insist on being a man of consequence among us, and is really a
man of talents, and of a _right way of thinking_, is eternally
besotted. Augustus is in the worst estimation imaginable.
Alcibiades sits the day long with the vintner's pretty wife, and
there he sighs and pines. A few days ago, at Corinth, Tiberius
attempted to ravish the wife of Democides, and her husband came
in upon them. Good heavens! what _Areopagitæ_ I have got. When
the worthy man Marcus Aurelius comes to Athens, (Munich,) what
will he think? What a meeting of dissolute, immoral wretches,
whoremasters, liars, bankrupts, braggarts, and vain fools!
When he sees all this, what will he think? He will be ashamed
to enter into an Association," (observe Reader, that Spartacus
writes this in August 1783, in the very time that he would have
murdered Cato's sister, as we shall see,) "where the chiefs
raise the highest expectations, and exhibit such wretched
examples; and all this from self-will, from sensuality. Am I not
in the right--that this man--that any such worthy man--whose
name alone would give us the selection of all Germany, will
declare that the whole province of Grecia, (Bavaria,) innocent
and guilty, must be excluded. I tell you, we may study, and
write, and toil till death. We may sacrifice to the Order, our
health, our fortune, and our reputation, (alas, the loss!) and
these Lords, following their own pleasures, will whore, cheat,
steal, and drive on like shameless rascals; and yet must be
_Areopagitæ_, and interfere in every thing. Indeed, my dearest
friend, we have only enslaved ourselves."
In another part of this fine correspondence, Diomedes has had the
good fortune to intercept a Q. L. (_Quibus Licet_,) in which it is
said, and supported by proofs, that Cato had received 250 florins as
a bribe for his sentence in his capacity of a judge in a criminal
court (the end had surely sanctified the means.) In another, a
Minerval complains of his Mentor for having by lies occasioned
the dismission of a physician from a family, by which the Mentor
obtained, in the same capacity, the custom of the house and free
access, which favour he repaid by debauching the wife; and he
prays to be informed whether he may not get another Mentor, saying
that although that man had always given him the most excellent
instructions, and he doubted not would continue them, yet he felt
a disgust at the hypocrisy, which would certainly diminish the
impression of the most salutary truths. (Is it not distressing
to think, that this promising youth will by and by laugh at his
former simplicity, and follow the steps and not the instructions
of his physician.) In another place, Spartacus writes to Marius,
(in confidence,) that another worthy Brother, an _Areopagitæ_,
had stolen a gold and a silver watch, and a ring, from Brutus,
(_Savioli_,) and begs Marius, in another letter, to try, while it
was yet possible, to get the things restored, because the culprit
was a most _excellent man_, (_Vortrefflich_,) and of vast use to
the Order, having the direction of an eminent seminary of young
_gentlemen_; and because Savioli was much in good company, and did
not much care for the Order, except in so far as it gave him an
opportunity of knowing and leading some of them, and of steering his
way at court.
I cannot help inserting here, though not the most proper place,
a part of a provincial report from Knigge, the man of the whole
_Aeropagitæ_ who shows any thing like urbanity or gentleness of mind.
"Of my whole colony, (Westphalia,) the most brilliant is
Claudiopolis (_Neuwied_). There they work, and direct, and do
wonders."
If there ever was a spot upon earth where men may be happy in
a state of cultivated society, it was the little principality
of Neuwied. I saw it in 1770. The town was neat, and the palace
handsome and in good taste. But the country was beyond conception
delightful; not a cottage that was out of repair, not a hedge out
of order; it had been the hobby (pardon me the word) of the Prince,
who made it his _daily_ employment to go through his principality
regularly, and assist every housholder, of whatever condition,
with his advice, and with his purse; and, when a freeholder could
not of himself put things into a thriving condition, the Prince
sent his workmen and did it for him. He endowed schools for the
common people, and two academies for the gentry and the people of
business. He gave little portions to the daughters, and prizes to
the well-behaving sons of the labouring people. His own houshold
was a pattern of elegance and economy; his sons were sent to Paris
to learn elegance, and to England to learn science and agriculture.
In short, the whole was like a romance (and was indeed romantic).
I heard it spoken of with a smile at the table of the Bishop of
Treves, at Ehrenbretstein, and was induced to see it next day as
a curiosity: And yet even here, the fanaticism of Knigge would
distribute his poison, and tell the blinded people, that they were
in a state of sin and misery, that their Prince was a despot, and
that they would never be happy till he was made to fly, and till
they were all made equal.
They got their wish; the swarm of French locusts sat down on
Neuwied's beautiful fields in 1793, and entrenched themselves;
and in three months, Prince and farmers houses, and cottages, and
schools, and academies--all had vanished; and all the subjects were
made equal. But when they complained to the French General (René
le Grand) of being plundered by his soldiers, he answered, with a
contemptuous and cutting laugh, "All is ours--we have left you your
eyes to cry."--(_Report to the Convention, 13th June 1795._)
_Discite justitiam moniti, et non temnere divos!_
To proceed:
_Spartacus to Cato._
"By this plan we shall direct all mankind. In this manner, and by
the simplest means, we shall set all in motion and in flames. The
occupations must be so allotted and contrived, that we may, in
secret, influence all political transactions." N. B. This alludes
to a part that is with-held from the public, because it contained
the allotment of the most rebellious and profligate occupations to
several persons whose common names could not be traced. "I have
considered," says Spartacus, "every thing, and so prepared it,
that if the Order should this day go to ruin, I shall in a year
re-establish it more brilliant than ever." Accordingly it got up
again in about this space of time, under the name of the GERMAN
UNION, appearing in the form of READING SOCIETIES. One of these was
set up in Zwack's house; and this raising a suspicion, a visitation
was made at Landshut, and the first set of the private papers were
found. The scheme was, however, zealously prosecuted in other parts
of Germany, as we shall see by and by. "Nor," continues Spartacus,
"will it signify though all should be betrayed and printed. I am so
certain of success, in spite of all obstacles, (for the springs are
in every heart,) that I am indifferent, though it should involve my
life and my liberty. What! have thousands thrown away their lives
about _homoios_ and _homoiousies_ and shall not this cause warm even
the heart of a coward? But I have the art to draw advantage even
from misfortune; and when you would think me sunk to the bottom, I
shall rise with new vigour. Who would have thought, that a professor
at Ingolstadt was to become the teacher of the professors of
Gottingen, and of the greatest men in Germany?"
_Spartacus to Cato._
"Send me back my degree of _Illuminatus Minor_; it is the wonder
of all men here (I may perhaps find time to give a translation of
the discourse of reception, which contains all that can be said of
this Association to the public); as also the two last sheets of my
degree, which is in the keeping of Marius, and Celsus, under 100
locks, which contains my history of the lives of the Patriarchs."
N. B. Nothing very particular has been discovered of these lives of
the Patriarchs. He says, that there were above sixty sheets of it.
To judge by the care taken of it, it must be a favourite work, very
hazardous, and very catching.
In another letter to Cato, we have some hints of the higher degrees,
and concerning a peculiar morality, and a popular religion, which
the Order was one day to give the world. He says, "There must
(_a la Jesuite_) not a single purpose ever come in sight that is
ambiguous, and that may betray our aims against religion and the
state. One must speak sometimes one way and sometimes another, but
so as never to contradict ourselves, and so that, with respect to
our true way of thinking, we may be impenetrable. When our strongest
things chance to give offence, they must be explained as attempts to
draw answers which discover to us the sentiments of the person we
converse with." N. B. This did not always succeed with him.
Spartacus says, speaking of the priests degree, "One would almost
imagine, that this degree, as I have managed it, is genuine
Christianity, and that its end was to free the Jews from slavery.
I say, that Free Masonry is concealed Christianity. My explanation
of the hieroglyphics, at least, proceeds on this supposition; and
as I explain things, no man need be ashamed of being a Christian.
Indeed I afterwards throw away this name, and substitute _Reason_.
But I assure you this is no small affair; a new religion, and a new
state-government, which so happily explain one and all of these
symbols, and combine them in one degree. You may think that this
is my chief work; but I have three other degrees, all different,
for my class of higher mysteries, in comparison with which this is
but child's play; but these I keep for myself as General, to be
bestowed by me only on the _Benemeritissimi_," (surely such as Cato,
his dearest friend, and the possessor of such pretty secrets, as
abortives, poisons, pestilential vapours, &c.). "The promoted may
be Areopagites or not. Were you here I should give you this degree
without hesitation. But it is too important to be intrusted to
paper, or to be bestowed otherwise than from my own hand. It is the
key to history, to religion, and to every state-government in the
world."[5]
[5] I observe, in other parts of his correspondence where he
speaks of this, several singular phrases, which are to be found
in two books; _Antiqueté devoilée par ses Usages_, and _Origine
du Despotisme Oriental_. These contain indeed much of the maxims
inculcated in the reception discourse of the degree _Illumanitus
Minor_. Indeed I have found, that Weishaupt is much less an inventor
than he is generally thought.
Spartacus proceeds, "There shall be but three copies for all
Germany. You can't imagine what respect and curiosity my
priest-degree has raised; and, which is wonderful, a famous
Protestant divine, who is now of the Order, is persuaded that the
religion contained in it is the true sense of Christianity. O MAN,
MAN! TO WHAT MAY'ST THOU NOT BE PERSUADED. Who would imagine that I
was to be the founder of a new religion?"
In this scheme of Masonic Christianity, Spartacus and Philo laboured
seriously together. Spartacus sent him the materials, and Philo
worked them up. It will therefore illustrate this capital point of
the constitution of the Order, if we take Philo's account of it.
_Philo to Cato._
"We must consider the ruling propensities of every age of the
world. At present the cheats and tricks of the priests have roused
all men against them, and against Christianity. But, at the same
time, superstition and fanaticism rule with unlimited dominion,
and the understanding of man really seems to be going backwards.
Our task, therefore, is doubled. We must give such an account
of things, that fanatics should not be alarmed, and that shall,
notwithstanding, excite a spirit of free enquiry. We must not throw
away the good with the bad, the child with the dirty water; but we
must make the secret doctrines of Christianity be received as the
secrets of genuine Free Masonry. But farther, we have to deal with
the despotism of Princes. This increases every day. But then, the
spirit of freedom breathes and sighs in every corner; and, by the
assistance of hidden schools of wisdom, Liberty and Equality, the
natural and imprescriptible rights of man, warm and glow in every
breast. We must therefore unite these extremes. We proceed in this
manner.
"Jesus Christ established no new Religion; he would only set
Religion and Reason in their ancient rights. For this purpose he
would unite men in a common bond. He would fit them for this by
spreading a just morality, by enlightening the understanding, and
by assisting the mind to shake off all prejudices. He would teach
all men, in the first place, to govern themselves. Rulers would
then be needless, and equality and liberty would take place without
any revolution, by the natural and gentle operation of reason and
expediency. This great Teacher allows himself to explain every part
of the Bible in conformity to these purposes; and he forbids all
wrangling among his scholars, because every man may there find a
reasonable application to his peculiar doctrines. Let this be true
or false, it does not signify. This was a simple Religion, and it
was so far inspired; but the minds of his hearers were not fitted
for receiving these doctrines. I told you, says he, but you could
not bear it. Many therefore were called, but few were chosen. To
this elect were entrusted the most important secrets; and even among
them there were degrees of information. There was a seventy, and a
twelve. All this was in the natural order of things, and according
to the habits of the Jews, and indeed of all antiquity. The Jewish
Theosophy was a mystery; like the Eleusinian, or the Pythagorean,
unfit for the vulgar. And thus the doctrines of Christianity were
committed to the _Adepti_, in a _Disciplina Arcani_. By these they
were maintained like the Vestal Fire.--They were kept up only in
hidden societies, who handed them down to posterity; and they are
now possessed by the genuine Free Masons."
N. B. This explains the origin of many anonymous pamphlets which
appeared about this time in Germany, showing that Free Masonry was
Christianity.--They have doubtless been the works of Spartacus
and his partisans among the Eclectic Masons. Nicholai, the great
apostle of infidelity, had given very favourable reviews of these
performances, and having always shewn himself an advocate of such
writers as depreciated Christianity, it was natural for him to
take this opportunity of bringing it still lower in the opinion
of the people. Spartacus therefore conceived a high opinion of
the importance of gaining Nicholai to the Order. He had before
this gained Leuchtsenring, a hot-headed fanatic, who had spied
Jesuits in every corner, and set Nicholai on his journey through
Germany, to hunt them out. This man finding them equally hated by
the Illuminati, was easily gained, and was most zealous in their
cause. He engaged Nicholai, and Spartacus exults exceedingly in the
acquisition, saying, "that he was an unwearied champion, _et quidem
contentissimus_." Of this man Philo says, "that he had spread this
Christianity into every corner of Germany. I have put meaning," says
Philo, "to all these dark symbols, and have prepared both degrees,
introducing beautiful ceremonies, which I have selected from among
those of the ancient communions, combined with those of the Rosaic
Masonry; and now," says he, "it will appear that _we_ are the only
true Christians. We shall now be in a condition to say a few words
to Priests and Princes. I have so contrived things, that I would
admit even Popes and Kings, after the trials which I have prefixed,
and they would be glad to be of the Order."
But how is all this to be reconciled with the plan of Illumination,
which is to banish Christianity altogether? Philo himself in many
places says, "that it is only a cloak, to prevent squeamish people
from starting back." This is done pretty much in the same way that
was practised in the French Masonry. In one of their Rituals the
Master's degree is made typical of the death of Jesus Christ, the
preacher of Brotherly love. But, in the next step, the _Chevalier
du Soleil_, it is Reason that has been destroyed and entombed, and
the Master in this degree, the _Sublime Philosophe_, occasions the
discovery of the place where the body is hid; Reason rises again,
and superstition and tyranny disappear, and all becomes clear; man
becomes free and happy.
Let us hear Spartacus again.
_Spartacus, in another place._
"We must, _1st_, gradually explain away all our preparatory pious
frauds. And when persons of discernment find fault, we must desire
them to consider the end of all our labour. This sanctifies our
means, which at any rate are harmless, and have been useful, even
in this case, because they procured us a patient hearing, when
otherwise men would have turned away from us like petted children.
This will convince them of our sentiments in all the intervening
points; and our ambiguous expressions will then be interpreted into
an endeavour to draw answers of any kind, which may show us the
minds of our pupils. _2d_, We must unfold, from history and other
writings, the origin and fabrication of all religious lies whatever;
and then, _3d_, We give a critical history of the Order. But I
cannot but laugh, when I think of the ready reception which all this
has met with from the grave and learned divines of Germany and of
England; and I wonder how their William failed when he attempted
to establish a Deistical Worship in London, (what can this mean?)
for, I am certain, that it must have been most acceptable to that
learned and free people. But they had not the enlightening of our
days." I may here remark, that Weishaupt is presuming too much on
the ignorance of his friend, for there was a great deal of this
enlightening in England at the time he speaks of, and if I am not
mistaken, even this celebrated Professor of Irreligion has borrowed
most of his scheme from this kingdom. This to be sure is nothing in
our praise. But the PANTHEISTICON of Toland resembles Weishaupt's
Illumination in every thing but its rebellion and its villainy.
Toland's Socratic Lodge is an elegant pattern for Weishaupt, and
his Triumph of Reason, his Philosophic Happiness, his God, or
_Anima Mundi_, are all so like the harsh system of Spartacus, that
I am convinced that he has copied them, stamping them with the
roughness of his own character. But to go on; Spartacus says of the
English: "Their poet Pope made his Essay on Man a system of pure
naturalism, without knowing it, as Brother Chrysippus did with my
Priest's Degree, and was equally astonished when this was pointed
out to him. Chrysippus is religious, but not superstitious. Brother
Lucian (Nicolai, of whom I have already said so much) says, that the
grave Zolikofer now allows that it would be a very proper thing to
establish a Deistical Worship at Berlin. I am not afraid but things
will go on very well. But Philo, who was entrusted with framing the
Priest's Degree, has destroyed it without any necessity; it would,
forsooth, startle those who have a hankering for Religion. But I
always told you that Philo is fanatical and prudish. I gave him fine
materials, and he has stuffed it full of ceremonies and child's
play, and as Minos says, _c'est jouer la religion_. But all this may
be corrected in the revision by the _Areopagitæ_."
N. B. I have already mentioned Baron Knigge's conversion to
Illuminatism by the M. de Constanza, whose name in the Order was
Diomedes. Knigge (henceforth Philo) was, next to Spartacus, the most
serviceable man in the Order, and procured the greatest number of
members. It was chiefly by his exertions among the Masons in the
Protestant countries, that the _Eclectic System_ was introduced,
and afterwards brought under the direction of the Illuminati. This
conquest was owing entirely to his very extensive connections
among the Masons. He travelled like a philosopher from city to
city, from Lodge to Lodge, and even from house to house, before
his Illumination, trying to unite the Masons, and he now went over
the same ground to extend the _Eclectic System_, and to get the
Lodges put under the direction of the Illuminati, by their choice
of the Master and Wardens. By this the Order had an opportunity of
noticing the conduct of individuals; and when they had found out
their manner of thinking, and that they were fit for their purpose,
they never quitted them till they had gained them over to their
party. We have seen, that he was by no means void of religious
impressions, and we often find him offended with the atheism of
Spartacus. Knigge was at the same time a man of the world, and had
kept good company. Weishaupt had passed his life in the habits of a
college: therefore he knew Knigge's value, and communicated to him
all his projects, to be dressed up by him for the taste of society.
Philo was of a much more affectionate disposition, with something
of a devotional turn, and was shocked at the hard indifference
of Spartacus. After labouring four years with great zeal, he was
provoked with the disingenuous tricks of Spartacus, and he broke
off all connection with the Society in 1784, and some time after
published a declaration of all that he had done in it. This is a
most excellent account of the plan and principles of the Order, (at
least as he conceived it, for Spartacus had much deeper views,) and
shows that the aim of it was to abolish Christianity, and all the
state-governments in Europe, and to establish a great republic. But
it is full of romantic notions and enthusiastic declamation, on the
hackneyed topics of universal citizenship, and liberty and equality.
Spartacus gave him line, and allowed him to work on, knowing that
he could discard him when he chose. I shall after this give some
extracts from Philo's letters, from which the reader will see the
vile behaviour of Spartacus, and the nature of his ultimate views.
In the mean time we may proceed with the account of the principles
of the system.
_Spartacus to Cato._
"Nothing would be more profitable to us than a right history of
mankind. Despotism has robbed them of their liberty. How can the
weak obtain protection? Only by union; but this is rare. Nothing
can bring this about but hidden societies. Hidden schools of wisdom
are the means which will one day free men from their bonds. These
have in all ages been the archives of nature, and of the rights of
men; and by them shall human nature be raised from her fallen state.
Princes and nations shall vanish from the earth. The human race
will then become one family, and the world will be the dwelling of
rational men.
"Morality alone can do this. The Head of every family will be what
Abraham was, the patriarch, the priest, and the unlettered lord of
his family, and Reason will be the code of laws to all mankind.
This," says Spartacus, "is our GREAT SECRET. True, there may be some
disturbance, but by and by the unequal will become equal; and after
the storm all will be calm. Can the unhappy consequences remain when
the grounds of dissension are removed? Rouse yourselves therefore, O
men! assert your rights; and then will Reason rule with unperceived
sway; and ALL SHALL BE HAPPY.[6]
[6] Happy France! Cradle of Illumination, where the morning
of Reason has dawned, dispelling the clouds of Monarchy and
Christianity, where the babe has sucked the blood of the
unenlightened, and Murder! Fire! Help! has been the lullaby to sing
it to sleep.
"Morality will perform all this; and morality is the fruit of
Illumination; duties and rights are reciprocal. Where Octavius has
no right, Cato owes him no duty. Illumination shews us our rights,
and Morality follows; that Morality which teaches us to be _of age_,
to be _out of wardenship_, to be _full grown_, and to _walk without
the leading strings of priests and princes_."