Those were happy days--days of faith and enthusiasm, when material obstacles were but straws to be blown to the winds before the vehemence of youth under the inspiration of a grand idea! I remember Considerant rushing into the office one day--a red fez cap, which I had given him to wear to a masked ball a few days before, on his head,--and throwing down upon the sofa a bag of money; "There," he exclaimed, "is enough to go on with sometime yet! In twenty years we shall be in Constantinople." Fourier's idea was that Constantinople would ultimately become the capital of the globe.[11]
Nevertheless, such inspiration and hope could not continue under a despotic government such as ruled France. In 1848, a revolution having dethroned Louis Philippe and established, for the time being, a socialistic republic, Considerant was elected to the National Assembly. Three years later, after Napoleon had been elected president, Considerant, on account of his energetic protest against the French armies' destruction of the Roman republic and because of his known connection with the _Démocratie Pacifique_, was condemned to be transported to some French island, but he was successful in escaping in disguise to Belgium where he continued to dwell until he came to the United States.[12]
The incident of the escape is vividly told by Brisbane, who says:
A great many caricatures of Napoleon had been posted up in the editorial rooms of the _Democratie Pacifique_ and these were speedily torn down: I could see that the editors felt that the reign of despotism had come; no one could tell how long he himself would be safe, and every preparation was made to meet an attack on the office. Fourier's manuscripts and other valuables were removed to a place of safety just in time. The attack came, and Considerant made his escape by disguising himself as a fisherman. Having shaved his long peculiarly-shaped mustache he was unrecognizable, even by his intimate friends, and he thus spent several days fishing under the bridges of the Seine. At length passports were obtained and he made his way to Belgium.[13]
Considerant's relation to the whole Fourieristic movement is splendidly summed up in an article in the _Allgemeine Zeitung_, which states: