booknetsaWebster-secretSocietiesAndSubversiveMovements

Convallium, von Haugwitz (Cabinet Minister of Frederick the Great) Eques a Monte Sancto, etc.
But according to the declarations of the Order the official leaders, Knights of the Moon, the Star, the
Golden Sun, or of the Sacred Mountain, were simply figure-heads; the real leaders, known as the " Unknown
Superiors," remained in the background, unadorned by titles of chivalry but exercising supreme jurisdiction
over the Order. The system had been foreshadowed by the " Invisibles " of seventeenth-century
Rosicrucianism; but now, instead of an intangible group whose very existence was only known vaguely to
the world, there appeared in the light of day a powerful organization led apparently by men of influence and
position yet secretly directed by hidden chiefs.[9] Mirabeau has described the advent of these mysterious
directors in the following passage: In about 1756 there appeared, as if they had come out of the ground, men
sent, they said, by unknown superiors, and armed with powers to reform the order [of Freemasonry] and reestablish
it in its ancient purity. One of these missionaries, named Johnston, came to Weimar and Jena,
where he established himself. He was received in the best way in the world by the brothers [Freemasons],
who were lured by the hope of great secrets, of important discoveries which were never made known to
them.[10]
Now, in the manuscripts of the Prince of Hesse published by Lecouteulx de Canteleu it is said that this
man Johnston, or rather Johnson, who proclaimed himself to be " Grand Prior of the Order," was a Jew
named Leicht or Leucht.[11] Gould says that his real name was either Leucht or Becker, but that he professed
to be an Englishman, although unable to speak the English language, hence his assumption of the
name Johnson.[12] Mr. Gould has described Johnson as a " consummate rogue and an unmitigated vagabond...
of almost repulsive demeanour and of no education, but gifted with boundless impudence and low
cunning." Indeed, von Hundt himself, after enlisting Johnson's services, found him too dangerous and declared
him to be an adventurer. Johnson was thereupon arrested by von Hundt's friend the councillor von
Pritsch, and thrown into the castle of Wartburg, where sudden death ended his career.
It is, however, improbable that Mirabeau could be right in indicating Johnson as one of the " Unknown
Superiors," who were doubtless men of vaster conceptions than this adventurer appears to have been.
Moreover, the manner of his end clearly proves that he occupied a subordinate position in the Stricte Observance.
Here, then, we have a very curious sequence of events which it may be well to recapitulate briefly in order
to appreciate their full significance:
1737. Oration of Chevalier Ramsay indicating Templar origin of Freemasonry, but making
no mention of upper degrees.
1738. Duc d'Antin becomes Grand Master of French Freemasonry in the place of Lord "
Harnouester."
1738. Frederick, Crown Prince of Prussia, initiated into Masonry at Brunswick.
1740. Voltaire pays his first visit to Frederick, now King.
1741. Baron von Marschall arrives in Paris with a plan for reviving the Templar Order.
Templar degrees first heard of in France under name of " Scots Masonry."
1743. Arrival in France of Baron von Hundt with fresh plans for reviving the Templar Order.
Degree of Knight Kadosch celebrating vengeance of Templars said to have been instituted at
Lyons.
1750. Voltaire goes to spend three years with Frederick.
1751. Templar Order of the Stricte Observance founded by von Hundt.
1754. Rite of Perfection (early form of Scottish Rite) founded in France.
1761. Frederick acknowledged head of Scottish Rite.
1761. Morin sent to found Rite of Perfection in America.
1762. Grand Masonic Constitutions ratified in Berlin.[13]
It will be seen then that what Mr. Gould describes as " the flood of Templarism," which both he and Mr.
Tuckett attribute to the so-called Scots Masons,[14] corresponds precisely with the decline of Jacobite and
Nesta H. Webster — Secret Societies and Subversive Movements — Part I
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