[372]Weishaupt himself, overcoming his earlier antipathy to Freemasonry, had joined the Masons at Munich, in 1777, influenced particularly by his desire to find suggestions for the working out of the higher grades of his order. Out of this connection, and under the persuasion of Zwack, the plan of forming an alliance between the Illuminati and Freemasonry had occurred to Weishaupt’s mind before Knigge joined the order. One Masonic lodge, that of Theodore of Good Counsel, located at Munich, had, by the middle of 1779, come so completely under the influence of members of the Illuminati that it had come to be regarded as a part of the order.Cf.Forestier, p. 200. But here again the situation waited upon the energetic leadership of Knigge.[373]Ibid., pp. 133et seq.Cf.Engel,op. cit., pp. 114et seq.Soon after Knigge was admitted to the order, Weishaupt found himself driven to make to the former a most humiliating confession. Knigge hesitated for some time before becoming a member, and to bring him to a decision Weishaupt painted the objects and character of the order before him in flaming colors. The Illuminati represented the greatest advancements in science, the most marvelous speculative philosophy, and a truly wonderful system to carry its purposes into effect. Having joined the order, Knigge’s suspicions were aroused on account of the feeble and trifling character of its organization; and Weishaupt, upon being repeatedly pressed for an explanation concerning the nature of the so-called higher grades, had finally to confess to Knigge that they did not exist.Cf.Forestier, pp. 218–226. Knigge’s resolution was staggered, but his courage was finally rallied because of the confidence which Weishaupt and the other leaders reposed in him.Cf. ibid., pp. 228et seq.[374]Nachtrag von weiteren Originalschriften, vol. i, p. 108.Cf.Forestier,op. cit., p. 250; Engel,op. cit., p. 117.[375]The ligament to bind the Illuminati and Freemasonry together was supplied by Knigge in the grades of the second class.Cf.Engel,op. cit., p. 115.[376]Apparently these grades were never worked out. See Forestier, p. 250.[377]Forestier devotes more than forty well-packed pages to a discussion of this phase of the subject.Ibid., pp. 251–294.[378]Der ächte Illuminat, p. 14. Pages 17–37,ibid., contains the description of this grade as revised by Knigge.[379]Ibid., pp. 39–78.[380]Ibid., pp. 82–138.[381]Knigge had, of course, to provide a new ritual and code for these grades. These have not been preserved. They were doubtless similar to those of other Masonic systems, in their Blue Lodge features. “La Franc-Maçonnerie bleue étant le sol commun où poussaient les végétations luxuriantes et diverses des hauts grades et le terrain où tous les Franc-Maçons pouvaient se rencontrer, les différents Systèmes, préoccupés d’établir leur authenticité et aussi pour ne pas dérouter les transfuges des autres sectes, avaient soin de respecter les formes et les usages traditionnels. La Franc-Maçonnerie Illuminée obéit vraisemblablement aux mêmes considérations.” (Forestier,op. cit., p. 262.)[382]Forestier,op. cit., p. 272.Der ächte Illuminat, pp. 139–212, contains the ritual and statutes of this grade.[383]The initiatory rites of this grade were followed by a banquet, which in turn was concluded by a ceremony fashioned after the pattern of the Christian Eucharist. Bread and wine were given to the members, and an effort was made to throw an atmosphere of great solemnity about the observance.Cf.Forestier, pp. 278et seq.Christian enemies of the order took special umbrage at this ceremony.[384]The Chapter was placed under obligation to see that Blue Lodges, not to exceed thirty all told, were established in all the important centers of its district. They had also to see that the Order of the Illuminati secretly obtained a preponderating influence in the lodges of other systems, to reform them if possible, or, failing in this, to ruin them. A Prefect, or Local Superior, who furnished regular reports to his superiors, presided over the Chapter.Cf.Forestier, pp. 279–281.[385]The members of this class were usually referred to as Epopts, and their immediate superiors as Hierophants. These superiors were technically known as Deans.Ibid., pp. 287, 281.[386]Their admission to the rank was further conditioned upon their advancement in Masonry and the effectiveness of their service in the lower grades of the Illuminati.Cf. ibid., p. 281.[387]The rites of initiation into this grade expressed a growing tendency in the direction of sacerdotal pomp.Cf. ibid., pp. 283–286.[388]“Comme toutes les demandes de renseignements leur étaient transmises, ils devaient s’efforcer de satisfaire leurs gens et d’établir des théories solidement construites en faisant étudier et élucider par leurs subordonnés les points restés obscurs.” (Ibid., p. 288.) Freeentréeto all the assemblies of the inferior grades of the order was accorded the Priests, but only in the ceremony of reception into the grade of Scottish Knight did they appear in costume. On other occasions they were not obliged to make their official character known.[389]The prefectures were grouped together into provinces, of which there seem to have been twelve, to each of which, as to the prefectures and their capitals, pseudonymous names were given. For the geographical divisions of the Illuminati system,cf.Forestier, pp. 295et seq.[390]The title of Regent was also used in this connection.[391]Provincials, as the term suggests, had control over the various provinces.[392]An important modification in the government of the order was made by Knigge with respect to its general form. Knigge found the order a despotism, and this he regarded as a fundamental weakness and error. The Areopagites, who chafed excessively under Weishaupt’s immoderate zeal to command, and between whom and their leader constant and perilous divisions arose, eagerly sided with Knigge in his efforts to distribute authority. At the latter’s suggestion a congress was called at Munich, in October, 1780, at which the position and authority of the Areopagites were definitively settled. The territory, present and prospective, of the order was divided into twelve provinces, each of which was to be governed by a Provincial. The posts of Provincials were thereupon distributed among the Areopagites. Each Provincial was to be left free to administer his province without direct interference on the part of Weishaupt, who remained the supreme head.Cf.Forestier, pp. 231–234;cf. ibid., p. 244. Knigge was thus permitted to take pride in the fact that whereas he found the order a monarchy, he left it under “une espèce de gouvernement républicain.” (Cf. ibid., p. 305.)[393]To illustrate: The teaching function of the order was fully worked out and made effective by centering its direction in the grade of Priests. Forestier also notes Knigge’s retention of the founder’s insistence upon the knowledge of man as “la science par excellence.” The principle of espionage was likewise retained.Cf.Forestier, pp. 298–304.[394]The remodeling of the order in order to graft it on to the stem of Freemasonry has already been indicated. No practical result of Knigge’s work exceeded this.[395]Certainly at this point Knigge’s feet were planted more solidly upon the earth than those of his fanciful predecessor.Cf.Forestier, pp. 240et seq.[396]The practical considerations which impelled Knigge to adopt this position were dictated by diplomatic rather than by conscientious reasons, although the latter were not wholly wanting. Knigge was well aware of the conditions in Catholic countries like Bavaria which gave rise to the violent anticlerical sentiments that the leaders of the Illuminati echoed. Nor was he out of sympathy with the men of his time who protested against religious intolerance and bigotry. But a spirit of anticlericalism readily enough becomes transmuted into a spirit essentially anti-religious, and Knigge saw that any manifestation of this sort would seriously embarrass the propaganda of the order in Protestant as well as in Catholic lands. Knigge’s personal religious views appear to have been liberal rather than ultra radical. For a full and lucid discussion of the whole topic,cf.Forestier, pp. 238et seq.[397]Knigge’s proposed modifications of the organization and principles of the order were adopted by the Areopagites, July 9, 1781.Cf.Forestier, p. 240. This action amounted to a virtual defeat for Weishaupt and a corresponding triumph for Knigge. In other words, a new epoch had begun. Engel’s observations on the significance of the new policies and the respective services rendered by the two men is characteristically biased: “Weishaupt war tatsächlich der einzige im Orden, der streng darauf achtete, sein System der Notwendigkeit unterzuordnen, wohl wissend, dass dadurch allein der Bestand des Ordens gesichert würde. Phantastische Grade entwerfen, ohne eine Spur der Notwendigkeit, dass durch diese der Zweck der Vereinigung sicherer erreicht werde, dann die Mitglieder in die Aeusserlichkeit dieser Form einpressen und einschnüren, ist leider ein vielfach noch jetzt angewandtes, unbrauchbares Rezept, dem auch Knigge huldigte. Letzterem war es ebenso wie vielen Areopagiten nur darum zu tun, viele Mitglieder zu haben, um dadurch Eindruck zu erzielen, die geistige Qualität stand in zweiter Linie.” (Geschichte des Illuminaten-Ordens, pp. 123et seq.) Knigge brought more than organizing skill to the languishing order. His accomplishments as a winner of recruits materially helped to fan the smouldering fires of enthusiasm among the earlier leaders. As early as November, 1780, he had begun to enroll adepts (the term commonly applied to members of the order, new and old), and some of these turned out to be most effective propagandists.Cf.Forestier, pp. 343et seq.[398]Forestier is disposed to explain the power of appeal which the new system had for the members of rival Masonic systems on the following grounds: (1) it at least pretended to take more seriously the doctrines of equality and liberty; (2) it emphasized the period of adolescence as the best of all ages for the winning of recruits; (3) it made appreciably less of financial considerations; and (4) it tended to turn attention away from such chimeras as the philosopher’s stone, magic, and knight-templar chivalry, which filled with weak heads and visionary spirits the high grades of most of the other systems.Cf. ibid., p. 340. German Freemasonry was far from being in a wholesome and promising condition when the order of the Illuminati emerged. From its introduction into that country sometime within the second quarter of the eighteenth century, it had developed two general types;viz., English Freemasonry and the French high grades. The former was generally disposed to be content with simple organizations. Its lodges were little more than secret clubs whose members had their signs of recognition and their simple rituals, and whose ideals were represented by the terms fraternity and cooperation. The latter developed an excess of ceremonies and “mysteries”, and thus opened the door for the introduction of impostures of every sort. Visionaries and charlatans flocked to the French lodges, and alchemy and thaumaturgy found in their secret quarters a veritable hot-house for their culture. It is Forestier’s opinion that this activity and influence of dreamers and mountebanks within the Masonic lodges is to be regarded as a reaction from the dreariness and sterility of current rationalism.Cf. ibid., p. 146. However that may be, in the third quarter of the eighteenth century German Freemasonry generally was catering to a popular thirst for mystery, and the Order of the Illuminati was able to draw advantage from that fact. Certainly the very novelty of the new system had much to do with its attractiveness.[399]Forestier,op. cit., p. 344.[400]Engel’s treatment of the situation would seem to be inadequate and lacking in accuracy.Cf.Engel,op. cit., p. 352. Forestier submits ample proofs of the expansion of the order to include Austria and Switzerland, notably the former.Cf.Forestier,op. cit., pp. 346et seq., 398et seq.[401]Ibid., pp. 349et seq.[402]Engel identifies Dalberg as the last elector of Mainz, and, in the time of Napoleon I, grand duke of Frankfort. Seeibid., p. 354. Forestier extends the list of civil notables to include Count Metternich, imperial ambassador at Coblenz; Count Brigido, governor of Galicia; Count Leopold Kolowrat, chancellor of Bohemia; Baron Kressel, vice-chancellor of Bohemia; Count Poelffy, chancellor of Hungary; Count Banffy, governor of Transylvania; Count Stadion, ambassador at London; and Baron Van Swieten, minister of public instruction. (The last seven were members of the lodge established at Vienna.)Cf. ibid., pp. 400et seq.[403]Goethe’s connection with the order is fully established by both Engel (cf. ibid., pp. 355et seq.) and Forestier (cf. ibid., pp. 396et seq.). The question whether Schiller belonged to the Illuminati is answered in the negative by Engel.Cf. ibid., p. 356.[404]“Un pédagogue célèbre, Pestalozzi, figurait parmi les membres de l’Église Minervale de Lautern.” (Forestier, p. 349.)[405]Ibid., p. 399.[406]In its efforts to obtain a decisive triumph over rival systems of Freemasonry, substantial progress had been made. At Munich, the Secret Chapter of the dominant Masonic fraternity in that city capitulated to the new system. At Vienna, Masons eagerly enrolled as Illuminati with a view to blocking the attempt of the Rosicrucians to extend the hegemony of that branch. The important general congress of Freemasons, held at Wilhelmsbad, in July, 1782, for the purpose of arriving at some conclusion concerning the claims of rival systems, yielded to the Illuminati a double advantage: the pretensions of the Order of the Strict Observance, its most dangerous rival, were disallowed and the opportunity which the congress offered in the form of a field for winning new recruits was adroitly seized by representatives of the Illuminati, with the result that its emissaries retired from the congress completely satisfied. Further, the Order of the Illuminati had apparently put itself on the high road to a complete victory in the Masonic world by securing the enlistment of the two most important personages in German Freemasonry, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick and Prince Carl of Hesse. The full extent of the order’s conquests among the various branches of Masonry is impossible of full and accurate statement, for the principal reason which Engel gives: “Nur wenige Dokumente existieren als Nachweis, denn es ist natürlich, dass solche in der Verfolgungszeit in Bayern vernichtet wurden, um nicht verdächtigt zu werden und äussere Verbindungen ziemlich schroff abgebrochen wurden, als sich die Skandalsucht erhob und dem Orden und deren Leiter all erdenlichen Schlechtigkeiten andichtete. Im Laufe der Zeit sind dann die betreffenden Schriften von den Logen als minderwertig missachtet und beseitigt worden, so dass eine Aufklärung heute ungemein erschwert ist.” (Op. cit., pp. 349et seq.) Still, Forestier, in his chapter on “L’Action sur les Loges Allemandes” (pp. 343–388), from which the foregoing isolated facts are drawn, gathers together a very considerable body of evidence, all tending to show that Illuminated Freemasonry was permitted to enjoy a very gratifying, though brief, period of prosperity.[407]Writing of the condition of the order at the hour of its apogee, in 1784, Forestier says: “La situation de l’Ordre à cette époque paraît donc des plus prospères. Solidement établi en Bavière, il s’étend sur toute l’Europe Centrale, du Rhin à la Vistule et des Alpes à la mer du Nord et à la Baltique. Il compte au nombre de ses membres des jeunes gens qui appliqueront plus tard les principes qu’il leur a inculqués, des fonctionnaires de tout ordre qui mettent leur influence à son service, des membres du clergé auxquels il enseigne la tolérance, des princes dont il peut invoquer la protection et qu’il espère diriger. Il semble que le Grand Architecte de l’Univers ait spécialement veillé sur lui….” (Op. cit., p. 401.)[408]The term was no longer in official use, but the men remained. In other words, Weishaupt’s Areopagites were Knigge’s Provincials.[409]Forestier,op. cit., pp. 411–413.[410]Engel asserts that the chief apple of discord was the grade of Priest. Weishaupt believed that Knigge had injected into the ritual of the order at that point expressions of radical religious sentiment which, if once discovered to the public, would be found extremely injurious to the order.Cf. ibid., pp. 133et seq.Cf.Forestierop. cit., p. 415. But this was only one of many bones of contention. At bottom the two men were inordinately jealous, both as to their positions in the order and the systems which they had worked out.[411]Knigge withdrew from the order April 20, 1784. In July of the same year he put his name to an agreement, pledging himself to restore such papers of the order as he possessed and to maintain silence concerning what he knew of the order’s affairs.Cf.Forestier, p. 428. Freed from his responsibilities to the order, Knigge resumed his work as a writer, by which he managed to maintain himself very indifferently in funds. He was finally accorded a government post, as inspector of schools, at Bremen, where he died.Cf. ibid., pp. 549–551.[412]Carl Theodore, successor to Maximilian Joseph, as Elector Palatinate had been ruler of the provinces of the Rhine since 1742. When he became duke of Upper and Lower Bavaria in 1777, he had established a reputation as a liberal-minded sovereign. The first two years of his rule in Bavaria gave promise of a tolerant reign; but reactionaries, in the persons of his confessor, the ex-Jesuit Frank, a certain Baron Lippert, who was devoted to the cause of ultramontanism, and the duchess dowager of Bavaria and sister of the duke, Maria Anna, worked upon his spirit and easily persuaded the well-meaning but weak-willed monarch to reverse his former policy and come to the defence of the cause of clericalism. See the comments of Professor August Kluckhohn, quoted by Engel, p. 4.[413]Cf.Engel,op. cit., p. 161, where the edict in full may be found.Cf.Forestier, p. 453. The Bavarian monarch’s bold and, at first blush, precipitate action is explained by the following facts: Flushed with a sense of their growing influence and power, the Bavarian Illuminati for some time past had been guilty of extremely imprudent utterances which had excited the public mind. To certain of their critics, notably the priest Frank and the canon Dantzer, director of the schools of Bavaria, they had not deigned to make a specific reply. (Dantzer, not wholly unfairly, charged the members of the order with interference in the affairs of the public school system of the country). A lofty tone of assumed indifference characterized the leaders; but a spirit of boasting which led the members to profess the exercise of a controlling influence in civil affairs, together with less guarded expressions respecting the extreme religious and political ideals of the order, served to arouse public suspicion. To this extent the Bavarian Illuminati had themselves to blame for the ruin of the order.Cf.Forestier, pp. 430–438. On the part of the government, the situation in its main outlines developed somewhat as follows: Early in October, 1783, the duchess dowager, Maria Anna, was made the recipient of a document that contained detailed accusations against the Illuminati of Bavaria, charging them with holding such vicious moral and religious sentiments as that life should be controlled by passion rather than reason, that suicide is justifiable, that one may poison one’s enemies, and that religion should be regarded as nonsense and patriotism as puerility. Finally, and much more seriously from the particular point of view of the duchess, the Bavarian Illuminati were accused of being in the service of the government of Austria, whose efforts at the time to extend its hegemony over Bavaria had created considerable tension in the latter country. For a copy in full of the famous letter,cf.Engel, pp. 183–187.Cf.Forestier, pp. 440et seq.The author, or at least the inspirer of the document seems to have been one Joseph Utzschneider (Engel disallows this; seeop. cit., pp. 187et seq.) who, discontented on account of his slow advancement and enraged by exactions imposed upon him to prove his loyalty, had withdrawn from the Order of the Illuminati, in August, 1783. Later, Utzschneider persuaded several other members, among them Grünberger and Cosandey, fellow professors with him in the Academy of Santa Maria, to follow him in the course he had taken. Obtaining from his associates the ritual of the higher grades of the order, he prepared and despatched his presentment to the duchess.Cf.Forestier, pp. 444et seq.The latter, greatly alarmed by the document, carried the accusations, particularly the charge of intrigues in the interests of Austria, to the duke, who thus far had manifested an attitude of indifference to the suspicions that had been engendered concerning the order. His fear being awakened by the considerations of danger to his person and throne that were urged, the duke resolved to bring matters to an immediate crisis.Cf. ibid., p. 452.[414]Engel,op. cit., p. 161. The leaders of the order in Bavaria exerted themselves to disarm the suspicions of the government with reference to any lack of loyal submission to the interdict. Circular letters containing copies of the edict and commanding the lodges to suspend their labors were addressed to the brethren. A lack of sincerity showed itself, however, in the efforts of the leaders to convey the impression to their subordinates that the sudden tempest would soon pass and that care therefore must be observed to preserve the cohesion of the order. In one important particular this effort to allay suspicion over-reached itself. In July, 1784, certain members of the order inserted an article in a Bavarian journal, theRealzeitungof Erlangen, of the nature of a counter-attack upon the Jesuits, and claiming that the latter, in defiance of the government, were continuing their secret associations. To this a recriminating answer was promptly made, and a war of newspaper articles and pamphlets was soon on. All of this tended, of course, to lend color to the suspicion that the operations of the order continued unabated.Cf.Forestier, pp. 454et seq.Cf.Engel, pp. 240et seq.The duchess, Maria Anna, moreover, continued her efforts to strengthen the purpose of the duke.Cf.Forestier, p. 467.[415]The precise occasion, if any existed, for the launching of the second edict remains wholly in doubt. In a final effort to clear the order from the suspicions and calumniations raised against it, an appeal was made to Carl Theodore, in February, 1785, to permit representatives of the order to appear before him and furnish proofs of its innocence. This last desperate device failed.Cf.Engel, pp. 283–290, for a copy of this letter.Cf.Forestier, pp. 465et seq.[416]Engel, as in the former instance, copies the second edict in full.Cf. op. cit., pp. 161–164.Cf.Forestier, pp. 468, 469. The terms of the second interdict provided that, in view of the alleged degenerate character of the Order of the Illuminati, as well as of the disorders it had occasioned, all its financial resources should be confiscated, half to be given to the poor and half to the informer against the order, “wenn er gleich selbst ein Mitglied wäre … und solcher keineswegs geoffenbart, sondern in Geheim gehalten werden solle.” (Engel, p. 164.)[417]Forestier’s comment is trenchant: “Par une ironie du sort, le gouvernement, si indifferent ou si tolerant jusqu’alors, ne commença à servir que lorsque le danger était passé et, après avoir respecté si longtemps l’organisme vivant, il s’acharna sur le cadavre.” (Op. cit., p. 469.)[418]Cosandey and Renner (the latter also a professor associated with Cosandey on the faculty of the Academy of Santa Maria) were two of the men who supplied important information in this manner. Engel, pp. 291–304, prints their declarations. In this way, also, lists of names of members of the order came into possession of the government.Cf.Engel, pp. 303et seq.[419]A considerable amount of the most valuable papers of the order were either carefully concealed or devoted to the flames immediately after the launching of the second edict.Cf.Forestier, p. 469. Later, the government obtained important assistance in its campaign by coming into possession of a considerable portion of those that were spared.Cf.Engel, pp. 259et seq., 276et seq.[420]Cf.Forestier, p. 475. Weishaupt was well out of harm’s way when the inquiry began in his home city. He brought lasting discredit upon himself by resorting to precipitate flight two weeks before the proclamation of the second ban. It is evident that he saw the storm gathering, and was resolved to put himself beyond personal danger, whatever might happen to his associates. The excuse he seems to have trumped up to justify his early flight had reference to a difficulty that arose between him and the librarian of the University of Ingolstadt over the latter’s failure to purchase two books which Weishaupt held he needed for his classes. He fled across the border to Regensburg, and finally settled at Gotha.[421]Cf.Engel,op. cit., p. 305, for a copy of the order. This measure seemed to be rendered necessary by the fact that the lists of Illuminati which Cosandey and Renner furnished the government contained the names of several officers and other military personages. A later decree called upon ex-members of the order in the army to furnish information concerning the teachings and membership of the order, and to present such papers and insignia as might be at hand.Cf.Forestier, p. 481.[422]Those who made a frank acknowledgment of their membership in the order were to be pardoned, while those who hesitated or showed themselves contumacious were not only to lose their positions but to suffer other penalties.Cf.Forestier, p. 478.[423]Ibid.[424]Ibid.[425]Ibid., p. 475.[426]Forestier gives the title of nine such productions that came from Weishaupt’s pen within the space of a few months.Cf. op. cit., p. 484. The most notable of these were:Apologie der Illuminaten, Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786, andVollständige Geschichte der Verfolgung der Illuminaten in Bayern, Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786. The latter was planned to consist of two volumes, but only one appeared.[427]Zwack’s name had been on the list of members which Renner had put into the hands of the government. He was at the time a councillor of state. A short time before his house was invaded by the police and his papers seized, he had been deposed from his position on account of his relations with the Illuminati. At the time of the seizure he was living at Landshut in circumstances of disgrace and suspicion.Cf.Engel, p. 303; Forestier, pp. 480, 498.[428]These documents were published by the Bavarian government, under the title:Einige Originalschriften des Illuminaten Ordens, Munich, 1787. Engel, pp. 259–262, publishes the list compiled by the government.[429]Among these papers were found two smaller packets which gave a foundation for the most inveterate hostility to the order. These contained intimations of the order’s right to exercise the law of life and death over its members, a brief dissertation entitled,Gedanken über den Selbstmord, wherein Zwack, its author, had recorded his defence of suicide (cf.Engel, p. 262), a eulogy of atheism, a proposal to establish a branch of the order for women, the description of an infernal machine for safeguarding secret papers, and receipts for procuring abortion, counterfeiting seals, making poisonous perfumes, secret ink,etc.(Cf.Forestier, pp. 499et seq.) The receipts for procuring abortion were destined to have a very ugly personal association in the public mind. Weishaupt, while still a resident of Ingolstadt, had stained his private life because of a liaison with his sister-in-law. On the 8 of February, 1780, his first wife had died. Her sister, who was his house-keeper at the time, continued in the household, and during the time that Weishaupt was waiting for a papal dispensation, permitting his marriage with her, she was found to be with child. Thrown into a panic on account of the failure of the dispensation to arrive (as a matter of fact it did not reach Ingolstadt until three years after it was first applied for), Weishaupt contemplated recourse to the method of procuring an abortion, in order to extricate himself from his painfully embarrassed position. In August, 1783, he wrote Hertel, one of the prominent members of the order, admitting the facts just stated. This letter fell into the hands of the authorities and was published by them in the volume entitled,Nachtrag von weiteren Originalschriften, Munich, 1787, vol. i, p. 14. The stigma of a new disgrace was thus attached to the order. Weishaupt made a pitifully weak effort to suggest extenuating circumstances for his conduct, in his volume,Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten, 1787, pp. 13et seq.Taken in connection with the objectionable papers referred to above, this private scandal of the head of the order made the accusation of gross immorality on the part of the Illuminati difficult to evade. A spirit of intense revulsion penetrated the public mind.[430]Other secret documents of the order were seized by the police in a search of the quarters of Baron Bassus, whose membership in the order on account of his close friendship with Zwack, brought him under the government’s suspicion. The police visitation referred to yielded no very important result, apart from establishing more solidly the government’s claim that the order had not obeyed the first edict. The papers seized in this instance were published by the government under the title,Nachtrag von weiteren Originalschriften … Zwei Abtheilungen, Munich, 1787.[431]Forestier, pp. 504et seq.[432]Mändl, in the most cowardly fashion, charged the order with unmentionable practices. He seems to have been the Judas in the order’s inner circle.Cf.Forestier, pp. 505et seq.Cf.Engel, pp. 331et seq.[433]Massenhausen was Ajax in the order. The papers seized by the police identified him as one of Weishaupt’s intimates.[434]The “revelations” of Mändl appear to have been immediately responsible for the edict.Cf.Forestier, p. 507.[435]Engel,op. cit., p. 280.[436]“Unter der nemlichen confiscations—und relegations Straf werden die illuminaten Logen, sie mögen gleich auf diesen oder anderen Namen umgetauft seyn, ebenfalls verbothen, worauf man auch allenthalben gute Spehr’ [Späher] bestellen, und die Gesellschaften, welche entweder in Wirth—oder Privathäusern mit versperrten Thüren oder sonst auf verdächtige Weise gehalten werden, als wahre Logen behandeln lassen, und die so leer als gewöhnliche Ausrede, das es nur ehrliche Compagnien von guten Freunden sind, zumal von jenen, welche sich des Illuminatismi und der Freygeisterei vorhin schon suspect gemacht haben, nicht annehmen wird….” Quoted by Engel, p. 280.[437]Forestier,op. cit., p. 509.[438]Forestier,op. cit., pp. 511et seq.Cf.Engel,op. cit., pp. 378et seq.[439]Ibid., p. 369.Cf.Forestier, pp. 511et seq.[440]Ibid., p. 512.[441]Ibid., pp. 512et seq.An effort to secure the extradition of Weishaupt was defeated by an appeal to Duke Ernst.Cf.Engel, pp. 231et seq.[442]The most significant of these were the following:Einleitung zu meiner Apologie, 1787;Bemerkungen über einige Originalschriften, published soon after the former;Das verbesserte System der Illuminaten mit allen seinen Graden Einrichtungen, also soon after the first mentioned work;Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten, 1787;Nachtrag zur Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten, 1787.[443]A sympathetic and moving account of the last years of Weishaupt’s life appears in Engel,op. cit., pp. 380–402.[444]Forestier,op. cit., pp. 543et seq.[445]“Es muss die Furcht vor dem verschrieenen Illuminatismus geradezu wie ein Druck in der Luft gehangen haben, denn der Orden selbst existierte in seiner festeren Organisation schon lange nicht mehr, als sich die Gespensterfurcht vor ihm in so allgemeiner Weise breit machte.” (Engel,op. cit., p. 425.)[446]Forestier,op. cit., p. 613.[447]Ibid., pp. 613et seq.[448]As late as November 15, 1790, incited thereto by the priest Frank, the duke of Bavaria proclaimed a new interdict against the order. The threat of death as a punishment for membership in the order or activity on its behalf was again imposed.Cf.Engel, p. 371; Forestier, pp. 614et seq.The following year the police of the city of Munich compiled a list of ninety-one names (Forestier gives the number as ninety-two,cf. ibid., p. 615), of members of the order who were supposed to be still active, and proceeded to apply the policy of banishing those who were held to be most dangerous. A number suffered in this way.Cf.Engel, pp. 371et seq.Cf.Forestier, pp. 615et seq.A spirit of reckless denunciation ruled in Munich, because of which no suspected man’s person was safe. Not until the death of Carl Theodore, in 1799, did this period of hostility to the order on the part of the Bavarian government finally come to an end.[449]A reorganization of the Rosicrucian system had taken place in 1767, which stressed the antiquity, sanctity, and superior character of the order in its relations to the rest of the Masonic fraternity. According to their claims, the Rosicrucians alone were able to explain the hieroglyphics, symbols, and allegories of Freemasonry. The structure of the order was greatly elaborated at the time indicated, and thus supplementing its traditional appeal to the thirst for alchemy and magic, the order grew rapidly.Cf.Forestier, pp. 187–191.Cf.Engel, p. 240.[450]Vehse, in hisGeschichte des Preussischen Hofes, vol. ii, p. 35, puts the matter thus: “In den Ländern nun, wo sie aufgehoben waren, brauchten die Exjesuiten das Mittel in den geheimen Gesellschaften Aufnahme zu suchen. Sie bildeten hier eine schleichende und deshalb um so sichere Opposition gegen alle Aufklärungstendenzen. In dem Freimaurerorden stifteten sie die sogenannten ‘inneren Systeme.’ Hier waren sie als Proselytenmacher ganz in der Stille tätig und arbeiteten mit Macht darauf hin, das obscurante Pfaffentum und die despotische Hierarchie in beiden Konfessionen, im Protestantismus sowohl als Katholizismus wieder herzustellen.” (Quoted by Engel, pp. 241et seq.)[451]Forestier,op. cit., p. 191. Engel,op. cit., p. 242.[452]Ibid., p. 242.[453]Ibid., pp. 247et seq.Forestier brings into connection with this effort of the king of Prussia to check the supposed operations of the Illuminati, a further reproach which came upon the order on account of the course pursued by the Rosicrucians in spreading the report in the Masonic world that the Eclectic Alliance, an ill-fated effort to unite and dominate German Freemasonry, launched in 1783, was a survival of the Order of the Illuminati. The unpopularity and suspicion which the Eclectic Alliance incurred were due in part to its attempts to eliminate the high grades of Masonry, but more especially to the charges made against it by representatives of rival Masonic systems that it had at heart the undermining of the Christian religion.Cf. ibid., pp. 617et seq., 383–388. The Illuminati had had affiliations with the Eclectic Alliance, and hence a certain justification had been given for the accusations which were transferred from the former to the latter.[454]The loose use of the term “Illuminati” involved in these statements is only partially illustrated in the following comment of Mounier: “On a donné par dérision la qualité d’Illuminésà tous les charlatans mystiques de ce siècle, à tous ceux qui s’occupent d’alchimie, de magie et de cabale, de revenans, de relations avec des esprits intermédiaires, tels que les Saint-Germain, les Cagliostro, les Swedenborg, les Rose-croix et les Martinistes: mais il a existé une autre espèce d’illuminés en Allemagne” (i. e., Weishaupt’s system). (De l’influence attribuée aux philosophes, aux franc-maçons et aux illuminés, sur la révolution de France, p. 169.) Not these systems alone, but the representatives of the diffused forces of the Enlightenment were appointed to share the mantle of the ambiguous term.[455]Baron Knigge. In responding to Bahrdt’s appeal to assist him in working out the system of the German Union, Knigge violated the pledge he had made to the Bavarian government not to concern himself again with secret organizations. For his indiscretion he paid the penalty of an unpleasant notoriety.Cf.Forestier, p. 629.[456]Bahrdt’s career was objectionable from almost every point of view. He had been first a pastor, and later a professor of sacred philology at the University of Leipzig. Here, as at Erfurt, the place of his next professional labors, his dissolute conduct involved him in public scandals which lost him his post. In 1771 he went to Giessen as preacher and professor of theology. Later, after numerous changes of location and in the character of his educational activity, he took refuge at Halle, where he conducted courses in rhetoric, eloquence, declamation, and ethics. A man of low tastes, his life was without dignity and solid convictions.Cf.Forestier, pp. 624et seq.; Mounier, pp. 201et seq.; P. Tschackert, in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie, 3. Aufl., ii, (1897), pp. 357–359.[457]These associations were to be divided into six grades: Adolescent, Man, Elder, Mesopolite, Diocesan, and Superior. A ritual was provided and the low initiation fee of onethalerimposed. The system, never fully developed, conveys the impression of crudeness and absurdity.[458]Mounier, pp. 201et seq.Forestier makes the added suggestion that Bahrdt saw in the formation of the Union a chance to further his own literary ambitions and pecuniary interests.Cf.Forestier, p. 627.[459]Ibid., pp. 629, 630.[460]Ibid.[461]Mounier, p. 186.[462]“Die merkwürdigste, aber auch gleichzeitig groteskeste Beschuldigung, die jemals dem Illuminatenorden nachgesagt worden ist, war die, dass er die französische Revolution zur Explosion gebracht habe. Es gehörte recht viel Kombinationsvermögen und Taschenspielerei in der Logik dazu, um den Beweis für diese wundersame Behauptung zusammenzuleimen, aber in jener Zeit wurde tatsächlich alles geglaubt, sobald es sich darum handelte, dem Illuminatismus eine neue Schurkerei aufzuhalsen.” (Engel, pp. 402, 404.Cf.Mounier, pp. 124, 215et seq.)[463]Published anonymously at Munich, in 1794.[464]Title in full:Illuminatus Dirigens oder Schottischer Ritter. Ein Pendant zu der nicht unwichtigen Schrift: Die neuesten Arbeiten, etc., Munich, 1794.[465]The grades of Priest and Regent were reproduced in the first of these two works. The most objectionable principles of the order were reserved to these two grades.[466]Forestier brings into connection with the publication of these pamphlets the appearance of certain brochures of Knigge’s, wherein he espoused with great ardor the cause of the French Revolutionists. The special import of this requires no comment.Cf. ibid., pp. 636et seq.[467]Hoffman had himself been a member of the Illuminati, at Vienna.Cf.Forestier,op. cit., p. 646.[468]The date was early in 1792 (!).Cf. ibid., p. 646.[469]Forestier, whose treatment at this point is characteristically thorough, gives the titles, or otherwise refers to not less than fourteen pamphlets or brochures, in addition to numerous magazine articles.Cf. ibid., pp. 649–658.[470]Forestier,op. cit., pp. 649–658.[471]Johann Joachim Christoph Bode (1730–1793), by no means a distinguished representative of the German literati of his period, occupied a fairly important rôle in the history of the Order of the Illuminati. After Weishaupt’s flight to Ingolstadt he was the most active leader in the ranks of the persecuted order.Cf.Forestier, pp. 543et seq.He was profoundly interested in Masonry. In 1790 he projected a plan for the union of all the German lodges of Masonry. The effort proved futile.[472]ThePhilalètheswere conspicuous among French Freemasons for their unequalled devotion to alchemy and theurgy. The order was founded about 1773.[473]Staack, in hisDer Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert(1803), vol. ii, p. 276, represents von dem Busche as a military official in the service of the Dutch government, and as a member of Weishaupt’s order. Mounier (p. 212) refers to him as a major in the service of the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. His figure is of no historical importance apart from its chance connection with the Illuminati legend.[474]This bizarre and preposterous explanation of the genesis of the French Revolution was a favorite with contemporary German and French writers of the special-pleader type. It was used, as we shall see later, by both Robison and Barruel in their discussions of the rôle played by the Illuminati in the great French political and social debacle. Its classic statement was made a few years later by Staack, in hisDer Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert, vol. ii, pp. 348et seq.A more silly exposition of the relation of the Illuminati to the French Revolution is that found in the fabulous tale related by the notorious Sicilian impostor, Giuseppe Balsamo (“Count” Alessandro Cagliostro), who, in 1790, having been arrested at Rome and interrogated by officials respecting his revolutionary principles, attempted to divert suspicion by recounting experiences he claimed to have had with two chiefs of the Illuminati, at Mitau, near Frankfort, Germany. Revelations had been made to him at that time (1780), he alleged, to the effect that the Order of the Illuminati was able to number 20,000 lodges, scattered through Europe and America; that its agents were industriously operating in all European courts, particularly, being lavishly financed with funds drawn from the immense treasures of the order; and that the next great blow of the order was to be delivered against the government of France.Cf.Sierke,Schwärmer und Schwindler zu Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts, pp. 407et seq.Both Engel (pp. 420et seq.) and Forestier (pp. 658et seq.) devote an unnecessary amount of space to Cagliostro’s foolish “revelations”. It is sufficient for our purpose to remark in passing that, in any case, Cagliostro was not discussing the affairs of Weishaupt’s order, but the affairs of the Strict Observance whose growing credulity and occultism caused the term “Illuminati” sometimes to be applied to them.[475]“Ses principes étaient directement contraires à ceux des illuminés; il n’était pas homme à placer ses espérances dans un intervalle de mille ans. Il n’a jamais pensé qu’un peuple pût devenir assez vertueux pour se passer de lois et de magistrats. Il a soutenu la vraie théorie de la balance des pouvoirs, et combattu le despotisme populaire, toutes les fois que l’amour de la célébrité et l’intérêt de son ambition ne le faisaient pas agir contre sa propre doctrine, et les illuminés n’auraient été capables, ni d’ajouter à ses lumières, ni de changer sa théorie, ni de corriger ses vices.” (Mounier, pp. 216et seq.) This judgment of a sensible and impartial critic of the French Revolution, first submitted to the public in 1801, is as valid now as then.[476]Without citing his authority, Forestier makes the statement that von dem Busche’s interest in the reform of the debased order of thePhilalèthesled him not only to accompany Bode but to offer to pay his expenses.Cf.Forestier, p. 666.[477]The theories andséancesof the empiric, Mesmer, were greatly agitating Paris at the time and attracting attention throughout Europe.[478]Mounier, pp. 212et seq.Cf.Forestier, pp. 664et seq.While Bode was in Paris he kept in close correspondence with his German friend, Frau Hess, of Hirschberg. Engel, who made an examination of this correspondence in the Royal Library at Dresden, was unable to discover the slightest intimation that Bode’s mind, while he was in Paris, was occupied with anything more revolutionary than the turning of thePhilalèthesaway from their craze for alchemy, cabala, theosophy, and theurgy, or in Mesmer’s theories.Cf.Engel, pp. 409–415. When Bode returned to Germany it is undeniable that he carried with him an unfavorable opinion of French Masonry.Cf.Forestier, p. 668.[479]In addition to the two elaborated upon in the remainder of this chapter, the following are most worthy of note: Staack,Der Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert, vols. i, ii, 1803 (already noted); Proyard,Louis XVI et ses vertus aux prises avec la perversité du siècle, Paris, 1808 (4 vols.); De Malet,Recherches politiques et historiques qui prouvent l’existence d’une secte révolutionnaire, son antique origine, ses moyens, ainsi que son but, et dévoilent entièrement l’unique cause de la Révolution Française, Paris, 1817; De Langres,Des Sociétés Secrètes en Allemagne et dans d’autres contrées, de la Secte des Illuminés, du Tribunal Secret, de l’assassinat de Kotzebue, 1819; Le Couteulx,Les Sectes et Sociétés politiques et religieuses, Paris, 1863; Deschamps,Les Sociétés Secrètes et la Société, vols. i, ii, iii, Avignon, 1874–1876. As late as 1906, in an article in theEdinburgh Reviewof July of that year, Una Birch traversed much of the ground covered thus far in this and the preceding chapter and, on the theory that an event as spontaneous (?) as the French Revolutionmusthave originated in a definite coördination of ideas and doctrines, reaffirmed the general notion that the Masonic lodges of France, having been inoculated with the doctrines of the Illuminati, became the principal points of associative agitation for, and thus the direct cause of, the French Revolution. This essay may also be found in the volume of essays entitled,Secret Societies and the French Revolution(London and New York, 1911), by the same author.[480]Later editions of this work, which in their number and geographical extent strongly suggest the degree of interest the subject had for the reading public, appeared as follows: second edition, London, 1797; third edition, London, 1798; fourth edition, London and New York, 1798; a French translation, London, 1798–99 (2 vols.); a German translation, Königslutter and Hamburg, 1800; a Dutch translation, Dordrecht (n. d.). See Wolfstieg,Bibliographie der Freimaurerischen Literatur, vol. i, pp. 192, 193.[481]Robison was a mathematician, scientific writer, and lecturer in the field of natural philosophy, of considerable ability and distinction. The son of a Glasgow merchant, he was born in Scotland in 1739. He received the benefits of a thorough education, graduating from Glasgow University in 1756. The connections he enjoyed throughout his life were of the best. Subsequent to his graduation he became tutor to the son of Sir Charles Knowles, the English admiral, and later was appointed by the government to service in the testing out at sea of the newly completed chronometer of John Harrison, the horologist. Still later he went to Russia as private secretary to Sir Charles. While in Russia he was called to the chair of mathematics established in connection with the imperial sea-cadet corps of nobles. Abandoning this post, he returned to Scotland, and in 1773 became professor of natural philosophy in Edinburgh University, lecturing on such subjects as hydro-dynamics, astronomy, optics, electricity, and magnetism. His distinction in this general field seems clearly demonstrated by the fact that he was called upon to contribute to the third edition of theEncyclopaedia Britannicaarticles on seamanship, the telescope, optics, waterworks, resistance to fluids, electricity, magnetism, music,etc., as well as by the fact that when the Royal Society of Edinburgh was organized under royal charter in 1783, Robison was elected general secretary of that distinguished organization, an office he continued to hold until within a few years of his death. The versatility of the man is further evidenced by the fact that he was deeply interested in music, attaining the mastery of several instruments, and in the writing of verse. His reputation was not confined to Great Britain. In 1790 the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. (Cf.General Catalogue of the College of New Jersey, 1746–1896, p. 177.The Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xlix, p. 58, incorrectly gives the date for the bestowal of this degree as 1798.) Later, his alma mater, Glasgow University, bestowed upon him a like honor.In addition to his encyclopaedia articles and his book on the Illuminati, Robison edited and published the lectures of Dr. Black, the chemist, and the following scientific works, the product of his own intellectual activity:Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Mechanical Philosophy, Edinburgh, 1797, andElements of Mechanical Philosophy, Edinburgh, 1804. The latter was intended to be the initial volume of a series, but its successors were not forthcoming. A posthumous work of four volumes entitled,A System of Mechanical Philosophy, with Notes by David Brewster, LL.D., was published at Edinburgh in 1822. The death of Robison occurred in 1805. (For the material incorporated in the foregoing the writer is chiefly indebted to theDictionary of National Biography, vol. xlix, pp. 57, 58, and to casual references in theTransactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vols. i–v.)[482]“Die Neuesten Religionsbegebenheiten mit unpartheyischen Anmerkungen mit Beihülfe mehrerer von H. M. G. Köster, Professor in Giessen, herausgegeben Jg. 1–20 Giessen, 1778–97 verfolgten gleichfalls den Zweck, von den wichtigsten Vorfällen aus der Religionsgeschichte der Gegenwart eine deutliche, gründliche und nützliche Beschreibung zu liefern, doch beschränkten sie sich dabei vornehmlich auf Deutschland und richteten sich in erster Linie an Laien und Nichttheologen” (Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie, 3rd ed., vol. xxiv, Leipzig, 1913, p. 673).[483]Though a Mason, Robison was by no means an ardent supporter of Freemasonry. The English Masonic lodges with which he was acquainted impressed him as having no higher function than that of supplying “a pretext for passing an hour or two in a sort of decent conviviality, not altogether void of some rational occupation.” He found the lodges on the continent, however, “matters of serious concern and debate.”Cf.Proofs of a Conspiracy, etc., pp. 1et seq.(The edition of Robison’s book here as elsewhere referred to is the third [London] edition of 1798.) Robison professed to have visited lodges at Liège, Valenciennes, Brussels, Aix-la-Chapelle, Berlin, Königsberg, and St. Petersburg. Everywhere he found an elaboration of ritual, joined with a spirit of grave interest in the affairs of Freemasonry, which filled him with astonishment and seemed to call for explanation.Cf. ibid., pp. 2et seq.[484]Robison,op. cit., p. 7. Robison also made use of several of the works which the disturbances occasioned by the Bavarian Illuminati called forth on the continent. Conspicuous among these were the documents of the order published by the Bavarian government.Cf. ibid., pp. 133, 185, 186, 205,etc.He also made use of Hoffman’s violently hostile sheet, theWiener Zeitschrift.Cf. ibid., pp. 358, 393. Robison’s knowledge of the German language was, however, far from perfect, as he himself freely admitted (Cf. ibid., pp. 14, 499), so that his handling of his sources must be viewed as neither capable nor complete. The meagerness of his resources is perhaps best illustrated in his treatment of the conspiracy which he assumed underlay the French Revolution. Such “proofs” as he made use of in this connection amounted to little more than the political manifestoes of certain secret lodges and clubs, fugitive revolutionary documents which chanced to blow across his path, current historical conjecture and gossip,etc.The whole was pieced together in the spirit of one who ventured to hope that his “scattered facts” might be of some service to his generation. (Cf. ibid., pp. 493–496.)[485]Robison,op. cit., pp. 10, 11, 15.[486]An illustration of the carelessness with which Robison handled his dates is found on pages 15 and 133 (cf.p. 103) of theProofs of a Conspiracy, etc., in the matter of the date of the founding of the Order of the Illuminati. Far more serious in its reflection on the author’s lack of accuracy and insight is such looseness and general unsoundness of treatment as permitted him to represent the Jesuits as frequenters of English and French Masonic lodges, while at the same time indicting the latter as fully committed to a free-thinking propaganda which sought nothing less than the eradication ofreligion, not to speak of its institutions.Cf. ibid., pp. 22et seq.Robison’s superficial explanation of the anticlericalism of Weishaupt might be cited as another illustration of the blundering method pursued in the book.Cf. ibid., pp. 101, 103et seq.His weak and practically pointless digression in order to find opportunity to comment on the educational projects of Basedow will serve to illustrate the discursive quality in his work.Cf. ibid., 85et seq.[487]Robison’s exposition of the elements of uncontrolled curiosity and conjecture as elements in his purpose in writing the book is not without significance: “I must entreat that it be remembered that these sheets are not the work of an author determined to write a book. They were for the most part notes, which I took from books I had borrowed, that I might occasionally have recourse to them when occupied with Free Masonry, the first object of my curiosity. My curiosity was diverted to many other things as I went along, and when the Illuminati came in my way, I regretted the time I had thrown away on Free Masonry. (But, observing their connection, I thought that I perceived the progress of one and the same design. This made me eager to find out any remains of Weishaupt’s Association. I was not surprised when I saw marks of its interference in the French Revolution.) In hunting for clearer proofs I found out the German Union—and, in fine, the whole appeared to be one great and wicked project, fermenting and working over all Europe.” (Ibid., pp. 493et seq.) Encouraged by his friends, Robison “set about collecting my [his] scattered facts.” (Ibid., p. 494.)[488]Ibid., pp. 28et seq.[489]Robison does not wholly miss the true point in his survey of the backgrounds of the French Revolution. He points out numerous “cooperating causes” which served to make the Revolution inevitable. “Perhaps there never was a nation where all these cooperating causes had acquired greater strength than in France. Oppressions of all kinds were at a height. The luxuries of life were enjoyed exclusively by the upper classes, and this in the highest degree of refinement; so that the desires of the rest were whetted to the utmost. Even religion appeared in an unwelcome form, and seemed chiefly calculated for procuring establishments for the younger sons of insolent and useless nobility. For numbers of men of letters were excluded, by their birth, from all hopes of advancement to the higher stations in the church. These men frequently vented their discontents by secretly joining the laics in their bitter satires on such in the higher orders of the clergy, as had scandalously departed from the purity and simplicity of manners which Christianity enjoins. Such examples were not unfrequent, and none was spared in those bitter invectives…. The faith of the nation was shaken; and when, in a few instances, a worthy Curé uttered the small still voice of true religion, it was not heard amidst the general noise of satire and reproach. The misconduct of administration, and the abuse of the public treasures, were every day growing more impudent and glaring, and exposed the government to continual criticism.” (Robison, pp. 60et seq.Cf. ibid., pp. 362et seq.) These “cooperating causes” receive little emphasis, however, in Robison’s zealous effort to trace the revolutionary spirit to its lair in the Masonic lodges of France.
[372]Weishaupt himself, overcoming his earlier antipathy to Freemasonry, had joined the Masons at Munich, in 1777, influenced particularly by his desire to find suggestions for the working out of the higher grades of his order. Out of this connection, and under the persuasion of Zwack, the plan of forming an alliance between the Illuminati and Freemasonry had occurred to Weishaupt’s mind before Knigge joined the order. One Masonic lodge, that of Theodore of Good Counsel, located at Munich, had, by the middle of 1779, come so completely under the influence of members of the Illuminati that it had come to be regarded as a part of the order.Cf.Forestier, p. 200. But here again the situation waited upon the energetic leadership of Knigge.
[373]Ibid., pp. 133et seq.Cf.Engel,op. cit., pp. 114et seq.Soon after Knigge was admitted to the order, Weishaupt found himself driven to make to the former a most humiliating confession. Knigge hesitated for some time before becoming a member, and to bring him to a decision Weishaupt painted the objects and character of the order before him in flaming colors. The Illuminati represented the greatest advancements in science, the most marvelous speculative philosophy, and a truly wonderful system to carry its purposes into effect. Having joined the order, Knigge’s suspicions were aroused on account of the feeble and trifling character of its organization; and Weishaupt, upon being repeatedly pressed for an explanation concerning the nature of the so-called higher grades, had finally to confess to Knigge that they did not exist.Cf.Forestier, pp. 218–226. Knigge’s resolution was staggered, but his courage was finally rallied because of the confidence which Weishaupt and the other leaders reposed in him.Cf. ibid., pp. 228et seq.
[374]Nachtrag von weiteren Originalschriften, vol. i, p. 108.Cf.Forestier,op. cit., p. 250; Engel,op. cit., p. 117.
[375]The ligament to bind the Illuminati and Freemasonry together was supplied by Knigge in the grades of the second class.Cf.Engel,op. cit., p. 115.
[376]Apparently these grades were never worked out. See Forestier, p. 250.
[377]Forestier devotes more than forty well-packed pages to a discussion of this phase of the subject.Ibid., pp. 251–294.
[378]Der ächte Illuminat, p. 14. Pages 17–37,ibid., contains the description of this grade as revised by Knigge.
[379]Ibid., pp. 39–78.
[380]Ibid., pp. 82–138.
[381]Knigge had, of course, to provide a new ritual and code for these grades. These have not been preserved. They were doubtless similar to those of other Masonic systems, in their Blue Lodge features. “La Franc-Maçonnerie bleue étant le sol commun où poussaient les végétations luxuriantes et diverses des hauts grades et le terrain où tous les Franc-Maçons pouvaient se rencontrer, les différents Systèmes, préoccupés d’établir leur authenticité et aussi pour ne pas dérouter les transfuges des autres sectes, avaient soin de respecter les formes et les usages traditionnels. La Franc-Maçonnerie Illuminée obéit vraisemblablement aux mêmes considérations.” (Forestier,op. cit., p. 262.)
[382]Forestier,op. cit., p. 272.Der ächte Illuminat, pp. 139–212, contains the ritual and statutes of this grade.
[383]The initiatory rites of this grade were followed by a banquet, which in turn was concluded by a ceremony fashioned after the pattern of the Christian Eucharist. Bread and wine were given to the members, and an effort was made to throw an atmosphere of great solemnity about the observance.Cf.Forestier, pp. 278et seq.Christian enemies of the order took special umbrage at this ceremony.
[384]The Chapter was placed under obligation to see that Blue Lodges, not to exceed thirty all told, were established in all the important centers of its district. They had also to see that the Order of the Illuminati secretly obtained a preponderating influence in the lodges of other systems, to reform them if possible, or, failing in this, to ruin them. A Prefect, or Local Superior, who furnished regular reports to his superiors, presided over the Chapter.Cf.Forestier, pp. 279–281.
[385]The members of this class were usually referred to as Epopts, and their immediate superiors as Hierophants. These superiors were technically known as Deans.Ibid., pp. 287, 281.
[386]Their admission to the rank was further conditioned upon their advancement in Masonry and the effectiveness of their service in the lower grades of the Illuminati.Cf. ibid., p. 281.
[387]The rites of initiation into this grade expressed a growing tendency in the direction of sacerdotal pomp.Cf. ibid., pp. 283–286.
[388]“Comme toutes les demandes de renseignements leur étaient transmises, ils devaient s’efforcer de satisfaire leurs gens et d’établir des théories solidement construites en faisant étudier et élucider par leurs subordonnés les points restés obscurs.” (Ibid., p. 288.) Freeentréeto all the assemblies of the inferior grades of the order was accorded the Priests, but only in the ceremony of reception into the grade of Scottish Knight did they appear in costume. On other occasions they were not obliged to make their official character known.
[389]The prefectures were grouped together into provinces, of which there seem to have been twelve, to each of which, as to the prefectures and their capitals, pseudonymous names were given. For the geographical divisions of the Illuminati system,cf.Forestier, pp. 295et seq.
[390]The title of Regent was also used in this connection.
[391]Provincials, as the term suggests, had control over the various provinces.
[392]An important modification in the government of the order was made by Knigge with respect to its general form. Knigge found the order a despotism, and this he regarded as a fundamental weakness and error. The Areopagites, who chafed excessively under Weishaupt’s immoderate zeal to command, and between whom and their leader constant and perilous divisions arose, eagerly sided with Knigge in his efforts to distribute authority. At the latter’s suggestion a congress was called at Munich, in October, 1780, at which the position and authority of the Areopagites were definitively settled. The territory, present and prospective, of the order was divided into twelve provinces, each of which was to be governed by a Provincial. The posts of Provincials were thereupon distributed among the Areopagites. Each Provincial was to be left free to administer his province without direct interference on the part of Weishaupt, who remained the supreme head.Cf.Forestier, pp. 231–234;cf. ibid., p. 244. Knigge was thus permitted to take pride in the fact that whereas he found the order a monarchy, he left it under “une espèce de gouvernement républicain.” (Cf. ibid., p. 305.)
[393]To illustrate: The teaching function of the order was fully worked out and made effective by centering its direction in the grade of Priests. Forestier also notes Knigge’s retention of the founder’s insistence upon the knowledge of man as “la science par excellence.” The principle of espionage was likewise retained.Cf.Forestier, pp. 298–304.
[394]The remodeling of the order in order to graft it on to the stem of Freemasonry has already been indicated. No practical result of Knigge’s work exceeded this.
[395]Certainly at this point Knigge’s feet were planted more solidly upon the earth than those of his fanciful predecessor.Cf.Forestier, pp. 240et seq.
[396]The practical considerations which impelled Knigge to adopt this position were dictated by diplomatic rather than by conscientious reasons, although the latter were not wholly wanting. Knigge was well aware of the conditions in Catholic countries like Bavaria which gave rise to the violent anticlerical sentiments that the leaders of the Illuminati echoed. Nor was he out of sympathy with the men of his time who protested against religious intolerance and bigotry. But a spirit of anticlericalism readily enough becomes transmuted into a spirit essentially anti-religious, and Knigge saw that any manifestation of this sort would seriously embarrass the propaganda of the order in Protestant as well as in Catholic lands. Knigge’s personal religious views appear to have been liberal rather than ultra radical. For a full and lucid discussion of the whole topic,cf.Forestier, pp. 238et seq.
[397]Knigge’s proposed modifications of the organization and principles of the order were adopted by the Areopagites, July 9, 1781.Cf.Forestier, p. 240. This action amounted to a virtual defeat for Weishaupt and a corresponding triumph for Knigge. In other words, a new epoch had begun. Engel’s observations on the significance of the new policies and the respective services rendered by the two men is characteristically biased: “Weishaupt war tatsächlich der einzige im Orden, der streng darauf achtete, sein System der Notwendigkeit unterzuordnen, wohl wissend, dass dadurch allein der Bestand des Ordens gesichert würde. Phantastische Grade entwerfen, ohne eine Spur der Notwendigkeit, dass durch diese der Zweck der Vereinigung sicherer erreicht werde, dann die Mitglieder in die Aeusserlichkeit dieser Form einpressen und einschnüren, ist leider ein vielfach noch jetzt angewandtes, unbrauchbares Rezept, dem auch Knigge huldigte. Letzterem war es ebenso wie vielen Areopagiten nur darum zu tun, viele Mitglieder zu haben, um dadurch Eindruck zu erzielen, die geistige Qualität stand in zweiter Linie.” (Geschichte des Illuminaten-Ordens, pp. 123et seq.) Knigge brought more than organizing skill to the languishing order. His accomplishments as a winner of recruits materially helped to fan the smouldering fires of enthusiasm among the earlier leaders. As early as November, 1780, he had begun to enroll adepts (the term commonly applied to members of the order, new and old), and some of these turned out to be most effective propagandists.Cf.Forestier, pp. 343et seq.
[398]Forestier is disposed to explain the power of appeal which the new system had for the members of rival Masonic systems on the following grounds: (1) it at least pretended to take more seriously the doctrines of equality and liberty; (2) it emphasized the period of adolescence as the best of all ages for the winning of recruits; (3) it made appreciably less of financial considerations; and (4) it tended to turn attention away from such chimeras as the philosopher’s stone, magic, and knight-templar chivalry, which filled with weak heads and visionary spirits the high grades of most of the other systems.Cf. ibid., p. 340. German Freemasonry was far from being in a wholesome and promising condition when the order of the Illuminati emerged. From its introduction into that country sometime within the second quarter of the eighteenth century, it had developed two general types;viz., English Freemasonry and the French high grades. The former was generally disposed to be content with simple organizations. Its lodges were little more than secret clubs whose members had their signs of recognition and their simple rituals, and whose ideals were represented by the terms fraternity and cooperation. The latter developed an excess of ceremonies and “mysteries”, and thus opened the door for the introduction of impostures of every sort. Visionaries and charlatans flocked to the French lodges, and alchemy and thaumaturgy found in their secret quarters a veritable hot-house for their culture. It is Forestier’s opinion that this activity and influence of dreamers and mountebanks within the Masonic lodges is to be regarded as a reaction from the dreariness and sterility of current rationalism.Cf. ibid., p. 146. However that may be, in the third quarter of the eighteenth century German Freemasonry generally was catering to a popular thirst for mystery, and the Order of the Illuminati was able to draw advantage from that fact. Certainly the very novelty of the new system had much to do with its attractiveness.
[399]Forestier,op. cit., p. 344.
[400]Engel’s treatment of the situation would seem to be inadequate and lacking in accuracy.Cf.Engel,op. cit., p. 352. Forestier submits ample proofs of the expansion of the order to include Austria and Switzerland, notably the former.Cf.Forestier,op. cit., pp. 346et seq., 398et seq.
[401]Ibid., pp. 349et seq.
[402]Engel identifies Dalberg as the last elector of Mainz, and, in the time of Napoleon I, grand duke of Frankfort. Seeibid., p. 354. Forestier extends the list of civil notables to include Count Metternich, imperial ambassador at Coblenz; Count Brigido, governor of Galicia; Count Leopold Kolowrat, chancellor of Bohemia; Baron Kressel, vice-chancellor of Bohemia; Count Poelffy, chancellor of Hungary; Count Banffy, governor of Transylvania; Count Stadion, ambassador at London; and Baron Van Swieten, minister of public instruction. (The last seven were members of the lodge established at Vienna.)Cf. ibid., pp. 400et seq.
[403]Goethe’s connection with the order is fully established by both Engel (cf. ibid., pp. 355et seq.) and Forestier (cf. ibid., pp. 396et seq.). The question whether Schiller belonged to the Illuminati is answered in the negative by Engel.Cf. ibid., p. 356.
[404]“Un pédagogue célèbre, Pestalozzi, figurait parmi les membres de l’Église Minervale de Lautern.” (Forestier, p. 349.)
[405]Ibid., p. 399.
[406]In its efforts to obtain a decisive triumph over rival systems of Freemasonry, substantial progress had been made. At Munich, the Secret Chapter of the dominant Masonic fraternity in that city capitulated to the new system. At Vienna, Masons eagerly enrolled as Illuminati with a view to blocking the attempt of the Rosicrucians to extend the hegemony of that branch. The important general congress of Freemasons, held at Wilhelmsbad, in July, 1782, for the purpose of arriving at some conclusion concerning the claims of rival systems, yielded to the Illuminati a double advantage: the pretensions of the Order of the Strict Observance, its most dangerous rival, were disallowed and the opportunity which the congress offered in the form of a field for winning new recruits was adroitly seized by representatives of the Illuminati, with the result that its emissaries retired from the congress completely satisfied. Further, the Order of the Illuminati had apparently put itself on the high road to a complete victory in the Masonic world by securing the enlistment of the two most important personages in German Freemasonry, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick and Prince Carl of Hesse. The full extent of the order’s conquests among the various branches of Masonry is impossible of full and accurate statement, for the principal reason which Engel gives: “Nur wenige Dokumente existieren als Nachweis, denn es ist natürlich, dass solche in der Verfolgungszeit in Bayern vernichtet wurden, um nicht verdächtigt zu werden und äussere Verbindungen ziemlich schroff abgebrochen wurden, als sich die Skandalsucht erhob und dem Orden und deren Leiter all erdenlichen Schlechtigkeiten andichtete. Im Laufe der Zeit sind dann die betreffenden Schriften von den Logen als minderwertig missachtet und beseitigt worden, so dass eine Aufklärung heute ungemein erschwert ist.” (Op. cit., pp. 349et seq.) Still, Forestier, in his chapter on “L’Action sur les Loges Allemandes” (pp. 343–388), from which the foregoing isolated facts are drawn, gathers together a very considerable body of evidence, all tending to show that Illuminated Freemasonry was permitted to enjoy a very gratifying, though brief, period of prosperity.
[407]Writing of the condition of the order at the hour of its apogee, in 1784, Forestier says: “La situation de l’Ordre à cette époque paraît donc des plus prospères. Solidement établi en Bavière, il s’étend sur toute l’Europe Centrale, du Rhin à la Vistule et des Alpes à la mer du Nord et à la Baltique. Il compte au nombre de ses membres des jeunes gens qui appliqueront plus tard les principes qu’il leur a inculqués, des fonctionnaires de tout ordre qui mettent leur influence à son service, des membres du clergé auxquels il enseigne la tolérance, des princes dont il peut invoquer la protection et qu’il espère diriger. Il semble que le Grand Architecte de l’Univers ait spécialement veillé sur lui….” (Op. cit., p. 401.)
[408]The term was no longer in official use, but the men remained. In other words, Weishaupt’s Areopagites were Knigge’s Provincials.
[409]Forestier,op. cit., pp. 411–413.
[410]Engel asserts that the chief apple of discord was the grade of Priest. Weishaupt believed that Knigge had injected into the ritual of the order at that point expressions of radical religious sentiment which, if once discovered to the public, would be found extremely injurious to the order.Cf. ibid., pp. 133et seq.Cf.Forestierop. cit., p. 415. But this was only one of many bones of contention. At bottom the two men were inordinately jealous, both as to their positions in the order and the systems which they had worked out.
[411]Knigge withdrew from the order April 20, 1784. In July of the same year he put his name to an agreement, pledging himself to restore such papers of the order as he possessed and to maintain silence concerning what he knew of the order’s affairs.Cf.Forestier, p. 428. Freed from his responsibilities to the order, Knigge resumed his work as a writer, by which he managed to maintain himself very indifferently in funds. He was finally accorded a government post, as inspector of schools, at Bremen, where he died.Cf. ibid., pp. 549–551.
[412]Carl Theodore, successor to Maximilian Joseph, as Elector Palatinate had been ruler of the provinces of the Rhine since 1742. When he became duke of Upper and Lower Bavaria in 1777, he had established a reputation as a liberal-minded sovereign. The first two years of his rule in Bavaria gave promise of a tolerant reign; but reactionaries, in the persons of his confessor, the ex-Jesuit Frank, a certain Baron Lippert, who was devoted to the cause of ultramontanism, and the duchess dowager of Bavaria and sister of the duke, Maria Anna, worked upon his spirit and easily persuaded the well-meaning but weak-willed monarch to reverse his former policy and come to the defence of the cause of clericalism. See the comments of Professor August Kluckhohn, quoted by Engel, p. 4.
[413]Cf.Engel,op. cit., p. 161, where the edict in full may be found.Cf.Forestier, p. 453. The Bavarian monarch’s bold and, at first blush, precipitate action is explained by the following facts: Flushed with a sense of their growing influence and power, the Bavarian Illuminati for some time past had been guilty of extremely imprudent utterances which had excited the public mind. To certain of their critics, notably the priest Frank and the canon Dantzer, director of the schools of Bavaria, they had not deigned to make a specific reply. (Dantzer, not wholly unfairly, charged the members of the order with interference in the affairs of the public school system of the country). A lofty tone of assumed indifference characterized the leaders; but a spirit of boasting which led the members to profess the exercise of a controlling influence in civil affairs, together with less guarded expressions respecting the extreme religious and political ideals of the order, served to arouse public suspicion. To this extent the Bavarian Illuminati had themselves to blame for the ruin of the order.Cf.Forestier, pp. 430–438. On the part of the government, the situation in its main outlines developed somewhat as follows: Early in October, 1783, the duchess dowager, Maria Anna, was made the recipient of a document that contained detailed accusations against the Illuminati of Bavaria, charging them with holding such vicious moral and religious sentiments as that life should be controlled by passion rather than reason, that suicide is justifiable, that one may poison one’s enemies, and that religion should be regarded as nonsense and patriotism as puerility. Finally, and much more seriously from the particular point of view of the duchess, the Bavarian Illuminati were accused of being in the service of the government of Austria, whose efforts at the time to extend its hegemony over Bavaria had created considerable tension in the latter country. For a copy in full of the famous letter,cf.Engel, pp. 183–187.Cf.Forestier, pp. 440et seq.The author, or at least the inspirer of the document seems to have been one Joseph Utzschneider (Engel disallows this; seeop. cit., pp. 187et seq.) who, discontented on account of his slow advancement and enraged by exactions imposed upon him to prove his loyalty, had withdrawn from the Order of the Illuminati, in August, 1783. Later, Utzschneider persuaded several other members, among them Grünberger and Cosandey, fellow professors with him in the Academy of Santa Maria, to follow him in the course he had taken. Obtaining from his associates the ritual of the higher grades of the order, he prepared and despatched his presentment to the duchess.Cf.Forestier, pp. 444et seq.The latter, greatly alarmed by the document, carried the accusations, particularly the charge of intrigues in the interests of Austria, to the duke, who thus far had manifested an attitude of indifference to the suspicions that had been engendered concerning the order. His fear being awakened by the considerations of danger to his person and throne that were urged, the duke resolved to bring matters to an immediate crisis.Cf. ibid., p. 452.
[414]Engel,op. cit., p. 161. The leaders of the order in Bavaria exerted themselves to disarm the suspicions of the government with reference to any lack of loyal submission to the interdict. Circular letters containing copies of the edict and commanding the lodges to suspend their labors were addressed to the brethren. A lack of sincerity showed itself, however, in the efforts of the leaders to convey the impression to their subordinates that the sudden tempest would soon pass and that care therefore must be observed to preserve the cohesion of the order. In one important particular this effort to allay suspicion over-reached itself. In July, 1784, certain members of the order inserted an article in a Bavarian journal, theRealzeitungof Erlangen, of the nature of a counter-attack upon the Jesuits, and claiming that the latter, in defiance of the government, were continuing their secret associations. To this a recriminating answer was promptly made, and a war of newspaper articles and pamphlets was soon on. All of this tended, of course, to lend color to the suspicion that the operations of the order continued unabated.Cf.Forestier, pp. 454et seq.Cf.Engel, pp. 240et seq.The duchess, Maria Anna, moreover, continued her efforts to strengthen the purpose of the duke.Cf.Forestier, p. 467.
[415]The precise occasion, if any existed, for the launching of the second edict remains wholly in doubt. In a final effort to clear the order from the suspicions and calumniations raised against it, an appeal was made to Carl Theodore, in February, 1785, to permit representatives of the order to appear before him and furnish proofs of its innocence. This last desperate device failed.Cf.Engel, pp. 283–290, for a copy of this letter.Cf.Forestier, pp. 465et seq.
[416]Engel, as in the former instance, copies the second edict in full.Cf. op. cit., pp. 161–164.Cf.Forestier, pp. 468, 469. The terms of the second interdict provided that, in view of the alleged degenerate character of the Order of the Illuminati, as well as of the disorders it had occasioned, all its financial resources should be confiscated, half to be given to the poor and half to the informer against the order, “wenn er gleich selbst ein Mitglied wäre … und solcher keineswegs geoffenbart, sondern in Geheim gehalten werden solle.” (Engel, p. 164.)
[417]Forestier’s comment is trenchant: “Par une ironie du sort, le gouvernement, si indifferent ou si tolerant jusqu’alors, ne commença à servir que lorsque le danger était passé et, après avoir respecté si longtemps l’organisme vivant, il s’acharna sur le cadavre.” (Op. cit., p. 469.)
[418]Cosandey and Renner (the latter also a professor associated with Cosandey on the faculty of the Academy of Santa Maria) were two of the men who supplied important information in this manner. Engel, pp. 291–304, prints their declarations. In this way, also, lists of names of members of the order came into possession of the government.Cf.Engel, pp. 303et seq.
[419]A considerable amount of the most valuable papers of the order were either carefully concealed or devoted to the flames immediately after the launching of the second edict.Cf.Forestier, p. 469. Later, the government obtained important assistance in its campaign by coming into possession of a considerable portion of those that were spared.Cf.Engel, pp. 259et seq., 276et seq.
[420]Cf.Forestier, p. 475. Weishaupt was well out of harm’s way when the inquiry began in his home city. He brought lasting discredit upon himself by resorting to precipitate flight two weeks before the proclamation of the second ban. It is evident that he saw the storm gathering, and was resolved to put himself beyond personal danger, whatever might happen to his associates. The excuse he seems to have trumped up to justify his early flight had reference to a difficulty that arose between him and the librarian of the University of Ingolstadt over the latter’s failure to purchase two books which Weishaupt held he needed for his classes. He fled across the border to Regensburg, and finally settled at Gotha.
[421]Cf.Engel,op. cit., p. 305, for a copy of the order. This measure seemed to be rendered necessary by the fact that the lists of Illuminati which Cosandey and Renner furnished the government contained the names of several officers and other military personages. A later decree called upon ex-members of the order in the army to furnish information concerning the teachings and membership of the order, and to present such papers and insignia as might be at hand.Cf.Forestier, p. 481.
[422]Those who made a frank acknowledgment of their membership in the order were to be pardoned, while those who hesitated or showed themselves contumacious were not only to lose their positions but to suffer other penalties.Cf.Forestier, p. 478.
[423]Ibid.
[424]Ibid.
[425]Ibid., p. 475.
[426]Forestier gives the title of nine such productions that came from Weishaupt’s pen within the space of a few months.Cf. op. cit., p. 484. The most notable of these were:Apologie der Illuminaten, Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786, andVollständige Geschichte der Verfolgung der Illuminaten in Bayern, Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786. The latter was planned to consist of two volumes, but only one appeared.
[427]Zwack’s name had been on the list of members which Renner had put into the hands of the government. He was at the time a councillor of state. A short time before his house was invaded by the police and his papers seized, he had been deposed from his position on account of his relations with the Illuminati. At the time of the seizure he was living at Landshut in circumstances of disgrace and suspicion.Cf.Engel, p. 303; Forestier, pp. 480, 498.
[428]These documents were published by the Bavarian government, under the title:Einige Originalschriften des Illuminaten Ordens, Munich, 1787. Engel, pp. 259–262, publishes the list compiled by the government.
[429]Among these papers were found two smaller packets which gave a foundation for the most inveterate hostility to the order. These contained intimations of the order’s right to exercise the law of life and death over its members, a brief dissertation entitled,Gedanken über den Selbstmord, wherein Zwack, its author, had recorded his defence of suicide (cf.Engel, p. 262), a eulogy of atheism, a proposal to establish a branch of the order for women, the description of an infernal machine for safeguarding secret papers, and receipts for procuring abortion, counterfeiting seals, making poisonous perfumes, secret ink,etc.(Cf.Forestier, pp. 499et seq.) The receipts for procuring abortion were destined to have a very ugly personal association in the public mind. Weishaupt, while still a resident of Ingolstadt, had stained his private life because of a liaison with his sister-in-law. On the 8 of February, 1780, his first wife had died. Her sister, who was his house-keeper at the time, continued in the household, and during the time that Weishaupt was waiting for a papal dispensation, permitting his marriage with her, she was found to be with child. Thrown into a panic on account of the failure of the dispensation to arrive (as a matter of fact it did not reach Ingolstadt until three years after it was first applied for), Weishaupt contemplated recourse to the method of procuring an abortion, in order to extricate himself from his painfully embarrassed position. In August, 1783, he wrote Hertel, one of the prominent members of the order, admitting the facts just stated. This letter fell into the hands of the authorities and was published by them in the volume entitled,Nachtrag von weiteren Originalschriften, Munich, 1787, vol. i, p. 14. The stigma of a new disgrace was thus attached to the order. Weishaupt made a pitifully weak effort to suggest extenuating circumstances for his conduct, in his volume,Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten, 1787, pp. 13et seq.Taken in connection with the objectionable papers referred to above, this private scandal of the head of the order made the accusation of gross immorality on the part of the Illuminati difficult to evade. A spirit of intense revulsion penetrated the public mind.
[430]Other secret documents of the order were seized by the police in a search of the quarters of Baron Bassus, whose membership in the order on account of his close friendship with Zwack, brought him under the government’s suspicion. The police visitation referred to yielded no very important result, apart from establishing more solidly the government’s claim that the order had not obeyed the first edict. The papers seized in this instance were published by the government under the title,Nachtrag von weiteren Originalschriften … Zwei Abtheilungen, Munich, 1787.
[431]Forestier, pp. 504et seq.
[432]Mändl, in the most cowardly fashion, charged the order with unmentionable practices. He seems to have been the Judas in the order’s inner circle.Cf.Forestier, pp. 505et seq.Cf.Engel, pp. 331et seq.
[433]Massenhausen was Ajax in the order. The papers seized by the police identified him as one of Weishaupt’s intimates.
[434]The “revelations” of Mändl appear to have been immediately responsible for the edict.Cf.Forestier, p. 507.
[435]Engel,op. cit., p. 280.
[436]“Unter der nemlichen confiscations—und relegations Straf werden die illuminaten Logen, sie mögen gleich auf diesen oder anderen Namen umgetauft seyn, ebenfalls verbothen, worauf man auch allenthalben gute Spehr’ [Späher] bestellen, und die Gesellschaften, welche entweder in Wirth—oder Privathäusern mit versperrten Thüren oder sonst auf verdächtige Weise gehalten werden, als wahre Logen behandeln lassen, und die so leer als gewöhnliche Ausrede, das es nur ehrliche Compagnien von guten Freunden sind, zumal von jenen, welche sich des Illuminatismi und der Freygeisterei vorhin schon suspect gemacht haben, nicht annehmen wird….” Quoted by Engel, p. 280.
[437]Forestier,op. cit., p. 509.
[438]Forestier,op. cit., pp. 511et seq.Cf.Engel,op. cit., pp. 378et seq.
[439]Ibid., p. 369.Cf.Forestier, pp. 511et seq.
[440]Ibid., p. 512.
[441]Ibid., pp. 512et seq.An effort to secure the extradition of Weishaupt was defeated by an appeal to Duke Ernst.Cf.Engel, pp. 231et seq.
[442]The most significant of these were the following:Einleitung zu meiner Apologie, 1787;Bemerkungen über einige Originalschriften, published soon after the former;Das verbesserte System der Illuminaten mit allen seinen Graden Einrichtungen, also soon after the first mentioned work;Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten, 1787;Nachtrag zur Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten, 1787.
[443]A sympathetic and moving account of the last years of Weishaupt’s life appears in Engel,op. cit., pp. 380–402.
[444]Forestier,op. cit., pp. 543et seq.
[445]“Es muss die Furcht vor dem verschrieenen Illuminatismus geradezu wie ein Druck in der Luft gehangen haben, denn der Orden selbst existierte in seiner festeren Organisation schon lange nicht mehr, als sich die Gespensterfurcht vor ihm in so allgemeiner Weise breit machte.” (Engel,op. cit., p. 425.)
[446]Forestier,op. cit., p. 613.
[447]Ibid., pp. 613et seq.
[448]As late as November 15, 1790, incited thereto by the priest Frank, the duke of Bavaria proclaimed a new interdict against the order. The threat of death as a punishment for membership in the order or activity on its behalf was again imposed.Cf.Engel, p. 371; Forestier, pp. 614et seq.The following year the police of the city of Munich compiled a list of ninety-one names (Forestier gives the number as ninety-two,cf. ibid., p. 615), of members of the order who were supposed to be still active, and proceeded to apply the policy of banishing those who were held to be most dangerous. A number suffered in this way.Cf.Engel, pp. 371et seq.Cf.Forestier, pp. 615et seq.A spirit of reckless denunciation ruled in Munich, because of which no suspected man’s person was safe. Not until the death of Carl Theodore, in 1799, did this period of hostility to the order on the part of the Bavarian government finally come to an end.
[449]A reorganization of the Rosicrucian system had taken place in 1767, which stressed the antiquity, sanctity, and superior character of the order in its relations to the rest of the Masonic fraternity. According to their claims, the Rosicrucians alone were able to explain the hieroglyphics, symbols, and allegories of Freemasonry. The structure of the order was greatly elaborated at the time indicated, and thus supplementing its traditional appeal to the thirst for alchemy and magic, the order grew rapidly.Cf.Forestier, pp. 187–191.Cf.Engel, p. 240.
[450]Vehse, in hisGeschichte des Preussischen Hofes, vol. ii, p. 35, puts the matter thus: “In den Ländern nun, wo sie aufgehoben waren, brauchten die Exjesuiten das Mittel in den geheimen Gesellschaften Aufnahme zu suchen. Sie bildeten hier eine schleichende und deshalb um so sichere Opposition gegen alle Aufklärungstendenzen. In dem Freimaurerorden stifteten sie die sogenannten ‘inneren Systeme.’ Hier waren sie als Proselytenmacher ganz in der Stille tätig und arbeiteten mit Macht darauf hin, das obscurante Pfaffentum und die despotische Hierarchie in beiden Konfessionen, im Protestantismus sowohl als Katholizismus wieder herzustellen.” (Quoted by Engel, pp. 241et seq.)
[451]Forestier,op. cit., p. 191. Engel,op. cit., p. 242.
[452]Ibid., p. 242.
[453]Ibid., pp. 247et seq.Forestier brings into connection with this effort of the king of Prussia to check the supposed operations of the Illuminati, a further reproach which came upon the order on account of the course pursued by the Rosicrucians in spreading the report in the Masonic world that the Eclectic Alliance, an ill-fated effort to unite and dominate German Freemasonry, launched in 1783, was a survival of the Order of the Illuminati. The unpopularity and suspicion which the Eclectic Alliance incurred were due in part to its attempts to eliminate the high grades of Masonry, but more especially to the charges made against it by representatives of rival Masonic systems that it had at heart the undermining of the Christian religion.Cf. ibid., pp. 617et seq., 383–388. The Illuminati had had affiliations with the Eclectic Alliance, and hence a certain justification had been given for the accusations which were transferred from the former to the latter.
[454]The loose use of the term “Illuminati” involved in these statements is only partially illustrated in the following comment of Mounier: “On a donné par dérision la qualité d’Illuminésà tous les charlatans mystiques de ce siècle, à tous ceux qui s’occupent d’alchimie, de magie et de cabale, de revenans, de relations avec des esprits intermédiaires, tels que les Saint-Germain, les Cagliostro, les Swedenborg, les Rose-croix et les Martinistes: mais il a existé une autre espèce d’illuminés en Allemagne” (i. e., Weishaupt’s system). (De l’influence attribuée aux philosophes, aux franc-maçons et aux illuminés, sur la révolution de France, p. 169.) Not these systems alone, but the representatives of the diffused forces of the Enlightenment were appointed to share the mantle of the ambiguous term.
[455]Baron Knigge. In responding to Bahrdt’s appeal to assist him in working out the system of the German Union, Knigge violated the pledge he had made to the Bavarian government not to concern himself again with secret organizations. For his indiscretion he paid the penalty of an unpleasant notoriety.Cf.Forestier, p. 629.
[456]Bahrdt’s career was objectionable from almost every point of view. He had been first a pastor, and later a professor of sacred philology at the University of Leipzig. Here, as at Erfurt, the place of his next professional labors, his dissolute conduct involved him in public scandals which lost him his post. In 1771 he went to Giessen as preacher and professor of theology. Later, after numerous changes of location and in the character of his educational activity, he took refuge at Halle, where he conducted courses in rhetoric, eloquence, declamation, and ethics. A man of low tastes, his life was without dignity and solid convictions.Cf.Forestier, pp. 624et seq.; Mounier, pp. 201et seq.; P. Tschackert, in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie, 3. Aufl., ii, (1897), pp. 357–359.
[457]These associations were to be divided into six grades: Adolescent, Man, Elder, Mesopolite, Diocesan, and Superior. A ritual was provided and the low initiation fee of onethalerimposed. The system, never fully developed, conveys the impression of crudeness and absurdity.
[458]Mounier, pp. 201et seq.Forestier makes the added suggestion that Bahrdt saw in the formation of the Union a chance to further his own literary ambitions and pecuniary interests.Cf.Forestier, p. 627.
[459]Ibid., pp. 629, 630.
[460]Ibid.
[461]Mounier, p. 186.
[462]“Die merkwürdigste, aber auch gleichzeitig groteskeste Beschuldigung, die jemals dem Illuminatenorden nachgesagt worden ist, war die, dass er die französische Revolution zur Explosion gebracht habe. Es gehörte recht viel Kombinationsvermögen und Taschenspielerei in der Logik dazu, um den Beweis für diese wundersame Behauptung zusammenzuleimen, aber in jener Zeit wurde tatsächlich alles geglaubt, sobald es sich darum handelte, dem Illuminatismus eine neue Schurkerei aufzuhalsen.” (Engel, pp. 402, 404.Cf.Mounier, pp. 124, 215et seq.)
[463]Published anonymously at Munich, in 1794.
[464]Title in full:Illuminatus Dirigens oder Schottischer Ritter. Ein Pendant zu der nicht unwichtigen Schrift: Die neuesten Arbeiten, etc., Munich, 1794.
[465]The grades of Priest and Regent were reproduced in the first of these two works. The most objectionable principles of the order were reserved to these two grades.
[466]Forestier brings into connection with the publication of these pamphlets the appearance of certain brochures of Knigge’s, wherein he espoused with great ardor the cause of the French Revolutionists. The special import of this requires no comment.Cf. ibid., pp. 636et seq.
[467]Hoffman had himself been a member of the Illuminati, at Vienna.Cf.Forestier,op. cit., p. 646.
[468]The date was early in 1792 (!).Cf. ibid., p. 646.
[469]Forestier, whose treatment at this point is characteristically thorough, gives the titles, or otherwise refers to not less than fourteen pamphlets or brochures, in addition to numerous magazine articles.Cf. ibid., pp. 649–658.
[470]Forestier,op. cit., pp. 649–658.
[471]Johann Joachim Christoph Bode (1730–1793), by no means a distinguished representative of the German literati of his period, occupied a fairly important rôle in the history of the Order of the Illuminati. After Weishaupt’s flight to Ingolstadt he was the most active leader in the ranks of the persecuted order.Cf.Forestier, pp. 543et seq.He was profoundly interested in Masonry. In 1790 he projected a plan for the union of all the German lodges of Masonry. The effort proved futile.
[472]ThePhilalètheswere conspicuous among French Freemasons for their unequalled devotion to alchemy and theurgy. The order was founded about 1773.
[473]Staack, in hisDer Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert(1803), vol. ii, p. 276, represents von dem Busche as a military official in the service of the Dutch government, and as a member of Weishaupt’s order. Mounier (p. 212) refers to him as a major in the service of the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. His figure is of no historical importance apart from its chance connection with the Illuminati legend.
[474]This bizarre and preposterous explanation of the genesis of the French Revolution was a favorite with contemporary German and French writers of the special-pleader type. It was used, as we shall see later, by both Robison and Barruel in their discussions of the rôle played by the Illuminati in the great French political and social debacle. Its classic statement was made a few years later by Staack, in hisDer Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert, vol. ii, pp. 348et seq.
A more silly exposition of the relation of the Illuminati to the French Revolution is that found in the fabulous tale related by the notorious Sicilian impostor, Giuseppe Balsamo (“Count” Alessandro Cagliostro), who, in 1790, having been arrested at Rome and interrogated by officials respecting his revolutionary principles, attempted to divert suspicion by recounting experiences he claimed to have had with two chiefs of the Illuminati, at Mitau, near Frankfort, Germany. Revelations had been made to him at that time (1780), he alleged, to the effect that the Order of the Illuminati was able to number 20,000 lodges, scattered through Europe and America; that its agents were industriously operating in all European courts, particularly, being lavishly financed with funds drawn from the immense treasures of the order; and that the next great blow of the order was to be delivered against the government of France.Cf.Sierke,Schwärmer und Schwindler zu Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts, pp. 407et seq.Both Engel (pp. 420et seq.) and Forestier (pp. 658et seq.) devote an unnecessary amount of space to Cagliostro’s foolish “revelations”. It is sufficient for our purpose to remark in passing that, in any case, Cagliostro was not discussing the affairs of Weishaupt’s order, but the affairs of the Strict Observance whose growing credulity and occultism caused the term “Illuminati” sometimes to be applied to them.
[475]“Ses principes étaient directement contraires à ceux des illuminés; il n’était pas homme à placer ses espérances dans un intervalle de mille ans. Il n’a jamais pensé qu’un peuple pût devenir assez vertueux pour se passer de lois et de magistrats. Il a soutenu la vraie théorie de la balance des pouvoirs, et combattu le despotisme populaire, toutes les fois que l’amour de la célébrité et l’intérêt de son ambition ne le faisaient pas agir contre sa propre doctrine, et les illuminés n’auraient été capables, ni d’ajouter à ses lumières, ni de changer sa théorie, ni de corriger ses vices.” (Mounier, pp. 216et seq.) This judgment of a sensible and impartial critic of the French Revolution, first submitted to the public in 1801, is as valid now as then.
[476]Without citing his authority, Forestier makes the statement that von dem Busche’s interest in the reform of the debased order of thePhilalèthesled him not only to accompany Bode but to offer to pay his expenses.Cf.Forestier, p. 666.
[477]The theories andséancesof the empiric, Mesmer, were greatly agitating Paris at the time and attracting attention throughout Europe.
[478]Mounier, pp. 212et seq.Cf.Forestier, pp. 664et seq.While Bode was in Paris he kept in close correspondence with his German friend, Frau Hess, of Hirschberg. Engel, who made an examination of this correspondence in the Royal Library at Dresden, was unable to discover the slightest intimation that Bode’s mind, while he was in Paris, was occupied with anything more revolutionary than the turning of thePhilalèthesaway from their craze for alchemy, cabala, theosophy, and theurgy, or in Mesmer’s theories.Cf.Engel, pp. 409–415. When Bode returned to Germany it is undeniable that he carried with him an unfavorable opinion of French Masonry.Cf.Forestier, p. 668.
[479]In addition to the two elaborated upon in the remainder of this chapter, the following are most worthy of note: Staack,Der Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert, vols. i, ii, 1803 (already noted); Proyard,Louis XVI et ses vertus aux prises avec la perversité du siècle, Paris, 1808 (4 vols.); De Malet,Recherches politiques et historiques qui prouvent l’existence d’une secte révolutionnaire, son antique origine, ses moyens, ainsi que son but, et dévoilent entièrement l’unique cause de la Révolution Française, Paris, 1817; De Langres,Des Sociétés Secrètes en Allemagne et dans d’autres contrées, de la Secte des Illuminés, du Tribunal Secret, de l’assassinat de Kotzebue, 1819; Le Couteulx,Les Sectes et Sociétés politiques et religieuses, Paris, 1863; Deschamps,Les Sociétés Secrètes et la Société, vols. i, ii, iii, Avignon, 1874–1876. As late as 1906, in an article in theEdinburgh Reviewof July of that year, Una Birch traversed much of the ground covered thus far in this and the preceding chapter and, on the theory that an event as spontaneous (?) as the French Revolutionmusthave originated in a definite coördination of ideas and doctrines, reaffirmed the general notion that the Masonic lodges of France, having been inoculated with the doctrines of the Illuminati, became the principal points of associative agitation for, and thus the direct cause of, the French Revolution. This essay may also be found in the volume of essays entitled,Secret Societies and the French Revolution(London and New York, 1911), by the same author.
[480]Later editions of this work, which in their number and geographical extent strongly suggest the degree of interest the subject had for the reading public, appeared as follows: second edition, London, 1797; third edition, London, 1798; fourth edition, London and New York, 1798; a French translation, London, 1798–99 (2 vols.); a German translation, Königslutter and Hamburg, 1800; a Dutch translation, Dordrecht (n. d.). See Wolfstieg,Bibliographie der Freimaurerischen Literatur, vol. i, pp. 192, 193.
[481]Robison was a mathematician, scientific writer, and lecturer in the field of natural philosophy, of considerable ability and distinction. The son of a Glasgow merchant, he was born in Scotland in 1739. He received the benefits of a thorough education, graduating from Glasgow University in 1756. The connections he enjoyed throughout his life were of the best. Subsequent to his graduation he became tutor to the son of Sir Charles Knowles, the English admiral, and later was appointed by the government to service in the testing out at sea of the newly completed chronometer of John Harrison, the horologist. Still later he went to Russia as private secretary to Sir Charles. While in Russia he was called to the chair of mathematics established in connection with the imperial sea-cadet corps of nobles. Abandoning this post, he returned to Scotland, and in 1773 became professor of natural philosophy in Edinburgh University, lecturing on such subjects as hydro-dynamics, astronomy, optics, electricity, and magnetism. His distinction in this general field seems clearly demonstrated by the fact that he was called upon to contribute to the third edition of theEncyclopaedia Britannicaarticles on seamanship, the telescope, optics, waterworks, resistance to fluids, electricity, magnetism, music,etc., as well as by the fact that when the Royal Society of Edinburgh was organized under royal charter in 1783, Robison was elected general secretary of that distinguished organization, an office he continued to hold until within a few years of his death. The versatility of the man is further evidenced by the fact that he was deeply interested in music, attaining the mastery of several instruments, and in the writing of verse. His reputation was not confined to Great Britain. In 1790 the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. (Cf.General Catalogue of the College of New Jersey, 1746–1896, p. 177.The Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xlix, p. 58, incorrectly gives the date for the bestowal of this degree as 1798.) Later, his alma mater, Glasgow University, bestowed upon him a like honor.
In addition to his encyclopaedia articles and his book on the Illuminati, Robison edited and published the lectures of Dr. Black, the chemist, and the following scientific works, the product of his own intellectual activity:Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Mechanical Philosophy, Edinburgh, 1797, andElements of Mechanical Philosophy, Edinburgh, 1804. The latter was intended to be the initial volume of a series, but its successors were not forthcoming. A posthumous work of four volumes entitled,A System of Mechanical Philosophy, with Notes by David Brewster, LL.D., was published at Edinburgh in 1822. The death of Robison occurred in 1805. (For the material incorporated in the foregoing the writer is chiefly indebted to theDictionary of National Biography, vol. xlix, pp. 57, 58, and to casual references in theTransactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vols. i–v.)
[482]“Die Neuesten Religionsbegebenheiten mit unpartheyischen Anmerkungen mit Beihülfe mehrerer von H. M. G. Köster, Professor in Giessen, herausgegeben Jg. 1–20 Giessen, 1778–97 verfolgten gleichfalls den Zweck, von den wichtigsten Vorfällen aus der Religionsgeschichte der Gegenwart eine deutliche, gründliche und nützliche Beschreibung zu liefern, doch beschränkten sie sich dabei vornehmlich auf Deutschland und richteten sich in erster Linie an Laien und Nichttheologen” (Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie, 3rd ed., vol. xxiv, Leipzig, 1913, p. 673).
[483]Though a Mason, Robison was by no means an ardent supporter of Freemasonry. The English Masonic lodges with which he was acquainted impressed him as having no higher function than that of supplying “a pretext for passing an hour or two in a sort of decent conviviality, not altogether void of some rational occupation.” He found the lodges on the continent, however, “matters of serious concern and debate.”Cf.Proofs of a Conspiracy, etc., pp. 1et seq.(The edition of Robison’s book here as elsewhere referred to is the third [London] edition of 1798.) Robison professed to have visited lodges at Liège, Valenciennes, Brussels, Aix-la-Chapelle, Berlin, Königsberg, and St. Petersburg. Everywhere he found an elaboration of ritual, joined with a spirit of grave interest in the affairs of Freemasonry, which filled him with astonishment and seemed to call for explanation.Cf. ibid., pp. 2et seq.
[484]Robison,op. cit., p. 7. Robison also made use of several of the works which the disturbances occasioned by the Bavarian Illuminati called forth on the continent. Conspicuous among these were the documents of the order published by the Bavarian government.Cf. ibid., pp. 133, 185, 186, 205,etc.He also made use of Hoffman’s violently hostile sheet, theWiener Zeitschrift.Cf. ibid., pp. 358, 393. Robison’s knowledge of the German language was, however, far from perfect, as he himself freely admitted (Cf. ibid., pp. 14, 499), so that his handling of his sources must be viewed as neither capable nor complete. The meagerness of his resources is perhaps best illustrated in his treatment of the conspiracy which he assumed underlay the French Revolution. Such “proofs” as he made use of in this connection amounted to little more than the political manifestoes of certain secret lodges and clubs, fugitive revolutionary documents which chanced to blow across his path, current historical conjecture and gossip,etc.The whole was pieced together in the spirit of one who ventured to hope that his “scattered facts” might be of some service to his generation. (Cf. ibid., pp. 493–496.)
[485]Robison,op. cit., pp. 10, 11, 15.
[486]An illustration of the carelessness with which Robison handled his dates is found on pages 15 and 133 (cf.p. 103) of theProofs of a Conspiracy, etc., in the matter of the date of the founding of the Order of the Illuminati. Far more serious in its reflection on the author’s lack of accuracy and insight is such looseness and general unsoundness of treatment as permitted him to represent the Jesuits as frequenters of English and French Masonic lodges, while at the same time indicting the latter as fully committed to a free-thinking propaganda which sought nothing less than the eradication ofreligion, not to speak of its institutions.Cf. ibid., pp. 22et seq.Robison’s superficial explanation of the anticlericalism of Weishaupt might be cited as another illustration of the blundering method pursued in the book.Cf. ibid., pp. 101, 103et seq.His weak and practically pointless digression in order to find opportunity to comment on the educational projects of Basedow will serve to illustrate the discursive quality in his work.Cf. ibid., 85et seq.
[487]Robison’s exposition of the elements of uncontrolled curiosity and conjecture as elements in his purpose in writing the book is not without significance: “I must entreat that it be remembered that these sheets are not the work of an author determined to write a book. They were for the most part notes, which I took from books I had borrowed, that I might occasionally have recourse to them when occupied with Free Masonry, the first object of my curiosity. My curiosity was diverted to many other things as I went along, and when the Illuminati came in my way, I regretted the time I had thrown away on Free Masonry. (But, observing their connection, I thought that I perceived the progress of one and the same design. This made me eager to find out any remains of Weishaupt’s Association. I was not surprised when I saw marks of its interference in the French Revolution.) In hunting for clearer proofs I found out the German Union—and, in fine, the whole appeared to be one great and wicked project, fermenting and working over all Europe.” (Ibid., pp. 493et seq.) Encouraged by his friends, Robison “set about collecting my [his] scattered facts.” (Ibid., p. 494.)
[488]Ibid., pp. 28et seq.
[489]Robison does not wholly miss the true point in his survey of the backgrounds of the French Revolution. He points out numerous “cooperating causes” which served to make the Revolution inevitable. “Perhaps there never was a nation where all these cooperating causes had acquired greater strength than in France. Oppressions of all kinds were at a height. The luxuries of life were enjoyed exclusively by the upper classes, and this in the highest degree of refinement; so that the desires of the rest were whetted to the utmost. Even religion appeared in an unwelcome form, and seemed chiefly calculated for procuring establishments for the younger sons of insolent and useless nobility. For numbers of men of letters were excluded, by their birth, from all hopes of advancement to the higher stations in the church. These men frequently vented their discontents by secretly joining the laics in their bitter satires on such in the higher orders of the clergy, as had scandalously departed from the purity and simplicity of manners which Christianity enjoins. Such examples were not unfrequent, and none was spared in those bitter invectives…. The faith of the nation was shaken; and when, in a few instances, a worthy Curé uttered the small still voice of true religion, it was not heard amidst the general noise of satire and reproach. The misconduct of administration, and the abuse of the public treasures, were every day growing more impudent and glaring, and exposed the government to continual criticism.” (Robison, pp. 60et seq.Cf. ibid., pp. 362et seq.) These “cooperating causes” receive little emphasis, however, in Robison’s zealous effort to trace the revolutionary spirit to its lair in the Masonic lodges of France.