Chapter XI: Part I: The Past (9)

But at the same time it is by no means certain that an inner circle of the Lodge Theodore may not have been first in the field and Weishaupt all the while an unconscious agent. A very curious light is thrown on this question by the _Mémoires_ of Mirabeau.

Now, in _The French Revolution_ and again in _World Revolution_ I quoted the generally received opinion that Mirabeau, who was already a Freemason, was received into the Order of the Illuminati during his visit to Berlin in 1786. To this Mr. Waite replied: "All that is said about Mirabeau, his visit to Berlin, and his plot to 'illuminize' French Freemasonry, may be disposed of in one sentence: there is no evidence to show that Mirabeau ever became a Mason. The province of Barruel was to colour everything...."[509] Mr. Waite's statement may also be disposed of in one sentence: it is a pure invention. The province of Mr. Waite is to deny everything inconvenient to him. The evidence that Mirabeau was a Freemason does not rest on Barruel alone. M. Barthou, in his Life of Mirabeau, refers to it as a matter of common knowledge, and relates that a paper was found at Mirabeau's house describing a new Order to be grafted on Freemasonry. This document will be found in its entirety in the _Mémoires_ of Mirabeau, where it is stated that:

Mirabeau had early entered an association of Freemasonry. This
affiliation had accredited him to a Dutch lodge, and it seems that,
either spontaneously or in response to a request, he thought of
proposing an organization of which we possess the plan, written not
by his hand.... but by the hand of a copyist whom Mirabeau had
attached to himself.... This work appears to have been that of
Mirabeau; all his opinions, his principles, and his style will be
found here.[510]

The same work goes on to print the document in full, which is headed: "Memoir concerning an intimate association to be established in the Order of Freemasonry so as to bring it back to its true principles and to make it really tend to the good of humanity, drawn up by the F. Mi----, at present named Arcesilas, in 1776."

As this Memoir is too long to reproduce in full here, M. Barthou's _résumé_ will serve to give an idea of its contents[511]:

He [Mirabeau] was a Freemason from his youth. There was found
amongst his papers, written by the hand of a copyist, an
international organization of Freemasonry, which no doubt he
dictated in Amsterdam. This project contains on the solidarity of
men, on the benefits of instruction, and on the "correction of the
system of governments and of legislations" views very superior to
those of "The Essay on Despotism" (1772). The mind of Mirabeau had
ripened. The duties he traces out for the "brothers of the higher
grade" constitute even a whole plan of reforms which resemble very
much in certain parts the work accomplished later by the
Constituent [Assembly]: suppression of servitudes on the land and
the rights of main morte, abolition of the corvées, of working
guilds and of maîtrises [freedom of companies], of customs and
excise duties, the diminution of taxation, liberty of religious
opinions and of the press, the disappearance of special
jurisdiction. In order to organize, to develop and arrive at his
end, Mirabeau invokes the example of the Jesuits: "We have quite
contrary views," he says, "that of enlightening men, of making them
free and happy, but we must and we can do this by the same means,
and who should prevent us doing for good what the Jesuits have done
for evil?"[512]

Now in this Memoir Mirabeau makes no mention of Weishaupt, but in his _Histoire de la Monarchic Prussienne_ he gives a eulogistic account of the Bavarian Illuminati, referring to Weishaupt by name, and showing the Order to have arisen out of Freemasonry. It will be seen that this account corresponds point by point with the Memoir he had himself made out in 1776, that is to say, in the very year that Illuminism was founded:

The Lodge Theodore de Bon Conseil at Munich, where there were a few
men with brains and hearts, was tired of being tossed about by the
vain promises and quarrels of Masonry. The heads resolved to graft
on to their branch another secret association to which they gave
the name of the Order of the Illuminés. They modelled it on the
Society of Jesus, whilst proposing to themselves views
diametrically opposed.

Mirabeau then goes on to say that the great object of the Order was the amelioration of the present system of government and legislation, that one of its fundamental rules was to admit "no prince whatever his virtues,"[513] that it proposed to abolish--

The slavery of the peasants, the servitude of men to the soil, the
rights of main morte and all the customs and privileges which abase
humanity, the corvées under the condition of an equitable
equivalent, all the corporations, all the maîtrises, all the
burdens imposed on industry and commerce by customs, excise duties,
and taxes ... to procure a universal toleration for all religious
opinions ... to take away all the arms of superstition, to favour
the liberty of the press, etc.[514]

From all this we see then that Mirabeau did not become an Illuminatus in 1786 as I had supposed before this document was known to me, but had been in the Order from the beginning apparently as one of its founders, first under the "Illuminated" name of Arcesilas and later under that of Leonidas. The Memoir found at his house was thus no other than the programme of the Illuminati evolved by him in collaboration with an inner ring of Freemasons belonging to the Lodge Theodore. The correspondence of the Illuminati in fact contains several references to an inner ring under the name of "the secret chapter of the Lodge of St. Theodore," which, after his initiation into Masonry, Weishaupt indicates the necessity of bringing entirely under the control of Illuminism. It is probable that Weishaupt was in touch with this secret chapter before his formal admission to the lodge.

Whether, then, the ideas of Illuminism arose in this secret, chapter of the Lodge Theodore independently of Weishaupt, or whether they were imparted by Weishaupt to the Lodge Theodore after the directions had been given him by Kölmer, it is impossible to know; but in either case there would be some justification for Robison's assertion that Illuminism arose out of Freemasonry, or rather that it took birth amongst a group of Freemasons whose aims were not those of the Order in general.

What were these aims? A plan of social and political "reform" which, as M. Barthou points out, much resembled the work accomplished later by the Constituent Assembly in France. This admission is of great importance; in other words, the programme carried out by the Constituent Assembly in 1789 had been largely formulated in a lodge of German Freemasons who formed the nucleus of the Illuminati, in 1776. And yet we are told that Illuminism had no influence on the French Revolution!

It will be objected that the reforms here indicated were wholly admirable. True, the abolition of the _corvée_, of _main morte_, and of servitudes were measures that met with the approval of all right-minded men, including the King of France himself. But what of the abolition of the "working guilds" and "all the corporations," that is to say, the "trade unions" of the period, which was carried out by the infamous Loi Chapelier in 1791, a decree that is now generally recognized as one of the strangest anomalies of the Revolution? Again, to whose interest was it to do away with the customs and excise duties of France? To establish the absolute and unfettered liberty of the press and religious opinions? The benefits these measures might be expected to confer on the French people were certainly problematical, but there could be no doubt of their utility to men who, like Frederick the Great, wished to ruin France and to break the Franco-Austrian alliance by the unrestricted circulation of libels against Marie Antoinette, who, like Mirabeau, hoped to bring about a revolution, or who, like Voltaire, wished to remove all obstacles to the spread of an anti-Christian propaganda.

It is therefore by no means impossible that Weishaupt was at first the agent of more experienced conspirators, whose purely political aims were disguised under a plan of social reform, and who saw in the Bavarian professor a clever organizer to be employed in carrying out their designs.

Whether this was so or not, the fact remains that from the time Weishaupt assumed control of the Order the plan of "social reform" described by Mirabeau vanishes entirely, for not a word do we find in the writings of the Illuminati about any pretended scheme for ameliorating the lot of the people, and Illuminism becomes simply a scheme of anarchic philosophy. The French historian Henri Martin has thus admirably summed up the system elaborated by "Spartacus":

Weishaupt had made into an absolute theory the misanthropic gibes
_[boutades]_ of Rousseau at the invention of property and society,
and without taking into account the statement so distinctly
formulated by Rousseau on the impossibility of suppressing property
and society once they had been established, he proposed as the end
of Illuminism the abolition of property, social authority, of
nationality, and the return of the human race to the happy state in
which it formed only a single family without artificial needs,
without useless sciences, every father being priest and magistrate.
Priest of we know not what religion, for in spite of their frequent
invocations of the God of Nature, many indications lead us to
conclude that Weishaupt had, like Diderot and d'Holbach, no other
God than Nature herself. From his doctrine would naturally follow
the German ultra-Hegelianism and the system of anarchy recently
developed in France, of which the physiognomy suggests a foreign
origin.[515]

This summary of the aims of the Illuminati, which absolutely corroborates the view of Barruel and Robison, is confirmed in detail by the Socialist Freethinker of the nineteenth century Louis Blanc, who in his remarkable chapter on the "Révolutionnaires Mystiques" refers to Weishaupt as "One of the profoundest conspirators who have ever existed."[516] George Sand also, Socialist and _intime_ of the Freemasons, wrote of "the European conspiracy of Illuminism" and the immense influence exercised by the secret societies of "mystic Germany." To say, then, that Barruel and Robison were alone in proclaiming the danger of Illuminism is simply a deliberate perversion of the truth, and it is difficult to understand why English Freemasons should have allowed themselves to be misled on this question.

Thus the _Masonic Cyclopædia_ observes that the Illuminati "were, as a rule, men of the strictest morality and humanity, and the ideas they sought to instil were those which have found universal acceptance in our own times." Preston, in his _Illustrations of Masonry_, also does his best to gloss over the faults of the Order, and even "the historian of Freemasonry" devotes to its founder this astounding apology. After describing Weishaupt as the victim of Jesuit intrigue, Mr. Gould goes on to say:

He conceived the idea of combating his foes with their own
weapons, and forming a society of young men, enthusiastic in the
cause of humanity, who should gradually be trained to work as one
man to one end--the destruction of evil and the enhancement of good
in this world. Unfortunately he had unconsciously imbibed that most
pernicious doctrine that the end justifies the means, and his whole
plan reveals the effects of his youthful teaching.... The man
himself was without guile, ignorant of men, knowing them only by
books, a learned professor, an enthusiast who took a wrong course
in all innocence, and the faults of his head have been heavily
visited upon his memory in spite of the rare qualities of his
heart.[517]

One can only conclude that these extraordinary exonerations of an Order bitterly hostile to the true aims of Masonry proceed from ignorance of the real nature of Illuminism. In order to judge of this it is only necessary to consult the writings of the Illuminati themselves, which are contained in the following works:

1. _Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens_ (Munich, 1787).

2. _Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften, etc._ (Munich, 1787).

3. _Die neuesten Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo in dem Illuminaten-Orden_ (Munich, 1794).

All these consist in the correspondence and papers of the Order which were seized by the Bavarian Government at the houses of two of the members, Zwack and Bassus, and published by order of the Elector. The authenticity of these documents has never been denied even by the Illuminati themselves; Weishaupt, in his published defence, endeavoured only to explain away the most incriminating passages. The publishers, moreover, were careful to state at the beginning of the first volume: "Those who might have any doubts on the authenticity of this collection may present themselves at the Secret Archives here, where, on request, the original documents will be laid before them." This precaution rendered all dispute impossible.

Setting Barruel and Robison entirely aside, we shall now see from the evidence of their own writings, how far the Illuminati can be regarded as a praiseworthy and cruelly maligned Order. Let us begin with their attitude towards Freemasonry.

Illuminism and Freemasonry

From the moment of Weishaupt's admission into Freemasonry his whole conduct was a violation of the Masonic code. Instead of proceeding after the recognized manner by successive stages of initiation, he set himself to find out further secrets by underhand methods and then to turn them to the advantage of his own system. Thus about a year after his initiation he writes to Cato (alias Zwack): "I have succeeded in obtaining a profound glimpse into the secret of the Freemasons. I know their whole aim and shall impart it all at the right time in one of the higher degrees."[518]

Cato is then deputed to make further discoveries through an Italian Freemason, the Abbé Marotti, which he records triumphantly in his diary:

Interview with the Abbé Marotti on the question of Masonry, when he
explained to me the whole secret, which is founded on old religion
and Church history, and imparted to me all the higher degrees up to
the Scottish. Informed Spartacus of this.[519]

Spartacus, however, unimpressed by this communication, replied drily:

Whether you know the aim of Masonry I doubt. I have myself included
an insight into this structure in my plan, but reserved it for
later degrees.[520]

Weishaupt then decides that all illuminated "Areopagites" shall take the first three degrees of Freemasonry[521]; but further:

That we shall have a masonic lodge of our own. That we shall regard
this as our nursery garden. That to some of these Masons we shall
not at once reveal that we have something more than the Masons
have. That at every opportunity we shall cover ourselves with this
[Masonry].... All those who are not suited to the work shall remain
in the masonic Lodge and advance in that without knowing anything
of the further system.[522]

We shall find this plan of an inner secret circle concealed within Freemasonry persisting up to our own day.

Weishaupt, however, admits himself puzzled with regard to the past of Masonry, and urges "Porcius" to find out more on this question from the Abbé Marotti:

See whether through him you can discover the real history, origin,
and the first founders of Masonry, for on this alone I am still
undecided.[523]

But it is in "Philo," the Baron von Knigge, a Freemason and member of the Stride Observance, in which he was known as the Eques a Cygno, that Weishaupt finds his most efficient investigator. Thus "Philo" writes to "Spartacus":

I have now found in Cassel the best man, on whom I cannot
congratulate ourselves enough: he is Mauvillon, Grand Master of one
of the Royal York Lodges. So with him we have the whole lodge in
our hands. He has also got from there all their miserable degrees
[_Er hat auch von dort aus alle ihre elenden Grade_].[524]

No wonder that Weishaupt thereupon exclaims joyfully: "Philo does more than we all expected, and he is the man who alone will carry it all through."[525] Weishaupt then occupies himself in trying to get a "Constitution" from London, evidently without success, and also in wresting the Lodge Theodore in Munich from the control of Berlin in order to substitute his own domination, so that "the whole secret chapter will be subjected to our ⊙, leave everything to it, and await further degrees from it alone."[526]

In all this Weishaupt shows himself not only an intriguer but a charlatan, inventing mysteries and degrees to impose on the credulity of his followers. "The mysteries, or so-called secret truths, are the finest of all," he writes to "Philipo Strozzi," "and give me much trouble."[527] So whilst heartily despising Freemasonry, theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and mysticism of every kind, his association with Philo leads him to perceive the utility of all these as a bait, and he allows Philo to draw up plans for a degree of Scottish Knight. But the result is pitiable, Philo's composition, a "semi-theosophical discourse and explanation of hieroglyphics" is characterized by Weishaupt as gibberish (_kauderwelsche_).[528]

Philo [he says again] is full of such follies, which betray his
small mind.... On the Illuminatus Major follows the miserable
degree of Scottish Knight entirely of his composition, and on the
degree of Priest an equally miserable degree of Regent, ... but I
have already composed four more degrees compared to the worst of
which the Priest's degree will be child's play, but I shall tell no
one about it till I see how the thing goes....[529]

The perfidy of the Illuminati with regard to the Freemasons is therefore apparent. Even Mounier, who set out to refute Barruel on the strength of the information supplied to him by the Illuminatus Bode, admits their duplicity in this respect.

Weishaupt [says Mounier] made the acquaintance of a Hanoverian, the
Baron von Knigge, a famous intriguer, long practised in the
charlatanism of lodges of Freemasons. On his advice new degrees
were added to the old ones, and it was resolved to profit by
Freemasonry whilst profoundly despising it. They decided that the
degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason, and
Scotch Knight should be added to those of the Illuminati, and that
they would boast of possessing exclusively the real secrets of the
Freemasons and affirm that Illuminism was the real primitive
Freemasonry.

"The papers of the Order seized in Bavaria and published," Mounier says again, show that "the Illuminati employed the forms of Freemasonry, but that they considered it in itself, apart from their own degrees, as a puerile absurdity and that they detested the Rose-Croix." Mounier, as a good disciple of Bode, takes much the same view and pities the _naïveté_ of the Freemasons, who, "like so many children, spend a great part of the time in their lodges playing at chapel."

Why in the face of all this should any British Masons take up the cudgels for the Illuminati and vilify Robison and Barruel for exposing them? The American Mackey, as a consistent Freemason, shows scant sympathy for this traitor in the masonic camp. "Weishaupt," he writes, "was a radical in politics and an infidel in religion, and he organized this association, not more for the purpose of aggrandizing himself, than of overturning Christianity and the institutions of society." And in a footnote he adds that Robison's _Proofs of a Conspiracy_ "contain a very excellent exposition of the nature of this pseudo-masonic institution."[530]

The truth is that Weishaupt was one of the greatest enemies of British Freemasonry who ever lived, and genuine Freemasons will do themselves no good by defending him or his abominable system.

Let us now see how far, apart from their rôle in Masonry, the Illuminati can be regarded as noble idealists striving for the welfare of the human race.

Idealism of the Illuminati

The line of defence adopted by the apologists of the Illuminati is always to quote the admirable principles professed by the Order, the "beautiful ideas" that run through their writings, and to show what excellent people were to be found amongst them.

Of course on their face value the Illuminati appear wholly admirable, of course there is nothing easier than to find innumerable passages in their writings breathing a spirit of the loftiest aspiration, and of course many excellent men figured amongst the patrons of the Order. All this is the mere stock-in-trade of the secret society leader as of the fraudulent company promoter, to whom the first essentials are a glowing prospectus and a long list of highly respectable patrons who know nothing whatever about the inner workings of the concern. These methods, pursued as early as the ninth century by Abdullah ibn Maymūn, enter largely into the policy of Frederick the Great, Voltaire, and his "brothers" in philosophy--or in Freemasonry.

The resemblances between Weishaupt's correspondence and that of Voltaire and of Frederick the Great are certainly very striking. All at moments profess respect for Christianity whilst working to destroy it. Thus just as Voltaire in one letter to d'Alembert expresses his horror at the publication of an anti-Christian pamphlet, _Le Testament de Jean Meslier,[531]_ and in another urges him to have it circulated in thousands all over France,[532] so Weishaupt is careful in general to exhibit the face of a benign philosopher and even of a Christian evangelist; it is only at moments that he drops the mask and reveals the grinning satyr behind it.

Accordingly in the published statutes of the Illuminati no hint of subversive intentions will be found; indeed the "Obligation" expressly states that "nothing against the State, religion, or morals is undertaken."

Yet what is Weishaupt's real political theory? No other than that of modern Anarchy, that man should govern himself and rulers should be gradually done away with. But he is careful to deprecate all ideas of violent revolution--the process is to be accomplished by the most peaceful methods. Let us see how gently he leads up to the final conclusion:

The first stage in the life of the whole human race is savagery,
rough nature, in which the family is the only society, and hunger
and thirst are easily satisfied, ... in which man enjoys the two
most excellent goods, Equality and Liberty, to their fullest
extent.... In these circumstances ... health was his usual
condition.... Happy men, who were not yet enough enlightened to
lose their peace of mind and to be conscious of the unhappy
mainsprings and causes of our misery, love of power ... envy ...
illnesses and all the results of imagination.

The manner in which man fell from this primitive state of felicity is then described:

As families increased, means of subsistence began to lack, the
nomadic life ceased, property was instituted, men established
themselves firmly, and through agriculture families drew near each
other, thereby language developed and through living together men
began to measure themselves against each other, etc.... But here
was the cause of the downfall of freedom; equality vanished. Man
felt new unknown needs....[533]

Thus men became dependent like minors under the guardianship of kings; the human must attain its majority and become self-governing:

Why should it be impossible that the human race should attain to
its highest perfection, the capacity to guide itself? Why should
anyone be eternally led who understands how to lead himself?[534]

Further, men must learn not only to be independent of kings but of each other:

Who has need of another depends on him and has resigned his rights.
So to need little is the first step to freedom; therefore savages
and the most highly enlightened are perhaps the only free men. The
art of more and more limiting one's needs is at the same time the
art of attaining freedom....[535]

Weishaupt then goes on to show how the further evil of Patriotism arose:

With the origin of nations and peoples the world ceased to be a
great family, a single kingdom: the great tie of nature was
torn.... Nationalism took the place of human love.... Now it became
a virtue to magnify one's fatherland at the expense of whoever was
not enclosed within its limits, now as a means to this narrow end
it was allowed to despise and outwit foreigners or indeed even to
insult them. This virtue was called Patriotism....[536]

And so by narrowing down affection to one's fellow-citizens, the members of one's family, and even to oneself:

There arose out of Patriotism, Localism, the family spirit, and
finally Egoism.... Diminish Patriotism, then men will learn to know
each other again as such, their dependence on each other will be
lost, the bond of union will widen out....[537]

It will be seen that the whole of Weishaupt's theory was in reality a new rendering of the ancient secret tradition relating to the fall of man and the loss of his primitive felicity; but whilst the ancient religions taught the hope of a Redeemer who should restore man to his former state, Weishaupt looks to man alone for his restoration. "Men," he observes, "no longer loved men but only such and such men. The word was quite lost...."[538] Thus in Weishaupt's masonic system the "lost word" is "Man," and its recovery is interpreted by the idea that Man should find himself again. Further on Weishaupt goes on to show how "the redemption of the human race is to be brought about".

These means are secret schools of wisdom, these were from all time
the archives of Nature and of human rights, through them will Man
be saved from his Fall, princes and nations will disappear without
violence from the earth, the human race will become one family and
the world the abode of reasonable men. Morality alone will bring
about this change imperceptibly. Every father of a family will be,
as formerly Abraham and the patriarchs, the priest and unfettered
lord of his family, and Reason will be the only code of Man. This
is one of our greatest secrets....[539]

But whilst completely eliminating any idea of divine power outside Man and framing his system on purely political lines, Weishaupt is careful not to shock the susceptibilities of his followers by any open repudiation of Christian doctrines; on the contrary, he invokes Christ at every turn and sometimes even in language so apparently earnest and even beautiful that one is almost tempted to believe in his sincerity. Thus he writes:

This our great and unforgettable Master, Jesus of Nazareth,
appeared at a time in the world when it was sunk in depravity....
The first followers of His teaching are not wise men but simple,
chosen from the lowest class of the people, so as to show that His
teaching should be possible and comprehensible to all classes and
conditions of men.... He carries out this teaching by means of the
most blameless life in conformity with it, and seals and confirms
this with His blood and death. These laws which He shows as the way
to salvation are only two: love of God and love of one's neighbour;
more He asks of no one.[540]

So far no Lutheran pastor could have expressed himself better. But one must study Weishaupt's writings as a whole to apprehend the true measure of his belief in Christ's teaching.

* * * * *

Now, as we have already seen, his first idea was to make Fire Worship the religion of Illuminism; the profession of Christianity therefore appears to have been an after-thought. Evidently Weishaupt discovered, as others have done, that Christianity lends itself more readily to subversive ideas than any other religion. And in the passages which follow we find him adopting the old ruse of representing Christ as a Communist and as a secret-society adept. Thus he goes on to explain that "if Jesus preaches contempt of riches, He wishes to teach us the reasonable use of them and prepare for the community of goods introduced by Him,"[541] and in which, Weishaupt adds later, He lived with His disciples.[542] But this secret doctrine is only to be apprehended by initiates:

No one ... has so cleverly concealed the high meaning of His
teaching, and no one finally has so surely and easily directed men
on to the path of freedom as our great master Jesus of Nazareth.
This secret meaning and natural consequence of His teaching He hid
completely, for Jesus had a secret doctrine, as we see in more than
one place of the Scriptures.[543]

Weishaupt thus contrives to give a purely political interpretation to Christ's teaching:

The secret preserved through the Disciplinam Arcani, and the aim
appearing through all His words and deeds, is to give back to men
their original liberty and equality.... Now one can understand how
far Jesus was the Redeemer and Saviour of the world.[544]

The mission of Christ was therefore by means of Reason to make men capable of freedom[545]: "When at last reason becomes the religion of man, so will the problem be solved."[546]

Weishaupt goes on to show that Freemasonry can be interpreted in the same manner. The secret doctrine concealed in the teaching of Christ was handed down by initiates who "hid themselves and their doctrine under the cover of Freemasonry,"[547] and in a long explanation of Masonic hieroglyphics he indicates the analogies between the Hiramic legend and the story of Christ. "I say then Hiram is Christ," and after giving one of his reasons for this assertion, adds: "Here then is much ground gained, although I myself cannot help laughing at this explanation [_obwohl ich selbst über diese Explication im Grund lachen muss_]."[548] Weishaupt then proceeds to give further interpretations of his own devising to the masonic ritual, including an imaginary translation of certain words supposed to be derived from Hebrew, and ends up by saying: "One will be able to show several more resemblances between Hiram and the life and death of Christ, or drag them in by the hair."[549] So much for Weishaupt's respect for the Grand Legend of Freemasonry!

In this manner Weishaupt demonstrates that "Freemasonry is hidden Christianity, at least my explanations of the hieroglyphics fit this perfectly; and in the way in which I explain Christianity no one need be ashamed to be a Christian, for I leave the name and substitute for it Reason."[550]

But this is of course only the secret of what Weishaupt calls "real Freemasonry"[551] in contradistinction to the official kind, which he regards as totally unenlightened: "Had not the noble and elect remained in the background ... new depravity would have broken out in the human race, and through Regents, Priests, and Freemasons Reason would have been banished from the earth."[552]

In Weishaupt's masonic system, therefore, the designs of the Order with regard to religion are not confided to the mere Freemasons, but only to the Illuminati. Under the heading of "Higher Mysteries" Weishaupt writes:

The man who is good for nothing better remains a Scottish Knight.
If he is, however, a particularly industrious co-ordinator
[_Sammler_], observer, worker, he becomes a Priest.... If there are
amongst these [Priests] high speculative intellects, they become
Magi. These collect and put in order the higher philosophical
system and work at the People's Religion, which the Order will
next give to the world. Should these high geniuses also be fit to
rule the world, they become Regents. This is the last degree.[553]

Philo (the Baron von Knigge) also throws an interesting light on the religious designs of the Illuminati. In a letter to Cato he explains the necessity of devising a system that will satisfy fanatics and freethinkers alike: "So as to work on both these classes of men and unite them, we must find an explanation to the Christian religion ... make this the secret of Freemasonry and turn it to our purpose."[554] Philo continues:

We say then: Jesus wished to introduce no new religion, but only to
restore natural religion and reason to their old rights. Thereby he
wished to unite men in a great universal association, and through
the spread of a wiser morality, enlightenment, and the combating of
all prejudices to make them capable of governing themselves; so the
secret meaning of his teaching was to lead men without revolution
to universal liberty and equality. There are many passages in the
Bible which can be made use of and explained, and so all
quarrelling between the sects ceases if one can find a reasonable
meaning in the teaching of Jesus--be it true or not. As, however,
this simple religion was afterwards distorted, so were these
teachings imparted to us through Disciplinam Arcani and finally
through Freemasonry, and all masonic hieroglyphics can be explained
with this object. Spartacus has collected very good data for this
and I have myself added to them, ... and so I have got both degrees
ready....

Now therefore that people see that we are the only real and true
Christians, we can say a word more against priests and princes, but
I have so managed that after previous tests I can receive pontiffs
and kings in this degree. In the higher Mysteries we must then
(_a_) disclose the pious fraud and (_b_) reveal from all writings
the origin of all religious lies and their connexion....[555]

So admirably did this ruse succeed that we find Spartacus writing triumphantly:

You cannot imagine what consideration and sensation our Priest's
degree is arousing. The most wonderful thing is that great
Protestant and reformed theologians who belong to ⊙ [Illuminism]
still believe that the religious teaching imparted in it contains
the true and genuine spirit of the Christian religion. Oh! men, of
what cannot you be persuaded? I never thought that I should become
the founder of a new religion.[556]

It is on the "illuminized" clergy and professors that Weishaupt counts principally for the work of the Order.

Through the influence of the Brothers [he writes], the Jesuits have
been removed from all professorships, and the University of
Ingoldstadt has been quite cleansed of them....[557]

Thus the way is cleared for Weishaupt's adepts.

The Institute of Cadets also comes under the control of the Order:

All the professors are members of the Illuminati, ... so will all
the pupils become disciples of Illuminism.[558]

Further:

We have provided our clerical members with good benefices,
parishes, posts at Court.

Through our influence Arminius and Cortez have been made professors
at Ephesus.

* * * * *

The German schools are quite under [the influence of] ⊙ and now
only members have charge of them.

The charitable association is also directed by ⊙.

* * * * *

Soon we shall draw over to us the whole Bartholomew Institute for
young clergymen; the preparations have already been made and the
prospects are very good, by this means we shall be able to provide
the whole of Bavaria with proper priests.[559]

But religion and Freemasonry are not the only means by which Illuminism can be spread.

We must consider [says Weishaupt], how we can begin to work under
another form. If only the aim is achieved, it does not matter under
what cover it takes place, and a cover is always necessary. For in
concealment lies a great part of our strength. For this reason we
must always cover ourselves with the name of another society. The
lodges that are under Freemasonry are in the meantime the most
suitable cloak for our high purpose, because the world is already
accustomed to expect nothing great from them which merits
attention.... As in the spiritual Orders of the Roman Church,
religion was, alas! only a pretence, so must our Order also in a
nobler way try to conceal itself behind a learned society or
something of the kind.... A society concealed in this manner cannot
be worked against. In case of a prosecution or of treason the
superiors cannot be discovered.... We shall be shrouded in
impenetrable darkness from spies and emissaries of other
societies.[560]

In order to give a good appearance to the Order, Weishaupt particularly indicates the necessity for enlisting esteemed and "respectable" persons,[561] but above all young men whom he regards as the most likely subjects. "I cannot use men as they are," he observes, "but I must first form them."[562] Youth naturally lends itself best to this process. "Seek the society of young people," Weishaupt writes to Ajax, "watch them, and if one of them pleases you, lay your hand on him."[563] "Seek out young and already skilful people.... Our people must be engaging, enterprising, intriguing, and adroit. Above all the first."[564]

If possible they should also be good-looking--"beautiful people, _cæteris paribus_...."

Such people have generally gentle manners, a tender heart, and are,
when well practised in other things, of the greatest use in
undertakings, for their first glance attracts; but their spirit
_n'a pas la profondeur des physiognomies sombres_. They are,
however, also less disposed to riots and disturbances than the
darker physiognomies. That is why one must know how to use one's
people. Above all, the high, soulful eye pleases me and the free,
open brow.[565]

With these novices the adept of Illuminism is to proceed slowly, talking backwards and forwards:

One must speak, first in one way, then in another, so as not to
commit oneself and to make one's real way of thinking impenetrable
to one's inferiors.[566]

Weishaupt also insists on the importance of exciting the candidate's curiosity and then drawing back again, after the manner of the Fatimite _dais_:

I have no fault to find with your [methods of] reception
["Spartacus" writes to "Cato"], except that they are too quick....
You should proceed gradually in a roundabout way by means of
suspense and expectations, so as first to arouse indefinite, vague
curiosity, and then when the candidate declares himself, present
the object, which he will then seize with both hands.[567]

By this means his vanity will also be flattered, because one will arouse the pleasure of "knowing something which everyone does not know, and about which the greater part of the world is groping in darkness."[568]

For the same reason the candidate must be impressed with the importance of secret societies and the part they have played in the destinies of the world:

One illustrates this by the Order of the Jesuits, of the
Freemasons, by the secret associations of the ancients, one asserts
that all events in the world occur from a hundred secret springs
and causes, to which secret associations above all belong; one
arouses the pleasure of quiet, hidden power and of insight into
hidden secrets.[569]

At this point one is to begin to "show glimpses and to let fall here and there remarks that may be interpreted in two ways," so as to bring the candidate to the point of saying: "If I had the chance to enter such an association, I would go into it at once." "These discourses," says Weishaupt, "are to be often repeated."[570]

In the discourse of reception to the "Illuminatus Dirigens," the appeal to love of power plays the most important part:

Do you realize sufficiently what it means to rule--to rule in a
secret Society? Not only over the lesser or more important of the
populace, but over the best men, over men of all ranks, nations,
and religions, to rule without external force, to unite them
indissolubly, to breathe one spirit and soul into them, men
distributed over all parts of the world?...[571]

And finally, do you know what secret societies are? what a place
they occupy in the great kingdom of the world's events? Do you
really think they are unimportant, transitory appearances?[572]
etc.

But the admission of political aims is reserved only for the higher grades of the Order. "With the beginner," says Weishaupt, "we must be careful about books on religion and the State. I have reserved these in my plan for the higher degrees."[573] Accordingly the discourse to the "Minerval" is expressly designed to put him off the track. Thus the initiator is to say to him:

After two years' reflection, experience, intercourse, reading of
the graduated writings and information, you will necessarily have
formed the idea that the final aim of our Society is nothing less
than to win power and riches, to undermine secular or religious
government, and to obtain the mastery of the world, and so on. If
you have represented our Society to yourself from this point of
view or have entered it in this expectation, you have mightily
deceived yourself....[574]

The initiator, without informing the Minerval of the real aim of the Society, then goes on to say that he is now free to leave it if he wishes. By this means the leaders were able to eliminate ambitious people who might become their rivals to power and to form their ranks out of men who would submit to be led blindly onward by unseen directors. "My circumstances necessitate," Spartacus writes to Cato, "that I should remain hidden from most of the members as long as I live. I am obliged to do everything through five or six persons."[575] So carefully was this secret guarded that until the papers of the Illuminati were seized in 1786 no one outside this inner circle knew that Weishaupt was the head of the Order. Yet if we are to believe his own assertions, he had been throughout in supreme control. Again and again he impresses on his _intimes_ the necessity for unity of command in the Order: "One must show how easy it would be for one clever head to direct hundreds and thousands of men,"[576] and he illustrates this system by the table reproduced on the next page, to which he appends the following explanation:

I have two immediately below me into whom I breathe my whole
spirit, and each of these two has again two others, and so on. In
this way I can set a thousand men in motion and on fire in the
simplest manner, and in this way one must impart orders and operate
on politics.[577]

Thus, as in the case of Abdullah ibn Maymūn's society, "the extraordinary result was brought about that a multitude of men of divers beliefs were all working together for an object known only to a few of them."

Enough has now been quoted from the correspondence of the Illuminati to show their aims and methods according to their own admissions. We shall now see how far their apologists are justified in describing them as "men of the strictest morality and humanity."[578] Doubtless there were many excellent people in the outer ranks of the Order, but this is not the contention of Mr. Gould, who expressly states that "all the prominent members of this association were estimable men both in public and in private life." These further extracts from their correspondence may be left to speak for themselves.

Character of the Illuminati

In June 1782 Weishaupt writes to "Cato" as follows:

Oh, in politics and morality you are far behind, my gentlemen.
Judge further if such a man as Marcus Aurelius[579] finds out how
wretched it [Illuminism] appears in Athens [Munich]; what a
collection of immoral men, of whoremongers, liars, debtors,
boasters, and vain fools they have amongst them. If he saw all
that, what do you suppose the man would think? Would he not be
ashamed to find himself in such an association, in which the
leaders arouse the greatest expectations and carry out the best
plan in such a miserable manner? And all this out of caprice,
expediency, etc. Judge whether I am not right.[580]

From Thebes [Freysing] I hear fatal news; they have received into
the lodge the scandal of the whole town, the dissolute debtor
Propertius, who is trumpeted abroad by the whole "personnel" of
Athens [Munich], Thebes and Erzerum [Eichstadt]; D. also appears
to be a bad man. Socrates who would be a capital man [_ein Capital
Mann_] is continually drunk, Augustus in the worst repute, and
Alcibiades sits the whole day with the innkeeper's wife sighing and
pining: Tiberius tried in Corinth to rape the sister of Democedes
and the husband came in. In Heaven's name, what are these for
Areopagites! We upper ones, write, read and work ourselves to
death, offer to ⊙ our health, fame and fortune, whilst these
gentlemen indulge their weaknesses, go a whoring, cause scandals
and yet are Areopagites and want to know about everything.[581]

Concerning Arminius there are great complaints.... He is an
unbearable, obstinate, arrogant, vain fool![582]

Let Celsus, Marius, Scipio, and Ajax do what they will ... no one
does us so much harm as Celsus, no one is less to be reasoned with
than Celsus, and perhaps few could have been so much use to us as
Celsus.... Marius is obstinate and can see no great plan, Scipio is
negligent, and of Ajax I will not speak at all.... Confucius is
worth very little: he is too inquisitive and a terrible chatterer
[_ein grausamer Schwatzer_].[583]

Agrippa must be quite struck off our list, for the rumour goes
round ... that he has stolen a gold and silver watch together with
a ring from our best fellow-worker Sulla.[584]

It will doubtless be suggested at this point that all these letters merely portray the lofty idealist sorrowing over the frailties of his erring disciples, but let us hear what Weishaupt has to say about himself. In a letter to Marius (Hertel) he writes:

And now in the strictest confidence, a matter near my heart, which
robs me of all rest, makes me incapable of anything and drives me
to despair. I stand in danger of losing my honour and my reputation
which gave me so much power over our people. Think, my
sister-in-law is expecting a child.[585] I have for this purpose
sent to Euriphon in Athens to solicit the marriage licence and
Promotorial from Rome, you see how much depends on this and that no
time must be lost; every minute is precious. But if the
dispensation does not arrive, what shall I do? How shall I make
amends to the person since I alone am to blame? We have already
tried several ways to get rid of the child; she herself was
resolved for anything. But Euriphon is too timid and yet I see no
other expedient, if I could ensure the silence of Celsus he could
help me and indeed he already promised me this three years
ago....[586] If you can help me out of this dilemma, you will give
me back life, honour, peace and power to work.... I do not know
what devil led me astray, I who always in these circumstances took
extreme precautions.[587]

A little later Weishaupt writes again:

All fatalities happen to me at the same time. Now there is my
mother dead! Corpse, wedding, christening all in a short time, one
on the top of the other. What a wonderful mix-up
[_mischmasch_]![588]

So much for what Mr. Gould calls the "rare qualities" of Weishaupt's heart. Let us now listen to the testimony of Weishaupt's principal coadjutor, Philo (the Baron von Knigge), to whom the "historian of Freemasonry" refers as "a lovable enthusiast." In all subversive associations, whether open or secret, directed by men who aim at power, a moment is certain to arrive when the ambitions of the leaders come into conflict. This is the history of every revolutionary organization during the last 150 years. It was when the inevitable climax had been reached between Weishaupt and Knigge that "Philo" wrote to "the most loving Cato" in the following terms:

It is not Mahomed and A. who are so much to blame for my break with
Spartacus, as the Jesuitical conduct of this man which has so often
turned us against each other in order to rule despotically over
men, who, if they have not perhaps such a rich imagination as
himself, also do not possess so much cuteness and cunning,
etc.[589]

In a further letter Philo goes on to enumerate the services he has rendered to Weishaupt in the past:

At the bidding of Spartacus I have written against ex-Jesuits and
Rosicrucians, persecuted people who never did me any harm, thrown
the _Stricte Observance_ into confusion, drawn the best amongst
them to us, told them of the worthiness of ⊙, of its power, its
age, the excellence of its Chiefs, the blamelessness of its higher
leaders, the importance of its knowledge, and given great ideas of
the uprightness of its views; those amongst us who are now working
so actively for us but cling much to religiousness [_sehr an
Religiosität kleben_] and who feared our intention was to spread
Deism, I have sought to persuade that the higher Superiors had
nothing less than this intention. Gradually, however, I shall work
it as I please [_nach und nach wirke ich dock was ich will_]. If I
now were to ... give a hint to the Jesuits and Rosicrucians as to
who is persecuting them ... if I were to make known (to a few
people) the Jesuitical character of the man who leads perhaps all
of us by the nose, uses us for his ambitious schemes, sacrifices us
as often as his obstinacy requires, [if I were to make known to
them] what they have to fear from such a man, from such a machine
behind which perhaps Jesuits may be concealed or might conceal
themselves; if I were to assure those who seek for secrets that
they have nothing to expect; if I were to confide to those who hold
religion dear, the principles of the General; ... if I were to draw
the attention of the lodges to an association behind which the
Illuminati are concealed; if I were again to associate myself with
princes and Freemasons ... but I shrink from the thought, vengeance
will not carry me so far....[590]

We have now seen enough of the aims and methods of the Illuminati and the true characters of their leaders from their own admissions. To make the case complete it would be necessary also to give a résumé of the confessions made by the ex-Illuminati, the four professors Cosandey, Grünberger, Utzschneider, and Renner, as also of the further published works of the Illuminati--but space and time forbid. What is needed is a complete book on the subject, consisting of translations of the most important passages in all the contemporary German publications.

From the extracts given above, can it, however, be seriously contended that Barruel or Robison exaggerated the guilt of the Order? Do my literal translations differ materially in sense from the translations and occasional paraphrases given by the much-abused couple?

Even those contemporaries, Mounier and the member of the Illuminati[591] who set out to refute Barruel and Lombard de Langres, merely provide further confirmation of their views. Thus Mounier is obliged to confess that the real design of Illuminism was "to undermine all civil order,"[592] and "Ancien Illuminé" asserts in language no less forcible than Barruel's own that Weishaupt "made a code of Machiavellism," that his method was "a profound perversity, flattering everything that was base and rancorous in human nature in order to arrive at his ends," that he was not inspired by "a wise spirit of reform" but by a "fanatical enmity inimical to all authority on earth." The only essential points on which the opposing parties differ is that whilst Mounier and "Ancien Illuminé" deny the influence of the Illuminati on the French Revolution and maintain that they ceased to exist in 1786, Barruel and Lombard de Langres present them as the inspirers of the Jacobins and declare them to be still active after the Revolution had ended. That on this point, at any rate, the latter were right, we shall see in a further chapter.

The great question that presents itself after studying the writings of the Illuminati is: what was the motive power behind the Order? If we admit the possibility that Frederick the Great and the Stricte Observance, working through an inner circle of Freemasons at the Lodge St. Theodore, may have provided the first impetus and that Kölmer initiated Weishaupt into Oriental methods of organization, the source of inspiration from which Weishaupt subsequently drew his anarchic philosophy still remains obscure. It has frequently been suggested that his real inspirers were Jews, and the Jewish writer Bernard Lazare definitely states that "there were Jews, Cabalistic Jews, around Weishaupt."[593] A writer in _La Vieille France_ went so far as to designate these Jews as Moses Mendelssohn, Wessely, and the bankers Itzig, Friedlander, and Meyer. But no documentary evidence has ever been produced in support of these statements. It is therefore necessary to examine them in the light of probability.