booknetsaWebster-secretSocietiesAndSubversiveMovements

mother dead ! Corpse, wedding, christening all in a short time, one on the top of the other. What a wonderful
mix-up [mischmasch] ![95]
So much for what Mr. Gould calls the " rare qualities " of Weishaupt's heart. Let us now listen to the
testimony of Weishaupt's principal coadjutor, Philo (the Baron von Knigge), to whom the " historian of
Freemasonry " refers as " a lovable enthusiast." In all subversive associations, whether open or secret, directed
by men who aim at power, a moment is certain to arrive when the ambitions of the leaders come into
conflict. This is the history of every revolutionary organization during the last 150 years. It was when the
inevitable climax had been reached between Weishaupt and Knigge that " Philo " wrote to " the most loving
Cato " in the following terms: It is not Mahomed and A. who are so much to blame for my break with
Spartacus, as the Jesuitical conduct of this man which has so often turned us against each other in order to
rule despotically over men, who, if they have not perhaps such a rich imagination as himself, also do not
possess so much cuteness and cunning, etc.[96]
In a further letter Philo goes on to enumerate the services he has rendered to Weishaupt in the past: At
the bidding of Spartacus I have written against ex-Jesuits and Rosicrucians, persecuted people who never
did me any harm, thrown the Stricte Observance into confusion, drawn the best amongst them to us, told
them of the worthiness of , of its power, its age, the excellence of its Chiefs, the blamelessness of its higher
leaders, the importance of its knowledge, and given great ideas of the uprightness of its views; those
amongst us who are now working so actively for us but cling much to religiousness [sehr an Religiosität
kleben] and who feared our intention was to spread Deism, I have sought to persuade that the higher Superiors
had nothing less than this intention. Gradually, however, I shall work it as I please [nach und nach wirke
ich doch was ich will]. If I now were to... give a hint to the Jesuits and Rosicrucians as to who is persecuting
them... if I were to make known (to a few people) the Jesuitical character of the man who leads perhaps
all of us by the nose, uses us for his ambitious schemes, sacrifices us as often as his obstinacy requires, [if I
were to make known to them] what they have to fear from such a man, from such a machine behind which
perhaps Jesuits may be concealed or might conceal themselves; if I were to assure those who seek for
secrets that they have nothing to expect; if I were to confide to those who hold religion dear, the principles
of the General;... if I were to draw the attention of the lodges to an association behind which the Illuminati
are concealed; if I were again to associate myself with princes and Freemasons... but I shrink from the
thought, vengeance will not carry me so far....[97]
We have now seen enough of the aims and methods of the Illuminati and the true characters of their
leaders from their own admissions. To make the case complete it would be necessary also to give a résumé
of the confessions made by the ex-Illuminati, the four professors Cosandey, Grünberger, Utzschneider, and
Renner, as also of the further published works of the Illuminati-but space and time forbid. What is needed is
a complete book on the subject, consisting of translations of the most important passages in all the contemporary
German publications.
From the extracts given above, can it, however, be seriously contended that Barruel or Robison exaggerated
the guilt of the Order? Do my literal translations differ materially in sense from the translations and occasional
paraphrases given by the much-abused couple?
Even those contemporaries, Mounier and the member of the Illuminati[98] who set out to refute Barruel
and Lombard de Langres, merely provide further confirmation of their views. Thus Mounier is obliged to
confess that the real design of Illuminism was " to undermine all civil order,"[99] and " Ancien Illumines "
asserts in language no less forcible than Barruel's own that Weishaupt " made a code of Machiavellism," that
his method was " a profound perversity, flattering everything that was base and rancorous in human nature
in order to arrive at his ends," that he was not inspired by " a wise spirit of reform " but by a " fanatical
enmity inimical to all authority on earth." The only essential points on which the opposing parties differ is
that whilst Mounier and " Ancien Illumine " deny the influence of the Illuminati on the French Revolution
and maintain that they ceased to exist in 1786, Barruel and Lombard de Langres present them as the inspirers
of the Jacobins and declare them to be still active after the Revolution had ended. That on this point,
at any rate, the latter were right, we shall see in a further chapter.
The great question that presents itself after studying the writings of the Illuminati is: what was the
motive power behind the Order? If we admit the possibility that Frederick the Great and the Stricte Observance,
working through an inner circle of Freemasons at the Lodge St. Theodore, may have provided the first
impetus and that Kölmer initiated Weishaupt into Oriental methods of organization, the source of inspiration
from which Weishaupt subsequently drew his anarchic philosophy still remains obscure. It has frequently
been suggested that his real inspirers were Jews, and the Jewish writer Bernard Lazare definitely states that
" there were Jews, Cabalistic Jews, around Weishaupt."[100] A writer in La Vieille France went so far as to
Nesta H. Webster — Secret Societies and Subversive Movements — Part I
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