 
than  ten  or  twenty  acres  elsewhere  in  the  United 
States.  The  soberest  recital  of  facts  concerning 
the  transformation,  during  the  past  decade,  of  wide 
tracts  of  California  wheat-lands  into  orchards  and 
gardens  containing  all  the  fruits  and  spices  of  the 
tropics  in  addition  to  all  the  fruits  of  the  temperate 
regions,  seems  too  extravagant  for  belief.  Yet  it  is 
true  that  lands  which  a  few  years  ago,  as  wheat- 
fields,  gave  employment  to  four  men,  now  require 
at  least  four  hundred  fruit-gatherers  during  the 
picking  season ;  and  the  tract  which,  in  wheat,  fur- 
nished a  comfortable  income  to  a  single  proprietor, 
now  enables  fifty  proprietors  to  live  in  comfort  and 
refinement  as  fruit-growers. 

Taking,  therefore,  the  roseate  view  of  the  future 
of  the  "  Icaria-Speranza  Community,"  as  the  fusion 
of  the  two  groups  is  to  be  called,  it  is  not  hard  to 
imagine  that  in  a  few  years  they  will  have  trans- 
formed the  Bluxome  ranch  into  a  veritable  Paradise  ; 
that  in  place  of  the  primitive  sheds  of  the  Texas 
pioneers,  the  tenements  of  the  sojourners  at  Nau- 
voo,  the  log-huts  or  the  box-like  frame  structures  in 
Iowa,  the  Icarians  will  dwell  in  commodious  and 
beautiful  houses  with  complete  appointments  some- 
what after  the  manner  of  those  pictured  by  Cabet 


144  ICARIA. 

in  the  "Voyage  en  Icarie";   that  the  educational 
and  recreational,  the  scientific  and  literary,  pursuits 
so  highly  esteemed  by  the  Icarians  will  have  found 
their  long-deferred  opportunity  to  flourish ;  that  the 
climate  and  the  nature  of  the  work  will  have  proved 
remarkably  adapted  to  the  French  temperament, 
and  that  membership  will  have  increased  rapidly, 
both  from  within  and  from  without.     Indeed,  the 
very  necessity  of  many  active  hands  to  gather  in 
the  fruit  will  compel  the  increase  of  membership  as 
the  area  of  orchard  and  vineyard  increases ;  and  in 
work  of  this  kind  the  women  and  children  are  as 
useful  as  men.     On  the  other  hand,  the  enforced 
leisure  of  six  or  eight  months  in  the  year  will  prove 
advantageous  to  the  mental  and  moral  interests  of 
the   community.      But   even   while   picturing    this 
attractive  prospect,  one  can  hardly  help  remember- 
ing the  unpleasant  occurrences  which  were  disas- 
trous to  the  first  Paradise  of  which  we  read;  and 
judging  their  future  by  their  past,  what  guaranty 
can  we  have  that  our  French  friends  will  love  one 
another  and  behave  themselves  discreetly  in  their 
Paradise  ?     Alas,  there  is  the  rub  ! 

The  new  name,  "  Icaria-Speranza,"  was  adopted 
as  a  compromise.  The  Messrs.  Leroux  were  at- 
tached to  the  name  "  Speranza"  because  their  uncle, 
the  famous  philosopher,  Pierre  Leroux,  had  given 
that  title  to  a  Utopian  romance  he  had  published, 
in  which  he  pictured  a  social  organization  somewhat 


IN  CALIFORNIA.  1 45 

like  that  advocated  by  Cabet.  The  name  "  Icaria- 
Speranza "  perpetuates,  therefore,  the  memories 
and  unites  the  similar  social  systems  of  two  distin- 
guished contemporaneous  writers  and  radical  politi- 
cians, Etienne  Cabet  and  Pierre  Leroux. 

The  new  constitution  of  "  Icaria-Speranza  "  is  in 
the  form  of  a  "  Contract  and  Articles  of  Agree- 
ment." Like  the  "  New  Icarian  Community,"  they 
have  concluded  that  the  form  of  a  general  partner- 
ship is  preferable  to  that  of  a  corporation.  This 
new  constitution  contains  many  important  innova- 
tions ;  and  as  it  is  the  fruit  of  the  combined  reflec- 
tion and  experience  of  men  who  know  well  the 
problems  of  community  life,  it  is  worth  careful 
study.1  Among  the  cardinal  principles  of  the  old 
Icarian  constitution  were  these  three:  i,  the  abso- 
lute authority  of  the  majority  except  in  a  few  speci- 
fied cases  ;  2,  the  absolute  community  of  property  ; 
3,  the  absolute  control  of  the  individual  by  the  so- 
ciety— i.  e.,  the  abnegation  of  personal  liberty.  The 
new  constitution  considerably  modifies  these  three 
principles,  as  we  shall  proceed  to  show,  after  having 
explained  the  framework  of  the  government.  The 
General  Assembly  is  composed  of  all  full  members 
of  both  sexes,  above  the  age  of  twenty-one.  In 
January  of  each  year,  five  standing  committees  are 
elected,  having  charge  of  the  following  subjects  :  I, 
Works  ;  2,  Home  Consumption  ;    3,  Education  ;  4, 

1  This  constitution  will  be  found  in  full  as  Appendix  III. 


146  ICARIA. 

Commerce  ;  5,  Accounts.  These  committees  in  a 
collective  capacity  constitute  the  Board  of  Adminis- 
tration. The  Board  has  vested  in  it  the  titles  to 
the  property  of  the  community.  Ordinary  matters 
of  administration  are  attended  to  by  the  individual 
committees,  or  if  more  important,  by  the  entire 
Board.  Regular  meetings  of  the  General  Assembly 
are  held  only  twice  a  year  ;  though  special  meetings 
may  be  called  at  any  time  by  the  Board,  or  by  a 
certain  number  of  members  concurring  in  a  written 
request.  No  action  whatever  can  be  taken  by  a  com- 
mittee, or  by  the  Board  of  Administration,  unless  with 
the  unanimous  consent  of  every  member  of  such  Commit- 
tee or  Board ;  and  no  decision  of  the  General  Assembly 
is  valid  unless  stistaincd  by  a  three-fourtJis  vote.  In 
many  matters,such  as  admissions,  expulsions,  etc.,  a 
nine-tenths  vote  of  the  whole  voting  membership  is 
required.  To  amend  or  change  certain  of  the  Articles 
of  Agreement,  a  unanimous  vote  is  requisite,  for  other 
articles  a  nine-tenths  vote,  and  for  the  rest  a  three- 
fourths  vote.  The  evident  object  is  to  have  as 
little  government  as  possible,  and  to  leave  routine 
administration  to  the  committees  instead  of  dis- 
cussing every  detail  in  frequent  meetings  of  the  as- 
sembly. This  will  have  a  marked  tendency  to  miti- 
gate that  bane  of  communities, — too  much  politics. 
While  majority  tyranny  will  evidently  be  impossible, 
minority  conservatism  may  at  times  block  the 
wheels  of  progress.     But  this  power  of  the  minority 


IN  CALIFORNIA.  1 47 

can  be  exercised  only  negatively — i.  e.,  as  a  veto 
power ;  and  the  intention  that  changes  shall  not  be 
made  without  a  very  general  concurrence  of  view, 
would  seem  favorable  to  the  stability  of  the  society. 
Party  action  under  this  system  will  have  much  less 
scope  than  under  the  old  majority  rule.  A  useful 
device  to  facilitate  elections  of  officers  is  introduced. 
For  election  on  the  first  ballot  a  three-fourths  ma- 
jority of  all  the  voting  membership  is  requisite;  on 
second  ballot  a  simple  majority  elects  ;  and  on  third 
ballot  the  person  receiving  the  highest  number  of 
votes — that  is,  a  plurality — is  elected. 

But  the  greatest  innovation  in  this  new  constitu- 
tion lies  in  the  admission,  to  a  limited  extent,  of  the 
principle  of  private  property.  Each  family  is  to 
have  exclusive  and  absolute  ownership  in  articles  of 
apparel,  furniture,  and  in  general  in  the  equipments 
and  utensils  of  the  household.  This  will  give 
greater  freedom  and  independence  to  personal  and 
family  life.  Up  to  an  annual  value  of  fifty  dollars, 
individuals  may  receive,  and  keep  as  their  own, 
presents  from  friends  outside  the  organization.  The 
book-keeping  of  the  community  is  to  provide  in  the 
following  way  for  the  contingency  of  withdrawal  : 
Upon  entering  the  community,  individuals  place 
all  their  property  in  the  common  fund,  and  the 
amount  is  credited  upon  the  books.  An  inventory 
is  taken  at  the  end  of  every  year,  and  the  surplus, 
or  net  profits,  is  calculated.     This  sum  is  divided 


I48  ICARIA. 

into  two  equal  parts,  one  of  which  goes  to  augment 
the  common  indivisible  fund,  and  the  other  is 
divided  into  as  many  equal  shares  as  there  are 
voting  members,  such  shares  being  credited  on  the 
individual  accounts  in  the  community's  books. 
This,  however,  is  not  so  great  a  departure  from 
communism  as  it  might  at  first  seem  ;  for  no  one 
has  any  right  or  claim  to  the  sums  placed  to  his 
credit  until  he  has  relinquished  all  his  membership 
rights,  and  has  actually  returned  to  the  world  and 
its  ways  ;  in  which  case  this  method  of  book-keeping 
readily  determines  the  amount  that  shall  be  paid 
him.  Of  course  under  this  constitution  the  famous 
"  Icarian  Donation  "  is  still  respected,  and  the  most 
of  the  charter  members  would  not  be  entitled  to 
withdraw  their  original  deposit  in  case  they  should 
retire,  although  they  would  be  entitled  to  the  an- 
nual sums  placed  to  their  credit,  and  also  to  a  bonus 
of  two  hundred  dollars  provided  for,  to  meet  their 
case,  in  an  article  of  the  new  contract. 

The  feature  of  this  constitution  most  open  to 
criticism  is  that  of  the  so-called  "  labor-premiums." 
To  each  person  above  the  age  of  sixteen  who  en- 
gages in  the  common  work  of  the  community,  there 
is  to  be  J paid  a  monthly  "  labor-premium  "  of  one 
dollar  and  a  half,  provided  he  has  lost  no  working- 
time.  If  he  has  lost  not  more  than  half  a  day  in 
the  month,  he  will  receive  one  dollar;  and  if  not 
more  than  a  day,  fifty  cents.     No  excuses  whatso- 


IN  CALIFORNIA.  1 49 

ever  will  be  accepted  in  lieu  of  lost  time.  The 
Icarians  are  neither  hermits  nor  fanatics  ;  and  from 
the  nature  of  their  surroundings  they  must  come  so 
much  in  contact  with  the  outside  world,  as  to  make 
a  little  private  spending-money  a  convenient  thing. 
Furthermore,  in  the  theory  of  communism  there 
can  be  no  serious  objection  to  having  such  spending- 
money,  provided  the  distribution  of  it  is  not  upon 
objectionable  principles.  This  plan  of  labor-premi- 
ums would  seem  designed  to  reward  good  health 
and  a  mere  show  of  "  putting  in  the  time."  The 
man  who  is  sick  a  day,  or  who  is  kept  from  work 
by  reason  of  sickness  in  his  family,  may  have  served 
the  community  during  the  other  days  of  the  month 
in  such  a  way  as  to  be  ten  times  as  valuable  as  another 
who  has  lost  no  time  ;  yet  the  former  sacrifices  his  pit- 
tance of  spending-money.  "  From  each  according  to 
his  abilities,  to  each  according  to  his  needs,"  is  the 
original  Icarian  motto  ;  and  this  labor-premium  ar- 
rangement is  not  at  all  consistent  with  it.  One 
might  infer  that  the  chief  practical  difficulty  in  a 
communistic  society  arose  from  the  disposition  of 
members  to  shirk  steady  labor  ;  and  yet  as  a  matter 
of  fact  that  is  not  the  case.  With  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  Robert  Owen's  motley  congregation  at 
New  Harmony,  no  community  has  ever  been 
troubled  in  that  way.  With  all  their  other  adverse 
experiences,  the  Icarians  have  never  been  annoyed 
by  the  presence  of  lazy  members.     An  atmosphere 


I50  ICARIA. 

of  industry  pervades  community  life  which  is  prac- 
tically irresistible  in  its  influence.  There  seems  no 
good  reason  whatever  why  the  distribution  of  a 
little  pocket-money  once  a  month  should  be  made 
upon  so  arbitrary  and  unreasonable  a  plan.  In  our 
opinion  the  labor-premiums  will  be  found  impracti- 
cable, and  will  in  time  be  superseded  by  a  simple 
and  even-handed  method  of  distributing  from  time 
to  time  among  all  faithful  members  such  sums  as 
may  seem  desirable. 

The  matter  of  clothing  illustrates  the  greater  per- 
sonal freedom  permitted  by  the  new  constitution. 
Instead  of  furnishing  necessary  articles  of  raiment 
without  regard  to  individual  choice,  the  Board  of 
Administration  will  open  accounts  in  the  name  of 
each  individual  member  with  merchants  in  the 
neighboring  town  ;  and  each  may  buy  such  clothing 
as  pleases  him,  within  the  limits  of  the  sum  placed 
to  his  credit  for  that  purpose.  Parents  provide  for 
their  children  on  the  same  plan.  The  credit  is  to 
be  renewed  twice  a  year,  the  "  budget"  being  pre- 
pared by  the  Committee  of  Home  Consumption, 
and  subjected  to  the  approval  of  the  Assembly.  For 
other  interesting  features  of  this  constitution,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  document  itself.1 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  me  by 
Mr.  Peron  is  a  good  general  comment  upon  the  new 
instrument : 


1  See  appendix  III. 


IN  CALIFORNIA.  151 

11  We  have  abandoned  the  legal  form  of  a  corporation, 
and  have  adopted  that  of  a  general  partnership,  living 
under  the  clauses  of  a  covenant  containing  a  good  many 
more  provisos  for  liberty  than  our  former  constitution 
does.  *  *  *  We  consider  the  adoption  of  our  new 
modus  vivendi  as  a  pacific  revolution  in  Icaria.  We  have 
all  lost  the  greater  part  of  our  faith  in  the  principles  of 
majority  rule,  and  adhere  more  every  day  to  the  higher 
doctrine  of  assent  by  all  to  any  act  affecting  common  in- 
terest. Therefore  we  reject  all  the  more  the  primitive 
notions  of  leadership,  temporal  or  spiritual,  have  no  use 
for  Presidents,  high-titled  officials,  etc.,  and  rely  mostly 
upon  everybody's  sense  of  duty  and  responsibility  to  keep 
our  machine  a-going  morally  and  materially.  In  fine,  it 
is  our  first  leap  in  the  brilliant  avenue  which  leads  to 
social  anarchy — understood  in  its  good  sense — or  to  the 
very  attractive  doctrine  of  '  Do  as  you  please,'  so  cleverly 
and  humanely  expounded  by  our  immortal  French  phil- 
osopher, Rabelais.  Of  course  narrow  minds,  the  common- 
place tribe  of  grocers,  will  call  it  a  mad  leap  ;  but  we 
except,  stating  that  we  know  our  high  business  as  well  as 
they  understand  theirs,  which  is  limited  to  the  very  small 
circumference  of  a  hysteric  dollaromania." 

The  material  prospects  of  Icaria-Speranza  are  de- 
cidedly good.  The  community  begins  with  an 
aggregate  capital  of  about  $60,000.  Besides  its 
fruit-culture  and  wine  business,  it  will  engage  in  the 
breeding  of  blooded  live  stock,  and  will  have  good 
expectations  of  a  bountiful  income  after  a  season  or 
two  of  preparation.     The  combined  membership  at 


152  ICARIA. 

present  is  fifty-two.  Such  is  the  Icarian  movement 
in  its  latest  phase.  There  is  no  middle  ground  for 
"  Icaria-Speranza  "  ;  it  must  be  either  a  bright  success 
or  a  dismal  failure.  Which  it  shall  be  will  depend, 
not  upon  external  conditions,  but  upon  the  devotion, 
forbearance,  harmony,  and  what  in  general  we  may 
term  the  associative  capacity  of  its  members. 


X. 

PERSONAL  SKETCHES. 


X. 

PERSONAL    SKETCHES. 

A  BOOK  might  be  filled  with  sketches  of  the  re- 
markable men  who  have  at  one  time  or  another  been 
connected  with  Icaria.     Thus,  of  the  colony  in  its 
palmy  days  at  Nauvoo  some  one  has  written :  "  A 
physician  who  had  received  diplomas  from  two  Ger- 
man universities,  and  an  ex-military  officer  who  had 
won  distinction  in  Algiers  and  had  been  decorated 
with  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  were  enrolled 
in   the  corps  of  wood-choppers.     A  civil  engineer 
who  had  superintended  the  construction  of  a  great 
French  railroad  was  put  in  charge  of  the  wheezy  old 
engine  of  the  flouring  mill.     An  accomplished  young 
architect  and  builder  from  Normandy  was  retained  by 
the  President  as  a  private  secretary,  and  spent  most  of 
his  time  rendering  Cabet's  good  French  into  bad  Eng- 
lish for  publication  in  The  Popular  Tribune,  a  dingy 
little  five-column  journal  devoted  to  the  glorification 
of  the  '  new  philosophy  of  life.'     And  so  on  through 
the  list."     Another  speaks  of   a  "  talented  fresco- 
painter  who  was  set  to  digging  coal,  at  which  em- 
ployment he  was  able  to  make  the  magnificent  sum 
of  fifteen  cents  a  day."     But  these  remarks  may  be 

155 


1 56  ICARIA. 

somewhat  misleading  as  to  the  general  personnel  of 
the  colony.  Only  a  few  had  been  men  of  mark  in 
France.  Saint-Simonismhad  appealed  to  the  highly 
intellectual  classes,  and  so,  to  a  less  exclusive  degree, 
had  Fourierism  ;  Icarianism  had  gone  home  to  the 
ouvrier  class, — the  sturdy  young  tailors  and  shoe- 
makers and  mechanics  of  the  provincial  towns  all 
over  France.  But,  none  the  less,  they  were  a  re- 
markable body  of  men.  The  very  nature  of  their 
experiment  had  been  a  sifting  process,  had  developed 
their  intellects,  and  had  made  them  men  of  thought 
and  character. 

The  young  architect  referred  to  in  the  passage 
quoted  above,  was  scarcely  more  than  a  lad  when  he 
joined  the  advance  guard  of  Icarians  who  left  Havre 
for  Texas  on  Feb.  3,  1848.  On  reaching  New 
Orleans  and  learning  of  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolu- 
tion in  Paris,  this  young  man,  A.  Picquenard  by 
name,  was  in  favor  of  returning  to  France ;  and 
abandoned  the  pioneer  party.  But  with  a  young 
man's  curiosity  he  determined  to  see  Indians  before 
returning  home,  and  spent  a  year  or  two  among  the 
tribes  in  the  Indian  Territory.  Meanwhile  Icaria 
had  become  located  at  Nauvoo,  and  Picquenard  there 
rejoined  the  society.  His  first  large  achievement  as 
an  American  architect  was  to  have  been  made  in  the 
completion  of  the  great  Mormon  temple  and  its 
transformation  into  Icarian  assembly-halls  and 
school-rooms.     Picquenard  was  absent  on  business 


PERSONAL   SKETCHES.  I $7 

connected  with  this  building  project  when  a  great 
storm  demolished  the  temple  walls.  He  never  re- 
turned, but  took  up  his  abode  at  St.  Louis,  wherein 
later  years  he  made  a  reputation  as  an  architect 
second  to  none  in  the  country.  The  two  finest 
buildings  in  the  West,  the  new  State-houses  of 
Illinois  and  Iowa,  will  for  centuries  be  monuments 
to  his  genius.     He  died  in  1876.1 

There  are  several  surviving  members  of  the  first 
band  of  Texas  pioneers.  One  was  too  sick  to 
follow  his  comrades  away  from  Texas,  and  he  re- 
mains to-day  a  flourishing  citizen  of  Dallas.  A  few 
others  are  scattered  through  the  west,  at  Nauvoo,  at 
St.  Louis,  or  in  different  Iowa  towns.  But  while 
nearly  all  the  old  Icarians  keep  their  faith  in  the 
principles  of  their  youth  and  retain  sympathy  with 
the  struggling  little  community,  only  one  of  the 
first  advance  guard  remains  an  active  Icarian. 
Alexis  A.  Marchand  has  been  a  prominent  man  from 
the  first.  He  was  the  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of 
the  Texas  party,  a  young  man  of  such  courage  and 
devotion  as  only  the  spirit  of  '48  could  have  pro- 
duced. He  had  been  a  student  at  Paris  and  a  clerk 
in  an  attorney's  office,  and  was  regarded  as  having 
more  literary  ability  than  the  young  mechanics  who 
surrounded  him.  At  Nauvoo  he  was  made  useful 
in  the  work  of  education  and  especially  in  the  busy 

1  More  than  one  young  and  rising  architect  owes  his  success  to  asso- 
ciation with  Picquenard,  among  the  number  being  Mr.  M,  E.  Bell,  the 
Supervising  Architect  of  the  United  States  Treasury  Department. 


158  ICARIA. 

printing-office.  He  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
party  which  withstood  Cabet,  and  he  edited  some 
very  strong  numbers  of  the  Revue  Icarienne,  in  justi- 
fication of  the  action  of  the  Nauvoo  majority,  for 
circulation  in  France  after  Cabet's  withdrawal  and 
death.  In  1857  ^e  was  made  president  of  the  com- 
munity, and  was  also  the  first  president  after  the 
reorganization  in  Iowa  two  or  three  years  later. 
Since  that  time  he  has  repeatedly  filled  the  presi- 
dential chair.  He  is  now  a  man  of  benign  and  ven- 
erable aspect,  but  in  full  vigor  of  body  and  mind. 
No  one  can  know  him  without  being  impressed  with 
the  purity,  dignity,  and  unselfishness  of  his  char- 
acter. Serene  and  kindly  in  manner,  lofty  in  his 
standards  of  right  and  duty,  almost  a  mystic  in  his 
devotion  to  communism  and  the  welfare  of  mankind, 
Marchand  is  a  true  type  of  the  altruist.  To  have 
produced  a  few  such  characters  as  Marchand  is  itself 
enough  to  redeem  Icarianism  from  the  charge  of 
utter  failure.  He  was  a  prominent  member  of  the 
party  of  the  old  people  in  the  unhappy  division  of 
1877,  which  not  only  cleft  the  community  in  twain, 
but  also  divided  families, — his  son,  Alexis  Marchand, 
going  with  the  young  party. 

On  a  farm  of  five  or  six  hundred  acres  adjoining 
the  land  of  the  New  Icarian  Community  lives  a 
a  man  who  has  made  himself  a  part  of  Icarian  his- 
tory,— Jean  Baptiste  Gerard.  In  France  he  was  a 
young  cabinet-maker,  of  bright  mind  and  remarka- 


PERSONAL   SKETCHES,  159 

bly  strong  characteristics.  Though  only  twenty-five 
years  old,  he  was  the  leader  of  the  third  advance 
guard,  which  left  France  in  the  fall  of  1848  and  met 
the  retreating  Texas  pioneers  at  New  Orleans.  He 
became  at  Nauvoo  a  member  of  Cabet's  administra- 
tion, filling  the  office  of  Director-General  of  Finan- 
ces. In  the  quarrel  with  Cabet  he  became  the  most 
prominent  figure,  and  was  made  Cabet's  successor 
in  the  presidential  office  in  1856.  In  1857  ^e 
found  it  necessary  to  resign  and  retire  temporarily 
from  the  society  in  order  to  act  as  assignee  for  the 
community.  This  duty  occupied  him  a  number  of 
years,  and  to  his  honorable  discharge  of  the  trust 
were  due  the  payment  of  the  creditors  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  preservation  of  the  society  on  the 
other.  Many  a  long  and  weary  journey  on  horse- 
back or  on  foot  did  he  make  over  the  several  hun- 
dred miles  of  almost  uninhabited  prairies  between 
Nauvoo  and  western  Iowa,  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
unpaid  task.  In  1863  he  had  fully  completed  the 
duties  of  the  trust  and  was  about  to  re-enter  the 
society  (his  withdrawal  of  course  had  only  been 
technical);  the  community  was  not  very  rich  nor 
prosperous,  but  it  was  on  a  safe  footing  and  had 
fair  prospects  ;  Gerard  had  no  other  home,  and  his 
family  had  always  remained  in  the  community; 
what  it  retained  of  fortune  he  had  a  right  to  feel 
was  due  to  him  more  than  to  any  other  man.  But 
there  was  a  prominent  member  with  whom  he  was 


l6o  I C ARIA. 

not  in  accord,  and  he  feared  that  his  return  might 
endanger  the  harmony  of  the  society.  He  was  forty 
years  of  age,  and  had  given  the  community  fifteen 
years  of  talented  and  self-sacrificing  service.  With 
the  pittance  of  twenty  dollars  apiece  which  the 
Icarian  constitution  at  that  time  allowed  to  with- 
drawing members,  he  took  his  family  and  departed 
to  find  a  new  home.  It  is  not  apprehension  of  their 
own  failure  in  the  competitive  struggle  which  im- 
pels such  men  as  Gerard  to  seek  community  life. 
As  we  have  said,  he  owns  to-day  a  magnificent  farm 
of  several  hundred  acres;  and  he  is  surrounded  by 
a  phalanx  of  sturdy,  manly  sons  who  do  him  honor. 
Gerard  has  never  lost  his  faith  in  communism,  nor 
has  his  success  made  him  a  mere  sordid  money-get- 
ter. He  has  always  remained  a  friend  and  adviser 
of  the  neighboring  community,  and  has  kept  abreast 
of  the  social  movements  and  thought  of  the  day. 
In  the  Icarian  quarrel  of  1877  he  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  old  party,  and  published  in  their  defence  a 
tract  entitled  "  Quelques  Veritas  sur  la  derniere 
Crise  Icarienne."  The  Icarian  split  had  attracted 
wide  attention  among  French  socialists  both  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe.  Communistic  bodies  in 
New  York,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Keokuk,  and  else- 
where, had  endeavored  to  prevent  the  separation, 
and  various  French  papers  had  published  accounts 
favoring  one  party  or  the  other.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances Gerard  constituted  himself   the  cham- 


PERSONAL  SKETCHES.  l6l 

pion  of  the  old  party,  and  in  1880  and  1881  pub- 
lished several  numbers  of  a  paper  which  he  called 
LObservateur.  This  engaged  in  lively  controversy 
with  La  Jeune  Icarie,  the  organ  of  the  young  branch, 
and  also  contained  valuable  reminiscences  of  early 
Icarian  days.  In  this  plain  and  simple-hearted  old 
French  farmer  on  the  Iowa  prairies  is  the  stuff  from 
which  statesmen  and  generals  are  made.  Force, 
patience,  sagacity,  and  a  certain  largeness  of  mind 
and  character  mark  him  as  one  of  nature's  noble- 
men. 

The  leader  of  the  second  advance  guard  was 
P.  J.  Favard,  whose  letter  from  Texas  to  Cabet  has 
been  quoted  in  a  former  chapter.  In  the  Nauvoo 
controversy  Favard  sided  against  Cabet,  although 
his  brother-in-law.  He  soon  after  withdrew  from 
the  society,  and  is  to-day  a  merchant  in  Keokuk, 
Iowa.  Of  the  Cheltenham  leaders,  the  young 
lawyer  Mercadier  whom  Cabet  designed  to  be  his 
successor,  and  who  was  president  at  Cheltenham 
for  the  first  year,  is  now  a  gentleman  of  wealth  and 
influence  in  St.  Louis.  Charles  Raynaud,  who  was 
equally  prominent  in  the  Cheltenham  movement,  is, 
with  other  ex-Icarians,  resident  in  New  York  Citv. 

There  are  some  vigorous  specimens  of  manhood 
among  the  second  generation,  who  have  spent  their 
lives  in  Icaria; — for  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Icaria  is  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  old.  Eugene 
F.   Bettannier   preferred   to  remain   with   the   old 


1 62  ICARIA. 

party.  He  is  a  man  whose  good  sense  and  shrewd 
intelligence  would  be  recognized  in  any  sphere  of 
life.  His  father,  long  since  dead,  was  a  leading  man 
at  Nauvoo.  Eugene  Mourot  and  Emile  Fugier 
were,  from  the  first,  chief  agitators  in  the  young 
people's  movement.  Mourot  was  born  in  Paris,  the 
son  of  E.  Mourot,  a  revolutionist  of  '48,  who  was  a 
victim  of  the  bloody  contest  of  the  "  bourgeois  re- 
action "  of  June.  His  young  children  were  sent  to 
America  and  brought  up  as  Icarians.  Fugier  is  a 
native  of  Lyons,  that  cradle  of  revolution,  and  in 
early  childhood  accompanied  his  father  to  Nauvoo* 
Both  Fugier  and  Mourot  are  men  of  energy  and 
practical  ability,  and  Icaria-Speranza  will  doubtless 
owe  much  to  them. 

Antoine  von  Gauvain,  who  died  at  Corning, 
Iowa,  in  January,  1883,  was  an  Icarian  of  blessed 
memory.  Born  in  Berlin  of  a  French  Huguenot 
family,  the  son  of  an  army  ofricer,  he  became  an 
army  ofricer  himself.  At  twenty-five  he  came  to 
America,  edited  a  French  paper  in  New  York  for  a 
time,  was  a  teacher  in  several  different  States,  and 
at  length  joined  Icaria  at  Nauvoo.  He  served  three 
years  in  the  Union  army  and  then  reentered  the 
community.  He  sided  with  the  young  party  in  the 
division  ;  but  two  years  before  his  death  he  with- 
drew and  made  his  home  in  Corning.  Gauvain  was 
one  of  the  most  scholarly  men  ever  in  the  com- 
munity.    He  was  acquainted  with  languages,  litera- 


PERSONAL   SKETCHES.  1 63 

ture,  philosophy,  and  history.  His  was  a  spirit  so 
gentle  and  so  guileless,  though  so  brave  and  soldierly, 
that  every  one  loved  him.  He  was  of  noble  blood 
and  of  still  nobler  nature. 

The  admission  of  six  Internationalists  to  member- 
ship in  Icaria  in  1876  has  been  mentioned.  Their 
careers  and  characters  are  of  sufficient  interest  to 
have  more  particular  attention.  The  six  were :  A. 
Sauva,  Emile  Peron,  J.  Laforgue,  A.  Tanguy,  S. 
Dereure,  and  Charles  Levy.  Arsen  Sauva  is  by 
trade  a  tailor.  Of  his  early  history  I  have  learned 
nothing.  In  about  i860  he  came  from  France  to 
join  the  Cheltenham  Icarians  at  St.  Louis.  He  re- 
mained in  that  community  until  its  dissolution,  and 
then  entered  the  Union  army  serving  until  the  end 
of  the  war.  He  returned  to  France  and  fought 
through  the  Franco-Prussian  war.  He  played  an 
active  and  prominent  part  in  the  commune  rising  of 
1871,  being  an  officer  and  acquainted  with  all  the 
leaders.  After  the  collapse  of  the  commune  gov- 
ernment he  took  refuge  in  this  country.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  notable  Congress  of  the  International 
Society  at  the  Hague  in  1872,  and  aided  in  the  ex- 
pulsion of  Bakounine  and  the  Anarchist  faction. 
Returning  to  this  country  and  working  at  his  trade 
in  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  and  New  York,  he  joined  the 
Iowa  Icarians  in  1876,  where  he  was  soon  elected  to 
the  presidency,  and  threw  his  influence  with  the 
Conservative  party.     Sauva  is  not  a  man  of  many 


164  ICAR1A. 

words,  but  he  has  seen  the  world,  and  does  his  own 
thinking.  Two  pamphlets  in  my  possession,  "La 
Crise  Icarienne  "  and  "Icarie,"  prove  that  he  is 
master  of  a  brilliant  and  cogent  French  style,  while 
the  books  in  his  humble  home  show  him  to  be  a 
student  of  the  French  social  philosophers.  The  sin- 
cerity and  thorough  integrity  of  Sauva's  character 
are  manifest  to  all  who  know  him.  Since  the  bitter 
quarrel  in  which  he  and  Peron  were  so  active  upon 
opposite  sides,  the  two  men  have  not  been  on  terms 
of  friendship.  Yet  even  Peron  bears  the  following 
high  testimony  as  to  Sauva's  character :  * 

"  I  have  so  bitterly  fought  Sauva's  course  of  action 
during  Icarian  troubles  that  one  might  expect  me  to  write 
about  him  with  a  pen  dipped  in  gall  and  aloes.  Well,  it 
would  not  be  right  ;  for  Sauva  with  all  his  shortcomings 
is  certainly  a  high  type  of  man.  His  errors,  blunders,  and 
mistakes,  his  straying  judgment  and  reason  on  men  and 
events,  do  not  impair  his  faith  and  commendable  devo- 
tion to  principles  that  we  claimed  to  be  wrong  but  that 
he  believed  to  be  right.  *  *  *  If  all  social  work- 
ers had  his  perseverance,  endurance,  devotedness,  and 
moral  courage,  the  world  would  soon  adopt  better  modes 
of  social  relations.  Sauva  is  a  fine  example  of  the  faculty 
of  altruism  as  discovered  by  A.  Comte,  for  he  can  suffer, 
work,  and  live  for  others.  Is  not  that  very  much  in  a 
man,  especially  in  a  country  where  the  dollaromaniacal 
disease  is  so  prevailing  ?  " 

Emile  Peron  himself  is  a  younger  man,  and  has 

1  I  take  the  liberty  to  quote  from  a  private  letter. 


PERSONAL  SKETCHES.  l6$ 

not  so  long  a  history.  He  too  was  engaged  in  the 
Paris  Commune  of  1871,  and  came  to  New  York  im- 
mediately after.  He  was  a  machinist  by  trade,  but 
a  philosopher,  critic,  and  scholar,  by  natural  in- 
stinct. In  the  workingmen's  clubs  of  Paris,  at  night 
lectures,  and  in  one  way  or  another,  he  managed  to 
find  food  for  his  voracious  intelligence,  and  when  he 
arrived  at  New  York,  though  only  a  young  prole- 
tarian of  twenty-three  or  thereabouts,  his  scientific 
baggage  was  very  considerable.  It  is  not  often, 
even  among  those  trained  from  early  boyhood  in 
the  best  schools,  that  one  finds  a  young  man  who 
is  so  conversant  with  philosophy,  history,  belles- 
lettres,  political  and  social  economy,  and  the  natural 
sciences,  as  this  Parisian  mechanic.  Quotations  al- 
ready given  show  that  he  has  learned  to  write  a  very 
picturesque  English.  In  philosophy  he  is  an  un- 
qualified Positivist.  If  he  does  not  fully  sympathize 
with  Anarchists  and  Nihilists,  he  can  at  least  make 
a  very  apologetic  statement  of  their  doctrines. 
His  keen  critical  faculty  makes  his  conversation 
sparkling  and  epigrammatic.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
Icaria-Speranza  may  afford  Peron  time  for  system- 
atic study  and  for  literary  work; 

La  Forgue  and  Levy  follow  their  trades  in  Iowa 
towns,  and  seem  to  have  lost  somewhat  of  their 
pristine  fervor  for  social  reform,  according  to  the 
report  of  their  former  brethren  in  Icaria.  This  is 
not  the  case  with  Tanguy  and  Dereure,  both   of 


1 66  ICARIA. 

whom  have  returned  to  Paris.  Tanguy  is  an  ac- 
complished fresco-painter.  He  was  an  active  Com- 
munist in  1871,  and  was  obliged  to  flee  for  his  life, 
first  to  England  and  then  to  America.  After  the 
amnesty  he  left  Icaria  and  resumed  his  old  calling, 
among  the  palaces  and  salons  of  the  gay  French 
capital.  But  he  plays  his  part  in  the  work  of  social 
agitation,  and  is  known  among  the  "  militantes." 
As  for  Simon  Dereure,  he  is  no  ordinary  man.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Commune  Government  of  Paris 
in  1871,  and  also  with  Sauva  a  member  of  the  Inter- 
national Congress  at  the  Hague  in  1872.  Dereure 
is  a  shoemaker  of  superior  skill ;  and  while  he  shoes 
the  Paris  plutocracy  for  a  living,  his  real  calling  is 
that  of  a  social  agitator.  He  is  a  man  of  force, 
energy,  and  convictions, — one  of  the  sort  whom 
revolutions  bring  to  the  front. 

As  has  been  said,  the  Leroux  family  constitute 
the  nucleus  of  the  California  colony.  The  name 
Leroux  is  entitled  to  occupy  a  prominent  place  in 
the  history  of  modern  French  socialism.  The  two 
brothers,  Pierre  and  Jules  Leroux,  were  among  the 
group  of  brilliant  disciples  of  Saint-Simon.  Pierre, 
the  elder  of  the  two,  had  already  made  his  reputa- 
tion as  a  distinguished  Parisian  journalist,  and  in 
1829  his  paper,  the  Globe,  was  transformed  into  an 
organ  of  Saint-Simonism.1  After  the  breaking  up 
of    Saint-Simonism  into  rival  sects,   Pierre  Leroux 

1  For  the  part  played  by  Pierre  Leroux  in  the  St.-Simonian  move- 
ment, See  Booth's  "St.-Simon  and  St.-Simonism." 


PERSONAL   SKETCHES.  1 67 

withdrew  and  became  a  socialistic  philosopher  on 
his  own  account.  He  founded  the  so-called  Hu- 
manitarian School,  the  doctrines  of  which  were  of  a 
rather  mystical  and  transcendental  character.  He 
wrote  many  books,  which  at  the  time  made  a 
marked  impression  on  the  intellectual  people  of 
France.  For  years  he  was  intimately  associated 
with  George  Sand,  and  exerted  upon  her  philo- 
sophical opinions  an  influence  as  strong  as  was  that 
which  afterward  Mr.  Lewes  exercised  upon  those  of 
George  Eliot.  Like  most  other  dreamy  philoso- 
phers, Pierre  Leroux  also  indulged  in  the  construc- 
tion of  an  ideal  society,  which  he  named  "  Speranza." 
Jules  Leroux,  born  in  1805,  was  seven  years  younger 
than  his  brother,  and  though  also  a  man  of  ideas 
and  of  literary  talents,  he  was  not  so  prominent  as 
Pierre,  with  whom  he  was  intimately  associated,  and 
whose  views  in  general  he  shared.  Both  brothers 
became  Representatives  in  the  Legislative  Assembly 
after  the  Revolution  of  1848,  and  both  were  exiled, 
victims  of  Louis  Napoleon's  coup  d'etat  of  December 
2,  185 1.  They  found  homes  in  the  island  of  Jersey, 
where  for  many  years  they  maintained  their  families 
by  agriculture.  It  was  not  a  small  mitigation  of 
their  hardships  that  in  their  exile  they  enjoyed  the 
company  of  Victor  Hugo.  In  1869  Pierre  Leroux 
returned  to  Paris,  where  he  died  in  1871.  Jules 
Leroux  resolved  to  make  a  home  in  America ;  and 
in  1867,  with  his  family  of  now  full-grown  children, 


1 68  ICARIA. 

he  settled  on  government  land  in  Kansas,  where  he 
and  his  sons  acquired  homestead  claims.  Here,  in 
1872,  they  were  joined  by  Adam  Dehay,  who  after- 
ward married  the  youngest  daughter  of  Jules  Leroux. 
Dehay  was  a  young  Frenchman  who  had  seen  life 
in  various  parts  of  his  native  country,  had  spent 
some  years  in  London,  and  had  come  to  America  in 
1866.  He  bought  the  homestead  of  his  father-in- 
law,  and  undertook  the  formation  of  a  community 
thereon,  but  without  success.  In  1877  Paul  Leroux, 
one  of  the  sons,  went  to  Iowa  and  joined  the 
Icarians,  whither  he  was  followed  by  his  father  and 
mother,  and  afterward  by  his  brothers  and  by  Dehay. 
The  old  hero  of  '48  lived  for  several  years  in  the 
Icarian  community,  but  did  not  become  a  member. 
He  had  begun  in  Kansas  the  publication  of  a  little 
French  paper  expository  of  his  views  on  social  and 
religious  philosophy,  and  continued  its  publication 
in  Iowa,  and  afterward  in  California  up  to  his  death 
in  October,  1883.  The  last  number  of  his  paper, 
"  L'  Etoile  des  Pauvres  et  des  SourTrants,"  was  com- 
pleted a  few  days  after  his  death  by  his  son,  Pierre 
Leroux,  and  contained  a  touching  account  of  the  old 
philosopher's  life,  doctrines,  and  personal  traits. 
Jules  Leroux  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  pure  and 
noble  character  and  of  a  strong  religious  nature. 
His  sons  revere  his  memory  and  his  opinions  ;  and  it 
is  their  desire  to  honor  and  perpetuate  the  associated 
labors  of  their  uncle  and  their  father  which  has  led 


PERSONAL   SKETCHES.  1 69 

them  to  insist  upon  the  retention  of  the  name 
"Speranza"  in  the  title  of  the  community.  Dehay 
must  be  regarded  as  the  prime  mover  in  the  Cali- 
fornia enterprise.  His  purpose  in  joining  Icaria 
had  been  to  found  a  colony  in  a  warmer  climate 
after  having  gained  some  practical  experience  of 
community  life.  "  Icaria-Speranza  "  may  trace  its 
lineage  on  the  one  side  to  Cabet,  and  on  the  other 
through  the  Leroux  family  to  Saint-Simon. 

The  story  of  Emile  B£e  furnishes  a  rather  charac- 
teristic Icarian  biography.  Bee  was  a  tailor's  son 
in  northern  France,  and  became  a  tailor  himself.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen  he  went  to  Paris,  where  he  found 
the  tailors  very  active  in  the  secret  revolutionary 
society  of  Barbes  and  Blanqui,  under  which  influen- 
ces he  became  indoctrinated  in  Communism.  He 
identified  himself  with  the  numerous  disciples  of 
Cabet,  and  subscribed  of  his  humble  means  to  aid 
the  grand  Icarian  colonization.  He  was  one  of 
many  thousands  who  were  arrested  on  occasion  of 
the  coup  d' 'Mat  of  Dec.  2,  1851,  and  he  soon  man- 
aged to  leave  France  for  the  gold  mines  of  Califor- 
nia, where  he  spent  some  years.  In  1862  he  re- 
turned to  France.  As  a  member  of  the  69th 
Battalion  of  the  National  Guard,  he  was  actively 
engaged  in  the  defence  of  Paris  in  1870,  and  in  1 871 
served  the  Commune.  He  found  it  expedient  to 
return  to  California  the  same  year,  and  became  ac- 
tive in  the  San  Francisco  section  of  the  International 


17°  ICARIA. 

Society.  A  few  years  later  he  joined  Dehay  and 
his  friends  in  the  purchase  of  the  Cloverdale  estate, 
and  is  now  a  peaceful  citizen  of  Icaria-Speranza. 

Such  are  a  few  hasty  pen  pictures  of  some  of  the  men 
whose  lives  have  been  identified  with  Icaria.  Many 
more,  perhaps  equally  interesting  and  adventurous, 
might  be  given  ;  but  these  will  suffice  to  show  that 
French  Communists  are  not  necessarily  the  tremen- 
dous villains  or  the  blood-thirsty  wretches  which  we 
Americans  are  generally  taught  to  believe  that  they 
are.  Some  of  their  doctrines  may  be  dangerous  to 
the  existing  order  of  society  ;  probably  they  are. 
History  may  render  her  final  verdict  in  condemna- 
tion of  many  of  their  actions ;  probably  she  will. 
But  good  men  may  mistake  in  their  opinions  and 
may  honestly  err  in  their  actions  ;  and  we  can  never 
understand  the  history  and  meaning  of  social  move- 
ments in  France,  or  in  any  other  country,  unless  we 
render  due  credit  to  the  sincerity,  devotion,  cour- 
ageous self-denial,  and  grand  enthusiasm  for  hu- 
manity, of  many  of  the  participants  in  those  move- 
ments. 


XI. 

SOME  KINDRED  SOCIAL  EXPERIMENTS. 


XI. 

SOME   KINDRED    SOCIAL   EXPERIMENTS. 

ONE  cannot  long  explore  the  history  of  a  social 
experiment  like  that  of  Icaria  until  he  has  discov- 
ered that  the  seeming  isolation  of  the  experiment  is 
more  apparent  than  real.  He  encounters  threads 
of  connection  and  lines  of  influence  extending  in 
most  unexpected  directions  ;  and  if  he  follows  those 
threads  they  will  lead  him  into  the  labyrinths  of 
a  world  of  whose  very  existence,  probably,  he  had 
been  unaware.  The  past  ten  years  have  been  full 
of  earnest  inquiry  and  discussion,  in  the  larger  circles 
of  American  society,  touching  all  matters  of  social 
reform  ;  but  the  persons  engaged  in  those  discus- 
sions have  been  almost  absolutely  ignorant  of  the 
equally  earnest  efforts  embodied  in  the  obscure 
literatures  and  obscure  social  experiments  which 
this  same  decade  has  produced  in  out-of-the-way 
nooks  and  crannies  of  nearly  every  State  in  the 
Union.  There  is  no  formal  organization  among 
these  obscure  experimenters  and  theorists ;  their 
ideas  are  infinitely  varied  ;  they  are  unlike  in  every 
thing  except  in  their  despair  of  the  present  struc- 
ture of  society,  and  also  in  this,  that  they  have  made 

173 


174  ICARIA. 

themselves  peculiar  by  their  views  or  their  prac- 
tices ;  and  these  two  things  supply  a  bond  of  loose 
federation. 

These  people  constitute  a  little  world  within  a 
world.  The  large  world  is  not  even  aware  of  their 
existence  ;  while  they  have  the  advantage  of  know- 
ing their  own  world  and  also  of  knowing  the  great 
world  perfectly  well.  This  network,  interwoven 
with  all  manner  of  curious,  intersecting  influences 
and  lines  of  intercommunication,  constitutes  what 
we  may  term  the  Communistic  World,  for  lack  of  a 
better  designation.  Viewed  in  the  aggregate,  it 
contains  those  persons  whose  convictions  or  whose 
traditions  make  them  the  foes  of  modern  individual- 
istic, competitive  society.  Its  unity  is  of  a  negative 
rather  than  of  a  positive  character.  Each  element 
of  its  membership  is  working  in  its  own  chosen  way 
to  compass  the  transformation  of  society. 

It  comes  to  the  surface  most  prominently  in  such 
manifestations  as  those  of  the  International  Society 
and  the  Socialistic  Labor  Party  ;  yet,  in  such  active 
measures  the  Communistic  World  is  never  in  agree- 
ment and  union,  and  perhaps  the  organizations 
named  might  better  be  regarded  as  forming  a  con- 
necting link,  or  a  transitional  stage,  between  the  ob- 
scure Communistic  World  and  the  substratum  of  the 
larger  society.  Newspapers,  travel,  personal  corre- 
spondence, are  the  means  of  communication  in  this 
unseen  world.     Yet,  though  their  papers  are  num- 


KINDRED  SOCIAL  EXPERIMENTS.  1 75 

bered  by  the  score,  and  are  not  printed  on  secret 
presses,  nor  designedly  kept  from  the  perusal  of  the 
larger  society,  few  people  have  read  any  of  them,  or 
even  know  of  their  existence.  If  this  seems  a  little 
strange  at  first,  it  is  really  not  so  strange  after  all. 
Ordinarily  people  are  much  more  interested  in  what 
goes  on  in  their  own  world  than  in  the  things  which 
pertain  to  worlds  beyond  their  own.  It  does  not, 
therefore,  necessarily  brand  a  man  as  an  ignoramus 
if  he  has  never  heard  of  The  Sociologist,  published  at 
Adair  Creek,  in  the  mountains  of  East  Tennessee  ; 
or  of  The  Communist,  published  near  Glen-Allen, 
Bollinger  County,  Missouri ;  or  of  the  Matrimonial 
Review,  which  issues  from  Farmersville,  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  or  of  The  Agnostic,  whose  home  is  Dallas, 
Texas,  or  of  fifty  more  reform  sheets  which  now 
exist  or  have  existed  within  half  a  dozen  years. 
Nevertheless,  to  read  these  papers  and  to  learn  the 
personal  history  of  those  who  publish  them,  is  to 
enter  a  new  and  a  very  curious  field  of  sociological 
inquiry. 

In  the  last  sixty  years  there  have  been  hundreds 
of  attempts  at  associative  or  communistic  organiza- 
tions in  this  country,  all  but  a  few  of  which  failed 
in  their  very  inception.  Thousands  of  people  have 
been  engaged  in  these  short-lived  enterprises.  What 
becomes  of  these  people  ?  Has  their  futile  attempt 
freed  them  from  illusive  hopes  and  unattainable 
ideals?     Have  they  been,  as  we   should  suppose, 


I?6  ICARIA. 

completely  cured  ?     Generally  not.     It  was  the  tes- 
timony of  the  community  at  Brook  Farm  that : 

"  The  life  which  we  now  lead,  though  to  a  superficial 
observer  surrounded  with  so  many  imperfections  and  em- 
barrassments, is  far  superior  to  what  we  were  ever  able  to 
attain  in  common  society.  There  is  a  freedom  from  the 
frivolities  of  fashion,  from  arbitrary  restrictions,  and  from 
the  frenzy  of  competition.  *  *  *  There  is  a  greater 
variety  of  employments,  a  more  constant  demand  for  the 
exertion  of  all  the  faculties,  and  a  more  exquisite  pleasure 
in  effort,  from  the  consciousness  that  we  are  laboring, 
not  for  personal  ends,  but  for  a  holy  principle  ;  and  even 
the  external  sacrifices  which  the  pioneers  in  every  enter- 
prise are  obliged  to  make,  are  not  without  a  certain  ro- 
mantic charm,  which  effectually  prevents  us  from  envying 
the  luxuries  of  Egypt,  though  we  should  be  blessed  with 
neither  the  manna  nor  the  quails  which  once  cheered  a 
table  in  the  desert." 

Some  such  feeling  as  that  seems  to  be  perma- 
nently retained  by  almost  all  who  have  ever  engaged 
in  community  life.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  many 
of  these  people  who  have  enlisted  in  what  they 
deem  the  work  of  human  amelioration  have  their 
wits  wonderfully  quickened  thereby,  while  the  one- 
sidedness  of  their  development  tends  to  deepen  and 
confirm  opinions  once  received.  The  ill-fated  colo- 
nies of  Robert  Owen  had  passed  into  the  history  of 
"  extinct  socialisms  "  a  generation  ago  ;  and  yet  the 
writer  hereof  might  designate  one  and  another  and 


XINDRED   SOCIAL  EXPERIMENTS.  1 77 

another  of  the  now  venerable  associates  of  Owen, 
still  fresh  with  enthusiasm  and  warm  with  sympathy 
for  every  proposed  social  reform.  The  last  of  the 
Fourierist  Phalansteries  disappeared  before  the  war; 
but  many  of  the  men  who  were  engaged  in  them 
may  still  be  found  wrestling  with  the  problems  of 
cooperation,  or  pounding  away  at  something  more 
radical.  Icaria  once  numbered  its  hundreds  of  dis- 
ciples. Most  of  them  have  disappeared,  seemingly 
swallowed  up  in  the  mass  of  American  society; 
but  if  the  truth  could  be  ascertained  they  would, 
in  all  probability,  still  be  found  to  be  communists 
at  heart. 

One  would  not  unnaturally  suppose  that  the  at- 
tempts to  form  new  communities  would  be  made  by 
new  men  who  had  not  experienced  the  almost 
insuperable  difficulties  of  such  an  enterprise.  The 
fact  is  that  the  new  propositions  almost  always 
come  from  men  who  have  had  abundance  of  dis- 
heartening experience,  but  who  have  a  limitless 
stock  of  hope  and  faith.  Widely  different  as  are  the 
American  communities  in  point  of  origin,  objects, 
and  policy,  there  is  still  a  strong  sympathy  among 
them  all.  Thus  I  found  that  a  leading  member  of 
the  Oneida  Perfectionists  was  regarded  as  a  friend 
and  counsellor  by  the  Icarians,  widely  divergent  as 
were  their  religious  views.  I  made  the  acquaintance 
at  Icaria  of  an  Ohio  Shaker,  who  is  in  the  habit  of 
paying    long    and    welcome    visits  to   the    French 


178  ICARIA. 

materialists  of  Iowa.  I  found  the  Icarian  women 
clad  in  calicoes  manufactured  by  the  prosperous 
German  community  known  as  the  "  Amana  Inspira- 
tionists  "  ;  and  I  found  that  friendly  correspondence 
and  acts  of  courtesy  brought  Icaria  into  relations 
with  various  other  communistic  enterprises. 

One  of  these,  with  which  Icaria  has  a  peculiarly 
intimate  relation,  is  the  new  colony  known  as  the 
"  Mutual  Aid  Community,"  located  at  Glen-Allen,  in 
Bollinger  County,  Missouri,  a  hundred  miles  or  more 
below  St.  Louis,  on  the  Iron  Mountain  Railroad. 
Its  actual  working  existence  began  only  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1883,  and  it  has  as  yet  only  twenty  or  thirty 
members,  with  a  small  capital.  Its  principles  and 
organization  are  essentially  Icarian,  though  its  mem- 
bers are  Americans.  Its  founder  is  Mr.  Alcander 
Longley,  who  in  1867  was  a  member  of  Icaria.  The 
story  of  Mr.  Longley's  career  is  one  so  typical 
of  a  certain  class  of  American  social  reformers  that 
I  shall  give  its  outlines.  Mr.  Longley  comes  very 
honestly  by  his  advanced  views.  His  father,  who 
was  a  Universalist  minister  at  Cincinnati,  took 
a  leading  part  in  about  1843  m  forming  the  Cler 
mont  (Ohio)  Phalanx,  which  however  lived  only 
three  years.  The  Fourier  movement  was  at  its 
height  in  those  days  and  young  Longley  heard  of 
little  else  in  his  boyhood.  At  eighteen  he  proposed 
to  found  a  Phalanx  himself,  but  without  success; 
at  twenty-one,  in  the  year  1853,  he  found  himself  a 


KINDRED   SOCIAL  EXPERIMENTS.  1 79 

member  of  the  famous  North  American  Phalanx, 
which  was  '■'  the  test-experiment  on  which  Fourier- 
ism  practically  staked  its  all  in  this  country."1 
Horace  Greeley  was  its  Vice-President,  Charles 
Sears  was  its  practical  chief,  and  Albert  Brisbane 
was  its  sponsor.  Longley  did  not  remain  here  many 
years,  for  in  1857  we  find  him  undertaking  to 
establish  a  Phalanx  at  Moore's  Hill,  Indiana.  In 
1864  he  appears  at  Black  Lake,  Michigan,  as  the 
founder  of  a  Cooperative  Association.  No  failure 
could  suppress  Longley.  In  1865  he  is  founding 
another  Association  at  Foster's  Crossing,  Ohio. 
The  year  1867  finds  him  and  his  family  converted 
from  the  complicated  system  of  Fourierism  to  a  be- 
lief in  Communism  pure  and  simple,  and  admitted 
to  membership  in  Icaria.  But  it  did  not  suit 
Longley's  temperament  to  be  a  quiet  Icarian 
farmer  ;  he  was  born  to  be  an  apostle.  So  in  1868 
he  withdrew,  went  to  St.  Louis,  founded  his  paper 
The  Communist  (which  he  has  published  ever  since), 
and  advertised  his  purpose  to  establish  a  community 
on  Icarian  principles.  So  came  into  being  the  "  Re- 
union Community"  in  southwestern  Missouri,  in 
the  county  of  Jasper.  In  the  spring  of  1870  "  Re- 
union" had  twenty-seven  members,  among  them 
being  several  remarkably  intelligent  men,  and  the 
prospects  of  the  establishment  were  counted  good. 

1  The  story  of  the  North  American  Phalanx  is  best  told  by 
J.  H.  Noyes  in  his  "  History  of  American  Socialisms,"  pp.  449 
to  512. 


l8o  I C ARIA. 

But  suddenly  the  enterprise  collapsed.  Longley 
had  good  old-fashioned  views  about  marriage,  while 
some  of  his  companions  were  inclined  to  the  doc- 
trines of  free-love ;  and  on  this  rock  "  Reunion  " 
split.  Mr.  Longley  returned  to  St.  Louis  in  the 
best  of  spirits,  and  The  Communist  began  to  publish 
an  extended  prospectus  of  the  "  Friendship  Com- 
munity" which  Mr.  Longley  proposed  to  establish 
in  Dallas  County,  Missouri,  near  the  town  of  Buffalo. 
In  1872  "Friendship  Community"  was  an  actuality. 
Its  ups  and  downs,  hopes  and  possibilities,  were 
food  for  the  issues  of  The  Communist  for  a  period  of 
five  years.  "  Friendship  "  never  attained  a  large 
membership  or  a  strong  financial  footing.  It  did 
not  win  the  favor  of  the  stalwart  Missourians  of 
Dallas  County,  who  regarded  it  as  something  essen- 
tially equivalent  to  Mormonism,  and  a  disgrace  to 
good  Missouri  society.  Accordingly  they  organized 
a  "  Committee,"  and  Mr.  Longley  was  warned  that 
his  institution  must  go.  Means  were  taken  to  give 
emphasis  to  the  warning.  So  the  "  Friendship 
Community"  closed  business  in  1877. 

Again  Mr.  Longley  returned  to  St.  Louis.  This 
was  the  year  of  strikes,  riots,  labor  unions,  and 
socialistic  political  organizations.  Mr.  Longley's 
paper  became,  temporarily,  an  organ  of  the  socialis- 
tic labor  party.  Meanwhile  he  published  the 
prospectus  of  a  "  Liberal  Community,"  to  be  or- 
ganized in  St.  Louis.     This  community  never  ex- 


KINDRED   SOCIAL  EXRERIMENTS.  l8l 

isted  except  in  prospectus.  In  1879  we  find  The 
Communist  published  at  Cincinnati,  energetically 
proposing  to  revive  the  "Friendship  Community," 
and  meanwhile  giving  much  attention  to  politics 
and  the  state  of  the  country.  Two  years  pass  and 
The  Communist  in  188 1  is  issued  from  the  "  Principia 
Community,"  Polk  County,  Missouri,  in  which 
community  Mr.  Longley  has  now  become  a  social 
pillar.  His  sojourn  in  "  Principia  "  is  brief  ;  for  in 
January,  1882,  we  find  him  once  more  domiciled  at 
St.  Louis  and  advertising  to  the  world  the  doctrines 
and  prospects  of  the  "  Mutual  Aid  Community," 
which  he  desired  to  found  at  Glen-Allen,  Bollinger 
County,  Missouri.  "  Mutual  Aid,"  though  a  humble 
and  small  outfit,  became  a  resident  fact  in  Bollinger 
County  in  July,  1883.  To  predict  that  it  will  live 
long  and  prosper  would  be  the  very  climax  of  reck- 
lessness after  the  history  we  have  just  narrated  ; 
though  it  is  right  to  say  that  the  "  Mutual  Aid  " 
has  some  reasons  for  regarding  itself  as  on  a  more 
solid  basis  than  its  predecessors.  As  for  Mr. 
Longley  himself,  he  is  doubtless  a  gentleman  of 
good  conscience,  of  complete  faith  in  communism, 
and  of  such  buoyant  spirit  and  fine  pluck  that  he 
never  acknowledges  himself  beaten.  His  paper  has 
been  an  organ  for  other  enterprises  besides  his  own, 
and  its  files  are  a  storehouse  of  information  con- 
cerning the  crude  and  obscure  communistic  enter- 
prises of  the  West  during  fifteen   years   past.     A 


1 82  ICARIA. 

hobby  with  Mr.  Longley  is  inter-communal  or 
ganization.  He  advocates  a  loose  union,  or  at  least 
an  occasional  delegate  convention  of  all  the  com- 
munities in  the  United  States  for  the  furtherance 
of  such  views  and  ends  as  they  have  in  common. 
From  such  a  beginning  he  pictures  the  gradual 
transformation  of  the  whole  country  into  a  congeries 
of  united  communities. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  men  associated  with 
Mr.  Longley  in  the  "  Reunion  Community  "  was 
William  Frey.  Though  never  an  Icarian,  he  has 
visited  Icaria,  and  through  association  with  Mr. 
Longley  he  may  be  regarded  as  having  gained  some 
of  his  afflatus  from  our  little  French  centre  of  in- 
fluence. Frey  is  a  Russian,  and  was  an  astronomer 
in  the  service  of  his  government,  with  a  brilliant 
career  before  him.  But  his  communistic  views  sub- 
jected him  to  political  persecution,  and  he  came  to 
America  in  1868.  In  the  spring  of  1870  he  went 
west,  and  entered  Mr.  Longley 's  "  Reunion  Com- 
munity "  with  his  family.  After  the  collapse  of  that 
enterprise  we  find  him,  with  another  of  its  recent 
members,  on  government  land  in  Howard  County, 
Kansas,  proposing  to  found  there  the  "  Progressive 
Community."  There  he  remained  for  several  years, 
publishing  a  paper  called  The  Progressive  Communist, 
and  endeavoring  to  found  a  colony  on  hygienic  and 
high  moral  principles.  It  had  neither  length  of  days 
nor  temporary  success.     For  several  years  following 


KINDRED   SOCIAL  EXPERIMENTS.  1 83 

that  effort,  I  do  not  know  his  history,  though  from 
the  recent  appearance  in  Boston  of  a  little  book  en- 
titled "The  Religion  of  Humanity,"  I  infer  that  he 
must  have  spent  much  time  in  thought  and  study. 
With  a  profoundly  philosophical  mind,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  deeply  religious  nature,  Mr.  Frey  adopts 
and  expounds  the  religion  of  Positivism  with  the 
moral  earnestness  of  an  apostle.  He  is  at  present 
engaged  in  a  most  interesting  work.  In  Douglas 
County,  Oregon,  a  company  of  thirty  young  Russians 
founded  the  "  New  Odessa  Community  "  in  the  fall 
of  1882.  They  had  great  confidence  in  Mr.  Frey, 
and  asked  him  to  live  with  them  and  be  their  teacher 
and  guide  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  Communism. 
They  have  seven  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  their 
material  prospects  are  not  bad.  But  Mr.  Frey  is  not 
chiefly  concerned  to  win  a  material  success.  As  he 
says  in  a  letter  to  the  writer  :  "  I  am  convinced  that 
a  proper  communal  life  must  be  a  school  for  moral 
improvement,  a  cooperation  for  mutual  assistance 
and  support  in  realization  of  the  common  ideal  of  a 
better  life;  that,  in  short,  moral  aims  must  pre- 
dominate over  material."  Mr.  Frey  is  fully  con- 
vinced that  no  bond  except  religion  can  permanently 
unite  men  in  communistic  societies,  and  he  is  under- 
taking the  ethical  culture  of  these  young  country- 
men of  his  as  the  only  means  of  saving  their  enter- 
prise. How  he  is  succeeding  may  be  seen  from  the 
following  sentences  which  I  extract  from  a  private 
letter  written  by  an  intelligent  observer : 


1 84  ICARIA. 

"  I  find  the  thirty  Russians  full  of  good  feeling  ;  they 
embrace  each  other  each  day  like  devoted  brothers  and 
sisters.  Every  act  of  their  social  life  is  dominated  by  the 
ideas  of  conduct  imposed  upon  them  by  the  teaching  and 
personal  magnetism  of  Frey.  Frey's  idea  of  happiness  is 
to  eat  two  meals  a  day  of  crackers  and  raw  fruit,  to  touch 
no  kind  of  stimulant,  to  do  all  the  labor  between  meals  so 
as  to  be  free  after  to  study, — the  evenings  in  his  com- 
munity to  be  devoted  to  study  and  moral  and  social  ex- 
hortations in  which  all  should  join.  This  includes  per- 
sonal criticism  with  the  purpose  of  perfecting  character. 
In  the  morning  there  is  music  and  singing,  which  exercise 
is  supposed  to  make  those  who  join  in  it  feel  more  friendly 
to  each  other,  so  that  if  you  meet  one  of  them  before  the 
music  he  hurries  by  with  a  cold  "  good  morning  "  ;  but  if 
you  meet  him  afterward  he  warmly  shakes  your  hand  and 
kisses  you.  As  a  friend  of  Frey's  I  am  both  surprised  and 
delighted  at  the  success  he  has  made.  The  disciples  are 
all  young  and  full  of  devotion  ;  it  is  charming  to  see  such 
persons,  resolved  to  love  each  other,  and  determined  to 
do  what  is  right.  It  is  unquestionable  that  these  persons 
have  given  up  bad  habits  for  a  social  purpose,  led  to  do 
so  not  by  superstition,  but  by  a  rational  conception  of 
personal  and  public  duty.  For  instance,  they  were  nearly 
all  smokers,  and  without  exception  have  given  up  the 
habit  as  unwholesome  and  unsocial.  *  *  *  It  is  a 
charming  spot  amongst  the  mountains  which  these 
Russians  have  secured.  I  like  the  people  very  much  in- 
deed, and  believe  they  will  be  successful  in  establishing 
such  a  society  as  they  aim  at." 

Mr.  Longleyin  Missouri,  and  Mr.  Frey  in  Oregon, 


KINDRED  SOCIAL  EXPERIMENTS.  1 85 

are  instances  of  what  one  may  discover  by  following 
the  threads  he  finds  radiating  from  such  a  centre  as 
"  Icaria "  ;  just  as  he  would  have  discovered 
"Icaria'  if  his  point  of  departure  had  been  the 
"  Mutual  Aid,"  or  just  as  he  would  have  found  the 
"  Mutual  Aid  "  and  "  Icaria  "  if  his  investigation 
had  begun  at  "New  Odessa."  Almost  equally 
striking  is  the  story  of  N.  T.  Roumain,  an  associate 
of  Longley  at  one  time,  and  an  applicant  for  admis- 
sion to  Icaria  at  another  time,  who,  in  1877, 
founded  the  "  Esperanza  Community"  in  Kansas, 
— an  enterprise  which  had  its  bright  day,  but  ended 
in  sadness  and  disaster.  Or  one  might  make  a  long 
tale  of  the  adventures  of  Earl  Joslin,  who  was 
Longley's  associate  in  his  earliest  attempts  at  Pha- 
lansteries, who  has  since  been  in  various  enterprises, 
and  who,  at  last  accounts,  was  endeavoring  to  or- 
ganize a  "Cooperative  Association"  in  Rice 
County,  Kansas.  Though  these  sketches  might  be 
multiplied,  it  is  not  my  object  to  give  a  catalogue 
of  abortive  attempts  at  association,  but  rather 
merely  to  suggest  the  curious  ramification  into 
which  an  apparently  isolated  social  experiment  is 
likely  to  widen  before  the  investigator,  and  to  call 
attention  to  a  kind  of  sociological  study  deserving 
of  more  consideration  than  it  has  received. 

Beginning  with  a  single  community  and  with  no 
object  of  studying  American  communities  in  general, 
I  have  incidentally  discovered  and  could  enumerate 


1 86  ICARIA. 

probably  not  fewer  than  fifty  distinct  attempts  to 
found  communistic  or  semi-communistic  associa- 
tions in  the  United  States  since  1870.  Most  of 
them  were  obscure,  fruitless,  and  ephemeral.  They 
attracted  almost  no  public  attention,  and  some  of 
them  were  perhaps  worthy  of  very  little.  If 
they  had  been  in  Europe,  they  would  doubtless 
have  thriven  on  the  persecution  of  government  and 
the  calumnies  of  the  press,  and  such  opposition 
would  have  cemented  and  preserved  them  ;  while  in 
this  country  their  very  liberty  to  be  or  not  to  be,  to 
become  incorporated,  to  buy  and  sell  and  get  gain, 
to  wear  peculiar  garments,  to  preach  peculiar  doc- 
trines, and  to  worship  strange  gods,  has  been  a 
centrifugal  force  that  community  bonds  have  seldom 
been  able  to  stand  against. 


XII. 

APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX  I. 

CONTRACT     OF    THE     NEW     ICARIAN     COMMUNITY 

of  Adams  County,  Iowa. 

In  order  to  form  an  association  whose  object  is  the  realization  of 
Community  on  Icarian  principles,  and  the  formation  and  establish- 
ment of  a  common  fund  for  the  assurance  to  each  of  us  and  of  our 
children  of  our  wants,  intellectual  and  material,  in  all  conditions  of 
life — infancy,  old  age,  health,  sickness,  and  infirmity, — and  being  re- 
solved to  give  to  our  association  a  solid  basis  and  to  place  its  exis- 
tence beyond  the  risk  of  all  misunderstanding  and  of  all  controversy 
which  might  arise  among  us, — 

We,  the  undersigned,  members  of  the  ex-Community  Icarian  of 
Adams  County,  Iowa,  do  freely  and  voluntarily  make,  admit,  sign, 
and  accept  this  contract  for  the  formation  of  an  association  which 
shall  be  known  under  the  name  of  the  New  Icarian  Community  of 
Adams  County,  Iowa. 

Consequently  we  give  and  transfer  freely  to  our  said  association  all 
property  of  every  nature  and  of  every  kind  immovable,  movable, 
and  mixed — which  we  have  and  possess  now,  and  also  all  property  of 
every  kind  which  we  may  acquire  in  the  future — by  inheritance,  gift, 
or  otherwise,  to  be  during  our  lives  and  after  our  death  and  for  ever 
the  exclusive  property  of  the  New  Icarian  Community. 

We  promise  and  agree  freely  and  formally  that,  at  no  time  and  in 
no  case  will  we,  or  any  of  us,  make  any  reclamation  or  demand,  nor 
will  we  claim  any  pecuniary  compensation  for  any  property  which  we 
give  now  or  which  we  may  give  in  the  future  to  our  association, 
either  for  interest  or  for  capital,  for  work,  labor,  or  any  other  service 
which  we  may  have  performed  for  it. 

We  formally  enjoin  upon  our  heirs  and  upon  their  guardians,  in 
perpetual  succession,  not  to  make  any  reclamation  against  our  said 

189 


I90  I C ARIA. 

association  for  any  thing  which  we  have  freely  and   voluntarily  given 
to  it. 

We  consent  to  submit  our  children  during  their  minority  to  the 
care  and  the  absolute  control  of  our  association,  giving  it  the  same 
rights  and  the  same  powers  over  them,  and  charging  it  with  the  same 
duties  toward  them,  as  if  they  were  under  its  guardianship  conform- 
ably with  the  laws  of  Iowa. 

We,  who  sign  this  contract,  engage  ourselves  and  enjoin  upon  our 
heirs,  and  upon  their  executors,  administrators,  and  guardians,  never 
to  bring  any  suit  in  law  or  in  equity  against  our  said  association, 
neither  to  recover  any  property  which  we  have  freely  and  voluntarily 
given  to  it,  nor  to  obtain  any  salary  or  pecuniary  compensation  for 
labor  or  service  done  or  rendered  by  us  or  them  for  the  said  society. 

We  engage  ourselves  to  give  all  our  time,  all  our  strength,  and  all 
our  capacities  for  the  service  of  the  association,  during  all  the  time 
while  we  are  members  of  it,  and  at  every  time  and  under  all  circum- 
stances without  opposition  or  murmur  to  obey  the  laws  and  regula- 
tions which  shall  be  adopted  conformably  to  this  contract,  and  to  the 
following  articles  : 

Article  i. — The  place  of  business  of  the  New  Icarian  Commu- 
nity for  the  present,  and  until  it  may  be  changed,  shall  be  Icaria, 
Adams  County,  Iowa  ;  the  nature  of  the  business,  which  shall  com- 
mence on  the  first  of  May,  1879,  shall  be  :  agriculture,  horticulture, 
industry,  art,  commerce,  mills,  and  manufactures. 

Art.  2. — This  association  shall  last  for  ninety-nine  years,  and  shall 
not  be  dissolved  before  that  time  for  any  reason  whatsoever,  without 
the  unanimous  consent  of  all  the  adult  members. 

Art.  3. — The  capital  or  the  property  of  the  New  Icarian  Commu- 
nity shall  consist  of  all  which  the  founders  may  have  recovered,  in  im- 
movable or  movable  property  in  the  liquidation  of  the  former  Icarian 
Community,  dissolved  by  a  judgment  of  the  Court  of  Adams  County, 
Iowa,  rendered  the  17th  of  August,  1878  ;  and  of  all  the  increase  re- 
sulting from  the  operations  of  the  agriculture,  horticulture,  mills, 
manufactures,  commerce,  and  arts  of  the  said  society,  of  all  gifts 
made  by  strangers,  and  of  all  money  paid,  or  property  given  by  new 
members  when  they  have  been  admitted  to  final  membership. 


APPENDIX.  191 

Art.  4. — The  social  capital  shall  be  common  and  indivisible.     It 
shall  be  recorded  in  the  name  of  the  New  Icarian  Community. 

Art.  5. — The  affairs  of  this  society  shall  be  conducted  and  ad- 
ministered by  five  directors,  chosen  among  the  members,  as  follows 
a  President,  a  Secretary-Treasurer,  a  Director  of  Industry,  a  Director 
of  Agriculture,  a  Director  of  Clothing.  Each  director  shall  hold 
office  for  a  year,  and  shall  be  elected  separately  in  a  general  assembly, 
which  shall  meet  on  the  3d  of  February  of  every  year  after  the  year 
1879  for  this  especial  purpose. 

Art.  6. — No  member  of  the  association  who  has  not  reached  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years  at  least  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  di- 
rector, and  no  one  shall  be  eligible  to  the  presidency  who  is  not  at 
least  thirty  years  old  and  has  not  been  a  member  of  the  society  for 
at  least  five  years.  The  founders  of  the  society  are  excepted  from 
this  rule.  No  member  shall  be  chosen  director  more  than  twice  con- 
secutively, and  after  a  member  shall  have  been  elected  director  twice 
consecutively,  he  shall  not  be  re-elected  director  until  after  having 
been  a  year  out  of  office. 

Art.  7. — The  title  of  all  the  fixed  property  which  the  society  now 
possesses,  or  which  may  hereafter  be  acquired,  is  and  shall  be  vested 
in  the  name  of  the  five  directors  hereinafter  named,  or  of  their  suc- 
cessors in  office,  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  said  association  ;  and 
may  be  sold,  conveyed,  or  mortgaged  by  a  vote  of  the  association  as 
hereinafter  described,  and  the  five  directors  shall  sign  and  acknowl- 
edge all  the  conveyances,  and  set  upon  them  the  seal  of  the  associa- 
tion. 

Art.  8. — In  all  transactions  relating  to  movable  property,  the 
President  of  the  community  alone  may  buy,  sell,  and  contract  in  the 
name  of  the  community,  after  authorization  of  the  general  assembly. 
Every  contract,  sale,  or  purchase  which  has  not  been  made  by  the 
President,  or  upon  an  order  written  and  signed  by  him,  shall  not  in 
any  manner  bind  the  association.  If  by  any  reason  not  provided  for 
in  this  contract,  it  is  impossible  for  the  President  to  attend  to  the 
affairs  of  the  society,  the  other  directors  shall  appoint  one  of  their 
members  to  act  temporarily  in  his  place. 

Art.  9. — The  directors  of  this  association  are  responsible  before 


192  ICARIA. 

the  general  assembly,  and  can  be  suspended  or  removed  from  their 
office  by  a  vote  of  the  majority  of  the  male  members.  In  case  of  the 
death,  suspension,  dismissal,  withdrawal,  or  expulsion  of  a  member  of 
the  administration,  the  assembly  shall  fill  the  vacancy  eight  days  after 
either  the  death,  suspension,  dismissal/withdrawal,  or  expulsion  of  a 
member. 

Art.  10. — Every  business  transaction  exceeding  in  amount  $100, 
must  be  signed  by  the  President  and  the  Secretary,  and  must  bear  the 
seal  of  the  society  in  order  to  be  binding. 

Art.  11. — All  male  adult  members  who  have  been  definitely  ad- 
mitted, are  eligible  to  all  the  offices  of  the  society  subject  to  Article 
7  of  this  contract,  and  will  participate  by  their  vote  in  all  decisions. 
The  adult  members  of  the  ' '  sexe  f  eminin  "have  the  right  to  vote 
upon  all  admissions  and  exclusions  ;  they  are  both  electors  and  eli- 
gible for  all  committees  and  for  the  office  of  the  Director  of  Clothing. 
They  have  the  right  to  vote  upon  the  revision  of  this  contract,  upon 
the  dissolution  of  the  society,  and  in  general  upon  all  matters  of 
moral  and  intellectual  interest,  such  as  education,  propaganda,  and 
amusements.  Minors  and  members  admitted  on  probation  have  no 
right  to  vote  in  any  case. 

Art.  12. — The  suffrage  shall  be  exercised  in  the  general  assembly 
and  in  person  ;  no  vote  by  proxy  or  substitute  will  be  permitted.  The 
vote  in  general  assembly  may  be  taken  in  any  manner  whatsoever, 
except  in  the  following  cases  :  admissions,  exclusions,  and  the  elec- 
tion of  the  Board  of  Directors,  which  votes  shall  be  by  written  bal- 
lot, signed  or  unsigned  at  the  will  of  the  voter. 

Art.  13. — Provisional  admissions  and  definitive  admissions  shall 
take  place  in  general  assembly  by  a  vote  of  at  least  nine  tenths  of  the 
members  having  the  right  to  vote.  Adult  candidates,  when  they  are 
admitted  definitively,  shall  pay  $100  ;  minors,  $20.  They  shall  con- 
form to  all  the  special  law  on  the  subject  of  admission.  Provisional 
admission  must  take  place,  at  the  latest,  fourteen  days  after  the  ar- 
rival of  the  candidate  at  Icaria  ;  six  months  after  arrival,  a  second 
vote  likewise  is  necessary  for  permission  to  continue  the  novitiate. 
Definitive  or  full  admission  shall  take  place  one  year  after  the  pro- 
visional  admission.     Any   admission   not  made  conformably  to  the 


APPENDIX.  193 

terms  of  this  contract  is  null  and  void,  and  does  not  confer  any 
right. 

Art.  14. — When  a  candidate  has  not  the  means  to  pay  a  part  or 
all  of  the  sum  required  by  Article  13,  the  society  may  exempt  him  by 
a  vote  of  nine  tenths  of  the  voting  members. 

Art.  15. — No  stranger  may  reside  more  than  fourteen  days  in  the 
association  without  the  consent  of  nine  tenths  of  the  members  having 
right  to  vote. 

Art.  16. — The  adults  and  minors  admitted  provisionally  are  held 
to  obey  the  directors  and  to  perform  the  labor  assigned  to  them  by 
decision  of  the  assembly  general.  They  shall  labor  at  all  times  ac- 
cording to  their  strength  and  their  capacity,  and  shall  receive  in  com- 
pensation for  their  labor,  proportionally  to  their  needs  and  to  the 
means  of  the  society,  their  lodging,  food,  clothing,  care  in  sickness, 
attention  and  care  for  the  children  and  the  aged  ;  but  no  other  com- 
pensation of  any  sort. 

Art.  17. — Minors  who  have  lost  father  and  mother  in  the  associa- 
tion, shall  be  supported  and  shall  remain  under  the  surveillance  of  the 
society,  which  shall  take  the  same  care  of  them  and  give  them  the 
same  support  as  the  children  whose  parents  are  living.  When  the 
minors,  having  arrived  at  their  majority,  desire  to  remain  in  the  as- 
sociation, they  shall  state  the  same  in  writing  to  the  general  assem- 
bly, and  shall  sign  this  contract.  They  shall  then  have  all  the  rights 
of  members  admitted  definitively  by  this  contract. 

Art.  18. — The  principal  object  of  this  association  in  conducting 
the  affairs  described  and  considered  in  these  articles,  being  that  of 
creating  and  establishing  a  fund  which  shall  provide  for  the  needs  and 
comforts  of  the  young,  the  old,  the  sick,  and  the  infirm,  no  dividend 
shall  be  paid  to  any  member  ;  but  every  accumulation  of  wealth  shall 
be  added  to  the  common  fund. 

Art.  19. — Every  member  who  has  decided  to  retire  from  the  so- 
ciety shall  give  to  the  general  assembly  fifteen  days'  notice  in  writ- 
ing. Every  member  retiring  in  this  manner  shall  receive  from  the 
society  the  pledge  of  a  gift  of  $100  if  he  be  an  adult,  and  $20  if  he  be 
a  minor.  This  amount  may  be  increased  by  a  vote  of  three  fourths 
of  the  general  assembly,  in  the  meeting  which  is  held  on  the  3d  of 


194  ICARIA. 

February,  for  trie  election  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  upon  the  propo- 
sition of  five  members  of  the  society. 1 

Art.  20. — The  sale  of  annual  products  may  be  made  when  it  is 
authorized  by  a  vote  of  the  majority  of  the  adult  men  present  in  the 
general  assembly,  and  the  majority  may  decide  upon  the  use  and  the 
disposition  of  such  products  and  of  the  proceeds  of  their  sale.  Be- 
sides these  annual  revenues  of  the  society,  the  majority  may — but 
not  more  than  once  in  a  month — decide  upon  the  use  or  the  disposi- 
tion of  a  portion  of  the  social  capital  not  to  exceed  $100.  Every  dis- 
position of  the  social  capital  beyond  the  amount  of  $100,  must  be 
made  by  a  vote  of  nine  tenths  of  the  voting  members,  and  the  dis- 
position of  the  fifth  part  of  the  social  capital  may  not  be  made  except 
by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  members  voting. 

Art.  21. — This  association  does  not  approve  the  borrowing  of 
money  as  a  general  rule  ;  but  as  it  may  sometimes  be  necessary,  the 
President  may,  by  a  vote  of  the  general  assembly,  borrow  money  to 
the  amount  of  $100,  when  the  loan  does  not  require  mortgage  ;  but 
this  may  be  done  only  once  a  month. 

Art.  22. — No  loan  under  any  other  conditions  shall  bind  the  so- 
ciety, unless  by  the  consent  of  nine  tenths  of  the  voting  members. 

Art.  23. — All  the  ordinary  affairs  of  the  society  shall  be  con- 
ducted and  decided  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  adult  men  who  are 
present  In  the  general  assembly  at  the  moment  of  the  vote,  ex- 
cept in  cases  specified  and  provided  for  in  the  other  articles  of  this 
contract. 

Art.  24. — The  general  assembly  of  this  association  shall  be  com- 
posed of  the  members  having  the  right  to  vote  ;  and  its  decisions  shall 
bind  the  association  when  the  half  plus  one  of  the  men  having  the 
right  to  vote  are  present  at  the  meeting.  In  case  of  urgency  recog- 
nized by  the  majority  of  the  men  having  the  right  to  vote,  that  ma- 
jority shall  suffice  to  authorize  the  assembly  to  make  decisions  which 
shall  bind  the  society  when  the  postponement  of  a  decision  might  be 
prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  society. 

1  Note  to  Art.  19. — This  article  was  revised  at  the  meeting  of  Feb.  3,  1883. 
Under  the  new  rule,  a  man  when  admitted  simply  gives  the  society  whatever 
he  possesses.  If  he  retires,  he  receives  two  thirds  the  amount  of  his  initial  de- 
posit, and  $25  additional  for  each  year  he  has  served  the  society.  This  rule 
applies  to  charter  members  and  later  admissions  equally. 


APPENDIX.  195 

Art.  25. — Any  member  of  this  association  maybe  expelled  by  a 
vote  of  nine  tenths  of  the  members  having  the  right  to  vote,  when 
that  member  has  been  guilty  of  voluntary  disobedience,  without  any 
good  reason,  and  of  refusing  repeatedly  to  perform  the  orders  of  the 
directors,  or  when  he  refuses  to  conform  to  the  decisions  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly,  if,  by  his  conduct,  the  said  delinquent  member  has 
seriously  prejudiced  the  moral  and  material  interests  of  the  society. 
The  expulsion  will  take  place  in  a  special  assembly  called  for  that 
purpose,  of  which  assembly  and  of  the  charges  preferred  against  him 
the  said  member  shall  have  fifteen  days'  notice.  The  member  ac- 
cused shall  have  every  guaranty  for  the  proof  of  his  innocence  and 
for  the  explanation  of  the  acts  of  which  he  is  accused.  In  case 
of  withdrawal  or  expulsion  from  the  society  of  a  member  who  is  the 
head  of  a  family,  that  withdrawal  or  expulsion  shall  imply  the  with- 
drawal of  his  children  under  the  age  of  fifteen  years. 

Art.  26. — If  one  or  more  members  of  this  association  shall  rebel 
against  its  authority,  or  form  a  party  detached  from  the  common 
group,  in  the  matter  of  nourriture  (eating),  of  labor,  of  purchase  and 
of  sale,  of  loans  and  of  gifts,  or  in  any  other  manner ;  or  shall  under- 
take to  turn  the  society  from  its  true  end  as  specified  above  ;  or  shall 
leave  the  society  for  more  than  three  consecutive  days  without  the 
consent  of  a  majority  of  three  fourths  of  the  members  ;  or  shall  labor 
repeatedly  outside  the  community,  or  within  its  limits,  for  strangers, 
without  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  the  assembly,  that  member 
or  those  members  may  be  expelled  by  a  majority  of  the  members 
having  the  right  to  vote,  but  the  member  or  members  expelled  shall 
have  the  right  to  receive  the  gift  of  $100  upon  their  expulsion,  like 
members  withdrawing.  The  member  or  members  accused  of 
offences  against  this  contract  shall  not  have  the  right  to  vote  upon  the 
penalty  which  shall  be  inflicted  upon  them  by  the  assembly. 

Art.  27. — All  the  laws  and  regulations  necessary  to  execute  and 
to  carry  into  proper  effect  the  objects  of  this  association,  provided 
they  are  not  inconsistent  with  or  opposed  to  this  contract,  may  be 
made  by  a  majority  of  the  men. 

Art.  28. — Five  members  of  the  association  may,  at  every  annual 
assembly  for  the  election  of  the  directors,  propose  the  revision  of  any 


196  ICARIA. 

part  of  this  contract  whatsoever,  and  if  a  majority  of  nine  tenths  of 
the  members  having  the  right  to  vote,  vote  in  favor  of  the  proposed 
revision,  it  shall  be  placed  upon  the  order  of  the  day  of  the  general 
assembly,  discussed  and  voted  upon  three  months  after  its  presenta- 
tion, and  if  at  this  last  vote  the  nine  tenths  of  the  members  having 
the  right  to  vote  decide  in  favor  of  such  revision,  it  shall  have  full 
force  and  effect  as  part  of  this  contract. 

Art.  29. — In  case  of  the  dissolution  of  this  association  by  the 
unanimous  consent  of  all  its  members,  or  by  any  other  unforeseen 
cause,  the  social  capital  and  the  property  shall  be  divided  as  follows  : 
First,  all  the  debts'  or  claims  due  or  belonging  to  persons  outside  the 
society  shall  be  determined  and  paid.  Second,  the  members  who 
were  founders  or  who  signed  this  contract  at  the  date  of  its  adoption, 
viz.,  May  1,  1879,  shall  receive,  and  shall  be  paid  in  money  or  in 
equivalent  property  the  amount  placed  in  the  common  fund  by 
them  at  the  date  of  the  signature  of  this  contract,  or  at  any  other 
later  date,  as  the  books  of  the  association  shall  make  evident.  Third, 
the  members  who  were  not  founders  shall  also  receive  in  money  or  in 
equivalent  property  that  which  they  have  placed  in  the  common  fund 
of  the  association  at  the  time  of  their  definitive  admission,  or  at  any 
other  time  thereafter,  as  the  books  of  the  association  may  show. 
Fourth,  the  remainder  of  the  property  of  the  association,  if  there  be 
any,  shall  be  divided  among  the  members  according  to  the  years  of 
service  of  each  adult  member,  reckoning  from  the  time  of  his  signa- 
ture of  this  contract.  Every  adult  member  shall  receive  a  part  pro- 
portioned to  his  time  of  service  under  this  contract.  The  period  of 
service  of  the  founders  shall  be  counted,  in  reckoning  their  years  of 
service,  from  the  date  of  this  contract ;  the  period  of  the  other  mem- 
bers shall  be  counted  from  their  definitive  admission  ;  the  time  of 
children  bom  in  the  community,  and  of  those  who  enter  as  minors, 
shall  be  counted  from  the  day  when  they  have  attained  their 
majority  ;  minor  orphans  shall  have  the  right  to  ten  years  of  service 
in  making  this  division  of  the  property  in  case  of  dissolution. 

We,  the  undersigned,  in  full  possession  of  our  faculties  intellectual 
and  moral,  knowing  well  and  comprehending  perfectly  the  above  con- 
tract and  all  its  articles,  do  adopt  and  accept  them  freely  and  volun- 


APPENDIX.  197 

tarily,  and  do  engage  ourselves  not  to  make  any  reclamation  of  any 
sort  or  nature  whatsoever  against  our  said  association  which  would 
not  be  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  this  contract. 

The  directors  chosen  conformably  to  this  contract,  in  1879.  for 
the  year  1879,  to  remain  in  office  until  Feb.  3,  1880,  are  as  follows  : 
E.  F.  Bettannier,  President ;  A.  A.  Marchand,  Secretary-Treasurer  ; 
V.  E.  Caille,  Director  of  Agriculture  ;  Armel  Marchand,  Director  of 
Industry  ;  and  Marie  V.  Marchand,  Director  of  Clothing. 

[Here  follow  signatures,  acknowledged  before  a  notary  public,  and 
the  minute  of  the  county  recorder.] 


APPENDIX  II. 

LAW    UPON   WITHDRAWAL    AND    EXPULSION    FROM 
THE  ICARIAN    COMMUNITY.1' 

Section  I. — Preamble. 

When  a  person  has  resolved  to  live  in  communism,  and  has  made 
his  demand  for  admission  into  Icaria,  the  greatest  prudence,  the 
most  serious  reflection,  should  be  exercised  in  the  accomplishment  of 
the  act,  which,  by  its  good  or  bad  results  may  be  classed  among  the 
most  important  acts  of  his  life. 

No  inconsiderate  enthusiasm  for  the  beauty  of  the  Icarian  system 
should  influence  his  mind,  nor  have  weight  in  his  decision.  It  is  im- 
portant that  he  separate  from  the  causes  of  his  determination  all 
sentimentalism,  all  enthusiasm  of  a  nature  to  conceal  the  truth  from 
his  eyes  and  make  him  conceive  of  the  community  as  much  more 
beautiful,  more  developed,  more  perfect  than  it  really  is,  and  its 
members  better  than  they  really  are. 

In  the  distance  defects  are  unperceived,  forms  harmonize,  all  is 
embellished  ;  men  are  exalted  in  their  merit,  and  things  appear  more 
beautiful  than  they  are. 

But  if  it  is  necessary  that  one  should  always  be  on  his  guard 
against  mirages  and  illusions,  it  is  especially  important  that  he 
should  do  so  in  reference  to  an  act  which  may  result,  in  the  future, 
in  regrets  to  all  concerned. 

Icaria  does  not  escape  the  rule  of  illusions  !  The  experience  of 
many  years  demonstrates,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  hope  of  amelio- 
rating his  situation,  the  idea  which  he  generally  forms  of  Icaria  and 
Icarians,  the  joy  that  he  experiences  in  the  thought  of  being  able  to 
live  according  to  his  principles,  exercises  over  every  distant  candidate 
an  irresistible  enchantment,  which  in  many  cases  suffices  to  conceal 

1  See  page  131 
198 


APPENDIX,  199 

from  him  the  inconveniences  of  our  society  of  equality,  and  leave  on 
his  mind  only  a  conception  of  its  advantages. 

To  these  natural  inclinations  toward  the  transports  of  enthusiasm 
are  added  the  great  influence  of  the  writings  of  Cabet,  picturing  the 
splendors  that  communism  shall  one  day  realize,  and  also  the  favor- 
able impression  that  the  regular  publication  of  La  Jeune  Icarie 
cannot  fail  to  exercise  over  the  mind,  by  its  exposition  of  the  organi- 
zation, the  principles,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  end  which  the  com- 
munity proposes  to  itself. 

But  in  all  things — it  is  necessary  to  repeat — it  is  a  long  distance 
from  the  desire  to  the  realization,  from  the  principle  to  the  fact, 
from  the  theory  to  the  practical  embodiment  ;  and  what  is  true  else- 
where is  true  also  in  Icaria.  Those  who  desire  to  join  it  ought  to  be 
thoroughly  impressed  with  this  fact,  and  act  only  after  having  thor- 
oughly considered  the  gravity  of  the  situation. 

For,  let  us  not  forget,  enthusiasm  is  ephemeral  !  When  its  inspi- 
ration has  passed,  deceptions,  discouragement,  succeed  to  the  en- 
chantment, and  a  prompt  return  to  individualism  is  often  the  sad 
consequence  of  it. 

Theoretically,  quitting  old  society  to  embrace  the  communistic 
life  should  be  an  irrevocable  act.  Those  who  join  themselves  to  the 
community  should  do  it  for  all  time  ;  and  whatever  property  they 
possess  should  be  deposited  in  the  social  fund  without  power  of 
recall.  For  if  it  is  reasonable  that  one  should  withdraw  himself 
from  the  iniquities  of  individualism,  to  adopt  a  better  form  of  associa- 
tion, there  can  be  no  reason  for  quitting  the  latter  in  order  to  live 
again  under  the  yoke  of  laws  which  one  has  once  rejected  with  all 
his  convictions. 

Change  for  the  better  is  logical ;  returning  upon  one's  steps,  in  the 
path  of  progress,  is  an  absurdity. 

Moreover,  withdrawal  often  involves  a  multitude  of  inconveniences 
for  the  society  and  the  seceders. 

In  what  concerns  the  definite  deposit  of  property  there  is,  in  fact^, 
a  certain  inequality  in  this  respect,  that  one  family  can  retain  some 
rights  over  a  deposit  while  others  have  nothing  which  belongs  to 
themselves. 


200  ICARIA. 

It  is  true  that  the  inequality  reappears  only  on  the  morrow  of 
their  departure.  While  persons  live  in  Icaria  equality  is  perfect  as 
regards  possession.  But  for  the  communists  this  difference  with 
the  seceders  is  not  less  an  evil,  which  the  financial  weakness  of  Icaria 
can  alone  justify. 

Later,  when  the  community  shall  have  grown,  when  its  produc- 
tion shall  be  better  assured  and  its  general  situation  prosperous,  it 
will  be  able,  while  giving  increased  comforts  to  its  members,  to 
exact  guarantees  of  stability,  and  to  establish  equality  even  in  the 
case  of  withdrawing  members. 

Meanwhile  many  inconveniences  would  result  from  holding  too 
rigorously  to  principles  deduced  from  pure  reason,  and  upon  this 
point,  as  upon  others,  it  is  necessary  to  conform  to  the  exigencies  of 
practical  life. 

Nevertheless,  the  sincere  and  firm  intention  to  remain  perma- 
nently in  Icaria  should  be  the  basis  of  the  application  of  every  can- 
didate. 

But  since  the  weakness  and  variableness  of  men  compel  us  to  an- 
ticipate withdrawals,  and  since,  on  the  other  hand,  a  member  may  so 
disregard  his  duties  that  the  Society  will  feel  itself  under  obligation 
to  exclude  him,  it  is  important  to  regulate  in  advance,  in  the  interest 
of  seceders  and  of  the  Society,  the  condition  which  shall  govern  vol- 
untary or  constrained  withdrawals. 

Section  II. —  Withdrawal. 

Article  i. — Every  member,  provisional  or  absolute,  can  at  any 
time,  by  giving  notice  to  the  delegates  one  month  in  advance,  with- 
draw from  the  Community. 

Art.  2. — The  withdrawing  member  shall  give  notice  of  his  pur- 
pose in  a  written  paper  or  letter  of  withdrawal. 

Art.  3. — The  withdrawing  member  shall  not  be  relieved  of  his 
duties  until  the  Assembly  shall  have  passed  a  vote  accepting  his 
resignation  of  membership. 

Section  III. —  Withdrawal  in  the  Novitiate. 

Art.  4. — When  a  provisional  member  shall  decide  to  withdraw, 
the  money,  deeds,  jewelry,  credits,  tools,  and  other  things  that  he 


APPENDIX.  20 1 

may  have  deposited  on  entering,  -with  the  knowledge  of  the  trustees, 
shall  be  returned  to  him. 

Art.  5. — The  provisional  member,  being  considered  in  every  thing 
save  voting  a  full  member,  no  interest,  rent,  or  revenue  whatsoever, 
be  it  :n  money  or  in  commodities  which  shall  have  been  obtained  by 
mone/.  the  credits  or  the  property  that  he  shall  have  deposited  upon 
entrance,  shall  be  returned  to  him.  The  revenue  in  all  its  forms  be- 
longs to  the  community. 

Section  IV. —  Withdrawal  of  Full  Members. 

Art.  6. — After  having  accepted  the  resignation  of  a  full  member, 
the  General  Assembly  shall  take  into  consideration  the  time  that  said 
member  has  passed  in  the  community,  the  services  that  he  has  ren- 
dered to  it,  the  value  of  his  deposit,  the  condition  of  his  family,  his 
personal  resources,  and  allow  to  him,  under  the  title  of  gift,  such 
sum  of  money  or  such  property  as  the  financial  condition  and  interest 
of  the  community,  being  well  considered,  shall  at  the  time  permit  it 
to  give. 

Art.  7. — The  withdrawal  of  the  husband  involves  the  withdrawal 
of  the  wife,  and  vice  versd ;  also  the  withdrawal  of  their  children 
under  twenty  years  of  age.  By  a  two-thirds  vote  the  latter  may  be 
re-admitted  upon  their  application. 

Section  V. — Cash  Deposits. 

Art.  8. — When  a  member  who  has  deposited  in  the  common 
treasury  more  than  a  hundred  dollars  shall  have  offered  his  resignation 
of  membership,  the  general  assembly  shall  designate  the  times  and 
the  successive  payments  in  the  refunding  of  such  deposit. 

Art.  9. — Deposits  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars  shall  be  re- 
funded within  one  year  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  depositor. 

Art.  10. — The  same  amount  shall  be  refunded  that  was  deposited  ; 
that  is,  it  shall  be  refunded  without  interest. 

Art.  11. — Likewise,  after  the  dismissal  of  a  member,  the  sums 
which  the  community  shall  refund  to  him  in  partial  payments,  by 
the  direction  of  the  general  assembly,  shall  not  bear  interest.  The 
exact  amount  contributed  shall  be  refunded. 


202  ICARIA. 

Art.  12. — Articles  8,  9,  11  shall  be  in  force  until  the  present  debt 
of  the  community  is  paid. 

Art.  13. — After  that  the  General  Assembly  shall  have  the  power 
to  determine  in  advance  the  sums  which  shall  be  refunded  yearly  in 
case  of  withdrawal. 

Section  VI. — Deposits  other  than  in  Cash. 

Art.  14. — When  a  member  shall  contribute  to  the  community  a 
deposit  other  than  cash,  such  as  houses,  lands,  credits,  mortgages, 
horses,  cattle,  etc.,  the  said  deposit,  with  a  statement  of  its  character, 
shall  be  recorded  to  the  credit  of  the  member  on  the  books  of  the 
community. 

Art.  15. — In  case  of  withdrawal  this  deposit  shall  in  the  course  of 
six  months  be  returned  to  him  in  the  condition  in  which  it  shall  be  at 
the  time. 

Art.  16. — When  the  community  shall  have  sold  a  part  or  the 
whole  of  the  lands,  houses,  or  property  of  any  kind,  deposited  by  a 
member,  the  net  product  of  this  sale  shall  be  placed  to  the  account  of 
said  depositor,  and  he  shall  be  reimbursed  just  as  though  his  deposit 
had  been  made  in  ready  money. 

Art.  17. — The  tools,  arms,  instruments,  machines,  books,  furni- 
ture, etc.,  shall  be  returned  immediately  and  in  the  condition  in 
which  they  are  at  the  time  of  withdrawal. 

Art.  18. — No  damage  or  indemnity  shall  be  accorded  for  tools, 
instruments,  or  property  of  any  kind,  which  shall  have  been  mislaid, 
used,  damaged,  or  destroyed. 

Section  VII. — Special   Contracts. 

Art.  19. — When  a  candidate  shall  possess  considerable  money,  and 
the  conditions  of  the  present  law  shall  prevent  his  admission,  the 
community  may  make  a  special  contract  with  him  respecting  the 
manner  in  which  his  capital  shall  be  refunded  in  case  of  his  with- 
drawal. 

Art.  20. — Nevertheless  this  special  contract  shall  not  be  in  opposi- 
tion to  Article  10,  concerning  the  non-payment  of  interest  for  time 
anterior  to  withdrawal. 


APPENDIX.  203 

Art.  21. — Special  contracts  shall  be  recorded  upon  the  books  of 
the  community  at  the  pages  devoted  to  the  contracting  persons,  and 
signed  by  the  latter  and  two  trustees. 

Section  VIII. — Expulsion. 

Art.  22. — When  a  member  shall  not  wish  to  conform  to  the  laws  ; 
when  he  shall  refuse  to  fulfil  his  duties  ;  when  he  shall  conduct 
himself  improperly  toward  his  associates  ;  when  his  general  attitude 
shall  constitute  a  real  danger  to  the  society,  he  can  be  expelled  by 
a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  members. 

Art.  23. — This  expulsion  can  only  take  place  when  the  accused 
has  been  notified  of  the  misdemeanors  charged  against  him  ten  days 
in  advance  of  the  day  for  their  investigation,  and  he  shall' have  been 
given  full  liberty  to  defend  himself  before  the  assembly. 

Art.  24. — As  in  admission  so  in  dismission,  the  expulsion  of  the 
husband  implies  the  withdrawal  of  his  wife,  and  reciprocally  ;  also 
the  withdrawal  of  their  children  under  twenty  years  of  age. 

Art.  25. — Expelled  members  shall  be  settled  with  in  accordance 
with  the  law  upon  withdrawals,  as  in  the  case  of  dismissed  members. 

Section  IX. — Revision. 

Art.  26. — The  present  law  is  subject  to  annual  revision  beginning 
from  the  1st  of  May,  1879,  by  a  majority  of  two  thirds  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  General  Assembly. 


This  law   was   unanimously   approved   by  the  General  Assembly 
Dec.  8,  1879. 


APPENDIX   III. 

CONTRACT  AND  ARTICLES  OF  AGREEMENT  OF  THE 
ICARIA-SPERANZA  COMMUNE.1 

Section  I. — Society. 

Article  i. — Know  all  men  by  these  presents  that  we  :  Armand 
Dehay,  Marie  Dehay,  Paul  Leroux,  Francoise  Leroux,  Pierre  Le- 
roux, Josephine  Leroux,  Gustave  Provost,  Irma  Provost,  Emile 
Bee,  Caroline  Bee,  Eugene  Mourot,  Marie  Mourot,  Emile  Fugier, 
Emilie  Fugier,  Therese  James,  Michel  Brumme,  Alexis  Marchand, 
Louise  Mourot, Louise  Peron,  Emile  Peron, 

and  all  others  who  shall  be  admitted  and  allowed  to  sign  this  Contract 
and  Articles  of  Agreement ;  being  of  age  and  in  full  knowledge  of 
our  action  and  deed,  do  hereby  associate  and  form  a  society,  under 
such  name  and  conditions,  and  for  such  business  and  object  as  is 
hereinafter  described. 

Art.  2. — The  name  of  this  society  is 

ICARIA-SPERANZA  COMMUNE  ; 

and  its  location  and  principal  place  of  business  is  on  Bluxome 
Rancho,  near  Cloverdale,  Sonoma  County,  State  of  California. 

Section  II. — General  Object. 

Art.  3. — The  general  purpose  of  the  Icaria-Speranza  commune 
is  as  follows,  to  wit  : 

A.  To  establish  for  humanity  as  an  example  and  in  devotion  to 
its  welfare,  a  system  of  society  capable  of  rendering  it  happy. 

B.  To  prove  to  our  fellow-men  that  community,  based  on  soli- 
darity, is  realizable  and  possible. 

1  See  page  145 
204 


APPENDIX.  205 

C.  To  perform  such  labor,  and  use  such  sums  of  money,  from 
time  to  time,  as  the  commune  may  deem  sufficient  in  publishing,  ad- 
vertising, and  circulating  the  business  and  principles  of  the  Icaria- 
Speranza  Commune ;  but  the  aggregate  of  sums  of  money  and 
reasonable  value  of  labor  applied  to  such  advertising  shall  at  no  time 
be  less  than  fifty  dollars  per  annum. 

D.  To  create  a  common  fund,  composed  of  money,  real  estate, 
personal  property,  and  all  kinds  of  other  property,  said  common  fund 
to  be  used  for  the  mutual  support  and  in  the  interest  of  all  members 
composing  this  society  ;  for  the  supplying  of  their  legitimate  wants, 
their  comfort,  care,  and  education,  in  all  stages  of  life,  as  well  in  in- 
fancy, sickness,  infirmity,  and  old  age  ;  and  to  be  used  also  to  carry 
out  the  principles,  business,  and  various  objects  of  the  community,  in 
accordance  with  the  purport  of  an  instrument  styled,  "  Act  of  Dona- 
tion to  the  Icarian  Community"  dated  April  22d,  A.  D.,  1879,  and 
recorded  in  Book  II.,  miscellaneous,  at  page  378,  in  the  office  of 
Recorder  of  Deeds,  Adams  County,  State  of  Iowa. 

Section  III. — Dtiration  and  Dissolution. 

Art.  4. — The  duration  of  the  Icaria-Esperanza  commune  shall  be 
ninety-nine  years,  counting  from  the  date  of  the  adoption  of  this  con- 
tract, and  its  organization  shall  be  renewed  whenever  it  becomes 
necessary. 

Art.  5. — If  for  any  reason  whatever  this  contract  should  become 
annulled,  or  if  for  any  cause  whatever  the  Icaria-Speranza  commune 
should  be  dissolved,  its  entire  property  shall  be  disposed  of  in  the 
following  manner. 

A.  First,  all  outside  creditors  shall  be  paid  up  and  settled  with. 

B.  Next,  all  credits  to  which  the  members  of  the  commune  shall 
be  individually  entitled  to,  and  which  sums  shall  have  been  entered 
on  the  books  of  the  commune,  below  their  individual  name,  as  their 
exclusive  property,  shall  be  paid  to  them. 

C.  The  remainder  shall  be  accounted  for,  paid  over,  assigned  or 
transferred  in  accordance  with  the  several  donations  that  shall  have 
been  made  to  the  Icarian  Community,  a  true  copy  of  which  donations 
is  hereto  attached. 


206  1CARIA. 

Section  IV. — Capital  Stock. 

ART.  6. — The  capital  stock  of  the  Icaria-Speranza  commune  com- 
prises all  kinds  of  property,  and  constitutes  a  common  fund  owned 
by  the  commune  and  applicable  to  all  its  wants  through  its  proper 
agents. 

But  said  common  fund  shall  not  be  mortgaged,  alienated  or  in- 
debted to  a  greater  extent  than  is  hereinafter  prescribed,  unless  nine 
tenths  of  the  members  having  voting  privilege  agree,  in  general  as- 
sembly, to  such  greater  alienation. 

Art.  7. — The  common  fund  of  the  Icaria-Speranza  commune  is 
composed  of  all  sums  of  money  or  property  of  any  description  that 
shall  have  been  either  donated,  transferred,  assigned,  or  set  over  in 
any  lawful  manner  to  the  commune,  by  friends,  well-wishers,  charter- 
members  or  later  admitted  members,  by  societies  or  any  other  com- 
munes ;  and  such  money  or  property,  as  well  as  all  accumulations 
thereof,  shall  be  held  in  trust  and  used  only  in  accordance  with  the 
purport  of  said  donations,  transfers,  assignments,  and  the  stipulation 
of  this  contract. 

Art.  8. — The  common  fund  of  the  Icaria-Speranza  commune  is 
further  composed  of  all  sums  of  money  or  property  whatever,  owned 
or  possessed  by  its  individual  members  before  entering  this  associa- 
tion. 

But  such  money  or  property  as  shall  have  been  conditionally  con- 
tributed to  the  common  fund  by  individual  members,  is  to  be  re- 
funded to  them,  in  case  of  their  withdrawal  from  the  commune,  un- 
der such  conditions  as  are  hereinafter  agreed  to. 

Art.  9. — However,  each  and  every  individual  member  has  the  ex- 
clusive use  and  ownership  of  the  following  property  : 

A.  Each  and  every  article  of  his  wardrobe. 

B.  Each  and  every  article  of  his  furniture,  bedding,  and  house- 
hold implements. 

C.  Each  and  every  article  that  shall  have  been  given  him  as  a 
present  by  persons  who  are  not  members  of  the  commune,  and  who 
shall  be  still  living  at  the  time  when  the  individual  member  takes  pos- 
session of  such  present  ;  provided,  however,  that,  in  the  aggregate, 
the  fair  value  of  the  present,  or  presents,  so  received  in  the  course  of 


APPENDIX.  207 

any  one  year,  shall  not  exceed  fifty  dollars,  and  that  all  surplus  shall 
be  remitted  to  the  common  fund,  and  entered  on  the  member's 
credit. 

D.  Each  and  every  article  which  shall  have  been  given  him  as  a 
present  by  any  one  member  or  members  of  the  commune,  who  shall 
still  be  living  at  the  time  when  the  donee-member  takes  possession  of 
such  present  ;  provided,  however,  that,  in  the  aggregate,  the  fair 
value  of  the  present  or  presents  so  received  by  him  in  the  course  of 
any  one  year  shall  not  exceed  twenty-five  dollars,  and  that  all  surplus 
shall  be  remitted  to  the  fund. 

Section  V. — Prodtiction  and  Business. 

Art.  10. — The  general  nature  of  production  and  business  of  the 
Icaria-Speranza  commune  is  as  follows,  to  wit  :  agriculture,  horti- 
culture, viticulture,  mechanical  arts,  milling,  manufacturing,  and 
commerce  in  all  various  branches  ;  also  the  building  and  establishing 
of  schools,  colleges,  villages,  colonies,  and  the  developing  of  sciences 
and  fine  arts. 

Section  VI. — Administration. 

ART.  II. — The  business  affairs  and  common  interests  generally 
shall  be  conducted  by  a  Board  of  Administration,  composed  of  five 
committees,  denominated  as  follows  : 

A.  Committee  on  Works. 

B.  Committee  on  Home-Consumption. 

C.  Committee  on  Education. 

D.  Committee  on  Commerce. 

E.  Committee  on  Accounts. 

Art.  12. — Each  one  of  these  five  committees  shall  be  composed  of 
at  least  two  members  having  voting  privilege  ;  and  when  acting 
separately,  shall  transact  only  such  business  as  comes  within  the  lim- 
its of  their  conferred  powers. 

Art.  13. — The  duties,  power,  and  scope  of  action  of  each  com- 
mittee shall  be  defined  in  special  by-laws  to  be  adopted  in  general 
assembly. 

Art.  14. — When  any  unusual  or  contingent  matter  shall 
come    before    any  one    committee,    the   latter    shall    convene    the 


208  ICARIA. 

board  of  administration  and  lay  such  matter  before  them,  either  for 
final  decision,  or  for  reference  to  a  special  or  to  an  ordinary  meeting 
of  the  general  assembly. 

Art.  15. — The  board  of  administration  may  convene  the  general 
assembly  in  extraordinary  session,  whenever  they  deem  it  necessary  ; 
and  said  board  shall  convene  said  assembly  when  any  five  members 
having  voting  privilege  shall  have  made  a  written  application  for  that 
purpose. 

Art.  16. — No  decision  or  vote,  taken  either  by  a  committee  or  by 
the  board  of  administration,  shall  be  valid  unless  it  obtains  the 
unanimous  assent  of  its  members. 

Art.  17. — The  title  to  all  common  property,  either  real,  personal, 
or  mixed,  is  vested  in  the  persons  composing  the  board  of  adminis- 
tration, and  in  their  successors  in  office,  who  shall,  in  this  relation, 
be  considered  as  trustees  of  the  Icaria-Speranza  commune. 

Art.  18. — Each  and  every  member  of  the  board  of  administration 
shall  be  elected  by  the  general  assembly  in  the  month  of  January, 
for  one  year,  and  shall  be,  at  any  time,  accountable  to,  and  remov- 
able by,  said  assembly. 

Art.  19. — The  names  of  the  persons  composing  the  board  of  ad- 
ministration until  next  January  are  as  follows,  to  wit  : 

Section  VII. — Liabilities. 

Art.  20. — The  highest  amount  of  debts  for  which  the  property  of 
the  Icaria-Speranza  commune  shall  become  liable  is  thirty- 
three  per  cent,  of  the  whole  assets,  as  shall  be  yearly  shown  by  a  cor- 
rect inventory.     For  exceptions,  see  Art.  6. 

Art.  21. — The  aggregate  of  debts,  or  the  liabilities  of  any  kind, 
shall  include  all  credits  which  may,  at  any  time,  become  due  to  the 
members,  as  shall  appear  from  the  books  of  the  commune. 

Section  VIII. — General  Assembly. 

Art.  22. — The  general  assembly  is  composed  of  all  members,  of 
both  sexes,  who  are  at  least  twenty-one  years  old,  and  who  shall  have 
been  admitted  to  sign  this  contract. 

Art.  23. — Minor  members  above  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  pro- 


APPENDIX.  209 

visional  members  may  be  admitted  to  its  sessions,  but  with  consulta- 
tive voice  only. 

Art.  24. — Its  regular  sessions  are  held  semi-annually,  but  special 
sessions  may  be  convoked  according  to  the  foregoing  provisions. 

Art.  25. — The  general  assembly  may  adopt,  at  any  time,  such 
by-laws  and  regulations  as  shall  be  deemed  necessary  to  the  proper 
fulfilment  of  this  agreement. 

Art.  26. — No  decision  or  vote  taken  in  general  assembly  shall 
be  valid  unless  carried  by  fully  three  fourths  of  the  voting  members 
who  shall  be  present  at  the  session  when  such  vote  is  taken. 

Art.  27. — A  majority  of  fully  three  fourths  of  the  members  having 
voting  privilege  constitutes  a  "  quorum,"  without  which  "  quorum  " 
the  general  assembly  shall  not  open  its  sessions,  except  to  adjourn 
twice,  if  necessary  ;  and,  after  such  adjournments,  a  majority  of  half 
plus  one  of  the  members  having  voting  privilege  shall  be  deemed  a 
M  quorum  "  to  transact  any  business. 

Art.  28. — All  admissions  of  new  members,  all  expulsions  of  mem- 
bers, and  all  elections  to  any  office  shall  be  by  ballot  upon  unsigned 
tickets. 

Art.  29.  Elections  to  any  office  shall  not  be  valid,  unless  carried 
as  follows,  to  wit : — 

A.  Candidates  must  obtain  a  majority  of  fully  three  fourths  of 
the  members  having  voting  privilege,  to  be  elected  on  first  ballot. 

B.  Elections  on  second  ballot  shall  be  determined  by  a  majority 
of  half-plus-one  of  the  members  having  voting  privilege. 

C.  A  relative  majority,  viz.  :  the  highest  number  of  votes  cast, 
shall  carry  an  election  on  third  ballot. 

Section  IX. —  Withdrawal  Fund. 

Art.  30. — In  the  month  of  January  of  every  year,  the  board  of 
administration,  through  the  committee  on  accounts,  shall  make  a 
correct  inventory  in  which  every  article  of  common  property  of  the 
Icaria-Speranza  commune  shall  be  listed  and  appraised  at  its  fair 
cash  value. 

Art.  31. — In  appraising  some  classes  of  property,  especially  real 
estate,  the  possible  fluctuation  of  the  market  shall  be  taken  into  con- 


210  ICARIA. 

sideration,  and  the  average  fair  cash  value,  of  such  property,  in  two 
or  more  past  years,  shall  be  deemed  the  correct  value. 

Art.  32. — One  of  the  objects  of  the  taking  of  said  inventory  is  to 
fairly  ascertain  the  surplus  or  net  profit  earned,  year  after  year,  by  the 
Icaria-Speranza  commune,  said  profit  to  be  expressed  in  dollars. 

Art.  33. — When  the  amount  of  said  surplus  shall  have  been  ascer- 
tained, and  approved  by  the  general  assembly,  said  amount  shall  be 
divided  into  two  halves  ;  one  half  shall  belong  to  the  commune  and 
accumulate  to  the  common  fund  ;  and  the  other  half  shall  be  divided 
by  the  number  of  members  having  the  voting  privilege  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  each  member's  equal  share. 

Art.  34. — The  amount  thus  yearly  found  due  to  each  member  shall 
be  entered  on  the  books  of  the  commune,  below  his  individual  name, 
together  with  any  other  credits  that  he  may  have  ;  but  shall  only  be- 
come his  exclusive  property,  and  be  paid  him,  in  case  of  his  with- 
drawal from  the  commune. 

Section  X. — Consideration. 

Art.  35. — Besides  all  other  benefits  that  each  member  may  derive 
from  this  contract,  the  Icaria-Speranza  commune,  as  a  further  con- 
sideration, shall  enter  on  its  books,  and  pass  to  the  credit  side  of -each 
individual  member  having  voting  privilege,  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
dollars,  to  come  out  of  its  property,  and  to  be  paid  to  said  member 
in  case  of  his  withdrawal  ;  provided,  however,  that  each  such  mem- 
ber shall  have  made  a  donation,  transfer,  or  assignment  forever  of  his 
property  to  the  Icaria-Speranza  commune,  located  at  near  Clover- 
dale,  Sonoma  County,  State  of  California,  within  one  year  from  the 
date  of  the  recording  of  this  contract,  or,  previously  to  such  record- 
ing, to  the  Icarian  Community  situated  near  Corning,  Adams  County, 
State  of  Iowa. 

Section  XI. — Labor  Premiums. 

Art.  36. — Monthly  labor  premiums  shall  be  given  to  each  member, 
being  above  sixteen  years  of  age,  provided  said  member  partakes  in 
the  common  work  of  the  commune  ;  said  premium  shall  be  paid  in 
money,  and  shall  not  be  less  than  fifty  cents,  nor  more  than  one  dol- 
lar and  a  half  per  month. 


APPENDIX.  211 

Art.  37. — The  member  of  the  board  of  administration,  acting  as 
treasurer,  shall  not  pay  any  money  as  labor  premiums,  unless  in 
accordance  with  the  following  conditions  : 

A.  Every  month  he  shall  pay  a  premium  of  fifty  cents  to  each 
member  who  shall  not  have  lost  more  than  one  working-day  during 
said  month. 

B.  Every  month  he  shall  pay  a  premium  of  one  dollar  to  each 
member  who  shall  not  have  lost  more  than  half  a  working-day  during 
said  month. 

C.  No  excuse  whatever  shall  be  admitted  as  a  substitute  for 
working-time  lost  by  a  member,  in  relation  to  the  payment  of  pre- 
miums. 

Art.  38. — The  general  assembly  shall  adopt  a  special  by-law  in 
which  all  labor  of  any  kind  that  is  to  be  considered  common  work, 
shall  be  defined. 

Section  XII. — Inheritance. 

Art.  39. — Each  and  every  signer  of  this  contract  formally  agrees 
and  stipulates  that  if  he  deceases  while  being  a  member,  each  and 
every  article  of  his  individual  property,  as  well  as  all  credits  entered 
on  the  books  of  the  commune,  shall  return  forthwith  to  the  common 
fund  ;  with  such  minimum  exception,  however,  as  the  law  may 
require. 

Section.  XIII. — Clothing. 

Art.  40. — The  board  of  administration,  through  the  committee  on 
home  consumption,  shall  make  a  semi-annual  budget  of  expenses 
necessary  to  properly  clothe  each  and  every  member  of  the  Icaria- 
Speranza  commune,  and  to  that  effect  they  shall  carry  out  the  fol- 
lowing rule  : 

A.  They  shall  ascertain  and  express  in  dollars  what  sum  is  neces- 
sary to  purchase  the  clothing,  in  the  six  ensuing  months,  of  each  full- 
grown  female  member. 

B.  They  shall  find  what  sum  is  necessary  for  each  full-grown  male 
member. 

C.  They  shall  classify  all  the  children  in  as  many  series  as  shall 
be  found  necessary,  and  ascertain  what  sum  is  wanted  to  clothe  each 
member  of  each  series. 


212  ICARIA. 

D.  When  the  aggregate  of  all  such  sums  shall  be  found,  they 
shall  submit  the  "  Semi-Annual  Budget  of  Expenses  for  Clothing" 
to  the  general  assembly  for  correction  or  approval. 

E.  After  such  proceedings,  the  member  of  the  board  of  adminis- 
tration, acting  as  delegate  to  commercial  business,  shall  open,  in  one 
or  more  stores  of  the  nearest  town  to  be  designated  by  said  delegate, 
a  credit  to  each  individual  member,  said  credit  not  to  exceed  the  sum 
found  as  his  individual  budget  ;  and  the  said  delegate  shall  see,  when 
necessary,  that  no  credits  opened  in  any  store  are  diverted  from  their 
legitimate  destination. 

F.  All  credits  so  opened  shall  be  equal  for  each  member  of  each 
series  of  persons  ;  but  in  cases  of  special  wants  of  clothing  for  spe- 
cial common  works,  or  common  purposes,  the  committee  on  home 
consumption  may  cause  such  articles  to  be  bought  and  delivered 
whenever  deemed  necessary,  and  every  such  article  shall  be  common 
property  to  be  used  temporarily. 

Art.  41. — Within  the  limits  of  his  individual  budget,  each  mem- 
ber shall  be  at  liberty  to  select  whatever  object  of  clothing  that  suits 
him. 

Section  XIV. — Rights  and  Duties. 

Art.  42. — All  who  shall  be  admitted  to  sign  this  contract,  together 
with  their  children,  shall  be  members  of  the  Icaria-Speranza  com- 
mune, and  shall  have  equally  all  the  same  rights  and  privileges, 
either  express  or  implied,  pertaining  to  such  membership  ;  provided, 
however,  that  no  privilege,  so  exercised  by  any  one  member,  shall 
conflict  with  the  expressed  or  implied  provisions  of  this  contract. 

Art.  43. — The  committee  on  home  consumption  shall  see  that 
all  food  prepared  and  cooked  in  the  common  kitchen  be  wholesome, 
and  that  the  menu,  or  bill  of  fare,  be  so  varied  and  so  complete  as  is 
reasonably  compatible  with  the  means  of  the  commune. 

Art.  44. — As  far  as  practicable  and  not  objectionable,  all  meals 
shall  be  taken  in  common,  in  the  common  dining-room  of  the  com- 
mune ;  but  each  member  shall  have  the  privilege  to  obtain,  from  the 
menu  prepared  in  the  common  kitchen,  his  reasonable  proportion  of 
food,  and  to  take  his  meals  wherever  he  pleases. 

Art.  45. — In  cases  of  sickness  each  member  shall  be  entitled  to  a 


APPENDIX.  213 

private  bill  of  fare,  privately  prepared,  provided  said  bill  shall  not  ex- 
ceed the  ordinary  and  reasonable  staples  of  food,  and  call  only  for 
such  articles  of  food  as  shall  be  within  the  easy  purchasing  powers  of 
the  commune. 

Art.  46. — Except  in  special  cases  designated  by  the  general  as- 
sembly, each  member  shall  reside  on  the  place  where  the  commune 
is  located,  in  houses  furnished  for  that  purpose  ;  and  said  residences 
shall  only  be  used  for  their  legitimate  destination,  viz. :  exclusively  as 
dwellings  for  said  members. 

Art.  47. — Each  and  every  signer  hereof  formally  agrees  and  stipu- 
lates that  he  shall  never  claim,  nor  attempt  to  recover,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  at  law  or  in  equity,  any  other  sums  of  money,  or  pro- 
perty whatever,  than  is  herein  specified  and  provided  for  as  part  of  the 
compensation  given  by  the  commune  for  his  time,  services  and  labor. 

Art.  48. — He  further  agrees  and  stipulates  that  he  relinquishes  all 
rights  of  recovery  from  work,  time,  or  services  whatever  given  to  the 
commune,  by  any  one  member  of  his  family  ;  relinquishing  also  all 
rights  of  recovery  either  for  services,  damages,  expectancy  of  life  or 
estate,  in  cases  of  death  or  of  any  accident  whatever  that  may  have 
happened,  by  any  reason  or  cause,  to  any  one  or  every  member  of  his 
family  ;  agreeing  hereby  that  the  benefits  that  he,  and  each  member 
of  his  family,  derived  daily  from  the  operations  of  this  contract, 
are  ample  and  sufficient  compensation  for  the  relinquishment  of  all 
such  rights. 

Art.  49. — Each  and  every  member  of  this  association  shall  give 
his  entire  working  time  and  abilities  to  the  common  use  and  works  of 
the  commune,  as  shall  be  amicably  distributed  among  them  by  the 
committee  on  works,  after  a  workers'  consultation. 

Art.  50. — The  Icaria-Speranza  commune  shall  give  to  each  minor 
member,  at  least  until  he  shall  have  attained  the  age  of  sixteen  years, 
as  thorough  and  as  complete  an  education,  in  both  English  and 
French  languages,  as  shall  be  found  reasonably  compatible,  at  any 
time,  with  the  various  works,  the  financial  means,  and  the  professorial 
opportunities  of  the  association. 

Section  XV. — Admission. 
Art.  51. — New  members  may  be  admitted  in  the  Icaria-Speranza 


214  ICARIA. 

commune,  and  allowed  to  sign  this  contract,  under  the  following  con- 
ditions : 

A.  Each  and  every  applicant  for  admission  should  sufficiently 
know  the  French  language  to  speak  it  and  read  it  fluently. 

B.  All  admissions  shall  be,  at  first,  provisional,  and  shall  not  be 
valid,  unless  fully  nine  tenths  of  the  members  having  voting  privilege, 
assent,  by  a  vote  in  general  assembly,  to  such  provisional  admission. 

C.  After  such  provisional  admission,  each  applicant  shall  stay  in 
novitiate  for  a  term  of  strictly  twelve  consecutive  months,  after  which 
term  he  may  be  absolutely  admitted  in  general  assembly,  by  a  vote  of 
fully  nine  tenths  of  the  members  having  voting  privilege. 

Art.  52. — Upon  the  written  request  of  five  voting  members,  the 
board  of  administration  may  cause  any  provisional  member,  as  well 
as  any  other  person  having  sojourned  for  more  than  three  consecutive 
days,  to  withdraw  from  the  commune  at  any  time  within  forty-eight 
hours  from  such  request. 

Section  XVI. —  Withdrawals. 

Art.  53. — After  having  given  ten  days'  notice  of  his  intention  to 
the  committee  on  accounts,  each  member  may,  at  any  time,  resign 
his  membership  and  withdraw  from  the  commune,  but  such  formal, 
resignation  shall  be  made  on  a  written  and  signed  instrument  stating 
that  the  resigning  member  relinquishes  all  his  membership  rights  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  settlement  of  his  accounts  with  the  com- 
mune. 

Art.  54. — After  such  proceedings,  the  committee  on  accounts 
shall  convene  the  board  of  administration,  and  lay  before  them  such, 
letter  of  resignation  for  final  acceptation  and  mode  of  settlement  of 
the  resigner's  account,  or  for  reference  to  the  general  assembly. 

Art.  55. — Within  sixty  days  after  he  shall  have  tendered  his  resig- 
nation, each  member  shall  receive,  and  be  paid,  all  his  credits  that 
shall  have  been  entered  on  the  books  of  the  commune  ;  provided, 
however,  that  within  the  twelve  months  preceding  such  resignation, 
the  Icaria-Speranza  commune  shall  not  have  paid  out,  as  fund  for 
withdrawing  members,  more  than  fifteen  hundred  dollars  in  the 
aggregate. 

Art.  56. — When  within    any  one  year  the  Icaria-Speranza  com- 


APPENDIX.  2 1 5 

mune  shall  have  paid  to  withdrawing  members  a  sum  of  money  ex- 
ceeding fifteen  hundred  dollars,  the  board  of  administration,  when 
requested  to  settle  with  any  other  resigning  member,  shall  strike  a 
balance  of  the  account  of  said  member,  deliver  him  a  due-bill  or  note 
for  such  balance,  and  shall  be  allowed  one  year's  time  to  pay  said 
bill. 

Art.  57. — In  cases  of  married  members,  the  resignation  of  the 
husband  shall  imply  the  resignation  of  his  wife,  and  vice  versd ;  as 
well  as  of  all  their  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age. 

Section  XVII. — Expulsions. 

Art.  58. — When  the  conduct,  or  general  behavior,  of  any  member 
above  sixteen  years  of  age  shall  be  so  obnoxious  as  to  seriously  en- 
danger either  the  material,  financial,  or  moral  interests  of  the  Icaria- 
Speranza  commune,  he  may  be  ousted  from  his  membership  and  ex- 
pelled from  the  commune. 

Art.  59. — Each  accused  member  shall  have  ten  days'  notice  of  the 
charges  preferred  against  him,  and  shall  have  fair  opportunities  to  de- 
fend himself  in  general  assembly  ;  but  no  expulsion  shall  be  valid 
unless  carried  by  a  vote  of  fully  nine  tenths  of  the  members  having 
voting  privilege,  the  vote  to  be  expressed  in  two  different  sessions, 
to  be  held  at  least  thirty  days  from  the  first. 

Art.  60. — No  member,  or  his  wife,  and  vice  versd,  shall  vote 
upon  his  own  expulsion  ballot,  and  in  case  he  does  vote,  his  ticket 
shall  be  refused. 

Art.  61. — The  expulsion  of  a  member  husband  shall  imply  the 
resignation  of  his  wife,  and  vice  versd  ;  as  well  as  the  resignation  of 
all  their  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age. 

Section  XVIII. — Revisions. 

Art.  62. — Each  and  every  article  of  this  contract  may  be  revised 
in  General  Assembly  ;  but  the  revision  of  any  article  shall  not  be 
valid  unless  the  following  rules  shall  have  been  strictly  adhered  to  : 

A.  The  unanimous  consent  by  vote  is  requisite  to  revise  the  fol- 
lowing enumerated  Articles  :  I,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7, — 30,  31,  32,  33,  34, 
35,-42,  43,  44,  45,  46,  47,  43,  49,  and  50. 


2l6  1CARIA. 

B.  The  consent  by  vote  of  fully  nine  tenths  of  the  members  hav- 
ing voting  privilege  is  requisite  to  revise  the  following  enumerated 
Articles  :  8,  9,-20,  21,  22,  23,-39,-53,  54,  55,  56,  57,  58,  59,  60, 
61,  62. 

C.  The  consent  by  vote  of  three  fourths  of  the  members  having 
voting  privilege  is  requisite  to  revise  the  following  enumerated 
Articles  :  10,  11,  12,  13,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19, — 24,  25,  26,  27,  28, 

29,-36,  37,  38,-40,  41. 

D.  The  consent  by  vote  of  nine  tenths  of  the  members  is  requisite 
to  revise  Articles  51  and  52  ;  but  after  a  period  of  three  years,  from 
the  day  of  recording  of  this  contract,  Articles  51  and  52  shall  be  re- 
visable  by  a  majority  of  three  fourths  of  the  members  having  voting 
privilege. 


INDEX. 


Almanac  (Icarian),  18. 
Amana  Community,  178. 
American  Socialist,  99. 
Amusements,  51,  52,  118. 
Arbitration,  104,  108. 

Baboeuf,  4,  15. 

Babouvism,  18. 

Barbes,   18. 

Bauer,^  Fritz,  67. 

Bee,   Emile,  169. 

Bettannier,  E.  F.,  161. 

Blanc,   Louis,  30. 

Blanqui,  18. 

Booth's    "  St. -Simon    and  St.-Si- 

monism,"  166. 
Briggs,  Dr.,  84. 
Brisbane,  Albert,  179. 
Brook  Farm,  22,   176. 
Buonarotti,  II,  15. 
Bureau,  Icarian,  at  Paris,  56,  69, 

75- 

Cabet,  Etienne,  early  career,  6  ; 
in  political  life,  7  ;  in  exile,  8  ; 
a  communist,  10  ;  his  "  Voyage 
en  Icarie,"  10-17  J  colonization 
scheme,  19-25  ;  reaches  Amer- 
ica, 43  ;  quarrel  with  majority, 
at  Nauvoo,  53-58  ;  death,  59  ; 
character,   and  writings,  60-63. 

Cabet,  Madame,  56. 

California,  134,  136,  137  et  seq. 

Campanella,  11,  15. 

Carbonari,  6. 

Cavaignac,  42. 


Channing,  22. 

Charters  in   Illinois,    54,    59,  77, 

107. 
Charters  in   Iowa,    77,   104,  107, 

127. 
Cheltenham,  67-72. 
Chevalier,  M.  E.,  61. 
Chicago,  47. 
Christianity,  16,  18,  19. 
Clothing,  116,  150. 
Cloverdale,  139. 
Communist,  The,  84,  179. 
Constitution  at  Nauvoo,  53-55. 
Constitution    of    "  New    Icaria," 

122,  189. 
Constitution  of   "Young  Icaria," 

129. 
Constitution  of  "  Icaria-Speranza," 

145-150. 
Corning  (Iowa),  78,  114. 
Creston  (Iowa),  78. 

Dana,  22. 

Dehay,  Adam,  139,  168. 

De  1'  Eure,  Dupont,  6. 

Democratic  Party,  120. 

Dereure,  S.,  166. 

"Donation,  Act  of,"  128,  133,  148. 

Ely,    Professor   R.    T.,    "French 

and  German  Socialism,"  30. 
Encyclopedists,  French,  4. 
Esperanza  Community,  185. 

Fathers  of  the  Church,  15. 
Favard,  P.  J.,  37,  161. 


217 


218 


INDEX. 


Fenelon,  II,  15. 

Florida,  134,  135. 

Fourier,  15. 

Fourierism,   18,  156,  177,  178. 

French  Revolution,  4,  5. 

Frey,  William,  182. 

Friendship  Community,  180,   181. 

Fugier,  Emile,  162. 

Fuller,  Margaret,  22. 

Gardens    ("les    petits  jardins "), 

100-2. 
Gaskin,  J.  W.,  85. 
Gauvain,  Antoine  von,  162. 
George,  Henry,  15. 
Gerard,   Jean    Baptiste,    56,    76, 

158-61. 
Gracchi,  15. 
Greeley,  Horace,  179. 
Greenback  Party,  94,  120. 
Grotius,  15. 
Guizot,  7. 

Harrington,  .15. 
Hawthorne,  22. 
Hinds'  "  American  Communities," 

87. 
Hinds,  William  Alfred,  85. 
Hobbes,  15. 
Homestead  Law,  80. 
Humanitarian  School,   167. 

"  Icaria-Speranza  Commune,"  137 

-152. 
Intercommunal  Organization,  182. 
Internationalists,  98,  163,  174. 
Iowa,  52,  58,  77.  ' 

Jacotot,  6. 

44  Jeune  Icarie,"  132. 
Jones,  Lloyd,  61. 
Joslin,  Earl,  185. 

Kansas,  182,  185. 


Labor  Party,  174. 

Labor-premiums,  148. 

Lacombe,  "  Etudes  sur  les  Social- 

istes,"  10. 
Lafitte,  7. 
LaForgue,  J.,  165. 
Lamarque,  Funeral  of,  7. 
Lamartine,  30,  42. 
Ledru-Rollin,  30. 
Leroux,  Jules,  139,  166-7. 
Leroux,  Jules  (fils),  139. 
Leroux,  Pierre,  61,  144,  166. 
Leroux,   Pierre,  (fils),  139. 
"  L   Etoile    des    Pauvres    et    des 

Souffrants"  168. 
Levy,  Charles,  165. 
Liberal  Community,  180. 
Libraries,  51,  118. 
L'  Observateur,  161. 
Locke,  John,  15. 
Longevity,  115. 
Longley,  Alexander,  178. 
Louis  Philippe,  7,  8. 
Lycurgus,  15. 

Manuel,  6. 

Marat,  4. 

Marchand,  Alexis  A.,  76,  113,  120. 

Marchand,  Alexis  (fils)  158. 

Marriage,  15,  119,  157,  180. 

Mercadier,  161. 

Mexico,  22. 

Moorhead,  S.  W.,  121. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  10,  11,  15. 

Morelly,  15. 

Mormons,  47. 

Mormon  Temple  at  Nauvoo,  49. 

Mourot,  Eugene,  162. 

Mutual  Aid  Community,  178,  181. 

Napoleon,  Louis,  42. 

National  Workshops  in  France,  30. 

Nauvoo,  47  et  seq,  77. 

Nebraska,  71. 

New  Harmony,  21. 


INDEX. 


219 


New  Icarian  Community,  113-24. 

New  Odessa  Community,  183. 

New  Orleans,  29,  31,  37,  40,  43. 

Nordhoff's  "Communistic  Socie- 
ties," 50. 

North  American  Phalanx,  179. 

Noyes'  "American  Socialisms," 
179. 

Oneida  Perfectionists,  177. 
Owenism,  176. 
Owen,  Richard,  61. 
Owen,  Robert,  11,  15,  21,  22. 

Pacific  Sentinel,  140. 

Panic  of  1857,  76. 

Panic  of  1873,  94. 

Paris  Commune,  94. 

Party  Spirit,  58,  92. 

Peron,  Emile,  99,   102,   130,   150, 

164. 
Peters  Company,  23,  34,  37. 
Piquenard,  A.,  31,  156, 
"  Plan  Financier,"  41. 
Plato,  15. 

Plato's  Republic,  10. 
Plutarch,  15. 
Populaire  (newspaper),  18-25,  39» 

41. 
"  Popular  History  of  the  French 

Revolutions,"  by  Cabet,  18. 
Popular  Tribune,  155. 
Principia  Community,   181. 
Progressive  Community,  182. 
Propaganda,  69,  93,  131. 
Pythagoras.  15. 

"Quelques  Verite's,"  160. 

Rappists,  21. 
Raynaud,  Charles,  161. 
Red  River,  23. 
Religion,  118. 
Republican  Party,  120. 


Reunion  Community,  179. 
Revolution,  of  1789,4,  5. 
Revolution  of  1830,  5,  jt  14. 
Revolution  of  1848,  5,  29. 
"  Revue  Icarienne,"  76,  122,  158. 
Reybaud,  "  Socialistes  Modernes," 

11. 
Rheims,  Levi  de,  32. 
Riots  of  1877,  94. 
Ripley,  George,  22. 
Robespierre,  4. 
Roumain,  N.  T.,  185. 
Rousseau,  4,  15. 

Saint-Louis,  59,  67. 

Saint-Simon,  15. 

Saint-Simonism,  18,  156,  166. 

Sand,  George,  167. 

Sargant's,  "  Robert  Owen,"  23 

Sauva,  A.,  9,  71,  72,  99,  102.  163. 

Schools,  50,  51,  69,  119. 

Sears,  Charles,  179. 

Second  French  Republic,  30. 

Shakers,  177. 

Shreveport,  31,  32,  37. 

Smith,  Joseph,  47. 

"  Social  Contract,"  24,  53. 

Socrates,  15. 

"Speranza,"  144,  167. 

Sulphur  Prairie.  32. 

Tanguy,  A.,  165. 
Texas,  22,  23,  29  et  seq. 
Thiers,  7. 

Voltaire,  4. 

"  Voyage  en  Icarie,"  10-17. 

War  of  the  Rebellion,  81. 
Western  Magazine,  121. 
Withdrawal,  54,  128,  131,  198. 

Young,  Brigham,  47. 

Zoarite  Community,  21. 


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