booknetsaWebster-secretSocietiesAndSubversiveMovements

day.
Weishaupt, however, admits himself puzzled with regard to the past of Masonry, and urges " Porcius " to
find out more on this question from the Abbé Marotti: See whether through him you can discover the real
history, origin, and the first founders of Masonry, for on this alone I am still undecided.[30]
But it is in " Philo," the Baron von Knigge, a Freemason and member of the Stricte Observance, in
which he was known as the Eques a Cygno, that Weishaupt finds his most efficient investigator. Thus "
Philo " writes to " Spartacus ": I have now found in Cassel the best man, on whom I cannot congratulate
ourselves enough: he is Mauvillon, Grand Master of one of the Royal York Lodges. So with him we have
the whole lodge in our hands. He has also got from there all their miserable degrees [Er hat auch von dort
aus alle ihre elenden Grade].[31]
No wonder that Weishaupt thereupon exclaims joyfully " Philo does more than we all expected, and he
is the man who alone will carry it all through."[32] Weishaupt then occupies himself in trying to get a "
Constitution " from London, evidently without success, and also in wresting the Lodge Theodore in Munich
from the control of Berlin in order to substitute his own domination, so that " the whole secret chapter will
be subjected to our , leave everything to it, and await further degrees from it alone."[33]
In all this Weishaupt shows himself not only an intriguer but a charlatan, inventing mysteries and degrees
to impose on the credulity of his followers. " The mysteries, or so-called secret truths, are the finest of
all," he writes to " Philipo Strozzi," " and give me much trouble."[34] So whilst heartily despising Freemasonry,
theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and mysticism of every kind, his association with Philo leads him to perceive
the utility of all these as a bait, and he allows Philo to draw up plans for a degree of Scottish Knight.
But the result is pitiable, Philo's composition, a " semi-theosophical discourse and explanation of hieroglyphics
" is characterized by Weishaupt as gibberish (kauderwelsche).[35] Philo [he says again] is full of
such follies, which betray his small mind.... On the Illuminatus Major follows the miserable degree of Scottish
Knight entirely of his composition, and on the degree of Priest an equally miserable degree of Regent,...
but I have already composed four more degrees compared to the worst of which the Priest's degree will be
child's play, but I shall tell no one about it till I see how the thing goes....[36]
The perfidy of the Illuminati with regard to the Freemasons is therefore apparent. Even Mounier, who
set out to refute Barruel on the strength of the information supplied to him by the Illuminatus Bode, admits
their duplicity in this respect. Weishaupt [says Mounier] made the acquaintance of a Hanoverian, the Baron
von Knigge, a famous intriguer, long practised in the charlatanism of lodges of Freemasons. On his advice
new degrees were added to the old ones, and it was resolved to profit by Freemasonry whilst profoundly
despising it. They decided that the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason, and Scotch
Knight should be added to those of the Illuminati, and that they would boast of possessing exclusively the
real secrets of the Freemasons and affirm that Illuminism was the real primitive Freemasonry.
" The papers of the Order seized in Bavaria and published," Mounier says again, show that " the Illuminati
employed the forms of Freemasonry, but that they considered it in itself, apart from their own degrees,
as a puerile absurdity and that they detested the Rose-Croix." Mounier, as a good disciple of Bode,
takes much the same view and pities the naïveté of the Freemasons, who, " like so many children, spend a
great part of the time in their lodges playing at chapel."
Why in the face of all this should any British Masons take up the cudgels for the Illuminati and vilify
Robison and Barruel for exposing them? The American Mackey, as a consistent Freemason, shows scant
sympathy for this traitor in the masonic camp. " Weishaupt," he writes, " was a radical in politics and an infidel
in religion, and he organized this association, not more for the purpose of aggrandizing himself, than of
overturning Christianity and the institutions of society." And in a footnote he adds that Robison's Proofs of
a Conspiracy " contain a very excellent exposition of the nature of this pseudo-masonic institution."[37]
The truth is that Weishaupt was one of the greatest enemies of British Freemasonry who ever lived, and
genuine Freemasons will do themselves no good by defending him or his abominable system.
Let us now see how far, apart from their role in Masonry, the Illuminati can be regarded as noble idealists
striving for the welfare of the human race.
IDEALISM OF THE ILLUMINATI
The line of defence adopted by the apologists of the Illuminati is always to quote the admirable principles
professed by the Order, the " beautiful ideas " that run through their writings, and to show what excellent
people were to be found amongst them.
Nesta H. Webster — Secret Societies and Subversive Movements — Part I
— 115 —