THAT great European
movement in the direction of the secularization of thought to
which the expressive term, the Aufklädrung or
Enlightenment, has been applied, and which reached its apogee
in the latter half of the eighteenth century, encountered a
stubborn opposition in southern Germany in the electorate of
Bavaria. The pivot of Bavarian politics, particularly from the
beginning of the sixteenth century, had been the alliance which
had been effected between the clerical party and the civil
power. The counter reformation which followed in the wake of
the Lutheran movement was able to claim the field in Bavaria
without the necessity of a combat.
In the third quarter of the eighteenth century
Bavaria was a land where sacerdotalism reigned supreme.
Religious houses flourished in abundance; the number of priests
and nuns was incredibly large.1. So easy were the ways of life in that fertile
country that a lack of seriousness and intensity of feeling
among the masses flung open the door for superstitious
practices which made the popular religion little better than
gross fetichism. So-called "miraculous" images were commonly
paraded through the streets; innumerable statues and sacred
relics were exposed to the gaze of crowds of the faithful; the
patronage of the saints was assiduously solicited. Among the
educated there was a widespread conviction that the piety of
the people was ignorant and that their trustful attitude made
them the prey of many impostors.
The degree of power to which the
representatives of the Society of Jesus had been able to attain
in Bavaria was all but absolute.2. Members of the order were the confessors and
preceptors of the electors; hence they had a direct influence
upon the policies of government. The censorship of religion had
fallen into their eager hands, to the extent that some of the
parishes even were compelled to recognize their authority and
power. To exterminate all Protestant influence and to render
the Catholic establishment complete, they had taken possession
of the instruments of public education. It was by Jesuits that
the majority of the Bavarian colleges were founded, and by them
they were controlled. By them also the secondary schools of the
country were conducted. 3.
The prevailing type of education in Bavaria
had little more to commend it than the popular type of
religion.4. The pedagogical aim of the Jesuits
was the development of the memory with scant regard for other
faculties of the mind. To learn the catechism, or in the case
of advanced pupils to receive unquestioningly the dogmatic
instruction offered by clerical pedagogues, was the ideal
honored throughout the Bavarian schools. Books which bore the
slightest taint of Protestant influence, or which in any other
way gave evidence of a liberalizing spirit, were ruthlessly
banned.5.
Such were the conditions of life under which
the great mass of the people lived. There was, however, a
relatively small group of cultivated people in Bavaria who,
despite the clerical oppression and bigotry from which they
suffered, had contrived to share in the liberalizing spirit of
the larger world. The censorship exerted by the Jesuits had
found no adequate means to guard against the broadening
influences of travel or of contact with travelers from other
lands, or even to prevent the introduction of all contraband
journals and books. The effect of the former had been to create
a humiliating and galling sense of inferiority on the part of
liberal-minded Bavarians, 6. while the latter had served to stimulate a
thirst for the new knowledge which the rationalism of the age
made available. To this small group of discontented and
ambitious spirits the ancient faith had ceased to be
satisfactory, and the burden of clericalism had become
insufferable.
The University of Ingolstadt, established in
1472, was destined to become a rallying point for these radical
tendencies. In the middle of the sixteenth century the Jesuits
had gained control of its faculties of philosophy and theology,
and for two centuries thereafter the university had been
counted upon as the chief fortress of clericalism in Bavaria.7. By the middle of the eighteenth century the
deadening effect of the rigorous censorship exerted by the
Jesuits had produced its full fruitage at Ingolstadt. The
university had fallen into a state of profound decadence.8.
With the accession of Maximilian Joseph9. as elector, in 1745, the breath of a new life
soon stirred within its walls. For the position of curator of
the university the elector named a well-known and resolute
radical of the day, Baron Johann Adam Ickstatt, and charged him
with the responsibility of reorganizing the institution upon a
more liberal basis.10. Measures were adopted
promptly by the latter looking to the restoration of the
prestige of the university through the modernization of its
life. The ban was lifted from books whose admission to the
library had long been prohibited, chairs of public law and
political economy were established, and recruits to the faculty
were sought in other universities.11.
It was, of course, not to be expected that the
clerical party, whose power in the university, as has been
intimated, was particularly well entrenched in the faculties of
philosophy and theology, would retire from the field without a
struggle.12. A sharp contest arose over the
introduction of non-Catholic books, into which the elector
himself was drawn, and which in addition to the substantial
victory that Ickstatt won, had the further effect of aligning
the two parties in the university squarely against each
other.13. It was only a few years after this
episode, when the Jesuits were still chafing under the sharp
setback which their policies had suffered, that the name of
Adam Weishaupt first appeared (in 1772) on the roll of the
faculty of the university as professor extraordinary of
law.
Weishaupt (born February 6, 1748; died
November 18, 1830) entered upon his professional career at
Ingolstadt after an educational experience which had made him a
passionate enemy of clericalism. His father having died when
the son was only seven, his godfather, none other than Baron
Ickstatt, compelled doubtless by the necessities of the case,
had turned the early training of the boy over to the Jesuits.
The cramming process through which he thus passed was destined
to prove unusually baneful in his case14. on account of certain influences which
penetrated his life from another quarter. Accorded free range
in the private library of his godfather, the boy's questioning
spirit was deeply impressed by the brilliant though pretentious
works of the French "philosophers" with which the shelves were
plentifully stocked.15. Here was food for the fires of imagination
just beginning to flame up in this unsophisticated and pedantic
youth. Here, also, were ready solvents for the doubts with
which his experience with Jesuit teachers had filled his mind.
The enthusiasm of the most susceptible of neophytes seized him:
he would make proselytes, he would deliver others from their
bondage to outworn beliefs, he would make it his duty to rescue
men from the errors into which the race had long been
plunged.16. His object in life thus early
determined, he threw himself with great zeal into the study of
law, economics, politics, history, and philosophy. He devoured
every book which chanced to fall into his hands.17.
After graduating from the University of
Ingolstadt in 1768, he served for four years in the capacity of
tutor and catechist until his elevation to the rank of
assistant instructor took place. The favor he was permitted to
enjoy as the protegé of Ickstatt 18. brought him more rapid advancement than that
to which his native abilities entitled him. In 1773 he was
called to the chair of canon law, which for a period of ninety
years had been held by representatives of the Jesuits.19. Two years later, when he was but twenty-seven
years of age, he was made dean of the faculty of law. Such a
rapid improvement in his professional standing proved far from
salutary. The young man's vanity was immensely flattered and
his reforming resolution unduly encouraged. His sense of
personal worth as the leader of the liberal cause in the
university quite outran his merit.20.
Meantime the Jesuits, observing with deep
resentment Weishaupt's meteoric rise,21. together with a growing disposition on his
part to voice unrestrained criticism of ecclesiastical
intolerance and bigotry, entered into intrigues to checkmate
his influence and undermine his position.22. The payment of his salary was protested and
the notion that he was a dangerous free-thinker industriously
disseminated.23. On his part, Weishaupt did
not scruple to furnish Ickstatt's successor, Lori, with secret
reports calculated to put the Jesuit professors in the
university in an unfavorable light.24. A disagreeable squabble resulted, marked on
the one hand by clerical jealousy and pettiness and on the
other by Weishaupt's imprudence of speech25. and indifference to considerations of
professional honor.
The effect of this unseemly strife upon
Weishaupt was to establish firmly in his mind the conviction
that as the university's most influential leader against the
cause of ecclesiastical obscurantism he was being made a martyr
for free speech.26. In no way disposed to be
sacrificed to the animosity of enemies whose power he greatly
overestimated, he arrived at the conclusion that a general
offensive against the clerical party ought immediately to be
undertaken. A secret association was needed which, growing more
and more powerful through the increase of its members and their
progress in enlightenment, should be able to outwit the
manoeuvres of the enemies of reason not only in Ingolstadt but
throughout the world. Only by a secret coalition of the friends
of liberal thought and progress could the forces of
superstition and error be overwhelmed. Over the scheme of such
an association consecrated to the cause of truth and reason,
the self-esteem of Weishaupt kindled anew as he contemplated
none other than himself at its head.27.
His imagination having taken heat from his
reflections upon the attractive power of the Eleusinian
mysteries and the influence exerted by the secret cult of the
Pythagoreans, it was first in Weishaupt's thought to seek in
the Masonic institutions of the day the opportunity he coveted
for the propagation of his views. From this, original
intention, however, he was soon diverted, in part because of
the difficulty he experienced in commanding sufficient funds to
gain admission to a lodge of Masons, in part because his study
of such Masonic books as came into his hands persuaded him that
the "mysteries" of Freemasonry were too puerile and too readily
accessible to the general public to make them worthwhile.28. He deemed it necessary, therefore, to launch
out on independent lines. He would form a model secret
organization, comprising "schools of wisdom," concealed from
the gaze of the world behind walls of seclusion and mystery,
wherein those truths which the folly and egotism of the priests
banned from the public chairs of education might be taught with
perfect freedom to susceptible youths.29. By the constitution of an order whose chief
function should be that of teaching, an instrument would be at
hand for attaining the goal of human progress, the perfection
of morals and the felicity of the race.30.
On May 1, 1776, the new organization was
founded, under the name of the Order of the Illuminati,31. with a membership of five all told. The
extremely modest beginning of the order in respect to its
original membership was more than matched by the confusion
which existed in Weishaupt's mind as to the precise form which
the organization had best take. Only three elementary grades,
or ranks, had been worked out by him, and these only in a crude
and bungling fashion, when the enterprise was launched. A
feverish regard for action had full possession of the founder
of the order; the working-out of his hazy ideas of organization
might wait for quieter days.32.
Out of the, voluminous and rambling
expositions which Weishaupt at various times made of the three
primary grades, viz., Novice, Minerval, and Illuminated
Minerval, the following brief descriptions are
extracted.
To the grade of Novice youths of promise were
to be admitted, particularly those who were rich, eager to
learn, virtuous, and docile, though firm and persevering.33. Such were to be enrolled only after their
imaginations and desires had been artfully aroused by
suggestions concerning the advantages to be derived from secret
associations among likeminded men, the superiority of the
social state over that of nature, the dependence of all
governments upon the consent of the governed, and the delight
of knowing and directing men.34. Once enrolled, the instruction of each Novice
was to be in the hands of his enroller, who kept well hidden
from his pupil the identity of the rest of his superiors. Such
statutes of the order as he was permitted to read impressed
upon the mind of the Novice that the particular ends sought in
his novitiate were to ameliorate and perfect his moral
character, expand his principles of humanity and sociability,
and solicit his interest in the laudable objects of thwarting
the schemes of evil men, assisting oppressed virtue, and
helping men of merit to find suitable places in the world.35. Having had impressed upon him the necessity of
maintaining inviolable secrecy respecting the affairs of the
order, the further duties of subordinating his egoistic views
and interests and of according respectful and complete
obedience to his superiors were next enjoined. An important
part of the responsibility of the Novice consisted in the
drawing-up of a detailed report (for the archives of the
order), containing complete, information concerning his family
and his personal career, covering such remote items as the
titles of the books he possessed, the names of his personal
enemies and the occasion of their enmity, his own strong and
weak points of character, the dominant passions of his parents,
the names of their parents and intimates, etc.36. Monthly reports were also required, covering
the benefits the recruit had received from and the services he
had rendered to the order.37. For the building-up of the order the Novice
must undertake his share in the work of recruitment, his
personal advancement to the higher grades being conditioned
upon the success of such efforts.38. To those whom he enrolled he became in turn a
superior; and thus after a novitiate presumably two years in
length,39. the way was open for his promotion
to the next higher grade.
The ceremony of initiation through which the
Novice passed into the grade Minerval was expected to disabuse
the mind of the candidate of any lingering suspicion that the
order had as its supreme object the subjugation of the rich and
powerful, or the, overthrow of civil and ecclesiastical
government.40. It also pledged the
candidate to be useful to humanity; to maintain a silence
eternal, a fidelity inviolable, and an obedience implicit with
respect to all the superiors and rules of the order; and to
sacrifice all personal interests to those of the society.41. Admitted to the rank of Minerval, the
candidate received into his hands the printed statutes of the
order, wherein he learned that in addition to the duties he had
performed as novice, his obligations had been extended with
special reference to his studies.42. These were to be more highly specialized, and
the fruits of his researches from time to time turned over to
the superiors. In the prosecution of difficult labors of this
character, he was to be free to call to his assistance other
Minervals in his district,43. He might also count upon the assistance of his
superiors in the form of letters of recommendation in case he
undertook travels in the pursuit of his studies; and should he
form the resolve to publish his material, the order pledged
itself to protect him against the rapacity of booksellers who
might show themselves disposed to overcharge him for the works
he wished to consult, as well as to render assistance in
attracting the attention of the public to his work.44.
In the assemblies of this grade the Minerval
for the first time came into contact with the members of the
order. In other words, his life within the society actually
began.45. The thirst for the sense of secret
association with men like interests and aims, which the
member's long novitia had developed, began to find its
satisfaction.46. Ordina Minervals and "
illuminated " Minervals mingled together in these assemblies 47. and mutually devoted their deliberations to
the affairs of the order.
To the grade Illuminated Minerval were
admitted those Minervals who in the judgment of their superiors
were worthy of advancement. Elaborate initiatory ceremonies
fixed in the candidate's mind the notions that the progressive
purification of his life was to be expected as he worked his
way upward in the order,48. and that the mastery of the art of directing
men was to be his special pursuit as long as he remained in the
new grade. To accomplish the latter, i.e., to become an
expert psychologist and director of men's consciences, he must
observe and study constantly the actions, purposes, desires,
faults, and virtues of the little group of Minervals who were
placed under his personal direction and care.49. For his guidance in this difficult task a
complicated mass of instructions was furnished him50.
In addition to their continued presence in the
assemblies of the Minervals, the members of this grade came
together once a month by themselves, to hear reports concerning
their disciples, to discuss methods of accomplishing the best
results in their work of direction and to solicit each other's
counsel in difficult and embarrassing cases.51. In these meetings the records of the
assemblies of the Minervals were reviewed and rectified and
afterwards transmitted to the superior officers of the
order.
Such, in brief, was the system of the
Illuminati as it came from the brain of Weishaupt, its founder.
By means of such an organization he proposed to effect nothing
less than the redemption of the world. In its assemblies the
truths of human equality and fraternity were to be taught and
practised.52. Its members were to be trained to
labor for the welfare of the race; to strive for a
civilization, not like that of the present, which left men
savage and ferocious under its thin veneer, but one which would
so radically change their moral dispositions as to put all
their desires under the control of reason-the supreme end of
life, which neither civil nor religious institutions had been
able to secure.53. The study of man was to be
made at once so minute, so comprehensive, and so complete 54. that two immense advantages would result:
first, the acquisition of the art of influencing favorably the
wills of one's fellows, thus making social reformation
possible; and second, self-knowledge.55. Then is to say, the thorough scrutiny of the
instincts, passions, thoughts, and prejudices of others, which
the order imposed upon him, would react in turn upon the
member's judgment of his own personal life. As a result his
conscience would be subjected to frequent examination, and the
faults of his life might be expected to yield to correction.
From both of these advantages, working together, a moral
transformation of the whole of society would result, thus
securing the state of universal well-being.56.
But this conception of the order as
essentially an instrument of social education requires to be
balanced by another, viz., its anticlericalism. Its
founder professed that at the time when the idea of the order
was taking shape in his mind he was profoundly influenced by
the persecutions which honest men of unorthodox sentiments had
been compelled to suffer on account of their views.57. Considerations growing out of his own personal
embarrassments and imagined peril on account of his clashings
with the Jesuits were also admittedly weighty in his thought.58. It is therefore to be regarded as a
substantial element in his purpose to forge a weapon against
the Jesuits, and in a larger sense to create a league defensive
and offensive against all the enemies of free thought.59.
Accordingly, the expression of utterances
hostile to Christian dogmas was early heard within the
assemblies of the order60. and only the difficulty experienced in working
out the supreme grade of the order inhibited Weishaupt's
intention of converting it into a council of war to circumvent
and overwhelm the advocates of supernaturalism and the enemies
of reason.61. The pure religion of Christ, which,
doctrinally conceived, had degenerated into asceticism and,
from the institutional standpoint,62. had become a school of fanaticism and
intolerance, was pronounced a doctrine of reason, converted
into a religion for no other purpose than to make it more
efficacious.63. To love God and one's
neighbor was to follow in the way of redemption which Jesus of
Nazareth, the grand master of the Illuminati, marked out as
constituting the sole road which leads to liberty.64.
The objects of the order were such as to
appeal to the discontented elements in a country suffering from
intellectual stagnation due to ecclesiastical domination.65. Despite this fact, its growth during the first
four years of its existence was anything but rapid. By that
time four centers of activity, in addition to Ingolstadt, had
been established, and a total of possibly sixty members
recruited.66. While its visionary founder
considered that a solid basis for encouragement had been laid
67. as a matter of fact at the
termination of the period just indicated the organization was
seriously threatened with failure. Fundamental weaknesses had
developed from within. Chief among these was the tension which
existed almost from the first between Weishaupt and the men
whom he associated with him in the supreme direction of the
affairs of the order.68. The thirst for domination, which was native to
the soul of Weishaupt, converted the order into a despotism
against which men who had been taught by their leader that they
shared with him the innermost secrets of the organization,
rebelled. The result was the constant breaking-out of a spirit
of insubordination and a series of quarrels between the founder
and his associates which rendered the future progress of the
order very precarious.69. The extreme poverty of the organization
constituted another serious obstacle to its rapid growth. With
a view to demonstrating the genuine disinterestedness of the
society, an effort had been made from the beginning to
emphasize the financial interests of the order as little as
possible.70. The rules of the organization were
far from burdensome in this regard, and it is by no means
surprising that many of the proposed measures of the leaders in
the interests of a more extensive and effective propaganda
proved abortive for the very practical reason that funds were
not available to carry them into effect.71.
A decidedly new turn in the wheel of fortune
came some time within the compass of the year 1780,72. with the enrollment of Baron Adolf Franz
Friederich Knigge73. as a member. In the
recruiting of this prominent North German diplomat Weishaupt
and his associates found the resourceful and influential ally
for which the organization had Waited, a man endowed with a
genius for organization and so widely and favorably connected
that the order was able to reap an immense advantage from the
prestige which his membership bestowed upon it. Two weighty
consequences promptly followed as the result of Knigge's
advent into the order. The long-sought higher grades were
worked out, and an alliance between the Illuminati and
Freemasonry was effected.74.
Such was the confidence which Knigge's
presence immediately inspired in Weishaupt and his associates
that they hailed with enthusiasm his admission to the order,
and gladly abandoned to him the task of perfecting the system,
their own impotence for which they had been forced to admit.75. Manifesting a zeal and competency which fully
justified the high regard of his brethren, Knigge threw himself
into the task of elaborating and rendering compact and coherent
the childish ideas of organization which Weishaupt had
evolved.
The general plan of the order was so shaped as
to throw the various grades or ranks into three principal
classes.76. To the first class were to belong
the grades Minerval and Illuminatus Minor; to the second 77. ( i ) the usual three first grades of Masonry,
Apprentice, Fellow, and Master, (2) Illuminatus. Major, and (3)
Illuminatus Dirigens, or Scottish Knight; and to the third
class were reserved the Higher Mysteries, including (a) the
Lesser Mysteries, made up of the ranks of Priest and Prince,
and (b) the Greater Mysteries, comprising the ranks of Magus
and King.78.
A detailed description of the various grades
of Knigge's system would far outrun the reader's interest and
patience.79. The present writer therefore will
content himself with making such comments as seem best suited
to supply a general idea of the revised system.
The grade Novice (a part of the system only in
a preparatory sense) was left unchanged by Knigge, save for the
addition of a printed communication to be put into the hands of
all new recruits, advising them that the Order of the
Illuminati stands over against all other forms of contemporary
Freemasonry as the one type not degenerate, and as such alone
able to restore the craft to its ancient splendor.80. The grade Minerval was reproduced as respects
its statutes but greatly elaborated in its ceremonies under the
influence of Masonic usages with which Knigge was familiar.81. The grade Illuminatus Minor was likewise left
identical with Weishaupt's redaction, save in unimportant
particulars as to special duties and in the working-out and
explanation of its symbolism.82.
The three symbolic grades of the second class
seem to have been devised solely for the purpose of supplying
an avenue whereby members of the various branches of the great
Masonic family could pass to the higher grades of the new
order.83. Membership in these grades was
regarded as a mere formality, the peculiar objects and secrets
of the order having, of course, to be apprehended later.
A candidate for admission to the grade of
Illuminatus Major was first to be subjected to a rigorous
examination as respects his connections with other secret
organizations and his objects in seeking advancement. His
superior, being satisfied upon these points, it was provided
that he should be admitted to the grade by means of a
ceremonial highly Masonic in its coloring. His special duties
were four in number: (1) to prepare a detailed analysis of his
character, according to specific instructions furnished him;
(2) to assist in the training of those members of the order who
were charged with the responsibility of recruiting new members;
(3) to put his talents and his social position under tribute
for the benefit of the order, either by himself stepping into
places of honor which were open or by nominating for such
places other members who were fitted to fill them; and (4) to
coöperate with other members of his rank in the direction
of the assemblies of the, Minervals.84.
Advanced to the grade of Illuminatus Dirigens,
or Scottish Knight, the member bound himself with a written
oath to withhold his support from every other system of
Masonry, or from any other secret society, and to put all his
talents and powers at the disposition of the order.85. His obligations in this rank were purely
administrative in their character. The inferior grades of the
order were territorially grouped together into prefectures, and
upon these the authority of the Illuminatus Dirigens was
imposed. Each Illuminatus Dirigens had a certain number of
Minerval assemblies and lodges assigned to him, and for the
welfare of these he was responsible to the superiors of the
order. The members of this grade constituted the "Sacred Secret
Chapter of the Scottish Knights," from which issued the patents
of constitution for the organization of new lodges.86.
To the first grade of the third class, that of
Priest,87. were admitted only such members as,
in the grade Minerval, had given proof of their zeal and
advancement in the particular sciences which they had chosen.88. The initiatory ceremonies of the grade
emphasized the wholly unsatisfactory character of existing
political and religious systems and sounded the candidate's
readiness to serve the order in its efforts to lead the race
away from the vain inventions of civil constitutions and
religious dogmas from which it suffered.89. Relieved entirely of administrative
responsibilities, the members of this grade devoted themselves
exclusively to the instruction of their subordinates in the
following branches of science: physics, medicine, mathematics,
natural history, political science, the arts and crafts, and
the occult sciences. In brief, the final supervision of the
teaching function of the order was in their hands, subject only
to the ultimate authority of their supreme heads.90.
Knigge's statutes provided that only a very
small number of members were to be admitted to the grade of
Prince.91. From this group the highest
functionaries of the order were to be drawn: National
Inspectors, Provincials,92. Prefects, and Deans of the Priests. Over them,
in turn, at the apex of the system and as sovereign heads of
the order, ruled the Areopagites.93.
So much for the external structure of the
system which Knigge reshaped. With respect to the aims and
principles of the order the modifications introduced by him
were considerable, although scarcely as comprehensive as in the
former case. 94. In certain instances the
ideas of Weishaupt were retained and developed;95. in others significant alterations were made or
new ideas introduced. Of the new ideas the two following were
unquestionably of greatest weight: 96. the notion of restricting the field of
recruiting solely to the young was abandoned, and this phase of
the propaganda was widened so as to include men of experience
whose wisdom and influence might be counted upon to assist in
attaining the objects of the order; 97. the policy was adopted that henceforth the
order should not occupy itself with campaigns against
particular political and religious systems, but that its
energies should be exerted against superstition, despotism, and
tyranny.98. In other words, the battle for
tolerance and enlightenment should be waged along universal and
not local lines. Accordingly, the esoteric teaching of the
order, under Knigge's revision, was reserved to the higher
grades.
The progress of the order from 1780 on 99. was so rapid as to raise greatly the spirits
of its leaders. The new method of spreading Illuminism by means
of its affiliation with Masonic lodges promptly demonstrated
its worth. Largely because of the fine strategy of seeking its
recruits among the officers and other influential personages in
the lodges of Freemasonry, one after another of the latter in
quick succession went over to the new system. 100. New prefectures were established, new
provinces organized, and Provincials began to report a steady
and copious stream of new recruits. 101. From Bavaria into the upper and lower Rhenish
provinces the order spread inito Suabia. Franconia.,
Westphalia, Upper and Lower Saxony, and outside of Germany into
Austria ' and Switzerland. Within a few months after Knigge
rescued the order from the moribund condition in which he found
it, the leaders were able to rejoice in the accession of three
hundred members, many of whom by their membership immensely
enhanced the prestige of the order. Students, merchants,
doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, judges, professors in
gymnasia and universities, preceptors, civil officers,
pastors, priests - all were generously represented among the
new recruits. 102. Distinguished names soon
appeared upon the rosters of the lodges of the new system. Duke
Ferdinand of Brunswick, Duke Ernst of Gotha, Duke Karl August
of Saxe-Weimar, Prince August of Saxe-Gotha, Prince Carl of
Hesse, Baron Dalberg, 103. the philosopher Herder, the poet Goethe, 104. the educationist Pestalozzi, 105. were among the number enrolled, By
the end of 1784 the leaders boasted of a total enrollment of
between two and three thousand members 106. and the establishment of the order upon a
solid foundation seemed to be fully assured. 107.
But just at the moment when the prospects were
brightest, the knell of doom suddenly sounded. 108. Dangers from within and from without, with
bewildering celerity and concurrence, like a besom of
destruction swept from the earth the order which Adam
Weishaupt, with such exaggerated anticipations, had constituted
out of a little group of obscure students at Ingolstadt, on May
Day, 1776.
The internal difficulties were of the nature
of dissensions among the chiefs. The old jealousies that
existed between Weishaupt and the Areopagites 109. before Knigge, reconstructed the order were
not eradicated by the introduction of the new system, and in
course of time they flamed forth anew. 110. But ugly in temper and subversive of
discipline and order as these petty contentions were, they were
of little importance as compared with the fatal discord which
arose between Weishaupt and Knigge. The spirit of humility that
the former manifested in 1780, when in desperation he turned to
Knigge for assistance, did not long continue. Aroused by the
danger of seeing his personal control of the order set aside
and himself treated as a negligible factor, Weishaupt sought
opportunities of asserting his prerogatives, and the ambition
of Knigge being scarcely less selfish than that of Weishaupt,
the two men quarreled repeatedly and long. 111. So bitter and implacable the spirit of the two
became that in the end, exercising a discretion dictated by
despair rather than generosity, Knigge withdrew from the field,
leaving Weishaupt in undisputed possession of the coveted
headship of the order.
But the fruits of his victory the latter had
little chance to enjoy. 112. On June 22, 1784, Carl Theodore 113. launched the first of his edicts against all
communities, societies, and brotherhoods in his lands which had
been established without due authorization of law and the
confirmation of the sovereign. 114. The edict, to be sure, was general in its
character, and the Bavarian Illuminati were glad to believe
that their system was not specially involved: by lying low for
a season the squall would speedily blow over and the activities
of the order might safely be resumed. 115. These anticipations, however, were doomed to
disappointment. Having surrendered himself completely to the
spirit of reaction, and spurred by reports of the covert
disobedience of the order which his entourage spread
before him, 116. the Bavarian monarch, on
March 2 of the following year, issued another edict that
specifically designated the Illuminati as one of the branches
of Freemasonry, all of which were severely upbraided for their
failure to yield implicit obedience to the will of the
sovereign as expressed in the previous edict, and a new ban,
more definite and sweeping in its terms than the former, was
thereby proclaimed. 117.
A fixed resolution on the part of the
government to give full force to the provisions of the
interdict left no room for evasion. 118. In response to the call of its enemies, former
members of the order who, either because of scruples of
conscience or for less honorable reasons, had withdrawn from
its fellowship, came forward to make formal declarations
respecting their knowledge of its affairs. 119. In this direct manner the weapons needed for
the waging of an effective campaign against the society were
put into the government's hands. 120. Judicial inquiries were inaugurated, beginning
at Ingolstadt. 121. Measures of government,
all aimed at nothing short of the complete suppression and
annihilation of the order, followed one another in rapid
succession. Officers and soldiers in the army were required to
come forward and confess their relations with the Illuminati,
under promise of immunity if ready and hearty in their
response, but under pain of disgrace, cassation, or other
punishment if refractory. 122. Members and officers of consular boards were
subjected to similar regulations, 123. Officers of state and holders of
ecclesiastical benefices who were found to have connections
with the order were summarily dismissed from their posts. 124. Professors in universities and
teachers in the public schools suffered a like fate. 125. Students who were recognized as
adepts were dismissed, and in some cases were banished from the
country. 126.
As a system the order was shattered but its
supporters were not wholly silenced, Weishaupt particularly,
from his place of security in a neighboring country, lifted his
voice against the men who had betrayed the order and the
government which had ruined it. Taking recourse to his pen,
with incredible rapidity he struck off one pamphlet and volume
after another,127. in a feverish effort,
offensive and defensive, to avert if possible total disaster to
the cause which, despite all his frailties, he truly loved. The
one clear result of his polemical efforts was to draw the fire
of those who defended the denunciators of the afflicted order
and who supported the clerical party and the government. A war
of pamphlets developed, the noise and vehemence of which were
destined to add, if possible, to the embarrassment and pain of
those members of the order who still remained in Bavaria. Once
more the suspicions of the government were aroused; a search
was made by the police for further evidence, and in the month
of October, 1786, at Landshut, in the house of Xavier Zwack, 128. one of the order's most prominent
leaders, decisive results were achieved. A considerable number
of books and papers were discovered,129. the latter containing more than two hundred
letters that had passed between Weishaupt and the Areopagites,
dealing with the most intimate affairs of the order, together
with tables containing the secret symbols, calendar, and
geographical terms belonging to the system, imprints of its
insignia, a partial roster of its membership, the statutes,
instruction for recruiters, the primary ceremony of initiation,
etc.130.
Here was the complete range of evidence the
authorities had long waited for. Out of the mouths of its
friends, the accusations which its enemies made against the
order were to be substantiated. By the admissions of its
leaders, the system of the Illuminati had the appearance of an
organization devoted to the overthrow of religion and the
state, a band of poisoners and forgers, an association of men
of disgusting morals and depraved tastes. The publication of
these documents amounted to nothing less than a sensation.131. New measures were forthwith
adopted by the government. Leading representatives of the
order, whose names appeared in the telltale documents, were
placed under arrest and formally interrogated, Some of these,
like the treasurer, Hertel, met the situation with courage and
dignity, and escaped with no further punishment than a warning
to have nothing to do with the organization in the future under
fear of graver consequences. 132. Others, like the poltroon Mändl,133. adopted the course of making
monstrous "revelations" concerning the objects and practices of
the order. Still others, like Massenhausen, against whom the
charge of poison-mixing was specifically lodged,134. sought safety in flight.
As a final blow against the devastated order,
on August 16, 1787, the duke of Bavaria launched his third and
last edict against the system.135. The presentments of the former interdicts were
reëmphasized, and in addition, to give maximum force to
the sovereign's will, criminal process, without distinction of
person, dignity, state, or quality, was ordered against any
Illuminatus who should be discovered continuing the work of
recruiting. Any so charged and found guilty were to be deprived
of their lives by the sword; while those thus recruited were to
have their goods confiscated and themselves to be condemned to
perpetual banishment from the territories of the duke.136. Under the same penalties of
confiscation and banishment, the members of the order, no
matter under what name or circumstances, regular or irregular,
they should gather, were forbidden to assemble as lodges.137.
The end of the order was at hand. So far as
the situation within Bavaria was concerned, the sun of the
Illuminati had already set.138. It remained for the government to stretch
forth its hand as far as possible, to deal with those fugitives
who, enjoying the protection of other governments, might plot
and contrive to rebuild the ruined system. Accordingly, Zwack,
who had sought asylum first in the court of Zweibrücken
and had later obtained official position in the principality of
Salm-Kyburg, was summoned by the duke of Bavaria to return to
that country. The summons was not accepted,139. but the activities of Zwack as a member of the
Illuminati, as the event proved, were over. Count (Baron)
Montgelas, whose services on behalf of the order do not appear
to have been significant, but who, upon the publication of the
correspondence seized in the residence of Zwack, had likewise
sought the protection of the duke of Zweibrücken, found
the favor of that sovereign sufficient to save him from the
power of the Bavarian monarch.140. As for Weishaupt, whose originary relation to
the order the Bavarian government had discovered in the secret
correspondence just referred to, his presence in Gotha, outside
Bavarian territory but in close proximity to the Bavarian
possessions, added greatly to the concern of Carl Theodore.141. Efforts were made by the latter to
counteract any influence he might exert to rehabilitate the
Illuminati system.142. They were as futile as they were unnecessary.
Broken in spirit, making no effort to regain the kingdom which
his vanity insisted he had lost, contenting himself with the
publication of various apologetic writings,143. permitted for a considerable period to enjoy
the bounty of his generous patron, Duke Ernst of Gotha, he sank
slowly into obscurity.144.
As for the fortunes of the order outside of
Bavaria, the measures adopted by the government of that country
proved decisive. Here and there, especially in the case of
Bode,145. a Saxon Illuminatus, efforts were
made to galvanize the expiring spirit of the order, but wholly
without result.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:
The amount of literature, chiefly polemical in character, which
has sprung up about the subject of the European Illuminati is
astonishingly large. Wolfstieg, Bibliographie der
Freimaurerischen Literatur, vol. ii, pp. 971-979, lists
ninety-six separate titles of principal works, not counting
translations, new editions, etc, In the same volume (pp.
979-982) he lists the titles of one hundred and fourteen
"kleinere Schriften". In addition, he also lists (Ibid.,
p. 982) three titles of books occupied with the statutes of the
order, and the titles of five principal works devoted to the
order's ritual ( p. 983), together with the titles of
nine smaller works likewise occupied (ibid.). No student
penetrates far into the study of the general topic without
being made aware that not only were contemporary apologists and
hostile critics stirred to a fierce heat of literary
expression, but that a swarm of historians, mostly of inferior
talents, have been attracted to the subject.
In view of the thoroughgoing work which bibliographers like
Wolfstieg have performed, no necessity arises to repeat the
task. For the benefit of the student who may wish to acquaint
himself at first hand with the principal sources of information
respecting the order, the titles are grouped in three principal
divisions.
I. Apologetic writings.
|
Weishaupt,
|
Apologie der Illuminaten, Frankfort and Leipzig,
1786.
|
|
"
|
Vollstständige Geschichte der Verfolgung der
Illuminaten in Bayern, I, Frankfort and Leipzig,
1786.
|
|
"
|
Das verbesserte System der Illuminaten mit allen
seinen Graden und Einrichtungen, Frankfort and
Leipzig, 1787.
|
|
"
|
Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten, Frankfort
and Leipzig, 1787.
|
|
"
|
Nachtrag zur Rechfertigung meiner Absichten,
Frankfort and Leipzig, 1787.
|
|
Bassus,
|
Vorstellung denen hohen Standeshäuptern der
Erlauchten Republik Graubü, Nuremberg, 1788.
|
|
Knigge,
|
Philo's endliche Erklärung und Antwort auf
verschiedene Anforderungen und Fragen, Hanover, 1788.
|
II. Documents of the order, published by the Bavarian
government or otherwise, and hostile polemics.
Einige Originalschriften des Illuminaten Ordens, Munich,
1787.
Nachtrag von weiteren Originalschriften, Munich,
1787
Der ächte Illuminat, oder die whren, unverbesserten
Rituale der Illuminaten, Edessa (Frankfort-on-the-Main),
1788
Cosandey, Renner, and Grünberger, Drei
merkwürdige Aussagen die innere Einrichtung des
Illuminatenordens, Munich, 1786
Same (with Utzschneider), Grosse Absichten des Ordens der
Illuminaten mit Nachtrag, I, II, III, Munich, 1786.
Der neuesten Arbeiten des Sparticus und Philo, Munich,
1793.
Illuminatus Dirigens, oder Schottischer Ritter. Ein
Pendant, etc., Munich, 1794.
III. Historical treatments of the precise character and
significance of the order.
Mounier, De l'influence attribuée aux philosophes,
aux francmaçons et aux illuminés, sur la
révolution de France, Tübingen, 1801.
Mounier, J.J., On the Influence attributed to
Philosophers, Freemasons, and to the Illuminati, on the
Revolution of France.... Translated from the Manuscript, and
corrected under the inspection of the author, by J. Walker,
London, 1801.
Engel, Gerschichte des Illuminaten-Ordens, Berlin,
106.
Forestier, Les Illuminé de Bavière et la
Franc-Maçonnerie allemonde, Paris, 1915.
|
2.
|
THE LEGEND OF THE ORDER AND ITS LITERARY COMMUNICATION TO
NEW ENGLAND
|
Although the Order of the Illuminati was dead, the world had
yet to reckon with its specter. So intense and widespread was
the fear which the order engendered, so clearly did the
traditionalists of the age see in its clientele the welding
together into a secret machine of war of the most mischievous
and dangerous of these elements which were discontented with
the prevailing establishments of religion and civil government,
that it was impossible that its shadow should pass
immediately.146.
The emergence of the order had attracted public attention so
abruptly and sharply, and its downfall had been so violent and
so swift, that public opinion lacked time to adjust itself to
the facts in the case. In Bavaria, particularly, the enemies of
the order were unable to persuade themselves that the
machinations of the Illuminati could safely be regarded as
wholly of the past.147. The documents of the order were appealed to,
to supply proof that its leaders had made deliberate
calculations against the day of possible opposition and
temporary disaster and with satanic cunning had made their
preparations to wring victory out of apparent defeat.148. Besides, the depth of the
government's suspicions and hostility was such that additional,
though needless measures of state149. kept very much alive in that country the
haunting fear of the continued existence of the order.
Outside of Bavaria numerous factors contributed to create the
same general impression in the public mind. Among these were
the efforts of the Rosicrucians to play upon
the fears that the Illuminati had awakened, the mistaken connections
which, in the Protestant world, were commonly made between the
members of the Order of the Illuminati and the representatives
and promoters of the Aufklärung, and the emergence
of the German Union. To each of these in turn a word must be
devoted,
Following the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, members of
that order in considerable numbers, attracted by the rapid
growth and the pretentious occultism of the Rosicrucians,150. had united with the latter
system.151. The result was the infusion of a
definite strain of clericalism into the order of the
Rosicrucians and, in consequence, a renewal of the attack upon
the Illuminati. In Prussia, where the Rosicrucians had firmly
established themselves in Berlin, King Frederick William II was
under the influence of Wöllner, one of his ministers and a
leading figure in the Rosicrucian system.152. Through the latter's relations with Frank, who
at the time stood at the head of the Rosicrucian order in
Bavaria, the Prussian monarch was easily persuaded that the
operations of the Illuminati had not only been extended to his
own territories, but throughout all Germany.153. Encouraged by Wöllner, Frederick William
took it upon himself to warn neighboring monarchs respecting
the peril which he believed threatened, a course which bore at
least one definite result in the measures taken by the elector
of Saxony to investigate the situation at Leipzig where,
according to the king of Prussia, a meeting of the chiefs of
the Illuminati had been effected.154. Thus the notion that the order of the
Illuminati was still in existence was accorded the sanction of
influential monarchs.
The disposition of orthodox Protestants to confuse the
advocates of rationalism with the membership of the Illuminati
finds its suggestion of plausibility at a glance and stands in
little need of specific historical proof. The general effect of
the undermining of traditional faiths, for which the dominating
influences of the period of the Aufklärung were
responsible, was to create the impression among the more
simple-minded and credulous elements in the Protestant world
that a vast combination of forces was at work, all hostile to
the Christian religion and all striving to supplant faith by
reason. So vast and significant a movement of thought naturally
enough tended to engender various suspicions, and among these
is to be numbered the naïve conviction that the order
which the Bavarian government had felt compelled to stamp out,
on account of its alleged impiety and its immoral and
anarchical principles, was but a local expression of the
prevailing opposition to the established systems and orthodox
doctrines of the age.155.
The excitement occasioned by the appearance of the German Union
(Die Deutshe Union), on account of its definite
connections with one of the former leaders156. of Weishaupt's system and the unsavory private
character and avowed unscrupulous designs of its originator,
gave still more specific force to the Illuminati legend.
Charles Frederick Bahrdt,157. a disreputable doctor of theology, in 1787, at
Halle, proposed to reap advantage from the ruin of Weishaupt's,
system and to recruit among its former members the supporters
of a new league, organized to accomplish the enlightenment of
the people principally by means of forming in every city secret
associations of men158. who were to keep correspondence with similar
groups of their brethren and who, by the employment of
reading-rooms, were to familiarize the people with those
writings which were specially calculated to remove popular
prejudices and superstition and to break the force of appeals
to tradition. Further, these associations were to supply
financial assistance to writers who enlisted in the Union's
campaign, and to fill the palms of booksellers who for the sake
of a bribe, show themselves willing to prevent the sale of the
works of authors who withheld their coöperation.159.
As an organization the German Union scarcely emerged from the
stage of inception; but the absurd policy of publicity pursued
by its founder gave to the project a wide airing and provoked
hostile writings160. that added immensely to
the importance of the matter. The new system was boldly
denounced as continuing the operations of the odious order
dissolved in Bavaria, with a shrewd change of tactics which
substituted "innocent" reading-rooms for the novitiate of
Weishaupt's organization, and thus, it was urged, the way was
opened for the exertion of a really powerful influence upon the
thought of the German people.161.
By such means, and in such widely diverse and irrational ways,
the popular belief in the survival of the defunct Order of the
Illuminati was kept alive and supplied with definite points of
attachment; but it remained for the French Revolution, in
all the rapidity and vastness of its developments and in the
terrifying effects which its more frightful aspects exercised
upon its observers, to offer the most exciting suggestions and
to stimulate to the freest play the imaginations of those who
were already persuaded that the secret associations that
plagued Bavaria still lived to trouble the earth,162.
The supposed points of connection between the Order of the
Illuminati and the French Revolution were partly tangible,
though decidedly elusive,163. but much more largely of the nature of
theories framed to meet the necessities of a case which in the
judgment of dilettante historians positively required the
hypothesis of a diabolical conspiracy against thrones and
altars (i.e., the civil power and the church), though
the labors of Hercules might have to be exceeded in putting the
same to paper.
Of the exiguous resources of interpreters of the Revolution who
made serious efforts to trace its impious and anarchical
principles and its savage enormities to their lair in the
lodges of the Illuminati, the following are perhaps the only
ones worthy of note.
The public discussion of the affairs and principles of
Weishaupt's organization, to which attention has already been
called in various connections, continued with unabated zeal
even beyond the close of the eighteenth century. At the very
hour when the Revolution was shocking the world by its lapse
from its original [sic] self-control into its horrible
massacres, executions of Monarchs, guillotine-lust. and
ferocious struggles between parties, new pamphlets and reviews
bearing on the demolished order's constitution and objects
found their way into the channels of public communication.
Conspicuous among these were the following: Die neuesten
Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo in dem Illuminaten, Orden,
jetzt zum ersten Mal gedruckt und zur Beherzigung bei
gegenwärtigen Zeitläuften herausgegeben,164. and Illuminatus Dirigens oder
Schottischer Ritter,165. announced as a continuation of the former.
These works, published at the instigation of the authorities at
Munich, attracted public attention anew to the most extreme
religious and social doctrines166. of the order. Thus the revolutionary character
of Illuminism received heavy emphasis167. synchronously with contemporary events of the
utmost significance to the imperilled cause of political and
religious conservatism.
In Austria an independent literary assault upon Illuminism
developed. At Vienna, Leopold Hoffman,168. editor of the Wiener Zeitschrift, fully
convinced that the Order of the Illuminati had exercised a
baneful effect upon Freemasonry, to which he was devoted,
abandoned his chair of language and German literature at the
University of Vienna to dedicate his talents and his journal to
the overthrow of Illuminated Freemasonry169. Finding a zealous collaborator in a certain
Dr. Zimmerman, a physician of Hannover, a radical turned an
extreme conservative by the developments of the French
Revolution, the two labored energetically to stigmatize the
Illuminati as the secret cause of the political explosion in
France.
The discontinuance of the Wiener Zeitschrift in 1793 by
no means marked the end of the campaign. A deluge of
pamphlets170. had been precipitated,
all based upon the assumption that the order Weishaupt had
founded had subsided only in appearance. Declamation did not
wait upon evidence. It was alleged that the lower grades of the
Illuminati had been dissolved, but the superior grades were
still practised. Under cover of correspondence, recruits of the
system were now being sought. Freemasonry was being subjugated
by Illuminism only that it might be forced to serve the ends of
its conqueror. journalists partial to the interests of the
Aufklärung had been enlisted for the same purpose.
The German Union was thus only one of the enterprises fostered
by the Illuminati to further their designs. The dogmas of the
order had been spread secretly in France by means of the clubs
of that country, and the effectiveness of the propaganda was
being vividly demonstrated in the horrors of the Revolution.
Unless German princes should promptly adopt rigorous measures
against the various agents and enterprises of the order in
their territories, they might confidently expect similar
results to follow.171.
Much more of like character was foisted upon the reading
public. As for contemporary historians who searched for
specific evidence of an alliance between the Illuminati of
Germany and the Revolutionists in France, their energies were
chiefly employed in the development of a clue which had as its
kernel the supposed introduction of Illuminism into France at
the hands of the French revolutionary leader, Mirabeau, and the
German savant, Bode.172. Unfolded, this view of the case may be stated
briefly as follows: Mirabeau, during his residence at Berlin,
in the years 1786 and 1787, came into touch with the Illuminati
of that city and was received as an adept into the order. Upon
his return to Paris he made the attempt to introduce Illuminism
into that particular branch of Masonry of which he was also a
member, the Philalèthes or Amis Réunis.173. To give force to his purpose, he
called upon the Illuminati in Berlin to send to his assistance
two talented and influential representatives of the order.
The men chosen by the Illuminati circle in Berlin, Bode and von
dem Busche,174. arrived in Paris in the
early summer of 1787. To conceal their purpose from prying
eyes, they spread the report that they had come from Germany to
investigate the subjects of magnetism and the extent of the
influence exerted by the Jesuits upon the secret societies of
the age. Meantime, the lodges of the Philalèthes,
and through them the French Masonic lodges in general, were
with the principles of Illuminism. French
Freemasonry thus became committed to the project of forcing the
overthrow of thrones and altars. So transformed, these lodges
created secret committees who busied themselves with plans for
the precipitation of a great revolutionary movement. To these
committees belonged the subsequent leaders and heroes of the
French Revolution-de Rochefoucauld, Condorcet, Pétion,
the Duke of Orléans (Grand Master of French Masonry),
Camille-Desmoulins, Danton, Lafayette,
de Leutre, Fauchet, et al. Through these and their
associates the connection between the lodges of Illuminated
French Freemasonry and the powerful political clubs of the
country was effected. Thus Illuminism was able to inspire
Jacobinism. Finally, on the 14 of July, 1789, the revolutionary
mine was sprung, and the great secret of the Illuminati became
the possession of the world.175.
At every point this fantastic exposition suffered the fatal
defect of a lack of historical proof. Even the specific
assertions of its inventors which were most necessary to their
hypothesis were disproved by the facts brought to light by more
cautious and unbiased investigators who followed. E.g.,
the idea of Mirabeau's intimate connection with the program of
the Order of the Illuminati and his profound faith in it as the
best of all instruments for the work of social amelioration is
rendered untenable the moment the rash and unrepublican temper
of his spirit is called seriously to mind.176. Again, the real object of Bode's visit to
Paris, a matter of vital importance in the Illuminati-French
Revolution hypothesis, was not to communicate Illuminism to
French Freemasons, but to attend an assembly of representatives
of the Philalèthes, called to consider the results of an
inquiry previously undertaken, respecting the occult interests
and tendencies of that order. Convinced that that branch of
French Masonry was yielding to an inordinate passion for the
occult sciences, Bode had been prevailed upon by German Masons,
von dem Busche177. among the number, to
make a journey to Paris to warn his French brethren of their
mistake. A subsidiary personal interest in the newly-discovered
"science" of animal magnetism178. helped to form his decision to make the
trip.179.
The much more important contention that the Illuminati were
instrumental in starting the French Revolution, shows a lack of
historical perspective that either leaves out of account or
obscures the importance of the economic, social, political, and
religious causes, tangible and overt, though complex, that
rendered the Revolution inevitable.
Yet the legend of Illuminism as the responsible author of the
French Revolution found numerous vindicators and
interpreters,180. to the efforts of two of
which, because of their intimate relation to the interests of
the investigation in hand, our attention in the remainder of
this chapter is to be confined.
In the year 1797 there appeared at Edinburgh, Scotland a volume
bearing the following title: Proofs of a Conspiracy against
All the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the
Secret Meetings of the Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading
Societies.181. Its author, John
Robison,182. an English savant and
Freemason whose position in the academic world entitled his
statements to respect, had had his curiosity regarding the
character and effects of continental Freemasonry greatly
stimulated by a stray volume of the German periodical,
Religions Begebenheiten,183. which came under his notice in 1795, and in
which he found expositions of Masonic systems and schisms so
numerous and so seriously maintained by their advocates as to
create deep wonderment in his mind.184. Bent upon discovering both the occasion and
the significance of this tangled mass, Robison obtained
possession of other volumes of the periodical mentioned185. and set himself the task of
elucidating the problem presented by Masonry's luxuriant growth
and its power of popular appeal.
The conclusions Robison came to are best stated in his own
words:
I have found that the covert of a Mason Lodge had been employed
in every country for venting and propagating sentiments in
religion and politics, that could not have circulated in public
without exposing the author to great danger. I found, that this
impunity had gradually encouraged men of licentious principles
to become more bold, and to teach doctrines subversive of all
our notions of morality-of all our confidence in the moral
government of the universe-of all our hopes of improvement in a
future state of existence-and of all satisfaction and
contentment with our present life, so long as we live in a
state of civil subordination. I have been able to trace these
attempts, made, through a course of fifty years, under the
specious pretext of enlightening the world by the torch of
philosophy, and of dispelling the clouds of civil and religious
superstition which keep the nations of Europe in darkness and
slavery. I have observed these doctrines gradually diffusing
and mixing with all the different systems of Free Masonry;
till, at last, AN ASSOCIATION HAS BEEN FORMED for the express
purpose of ROOTING OUT ALL THE RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS, AND
OVERTURNING ALL THE EXISTING GOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE. I have seen
this Association exerting itself zealously and systematically,
till it has become almost irresistible: And I have seen that
the most active leaders in the French Revolution were members
of this Association, and conducted their first movements
according to its principles, and by means of its instructions
and assistance, formally requested and obtained: And,
lastly, I have seen that this Association still exists, still
works in secret, and that not only several appearances among
ourselves show that its emissaries are endeavouring to
propagate their detestable doctrines, but that the Association
has Lodges in Britain corresponding with the mother Lodge at
Munich ever since 1784. . . . The Association of which I have
been- speaking is the order of ILLUMINATI, founded, in 1775
[sic], by Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of Canon-law in
the University of Ingolstadt, and abolished in 1786 by the
Elector of Bavaria, but revived immediately after, under
another name, and in a different form, all over Germany. It was
again detected, and seemingly broken up; but it had by this
time taken so deep root that it still subsists without being
detected, and has spread into all the countries of Europe.186.
The "proofs" to which Robison appealed to support these
conclusions betrayed the same lack of critical mind187. with which all the advocates of
the Illuminati-French Revolution hypothesis are to be charged.
Only the more significant elements are here brought under
survey.188.
That inclination for a multiplication of the degrees and an
elaboration of the ceremonies of simple English Freemasonry
which Robison found operative among French Freemasons from the
beginning of the eighteenth century on,189. had resulted in making the lodges attractive
to those elements in France whose discontent over civil and
ecclesiastical oppressions had grown great.190. Under the pressure imposed upon private and
public discussion by the state and by the church, men of
letters, avocats au parlement, unbeneficed abbés,
impecunious youths, and self-styled philosophers thronged the
halls of the lodges, eager to take advantage of the opportunity
their secret assemblies afforded to discuss the most intimate
concerns of politics and religion.191. Despite the wide contrariety of minor views
thus represented, one general idea and language, that of
"cosmopolitanism," was made familiar to a multitude of minds.
Worse still, the popular interest of the period in mysticism,
theosophy, cabala, and genuine science was appealed to, in
order to provide a more numerous clientele among whom might be
disseminated the doctrines of atheism, materialism, and
discontent with civil subordination.192. Thus the Masonic lodges in France were made
"the hot-beds, where the seeds were sown, and tenderly reared,
of all the pernicious doctrines which soon after choked every
moral or religious cultivation, and have made . . . Society
worse than a waste ...."193.
The introduction of French Freemasonry into Germany according
to Robison, was followed by similar results.194. Thither, as to France, simple English
Freemasonry had first gone, and because of its exclusive
emphasis upon the principle of brotherly love the Germans had
welcomed it and treated it with deep seriousness;195. but the sense of mystery and the taste for
ritualistic embellishments which the advent of French Masonry
promoted, speedily changed the temper of the German brethren.196. A reckless tendency to, innovation
set in. The love of stars and ribbons,197. and the desire to learn of ghost-raising,
exorcism, and alchemy,198. became the order of the day. Rosicrucianism
flourished,199. rival systems appeared,
and questions of precedency split German Freemasonry into
numerous fiercely hostile camps.200.
Meantime, on account of the propaganda carried on by the
Enlighteners,201. a revolution of the
public mind took place in Germany, marked by a great increase
of scepticism, infidelity, and irreligion, not only among the
wealthy and luxurious but among the profligate elements in the
lower classes as well.202. Rationalistic theologians, aided and abetted
by booksellers and publishers and by educational theorists,203. coöperated to make the ideas
of orthodox Christianity distasteful to the general public.204. To give effect to this campaign of
seduction, the lodges of Freemasonry were invaded and their
secret assemblies employed to spread free-thinking and
cosmopolitical ideas.205. Thus German Freemasonry became impregnated
with the impious and revolutionary tendencies of French
Freemasonry.206. At such an hour,
according to Robison, Weishaupt founded his Order of the
Illuminati.207. Employing the
opportunities a |
