Whilst Frederick the Great, the Freemasons, the Encyclopædists, and the

Orléanistes were working on the material plane to undermine the Church

and monarchy in France, another cult had arisen which by the middle of

the century succeeded in insinuating itself into the lodges. This was a

recrudescence of the old craze for occultism, which now spread like

wildfire all over Europe from Bordeaux to St. Petersburg. During the

reign of Anna of Courland (1730-40) the Russian Court was permeated with

superstition, and professional magicians and charlatans of every kind

were encouraged. The upper classes of Germany in the eighteenth century

proved equally susceptible to the attractions of the supernatural, and

princes desirous of long life or greater power eagerly pursued the quest

of the Philosopher's Stone, the "Elixir of Life," and evoked spirits

under the direction of occultists in their service.

In France occultism, reduced to a system, adopted the outer forms of

Masonry as a cover to the propagation of its doctrines. It was in 1754

that Martines de Pasqually (or Paschalis), a Rose-Croix Mason,[424]

founded his Order of Élus Cohens (Elected Priests), known later as the

_Martinistes_ or the French _Illuminés_. Although brought up in the

Christian faith, Pasqually has been frequently described as a Jew. The

Baron de Gleichen, himself a Martiniste and a member of the Amis

Réunis,[425] throws an interesting light on the matter in this passage:

"Pasqualis was originally Spanish, perhaps of the Jewish race, since

his disciples inherited from him a large number of Jewish

manuscripts."[426]

It was "this Cabalistic sect,"[427] the Martinistes, which now became

the third great masonic power in France.

The rite of the Martinistes was broadly divided into two classes, in the

first of which was represented the fall of man and in the second his

final restoration--a further variation on the masonic theme of a loss

and a recovery. After the first three Craft degrees came the Cohen

degrees of the same--Apprentice Cohen, Fellow Craft Cohen, and Master

Cohen--then those of Grand Architect, Grand Elect of Zerubbabel or

Knight of the East: but above these were concealed degrees leading up to

the Rose-Croix, which formed the capstone of the edifice.[428] Pasqually

first established his rite at Marseilles, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, then

in Paris, and before long Martiniste lodges spread all over France with

the centre at Lyons under the direction of Willermoz, a prosperous

merchant living there. From this moment other occult Orders sprang up in

all directions. In 1760 Dom Pernetti founded his sect of "Illuminés

d'Avignon" in that city, declaring himself a high initiate of

Freemasonry and teaching the doctrines of Swedenborg. Later a certain

Chastanier founded the "Illuminés Théosophes," a modified version of

Pernetti's rite; and in 1783 the Marquis de Thomé started a purified

variety of Swedenborgianism under the name of "Rite of Swedenborg."

Beneath all these occult sects one common source of inspiration is to be

found--the perverted and magical Cabala of the Jews, that conglomeration

of wild theosophical imaginings and barbaric superstitions founded on

ancient pagan cults and added to throughout seventeen centuries by

succeeding generations of Jewish occultists.[429] This influence is

particularly to be detected in the various forms of the Rose-Croix

degree, which in nearly all these associations forms the highest and

most secret degree. The ritual of "the eminent Order of the Knights of

the Black Eagle or Sovereigns of the Rose-Croix," a secret and

unpublished document of the eighteenth century, which differs entirely

from the published rituals, explains that no one can attain to knowledge

of the higher sciences without the "Clavicules de Salomon," of which

the real secrets were never committed to print and which is said to

contain the whole of Cabalistic science.[430] The catechism of this same

degree deals mainly with the transmutation of metals, the Philosopher's

Stone, etc.

In the Rite of Perfection as worked in France and America this

Cabalistic influence is shown in those degrees known under the name of

the "Ineffable Degrees," derived from the Jewish belief in the mystery

that surrounds the Ineflable Name of God. According to the custom of the

Jews, the sacred name Jehovah or Jah-ve, composed of the four letters

yod, he, vau, he, which formed the Tetragrammaton, was never to be

pronounced by the profane, who were obliged to substitute for it the

word "Adonai." The Tetragrammaton might only be uttered once a year on

the Day of Atonement by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies amid the

sound of trumpets and cymbals, which prevented the people from hearing

it. It is said that in consequence of the people thus refraining from

its utterance, the true pronunciation of the name was at last lost. The

Jews further believed that the Tetragrammaton was possessed of unbounded

powers. "He who pronounces it shakes heaven and earth and inspires the

very angels with astonishment and terror."[431] The Ineffable Name thus

conferred miraculous gifts; it was engraved on the rod of Moses and

enabled him to perform wonders, just as, according to the Toledot Yeshu,

it conferred the same powers on Christ.

This superstition was clearly a part of Rosicrucian tradition, for the

symbol of the Tetragrammaton within a triangle, adopted by the masonic

lodges, figures in Fludd's Cabalistic system.[432] In the "Ineffable

degrees" it was invested with all the mystic awe by which it is

surrounded in Jewish theology, and, according to early American working:

"Brothers and Companions of these degrees received the name of God as it

was revealed to Enoch and were sworn to pronounce it but once in their

lives."

In the alchemical version of the Rose-Croix degree referred to above the

Ineffable Name is actually invested with magical powers as in the

Jewish Cabala. Ragon, after describing the Jewish ceremony when the word

Jehovah was pronounced by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies, goes on

to say that "Schem-hamm-phorasch," another term for the Tetragrammaton,

forms the sacred word of a Scotch degree, and that this belief in its

mystic properties "will be found at the head of the instructions for the

third degree of the Knight of the Black Eagle, called Rose-Croix," thus:

Q. What is the most powerful name of God on the pentaculum?

A. Adonai.

Q. What is its power?

A. To move the Universe.

That one of the Knights who had the good fortune to pronounce it

cabalistically would have at his disposal the powers that inhabit

the four elements and the celestial spirits, and would possess all

the virtues possible to man.[433]

That this form of the Rose-Croix was of purely Jewish origin is thus

clearly evident. In the address to the candidate for initiation into the

Rose-Croix degree at the Lodge of the "Contrat Social" it is stated:

This degree, which includes an Order of Perfect Masons, was brought

to light by Brother R., who took it from the Kabbalistic treasure

of the Doctor and Rabbi Néamuth, chief of the synagogue of Leyden

in Holland, who had preserved its precious secrets and its costume,

both of which we shall see in the same order in which he placed

them in his mysterious Talmud.[434]

Now, we know that in the eighteenth century a society of Rosicrucian

magicians had been instituted in Florence which was believed to date

back to the fifteenth century and to have been partly, if not wholly

composed of Orientals, as we shall see in the next chapter; but it seems

probable that this sect, whilst secretly inspiring the Rose-Croix

masons, was itself either nameless or concealed under a disguise. Thus

in 1782 an English Freemason writes: "I have found some rather curious

MSS. in Algiers in Hebrew relating to the society of the Rosicrucians,

which exists at present under another name with the same forms. I hope,

moreover to be admitted to their knowledge."[435]

It has frequently been argued that Jews can have played no part in

Freemasonry at this period since they themselves were not admitted to

the lodges. But this is by no means certain; in the article from _The

Gentleman's Magazine_ already quoted it is stated that Jews are

admitted; de Luchet further quotes the instance of David Moses Hertz

received in a London lodge in 1787; and the author of _Les Franc-Masons

écrasés_, published in 1746, states that he has seen three Jews received

into a lodge at Amsterdam. In the "Melchisedeck Lodges" of the Continent

non-Christians were openly admitted, and here again the Rose-Croix

degree occupies the most important place. The highest degrees of this

rite were the Initiated Brothers of Asia, the Masters of the Wise, and

the Royal Priests, otherwise known as the degree of Melchisedeck or the

true Brothers of the Rose-Croix.

This Order, usually described as the _Asiatic Brethren_, of which the

centre was in Vienna and the leader a certain Baron von Eckhoffen, is

said to have been a continuation of the "Brothers of the Golden and Rosy

Cross," a revival of the seventeenth-century Rosicrucians organized in

1710 by a Saxon priest, Samuel Richter, known as Sincerus Renatus. The

real origins of the Asiatic Brethren are, however, obscure and little

literature on the subject is to be found in this country.[436] Their

further title of "the Knights and Brethren of St. John the Evangelist"

suggests Johannite inspiration and was clearly an imposture, since they

included Jews, Turks, Persians, and Armenians. De Luchet, who as a

contemporary was in a position to acquire first-hand information, thus

describes the organization of the Order, which, it will be seen, was

entirely Judaic. "The superior direction is called the small and

constant Sanhedrim of Europe. The names of those employed by which they

conceal themselves from their inferiors are Hebrew. The signs of the

third principal degree (i.e. the Rose-Croix) are Urim and Thummim....

The Order has the true secrets and the explanations, moral and

physical, of the hierogyphics of the very venerable Order of

Freemasonry."[437] The initiate had to swear absolute submission and

unswerving obedience to the laws of the Order and to follow its laws

implicitly to the end of his life, without asking by whom they were

given or whence they came.

"Who," asks de Luchet, "gave to the Order these so-called secrets? That

is the great and insidious question for the secret societies. But the

Initiate who remains, and must remain eternally in the Order, never

finds this out, he dare not even ask it, he must promise never to ask

it. In this way those who participate in the secrets of the Order remain

the Masters."

Again, as in the _Stricte Observance_, the same system of "Concealed

Superiors"--the same blind obedience to unknown directors!

Under the guidance of these various sects of Illuminés a wave of

occultism swept over France, and lodges everywhere became centres of

instruction on the Cabala, magic, divination, alchemy, and

theosophy[438]; masonic rites degenerated into ceremonies for the

evocation of spirits--women, who were now admitted to these assemblies,

screamed, fainted, fell into convulsions, and lent themselves to

experiments of the most horrible kind.[439]

By means of these occult practices the _Illuminés_ in time became the

third great masonic power in France, and the rival Orders perceived the

expediency of joining forces. Accordingly in 1771 an amalgamation of all

the masonic groups was effected at the new lodge of the _Amis Réunis_.

The founder of this lodge was Savalette de Langes, Keeper of the Royal

Treasury, Grand Officer of the Grand Orient, and a high initiate of

Masonry--"versed in all mysteries, in all the lodges, and in all the

plots." In order to unite them he made his lodge a mixture of all

sophistic, Martiniste, and masonic systems, "and as a bait to the

aristocracy organized balls and concerts at which the adepts, male and

female, danced and feasted, or sang of the beauties of their liberty

and equality, little knowing that above them was a secret committee

which was arranging to extend this equality beyond the lodge to rank and

fortune, to castles and to cottages, to marquesses and bourgeois"

alike.[440]

A further development of the Amis Réunis was the Rite of the

_Philalèthes_, compounded by Savalette de Langes in 1773 out of

Swedenborgian, Martiniste, and Rosicrucian mysteries, into which the

higher initiates of the Amis Réunis--Court de Gebelin, the Prince de

Hesse, Condorcet, the Vicomte de Tavannes, Willermoz, and others--were

initiated. A modified form of this rite was instituted at Narbonne in

1780 under the name of "Free and Accepted Masons du Rit Primitif," the

English nomenclature being adopted (according to Clavel) in order to

make it appear that the rite emanated from England. In reality its

founder, the Marquis de Chefdebien d'Armisson, a member of the Grand

Orient and of the Amis Réunis, drew his inspiration from certain German

Freemasons with whom he maintained throughout close relations and who

were presumably members of the Stricte Observance, since Chefdebien was

a member of this Order, in which he bore the title of "Eques a Capite

Galeato." The correspondence that passed between Chefdebien and

Salvalette de Langes, recently discovered and published in France, is

one of the most illuminating records of the masonic ramifications in

existence before the Revolution ever brought to light.[441] To judge by

the tone of these letters, the leaders of the Rit Primitif would appear

to have been law-abiding and loyal gentlemen devoted to the Catholic

religion, yet in their passion for new forms of Masonry and thirst for

occult lore ready to associate themselves with every kind of adventurer

and charlatan who might be able to initiate them into further mysteries.

In the curious notes drawn up by Savalette for the guidance of the

Marquis de Chefdebien we catch a glimpse of the power behind the

philosophers of the _salons_ and the aristocratic adepts of the

lodges--the professional magicians and men of mystery; and behind these

again the concealed directors of the secret societies, the _real

initiates_.

The Magicians

The part played by magicians during the period preceding the French

Revolution is of course a matter of common knowledge and has never been

disputed by official history. But like the schools of philosophers this

sudden crop of magicians is always represented as a sporadic growth

called into being by the idle and curious society of the day. The

important point to realize is that just as the philosophers were all

Freemasons, the principal magicians were not only Freemasons but members

of occult secret societies. It is therefore not as isolated charlatans

but as agents of some hidden power that we must regard the men whom we

will now pass in a rapid survey.

One of the first to appear in the field was Schroepfer, a coffee-house

keeper of Leipzig, who declared that no one could be a true Freemason

without practising magic. Accordingly he proclaimed himself the

"reformer of Freemasonry," and set up a lodge in his own house with a

rite based on the Rose-Croix degree for the purpose of evoking spirits.

The meetings took place at dead of night, when by means of carefully

arranged lights, magic mirrors, and possibly of electricity, Schroepfer

contrived to produce apparitions which his disciples--under the

influence of strong punch--took to be visitors from the other

world.[442] In the end Schroepfer, driven crazy by his own incantations,

blew out his brains in a garden near Leipzig.

According to Lecouteulx de Canteleu, it was Schroepfer who indoctrinated

the famous "Comte de Saint-Germain"--"The Master" of our modern

co-masonic lodges. The identity of this mysterious personage has never

been established[443]; by some contemporaries he was said to be a

natural son of the King of Portugal, by others the son of a Jew and a

Polish Princess. The Duc de Choiseul on being asked whether he knew the

origin of Saint-Germain replied: "No doubt we know it, he is the son of

a Portuguese Jew who exploits the credulity of the town and Court."[444]

In 1780 a rumour went round that his father was a Jew of Bordeaux,

but according to the _Souvenirs of the Marquise de Créquy_ the Baron de

Breteuil discovered from the archives of his Ministry that the pretended

Comte de Saint-Germain was the son of a Jewish doctor of Strasburg, that

his real name was Daniel Wolf, and that he was born in 1704.[445] The

general opinion thus appears to have been in favour of his Jewish

ancestry.

Saint-German seems first to have been heard of in Germany about 1740,

where his marvellous powers attracted the attention of the Maréchal de

Belle-Isle, who, always the ready dupe of charlatans, brought him back

with him to the Court of France, where he speedily gained the favour of

Madame de Pompadour. The Marquise before long presented him to the King,

who granted him an apartment at Chambord and, enchanted by his brilliant

wit, frequently spent long evenings in conversation with him in the

rooms of Madame de Pompadour. Meanwhile his invention of flat-bottomed

boats for the invasion of England raised him still higher in the

estimation of the Maréchal de Belle-Isle. In 1761 we hear of him as

living in great splendour in Holland and giving out that he had reached

the age of seventy-four, though appearing to be only fifty; if this were

so, he must have been ninety-seven at the time of his death in 1784 at

Schleswig. But this feat of longevity is far from satisfying his modern

admirers, who declare that Saint-Germain did not die in 1784, but is

still alive to-day in some corner of Eastern Europe. This is in

accordance with the theory, said to have been circulated by

Saint-Germain himself, that by the eighteenth century he had passed

through several incarnations and that the last one had continued for

1,500 years. Barruel, however, explains that Saint-Germain in thus

referring to his age spoke in masonic language, in which a man who has

taken the first degree is said to be three years old, after the second

five, or the third seven, so that by means of the huge increase the

higher degrees conferred it might be quite possible for an exalted adept

to attain the age of 1,500.

Saint-Germain has been represented by modern writers--not only those who

compose his following--as a person of extraordinary attainments, a sort

of super-man towering over the minor magicians of his day.

Contemporaries, however, take him less seriously and represent him

rather as an expert charlatan whom the wits of the _salons_ made the

butt of pleasantries. His principal importance to the subject of this

book consists, however, in his influence on the secret societies.

According to the _Mémoires authentiques pour servir à l'histoire du

Comte de Cagliostro_, Saint-Germain was the "Grand Master of

Freemasonry,"[446] and it was he who initiated Cagliostro into the

mysteries of Egyptian masonry.

Joseph Balsamo, born in 1743, who assumed the name of Comte de

Cagliostro, as a magician far eclipsed his master. Like Saint-Germain,

he was generally reputed to be a Jew--the son of Pietro Balsamo, a

Sicilian tradesman of Jewish origin[447]--and he made no secret of his

arden admiration for the Jewish race. After the death of his parents he

escaped from the monastery in which he had been placed at Palermo and

joined himself to a man known as Altotas, said to have been an Armenian,

with whom he travelled to Greece and Egypt[448]. Cagliostro's travels

later took him to Poland and Germany, where he was initiated into

Freemasonry[449], and finally to France; but it was in England that he

himself declared that he elaborated his famous "Egyptian Rite," which he

founded officially in 1782. According to his own account, this rite was

derived from a manuscript by a certain George Cofton--whose identity has

never been discovered--which he bought by chance in London[450]. Yarker,

however, expresses the opinion that "the rite of Cagliostro was clearly

that of Pasqually," and that if he acquired it from a manuscript in

London it would indicate that Pasquilly had disciples in that city. A

far more probable explanation is that Cagliostro derived his Egyptian

masonry from the same source as that on which Pasqually had drawn for

his Order of Martinistes, namely the Cabala, and that it was not from a

single manuscript but from an eminent Jewish Cabalist in London that he

took his instructions. Who this may have been we shall soon see. At any

rate, in a contemporary account of Cagliostro we find him described as

"a doctor initiated into Cabalistic art" and a Rose-Croix; but after

founding his own rite he acquired the name of Grand Copht, that is to

say, Supreme Head of Egyptian Masonry, a new branch that he wished to

graft on to old European Freemasonry.[451] We shall return to his

further masonic adventures later.

In a superior category to Saint-German and Cagliostro was the famous

Swabian doctor Mesmer, who has given his name to an important branch of

natural science. In about 1780 Mesmer announced his great discovery of

"animal magnetism, the principle of life in all organized beings, the

soul of all that breathes." But if to-day Mesmerism has come to be

regarded as almost synonymous with hypnotism and in no way a branch of

occultism, Mesmer himself--stirring the fluid in his magic bucket,

around which his disciples wept, slept, fell into trances or

convulsions, raved or prophesied[452]--earned not unnaturally the

reputation of a charlatan. The Freemasons, eager to discover the secret

of the magic bucket, hastened to enrol him in their Order, and Mesmer

was received into the Primitive Rite of Free and Accepted Masons in

1785.[453]

Space forbids a description of the minor magicians who flourished at

this period--of _Schroeder_, founder in 1776 of a chapter of "True and

Ancient Rose-Croix Masons," practising certain magical, theosophical,

and alchemical degrees; of _Gassner_, worker of miracles in the

neighbourhood of Ratisbonne; of "the Jew Leon," one of a band of

charlatans who made large sums of money with magic mirrors in which the

imaginative were able to see their absent friends, and who was finally

banished from France by the police,--all these and many others exploited

the credulity and curiosity of the upper classes both in France and

Germany between the years of 1740 and 1790. De Luchet, writing before

the French Revolution, describes the part played in their mysteries by

the soul of a Cabalistic Jew named Gablidone who had lived before

Christ, and who predicted that "in the year 1800 there will be, on our

globe, a very remarkable revolution, and there will be no other religion

but that of the patriarchs."[454]

How are we to account for this extraordinary wave of Cabalism in Western

Europe? By whom was it inspired? If, as Jewish writers assure us,

neither Marlines Pasqually, Saint-Germain, Cagliostro, nor any of the

visible occultists or magicians were Jews, the problem only becomes the

more insoluble. We cannot believe that Sanhedrims, Hebrew hieroglyphics,

the contemplation of the Tetragrammaton, and other Cabalistic rites

originated in the brains of French and German aristocrats, philosophers,

and Freemasons. Let us turn, then, to events taking place at this moment

in the world of Jewry and see whether these may provide some clue.

8

THE JEWISH CABALISTS

It has been shown in the preceding chapters that the Jewish Cabala

played an important part in the occult and anti-Christian sects from the

very beginning of the Christian era. The time has now come to enquire

what part Jewish influence played meanwhile in revolutions. Merely to

ask the question is to bring on oneself the accusation of

"anti-Semitism," yet the Jewish writer Bernard Lazare has shown the

falseness of this charge:

This [he writes] is what must separate the impartial historian from

anti-Semitism. The anti-Semite says: "The Jew is the preparer, the

machinator, the chief engineer of revolutions"; the impartial

historian confines himself to studying the part which the Jew,

considering his spirit, his character, the nature of his

philosophy, and his religion, may have taken in revolutionary

processes and movements.[455]

Lazare himself expresses the opinion, however, that--

The complaint of the anti-Semites seems to be founded: the Jew has

the revolutionary spirit; consciously or not he is an agent of

revolution. Yet the complaint complicates itself, for anti-Semitism

accuses the Jews of being the cause of revolutions. Let us examine

what this accusation is worth....[456]

In the light of our present knowledge it would certainly be absurd to

ascribe to the Jews the authorship of the conspiracy of Catiline or of

the Gracchi, the rising of Jack Straw and Wat Tyler, Jack Cade's

rebellion, the _jacqueries_ of France, or the Peasants' Wars in Germany,

although historical research may lead in time to the discovery of

certain occult influences--not necessarily Jewish--behind the European

insurrections here referred to. Moreover, apart from grievances or

other causes of rebellion, the revolutionary spirit has always existed

independently of the Jews. In all times and in all countries there have

been men born to make trouble as the sparks fly upward.

Nevertheless, in modern revolutions the part played by the Jews cannot

be ignored, and the influence they have exercised will be seen on

examination to have been twofold--financial and occult. Throughout the

Middle Ages it is as sorcerers and usurers that they incur the

reproaches of the Christian world, and it is still in the same role,

under the more modern terms of magicians and loan-mongers, that we

detect their presence behind the scenes of revolution from the

seventeenth century onward. Wherever money was to be made out of social

or political upheavals, wealthy Jews have been found to back the winning

side; and wherever the Christian races have turned against their own

institutions, Jewish Rabbis, philosophers, professors, and occultists

have lent them their support. It was not then necessarily that Jews

created these movements, but they knew how to make use of them for their

own ends.

It is thus that in the Great Rebellion we find them not amongst the

Ironsides of Cromwell or the members of his State Council, but

furnishing money and information to the insurgents, acting as army

contractors, loan-mongers, and super-spies--or to use the more

euphonious term of Mr. Lucien Wolf, as "political intelligencers" of

extraordinary efficiency. Thus Mr. Lucien Wolf, in referring to

Carvajal, "the great Jew of the Commonwealth," explains that "the wide

ramifications of his commercial transactions and his relations with

other Crypto-Jews all over the world placed him in an unrivalled

position to obtain news of the enemies of the Commonwealth."[457]

It is obvious that a "secret service" of this kind rendered the Jews a

formidable hidden power, the more so since their very existence was

frequently unknown to the rest of the population around them. This

precaution was necessary because Jews were not supposed to exist at that

date in England. In 1290 Edward I had expelled them all, and for three

and a half centuries they had remained in exile; the Crypto-Jews or

Marranos who had come over from Spain contrived, however, to remain in

the country by skilfully taking the colour of their surroundings. Mr.

Wolf goes on to observe that Jewish services were regularly held in the

secret Synagogue, but "in public Carvajal and his friends followed the

practice of the secret Jews in Spain and Portugal, passing as Roman

Catholics and regularly attending mass in the Spanish Ambassador's

chapel."[458] But when war between England and Spain rendered this

expedient inadvisable, the Marranos threw off the disguise of

Christianity and proclaimed themselves followers of the Jewish faith.

Now, just at this period the Messianic era was generally believed by the

Jews to be approaching, and it appears to have occurred to them that

Cromwell might be fitted to the part. Consequently emissaries were

despatched to search the archives of Cambridge in order to discover

whether the Protector could possibly be of Jewish descent.[459] This

quest proving fruitless, the Cabalist Rabbi of Amsterdam, Manasseh ben

Israel,[460] addressed a petition to Cromwell for the readmission of the

Jews to England, in which he adroitly insisted on the retribution that

overtakes those who afflict the people of Israel and the rewards that

await those who "cherish" them. These arguments were not without effect

on Cromwell, who entertained the same superstition, and although he is

said to have declined the Jews' offer to buy St. Paul's Cathedral and

the Bodleian Library because he considered the £500,000 they offered

inadequate,[461] he exerted every effort to obtain their readmission to

the country. In this he encountered violent opposition, and it seems

that Jews were not permitted to return in large numbers, or at any rate

to enjoy full rights and privileges, until after the accession of

Charles II, who in his turn had enlisted their financial aid.[462]

Later, in 1688, the Jews of Amsterdam helped with their credit the

expedition of William of Orange against James II; the former in return

brought many Jews with him to England. So a Jewish writer is able to

boast that "a Monarch reigned who was indebted to Hebrew gold for his

royal diadem."[463]

In all this it is impossible to follow any consecutive political plan;

the rôle of the Jews seems to have been to support no cause consistently

but to obtain a footing in every camp, to back any venture that offered

a chance of profit. Yet mingled with these material designs were still

their ancient Messianic dreams. It is curious to note that the same

Messianic idea pervaded the Levellers, the rebels of the Commonwealth;

such phrases as "Let Israel go free," "Israel's restoration is now

beginning," recur frequently in the literature of the sect. Gerard

Winstanley, one of the two principal leaders, addressed an epistle to

"the Twelve Tribes of Israel that are circumcised in heart and scattered

through all the Nations of the Earth," and promised them "David their

King that they have been waiting for." The other leader of the movement,

by name Everard, in fact declared, when summoned before the Lord Fairfax

at Whitehall, that "he was of the race of the Jews."[464] It is true

that the Levellers were by profession Christian, but after the manner of

the Bavarian Illuminati and of the Christian Socialists two centuries

later, claiming Christ as the author of their Communistic and

equalitarian doctrines: "For Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all Men, is

the greatest, first, and truest Leveller that ever was spoken of in the

world." The Levellers are said to have derived originally from the

German Anabaptists; but Claudio Jannet, quoting German authorities,

shows that there were Jews amongst the Anabaptists. "They were carried

away by their hatred of the name of Christian and imagined that their

dreams of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel would be realized

amidst the conflagration."[465] Whether this was so or not, it is clear

that by the middle of the seventeenth century the mystical ideas of

Judaism had penetrated into all parts of Europe. Was there then some

Cabalistic centre from which they radiated? Let us turn our eyes

eastward and we shall see.

Since the sixteenth century the great mass of Jewry had settled in

Poland, and a succession of miracle-workers known by the name of

Zaddikim or Ba'al Shems had arisen. The latter word, which signifies

"Master of the Name," originated with the German Polish Jews and was

derived from the Cabalistic belief in the miraculous use of the sacred

name of Jehovah, known as the Tetragrammaton.

According to Cabalistic traditions, certain Jews of peculiar sanctity or

knowledge were able with impunity to make use of the Divine Name. A

Ba'al Shem was therefore one who had acquired this power and employed it

in writing amulets, invoking spirits, and prescribing cures for various

diseases. Poland and particularly Podolia--which had not yet been ceded

to Russia--became thus a centre of Cabalism where a series of

extraordinary movements of a mystical kind followed each other. In 1666,

when the Messianic era was still believed to be approaching, the whole

Jewish world was convulsed by the sudden appearance of Shabbethai Zebi,

the son of a poulterer in Smyrna named Mordecai, who proclaimed himself

the promised Messiah and rallied to his support a huge following not

only amongst the Jews of Palestine, Egypt, and Eastern Europe, but even

the hard-headed Jews of the Continental bourses.[466] Samuel Pepys in

his Diary refers to the bets made amongst the Jews in London on the

chances of "a certain person now in Smyrna" being acclaimed King of the

World and the true Messiah.[467]

Shabbethai, who was an expert Cabalist and had the temerity to utter the

Ineffable Name Jehovah, was said to be possessed of marvellous powers,

his skin exuded exquisite perfume, he indulged perpetually in

sea-bathing and lived in a state of chronic ecstasy. The pretensions of

Shabbethai, who took the title of "King of the Kings of the Earth,"

split Jewry in two; many Rabbis launched imprecations against him, and

those who had believed in him were bitterly disillusioned when,

challenged by the Sultan to prove his claim to be the Messiah by

allowing poisoned arrows to be shot at him, he suddenly renounced the

Jewish faith and proclaimed himself a Mohammedan. His conversion,

however, appeared to be only partial, for "at times he would assume the

rôle of a pious Mohammedan and revile Judaism; at others he would enter

into relations with Jews as one of their own faith."[468] By this means

he retained the allegiance both of Moslems and of Jews. But the Rabbis,

alarmed for the cause of Judaism, succeeded in obtaining his

incarceration by the Sultan in a castle near Belgrade, where he died of

colic in 1676.[469]

This prosaic ending to the career of the Messiah did not, however,

altogether extinguish the enthusiasm of his followers, and the

Shabbethan movement continued into the next century. In Poland Cabalism

broke out with renewed energy; fresh Zaddikim and Ba'al Shems arose, the

most noted of these being Israel of Podolia, known as Ba'al Shem Tob, or

by the initial letters of this name, Besht, who founded his sect of

Hasidim in 1740.

Besht, whilst opposing bigoted Rabbinism and claiming the Zohar as his

inspiration, did not, however, adhere strictly to the doctrine of the

Cabala that the universe was an emanation of God, but evolved a form of

Pantheism, declaring that the whole universe was God, that even evil

exists in God since evil is not bad in itself but only in its relation

to Man; sin therefore has no positive existence.[470] As a result the

followers of Besht, calling themselves the "New Saints," and at his

death numbering no less than 40,000, threw aside not only the precepts

of the Talmud, but all the restraints of morality and even decency.[471]

Another Ba'al Shem of the same period was Heilprin, alias Joel Ben Uri

of Satanov, who, like Israel of Podolia, professed to perform miracles

by the use of the Divine Name and collected around him many pupils, who,

on the death of their master, "formed a band of charlatans and

shamelessly exploited the credulity of their contemporaries."[472]

But the most important of these Cabalistic groups was that of the

Frankists, who were sometimes known as the Zoharists or the

Illuminated,[473] from their adherence to the Zohar or book of Light, or

in their birthplace Podolia as the Shabbethan Zebists, from their

allegiance to the false Messiah of the preceding century--a heresy that

had been "kept alive in secret circles which had something akin to a

masonic organization."[474] The founder of this sect was Jacob Frank, a

brandy distiller profoundly versed in the doctrines of the Cabala, who

in 1755 collected around him a large following in Podolia and lived in a

style of oriental magnificence, maintained by vast wealth of which no

one ever discovered the source. The persecution to which he was

subjected by the Rabbis led the Catholic clergy to champion his cause,

whereupon Frank threw himself on the mercy of the Bishop of Kaminick,

and publicly burnt the Talmud, declaring that he recognized only the

Zohar, which, he alleged, admitted the doctrine of the Trinity. Thus the

Zoharists "claimed that they regarded the Messiah-Deliverer as one of

the three divinities, but failed to state that by the Messiah they meant

Shabbethai Zebi."[475] The Bishop was apparently deceived by this

manoeuvre, and in 1759 the Zoharites declared themselves converted to

Christianity, and were baptized, including Frank himself, who took the

name of Joseph. "The insincerity of the Frankists soon became apparent,

however, for they continued to inter-marry only among themselves and

held Frank in reverence, calling him 'The Holy Master.'"[476] It soon

became evident that, whilst openly embracing the Catholic faith, they

had in reality retained their secret Judaism.[477] Moreover, it was

discovered that Frank endeavoured to pass as a Mohammedan in Turkey; "he

was therefore arrested in Warsaw and delivered to the Church tribunal on

the charge of feigned conversion to Christianity and the spreading of a

pernicious heresy."[478] Unlike his predecessor in apostasy, Shabbethai

Zebi, Frank, however, came to no untimely end, but after his release

from prison continued to prey on the credulity of Christians and

frequently travelled to Vienna with his daughter, Eve, who succeeded in

duping the pious Maria Theresa. But here also "the sectarian plans of

Frank were found out,"[479] and he was obliged to leave Austria.

Finally he settled at Offenbach and supported by liberal subsidies from

the other Jews, he resumed his former splendour[480]

with a retinue of several hundred beautiful Jewish youth of both

sexes; carts containing treasure were reported to be perpetually

brought in to him, chiefly from Poland--he went out daily in great

state to perform his devotions in the open field--he rode in a

chariot drawn by noble horses; ten or twelve Hulans in red or green

uniform, glittering with gold, by his side, with pikes in their

hands and crests on their caps, eagles, or stags, or the sun and

moon.... His followers believed him immortal, but in 1791 he died;

his burial was as splendid as his mode of living--800 persons

followed him to the grave.[481]

Now, it is impossible to study the careers of these magicians in Poland

and Germany without being reminded of their counterparts in France. The

family likeness between the "Baron von Offenbach," the "Comte de

Saint-Germain" and the "Comte de Cagliostro" is at once apparent. All

claimed to perform miracles, all lived with extraordinary magnificence

on wealth derived from an unknown source, one was certainly a Jew, the

other two were believed to be Jews, and all were known to be Cabalists.

Moreover, all three spent many years in Germany, and it was whilst Frank

was living as Baron von Offenbach close to Frankfurt that Cagliostro was

received into the Order of the Stricte Observance in a subterranean

chamber a few miles from that city. Earlier in his career he was known

to have visited Poland, whence Frank derived. Are we to believe that all

these men, so strangely alike in their careers, living at the same time

and in the same places, were totally unconnected? It is a mere

coincidence that this group of Jewish Cabalist miracle-workers should

have existed in Germany and Poland at the precise moment that the

Cabalist magicians sprang up in France? Is it again a coincidence that

Martines Pasqually founded his "Kabbalistic sect" of Illuminés in 1754

and Jacob Frank his sect of Zoharites (or Illuminated) in 1755?

Moreover, when we know from purely Jewish sources that the Ba'al Shem

Heilprin had many pupils "who formed a band of charlatans who

shamelessly exploited the credulity of their contemporaries," that the

Ba'al Shem Tob and Jacob Frank both had large followings, it is surely

here that we may find the origin of those mysterious magicians who

spread themselves over Europe at this date.

It will at once be asked: "But what proof is there that any one of these

Ba'al Shems or Cabalists was connected with masonic or secret

societies?" The answer is that the most important Ba'al Shem of the day,

known as "the Chief of all the Jews," is shown by documentary evidence

to have been an initiate of Freemasonry and in direct contact with the

leaders of the secret societies. If then it is agreed that neither

Saint-Germain nor Cagliostro can be proved to have been Jews, here we

have a man concerned in the movement, more important than either, whose

nationality admits of no doubt whatever.

This extraordinary personage, known as the "Ba'al Shem of London," was a

Cabalistic Jew named Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk, also called Dr. Falk,

Falc, de Falk, or Falkon, born in 1708, probably in Podolia. The further

fact that he was regarded by his fellow-Jews as an adherent of the

Messiah Shabbethai Zebi clearly shows his connexion with the Podolian

Zoharites. Falk was thus not an isolated phenomenon, but a member of one

of the groups described in the foregoing pages. The following is a

summary of the account given of the Ba'al Shem of London in the _Jewish

Encyclopedia_:

Falk claimed to possess thaumaturgic powers and to be able to

discover hidden treasure. Archenholz (_England und Italien_, I.

249) recounts certain marvels which he had seen performed by Falk

in Brunswick and which he attributes to a special knowledge of

chemistry. In Westphalia at one time Falk was sentenced to be

burned as a sorcerer, but escaped to England. Here he was received

with hospitality and rapidly gained fame as a Cabalist and worker

of miracles. Many stories of his powers were current. He would

cause a small taper to remain alight for weeks; an incantation

would fill his cellar with coal; plate left with a pawnbroker would

glide back into his house. When a fire threatened to destroy the

Great Synagogue, he averted the disaster by writing four Hebrew

letters on the pillars of the door.[482] [Obviously the

Tetragrammaton.]

On his arrival in London in 1742 Falk appeared to be without means, but

soon after he was seen to be in possession of considerable wealth,

living in a comfortable house in Wellclose Square, where he had his

private synagogue, whilst gold and silver plate adorned his table. His

Journal, still preserved in the library of the United Synagogue,

contains references to "mysterious journeyings" to and from Epping

Forest, to meetings, a meeting-chamber in the forest, and chests of gold

there buried. It was said that on one occasion when he was driving

thither along Whitechapel Road, a back wheel of his carriage came off,

which alarmed the coachman, but Falk ordered him to drive on and the

wheel followed the carriage all the way to the forest.

The stories of Falk's miraculous powers are too numerous to relate here,

but a letter written by an enthusiastic Jewish admirer, Sussman

Shesnowzi, to his son in Poland will serve to show the reputation he

enjoyed:

Hear, my beloved son, of the marvellous gifts entrusted to a son of

man, who verily is not a man, a light of the captivity ... a holy

light, a saintly man ... who dwells at present in the great city of

London. Albeit I could not fully understand him on account of his

volubility and his speaking as an inhabitant of Jerusalem.... His

chamber is lighted by silver candlesticks on the walls, with a

central eight-branched lamp made of pure silver of beaten work. And

albeit it contained oil to burn a day and a night it remained

enkindled for three weeks. On one occasion he abode in seclusion in

his house for six weeks without meat and drink. When at the

conclusion of this period ten persons were summoned to enter, they

found him seated on a sort of throne, his head covered with a

golden turban, a golden chain round his neck with a pendant silver

star on which sacred names were inscribed. Verily this man stands

alone in his generation by reason of his knowledge of holy

mysteries. I cannot recount to you all the wonders he accomplishes.

I am grateful, in that I am found worthy to be received among those

who dwell within the shadow of his wisdom.... I know that many will

believe my words, but others, who do not occupy themselves with

mysteries, will laugh thereat. Therefore, my son, be very

circumspect, and show this only to wise and discreet men. For here

in London this master has not been disclosed to anyone who does not

belong to our Brotherhood.

The esteem in which Falk was held by the Jewish community, including the

Chief Rabbi and the Rabbi of the new Synagogue, appears to have roused

the resentment of his co-religionist Emden, who denounced him as a

follower of the false Messiah and an exploiter of Christian credulity.

Falk [he wrote in a letter to Poland] had made his position by his

pretence to be an adept in practical Cabala, by which means he

professed to be able to discover hidden treasures; by his

pretensions he had entrapped a wealthy captain whose fortune he had

cheated him out of, so that he was reduced to depending on the

Rabbi's charity, and yet, despite this, wealthy Christians spend

their money on him, whilst Falk spends his bounty on the men of his

Brotherhood so that they may spread his fame.

In general Falk appears to have displayed extreme caution in his

relations with Christian seekers after occult knowledge, for the _Jewish

Encyclopædia_ goes on to say: "Archenholz mentions a royal prince who

applied to Falk in his quest for the philosopher's stone, but was denied

admittance." Nevertheless Hayyum Azulai mentions (Ma'gal Tob, p. 13_b_):

That when in Paris in 1778 he was told by the Marchesa de Crona

that the Ba'al Shem of London had taught her the Cabala. Falk seems

also to have been on intimate terms with that strange adventurer

Baron Theodor de Neuhoff.... Falk's principal friends were the

London bankers Aaron Goldsmid and his son.[483] Pawnbroking and

successful speculation enabled him to acquire a considerable

fortune. He left large sums of money to charity, and the overseers

of the United Synagogue in London still distribute annually certain

payments left by him for the poor.

Nothing of all this would lead one to suppose that Falk could be

regarded in the light of a black magician; it is therefore surprising to

find Dr. Adler observing that a horrible account of a Jewish Cabalist in

_The Gentleman's Magazine_ for September 1762 "obviously refers to Dr.

Falk, though his name is not mentioned."[484] This man is described as

"a christened Jew and the biggest rogue and villain in all the world,"

who "had been imprisoned everywhere and banished out of all countries in

Germany, and also sometimes publicly whipped, so that his back lost all

the old skin, and became new again, and yet left never off from his

villainies, but grew always worse." The writer goes on to relate that

the Cabalist offered to teach him certain mysteries, but explained that

before entering on any "experiments of the said godly mysteries, we

must first avoid all churches and places of worshipping as unclean"; he

then bound his initiate by a very strong oath and proceeded to tell him

that he must steal a Hebrew Bible from a Protestant and also procure

"one pound of blood out of the veins of an honest Protestant." The

initiate thereupon robbed a Protestant of all his effects, but had

himself bled of about three-quarters of a pound of blood, which he gave

to the magician. He thus describes the ceremony that took place:

Then the next night about 11 o'clock, we both went into the garden

of my own, and the cabalist put a cross, tainted with my blood, in

each corner of the garden, and in the middle of the garden a

threefold circle ... in the first circle were written all the names

of God in Hebrew; in the second all the names of the angels; and in

the third the first chapter of the holy Gospel of St. John, and it

was all written with my blood.

The cruelties then performed by the Cabalist on a he-goat are too

loathsome to transcribe. The whole story, indeed, appears a farrago of

nonsense and would not be worth quoting but for the fact that it appears

to be taken seriously by Dr. Adler as a description of the great Ba'al

Shem.

The death of Falk took place on April 17, 1782, and the epitaph on his

grave in the cemetery at Globe Road, Mile End, "bears witness to his

excellencies and orthodoxy": "Here is interred ... the aged and

honourable man, a great personage who came from the East, an

accomplished sage, an adept in Cabbalah.... His name was known to the

ends of the earth and distant isles," etc.

This then is surely the portrait of a most remarkable personage, a man

known for his powers in England, France, and Germany, visited by a royal

prince in search of the philosopher's stone, and acclaimed by one of his

own race as standing alone in his generation by reason of his knowledge,

yet whilst Saint-Germain and Cagliostro figure in every account of

eighteenth-century magicians, it is only in exclusively Judaic or

masonic works, not intended for the general public, that we shall find

any reference to Falk. Have we not here striking evidence of the truth

of M. André Baron's dictum: "Remember that the constant rule of the

secret societies is that the real authors never show themselves"?

It will now be asked: what proof is there that Falk is connected with

any masonic or secret societies? True, in the accounts given by the

_Jewish Encyclopædia_, the word Freemasonry is not once mentioned. But

in the curious portrait of the great Ba'al Shem appended, we see him

holding in his hand the pair of compasses, and before him, on the table

at which he is seated, the double triangle or Seal of Solomon known

amongst Jews as "the Shield of David," which forms an important emblem

in Masonry.

Moreover, it is significant to find in the _Royal Masonic Encyclopædia_

by the Rosicrucian Kenneth Mackenzie that a long and detailed article is

devoted to Falk, though again without any reference to his connexion

with Freemasonry. May we not conclude that in certain inner masonic

circles the importance of Falk is recognized but must not be revealed to

the uninitiated? Mr. Gordon Hills, in the above-quoted paper contributed

to the _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, indulges in some innocent speculation

as to the part Falk may have played in the masonic movement. "If," he

observes, "Jewish Brethren did introduce Cabalistical learning into the

so-called High Degrees, here we have one, who, if a Mason, would have

been eminently qualified to do so."

Falk inded was far more than a Mason, he was a high initiate--the

supreme oracle to which the secret societies applied for guidance. All

this was disclosed a few years ago in the correspondence between

Savalette de Langes and the Marquis de Chefdebien referred to in the

previous chapter. Thus in the _dossiers_ of the leading occultists

supplied by Savalette we find the following note on the Ba'al Shem of

London:

This Doctor Falk is known to many Germans. He is a very

extraordinary man from every point of view. Some people believe him

to be the Chief of all the Jews and attribute to purely political

schemes all that is marvellous and singular in his life and

conduct. He is referred to in a very curious manner, and as a

Rose-Croix in the _Memoirs of the Chevalier de Rampsow_ (i.e.

Rentzov). He has had adventures with the Maréchal de Richelieu,

great seeker of the Philosophers' Stone. He had a strange history

with the Prince de Rohan Guéménée and the Chevalier de Luxembourg

relating to Louis XV, whose death he foretold. He is almost

inaccessible. In all the sects of savants in secret sciences he

passes as a superior man. He is at present in England. The Baron de

Gleichen can give good information about him. Try to get more at

Frankfurt.[485]

Again, in notes on other personages the name of Falk recurs with the

same insistence on his importance as a high initiate:

Leman, pupil of Falk....

The Baron de Gleichen ... intimately connected with Wecter

[Waechter] and Wakenfeldt.... He knows Falk....

The Baron de Waldenfels ... is, according to what I know from the

Baron de Gleichen, the princes of Daimstadt, ... and others, the

most interesting man for you and me to know. If we made his

acquaintance, he could give us the best information on all the most

interesting objects of instiuction. He knows Falk and Wecter.

Prince Louis d'Haimstadt ... is also a member of the Amis Réunis, 12°

and in charge of the Directories. He worked in his youth with a Jew whom

he believes to be taught by Falk....[486]

Here, then, behind the organization of the Stricte Observance, of the

Amis Réunis, and the Philalèthes, we catch a glimpse at last of one of

those _real initiates_ whose identity has been so carefully kept dark.

For Falk, as we see in these notes, was not an isolated sage; he had

pupils, and to be one of these was to be admitted to the inner

mysteries. Was Cagliostro one of these adepts? Is it here we may seek

the explanation of the "Egyptian Rite" devised by him in London, and of

his chance discovery on a bookstall in that city of a Cabalistic

document by the mysterious "George Cofton," whose identity has never

been revealed? I would suggest that the whole story of the bookstall was

a fable and that it was not from any manuscript, but from Falk, that

Cagliostro received his directions. Thus Cagliostro's rite was in

reality concealed Cabalism.

That Falk was only one of several Concealed Superiors is further

suggested by the intriguing correspondence of Savalette de Langes.

"Schroeder," we read, "had for his master an old man of Suabia," by whom

the Baron de Waechter was also said to have been instructed in Masonry,

and to have become one of the most important initiates of Germany.

Accordingly de Waechter was despatched by his Order to Florence in order

to make enquiries on further secrets and on certain famous treasures

about which Schroepfer, the Baron de Hundt, and others, had heard that

Aprosi, the secretary of the Pretender, could give them information.

Waechter, however, wrote to say that all they had been told on the

latter point was fabulous, but that he had met in Florence certain

"Brothers of the Holy Land," who had initiated him into marvellous

secrets; one in particular who is described as "a man who is not a

European" had "perfectly instructed him." Moreover, de Waechter, who had

set forth poor, returned loaded with riches attributed by his

fellow-masons to the "Asiatic Brethren" he had frequented in Florence

who possessed the art of making gold.[487] I would suggest then that

these were the members of the "Italian Order" referred to by Mr.

Tuckett, which, like Schroepfer and de Hundt, he imagined to have been

connected with the Jacobites.

But all these secret sources of instruction are wrapped in mystery.

Whilst Saint-Germain and Cagliostro--who is referred to in this

correspondence in terms of light derision--emerge into the limelight,

the real initiates remain concealed in the background. Falk "is almost

inaccessible!" Yet one more almost forgotten document of the period may

throw some light on the important part he played behind the scenes in

Masonry.

It may be remembered that Archenholz had spoken of certain marvels he

had seen performed by Falk in Brunswick. Now, in 1770 the German poet

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was made librarian to the Duke of Brunswick in

that city. The fame of Falk may then have reached his ears. At any rate

in 1771 Lessing, after having mocked at Freemasonry, was initiated in a

masonic lodge at Hamburg, and in 1778 he published not only his famous

masonic drama _Nathan der Weise_, in which the Jew of Jerusalem is shown

in admirable contrast to the Christians and Mohammedans, but he also

wrote five dialogues on Freemasonry which he dedicated to the Duke of

Brunswick, Grand Master of all the German Lodges, and which he entitled

"_Ernst und Falk: Gespräche fur Freimaurer_."[488]

Lessing's friendship with Moses Mendelssohn has led to the popular

theory, unsupported however by any real evidence, that the Jewish

philosopher of Berlin provided the inspiration for the character of

Nathan, but might it not equally have been provided by the

miracle-worker of Brunswick? However, in the case of the dialogues less

room is left for doubt. Falk is mentioned by name and represented as

initiated into the highest mysteries of Freemasonry. This is of course

not explained by Lessing's commentators, who give no clue to his

identity.[489] It is evident that Lessing committed an enormous blunder

in thus letting so important a cat out of the bag, for after the

publication of the first three dialogues and whilst the last two were

circulating privately in manuscript amongst the Freemasons, an order

from the Duke of Brunswick forbade their publication as dangerous. In

spite of this prohibition, the rest of the series was printed, however

without Lessing's permission, in 1870 with a preface by an unknown

person describing himself as a non-mason.

The dialogues between Ernst and Falk throw a curious light on the

influences at work behind Freemasonry at this period and gain immensely

in interest when the identity of the two men in question is understood.

Thus Ernst, by whom Lessing evidently represents himself, is at the

beginning not a Freemason, and, whilst sitting with Falk in a wood,

questions the high initiate on the aims of the Order. Falk explains that

Freemasonry has always existed, but not under this name. Its real

purpose has never been revealed. On the surface it appears to be a

purely philanthropic association, but in reality philanthropy forms no

part of its scheme, its object being to bring about a state of things

which will render philanthropy unnecessary. (_Was man gemeinlich gute

Thaten zu nennen pflegt entbehrlich zu machen_.) As an illustration Falk

points to an ant-heap at the foot of the tree beneath which the two men

are seated. "Why," he asks, "should not human beings exist without

government like the ants or bees?" Falk then goes on to describe his

idea of a Universal State, or rather a federation of States, in which

men will no longer be divided by national, social, or religious

prejudices, and where greater equality will exist.

At the end of the third dialogue an interval occurs during which Ernst

goes away and becomes a Freemason, but on his return expresses his

disappointment to Falk at finding many Freemasons engaged in such

futilities as alchemy or the evocation of spirits. Others again seek to

revive the * * *. Falk replies that although the great secrets of

Freemasonry cannot be revealed by any man even if he wished it, one

thing, however, has been kept dark which should now be made public, and

this is the relationship between the Freemasons and the * * *. "The

* * * were in fact the Freemasons of their time." It seems probable from

the context and from Falk's references to Sir Christopher Wren as the

founder of the modern Order, that the asterisks denote the Rosicrucians.

The most interesting point of these dialogues is, however, the hint

continually thrown out by Falk that there is something behind

Freemasonry, something far older and far wider in its aims than the

Order now known by this name--the modern Freemasons are for the most

part only "playing at it." Thus, when Ernst complains that true

equality has not been attained in the lodges since Jews are not

admitted, Falk observes that he himself does not attend them, that true

Freemasonry does not exist in outward forms--"A lodge bears the same

relation to Freemasonry as a church to belief." In other words, the real

initiates do not appear upon the scene. Here then we see the role of the

"Concealed Superiors." What wonder that Lessing's dialogues were

considered too dangerous for publication!

Moreover, in Falk's conception of the ideal social order and his

indictment of what he calls "bourgeois society" we find the clue to

movements of immense importance. Has not the system of the ant-heap or

the beehive proved, as I have pointed out elsewhere, the model on which

modern Anarchists, from Proudhon onwards, have formed their schemes for

the reorganization of human life? Has not the idea of the "World

State," "The Universal Republic" become the war-cry of the

Internationalist Socialists, the Grand Orient Masons, the Theosophists,

and the world-revolutionaries of our own day?

Was Falk, then, a revolutionary? This again will be disputed. Falk may

have been a Cabalist, a Freemason, a high initiate, but what proof is

there that he had any connexion with the leaders of the French

Revolution? Let us turn again to the _Jewish Encyclopædia_:

Falk ... is ... believed to have given the Duc d'Orléans, to ensure

his succession to the throne, a talisman consisting of a ring,

which Philippe Egalité before mounting the scaffold is said to have

sent to a Jewess, Juliet Goudchaux, who passed it on to his son,

subsequently Louis Philippe.

The Baron de Gleichen, who "knew Falc," refers to a talisman of

lapis-lazuli which the Due d'Orleans had received in England from "the

celebrated Falk Scheck, first Rabbi of the Jews," and says that a

certain occultist, Madame de la Croix, imagined she had destroyed it by

"the power of prayer." But the theory of its survival is further

confirmed by the information supplied from Jewish sources to Mr. Gordon

Hills, who states that Falk was "in touch with the French Court in the

person of 'Prince Emanuel,'[490] whom he describes as a servant of the

King of France," and adds that the talismanic ring which he gave to the

Due d'Orleans "is still in the possession of the family, having passed

to King Louis Philippe and thence to the Comte de Paris."[491]

One fact, then, looms out of the darkness that envelops the secret power

behind the Orléanist conspiracy, one fact of supreme importance, and

based moreover on purely Jewish evidence: the Duke was in touch with

Falk when in London and Falk supported his scheme of usurpation. Thus

behind the arch-conspirator of the revolution stood "the Chief of all

the Jews." Is it here perhaps, in Falk's "chests of gold," that we might

find the source of some of those loans raised in London by the Due

d'Orléans to finance the riots of the Revolution, so absurdly described

as "l'or de Pitt"?

The direct connexion between the attack on the French monarchy and

Jewish circles in London is further shown by the curious sequel to the

Gordon Riots. In 1780 the half-witted Lord George Gordon (as a Jewish

writer describes him), the head of the so-called "Protestant" mob,

marched on the House of Commons to protest against the bill for the

relief of Roman Catholic disabilities and then proceeded to carry out

his plan of burning down London. During the five days' rioting that

ensued, property to the amount of £180,000 was destroyed. After this

"the scion of the ducal house of Gordon proved the durability of his

love for Protestantism by professing the Hebrew faith," and was received

with the highest honours into the Synagogue. The same Jewish writer, who

has described him earlier as half-witted, quotes this panegyric on his

orthodoxy: "He was very regular in his Jewish observances; every morning

he was seen with the philacteries between his eyes, and opposite his

heart.... His Saturday's bread was baked according to the manner of the

Jews, his wine was Jewish, his meat was Jewish, and he was the best Jew

in the congregation of Israel." And it was immediately after his

conversion to Judaism that he published in _The Public Advertiser_ the

libel against Marie Antoinette which brought about his imprisonment in

Newgate.[492]

Now we know that Lord George Gordon met Cagliostro in London in

1786.[493] Is it not probable that the author of the scurrilous pamphlet

and the magician concerned in the attack on the Queen's honour through

the Affair of the Necklace--one a--Jew by profession, the other said to

be a Jew by race--may have had some connexion with Philippe Egalité's

Jewish supporter, the miracle worker of Wellclose Square?

But already a vaster genius than Falk or Cagliostro, than Pasqually or

Savalette de Langes, had arisen, who, gathering into his hands the

threads of all the conspiracies, was able to weave them together into a

gigantic scheme for the destruction of France and of the world.

9

The Bavarian Illuminati

The question of the system to which I shall henceforth refer simply as

Illuminism is of such immense importance to an understanding of the

modern revolutionary movement that, although I have already described it

in detail in _World Revolution_, it is necessary to devote a further

chapter to it here in order to answer the objections made against my

former account of the Order and also to show its connexion with earlier

secret societies.

Now, the main contentions of those writers who, either consciously or

unconsciously, attempt to mislead the public on the true nature and real

existence of Illuminism are:

Firstly, that the case against Illuminism rests solely on the works of

Robison, and of Barruel and later Catholic authorities.

Secondly, that all these writers misinterpreted or misquoted the

Illuminati, who should be judged only by their own works.

Thirdly, that in reality the Illuminati were perfectly innocuous and

even praiseworthy.

Fourthly, that they are of no importance, since they ceased to exist in

1786.

In the present chapter I propose therefore to answer all these

contentions in turn and at the same time to make further examination

into the origins of the Order.

Origins of the Illuminati

That Weishaupt was not the originator of the system he named Illuminism

will be already apparent to every reader of the present work; it has

needed, in fact, all the foregoing chapters to trace the source of

Weishaupt's doctrines throughout the history of the world. From these it

will be evident that men aiming at the overthrow of the existing social

order and of all accepted religion had existed from the earliest times,

and that in the Cainites, the Carpocratians, the Manichæns, the

Batinis, the Fatimites, and the Karmathites many of Weishaupt's ideas

had already been foreshadowed. To the Manichæans, in fact, the word

"Illuminati" may be traced--"gloriantur Manichæi se de caelo

illuminatos."[494]

It is in the sect of Abdullah ibn Maymūn that we must seek the model

for Weishaupt's system of organization. Thus de Sacy has described in

the following words the manner of enlisting proselytes by the Ismailis:

They proceeded to the admission and initiation of new proselytes

only by degrees and with great reserve; for, as the sect had at the

same time a political object and ambitions, its interest was above

all to have a great number of partisans in all places and in all

classes of society. It was necessary therefore to suit themselves

to the character, the temperament, and the prejudices of the

greater number; what one revealed to some would have revolted

others and alienated for ever spirits less bold and consciences

more easily alarmed.[495]

This passage exactly describes the methods laid down by Weishaupt for

his "Insinuating Brothers"--the necessity of proceeding with caution in

the enlisting of adepts, of not revealing to the novice doctrines that

might be likely to revolt him, of "speaking sometimes in one way,

sometimes in another, so that one's real purpose should remain

impenetrable" to members of the inferior grades.

How did these Oriental methods penetrate to the Bavarian professor?

According to certain writers, through the Jesuits. The fact that

Weishaupt had been brought up by this Order has provided the enemies of

the Jesuits with the argument that they were the secret inspirers of the

Illuminati. Mr. Gould, indeed, has attributed most of the errors of the

latter to this source; Weishaupt, he writes, incurred "the implacable

enmity of the Jesuits, to whose intrigues he was incessantly exposed."[496]

In reality precisely the opposite was the case, for, as we shall

see, it was Weishaupt who perpetually intrigued against the Jesuits.

That Weishaupt did, however, draw to a certain extent on Jesuit methods

of training is recognized even by Barruel, himself a Jesuit, who,

quoting Mirabeau, says that Weishaupt "admired above all those laws,

that _régime_ of the Jesuits, which, under one head, made men dispersed

over the universe tend towards the same goal; he felt that one could

imitate their methods whilst holding views diametrically opposed."[497]

And again, on the evidence of Mirabeau, de Luchet, and von Knigge,

Barruel says elsewhere: "It is here that Weishaupt appears specially to

have wished to assimilate the régime of the sect to that of the

religious orders and, above all, that of the Jesuits, by the total

abandonment of their own will and judgement which he demands of his

adepts ..." But Barruel goes on to show "the enormous difference that is

to be found between religious obedience and Illuminist obedience." In

every religious order men know that the voice of their conscience and of

their God is even more to be obeyed than that of their superiors.

There is not a single one who, in the event that his superiors

should order him to do things contrary to the duties of a Christian

or of a good man, would not see an exception to be made to the

obedience which he has sworn. This exception is often expressed and

always clearly announced in all religious institutions; it is above

all formal and positively repeated many times in that of the

Jesuits. They are ordered to obey their superiors, but it is in the

event that they see no sin in obeying, _ubi non cerneretur peccatum

(Constitution des Jesuites_, part 3, chapter I, parag. 2, vol. i.,

édition de Prague).[498]

Indeed, implicit obedience and the total surrender of one's own will and

judgement forms the foundation of all military discipline; "theirs not

to reason why, theirs not to make reply" is everywhere recognized as the

duty of soldiers. The Jesuits being in a sense a military Order,

acknowledging a General at their head, are bound by the same obligation.

Weishaupt's system was something totally different. For whilst all

soldiers and all Jesuits, when obeying their superiors, are well aware

of the goal towards which they are tending, Weishaupt's followers were

enlisted by the most subtle methods of deception and led on towards a

goal entirely unknown to them. It is this that, as we shall see later,

constitutes the whole difference between honest and dishonest secret

societies. The fact is that the accusation of Jesuit intrigue behind

secret societies has emanated principally from the secret societies

themselves and would appear to have been a device adopted by them to

cover their own tracks. No good evidence has ever been brought forward

in support of their contention. The Jesuits, unlike the Templars and

the Illuminati, were simply suppressed in 1773 without the formality of

a trial, and were therefore never given the opportunity to answer the

charges brought against them, nor, as in the case of these other Orders,

were their secret statutes--if any such existed--brought to light. The

only document ever produced in proof of these accusations was the

"Monita Secreta," long since shown to be a forgery. At any rate, the

correspondence of the Illuminati provides their best exoneration. The

Marquis de Luchet, who was no friend of the Jesuits, shows the absurdity

of confounding their aims with those of either the Freemasons or the

Illuminati, and describes all three as animated by wholly different

purposes.[499]

In all these questions it is necessary to seek a motive. I have no

personal interest in defending the Jesuits, but I ask: what motive could

the Jesuits have in forming or supporting a conspiracy directed against

all thrones and altars? It has been answered me that the Jesuits at this

period cared nothing for thrones and altars, but only for temporal

power; yet--even accepting this unwarrantable hypothesis--how was this

power to be exercised except through thrones and altars? Was it not

through princes and the Church that the Jesuits had been able to bring

their influence to bear on affairs of state? In an irreligious Republic,

as events afterwards proved, the power of the whole clergy was bound to

be destroyed. The truth is then, that, far from abetting the Illuminati,

the Jesuits were their most formidable opponents, the only body of men

sufficiently learned, astute, and well organized to outwit the schemes

of Weishaupt. In suppressing the Jesuits it is possible that the Old

Régime removed the only barrier capable of resisting the tide of

revolution.

Weishaupt indeed, as we know, detested the Jesuits,[500] and took from

them only certain methods of discipline, of ensuring obedience or of

acquiring influence over the minds of his disciples; his aims were

entirely different.

Where, then, did Weishaupt find his immediate inspiration? It is here

that Barruel and Lecouteulx de Canteleu provide a clue not to be

discovered in other sources. In 1771, they relate, a certain Jutland

merchant named Kölmer, who had spent many years in Egypt, returned to

Europe in search of converts to a secret doctrine founded on Manichæism

that he had learnt in the East. On his way to France he stopped at

Malta, where he met Cagliostro and nearly brought about an insurrection

amongst the people. Kölmer was therefore driven out of the island by the

Knights of Malta and betook himself to Avignon and Lyons. Here he made a

few disciples amongst the Illuminés and in the same year went on to

Germany, where he encountered Weishaupt and initiated him into all the

mysteries of his secret doctrine. According to Barruel, Weishaupt then

spent five years thinking out his system, which he founded under the

name of Illuminati on May 1, 1776, and assumed the "illuminated" name of

"Spartacus."

Kölmer remains the most mysterious of all the mystery men of his day; at

first sight one is inclined to wonder whether he may not have been

another of the Cabalistic Jews acting as the secret inspirers of the

magicians who appeared in the limelight. The name Kölmer might easily

have been a corruption of the well-known Jewish name Calmer. Lecouteulx

de Canteleu, however, suggests that Kölmer was identical with Altolas,

described by Figuier as "this universal genius, almost divine, of whom

Cagliostro has spoken to us with so much respect and admiration. This

Altotas was not an imaginary personage. The Inquisition of Rome has

collected many proofs of his existence without having been able to

discover when it began or ended, for Altotas disappears, or rather

vanishes like a meteor, which, according to the poetic fancy of

romancers, would authorize us in declaring him immortal."[501] It is

curious to notice that modern occultists, whilst attributing so much

importance to Saint-Germain and the legend of his immortality, make no

mention of Altotas, who appears to have been a great deal more

remarkable. But, again, we must remember: "It is the unvarying rule of

secret societies that the real authors never show themselves." If, then,

Kölmer was the same person as Altotas, he would appear not to have been

a Jew or a Cabalist, but an initiate of some Near Eastern secret

society--possibly an Ismaili. Lecouteulx de Canteleu describes Altotas

as an Armenian, and says that his system was derived from those of

Egypt, Syria, and Persia. This would accord with Barruel's statement

that Kölmer came from Egypt, and that his ideas were founded on

Manichæism.

It would be necessary to set these statements aside as only the

theories of Barruel or Lecouteulx, were it not that the writings of the

Illuminati betray the influence of some sect akin to Manichæism. Thus

"Spartacus" writes to "Cato" that he is thinking of "warming up the old

system of the Ghebers and Parsees,"[502] and it will be remembered that

the Ghebers were one of the sects in which Dozy relates that Abdullah

ibn Maymūn found his true supporters. Later Weishaupt goes on to

explain that--

The allegory in which the Mysteries and Higher Grades must be

clothed is Fire Worship and the whole philosophy of Zoroaster or of

the old Parsees who nowadays only remain in India; therefore in the

further degrees the Order is called "Fire Worship" (Feuer-dienst),

the "Fire Order," or the "Persian Order"--that is, something

magnificent beyond all expectation.[503]

At the same time the Persian calendar was adopted by the

Illuminati.[504]

It is evident that this pretence of Zoroastrianism was as pure humbug as

Weishaupt's later pretence of Christianity; of the true doctrines of

Zoroaster he shows no conception--nor does he insist further on the

point; but the above passage would certainly lend colour to the theory

that his system was partly founded on Manichæism, that is to say, on

perverted Zoroastrianism, imparted to him by a man from the East, and

that the methods of the Batinis and Fatimites may have been communicated

to him through the same channel. Hence the extraordinary resemblance

between his plan of organization and that of Abdullah ibn Maymūn,

which consisted in political intriguing rather than in esoteric

speculation. Thus in Weishaupt's system the phraseology of Judaism, the

Cabalistic legends of Freemasonry, the mystical imaginings of the

Martinistes, play at first no part at all. For all forms of "theosophy,"

occultism, spiritualism, and magic Weishaupt expresses nothing but

contempt, and the Rose-Croix masons are bracketed with the Jesuits by

the Illuminati as enemies it is necessary to outwit at every turn.[505]

Consequently no degree of Rose-Croix finds a place in Weishaupt's

system, as in all the other masonic orders of the day which drew their

influence from Eastern or Cabalistic sources.

It is true that "Mysteries" play a great part in the phraseology of the

Order--"Greater and Lesser Mysteries," borrowed from ancient

Egypt--whilst the higher initiates are decorated with such titles as

"Epopte" and "Hierophant," taken from the Eleusinian Mysteries. Yet

Weishaupt's own theories appear to bear no relation whatever to these

ancient cults. On the contrary, the more we penetrate into his system,

the more apparent it becomes that all the formulas he employs which

derive from any religious source--whether Persian, Egyptian, or

Christian--merely serve to disguise a purely material purpose, a plan

for destroying the existing order of society. Thus all that was really

ancient in Illuminism was the destructive spirit that animated it and

also the method of organization it had imported from the East.

Illuminism therefore marks an entirely new departure in the history of

European secret societies. Weishaupt himself indicates this as one of

the great secrets of the Order. "Above all," he writes to "Cato" (alias

Zwack), "guard the origin and the novelty of ⊙ in the most careful

way."[506] "The greatest mystery," he says again, "must be that the

thing is new; the fewer who know this the better.... Not one of the

Eichstadters knows this but would live or die for it that the thing is

as old as Methuselah."[507]

This pretence of having discovered some fund of ancient wisdom is the

invariable ruse of secret society adepts; the one thing never admitted

is the identity of the individuals from whom one is receiving direction.

Weishaupt himself declares that he has got it all out of books by means

of arduous and unremitting labour. "What it costs me to read, study,

think, write, cross out, and re-write!" he complains to Marius and

Cato.[508] Thus, according to Weishaupt the whole system is the work of

his own unaided genius, and the supreme direction remains in his hands

alone. Again and again he insists on this point in his correspondence.

If this were indeed the case, Weishaupt--in view of the efficiency

achieved by the Order--must have been a genius of the first water, and

it is difficult to understand why so remarkable a man should not have

distinguished himself on other lines, but have remained almost unknown

to posterity. It would therefore appear possible that Weishaupt,

although undoubtedly a man of immense organizing capacity and endowed

with extraofdinary subtlety, was not in reality the sole author of

Illuminism, but one of a group, which, recognizing his talents and the

value of his untiring activity, placed the direction in his hands. Let

us examine this hypothesis in the light of a document which was unknown

to me when I wrote my former account of the Illuminati.

Barruel has pointed out that the great error of Robison was to describe

Illuminism as arising out of Freemasonry, since Weishaupt did not become

a Freemason until after he had founded his Order. It is true that

Weishaupt was not officially received into Freemasonry until 1777, when

he was initiated into the first degree at the Lodge "Theodore de Bon

Conseil," at Munich. From this time we find him continually occupied in

trying to discover more about the secrets of Freemasonry, whilst himself

claiming superior knowledge.

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: