Part 25

Hoffmann says, that "he saw some of those manifestos; that they were not all of one tenor, some being addressed to friends, of whose support they were already allured." One very important article of their contents is _Earnest exhortations to establish in every quarter secret schools of political education, and schools for the public education of the children of the people, under the direction of well-principled masters; and offers of pecuniary assistance for this purpose, and for the encouragement of writers in favour of the Revolution, and for indemnifying the patriotic booksellers who suffer by their endeavours to suppress publications which have an opposite tendency_. We know very well that the immense revenue of the Duke of Orleans was scattered among all the rabble of the _Palais Royal_. Can we doubt of its being employed in this manner? Our doubts must vanish, when we see that not long after this was publicly said in the National Assembly, "that this method was the most effectual for accomplishing their purpose of setting Europe in a flame." "But much expence," says the speaker, "will attend it, and much has already been employed, which cannot be named because it is given in secret." The Assembly had given the Illumination war-hoop--"_Peace with cottages, but war with palaces_"--_A pouvoir revolutionnaire_ is mentioned, which supersedes all narrow thoughts, all ties of morality. Lequinio publishes the most detestable book that ever issued from a printing press, _Les Prejuges vaincus_, containing all the principles, and expressed in the very words of Illuminatism.

Hoffmann says, that the French _Propaganda_ had many emissaries in Vienna, and many friends whom he could point out. Mirabeau in particular had many connections in Vienna, and to the certain knowledge of Hoffmann, carried on a great correspondence in cyphers. The progress of Illumination had been very great in the Austrian States, and a statesman gave him an account of their proceedings, (_qui font redresser les cheveux_) which makes one's hair stand on end. "I no longer wonder," says he, "that the _Neueste Arbeitung des Spartacus und Philo_ was forbidden. O ye almighty _Illuminati_, what can you not accomplish by your serpent-like insinuation and cunning!" Your leaders say, "This book is dangerous, because it will teach wicked men the most refined methods of rebellion, and it must never get into the hands of the common people. They have said with the most impudent face to some Princes, who did not perceive the deeper-laid reason for suppressing the book. The leaders of the _Illuminati_ are, not without reason, in anxiety, lest the inferior classes of their own Society should make just reprisals for having been so basely tricked, by keeping them back and in profound ignorance of their real designs; and for working on them by the very goodness of their hearts, to their final ruin; and lest the Free Masons, whom they have also abused, should think of revenging themselves, when the matchless villainy of their deceivers has been so clearly exposed. It is in vain for them to talk of the danger of instructing the people in the methods of fomenting rebellion by this book. The aims are too apparent, and even in the neighbourhood of Regensburg, where the strength of the _Illuminati_ lay, every person said aloud, that the IIluminatism discovered by this book was High Treason, and the most unheard of attempt to annihilate every religion and every civil government." He goes on: "In 1790 I was as well acquainted with the spirit of the Illumination-system as at present, but only not so documented by their constitutional acts, as it is now by the _Neueste Arbeitung des Spartacus und Philo_. My Masonic connections were formerly extensive, and my publication entitled _Eighteen Paragraphs Concerning Free Masonry_, procured me more acquaintance with Free Masons of the greatest worth, and of _Illuminati_ equally upright, persons of respectability and knowledge, who had discovered and repented the trick and inveigling conduct of the Order. All of us jointly swore opposition to the _Illuminati_, and my friends considered me as a proper instrument for this purpose. To whet my zeal, they put papers into my hands which made me shudder, and raised my dislike to the highest pitch. I received from them lists of the members, and among them saw names which I lamented exceedingly. Thus stood matters in 1790, when the French Revolution began to take a serious turn. The intelligent saw in the open system of the Jacobins the complete hidden system of the Illuminati. We knew that this system included the whole world in its aims, and France was only the place of its first explosion. The Propaganda works in every corner to this hour, and its emissaries run about in all the four quarters of the world, and are to be found in numbers in every city that is a seat of government.

"He farther relates how they in Vienna wanted to enlist him, and, as this failed, how they have abused him even in the foreign newspapers.

"I have personal knowledge (continues he) that in Germany a second Mirabeau, Mauvillon, had proposed in detail a plan of revolution, entirely and precisely suited to the present state of Germany. This he circulated among several Free Mason Lodges, among all the Illuminated Lodges which still remained in Germany, and through the hands of all the emissaries of the Propaganda, who had been already dispatched to the frontiers (_vorposten_) of every district of the empire, with means for stirring up the people." (N. B. In 1792, Mauvillon, finding abundant support and encouragement in the appearance of things round him, when the French arms had penetrated every where, and their invitations to revolt had met with so hearty a reception from the discontented in every state, came boldly forward, and, in the Brunswick Journal for March 1792, declared that "he heartily rejoiced in the French Revolution, wished it all success, and thought himself liable to no reproach when he declared his hopes that a similar Revolution would speedily take place in Germany.")

In the Hamburgh Political Journal, August, September, and October 1790, there are many proofs of the machinations of emissaries from the _Mason Lodges_ of Paris among the German Free Masons--See pages 836, 963, 1087, &c. It appears that a club has taken the name of _Propaganda_--and meets once a week at least, in the form of a Mason Lodge. It consists of persons of all nations, and is under the direction of the Grand Master, the Duke of Orleans. De Leutre is one of the Wardens. They have divided Europe into colonies, to which they give revolutionary names, such as the _Cap_, the _Pike_, the _Lantern_, &c. They have ministers in these colonies. (One is pointed out in Saxony, by marks which I presume are well understood.) A secret press was found in Saxe Gotha, furnished with German types, which printed a seditious work called the _Journal of Humanity_. This Journal was found in the mornings lying in the streets and highways. The house belonged to an _Illuminatus_ of the name of Duport, a poor schoolmaster--he was associated with another in Strasburg, who was also an _Illuminatus_.--His name was Meyer, the writer of the Strasburg Newspaper. He had been some time a teacher in Salzmann's accademy, who we see was also an _Illuminatus_, but displeased with their proceedings almost at first. (Private Correspondence.)

"I have personal knowledge (continues Professor Hoffman) that in 1791, during the temporary dearth at Vienna, several of these emissaries were busy in corrupting the minds of the poor, by telling them that in like manner the court had produced a famine in Paris in 1789. I detected some of them, and exposed them in my _Patriotic Remarks on the Present Dearth_, and had the satisfaction of seeing my endeavours of considerable effect."

Surely these facts show that the Anarchists of France knew of the German Illuminati, and confided in their support. They also knew to what particular Lodges they could address themselves with safety and confidence.--But what need is there of more argument, when we know the zeal of the Illuminati, and the unhoped for opportunity that the Revolution had given them of acting with immediate effect in carrying on their great and daring work? Can we doubt that they would eagerly put their hand to the Plough? And, to complete the proof, do we not know from the lists found in the secret correspondence of the Order, that they already had Lodges in France, and that in 1790 and 1791 many Illuminated Lodges in Germany, viz. Mentz, Worms, Spire, Frankfort, actually interfered, and produced great effects. In Switzerland too they were no less active. They had Lodges at Geneva and at Bern. At Bern two Jacobins were sentenced to several years imprisonment, and among their papers were found their patents of Illumination. I also see the fate of Geneva ascribed to the operations of Illuminati residing there, by several writers--particularly by Girtanner, and by the Gottingen editor of the Revolution Almanac.

I conclude this article with an extract or two from the proceedings of the National Assembly and Convention, which make it evident that their principles and their practice are precisely those of the Illuminati, on a great scale.

When the assumption of the Duchy of Savoy as an 84th Department was debated, Danton said to the Convention.

"In the moment that we send freedom to a nation on our frontier, we must say to them you must have no more Kings--for if we are surrounded by tyrants, their coalition puts our own freedom in danger.--When the French nation sent us hither, it created a great committee for the general insurrection of the people."

On the 19th of November 1792 it was decreed, "That the Convention, in the name of the French nation, tenders help and fraternity to all people who would recover their liberty."

On the 21st of November, the President of the Convention said to the pretended deputies of the Duchy of Savoy, "Representatives of an independent people, important to mankind was the day when the National Convention of France pronounced its sentence, _Royal dignity is abolished_.----From that day many nations will, in future, reckon the era of their political existence.--From the beginning of civil establishments Kings have been in opposition to their nations--but now they rise up to annihilate Kings.--Reason, when she darts her rays into every corner, lays open eternal truths----She alone enables us to pass sentence on despots, hitherto the scare-crow of other nations."

But the most distinct exhibition of principle is to be seen in a report from the diplomatic committee, who were commissioned to deliberate on the conduct which France was to hold with other nations. On this report was founded the decree of the 15th of December 1793. The Reporter addresses the Convention as follows:

"The Committees of Finance and War ask in the beginning--What is the object of the war which we have taken in hand? Without all doubt the object is THE ANNIHILATION OF ALL PRIVILEGES, WAR WITH THE PALACES, PEACE WITH THE COTTAGES. These are the principles on which _your declaration of war_ is founded. All tyranny, all privilege, must be treated as an enemy in the countries where we set our foot. This is the genuine result of our principles.--But it is not with Kings alone that we are to wage war--were these our sole enemies, we should only have to bring down ten or twelve heads. We have to fight with all their accomplices, with the privileged orders, who devour and have oppressed the people during many centuries.

"We must therefore declare ourselves for a revolutionary power in all the countries into which we enter--(Loud applauses from the Assembly)--Nor need we put on the cloak of humanity--we disdain such little arts.--We must clothe ourselves with all the brilliancy of reason, and all the force of the nation. We need not mask our principles--the despots know them already. The first thing we must do is to ring the alarum bell, for insurrection and uproar.--We must, in a solemn manner, let the people see the banishment of their tyrants and privileged casts--otherwise, the people, accustomed to their fetters, will not be able to break their bonds.--It will effect nothing, merely to excite a rising of the people--this would only be giving them words instead of standing by them.

"And since, in this manner, we ourselves are the Revolutionary Administration, all that is against the rights of the people must be overthrown at our entry--We must display our principles by actually destroying all tyranny; and our generals after having chased away the tyrants and their satellites, must proclaim to the people that they have brought them happiness; and then, on the spot, they must suppress tithes, feudal rights, and every species of servitude."

"But we shall have done nothing if we stop here. Aristocracy still domineers--we must therefore suppress all authorities existing in the hands of the upper classes.--When the Revolutionary Authority appears, there must nothing of the old establishment remain.--A popular system must be introduced--every office must be occupied by new functionaries--and the Sans Cullottes must every where have a share in the Administration.

"Still nothing is done, till we declare aloud the _precision_ of our principles to such as want only half freedom.--We must say to them--If you think of compromising with the privileged casts, we cannot suffer such dealing with tyrants--They are our enemies, and we must treat them as enemies, because they are neither for Liberty nor Equality.--Show yourselves disposed to receive a free constitution--and the Convention will not only stand by you, but will give you permanent support; we will defend you against the vengeance of your tyrants--against their attacks, and against their return.--Therefore abolish from among you the Nobles, and every ecclesiastical and military incorporation. They are incompatable with Equality.--Henceforward you are citizens, all equal in rights--equally called upon to rule, to defend, and to serve your country.--The agents of the French Republic will instruct and assist you in forming a free constitution, and assure you of happiness and fraternity."

This Report was loudly applauded, and a decree formed in precise conformity to its principles. Both were ordered to be translated into all languages, and copies to be furnished to their generals, with orders to have them carefully dispersed in the countries which they invaded.

And, in completion of these decrees, their armies found it easy to collect as many discontented or worthless persons in any country as sufficed for setting up a tree of liberty. This they held as a sufficient call for their interference.--Sometimes they performed this ceremony themselves--a representation was easily made up in the same way--and then, under the name of a free constitution, the nation was forced to acquiesce in a form dictated at the point of the bayonet, in which they had not the smallest liberty to choose--and they were plundered of all they had, by way of compensating to France for the trouble she had taken.--And this they call Liberty.--It needs no comment.--

Thus have I attempted to prove that the present awful situation of Europe, and the general fermentation of the public mind in all nations, have not been altogether the natural operations of discontent, oppression, and moral corruption, although these have been great, and have operated with fatal energy; but that this political fever has been carefully and systematically heightened by bodies of men, who professed to be the physicians of the State, and, while their open practice employed cooling medicines, and a treatment which all approved, administered in secret the most inflammatory poisons, which they made up so as to flatter the diseased fancy of the patient. Although this was not a plan begun, carried on, and completed by the same persons, it was undoubtedly an uniform and consistent scheme, proceeding on the same unvaried principle, and France undoubtedly now smarts under all the woes of German Illumination.

I beg leave to suggest a few thoughts, which may enable us to draw some advantage from this shocking mass of information.

_General Reflections._

I. I may observe, in the _first_ place, and I beg it may be particularly attended to, that in all those villainous machinations against the peace of the world, the attack has been first made on the principles of Morality and Religion. The conspirators saw that till these are extirpated, they have no chance of success; and their manner of proceeding shews that they consider Religion and Morality as inseparably connected together. We learn much from this--_Fas est et ab hoste doceri_.--They endeavour to destroy our religious sentiments, by first corrupting our morals. They try to inflame our passions, that when the demands from this quarter become urgent, the restraints of Religion may immediately come in sight, and stand in the way. They are careful, on this occasion, to give such a view of those restraints, that the real origin of them does not appear.--We are made to believe that they have been altogether the contrivance of Priests and despots, in order to get the command of us. They take care to support these assertions by facts, which, to our great shame, and greater misfortune, are but too numerous. Having now the passions on their side, they find no difficulty in persuading the voluptuary, or the discontented, that tyranny, actually exerted, or resolved on in future, is the sole origin of religious restraint. He seeks no further argument, and gives himself no trouble to find any. Had he examined the matter with any care, he would find himself just brought back to those very feelings of moral excellence and moral depravity that he wishes to get rid of altogether; and these would tell him that pure Religion does not lay a single restraint on us that a noble nature would not have laid on itself--nor enjoins a single duty which an ingenuous and warm heart would not be ashamed to find itself deficient in. He would then see that all the sanctions of Religion are fitted to his high rank in the scale of existence. And the more he contemplates his future prospects, the more they brighten upon his view, the more attainable they appear, and the more he is able to know what they may probably be. Having attained this happy state of mind, (an attainment in the power of any kind heart that is in earnest in the enquiry) he will think that no punishment is too great for the unthankful and groveling soul which can forego such hopes, and reject these noble proffers, for the comparatively frivolous and transitory gratifications of life. He is not frightened into worthy and virtuous conduct by fears of such merited punishment; but, if not enticed into it by his high expectations, he is, at least, retained in the paths of virtue by a kind of manly shame.

But all this is overlooked, or is kept out of sight, in the instructions of Illuminatism. In these the eye must be kept always directed to the Despot. This is the bugbear, and every thing is made to connect with present or future tyranny and oppression--Therefore Religion is held out as a combination of terrors--the invention of the state-tools, the priests. But it is not easy to stifle the suggestions of Nature--therefore no pains are spared to keep them down, by encreasing the uncertainty and doubts which arise in the course of all speculations on such subjects. Such difficulties occur in all scientific discussions.--Here they must be numerous and embarrassing--for in this enquiry we come near the first principles of things, and the first principles of human knowledge. The geometer does not wonder at mistakes even in _his_ science, the most simple of all others.--Nor does the mechanic or the chemist reject all his science, because he cannot attain clear conceptions of some of the natural relations which operate in the phenomena under his consideration.--Nor do any of these students of nature brand with the name of fool, or knave, or bigot, another person who has drawn a different conclusion from the phenomenon.----In one point they all agree--they find themselves possessed of faculties which enable them to speculate, and to discover; and they find, that the operation of those faculties is quite unlike the things which they contemplate by their means--_and they feel a satisfaction in the possession of them_, and in this distinction.----But this seems a misfortune to our Illuminators. I have long been struck with this. If by deep meditation I have solved a problem which has baffled the endeavours of others, I should hardly thank the person who convinced me that my success was entirely owing to the particular state of my health, by which my brain was kept free from many irritations to which other persons are exposed. Yet this is the conduct of the Illuminated--They are abundantly self-conceited; and yet they continually endeavour to destroy all grounds of self-estimation.--They rejoice in every discovery that is reported to them of some resemblance, unnoticed before, between mankind and the inferior creation, and would be happy to find that the resemblance is complete. It is very true, Mr. Pope's "Poor Indian, with untutor'd mind," had no objection to his dogs going to heaven with him:

"And thinks, admitted to that equal sky, "His faithful dog shall bear him company."

This is not an abject, but it is a modest sentiment. But our high-minded philosophers, who, with Beatrice in the play, "cannot brook obedience to a wayward piece of marl," if it be in the shape of a Prince, have far other notions of the matter. Indeed they are not yet agreed about it. Mr. de la Metherie hopes, that before the enlightened Republic of France has got into its teens, he shall be able to tell his fellow-citizens, in his _Journal de Physique_, that particular form of crystallization which men have been accustomed to call God.--Dr. Priestley again deduces all intelligence from elastic undulations, and will probably think, that his own great discoveries have been the quiverings of some fiery marsh _miasma_. While Pope's poor Indian hopes to take his dog to heaven with him, these Illuminators hope to die like dogs, and that both soul and body shall be as if they never had been.

Is not this a melancholy result of all our Illumination? It is of a piece with the termination of the ideal Philosophy, viz. professed and total ignorance. Should not this make us start back and hesitate, before we pout like wayward children at the hardships of civil subordination, and before we make a sacrifice to our ill humour of all that we value ourselves for? Does it not carry ridicule and absurdity in its forehead?--Such assertions of personal worth and dignity, (always excepting Princes and Priests,) and such abject acknowledgments of worthlessness.--Does not this, of itself, show that there is some radical fault in the whole? It has all arisen from what they have called _Illumination_, and this turns out to be worse than darkness--But we also know that it has all arisen from self-conceited discontent, and that it has been brought to its present state by the rage of speculation. We may venture to put the question to any man's conscience--whether discontent did not precede his doubts about his own nature and whether he has not _encouraged_ the train of argument that tended to degrade him? "Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought."--Should not this make us distrust, at least, the operations of this faculty of our mind, and try to moderate and check this darling propensity.--It seems a misfortune of the age--for we see that it is a natural source of disturbance and revolution.