Chapter IV: The Illuminati Agitation in New England (3)

[733] The following excerpt from a letter of Jedediah Morse to Timothy Pickering, under date of Feb. 11, 1799, is significant in this connection: “An editn. of 450 of my Sermon and Appendix is nearly gone—& a second of 800 is in the press. A number of gentlemen in Boston have thought it might be useful to send a copy to every clergyman in the commonwealth, & have agreed with the printer to furnish them, & they will be distributed when the members of the Legislature return home.” (_Pickering Papers_, vol. xxiv, 71.)

[734] The full title of this journal was _The Columbian Centinel and Massachusetts Federalist_. Here was an instance in which Masonic affiliations quite overrode ardent Federalist loyalty. To this the following letter of editor Benjamin Russell to William Bentley testifies:

“Boston, Aug. 9, 1798.

... As to Morse, I think him meddling in an affair which but little concerns him, and of which he has less knowledge. It would be better to let him flounder on, and he will speedily blow himself out. He cannot hurt the craft,—and his wit is as pointless, as his holy zeal is unchangeable. Although I wish not to engage in a controversy, which has no politick in its ingredients, I should nevertheless have published your communication had I received it.—As it is it may be best that the controversy should be carried on in one paper. You will see by this day’s Mercury, that M. is still floundering.—I intend to barb him a little at the Installation at Reading, if he is present. If not he shall _hear_ of a toast or two.” (_William Bentley Correspondence_, vol. iv, 117).

[735] _Columbian Centinel_, Sept. 8, 1798.

[736] _Ibid._, Sept. 12, 1798.

[737] _Ibid._, Jan. 5, 1799.

[738] _Ibid._

[739] _Columbian Centinel_, Jan. 5, 1799. This communication including the Böttiger letter, was promptly copied by the _Massachusetts Mercury_, and thus given a wider publicity. _Cf._ the _Mercury_ of Jan. 11, 1799.

[740] _Op. Cit._

[741] Somewhat later the _Mercury_ offered to its readers relevant passages from Lathrop’s sermon of the preceding September and from French’s thanksgiving sermon. _Cf._ the _Mercury_ for Jan. 11 and Feb. 26, 1799.

[742] The attention of Thomas and Abijah Adams, editors of the _Independent Chronicle_, during the fall and winter of 1798–99 was mostly occupied with very pressing personal considerations. In October, 1798, Thomas Adams was arrested under the Sedition Act. While his trial was in progress objectionable comments on the state and federal governments continued to appear in the _Chronicle_, with the result that his clerk and acting editor, Abijah Adams, was likewise arrested and put on trial. Thomas Adams died before his case was concluded; but Abijah Adams was later convicted and had the sentence of the court imposed upon him. Duniway, _The Development of Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts_, pp. 144 _et seq._ These facts supply a new angle from which to view the relative silence of the _Independent Chronicle_ with regard to the Illuminati controversy.

[743] _Independent Chronicle_, April 15, 1799. _Cf. ibid._, Jan. 7, 1799.

[744] Outside of Boston the newspapers of Massachusetts appear to have been generally content to furnish their readers an occasional article bearing on the controversy, copied in most cases from the columns of Boston or Hartford journals, or from papers which entered New England from without, particularly from New York and Philadelphia. Some of these Massachusetts newspapers are to be noticed later in connection with the effort that the Masons made to clear themselves of guilt.

[745] _American Mercury_, Aug. 16, 1798.

[746] The following quotation bears upon the topic, and does full justice to the abilities of the rhymster, although offering only slight suggestion respecting the variety of subjects which the poem, after the manner of its kind, touched upon:

“Of late the pulpits roar’d like thunder
To bring the Whore of Bab’lon under;
But now she’s down, the tone is turn’d,
And the old Whore is sadly mourn’d.
This brings us on to Politicks,—
For fruitful argument,—(sweet chicks!)

. . . . . . .

The Jacobin’s head-end we’ve had,
To see his _tail_, most would be glad.
Of late, Old England was a moon,
To bay and snarl at, night and noon:
That’s over:—now her Queenship seems
A splendid Sun with _golden_ beams.
But pauvre Sanscolotte [_sic_] is given
A diff’rent lot, by will of heaven.

. . . . . . .

From _Anno Lucis_ till our time,
Masonic Treason’s been a crime:
Now _Robison’s_ in every pocket,
And up he’s own to fame, like rocket.”

_Cf._ _American Mercury_, Jan. 3, 1799: “Ode on Ends; or, The Boy’s Address, who carries the _American Mercury_.”

[747] Babcock’s adverse attitude is dealt with on pp. 313 _et seq._ of this dissertation.

[748] _Cf._ issues of the _Courant_ for July 2, 30, Aug. 6, 13, Sept. 17, 1798; and for May 27, June 10, 17, 24, July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Aug. 5, 12, 19, 26, Sept. 2, 9, 16, 23, Oct. 7, Dec. 16, 1799.

[749] _Ibid._, Aug. 6, 1798.

[750] _Ibid._, Aug. 13, 1798.

[751] _Ibid._, Sept. 3, 1798. This view that the _Courant_ sought to turn the agitation over the Illuminati to political account is confirmed by the following extract from “Guillotina,” the new year’s poem that the editors of the _Courant_ presented to their patrons early in 1799.

“O thou who spurn’d monarchial sway,
E’er nature sprang to birth;
Lord of each Jacobinic fray,
In ev’ry clime on earth.

“Tho’ plung’d from thy once high estate,
For turning _Order’s_ foe;
We joy that thou a Prince so great,
Dost rule the world below.

“We joy that when like falling star,
Thy footsteps downward drove;
The _Democratic Cause_, from far,
Came cow’ring from above.

“That _France_ has caught the livid flame,
Affords supreme delight;
And that Genet has spread the same,
To our admiring sight.

. . . . . . .

“May thy Iluminati then
In ev’ry clime be found;
All busy as a clucking hen,
That peeping chicks surround.”

_Connecticut Courant_, Jan. 7, 1799: “Guillotina, for the year 1799, addressed to the Reader’s of the Connecticut Courant.”

[752] _Porcupine’s Gazette_, April 12, 13, 1798.

[753] _Ibid._, July 14, 1798.

[754] _Porcupine’s Gazette_, July 14, 1798. An illustration of the dearth of vital data bearing on the existence of the Illuminati, as well as of the absurd way in which those who sought to prove their existence grasped at straws, is to be found in this issue of _Porcupine’s Gazette_. Cobbett published a letter which he had recently received from a certain William Smith, of Norwalk, Connecticut, who claimed that the chaplain of the ship of a French Admiral had made statements in his presence that corroborated Robison’s contentions. This letter speedily found its way into several New England newspapers, and passed for evidence in the case. _Cf._ for example, the _Salem Gazette_, Aug. 7, 1798.

[755] _Ibid._, Aug. 13, 23, 24, 30, 1798.

[756] _Porcupine’s Gazette_, Feb. 25, 1799.

[757] _Porcupine’s Gazette_, Feb. 25, 1799.

[758] _Ibid._, Feb. 26, 1799.

[759] By this abbreviated title Bache’s paper was generally referred to.

[760] _Aurora_, Aug. 3, 1798.

[761] _Aurora_, Aug. 3, 1798.

[762] _Ibid._, Aug. 10, 1798. Bache’s death occurred in September.

3. MORSE SUBMITS HIS INEPT DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

The national skies had by no means cleared of threatening clouds when, in the early spring of 1799, the time arrived for President Adams to issue his annual fast day proclamation. In the view of the nations chief executive the questions of the hour were still of great urgency and it was a season of imminent danger.[763] Accordingly, in appointing Thursday, April 25, as the day for the people of the nation to perform acts of solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer, he justified in part the issuance of the proclamation on the following grounds:

The most precious interests of the people of the United States are
still held in jeopardy by the hostile designs and insidious acts
of a foreign nation, as well as by the dissemination among them of
those principles, subversive of the foundations of all religious,
moral, and social obligations, that have produced incalculable
mischief and misery in other countries.[764]

Seldom, if ever, has a presidential proclamation breathed deeper concern for the moral and religious interests of the people.[765] Its challenge to citizens who were already of fearful heart was unmistakable.

To the observance of this fast day the Reverend Jedediah Morse must have turned in no ordinary frame of mind. A spirit of exultation possessed him. It is impossible to read the sermon which on that occasion he delivered before his people in the Charlestown meeting house and avoid the impression that to Morse personally the day had been anticipated as one of triumph rather than of humiliation.[766] Not that in any sense he was out of sympathy with the objects for which the day had been set apart, or with the President’s extremely solemn language in proclaiming the fast; but it was given him, as he believed, to make before his people a pronouncement of such a startling and convincing character as would perform for the country at large that great and needed service which for months he had been eager to accomplish. Incidentally, the scoffers who had sought to cry down the alarm which a year before he had sounded should be put to rout. Timid apologists for the outcry against the Illuminati were about to see their case tremendously strengthened. Honest doubters, by the overwhelming weight of the evidence which was about to be spread before them, would be forced to acknowledge the folly of their distrust.

The text that Morse employed for the occasion directly echoed a sentiment in the President’s proclamation, and besides was well suited to the purpose in view. From the Hebrew Psalms he selected the following passage: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”—Psalm xi:3. With this text he proposed to make an effective appeal. The Psalm from which it was taken was composed by David while he was in great peril and distress from the persecuting hand of Saul; while, too, he was hard pressed to find a way of escape out of the destructive snares set by his enemies, whose _secret_ machinations involved both his character and his life, and not only this, but the _foundations_ of his country.[767] What word would better fit the circumstances of the present hour? Have not the enemies of David, of Christ his Antitype, and of the Church ... ever possessed similar _dispositions_, ... had in view similar _designs_, and in like circumstances, ... adopted and pursued the same means of gratifying the _former_, and of accomplishing the _latter_?”[768] Might it not be said that “the present situation is uncommonly critical and perilous?” Do not all persons of reflection agree upon that judgment, even though their opinions regarding the sources and degrees of the dangers may vary greatly?[769]

The “foundations” alluded to in the text were, of course, the foundations of religion and government.[770] This exegesis paved the way for the following statement:

With all the frankness and plainness becoming an honest and
faithful watchman, I intend, my brethren, to lay before you what
I humbly conceive to be our real and most alarming dangers; those
which have a malign aspect, both on our religious and our political
welfare. Believing, as I firmly do, that the foundations of all
our _most precious interests_ are formidably assailed, and that
the subtil and secret assailants are increasing in number, and are
multiplying, varying, and arranging their means of attack, it would
be criminal in me to be silent. I am compelled to sound the alarm,
and I will do it, so far as God shall enable me, with fidelity.[771]

Having thus prepared the minds of his auditors for the portentous revelation, Morse quickly descended to particulars.

It may as well be said plainly, he continued, that the passage in the President’s fast day proclamation respecting the hostile designs, insidious arts, and demoralizing principles of a certain foreign nation, referred to France.[772] Did any one ask for proofs that the President’s statement was true? The proofs were so abundant and so evident that the difficulty was to know where to begin. The war upon the defenceless commerce of the United States; the inhuman and savage treatment of those citizens of this country who have been so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of France’s minions by whom they have been so grossly insulted, beaten, wounded and thrust into loathsome prisons and dungeons, even murdered; the recent plot of the French Directory to invade the southern states from St. Domingo, using an army of blacks to effect an invasion, and by these attempting to excite to insurrection the blacks of this country;[773] here, surely, were ample proofs of the hostile and detestable designs of the French government against our own.[774]

But there was another matter. The disclosure that had recently been made regarding the secret machinations of the French on the Island of St. Domingo, focused attention upon a matter of the most serious moment. The most vigorous, active, and united measures must immediately be adopted to arouse from their slumber the citizens of this country, that they may give due attention to a particular aspect of the insidious and seductive activities of the French in the United States, of which, Morse averred, he stood prepared to speak with the utmost definiteness.[775] Continuing:

It has long been suspected that secret societies, under the
influence and direction of France, holding principles subversive
of our religion and government, existed somewhere in this
country. This suspicion was cautiously suggested from this desk,
on the day of the late National Fast, with the view to excite a
just alarm, and to put you on your guard against their secret
artifices. Evidence that this suspicion was well founded has
since been accumulating, and I have now in my possession complete
and indubitable proof that such societies do exist, and have for
many years existed, in the United States. I have, my brethren,
an official, authenticated list of the names, ages, places of
nativity, professions, &c. of the officers and members of a
Society of _Illuminati_ (or as they are now more generally and
properly styled _Illuminees_) consisting of _one hundred_ members,
instituted in Virginia, by the _Grand Orient_ of FRANCE. This
society has a deputy, whose name is on the list, who resides at the
Mother Society in France, to communicate from thence all needful
information and instruction. The date of their institution is
1786, before which period, it appears from the private papers of
the European Societies already published, (according to Professor
Robison), that several societies had been established in America.
The seal and motto of this society correspond with their detestable
principles and designs. The members are chiefly Emigrants from
France and St. Domingo, with the addition of a few Americans, and
some from almost all the nations of Europe. A letter which enclosed
this list, an authentic copy of which I also possess, contains
evidence of a society of like nature, and probably of more ancient
date, at _New-York_, out of which have sprung _fourteen_ others,
scattered we know not where over the United States. Two societies
of the same kind, but of an inferior order, have been instituted
by the society first mentioned, one in Virginia, the other at St.
Domingo. How many of equal rank they have established among us I am
not informed.

You will perceive, my brethren, from this concise statement of
facts, that we have in truth secret enemies, not a few scattered
through our country; how many and, except in three or four
instances, in what places we know not; enemies whose professed
design is to subvert and overturn our holy religion and our free
and excellent government. And the pernicious fruits of their
insidious and secret efforts, must be visible to every eye not
obstinately closed or blinded by prejudice. Among these fruits may
be reckoned our unhappy and threatening political divisions; the
increasing abuse of our wise and faithful rulers; the virulent
opposition to some of the laws of our country, and the measures
of the Supreme Executive; the Pennsylvania insurrection; the
industrious circulation of baneful and corrupting books, and
the consequent wonderful spread of infidelity, impiety, and
immorality; the arts made use of to revive ancient prejudices,
and cherish party spirit, by concealing or disguising the truth,
and propagating falsehoods; and lastly, the apparent systematic
endeavours made to destroy, not only the influence and support, but
the official existence of the Clergy.[776]

The remainder of the sermon is void of originality and interest. Its utterances pale into insignificance alongside of the sensational and emphatic statements just recorded.[777]

When the sermon came from the printer’s hands it contained the “complete and indubitable proof” that Morse had proudly told his hearers was in his possession. This “proof” was in the form of documents, conspicuous among which was the following letter:

A L’Ot∴ de Portsmouth, En Virginie le 17.
du 5e. m. en L’an de la V∴ L∴ 5798.⁄:

La R∴ L∴ Pte∴ Fse∴ réguliérement constitué sous
le titre distinctif de la Sagesse No. 2660, par le G∴

La T∴ R∴ L∴ L’union-française No. 14. constituée
par le G∴ Ot∴ de New-York.

S∴ F∴ V∴
TT∴ CC∴ & RR∴ FF∴

La Planche dont vous nous avez favorisés en date du 16e. du 2e. mois de la presénte année Mque∴, ne nous est parvenuë que depuis peu de jours; Elle a été mise sous les yeux de notre R∴ L∴ en sa séance extraordinaire du 14e. du présent.

Nous vous félicitons TT∴ CC∴ FF∴ des nouvelles Constitutions que vous avez obténuës du G∴ Ot∴ de New-York. Nous avons ferons en consequénce un plaisir & un devoir d’entretenir avec votre R∴ L∴ la correspondence la plus fraternelle, comme avec toutes les LL∴ réguliére qui voudront bien vous favoriser de la leur.

C’est a ce titre que nous croyons devoir vous donner Connoissance de l’éstablissement de deux nouveaux attellieres maçoniques réguliérement constitués et installés au rite français par notre R∴ L∴ provincialle, L’un depuis plus d’un an sous le titre de _L’amitiê_ à L’Ot∴ de Petersburg, en Virginie; l’autre, plus récent, sous le titre de la _Parfaite-Egalité_ à L’Ot∴ du Port de Paix isle St. Domingue.

Nous vous remettons cy-joint quelques exemplaires de notre Tableau de cette année que notre L∴ vous prie d’agréer en retour de ceux qu’elle a reçu de la votre avec reconnoissance.

Puisse la G∴ A∴ de l’U∴ bénir vos travaux et les couronner de toutes sortes de succés! C’est dans ces sentiments que nous avons la faveur d’être,

P∴ L∴ N∴ M∴ Q∴ V∴ S∴ C∴
TT∴ CC∴ et TT∴ RR∴ FF∴
Votre très affectionés F∴
Par Mandement de la T∴
R∴ L∴ Pte∴ de la Sagesse.
Guieu,
Sécrétaire.[778]

Following this letter and its translation appeared a list of the officers and members, resident and non-resident, of Wisdom Lodge, Portsmouth, Virginia, with explanatory data in each instance, covering such points as age, place of birth, profession, _etc._, the whole concluding with a representation of the seal of Wisdom Lodge and the following motto: _Amplius Homines oculis quam auribus credunt. Iter longum est per precepta, breve et efficax per exempla._[779]

Upon these documents Morse saw fit to make and publish certain “Explanatory Remarks,”[780] of which the following is the gist.

The Lodge Wisdom in Portsmouth, Virginia, is seen to be a branch of the _Grand Orient_ of France. Its members consist chiefly of foreigners, that is to say, Frenchmen,—Frenchmen who come either from France or from the West India possessions of that country. From the seal it appears that Wisdom Lodge was established as early as 1786. It is also, as its number shows, “the TWO THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AND SIXTIETH branch from the original stock.”[781] It further appears that there is a sister lodge in the city of New York, styled the _Grand Orient_ of New York. The latter, from the name and number of the lodges it has instituted, is quite likely the first and principal branch that the Mother Club in France has established in America. This New York lodge has established the French lodge, Union, to which the letter from the lodge Wisdom was addressed. As to the other thirteen branches from the parent stock, for the present there could be nothing more than conjecture as to their location.[782]

The documents also show that an intimate correspondence is maintained between the lodges in America and those in St. Domingo; also between the American lodges and the _Grand Orient_ in France. It further appears that Wisdom Lodge has a regular deputy in the membership of the _Grand Orient_ of France. Lists of names are exchanged between the two societies, so that their members may be fully known to each other.[783]

Masons to whom these documents issuing from Wisdom Lodge have been shown declare that the organization is not truly Masonic. The titles of its officers, its seal and motto, they affirm, are not regular. Thus the lodge in Portsmouth has been pronounced spurious by well-informed Masons.[784]

Wisdom Lodge, it appears, has one hundred members. Counting all the others referred to in the documents, there are seventeen lodges in all. Assuming that these have an equal number of members, it may be said that there are at least seventeen hundred Illuminati in the United States, all bound together by oath and intimate correspondence.[785] Beyond these there are to be considered, of course, the many thousands of Frenchmen scattered through the United States, all perhaps “combined and organized (with other foreigners and some disaffected and unprincipled Americans) in these societies, ... regularly instructed and directed by their masters in France, and ... systematically conducting the plan of revolutionizing this country.”[786]

The principles and objects of this organization may be partly deduced from the motto and seal of Wisdom Lodge. The literal rendering of the former is not so significant as its spirit, which is best expressed in the following liberal translation: “Men more readily believe what they _see_ than what they _hear_. They are taught slowly by _precept_, but the effect of _example_ is sudden and powerful.”[787] From this it may be inferred that the organization was formed, “not for _speculation_, but for activity.” Precepts are scorned; actions are accepted as the only quick method of teaching mankind and of producing a change in their opinions. The change in opinions which the organization contemplates must have to do with government and religion. It cannot have to do with the minds of its members, for the society is _secret_ and designs to work secretly. “The changes which they can produce by _secret influence and intrigue_, the novel arts which they can thus exhibit before the eyes of men, are doubtless to be the _efficaceous_ means of teaching men the new system of philosophy, which sets at defiance, and contemns all old and settled opinions, by which the government of nations and the conduct of individuals have heretofore been directed.”[788]

As to the organization’s seal, no description can do it justice.[789] A view of its square and compass, pillars, and _skull and cross-bones_ best indicates its horrid nature.[790]

Fortified by these documents, and flanked by the testimonies of Robison and Barruel,[791] Morse concluded his presentment in the following energetic manner:

That there are branches and considerably numerous too, of this
infernal association in this country we have now full proof. That
they hold and propagate similar doctrines and maxims of conduct
is abundantly evident from what is passing continually before our
eyes. They even boast that their plans are deeply and extensively
laid, and cannot be defeated, that success is certain. If then,
Americans, we do not speedily take for our motto, _Vigilance, Union
and Activity_, and act accordingly, we must expect soon to fall
victims to the _arts and the arms_ of that nation, “on the title
page of whose laws, as well as on its standards, is written the
emphatic and descriptive motto

HAVOC AND SPOIL AND RUIN ARE OUR GAIN.”[792]

Here, at last, was something reasonably concrete. After a full year, devoted mostly to the reiteration of vague suspicions and generalities, of reckless affirmations and denials, here was something which had the value of a definite point at which a rational investigation of the subject could begin, should any course so practical as this be thought of. The hour for the introduction of something tangible in the way of evidence had fully come, in any event. This was evidenced by the fact that in connection with the celebration of the national fast other clergymen, for the most part, had held back, apparently unwilling to commit themselves further on the subject of the Illuminati until clearer proof should be at hand.[793] This did not signify that public interest in the subject had abated; it was rather in suspense.[794]

With the appearance of Morse’s third and last sermon dealing with the Illuminati,[795] the public discussion of the subject became immediately possessed of a new energy. In a letter to Wolcott, bearing date of June 5, 1799, Morse observed to his friend, “I expect that I have disturbed a hornet’s nest.”[796] There can be no doubt that, diction conceded, this was an apt estimate of the situation. In view of the experiences which were ahead of him, it was well that Morse found his serenity of mind such as to enable him to complete the remark just recorded, by adding, “Happily, I am fearless of their stings.”[797]

The breaking-out of a heated newspaper discussion supplied the principal evidence that Morse’s fast day sermon of 1799 inaugurated a new stage in the Illuminati agitation.

The _Independent Chronicle_, aware of the fact that something tangible was now before the public, something which might perhaps seriously influence the popular judgment, promptly abandoned its contemptuous and indiscriminative policy[798] and violently assailed Morse for his latest performance. The author of the fast sermon was sharply taken to task for handling the Illuminati matter as he did. If, in his judgment, there was substantial justification for the charges he had made, why then did he not submit the evidence to President Adams, or lay it before some other proper official of the government, instead of retailing “the alarming narrative in a nine-penny sermon?”[799] If it was true that there was a society plotting the overthrow of our government and Morse could throw any light whatever on the persons involved, what sense was there in treating the subject “in so loose a manner as to render it only subservient to a second or third edition of a political fulmination?”[800] Morse could have only political ends in view. His “plot” was another Federalist scheme. He wished to excite jealousies against a certain class of citizens,[801] _i. e._, the Democrats. Or, was it to be inferred from the way he handled “the trifling story of the Illuminati,” that he desired to incense and greatly anger the people of this country against France?[802] This suspicion would seem to be justified by the fact that Morse had preached and published a number of sermons, in all of which he had anathematized the French nation as the authors of the diabolical system of Illuminatism.[803] But whatever were the motives which animated him, his statements were not to be trusted. He had forfeited the right to be taken seriously.[804]

During the two or three months that followed the celebration of the national fast, a copious flood of contributed articles poured through the columns of the _Chronicle_.[805] “A Friend to a Real Clergyman, and an Enemy to Bigotry,” “Bunker Hill,” “Credulity,” “Daniel,” _et al._, all made their offerings to the airing of what the opposition unanimously agreed should be styled “the preposterous documents of Morse.” If a friend and supporter of the Charlestown pastor ventured to express his respect for the arguments of that gentleman, he had little to hope for in the face of the withering fire of sarcasm, ridicule, denial, and defiance that the opposition steadily maintained. Thus, for example, when “Senex,” an old contributor to the _Chronicle_, made public profession of the fact that Morse’s evidence had seriously shaken his earlier distrust of the “Illuminati conspiracy,”[806] “Credulity” hastened to “pooh-pooh” such anxious fears, and to insist that they were unworthy of a sensible man. Morse’s declarations on the subject of Illuminism deserved only to be laughed at. They were certainly utterly out of reason.[807]

The _American Mercury_ was another newspaper that rallied to the effort to break down any favorable impressions which Morse’s latest deliverance upon the subject of Illuminism may have made upon the public mind. The respectfully attentive and receptive attitude of this journal during the earlier stages of the agitation has already been noted.[808] The appearance of the fast day sermon converted this into a spirit of violent antagonism. Morse’s latest sermon was pronounced absurd. “His history of the _Lodge of Wisdom_ is equally fabulous with his story of the ship Ocean,”[809] was the judgment of Editor Babcock.[810] A few weeks later the _Mercury_ gave to its readers an article that had first seen the light in the _Farmer’s Weekly Museum_,[811] a New Hampshire publication. How roughly Morse and the documentary proofs which he had recently laid before the public were handled in this article, the following excerpts will suggest:

Every person who had an opportunity of perusing the sermons
which have been published by Dr. Morse, within the space of two
years past, must be sensible how great have been his efforts and
exertions, to sound an alarm amongst the people, and to create in
the public mind the highest degree of astonishment.... From the
assurance with which the Dr. speaks of his discovery and the great
utility which must result from it to mankind, one would imagine
that his name would be enrolled among the _worthies_ of his day,
as the greatest ornament of our country, and the glory of human
nature.... He will undoubtedly do more honour to himself and his
profession, to return again to his old business, “of writing
geography,” and not thus attempt to agitate the public mind, with
such alarming discoveries of Illuminatism.

For trifles, light as air, are to the suspicious,
Strong as proofs of holy writ.[812]

Meanwhile the supporters of Morse were not idle, although it must be admitted that as far as the press was concerned the amount of sympathy and support that Morse received from that quarter was by no means commensurate to the weight of criticism with which his opponents sought to crush him. Extracts from his recent fast sermon appeared in such papers as the _Massachusetts Mercury_[813] and the _Salem Gazette_;[814] and with characteristic loyalty to every interest which in any way might be able to serve the cause of Federalism, the _Connecticut Courant_ proclaimed its complete satisfaction with Morse’s production in the following reckless fashion:

This sermon is worthy the attention of every inhabitant in the
United States on every account, as it contains an authentic
letter from the Grand Lodge of Illuminated Free Masons in France,
to the Grand Lodge of the Illuminated Free Masons in the United
States, together with a list of about one hundred members—their
names—birthplace—age—places of residence, and occupation. Every
person who does not wish to be blind to his own destruction,
will undoubtedly furnish himself with this document; since it
establishes beyond a doubt the existence of that infernal club in
the very heart of our country.[815]

A larger measure of support of Morse and his cause came from the public declaimers, who, on the occasion of the Fourth of July following, regaled their audiences with discursive observations on the state of national affairs. All over New England citizens were solemnly urged to take serious account of the conspiracy that recently had been partially dragged into the light.

At Ridgefield, Connecticut, the declaration was made that America had been caught in the meshes of the net which the Illuminati had attempted to cast over all the nations.[816] At New Haven it was asserted that the societies of Illuminism, having wrought fearful havoc and ruin in Europe, were now known to be extensively engaged in communicating infection and death to the citizens and institutions of this nation.[817] At Hartford the society of the Illuminati and the occult lodges of Freemasonry were represented as having “exhausted the powers of the human mind, in inventing and combining a series of dread mysteries, unhallowed machinations, and disastrous plots,” with the dissemination of the principles of Voltaire and his school as the main objective in view.[818] At Boston direct connections were made between the secret affiliated societies which the virtuous frown of Washington drove into their lurking-places and the newly discovered organizations which had just been found to be “busily engaged in sapping the foundations of society, and may ere long spring a mine, which shall blow up our Constitution and Liberties.”[819] At Portland, Maine, the unwilling prostitution of the Masonic lodges in Europe to the purposes of the Illuminati was pointed out as amounting to a threat against the institutions of America.[820] At Byfield[821] and Roxbury,[822] Massachusetts, similar warnings were heard.

To a certain extent, the general employment of this anniversary of national independence to arouse the country against the machinations of the Illuminati was due to an event, long anticipated, that had occurred shortly before. Less than a month prior to July 4, 1799, Barruel’s _Memoirs of Jacobinism_ made its first appearance in New England.[823] The hopes of the supporters of the agitation were immediately raised.

Before the publication of the documents which Morse gave to the world in his fast sermon of 1799, Robison’s _Proofs of a Conspiracy_ constituted the chief if not the sole resource of the friends of the agitation. Barruel had been appealed to, but only in the form of such scanty excerpts from his writings as percolated to America through the fingers of his English reviewers and, as we have seen, in settings which provided ammunition for both sides in the controversy. Now the hour had come when the supporters of the Illuminati alarm in New England were to be privileged to make a full and free appeal to their second great ally from abroad.[824]

The facts regarding the nature of the reception accorded Barruel’s composition in New England are meagre in the extreme. In this very circumstance, one may suppose, is found the best of all evidences that the book failed to fulfil the hopes of its friends. It is true that within seven weeks after the public announcement of the fact that the _Memoirs of Jacobinism_ were ready for distribution at Hartford, one of Morse’s correspondents at that place was able to assure him that “the facts ... in Du Pan, Robison, and Barruel have got into every farm house” in that section of the country.[825] It is also true that in order to insure a wide reading of what were supposed to be the more significant portions of Barruel’s voluminous work, an abridgment of it was undertaken and published in the columns of such leading papers as the _Connecticut Courant_[826] and the _Massachusetts Mercury_.[827] Nevertheless, the inference is unavoidable that at the most the cause of the agitators received only a momentary quickening from this quarter. If anything, the very flatness of the reception accorded Barruel’s work served to quiet the public mind in New England on the subject of Illuminism. The precious conceit which the supporters of the charge of an American conspiracy of the Illuminati had imported from abroad, _viz._, that the two “great” European writers on the subject of Illuminism, Robison and Barruel, while working independently had unearthed the same set of facts and arrived at the same conclusion as to their import, fell quickly enough to the ground. Whatever the facts might be regarding the situation in Europe, it speedily became clear that Barruel had no clear and steady light to throw upon the situation in America, and even those who hoped most from the publication of the _Memoirs of Jacobinism_ were soon forced to admit that the American reading public had little taste for the prolix romancings of the French abbé.[828]

Early in the fall of 1799 a new twist was given to the controversy. This developed out of an episode that for the time at least seriously embarrassed the personal integrity of Morse, and enveloped the issue generally in such a cloud of pettiness and disagreeable suspicions that the entire subject of Illuminism assumed an unsavory aspect, with the result that the public was all the more easily persuaded to turn to other and more fruitful topics. Compressed as much as the interests of clarity will allow, the facts were as follows.

The _American Mercury_ of September 26, 1799, published an article asserting that in his efforts to substantiate his charges against the Illuminati, Morse had addressed a letter of inquiry to Professor Ebeling[829] of Hamburg, Germany, to which the latter made response that Robison’s _Proofs of a Conspiracy_ had no standing in Europe; that it was regarded there as a farrago of falsehoods, written by its author to obtain bread rather than in the hope that it would be believed.[830] It was further asserted that Ebeling’s letter to Morse gave Robison an unsavory character; he was said to have lived too fast for his income, to be in trouble with the civil authorities in his native country, and to have been expelled from a Masonic lodge in Edinburgh on account of unworthy conduct.[831] This being the true state of affairs, why, it was urged, ought not “the terrible subject of illumination” to be dismissed forthwith as a wretched mass of absurdities? Let Morse publish the letter that he had received from Ebeling and the public would express itself quickly enough as to the silliness of the Illuminati conspiracy.[832]

Morse’s rejoinder was spirited. He demanded the name of the author of the article in the _Mercury_ and vigorously protested that the Ebeling letter referred to was a fabrication.[833] Denied the comfort of immediate attention and satisfaction,[834] he addressed the editor again and with even greater vehemence, insisting that the editor publicly brand the article referred to as “without foundation and a tissue of the most vile and calumnious falsehoods.” But for the one consideration that the letter which he had actually received from Professor Ebeling was private, he averred that he stood ready to spread it before the public gaze.[835] As a guarantee of its character, however, he stood prepared to furnish the affidavits of Professors David Tappan and Eliphalet Pearson of Harvard, to whom he had submitted the letter of Ebeling for their inspection, and who were ready to depose that it was in no sense like the letter whose contents had been given to the public by the _American Mercury_.[836]

By the time these noisy verbal hostilities had taken place, the leading newspaper partisans on both sides of the controversy had accepted the responsibility of advising the public regarding the new issue. The _Connecticut Courant_ roundly denounced the unprincipled editor of the _American Mercury_ for having printed such a monstrous fabrication as its account of the Ebeling-Morse letter,[837] and later, on Morse’s behalf, undertook to say that while the communication which Morse had received from Ebeling contained denials of the authenticity of many of the facts alleged in the _Proofs of a Conspiracy_, at the same time it was destitute of even the most distant suggestion of moral or other delinquencies on the part of Robison.[838] The _Columbian Centinel_ regarded itself in duty bound to spread before its readers the indignant communication that Morse had sent to the editor of the _American Mercury_, for the reason that it believed Morse had been most shamefully treated in the matter.[839] As for the _Massachusetts Mercury_, one of its contributors felt moved to observe that the account of the Ebeling-Morse letter which the _American Mercury_ had published was nothing less than a consummate piece of pure villainy, intended to ruin Mr. Robison’s character; certainly no candid American would pay the slightest attention to it until the person who was responsible for the publication came forward and gave the public his name.[840]

On the other side, such rampant Democratic journals as the _Bee_ and the _Aurora_ came ardently to the support of the _American Mercury_ and directed a searching cross-fire against Morse and his friends. Since the days of Salem witchcraft, the former observed, no subject had so much affected the minds of a certain class of people in New England as this pretended Illuminati conspiracy.[841] Because of the way in which preachers, orators, essayists, and newsmongers generally had declaimed upon the subject, a mist had overspread the public mind. Ebeling’s letter to Morse, however, had given a fatal blow to the strife. It was now to be expected that the impressions made upon the minds of numerous over-credulous citizens by an insidious and designing set of men would be fully eradicated.[842] To give full force to these observations, the _Bee_ published the text of the letter which, it averred, Morse had received from Ebeling.[843] This characterized Robison’s _Proofs of a Conspiracy_ as ridiculous and filled with statements many of which were faulty and others totally erroneous. Its author had composed the book in the interests of party and with a special animus against all men who asserted the use of reason in the sphere of theology. The authorities to which Robison appealed were declared to be questionable, and Robison’s own standing as a historian was pronounced to be such that it was impossible to take his work seriously.[844]

The _Aurora_ steered a similar course. Drawing upon the _Bee_, the text of the alleged Ebeling-Morse letter was printed[845] and the accompanying comment made that this effectually disposed of the Illuminati.[846] It was now fully apparent that Morse had seized upon the idea of a conspiracy against religion and the state in order to further selfish and partisan ends. He and Dr. Dwight, who were at the head of the clerical systems in Massachusetts and Connecticut respectively, were exhausting all the means in their power to exalt Federalism and to obtain a religious establishment which would deliver the consciences and purses of the nation into the hands of their party.[847] The rancor that these two men had recently stirred up against the respectable fraternity of Freemasons was due solely to their bigotry.[848]

Meantime a certain shrewd and none too scrupulous Democratic clergyman in Massachusetts was deriving such satisfaction as he could out of Morse’s discomfiture and bitter resentment. The letter that the _Bee_ and the _Aurora_ published as a letter from Ebeling to Morse was in fact a letter from Ebeling to William Bentley,[849] inveterate hater of Morse.[850]

Ebeling, it appears, had written the letters to Bentley and to Morse at about the same time.[851] A little after the receipt of his letter, Bentley had learned from Ebeling that Doctors Pearson, Tappan, and Morse all were inquiring of Ebeling concerning Robison’s standing as a historian, and that the Hamburg professor had addressed Morse at length upon the subject.[852] Further, he received clear hints from Ebeling as to the precise nature of the communications to Morse.[853] Bentley, therefore, had substantial reasons for believing that he was in full possession of the information that Ebeling had furnished Morse regarding the subsidence of the Illuminati craze in Europe and the unfavorable opinions of Robison that were entertained on the other side of the Atlantic. It certainly was not to his credit, however, that he should permit a letter which he himself had received from Ebeling to be published as a communication from Ebeling to Morse.[854]

Under the circumstances, Morse was placed in a position of embarrassment and humiliation from which he found it impossible wholly to extricate himself.[855] What is more to the point, the cause which in his misguided zeal he had been promoting was thus made to suffer an irreparable blow. With his personal integrity under grave suspicion and his main European ally held up to public ridicule and scorn, even Morse’s obdurate spirit must have foreseen that the collapse of the agitation which he had fostered could not long be deferred. Even without this tumble into the slough of suspicion and contempt, time must soon have brushed aside as groundless the alarm that Morse had sounded. It is not difficult to imagine, however, that time might have found ways less vindictive and scurvy to dispose of the excited clamor of Morse.

Driven to undertake some further effort at self-justification,[856] the belated idea came to Morse to investigate the lodge Wisdom at Portsmouth, Virginia. Accordingly he addressed a letter to Josiah Parker, member of Congress for Virginia, soliciting information from Parker respecting the Portsmouth lodge. Parker responded to the effect that he had lived in Portsmouth until he went to Congress in 1789; that the lodge Wisdom was regarded in that city as a reputable Masonic society, made up of a few worthy people, mostly French; that some of its members were personally known to the writer to be men warmly attached to the cause of the government; that a good many Frenchmen had been admitted to the lodge about the time of the insurrection on the island of St. Domingo, but that the most of these were not now in America; that some of the Frenchmen whose names Morse had incorporated in his fast sermon of April 25, 1799, as members of Wisdom Lodge, were known to Parker to be honest and industrious men; in a word, that he, Parker, considered the lodge in question as entirely harmless as far as fomenting hostility to the institutions of the country was concerned.[857]

The receipt of Parker’s letter left Morse without further resource. Promptly he wrote his friend and adviser, Oliver Wolcott, soliciting his counsel as to whether it would be better for him to remain silent and let matters take their course or whether he would better offer to the public such explanations and observations as he could.[858] The nature of Wolcott’s counsel is unknown; but Morse, in any event, came to the conclusion that there was no further action he could take in the case, and his advocacy of the idea of an Illuminati conspiracy against religion and the government ceased. Henceforth, the reverberations of the controversy, with a single exception, were to be of the nature of jibes and flings on the part of irritated and disgusted Democrats who adopted the position that the controversy over the Illuminati had been introduced into American politics to serve purely partisan ends.

In 1802, the Reverend Seth Payson,[859] minister of the Congregational church at Rindge, New Hampshire, made an effort to revive the agitation. In a volume[860] characterized by dismal mediocrity Payson fulminated against the public stupor that, he admitted, had taken the place of the sense of alarm that the discovery of the Illuminati conspiracy had originally caused.[861] Payson’s book was nothing more than a revamping of the earlier literature, European and American, on the subject. There is no evidence that it made the slightest impression on the country.

FOOTNOTES:

[763] _The Life and Works of John Adams_, vol. ix, p. 172.

[764] _Ibid._, pp. 172 _et seq._

[765] Reverend Ashbel Green, who was chaplain of Congress at the time, accounts for the presence of this quality in the proclamation in the following manner. The President requested Green to assist him by preparing a draft of such a proclamation as the latter deemed suitable for the purpose. Aware of the complaints that had been made respecting previous proclamations, on the ground that while they called the people to the religious duties of thanksgiving and fasting, they were yet somewhat lacking in the manifestation of “a decidedly Christian spirit,” Green resolved to prepare for the President’s benefit a proclamation of such a thoroughgoing evangelical character that no such objection could possibly be lodged against it. This he endeavored to do. The President adopted Greens draft and published it, “with only the alteration of two or three words out of all affecting the religious character of my [his] production.” (_The Life of Ashbel Green_, pp. 260 _et seq._) The “decidedly Christian spirit” of the proclamation did not make the instrument immune from criticism. “An Old Ecclesiastic” contributed a highly censorious article to the _Aurora_, sharply rebuking the President for proclaiming the fast, objecting also to his “very improper and impolitic ... language ... when speaking of the French nation,” and questioning his right to direct the people as to what they should pray for. _Cf._ _Aurora_, April 4, 1799. This article was copied by the _Independent Chronicle_ for the benefit of New England readers, and drew from “A Real Ecclesiastic” a valiant defence of the President’s action and language. In the eyes of this writer, “the observations ... by an Old Ecclesiastic ... are so artfully fitted to excite groundless suspicions and prejudices against that GREAT AND GOOD MAN [President Adams], and especially to prepossess unwary readers against the approaching Fast recommended by him, that it seems important to defeat the writer’s manifest intention by a few seasonable remarks.” The nation was a _Christian_ nation, and therefore the President had a right to _recommend_ the observance of a day of _Christian_ humiliation and prayer. _Cf._ _Massachusetts Mercury_, April 16, 1799.

[766] _A Sermon, Exhibiting the Present Dangers, and Consequent Duties of the Citizens of the United States of America. Delivered at Charlestown, April 25, 1799, the day of the National Fast._ By Jedediah Morse, D. D., pastor of the church in Charlestown. Charlestown, 1799.

[767] Morse, _op. cit._, p. 5.

[768] Morse, _op. cit._

[769] _Ibid._, p. 9.

[770] _Ibid._, p. 7.

[771] _Ibid._, p. 9.

[772] _Ibid._, p. 12.

[773] Morse, _op. cit._, pp. 13 _et seq._ Morse gave as his authority in this instance Robert Goodloe Harper’s “Sketch of the Principal Acts of Congress during the session which closed the 3d. of March”. See Note A, p. 33, of Morse’s _Sermon_. Reference to Benton’s _Abridgement of the Debates of Congress_, vol. ii, pp. 339, 343, discloses the fact that sentiments embodying this apprehension were expressed in the Third Congress. The struggle which France and England waged for the control of the island of St. Domingo, a struggle that had as its principal development the insurrection of the blacks of the island under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture, properly enough was full of deep interest for Americans. _Cf._ Hildreth, _The History of the United States of America_, vol. v, pp. 269 _et seq._ For a recent discussion of American policy with respect to St. Domingo and the state of affairs within the island, see Treudley, Mary, _The United States and Santo Domingo, 1789–1866_ (doctoral dissertation, Clark University), pp. 125–138.

[774] _Cf._ Morse’s _Sermon_, pp. 12–14.

[775] _Cf._ Morse’s _Sermon_, p. 15.

[776] _Cf._ Morse’s _Sermon_, pp. 15–17. The allusion to a hostile attitude towards the clergy, with which the extract closes, led Morse to dwell at length upon the anticlerical spirit of the whole French system. _Cf. ibid._, pp. 17 _et seq._ Wherever that system operates, there, Morse asserts, the clergy are the first to feel its power and to become the victims of its sanguinary revolutionizing spirit. Here in the United States this same malignant spirit is visibly at work. And all that the clergy have done to provoke this deadly hostility may be summed up in the phrase, “they have preached politics.” (_Ibid._, p. 18). They are now “censured and abused, and represented as an expense, useless, nay even, noxious body of men” for doing what “only twenty years ago they were called upon to perform as a _duty_.” (_Ibid._, p. 19). No clergyman of the Standing Order could possibly have felt keener resentment on account of the growing antagonism to that group of men than Jedediah Morse. His state of mind is a bit more clearly revealed by the contents of the following note by which the printed sermon was accompanied. This note, it should first be explained, was called out by the fact that a bill had been presented in a recent session of the Massachusetts legislature, providing for the suspension of the obligation to support the clergy of the Standing Order in all cases where it was possible for individuals to produce certificates, showing that they were otherwise contributing to the support of public worship. “Had this Bill passed into a law, it is easy to see that it would have justified and protected (as was no doubt the intention of the Bill, though by no means of all who may have voted for it) the disaffected, the irreligious, and the despisers of public worship and of the Christian Sabbath, in every town and parish, in withdrawing that support of the Christian ministry which the laws now oblige them to give.” (Note D, p. 49 of the _Fast Sermon_).