call them) their instructors in the art of overturning the world.
The French were indeed the first who put it in practice. These
committees arose from the Illuminati in Bavaria, who had by no means
given over working; and these committees produced the Jacobin Club.
It is not a frivolous remark, that the Masonic phrase of the persons
who wish to address the Brethren, (_F. S. je demande la parole_,
which the F. S. reports to the V. G. M. and which he announces to
the Brethren thus, "_Mes freres, frere tel demande la parole, la
parole lui est accordee_,") is exactly copied by the Jacobin Club.
There is surely no natural connection between Free Masonry and
Jacobinism--but we seek the link--Illuminatism.--
The office-bearers of one of the Lodges of Philalethes in Paris
were _Martin_, _Willermooz_, (who had been deputy from the
_Chevaliers Bienfaisants_ to the Willemsbad Convention) _Chappe_,
_Minet_[23], _de la Henriere_, and _Savatier de l'Ange_. In another
(the _Contract Social_) the Political Committee consisted of _La
Fayette_, _Condorcet_, _Pethion_, _d'Orleans_, _Abbe Bartholis_,
_d'Aiguillon_, _Bailly_, _Marq. de la Salle_, _Despresmenil_. This
particular Lodge had been founded and conducted by one _De Leutre_,
an adventurer and cheat of the first magnitude, who sometimes made
a figure, and at other times was without a shilling. At this very
time he was a spy attached to the office of the police of Paris[24].
_The Duke of Orleans_ was Warden of the Lodge. The _Abbe Sieyes_
was a Brother Orator, but not of this Lodge, nor, I think, of the
former. It was probably of the one conducted by Mirabeau and the
Abbe Perigord. But it appears from the piece from which I am at
present borrowing, that Sieyes was present in the meetings of both
Lodges, probably as visiting Brother, employed in bringing them to
common measures. I must observe, that the subsequent conduct of
some of these men does not just accord with my conjecture, that the
principles of the Illuminati were adopted in their full extent. But
we know that all the Bavarian Brethren were not equally Illuminated,
and it would be only copying their teachers if the cleverest of
these their scholars should hold a _sanctum sanctorum_ among
themselves, without inviting all to the conference. Observe too that
the chief lesson which they were now taking from the Germans was
_the method of doing business_, of managing their correspondence,
and of procuring and training pupils. A Frenchman does not think
that he needs instruction in any thing like principle or science. He
is ready on all occasions to be the instructor.
[23] Minet was, I think, at this time a player. He was son of
a surgeon at Nantes--robbed his father and fled--enlisted in
Holland--deserted and became smuggler--was taken and burnt in the
hand--became player and married an actress--then became priest--and
was made Bishop of Nantes by Coustard in discharge of a debt of
500l. Mr. Latocnaye often saw Coustard kneel to him for benediction.
It cannot be supposed that he was much venerated in his pontificals
in his native city.--It seems Minet, Minet, is the call of the
children to a kitten--This was prohibited at Nantes, and many
persons whipped for the freedom used with his name.
[24] I am told that he now (or very lately) keeps the best company,
and lives in elegance and affluence in London.
_Augur, schænobates, medicus, magus omnia novit
Græculus esuriens; in coelum jussoris, ibit*.
Ingenium volex audacia perdita, sermo
Promptus.----_
*All sciences a hungry Frenchman knows,
And bid him go to hell--to hell he goes.
_Johnson's Translation._
Thus were the Lodges of France converted in a very short time
into a set of secret affiliated societies, corresponding with the
mother Lodges of Paris, receiving from thence their principles and
instructions, and ready to rise up at once when called upon to carry
on the great work of overturning the state.
Hence it has arisen that the French aimed, in the very beginning,
at overturning the whole world. In all the revolutions of other
countries, the schemes and plots have extended no farther than the
nation where they took their rise. But here we have seen that they
take in the whole world. They have repeatedly declared this in
their manifestos, and they have declared it by their conduct--This
is the very aim of the Illuminati. Hence too may be explained how
the revolution took place in a moment in every part of France. The
revolutionary societies were early formed, and were working in
secret before the opening of the National Assembly, and the whole
nation changed, and changed again, and again, as if by beat of drum.
Those duly initiated in this mystery of iniquity were ready every
where at a call. And we see Weishaupt's wish accomplished in an
unexpected degree, and the debates in a club giving laws to solemn
assemblies of the nation, and all France bending the neck to the
city of Paris. The members of the club are Illuminati, and so are
a great part of their correspondents.--Each operates in the state
as a Minerval would do in the Order, and the whole goes on with
systematic regularity. The famous Jacobin Club was just one of those
Lodges, as has been already observed; and as, among individuals
one commonly takes the lead, and contrives for the rest, so it has
happened on the present occasion, that this Lodge, supported by
Orleans and Mirabeau, was the one that stepped forth and shewed
itself to the world and thus became the oracle of the party; and all
the rest only echoed its discourses, and at last allowed it to give
law to the whole, and even to rule the kingdom. It is to be remarked
too that the founders of the club at Mentz were Illuminati, (_Relig.
Begebenh._ 1793. p. 448.) before the Revolution, and corresponded
with another Lodge at Strasburg; and these two produced mighty
effects during the year 1790. In a performance called _Memoires
Posthumes de Custine_ it is said, that when that general was bending
his course to Holland, the Illuminati at Strasburg, Worms, and
Spire, immediately formed clubs, and invited him into that quarter,
and, by going to Mentz and encouraging their brethren in that city,
they raised a party against the garrison, and actually delivered up
the place to the French army.
A little book, just now printed with the title _Paragraphan_, says,
that Zimmerman, of whom I have spoken more than once, went to France
to preach liberty. He was employed as a missionary of Revolution
in Alsace, where he had formerly been a most successful missionary
of Illuminatism. Of his former proceedings the following is a
curious anecdote. He connected himself with a highly accomplished
and beautiful woman, whose conversation had such charms, that he
says she gained him near a hundred converts in Spire alone. Some
persons of high rank, and great exterior dignity of character,
had felt more tender impressions--and when the lady informed them
of certain consequences to their reputation, they were glad to
compound matters with her friend Mr. Zimmerman, who either passed
for her husband or took the scandal on himself. He made above
1500 Louis d'ors in this way. When he returned, as a preacher of
Revolution, he used to mount the pulpit with a sabre in his hand,
and bawl out, "Behold, Frenchmen, this is your God. This alone can
save you." The author adds, that when Custine broke into Germany,
Zimmerman got admission to him, and engaged to deliver Manheim into
his hands. To gain this purpose, he offered to set some corners of
the city on fire, and assured him of support. Custine declined the
offer.--Zimmerman appeared against him before the Revolutionary
Tribunal, and accused him of treachery to his cause.--Custine's
answer is remarkable. "Hardly," said he, "had I set my foot in
Germany, when this man, and all the fools of his country, besieged
me, and would have delivered up to me their towns and villages--What
occasion had I to do any thing to Manheim, when the Prince was
neutral?" Zimmerman found his full account in Robespierre's bloody
sway--but the short term of his attrocities was also the whole of
Zimmerman's carreer. He was arrested, but again liberated, and soon
after again imprisoned, after which I can learn no more of him. The
same thing is positively asserted in another performance, called
_Cri de la Raison_, and in a third, called _Les Masques Arrachees_.
Observe too, that it is not the clubs merely that are accused of
this treachery, but the Illuminati. _De la Metherie_ also, in his
preface to the _Journal de Physique_ for 1790, says expressly, that
"the cause and arms of France were powerfully supported in Germany
by a sect of philosophers called the Illuminated." In the preface
to the _Journal_ for 1792, he says, that "Letters and deputations
were received by the Assembly from several Corresponding Societies
in England, felicitating them on the triumph of Reason and Humanity,
and promising them their cordial assistance."----He read some of
these manifestos, and says, that "one of them recommended strongly
the political education of the children, who should be taken from
the parents and trained up for the state."----Another lamented
the baleful influence of property, saying, that "the efforts of
the Assembly would be fruitless, till the fence was removed with
which the laws so anxiously secured inordinate wealth. They should
rather be directed to the support of talents and virtue; because
property would always support itself by the too great influence
which it had in every corrupted state. The laws should prevent
the too great accumulation of it in Particular families."----In
short, the counsel was almost verbatim what the Abbe Cossandey
declared to have been preached in the meetings of the Illuminati,
which terrified him and his colleagues, and made them quit the
association. Anarcharsis Cloots, born in Prussian Westphalia, a keen
Illuminatus, came to Paris for the express purpose of forwarding the
_great work_, and by intriguing in the style of the Order, he got
himself made one of the Representatives of the Nation. He seems to
have been one of the completest fanatics in Cosmo-politism, and just
such a tool as Weishaupt would choose to employ for a coarse and
arduous job. He broke out at once into all the silly extravagance
of the unthinking herd, and his whole language is just the jargon
of Illumination. Citizen of the world--Liberty and Equality, the
imprescriptible Rights of Man--Morality, dear Morality--Kings and
Priests are useless things--they are Despots and Corrupters, &c.--He
declared himself an atheist, and zealously laboured to have atheism
established by law. He conducted that farcical procession in the
true style of the most childish ritual of Philo, where counterfeited
deputies from all quarters of the world, in the dresses of their
countries, came to congratulate the nation for its victory over
Kings and Priests. It is also worthy of remark, that by this time
Leuchtsenring, whom we have seen so zealous an _Illuminatus_, after
having been as zealous a Protestant, tutor of Princes, Hosrath and
Hosmeister, was now a secretary or clerk in one of the Bureaus of
the National Assembly of France.
I may add as a finishing touch, that the National Assembly of France
was the only body of men that I have ever heard of who openly and
systematically proposed to employ assassination, and to institute
a band of patriots, who should exercise this profession either by
sword, pistol, or poison;--and though the proposal was not carried
into execution, it might be considered as the sentiments of the
meeting; for it was only delayed till it should be considered how
far it might not be imprudent, because they might expect reprisals.
The Abbe Dubois engaged to poison the Comte d'Artois; but was
himself robbed and poisoned by his accomplices.--There were strong
reasons for thinking that the Emperor of Germany was poisoned--and
that Mirabeau was thus treated by his pupil Orleans,--also Madame de
Favras and her son.--This was copying the Illuminati very carefully.
After all these particulars, can any person have a doubt that the
Order of Illuminati formally interfered in the French Revolution,
and contributed greatly to its progress? There is no denying the
insolence and oppression of the Crown and the Nobles, nor the
misery and slavery of the people, nor that there were sufficient
provocation and cause for a total change of measures and of
principles. But the rapidity with which one opinion was declared in
every corner, and that opinion as quickly changed, and the change
announced every where, and the perfect conformity of the principles,
and sameness of the language, even in arbitrary trifles, can hardly
be explained in any other way. It may indeed be said "_que les beaux
genies se rencontrent_,--that wits jump. The principles are the
same, and the conduct of the French has been such as the Illuminati
would have exhibited; but this is all--the Illuminati no longer
existed." Enough has been said on this point already.--The facts
are as have been narrated. The Illuminati continued _as an Order_,
and even held assemblies, though not so frequently nor so formally
as before, and though their _Areopagus_ was no longer at Munich. But
let us hear what the French themselves thought of the matter.
In 1789, or the beginning of 1790, _a manifesto was sent from the
GRAND NATIONAL LODGE of Free Masons_ (so it is entitled) _at Paris,
signed by the Duke of Orleans as Grand Master, addressed and sent
to the Lodges in all the respectable cities of Europe, exhorting
them to unite for the support of the French Revolution, to gain
it friends, defenders, and dependents; and according to their
opportunities, and the practicability of the thing, to kindle and
propagate the spirit of revolution through all lands_. This is a
most important article, and deserves a very serious attention. I got
it first of all in a work called, _Hochste wichtige Erinnerungen zur
rechten Zeit uber einige der allerernsthaftesten Angelegenheiten
dieses Zeitalters, von L. A. Hoffmann_, Vienna, 1795[25].
[25] Most important Memorandums, in proper Season, concerning one of
the most serious Occurrences of the present Age, by L. A. Hoffmann,
Vienna, 1795.
The author of this work says, "That every thing he advances in
these memorandums is consistent with his own personal knowledge,
and that he is ready to give convincing proofs of them to any
respectable person who will apply to him personally. He has already
given such convincing documents to the Emperor, and to several
Princes, that many of the machinations occasioned by this manifesto
have been detected and stopped; and he would have no scruple at
laying the whole before the public, did it not unavoidably involve
several worthy persons who had suffered themselves to be misled,
and heartily repented of their errors." He is naturally (being a
Catholic) very severe on the Protestants, (and indeed he has much
reason,) and by this has drawn on himself many bitter retorts. He
has however defended himself against all that are of any consequence
to his good name and veracity, in a manner that fully convinces any
impartial reader, and turns to the confusion of the slanderers.
Hoffmann says, that "he saw some of those manifestos; that they were
not all of one tenor, some being addressed to friends, of whose
support they were already allured." One very important article
of their contents is _Earnest exhortations to establish in every
quarter secret schools of political education, and schools for the
public education of the children of the people, under the direction
of well-principled masters; and offers of pecuniary assistance
for this purpose, and for the encouragement of writers in favour
of the Revolution, and for indemnifying the patriotic booksellers
who suffer by their endeavours to suppress publications which have
an opposite tendency_. We know very well that the immense revenue
of the Duke of Orleans was scattered among all the rabble of the
_Palais Royal_. Can we doubt of its being employed in this manner?
Our doubts must vanish, when we see that not long after this was
publicly said in the National Assembly, "that this method was the
most effectual for accomplishing their purpose of setting Europe in
a flame." "But much expence," says the speaker, "will attend it,
and much has already been employed, which cannot be named because
it is given in secret." The Assembly had given the Illumination
war-hoop--"_Peace with cottages, but war with palaces_"--_A pouvoir
revolutionnaire_ is mentioned, which supersedes all narrow thoughts,
all ties of morality. Lequinio publishes the most detestable book
that ever issued from a printing press, _Les Prejuges vaincus_,
containing all the principles, and expressed in the very words of
Illuminatism.
Hoffmann says, that the French _Propaganda_ had many emissaries
in Vienna, and many friends whom he could point out. Mirabeau in
particular had many connections in Vienna, and to the certain
knowledge of Hoffmann, carried on a great correspondence in cyphers.
The progress of Illumination had been very great in the Austrian
States, and a statesman gave him an account of their proceedings,
(_qui font redresser les cheveux_) which makes one's hair stand on
end. "I no longer wonder," says he, "that the _Neueste Arbeitung
des Spartacus und Philo_ was forbidden. O ye almighty _Illuminati_,
what can you not accomplish by your serpent-like insinuation and
cunning!" Your leaders say, "This book is dangerous, because it
will teach wicked men the most refined methods of rebellion, and it
must never get into the hands of the common people. They have said
with the most impudent face to some Princes, who did not perceive
the deeper-laid reason for suppressing the book. The leaders of
the _Illuminati_ are, not without reason, in anxiety, lest the
inferior classes of their own Society should make just reprisals for
having been so basely tricked, by keeping them back and in profound
ignorance of their real designs; and for working on them by the
very goodness of their hearts, to their final ruin; and lest the
Free Masons, whom they have also abused, should think of revenging
themselves, when the matchless villainy of their deceivers has been
so clearly exposed. It is in vain for them to talk of the danger of
instructing the people in the methods of fomenting rebellion by
this book. The aims are too apparent, and even in the neighbourhood
of Regensburg, where the strength of the _Illuminati_ lay, every
person said aloud, that the IIluminatism discovered by this book was
High Treason, and the most unheard of attempt to annihilate every
religion and every civil government." He goes on: "In 1790 I was as
well acquainted with the spirit of the Illumination-system as at
present, but only not so documented by their constitutional acts,
as it is now by the _Neueste Arbeitung des Spartacus und Philo_.
My Masonic connections were formerly extensive, and my publication
entitled _Eighteen Paragraphs Concerning Free Masonry_, procured
me more acquaintance with Free Masons of the greatest worth, and
of _Illuminati_ equally upright, persons of respectability and
knowledge, who had discovered and repented the trick and inveigling
conduct of the Order. All of us jointly swore opposition to the
_Illuminati_, and my friends considered me as a proper instrument
for this purpose. To whet my zeal, they put papers into my hands
which made me shudder, and raised my dislike to the highest pitch.
I received from them lists of the members, and among them saw names
which I lamented exceedingly. Thus stood matters in 1790, when the
French Revolution began to take a serious turn. The intelligent saw
in the open system of the Jacobins the complete hidden system of the
Illuminati. We knew that this system included the whole world in
its aims, and France was only the place of its first explosion. The
Propaganda works in every corner to this hour, and its emissaries
run about in all the four quarters of the world, and are to be
found in numbers in every city that is a seat of government.
"He farther relates how they in Vienna wanted to enlist him, and, as
this failed, how they have abused him even in the foreign newspapers.
"I have personal knowledge (continues he) that in Germany a second
Mirabeau, Mauvillon, had proposed in detail a plan of revolution,
entirely and precisely suited to the present state of Germany.
This he circulated among several Free Mason Lodges, among all the
Illuminated Lodges which still remained in Germany, and through
the hands of all the emissaries of the Propaganda, who had been
already dispatched to the frontiers (_vorposten_) of every district
of the empire, with means for stirring up the people." (N. B. In
1792, Mauvillon, finding abundant support and encouragement in the
appearance of things round him, when the French arms had penetrated
every where, and their invitations to revolt had met with so hearty
a reception from the discontented in every state, came boldly
forward, and, in the Brunswick Journal for March 1792, declared
that "he heartily rejoiced in the French Revolution, wished it all
success, and thought himself liable to no reproach when he declared
his hopes that a similar Revolution would speedily take place in
Germany.")
In the Hamburgh Political Journal, August, September, and October
1790, there are many proofs of the machinations of emissaries from
the _Mason Lodges_ of Paris among the German Free Masons--See pages
836, 963, 1087, &c. It appears that a club has taken the name of
_Propaganda_--and meets once a week at least, in the form of a
Mason Lodge. It consists of persons of all nations, and is under
the direction of the Grand Master, the Duke of Orleans. De Leutre
is one of the Wardens. They have divided Europe into colonies,
to which they give revolutionary names, such as the _Cap_, the
_Pike_, the _Lantern_, &c. They have ministers in these colonies.
(One is pointed out in Saxony, by marks which I presume are well
understood.) A secret press was found in Saxe Gotha, furnished with
German types, which printed a seditious work called the _Journal
of Humanity_. This Journal was found in the mornings lying in the
streets and highways. The house belonged to an _Illuminatus_ of
the name of Duport, a poor schoolmaster--he was associated with
another in Strasburg, who was also an _Illuminatus_.--His name
was Meyer, the writer of the Strasburg Newspaper. He had been
some time a teacher in Salzmann's accademy, who we see was also
an _Illuminatus_, but displeased with their proceedings almost at
first. (Private Correspondence.)
"I have personal knowledge (continues Professor Hoffman) that in
1791, during the temporary dearth at Vienna, several of these
emissaries were busy in corrupting the minds of the poor, by telling
them that in like manner the court had produced a famine in Paris
in 1789. I detected some of them, and exposed them in my _Patriotic
Remarks on the Present Dearth_, and had the satisfaction of seeing
my endeavours of considerable effect."