These ramified interests might give the impression that Proud
hon had become converted to the materialistic attitude o f the
typical business man. But this would be an unfair assumption,
since at the back of his mind there was always the hope of some
how inducing his partners or employers to work for the public
good, or o f himself making enough money to re-start the People’s
Bank. The Quixoticism of his forays into the business world is
illustrated admirably in the history of his connection with the
project for the railway from Besangon to Mulhouse, initiated by
Huber, the Alsatian veteran o f the ’48 who had been his neigh
bour in the prison at Doullens. When Huber first approached
him in January, 1853, Proudhon was acutely depressed over his
financial situation, and his acceptance of the proposal at that time
seems to have been motivated mostly by the desire to improve
his position materially. After detailing to Huber the setbacks he
had experienced in recent months, he told him that ‘all that is left
to me, other than dying of hunger, is to re-enter the industrial
career in which I won my first spurs.’
Proudhon managed to arouse the interest o f Jerome Bonaparte
in the projected railway, and in the process he seems to have
convinced himself that the plan had its idealistic side, since a
decentralised pattern of small railroads would be superior— at
least according to his social theories— to a unified system. But the
concession eventually went to Pereire, a former Saint-Simonian
who became an economic pillar o f the Bonapartist regime.
Pereire offered an indemnity o f 40,000 francs to be shared
between Proudhon and Huber as a compensation for their dis
appointment. 20,000 francs would have meant a great deal to
Proudhon at this time; he could have paid all his debts, and still
have kept enough to maintain his family for several months. And
he might have accepted it without blame, for the money was offered
neither as a bribe, nor as a payment for acting in any way dis
honourably. Yet he chose to refuse it on a point o f strict principle;
he had merely offered an idea for consideration, and therefore no
indemnity was due, for ‘money and an idea are two incommen
surable quantities.’
Such fastidiousness annoyed Prince Jerome, who had exerted
his influence to obtain the offer from Pereire, but Proudhon stood
his ground stolidly against the Prince’s displeasure, and while
disclaiming any desire to ‘play the part o f the virtuous and
THE PALADIN OF JUSTICE