mance entitled _A Voyage to Icaria_, in which he
represented the community at work under the most favorable circumstances
and in a high degree of prosperity. According to his system, all goods are
to be held in common, and all the people are to have an equal voice in the
disposal of them. Each is to contribute of labor and capital all that he
can for the common good, and to get all that he needs from the common fund.
"From each according to his ability--to each according to his wants," is
the formula of principles. The practical working of the community will
further illustrate the system.

In 1848, M. Cabet, with some three thousand of his followers, sailed from
France for New Orleans, intending to take up land in Texas or Arkansas on
which to establish a community, having the promise that he would soon be
followed by ten thousand more of his disciples. After spending several
months in reconnoitring, during which half of his followers got
discontented and left him, he settled with about fifteen hundred at Nauvoo,
Illinois, where they bought out the property of the Mormons, who had
recently been driven from that place. There they commenced operations,
establishing a saw- and grist-mill, and carrying on farming and several
branches of domestic manufacturing. In a little while they sent out a
branch colony to Icaria, in Adams county, Iowa, where they purchased, or
entered under the Homestead Act, four thousand acres of land. In this place
likewise they built a mill and went to farming and carrying on the more
simple trades. In a little while, however, a quarrel arose in the principal
community at Nauvoo in regard to the use and abuse of power, when, after a
rage of passion not unlike that which they had exhibited in the Revolution
of 1848 in France, M. Cabet, with a large minority, seceded and went to St.
Louis, where they expected to form another and more perfect community. They
never formed this community, however, and were soon dispersed. The
community at Nauvoo, being now harassed with debts and with lawsuits
growing out of the withdrawal of M. Cabet and his party, repaired to their
branch colony at Icaria, where they have been ever since. Here they had
likewise frequent disputes and withdrawals, often giving rise to lawsuits
and a loss of property, until in 1866, when the writer first visited them,
they were reduced to thirty-five members. Since that time they have picked
up a few members, mostly old companions who had