The new faith gained a large number of adherents after the Revolution of July, 1830.[56] Some of these became prominent afterwards, some of them were then men of wealth and importance. The best known are perhaps Buchez, who wrote a “Parliamentary History of the Revolution,” and was President of the Constituent Assembly of 1830; Laurent, a distinguished author and professor; Michel Chevalier, a civil engineer, since celebrated as a writer and a political economist; Barrault, professor of literature at the College of Sorèze, a dramatic author of distinction, some of whose plays had been performed at the Théâtre Français, and an orator of remarkable eloquence; Fournel, who had studied at the Polytechnic and afterwards made a name as an engineer; Adolphe Blanqui, who became an orthodox political economist, and wrote a “History of Political Economy,” and Pierre Leroux,[57] who at a later period became the exponent of Humanitarianism, a kind of Saint-Simonism modified and tinctured with Hegelian philosophy, and under whose influence several of Madame Sand’s works, as “Consuelo” and “La Comtesse de Rudolstadt,” were written. Other men of more or less note, bankers, lawyers, merchants, and particularly all kinds of engineers, joined them. The École Polytechnique was ever their stronghold. De Lesseps, an engineer who has disturbed the peace of many Americans, was also for a time connected with them.
Enfantin was, indeed, a strange man. It is scarcely comprehensible what could have given him such power over men of ability, learning, wealth, and shrewd business capacity. In commenting upon this circumstance, Mr. Booth says: “He ruled despotically over their lives and thoughts; he induced them ... to lead an ascetic life; he withdrew them from refined society, and forced them to share in the coarsest toil; he compelled them to undergo the humiliation of public confessions, and he received from them the honors and the reverence accorded to a divine teacher. Yet his intellectual powers were inferior to those possessed by some of his disciples.” ... However, “his views were noble and generous and he advocated them with all the sincerity of genuine enthusiasm and the boldness of matchless self-confidence. It was natural that they should fascinate young men of an ardent temperament, who burned with a chivalrous desire to redress the evils of the world. They were readily charmed by a prophet whose countenance was remarkable for its dignity and repose, and whose affectionate disposition inspired them with boundless confidence and fervor. It must be admitted also that both his religious and political opinions contained a large amount of truth; but his vanity has invested them with an appearance of absurdity, for he delighted in fantastic dresses, in solemn processions, and imposing ceremonies; and he exposed himself to the ridicule of the world by permitting his disciples to speak to him of the majesty of his countenance and the divine brightness of his smile.”[58] An absent follower writes to the father, le Père, as they called him, from Corsica: “The kiss of my father will give me power, and his eloquent voice; I have every confidence in my father, for I am sure that he knows his children better than they know themselves; why do I, nevertheless, tremble in going to him?” Other expressions addressed to the father are too absurd, extravagant, and impious to be quoted. Once, indeed, Enfantin rebuked the homage of his disciples with the words: “No one of us is God: I am only a man.”
The Saint-Simonians in an early stage of their proselytism formed a “Sacred College of Apostles,” consisting of six leaders. These chiefs were Enfantin, Bazard, Buchez, Rodrigues, Laurent, and Rouen. The younger and less influential disciples were organized as a subordinate order. They established missions and bishoprics in Toulouse, Montpellier, Sorèze, Lyons, in fact, in all parts of France, and also carried the new gospel to foreign lands, as Belgium and Algeria. Paris was divided into twelve districts and a male and a female missionary sent into each part. They propagated their faith by numerous lectures and by the press. One of their organs was called the Globe; its mottoes were: “Religion, Science, Industry, Universal Association.
“The purpose of all social institutions ought to be the intellectual, moral, and physical amelioration of the poorest and most numerous class.
“All privileges of birth, without exception, are abolished.
“To each one according to his capacity; to each capacity according to its works.”
These mottoes are a good résumé of their ideas.
The Saint-Simonians considered it necessary first to distinguish themselves in marked manner by wearing a peculiar costume, afterwards to separate themselves from the world by retiring to a sort of monastery.
Their costume consisted of blue cloth. Bazard and Enfantin wore light blue, the other adherents a darker shade, according to rank, the lowest members of the hierarchy being clad in royal blue. At a later period a still more peculiar costume was adopted, which embraced a waistcoat so contrived that no one could either put it on or take it off without assistance; and this symbolized the dependence of man upon his fellow-man.