Chapter III: The European Order of the Illuminati (3)

In Austria an independent literary assault upon Illuminism developed. At Vienna, Leopold Hoffman,[467] editor of the _Wiener Zeitschrift_, fully convinced that the Order of the Illuminati had exercised a baneful effect upon Freemasonry, to which he was devoted, abandoned his chair of language and German literature at the University of Vienna to dedicate his talents and his journal to the overthrow of Illuminated Freemasonry.[468] Finding a zealous collaborator in a certain Dr. Zimmerman, a physician of Hannover, a radical turned an extreme conservative by the developments of the French Revolution, the two labored energetically to stigmatize the Illuminati as the secret cause of the political explosion in France.

The discontinuance of the _Wiener Zeitschrift_ in 1793 by no means marked the end of the campaign. A deluge of pamphlets[469] had been precipitated, all based upon the assumption that the order Weishaupt had founded had subsided only in appearance. Declamation did not wait upon evidence. It was alleged that the lower grades of the Illuminati had been dissolved, but the superior grades were still practised. Under cover of correspondence, recruits of the system were now being sought. Freemasonry was being subjugated by Illuminism only that it might be forced to serve the ends of its conqueror. Journalists partial to the interests of the _Aufklärung_ had been enlisted for the same purpose. The German Union was thus only one of the enterprises fostered by the Illuminati to further their designs. The dogmas of the order had been spread secretly in France by means of the clubs of that country, and the effectiveness of the propaganda was being vividly demonstrated in the horrors of the Revolution. Unless German princes should promptly adopt rigorous measures against the various agents and enterprises of the order in their territories, they might confidently expect similar results to follow.[470]

Much more of like character was foisted upon the reading public. As for contemporary historians who searched for specific evidence of an alliance between the Illuminati of Germany and the Revolutionists in France, their energies were chiefly employed in the development of a clue which had as its kernel the supposed introduction of Illuminism into France at the hands of the French revolutionary leader, Mirabeau, and the German savant, Bode.[471] Unfolded, this view of the case may be stated briefly as follows: Mirabeau, during his residence at Berlin, in the years 1786 and 1787, came into touch with the Illuminati of that city and was received as an adept into the order. Upon his return to Paris he made the attempt to introduce Illuminism into that particular branch of Masonry of which he was also a member, the _Philalèthes_ or _Amis Réunis_.[472] To give force to his purpose, he called upon the Illuminati in Berlin to send to his assistance two talented and influential representatives of the order. The men chosen by the Illuminati-circle in Berlin, Bode and von dem Busche,[473] arrived in Paris in the early summer of 1787. To conceal their purpose from prying eyes, they spread the report that they had come from Germany to investigate the subjects of magnetism and the extent of the influence exerted by the Jesuits upon the secret societies of the age. Meantime, the lodges of the _Philalèthes_, and through them the French Masonic lodges in general, were inoculated with the principles of Illuminism. French Freemasonry thus became committed to the project of forcing the overthrow of thrones and altars. So transformed, these lodges created secret committees who busied themselves with plans for the precipitation of a great revolutionary movement. To these committees belonged the subsequent leaders and heroes of the French Revolution—de Rochefoucauld, Condorcet, Pétion, the Duke of Orléans (Grand Master of French Masonry), Camille-Desmoulins, Danton, Lafayette, de Leutre, Fauchet, _et al._ Through these and their associates the connection between the lodges of Illuminated French Freemasonry and the powerful political clubs of the country was effected. Thus Illuminism was able to inspire Jacobinism. Finally, on the 14 of July, 1789, the revolutionary mine was sprung, and the great secret of the Illuminati became the possession of the world.[474]

At every point this fantastic exposition suffered the fatal defect of a lack of historical proof. Even the specific assertions of its inventors which were most necessary to their hypothesis were disproved by the facts brought to light by more cautious and unbiased investigators who followed. _E. g._, the idea of Mirabeau’s intimate connection with the program of the Order of the Illuminati and his profound faith in it as the best of all instruments for the work of social amelioration is rendered untenable the moment the rash and unrepublican temper of his spirit is called seriously to mind.[475] Again, the real object of Bode’s visit to Paris, a matter of vital importance in the Illuminati-French Revolution hypothesis, was not to communicate Illuminism to French Freemasons, but to attend an assembly of representatives of the _Philalèthes_, called to consider the results of an inquiry previously undertaken, respecting the occult interests and tendencies of that order. Convinced that that branch of French Masonry was yielding to an inordinate passion for the occult sciences, Bode had been prevailed upon by German Masons, von dem Busche[476] among the number, to make a journey to Paris to warn his French brethren of their mistake. A subsidiary personal interest in the newly-discovered “science” of animal magnetism[477] helped to form his decision to make the trip.[478]

The much more important contention that the Illuminati were instrumental in starting the French Revolution, shows a lack of historical perspective that either leaves out of account or obscures the importance of the economic, social, political, and religious causes, tangible and overt, though complex, that rendered the Revolution inevitable.

Yet the legend of Illuminism as the responsible author of the French Revolution found numerous vindicators and interpreters,[479] to the efforts of two of which, because of their intimate relation to the interests of the investigation in hand, our attention in the remainder of this chapter is to be confined.

In the year 1797 there appeared at Edinburgh, Scotland, a volume bearing the following title: _Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the Secret Meetings of the Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies_.[480] Its author, John Robison,[481] an English savant and Freemason, whose position in the academic world entitled his statements to respect, had had his curiosity regarding the character and effects of continental Freemasonry greatly stimulated by a stray volume of the German periodical, _Religions Begebenheiten_,[482] which came under his notice in 1795, and in which he found expositions of Masonic systems and schisms so numerous and so seriously maintained by their advocates as to create deep wonderment in his mind.[483] Bent upon discovering both the occasion and the significance of this tangled mass, Robison obtained possession of other volumes of the periodical mentioned[484] and set himself the task of elucidating the problem presented by Masonry’s luxuriant growth and its power of popular appeal.

The conclusions Robison came to are best stated in his own words:

I have found that the covert of a Mason Lodge had been employed in
every country for venting and propagating sentiments in religion
and politics, that could not have circulated in public without
exposing the author to great danger. I found, that this impunity
had gradually encouraged men of licentious principles to become
more bold, and to teach doctrines subversive of all our notions
of morality—of all our confidence in the moral government of the
universe—of all our hopes of improvement in a future state of
existence—and of all satisfaction and contentment with our present
life, so long as we live in a state of civil subordination. I
have been able to trace these attempts, made, through a course
of fifty years, under the specious pretext of enlightening the
world by the torch of philosophy, and of dispelling the clouds
of civil and religious superstition which keep the nations of
Europe in darkness and slavery. I have observed these doctrines
gradually diffusing and mixing with all the different systems of
Free Masonry; till, at last, AN ASSOCIATION HAS BEEN FORMED for the
express purpose of ROOTING OUT ALL THE RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS,
AND OVERTURNING ALL THE EXISTING GOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE. I have seen
this Association exerting itself zealously and systematically,
till it has become almost irresistible: And I have seen that the
most active leaders in the French Revolution were members of this
Association, and conducted their first movements according to
its principles, and by means of its instructions and assistance,
_formally requested and obtained_: And, lastly, I have seen that
this Association still exists, still works in secret, and that not
only several appearances among ourselves show that its emissaries
are endeavouring to propagate their detestable doctrines, but that
the Association has Lodges in Britain corresponding with the mother
Lodge at Munich ever since 1784.... The Association of which I have
been speaking is the order of ILLUMINATI, founded, in 1775 [_sic_],
by Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of Canon-law in the University of
Ingolstadt, and abolished in 1786 by the Elector of Bavaria, but
revived immediately after, under another name, and in a different
form, all over Germany. It was again detected, and seemingly
broken up; but it had by this time taken so deep root that it
still subsists without being detected, and has spread into all the
countries of Europe.[485]

The “proofs” to which Robison appealed to support these conclusions betrayed the same lack of critical mind[486] with which all the advocates of the Illuminati-French Revolution hypothesis are to be charged. Only the more significant elements are here brought under survey.[487]

That inclination for a multiplication of the degrees and an elaboration of the ceremonies of simple English Freemasonry which Robison found operative among French Freemasons from the beginning of the eighteenth century on,[488] had resulted in making the lodges attractive to those elements in France whose discontent over civil and ecclesiastical oppressions had grown great.[489] Under the pressure imposed upon private and public discussion by the state and by the church, men of letters, _avocats au parlement_, unbeneficed abbés, impecunious youths, and self-styled philosophers thronged the halls of the lodges, eager to take advantage of the opportunity their secret assemblies afforded to discuss the most intimate concerns of politics and religion.[490] Despite the wide contrariety of minor views thus represented, one general idea and language, that of “cosmopolitanism,” was made familiar to a multitude of minds. Worse still, the popular interest of the period in mysticism, theosophy, cabala, and genuine science was appealed to, in order to provide a more numerous clientele among whom might be disseminated the doctrines of atheism, materialism, and discontent with civil subordination.[491] Thus the Masonic lodges in France were made the “hot-beds, where the seeds were sown, and tenderly reared, of all the pernicious doctrines which soon after choaked every moral or religious cultivation, and have made ... Society worse than a waste....”[492]

The introduction of French Freemasonry into Germany, according to Robison, was followed by similar results.[493] Thither, as to France, simple English Freemasonry had first gone, and because of its exclusive emphasis upon the principle of brotherly love the Germans had welcomed it and treated it with deep seriousness;[494] but the sense of mystery and the taste for ritualistic embellishments which the advent of French Masonry promoted, speedily changed the temper of the German brethren.[495] A reckless tendency to innovation set in. The love of stars and ribbons,[496] and the desire to learn of ghost-raising, exorcism, and alchemy,[497] became the order of the day. Rosicrucianism flourished,[498] rival systems appeared, and questions of precedency split German Freemasonry into numerous fiercely hostile camps.[499]

Meantime, on account of the propaganda carried on by the Enlighteners,[500] a revolution of the public mind took place in Germany, marked by a great increase of scepticism, infidelity, and irreligion, not only among the wealthy and luxurious but among the profligate elements in the lower classes as well.[501] Rationalistic theologians, aided and abetted by booksellers and publishers and by educational theorists,[502] coöperated to make the ideas of orthodox Christianity distasteful to the general public.[503] To give effect to this campaign of seduction, the lodges of Freemasonry were invaded and their secret assemblies employed to spread free-thinking and cosmopolitical ideas.[504] Thus German Freemasonry became impregnated with the impious and revolutionary tendencies of French Freemasonry.[505]

At such an hour, according to Robison, Weishaupt founded his Order of the Illuminati.[506] Employing the opportunities afforded him by his connections with the Masons,[507] he exerted himself to make disciples and to lay the foundations of an “Association ... which, in time, should govern the world,”[508] the express aim of which “was to abolish Christianity and overturn all civil government.”[509]

To accomplish this end a most insinuating pedagogy was adopted,[510] the members were trained to spy upon one another,[511] and hypocrisy which did not stop short of positive villainy was practised.[512] As a fitting climax to a program that involved the complete subversion of existing moral standards, women were to be admitted to the lodges.[513]

Following an analysis of the grades of the order,[514] lifted little if any above the general plane of ineptitude upon which the author moved, Robison incorporated into his history of the Bavarian Illuminati a table of the lodges that had been established prior to 1786.[515] Drawing professedly upon the private papers of the order as published by the Bavarian government, he worked out a list which included five lodges in Strassburg; four in Bonn; fourteen in Austria; “many” in each of the following states, Livonia, Courland, Alsace, Hesse, Poland, Switzerland, and Holland; eight in England; two in Scotland; and “several” in America.[516]

The suppression of the Illuminati by the Bavarian government was regarded by Robison as merely “formal” in its nature:[517] the evil genius of the banned order speedily reappeared in the guise of the German Union.[518] Into the discussion of the German Union Robison read the “proofs” of an enterprise truly gigantic both as to its proportions and its baneful influence. The _illuminated_ lodges of Freemasonry were declared to have given way to _reading societies_ wherein the initiated, _i. e._, the members of the Union, actively employed themselves, apparently to accomplish the noble ends of enlightening mankind and securing the dethronement of superstition and fanaticism,[519] but actually to secure the destruction of every sentiment of religion, morality and loyalty.[520] The higher mysteries of Bahrdt’s silly and abortive project were declared to be identical with those of Weishaupt’s order: natural religion and atheism were to be substituted for Christianity, and political principles equally anarchical with those of the Illuminati were fostered.[521]

Although Robison confessed himself driven to pronounce Bahrdt’s enterprise “coarse, and palpably mean,”[522] and although the archives and officers of the Union were held to be “contemptible,”[523] none the less an elaborate though most disjointed tale was unfolded by him. This involved the organization of the German literati and the control of the book trade, with a view to forming taste and directing public opinion;[524] and the establishment of reading societies to the number of eight hundred or more,[525] among whose members were to be circulated such books as were calculated to fortify the mind against all disposition to be startled on account of the appearance of “doctrines and maxims which are singular, or perhaps opposite to those which are current in ordinary societies.”[526] Thus it would be possible “to work in silence upon all courts, families, and individuals in every quarter, and acquire an influence in the appointment of court-officers, stewards, secretaries, parish-priests, public teachers, or private tutors.”[527]

Robison was unable to present anything beyond the most tenuous “proofs” that a direct relation existed between Weishaupt’s system and Bahrdt’s enterprise;[528] still he did not hesitate to affirm that, on account of the emergence of the latter, it had been made clear that the suppression of the Illuminati had been futile.[529] “Weishaupt and his agents were still busy and successful.”[530]

Arriving finally at the subject of the French Revolution, Robison devoted something more than sixty pages to an effort to connect the system of Weishaupt with the great European debacle. Approaching the matter with unconcealed dubiety,[531] he found his confidence and boldness growing as he proceeded. Relying chiefly upon such uncritical and promiscuous sources as the _Religions Begebenheiten_, the _Wiener Zeitschrift_, and the _Magazin des Literatur et Kunst_ (_sic_), and a work entitled _Mémoires Posthumes de Custine_, he sought a point of direct contact between the Illuminati and the French revolutionary movement by stressing the enlistment of Mirabeau,[532] the mission of Bode and von Busche,[533] and the instructions which, he alleged, were given by the latter to the _Amis Réunis_ and the _Philalèthes_ through their chief lodges at Paris.[534]

The mission of Bode and von Busche, according to Robison, had been undertaken at the request of Mirabeau and the Abbé Perigord[535] (Talleyrand). When Weishaupt’s plan was thus communicated to the two French lodges mentioned, “they saw at once its importance, in all its branches, such as the use of the Masonic Lodges, to fish for Minervals—the rituals and ranks to entice the young, and to lead them by degrees to opinions and measures which, at first sight, would have shocked them.”[536] By the beginning of 1789 the lodges of the _Grand Orient_[537] had received the secrets of the Illuminati.[538] The Duke of Orléans, who had been “illuminated” by Mirabeau,[539] and whose personal political ambitions were strongly stressed by Robison,[540] gave hearty support to the enterprise; and thus in a very short time the Masonic lodges of France were converted into a set of secret affiliated societies, all corresponding with the mother lodges of Paris, and ready to rise instantly and overturn the government as soon as the signal should be given.[541] The political committees organized in each of these “illuminated” lodges familiarized not only their brethren but, through them, the country in general, with the secret revolutionary program.[542] Thus it happened that the “stupid Bavarians” became the instructors of the French “in the art of overturning the world”;[543] and thus, also, it happened that “the whole nation changed, and changed again, and again, as if by beat of drum.”[544]

Such in its main outlines and in its “principal links” of evidence is the _Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe_. Yet to obtain a just appraisal of the book it must not be overlooked that its author wrote an additional one hundred and fifty pages, not of “proofs” but of argument, partly to defend errors of judgment he may have committed in his treatment of the subject, but chiefly to persuade his fellow countrymen that the principles of Illuminism were false and to urge them to turn a deaf ear to these doctrines.

We turn now to consider another and much more elaborate exposition of the Illuminati-French Revolution legend. Almost at the moment of the appearance of Robison’s book, there appeared in French, at London and Hamburg, a far more finished production, devoted to the same thesis and bearing the title, _Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire du Jacobinisme_.[545] Its author, the Abbé Barruel,[546] who had been trained as a Jesuit, enjoying literary talents much superior to those of Robison and relying upon documentary evidence more copious if not more convincing, defined his purpose in the following manner:

We shall show that with which it is incumbent on all nations
and their chiefs to be acquainted: we shall demonstrate that,
even to the most horrid deeds perpetrated during the French
Revolution, everything was foreseen and resolved on, was combined
and premeditated: that they were the offspring of deep-thought
villainy, since they had been prepared and were produced by
men, who alone held the clue of those plots and conspiracies,
lurking in the secret meetings where they had been conceived,
and only watching the favorable moment of bursting forth. Though
the events of each day may not appear to have been combined,
there nevertheless existed a secret agent and a secret cause,
giving rise to each event, and turning each circumstance to
the long-sought-for end. Though circumstances may often have
afforded the pretense of the occasion, yet the grand cause of
the revolution, its leading features, its atrocious crimes, will
still remain one continued chain of deep-laid and premeditated
villainy.[547]

The amazing breadth of Barruel’s canvass, as well as the naiveté of the artist, are immediately disclosed in his foreword respecting the “triple conspiracy” which he proposes to lay bare.[548] To present this “triple conspiracy” in his own words will do more than define the abbé’s conception of his task: its transparent incoordination will make it apparent that much of the work of examination that might otherwise seem to be called for is futile.

1st. Many years before the French Revolution, men who styled
themselves Philosophers conspired against the God of the Gospel,
against Christianity, without distinction of worship, whether
Protestant or Catholic, Anglican or Presbyterian. The grand object
of this conspiracy was to overturn every altar where Christ was
adored. It was the conspiracy of the _Sophisters[549] of Impiety_,
or the ANTICHRISTIAN CONSPIRACY.

2dly. This school of impiety soon formed the _Sophisters of
Rebellion_: these latter, combining their conspiracy against
kings with that of the Sophisters of Impiety, coalesce with that
ancient sect whose tenets constituted the whole secret of the
_Occult-Lodges_ of Free-Masonry, which long since, imposing on the
credulity of its most distinguished adepts, only initiated the
chosen of the elect into the secret of their unrelenting hatred for
Christ and kings.

3dly. From the Sophisters of Impiety and Rebellion arose
_Sophisters of Impiety and Anarchy_. These latter conspire not
only against Christ and his altars, but against every religion
natural or revealed: not only against kings, but against every
government, against all civil society, even against all property
whatsoever.

This third sect, known by the name of Illumines, coalesced with
the Sophisters conspiring against Christ, coalesced with the
Sophisters who, with the Occult Masons, conspired against both
Christ and kings. It was the coalition of the adepts of _impiety_,
of the adepts of _rebellion_, and the adepts of _anarchy_, which
formed the _CLUB of the JACOBINS_.... Such was the origin, such
the progress of that sect, since become so dreadfully famous under
the name JACOBIN. In the present Memoirs each of these three
conspiracies shall be treated separately; their authors unmasked,
the object, means, coalition and progress of the adepts shall be
laid open.[550]

The sole proposition which Barruel proposed to maintain is thus made clear enough. _All_ the developments of the French Revolution were to be explained on the basis of the following postulate: The Encyclopedists, Freemasons, and Bavarian Illuminati, working together, not unconsciously but with well-planned coördination, produced the Jacobins, and the Jacobins in turn produced the Revolution. Over all, embracing all, the word “conspiracy” must needs be written large.

The first volume of the Memoirs was devoted to the conspiracy of the philosophers. Voltaire, D’Alembert, Frederick II, and Diderot—“Voltaire the chief, D’Alembert the most subtle agent, Frederick the protector and often the adviser, Diderot the forlorn hope”[551]—these were the men who originally leagued themselves together “in the most inveterate hatred of Christianity.”[552] Bringing out into bold relief the most malignant and brutal of the anticlerical and anti-Christian utterances of Voltaire and his friends,[553] as well as all available evidence of a crafty strategy on the part of the conspirators to avoid detection of their plan,[554] Barruel was emboldened to affirm a desperate plan to overturn every altar where Christ was adored, whether in London, Geneva, Stockholm, Petersburg, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, or Rome, whether Protestant or Catholic.[555]

The first definite step in this campaign of the philosophers is declared to have been the publication of _L’Encyclopédie_;[556] the second, the suppression of the Jesuits and the widespread elimination of religious houses;[557] and the third, the capture of the French Academy by the philosophers and the diversion of its honors to impious writers.[558]

The foregoing were measures which primarily concerned “the chiefs,” or “better sort.”[559] Efforts to extend the conspiracy to the hovel and the cottage were also made. Accordingly, appeals to toleration, reason, and humanity became the order of the day.[560] These were intended to impress the populace and, by a show of sympathy with those who complained of their condition, prepare the way for the days of rebellion, violence, and murder which were yet to come.[561] Free schools were established, directed by men who, privy to the great conspiracy, became zealous corrupters of youth.[562] All was carefully calculated and planned to render possible the full fruitage of the designs of the conspirators when the harvest day should come.

Having thus dealt with the conspiracy against altars, Barruel turned in his second volume to consider the plot against thrones. The great inspirers of this covert attack upon monarchy were Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. Voltaire, though by nature a friend of kings, whose favor and caresses were his delight, yet, since he found them standing in the way of his efforts to extirpate Christianity, was led to oppose them, and to substitute the doctrines of equality of rights and liberty of reason for his earlier emphasis upon loyalty to sovereigns.[563] Unwittingly, through his _Spirit of Laws_, Montesquieu had helped on the anti-monarchical resolution by his heavy emphasis upon the essential differences between monarchies and democracies, thus for the first time suggesting to the French people that they lived under a despotic government and helping to alienate them from their king.[564] As for Rousseau, in his _Social Contract_ he had widened the path which Montesquieu had opened.[565] His doctrines had the effect of placing monarchy in an abhorrent light. They filled the minds of the people with a passion for Liberty and Equality.

The systems of Montesquieu and Rousseau, particularly, induced the Sophisters of Impiety to combine the task of overthrowing monarchy with the task of overthrowing religion.[566] A sweeping attempt to popularize the leveling principles embodied in those two systems immediately developed. A flood of antimonarchical writings appeared,[567] governments were sharply criticized, despotism was roundly denounced, the minds of the people were agitated and inflamed, and the notion of revolution was rendered familiar both by precept and example.[568]

Some powerful secret agency was needed, however, to promote this vast conspiracy. The lodges of Freemasonry suggested a tempting possibility. The members of the craft gave ample evidence that they were susceptible.[569] The occult lodges,[570] moreover, already had traveled far toward the goal of revolution. All their protests to the contrary, their _one_ secret was: “Equality and Liberty; all men are equals and brothers; all men are free.”[571] Surely it would not be difficult for the enemies of thrones and altars to reach the ears of men who cherished such a secret, and to convert their lodges into council-chambers and forums for the propagation of the doctrines of impiety and rebellion.

An alliance was speedily consummated,[572] and a fresh torrent of declamation and calumnies, all directed against the altar and the throne, began to pour through these newly discovered subterranean channels.[573] The _Grand Orient_ constituted a central committee which as early as 1776 instructed the deputies of the lodges throughout France to prepare the brethren for insurrection.[574] Condorcet and Sieyès placed themselves at the head of another lodge, to which the Propaganda was to be traced.[575] In addition, a secret association bearing the title _Amis des Noirs_ created a _regulating committee_, composed of such men as Condorcet, the elder Mirabeau, Sieyès, Brissot, Carra, the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, Clavière, Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau, Valade, La Fayette, and Bergasse.[576] This _regulating committee_ was also in intimate correspondence with the French lodges of Freemasonry. Thus a powerful secret organization was at hand, composed of not less than six hundred thousand members all told, at least five hundred thousand of whom could be fully counted upon to do the bidding of the conspirators, “all zealous for the Revolution, all ready to rise at the first signal and to impart the shock to all other classes of the people.”[577]

However, all these machinations might have come to naught had it not been for the encouragement and direction supplied by the Illuminati. In the latter Barruel saw the apotheosis of infamy and corruption.[578] With diabolical ingenuity the chiefs of the Illuminati succeeded in evolving an organization which put into the hands of the conspirators, _i. e._, the philosophers and Freemasons, the very instrument they needed to give full effect to their plans. The superiority of that organization was to be seen in its principles of general subordination and the gradation of superiors, in the minute instructions given to adepts and officers covering every conceivable responsibility and suggesting infinite opportunities to promote the order’s welfare, and in the absolute power of its _general_.[579] Thus was built up a hierarchy of savants, an association held under a most rigid discipline, a formidable machine capable of employing its maximum power as its governing hand might direct.[580] With the close of the third volume Barruel considers that he has been able to present a “complete academy of Conspirators.”[581]

Barruel’s last volume, the most formidable of all, was devoted by its author to the forging of the final link in his chain: the coalescence of the conspiring philosophers, Freemasons, and Illuminati into the Jacobins. To establish a connection between the “illuminated” Masons and the immediate “authors and abettors of the French Revolution,”[582] _i. e._, the Jacobins, Barruel had recourse to the familiar inventions of the reappearance of the Bavarian Illuminati after its suppression,[583] the rise and corrupting influence of the German Union,[584] that treacherous “modification of Weishaupt’s _Minerval_ schools,”[585] and, particularly, the pretended mission of Bode and von Busche to Paris.[586]

With respect to this last invention, no more worthy of our comment than the others except for the fact that it was supposed to supply the direct point of contact between the conspirators and the French Revolution, Barruel was obliged to admit that he was unable to place before his readers evidence of the precise character of the negotiations that took place between the deputation from Berlin and the French lodges:[587] “facts” would have to be permitted to speak for themselves.[588] These “facts” were such as the following: the lodges of Paris were rapidly converted into clubs, with _regulating committees_ and _political committees_;[589] the resolutions of the _regulating committees_ were communicated through the committee of correspondence of the _Grand Orient_ to the heads of the Masonic lodges scattered throughout France;[590] the day of general insurrection was thus fixed for July 14, 1789;[591] on the fatal day the lodges were dissolved, and the Jacobins, suddenly throwing off their garments of secrecy and hypocrisy, stood forth in the clear light of day.[592]

His last two hundred pages were devoted by Barruel to arguments shaped chiefly to show that the principles of the Revolutionary leaders were identical with the principles of the illuminated lodges;[593] that the successes of the Revolutionary armies, of Custine beyond the Rhine,[594] of Dumouriez in Belgium,[595] of Pichegru in Holland,[596] and of Bonaparte in Italy, in Malta, and in Egypt,[597] were explicable only on the ground of treacherous intrigues carried on by the agents of Illuminism; and that no country, moreover, need flatter itself it would escape the seductions and plots of the conspirators. The dragon’s teeth of revolution were already sown in Switzerland, in Sweden, in Russia, in Poland, in Austria, in Prussia, _and in America_.[598] With Barruel’s comment upon America,[599] our discussion of the _Memoirs of Jacobinism_ may well come to a close.

As the plague flies on the wings of the wind, so do their
triumphant legions infect America. Their apostles have infused
their principles into the submissive and laborious negroes; and
St. Domingo and Guadaloupe have been converted into vast charnel
houses for their inhabitants. So numerous were the brethren in
North America, that Philadelphia and Boston trembled, lest _their
rising constitution should be obliged to make way for that of
the great club_; and if for a time the brotherhood has been
obliged to shrink back into their hiding places, they are still
sufficiently numerous to raise collections and transmit them to
the insurgents of Ireland;[600] thus contributing toward that
species of revolution which is the object of their ardent wishes
in America.[601] God grant that the United States may not learn to
their cost, that Republics are equally menaced with Monarchies; and
that the immensity of the ocean is but a feeble barrier against the
universal conspiracy of the Sect!

NOTE: The literary relationship between the works of Robison and Barruel is of sufficient interest and significance to warrant some comment. Robison’s volume was published before its author saw Barruel’s composition in its French text.[602] Later, Robison was moved to rejoice that Barruel had confirmed his main positions and contentions. A few things in the _Memoirs of Jacobinism_, however, impress him as startling. He confesses that he had never before heard the claim seriously made that “irreligion and unqualified Liberty and Equality are the genuine and original Secrets of Free Masonry, and the ultimatum of a regular progress through all its degrees.”[603] He is driven to assert that _this_ is not the secret of Masonry as he has learned it from other sources. Robison also recognizes differences in the two works respecting the exposition of certain Masonic degrees. For his part he is not willing to admit that his sources are unreliable.[604]

Barruel, on the other hand, did not get sight of Robison’s volume until just as his third volume was going to press.[605] He comments in part as follows: “Without knowing it, we have fought for the same cause with the same arms, and pursued the same course; but the Public are on the eve of seeing our respective quotations, and will observe a remarkable difference between them.”[606] That difference Barruel attempts to explain on the ground that Robison had adopted the method of combining and condensing his quotations from his sources. Besides, he thinks his zealous confederate “in some passages ... has even adopted as truth certain assertions which the correspondence of the Illuminées evidently demonstrate to have been invented by them against their adversaries, and which,” he continues, “in my Historical Volume I shall be obliged to treat in an opposite sense.”[607] Barruel also differs with Robison respecting the time of the origin of Masonry.[608] But all such matters are of slight consequence; all suggestions of opposition and disagreement between Robison and Barruel are brushed aside by him in the following summary fashion: “ ... It will be perceived that we are not to be put in competition with each other; Mr. Robison taking a general view while I have attempted to descend into particulars: as to the substance we agree.”[609]

It was one of the most confident boasts of the supporters of the idea of a “conspiracy against thrones and altars” that these two writers, Robison and Barruel, had worked at the same problem without the knowledge of each other’s effort, and thus following independent lines of investigation, had reached the same conclusion. The merit of the claim may safely be left to the reader’s judgment.

FOOTNOTES:

[445] “Es muss die Furcht vor dem verschrieenen Illuminatismus geradezu wie ein Druck in der Luft gehangen haben, denn der Orden selbst existierte in seiner festeren Organisation schon lange nicht mehr, als sich die Gespensterfurcht vor ihm in so allgemeiner Weise breit machte.” (Engel, _op. cit._, p. 425.)

[446] Forestier, _op. cit._, p. 613.

[447] _Ibid._, pp. 613 _et seq._

[448] As late as November 15, 1790, incited thereto by the priest Frank, the duke of Bavaria proclaimed a new interdict against the order. The threat of death as a punishment for membership in the order or activity on its behalf was again imposed. _Cf._ Engel, p. 371; Forestier, pp. 614 _et seq._ The following year the police of the city of Munich compiled a list of ninety-one names (Forestier gives the number as ninety-two, _cf. ibid._, p. 615), of members of the order who were supposed to be still active, and proceeded to apply the policy of banishing those who were held to be most dangerous. A number suffered in this way. _Cf._ Engel, pp. 371 _et seq._ _Cf._ Forestier, pp. 615 _et seq._ A spirit of reckless denunciation ruled in Munich, because of which no suspected man’s person was safe. Not until the death of Carl Theodore, in 1799, did this period of hostility to the order on the part of the Bavarian government finally come to an end.

[449] A reorganization of the Rosicrucian system had taken place in 1767, which stressed the antiquity, sanctity, and superior character of the order in its relations to the rest of the Masonic fraternity. According to their claims, the Rosicrucians alone were able to explain the hieroglyphics, symbols, and allegories of Freemasonry. The structure of the order was greatly elaborated at the time indicated, and thus supplementing its traditional appeal to the thirst for alchemy and magic, the order grew rapidly. _Cf._ Forestier, pp. 187–191. _Cf._ Engel, p. 240.

[450] Vehse, in his _Geschichte des Preussischen Hofes_, vol. ii, p. 35, puts the matter thus: “In den Ländern nun, wo sie aufgehoben waren, brauchten die Exjesuiten das Mittel in den geheimen Gesellschaften Aufnahme zu suchen. Sie bildeten hier eine schleichende und deshalb um so sichere Opposition gegen alle Aufklärungstendenzen. In dem Freimaurerorden stifteten sie die sogenannten ‘inneren Systeme.’ Hier waren sie als Proselytenmacher ganz in der Stille tätig und arbeiteten mit Macht darauf hin, das obscurante Pfaffentum und die despotische Hierarchie in beiden Konfessionen, im Protestantismus sowohl als Katholizismus wieder herzustellen.” (Quoted by Engel, pp. 241 _et seq._)

[451] Forestier, _op. cit._, p. 191. Engel, _op. cit._, p. 242.

[452] _Ibid._, p. 242.

[453] _Ibid._, pp. 247 _et seq._ Forestier brings into connection with this effort of the king of Prussia to check the supposed operations of the Illuminati, a further reproach which came upon the order on account of the course pursued by the Rosicrucians in spreading the report in the Masonic world that the Eclectic Alliance, an ill-fated effort to unite and dominate German Freemasonry, launched in 1783, was a survival of the Order of the Illuminati. The unpopularity and suspicion which the Eclectic Alliance incurred were due in part to its attempts to eliminate the high grades of Masonry, but more especially to the charges made against it by representatives of rival Masonic systems that it had at heart the undermining of the Christian religion. _Cf. ibid._, pp. 617 _et seq._, 383–388. The Illuminati had had affiliations with the Eclectic Alliance, and hence a certain justification had been given for the accusations which were transferred from the former to the latter.

[454] The loose use of the term “Illuminati” involved in these statements is only partially illustrated in the following comment of Mounier: “On a donné par dérision la qualité d’_Illuminés_ à tous les charlatans mystiques de ce siècle, à tous ceux qui s’occupent d’alchimie, de magie et de cabale, de revenans, de relations avec des esprits intermédiaires, tels que les Saint-Germain, les Cagliostro, les Swedenborg, les Rose-croix et les Martinistes: mais il a existé une autre espèce d’illuminés en Allemagne” (_i. e._, Weishaupt’s system). (_De l’influence attribuée aux philosophes, aux franc-maçons et aux illuminés, sur la révolution de France_, p. 169.) Not these systems alone, but the representatives of the diffused forces of the Enlightenment were appointed to share the mantle of the ambiguous term.

[455] Baron Knigge. In responding to Bahrdt’s appeal to assist him in working out the system of the German Union, Knigge violated the pledge he had made to the Bavarian government not to concern himself again with secret organizations. For his indiscretion he paid the penalty of an unpleasant notoriety. _Cf._ Forestier, p. 629.

[456] Bahrdt’s career was objectionable from almost every point of view. He had been first a pastor, and later a professor of sacred philology at the University of Leipzig. Here, as at Erfurt, the place of his next professional labors, his dissolute conduct involved him in public scandals which lost him his post. In 1771 he went to Giessen as preacher and professor of theology. Later, after numerous changes of location and in the character of his educational activity, he took refuge at Halle, where he conducted courses in rhetoric, eloquence, declamation, and ethics. A man of low tastes, his life was without dignity and solid convictions. _Cf._ Forestier, pp. 624 _et seq._; Mounier, pp. 201 _et seq._; P. Tschackert, in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopädie_, 3. Aufl., ii, (1897), pp. 357–359.

[457] These associations were to be divided into six grades: Adolescent, Man, Elder, Mesopolite, Diocesan, and Superior. A ritual was provided and the low initiation fee of one _thaler_ imposed. The system, never fully developed, conveys the impression of crudeness and absurdity.

[458] Mounier, pp. 201 _et seq._ Forestier makes the added suggestion that Bahrdt saw in the formation of the Union a chance to further his own literary ambitions and pecuniary interests. _Cf._ Forestier, p. 627.

[459] _Ibid._, pp. 629, 630.

[460] _Ibid._

[461] Mounier, p. 186.

[462] “Die merkwürdigste, aber auch gleichzeitig groteskeste Beschuldigung, die jemals dem Illuminatenorden nachgesagt worden ist, war die, dass er die französische Revolution zur Explosion gebracht habe. Es gehörte recht viel Kombinationsvermögen und Taschenspielerei in der Logik dazu, um den Beweis für diese wundersame Behauptung zusammenzuleimen, aber in jener Zeit wurde tatsächlich alles geglaubt, sobald es sich darum handelte, dem Illuminatismus eine neue Schurkerei aufzuhalsen.” (Engel, pp. 402, 404. _Cf._ Mounier, pp. 124, 215 _et seq._)

[463] Published anonymously at Munich, in 1794.

[464] Title in full: _Illuminatus Dirigens oder Schottischer Ritter. Ein Pendant zu der nicht unwichtigen Schrift: Die neuesten Arbeiten, etc._, Munich, 1794.

[465] The grades of Priest and Regent were reproduced in the first of these two works. The most objectionable principles of the order were reserved to these two grades.

[466] Forestier brings into connection with the publication of these pamphlets the appearance of certain brochures of Knigge’s, wherein he espoused with great ardor the cause of the French Revolutionists. The special import of this requires no comment. _Cf. ibid._, pp. 636 _et seq._

[467] Hoffman had himself been a member of the Illuminati, at Vienna. _Cf._ Forestier, _op. cit._, p. 646.

[468] The date was early in 1792 (!). _Cf. ibid._, p. 646.

[469] Forestier, whose treatment at this point is characteristically thorough, gives the titles, or otherwise refers to not less than fourteen pamphlets or brochures, in addition to numerous magazine articles. _Cf. ibid._, pp. 649–658.

[470] Forestier, _op. cit._, pp. 649–658.

[471] Johann Joachim Christoph Bode (1730–1793), by no means a distinguished representative of the German literati of his period, occupied a fairly important rôle in the history of the Order of the Illuminati. After Weishaupt’s flight to Ingolstadt he was the most active leader in the ranks of the persecuted order. _Cf._ Forestier, pp. 543 _et seq._ He was profoundly interested in Masonry. In 1790 he projected a plan for the union of all the German lodges of Masonry. The effort proved futile.

[472] The _Philalèthes_ were conspicuous among French Freemasons for their unequalled devotion to alchemy and theurgy. The order was founded about 1773.

[473] Staack, in his _Der Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert_ (1803), vol. ii, p. 276, represents von dem Busche as a military official in the service of the Dutch government, and as a member of Weishaupt’s order. Mounier (p. 212) refers to him as a major in the service of the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. His figure is of no historical importance apart from its chance connection with the Illuminati legend.

[474] This bizarre and preposterous explanation of the genesis of the French Revolution was a favorite with contemporary German and French writers of the special-pleader type. It was used, as we shall see later, by both Robison and Barruel in their discussions of the rôle played by the Illuminati in the great French political and social debacle. Its classic statement was made a few years later by Staack, in his _Der Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert_, vol. ii, pp. 348 _et seq._

A more silly exposition of the relation of the Illuminati to the French Revolution is that found in the fabulous tale related by the notorious Sicilian impostor, Giuseppe Balsamo (“Count” Alessandro Cagliostro), who, in 1790, having been arrested at Rome and interrogated by officials respecting his revolutionary principles, attempted to divert suspicion by recounting experiences he claimed to have had with two chiefs of the Illuminati, at Mitau, near Frankfort, Germany. Revelations had been made to him at that time (1780), he alleged, to the effect that the Order of the Illuminati was able to number 20,000 lodges, scattered through Europe and America; that its agents were industriously operating in all European courts, particularly, being lavishly financed with funds drawn from the immense treasures of the order; and that the next great blow of the order was to be delivered against the government of France. _Cf._ Sierke, _Schwärmer und Schwindler zu Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts_, pp. 407 _et seq._ Both Engel (pp. 420 _et seq._) and Forestier (pp. 658 _et seq._) devote an unnecessary amount of space to Cagliostro’s foolish “revelations”. It is sufficient for our purpose to remark in passing that, in any case, Cagliostro was not discussing the affairs of Weishaupt’s order, but the affairs of the Strict Observance whose growing credulity and occultism caused the term “Illuminati” sometimes to be applied to them.

[475] “Ses principes étaient directement contraires à ceux des illuminés; il n’était pas homme à placer ses espérances dans un intervalle de mille ans. Il n’a jamais pensé qu’un peuple pût devenir assez vertueux pour se passer de lois et de magistrats. Il a soutenu la vraie théorie de la balance des pouvoirs, et combattu le despotisme populaire, toutes les fois que l’amour de la célébrité et l’intérêt de son ambition ne le faisaient pas agir contre sa propre doctrine, et les illuminés n’auraient été capables, ni d’ajouter à ses lumières, ni de changer sa théorie, ni de corriger ses vices.” (Mounier, pp. 216 _et seq._) This judgment of a sensible and impartial critic of the French Revolution, first submitted to the public in 1801, is as valid now as then.

[476] Without citing his authority, Forestier makes the statement that von dem Busche’s interest in the reform of the debased order of the _Philalèthes_ led him not only to accompany Bode but to offer to pay his expenses. _Cf._ Forestier, p. 666.

[477] The theories and _séances_ of the empiric, Mesmer, were greatly agitating Paris at the time and attracting attention throughout Europe.

[478] Mounier, pp. 212 _et seq._ _Cf._ Forestier, pp. 664 _et seq._ While Bode was in Paris he kept in close correspondence with his German friend, Frau Hess, of Hirschberg. Engel, who made an examination of this correspondence in the Royal Library at Dresden, was unable to discover the slightest intimation that Bode’s mind, while he was in Paris, was occupied with anything more revolutionary than the turning of the _Philalèthes_ away from their craze for alchemy, cabala, theosophy, and theurgy, or in Mesmer’s theories. _Cf._ Engel, pp. 409–415. When Bode returned to Germany it is undeniable that he carried with him an unfavorable opinion of French Masonry. _Cf._ Forestier, p. 668.

[479] In addition to the two elaborated upon in the remainder of this chapter, the following are most worthy of note: Staack, _Der Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert_, vols. i, ii, 1803 (already noted); Proyard, _Louis XVI et ses vertus aux prises avec la perversité du siècle_, Paris, 1808 (4 vols.); De Malet, _Recherches politiques et historiques qui prouvent l’existence d’une secte révolutionnaire, son antique origine, ses moyens, ainsi que son but, et dévoilent entièrement l’unique cause de la Révolution Française_, Paris, 1817; De Langres, _Des Sociétés Secrètes en Allemagne et dans d’autres contrées, de la Secte des Illuminés, du Tribunal Secret, de l’assassinat de Kotzebue_, 1819; Le Couteulx, _Les Sectes et Sociétés politiques et religieuses_, Paris, 1863; Deschamps, _Les Sociétés Secrètes et la Société_, vols. i, ii, iii, Avignon, 1874–1876. As late as 1906, in an article in the _Edinburgh Review_ of July of that year, Una Birch traversed much of the ground covered thus far in this and the preceding chapter and, on the theory that an event as spontaneous (?) as the French Revolution _must_ have originated in a definite coördination of ideas and doctrines, reaffirmed the general notion that the Masonic lodges of France, having been inoculated with the doctrines of the Illuminati, became the principal points of associative agitation for, and thus the direct cause of, the French Revolution. This essay may also be found in the volume of essays entitled, _Secret Societies and the French Revolution_ (London and New York, 1911), by the same author.

[480] Later editions of this work, which in their number and geographical extent strongly suggest the degree of interest the subject had for the reading public, appeared as follows: second edition, London, 1797; third edition, London, 1798; fourth edition, London and New York, 1798; a French translation, London, 1798–99 (2 vols.); a German translation, Königslutter and Hamburg, 1800; a Dutch translation, Dordrecht (n. d.). See Wolfstieg, _Bibliographie der Freimaurerischen Literatur_, vol. i, pp. 192, 193.

[481] Robison was a mathematician, scientific writer, and lecturer in the field of natural philosophy, of considerable ability and distinction. The son of a Glasgow merchant, he was born in Scotland in 1739. He received the benefits of a thorough education, graduating from Glasgow University in 1756. The connections he enjoyed throughout his life were of the best. Subsequent to his graduation he became tutor to the son of Sir Charles Knowles, the English admiral, and later was appointed by the government to service in the testing out at sea of the newly completed chronometer of John Harrison, the horologist. Still later he went to Russia as private secretary to Sir Charles. While in Russia he was called to the chair of mathematics established in connection with the imperial sea-cadet corps of nobles. Abandoning this post, he returned to Scotland, and in 1773 became professor of natural philosophy in Edinburgh University, lecturing on such subjects as hydro-dynamics, astronomy, optics, electricity, and magnetism. His distinction in this general field seems clearly demonstrated by the fact that he was called upon to contribute to the third edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ articles on seamanship, the telescope, optics, waterworks, resistance to fluids, electricity, magnetism, music, _etc._, as well as by the fact that when the Royal Society of Edinburgh was organized under royal charter in 1783, Robison was elected general secretary of that distinguished organization, an office he continued to hold until within a few years of his death. The versatility of the man is further evidenced by the fact that he was deeply interested in music, attaining the mastery of several instruments, and in the writing of verse. His reputation was not confined to Great Britain. In 1790 the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. (_Cf._ _General Catalogue of the College of New Jersey_, 1746–1896, p. 177. _The Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. xlix, p. 58, incorrectly gives the date for the bestowal of this degree as 1798.) Later, his alma mater, Glasgow University, bestowed upon him a like honor.

In addition to his encyclopaedia articles and his book on the Illuminati, Robison edited and published the lectures of Dr. Black, the chemist, and the following scientific works, the product of his own intellectual activity: _Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Mechanical Philosophy_, Edinburgh, 1797, and _Elements of Mechanical Philosophy_, Edinburgh, 1804. The latter was intended to be the initial volume of a series, but its successors were not forthcoming. A posthumous work of four volumes entitled, _A System of Mechanical Philosophy, with Notes by David Brewster, LL.D._, was published at Edinburgh in 1822. The death of Robison occurred in 1805. (For the material incorporated in the foregoing the writer is chiefly indebted to the _Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. xlix, pp. 57, 58, and to casual references in the _Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, vols. i–v.)

[482] “Die Neuesten Religionsbegebenheiten mit unpartheyischen Anmerkungen mit Beihülfe mehrerer von H. M. G. Köster, Professor in Giessen, herausgegeben Jg. 1–20 Giessen, 1778–97 verfolgten gleichfalls den Zweck, von den wichtigsten Vorfällen aus der Religionsgeschichte der Gegenwart eine deutliche, gründliche und nützliche Beschreibung zu liefern, doch beschränkten sie sich dabei vornehmlich auf Deutschland und richteten sich in erster Linie an Laien und Nichttheologen” (Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopädie_, 3rd ed., vol. xxiv, Leipzig, 1913, p. 673).

[483] Though a Mason, Robison was by no means an ardent supporter of Freemasonry. The English Masonic lodges with which he was acquainted impressed him as having no higher function than that of supplying “a pretext for passing an hour or two in a sort of decent conviviality, not altogether void of some rational occupation.” He found the lodges on the continent, however, “matters of serious concern and debate.” _Cf._ _Proofs of a Conspiracy, etc._, pp. 1 _et seq._ (The edition of Robison’s book here as elsewhere referred to is the third [London] edition of 1798.) Robison professed to have visited lodges at Liège, Valenciennes, Brussels, Aix-la-Chapelle, Berlin, Königsberg, and St. Petersburg. Everywhere he found an elaboration of ritual, joined with a spirit of grave interest in the affairs of Freemasonry, which filled him with astonishment and seemed to call for explanation. _Cf. ibid._, pp. 2 _et seq._