SECRET SOCIETIES and SUBVERSIVE MOVEMENTS

by

NESTA H. WEBSTER

CHRISTIAN BOOK CLUB OF AMERICA

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

_The Chevalier de Boufflers__The French Revolution__World Revolution__The Socialist Network__The Surrender of an Empire__Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette: Before the Revolution__Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette: During the Revolution__Spacious Days_

 * * * * *

"There is in Italy a power which we seldom mention in this House ... Imean the secret societies.... It is useless to deny, because it isimpossible to conceal, that a great part of Europe--the whole of Italyand France and a great portion of Germany, to say nothing of othercountries--is covered with a network of these secret societies, just asthe superficies of the earth is now being covered with railroads. Andwhat are their objects? They do not attempt to conceal them. They do notwant constitutional government; they do not want amelioratedinstitutions ... They want to change the tenure of land, to drive outthe present owners of the soil and to put an end to ecclesiasticalestablishments. Some of them may go further.... " (DISRAELI in the Houseof Commons, July 14, 1856. )

PREFACE

It is a matter of some regret to me that I have been so far unable tocontinue the series of studies on the French Revolution of which _TheChevalier de Boufflers_ and _The French Revolution, a Study inDemocracy_ formed the first two volumes. But the state of the world atthe end of the Great War seemed to demand an enquiry into the presentphase of the revolutionary movement, hence my attempt to follow itscourse up to modern times in _World Revolution_. And now beforereturning to that first cataclysm I have felt impelled to devote onemore book to the Revolution as a whole by going this time further backinto the past and attempting to trace its origins from the first centuryof the Christian era. For it is only by taking a general survey of themovement that it is possible to understand the causes of any particularphase of its existence. The French Revolution did not arise merely outof conditions or ideas peculiar to the eighteenth century, nor theBolshevist Revolution out of political and social conditions in Russiaor the teaching of Karl Marx. Both these explosions were produced byforces which, making use of popular suffering and discontent, had longbeen gathering strength for an onslaught not only on Christianity, buton all social and moral order. 

It is of immense significance to notice with what resentment this pointof view is met in certain quarters. When I first began to write onrevolution a well-known London publisher said to me, "Remember that ifyou take an anti-revolutionary line you will have the whole literaryworld against you. " This appeared to me extraordinary. Why should theliterary world sympathize with a movement which from the FrenchRevolution onwards has always been directed against literature, art, andscience, and has openly proclaimed its aim to exalt the manual workersover the intelligentsia? "Writers must be proscribed as the mostdangerous enemies of the people, " said Robespierre; his colleague Dumassaid all clever men should be guillotined. "The system of persecutionagainst men of talents was organized.... They cried out in the sectionsof Paris, 'Beware of that man for he has written a book!'"[1] Preciselythe same policy has been followed in Russia. Under Moderate Socialism inGermany the professors, not the "people, " are starving in garrets. Yetthe whole press of our country is permeated with subversive influences. Not merely in partisan works, but in manuals of history or literaturefor use in Schools, Burke is reproached for warning us against theFrench Revolution and Carlyle's panegyric is applauded. And whilst everyslip on the part of an anti-revolutionary writer is seized on by thecritics and held up as an example of the whole, the most glaring errorsnot only of conclusions but of facts pass unchallenged if they happen tobe committed by a partisan of the movement. The principle laid down byCollot d'Herbois still holds good: "Tout est permis pour quiconque agitdans le sens de la révolution. "

All this was unknown to me when I first embarked on my work. I knew thatFrench writers of the past had distorted facts to suit their ownpolitical views, that a conspiracy of history is still directed bycertain influences in the masonic lodges and the Sorbonne; I did notknow that this conspiracy was being carried on in this country. Therefore the publisher's warning did not daunt me. If I was wrongeither in my conclusions or facts I was prepared to be challenged. Should not years of laborious historical research meet either withrecognition or with reasoned and scholarly refutation? But although mybook received a great many generous and appreciative reviews in thepress, criticisms which were hostile took a form which I had neveranticipated. Not a single honest attempt was made to refute either my_French Revolution_ or _World Revolution_ by the usual methods ofcontroversy; statements founded on documentary evidence were met withflat contradiction unsupported by a shred of counter evidence. Ingeneral the plan adopted was not to disprove, but to discredit by meansof flagrant misquotations, by attributing to me views I had neverexpressed, or even by means of offensive personalities. It will surelybe admitted that this method of attack is unparalleled in any othersphere of literary controversy. 

It is interesting to notice that precisely the same line was adopted ahundred years ago with regard to Professor Robison and the Abbé Barruel, whose works on the secret causes of the French Revolution created animmense sensation in their day. The legitimate criticisms that mighthave been made on their work find no place in the diatribes levelledagainst them; their enemies content themselves merely with calumnies andabuse. A contemporary American writer, Seth Payson, thus describes themethods employed to discredit them:

 The testimony of Professor Robison and Abbé Barruel would doubtless have been considered as ample in any case which did not interest the prejudices and passions of men against them. The scurrility and odium with which they have been loaded is perfectly natural, and what the nature of their testimony would have led one to expect. Men will endeavour to invalidate that evidence which tends to unveil their dark designs: and it cannot be expected that those who believe that "the end sanctifies the means" will be very scrupulous as to their measures. Certainly he was not who invented the following character and arbitrarily applied it to Dr. Robison, which might have been applied with as much propriety to any other person in Europe or America. The character here referred to, is taken from the American _Mercury_, printed at Hartford, September 26, 1799, by E. Babcock. In this paper, on the pretended authority of Professor Ebeling, we are told "that Robison had lived too fast for his income, and to supply deficiencies had undertaken to alter a bank bill, that he was detected and fled to France; that having been expelled the Lodge in Edinburgh, he applied in France for the second grade, but was refused; that he made the same attempt in Germany and afterwards in Russia, but never succeeded; and from this entertained the bitterest hatred to masonry; and after wandering about Europe for two years, by writing to Secretary Dundas, and presenting a copy of his book, which, it was judged, would answer certain purposes of the ministry, the prosecution against him was stopped, the Professor returned in triumph to his country, and now lives upon a handsome pension, instead of suffering the fate of his predecessor Dodd. "[2]

Payson goes on to quote a writer in _The National Intelligencer_ ofJanuary 1801, who styles himself a "friend to truth" and speaks ofProfessor Robison as "a man distinguished by abject dependence on aparty, by the base crimes of forgery and adultery, and by frequentparoxysms of insanity. " Mounier goes further still, and in his pamphlet_De l'influence attribuée aux Philosophes, ... Francs-maçons et ... Illuminés_, etc. , inspired by the Illuminatus Bode, quotes a story thatRobison suffered from a form of insanity which consisted in hisbelieving that the posterior portion of his body was made of glass![3]

In support of all this farrago of nonsense there is of course nofoundation of truth; Robison was a well-known savant who lived sane andrespected to the end of his days. On his death Watt wrote of him: "Hewas a man of the clearest head and the most science of anybody I haveever known. "[4] John Playfair, in a paper read before the Royal Societyof Edinburgh in 1815, whilst criticizing his _Proofs of aConspiracy_--though at the same time admitting he had himself never hadaccess to the documents Robison had consulted!--paid the followingtribute to his character and erudition:

 His range in science was most extensive; he was familiar with the whole circle of the accurate sciences.... Nothing can add to the esteem which they [i. E. "those who were personally acquainted with him"] felt for his talents and worth or to the respect in which they now hold his memory. [5]

Nevertheless, the lies circulated against both Robison and Barruel werenot without effect. Thirteen years later we find another American, thistime a Freemason, confessing "with shame and grief and indignation" thathe had been carried away by "the flood of vituperation poured uponBarruel and Robison during the past thirty years, " that the title pagesof their works "were fearful to him, " and that although "wishing calmlyand candidly to investigate the character of Freemasonry he refused formonths to open their books. " Yet when in 1827 he read them for the firsttime he was astonished to find that they showed "a manifest tendencytowards Freemasonry. " Both Barruel and Robison, he now realized, were"learned men, candid men, lovers of their country, who had a reverencefor truth and religion. They give the reasons for their opinions, theyquote their authorities, naming the author and page, like honest people;they both had a wish to rescue British Masonry from the condemnation andfellowship of continental Masonry and appear to be sincerely actuated bythe desire of doing good by giving their labours to the public. "[6]

That the author was right here in his description of Barruel's attitudeto Freemasonry is shown by Barruel's own words on the subject:

 England above all is full of those upright men, excellent citizens, men of every kind and in every condition of life, who count it an honour to be masons, and who are distinguished from other men only by ties which seem to strengthen those of benevolence and fraternal charity. It is not the fear of offending a nation amongst which I have found a refuge which prompts me to make this exception. Gratitude would prevail with me over all such terrors and I should say in the midst of London: "England is lost, she will not escape the French Revolution if the masonic lodges resemble those I have to unveil. I would even say more: government and all Christianity would long ago have been lost in England if one could suppose its Freemasons to be initiated into the last mysteries of the sect. "[7]

In another passage Barruel observes that Masonry in England is "asociety composed of good citizens in general whose chief object is tohelp each other by principles of equality which for them is nothing elsebut universal fraternity. "[8] And again: "Let us admire it [the wisdomof England] for having known how to make a real source of benefit to theState out of those same mysteries which elsewhere conceal a profoundconspiracy against the State and religion. "[9]

The only criticism British Freemasons may make on this verdict is thatBarruel regards Masonry as a system which originally contained anelement of danger that has been eliminated in England whilst they regardit as a system originally innocuous into which a dangerous element wasinserted on the Continent. Thus according to the former conceptionFreemasonry might be compared to one of the brass shell-cases broughtback from the battle-fields of France and converted into a flower-potholder, whilst according to the latter it resembles an innocent brassflower-pot holder which has been used as a receptacle for explosives. Thefact is that, as I shall endeavour to show in the course of this book, Freemasonry being a composite system there is some justification forboth these theories. In either case it will be seen that ContinentalMasonry alone stands condemned. 

The plan of representing Robison and Barruel as the enemies of BritishMasonry can therefore only be regarded as a method for discrediting themin the eyes of British Freemasons, and consequently for bringing thelatter over to the side of their antagonists. Exactly the same method ofattack has been directed against those of us who during the last fewyears have attempted to warn the world of the secret forces working todestroy civilization; in my own case even the plan of accusing me ofhaving attacked British Masonry has been adopted without the shadow of afoundation. From the beginning I have always differentiated betweenBritish and Grand Orient Masonry, and have numbered high British Masonsamongst my friends. 

But what is the main charge brought against us? Like Robison andBarruel, we are accused of raising a false alarm, of creating a bogey, or of being the victims of an obsession. Up to a point this iscomprehensible. Whilst on the Continent the importance of secretsocieties is taken as a matter of course and the libraries of foreigncapitals teem with books on the question, people in this country reallyimagine that secret societies are things of the past--articles to thiseffect appeared quite recently in two leading London newspapers--whilstpractically nothing of any value has been written about them in ourlanguage during the last hundred years. Hence ideas that arecommonplaces on the Continent here appear sensational and extravagant. The mind of the Englishman does not readily accept anything he cannotsee or even sometimes anything he can see which is unprecedented in hisexperience, so that like the West American farmer, confronted for thefirst time by the sight of a giraffe, his impulse is to cry out angrily:"I don't believe it!"

But whilst making all allowance for honest ignorance and incredulity, itis impossible not to recognize a certain method in the manner in whichthe cry of "obsession" or "bogey" is raised. For it will be noticed thatpeople who specialize on other subjects are not described as "obsessed. "We did not hear, for example, that the late Professor Einstein hadRelativity "on the brain" because he wrote and lectured exclusively onthis question, nor do we hear it suggested that Mr. Howard Carter isobsessed with the idea of Tutankhamen and that it would be well if hewere to set out for the South Pole by way of a change. Again, all thosewho warn the world concerning eventualities they conceive to be a dangerare not accused of creating bogeys. Thus although Lord Roberts wasdenounced as a scaremonger for urging the country to prepare fordefence against a design openly avowed by Germany both in speech andprint, and in 1921 the Duke of Northumberland was declared the victim ofa delusion for believing in the existence of a plot against the BritishEmpire which had been proclaimed in a thousand revolutionary haranguesand pamphlets. People who, without bothering to produce a shred ofdocumentary evidence, had sounded the alarm on the menace of "FrenchImperialism" and asserted that our former Allies were engaged inbuilding a vast fleet of aeroplanes in order to attack our coasts. Theywere not held to be either scaremongers or insane. On the contrary, although some of these same people were proved by events to have beencompletely wrong in their prognostications at the beginning of the GreatWar, they are still regarded as oracles and sometimes even described as"thinking for half Europe. "

Another instance of this kind may be cited in the case of Mr. JohnSpargo, author of a small book entitled _The Jew and American Ideals_. On page 37 of this work Mr. Spargo in refuting the accusations broughtagainst the Jews observes:

 Belief in widespread conspiracies directed against individuals or the state is probably the commonest form assumed by the human mind when it loses its balance and its sense of proportion. 

Yet on page 6 Mr. Spargo declares that when visiting this country inSeptember and October 1920:

 I found in England great nation-wide organizations, obviously well financed, devoted to the sinister purpose of creating anti-Jewish feeling and sentiment. I found special articles in influential newspapers devoted to the same evil purpose. I found at at least one journal, obviously well financed again, exclusively devoted to the fostering of suspicion, fear, and hatred against the Jew ... And in the bookstores I discovered a whole library of books devoted to the same end. 

It will be seen then that a belief in widespread conspiracies is notalways to be regarded as a sign of loss of mental balance, even whenthese conspiracies remain completely invisible to the general public. For those of us who were in London during the period of Mr. Spargo'svisit saw nothing of the things he here describes. Where, we ask, werethese "great nation-wide organizations" striving to create anti-Jewishsentiments? What were their names? By whom were they led? It is true, however, that there were nation-wide organizations in existence here atthis date instituted for the purpose of combating Bolshevism. Isanti-Bolshevism then synonymous with "anti-Semitism"?[10] This is theconclusion to which one is inevitably led. For it will be noticed thatanyone who attempts to expose the secret forces behind the revolutionarymovement, whether he mentions Jews in this connexion or even if he goesout of his way to exonerate them, will incur the hostility of the Jewsand their friends and will still be described as "anti-Semite. " Therealization of this fact has led me particularly to include the Jews inthe study of secret societies. 

The object of the present book is therefore to carry further the enquiryI began in _World Revolution_, by tracing the course of revolutionaryideas through secret societies from the earliest times, indicating therôle of the Jews only where it is to be clearly detected, but notseeking to implicate them where good evidence is not forthcoming. Forthis reason I shall not base assertions on merely "anti-Semite" works, but principally on the writings of the Jews themselves. In the same waywith regard to secret societies I shall rely as far as possible on thedocuments and admissions of their members, on which point I have beenable to collect a great deal of fresh data entirely corroborating myformer thesis. It should be understood that I do not propose to give acomplete history of secret societies, but only of secret societies intheir relation to the revolutionary movement. I shall therefore notattempt to describe the theories of occultism nor to enquire into thesecrets of Freemasonry, but simply to relate the history of thesesystems in order to show the manner in which they have been utilized fora subversive purpose. If I then fail to convince the incredulous thatsecret forces of revolution exist, it will not be for want of evidence. 

Nesta H. Webster. 

CONTENTS

PREFACE

PART I _THE PAST_

 I. THE ANCIENT SECRET TRADITION II. THE REVOLT AGAINST ISLAM III. THE TEMPLARS IV. THREE CENTURIES OF OCCULTISM V. THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY VI. THE GRAND LODGE ERA VII. GERMAN TEMPLARISM AND FRENCH ILLUMINISMVIII. THE JEWISH CABALISTS IX. THE BAVARIAN ILLUMINATI X. THE CLIMAX

PART II _THE PRESENT_

 XI. MODERN FREEMASONRY XII. SECRET SOCIETIES IN ENGLANDXIII. OPEN SUBVERSIVE MOVEMENTS XIV. PAN-GERMANISM XV. THE REAL JEWISH PERIL

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX: I. JEWISH EVIDENCE ON THE TALMUD II. THE "PROTOCOLS" OF THE ELDERS OF ZION

INDEX

PART I

_THE PAST_

1

THE ANCIENT SECRET TRADITION

The East is the cradle of secret societies. For whatever end they mayhave been employed, the inspiration and methods of most of thosemysterious associations which have played so important a part behind thescenes of the world's history will be found to have emanated from thelands where the first recorded acts of the great human drama were playedout--Egypt, Babylon, Syria, and Persia. On the one hand Easternmysticism, on the other Oriental love of intrigue, framed the systemslater on to be transported to the West with results so tremendous andfar-reaching. 

In the study of secret societies we have then a double line tofollow--the course of associations enveloping themselves in secrecy forthe pursuit of esoteric knowledge, and those using mystery and secrecyfor an ulterior and, usually, a political purpose. 

But esotericism again presents a dual aspect. Here, as in every phase ofearthly life, there is the _revers de la médaille_--white and black, light and darkness, the Heaven and Hell of the human mind. The quest forhidden knowledge may end with initiation into divine truths or into darkand abominable cults. Who knows with what forces he may be brought incontact beyond the veil? Initiation which leads to making use ofspiritual forces, whether good or evil, is therefore capable of raisingman to greater heights or of degrading him to lower depths than he couldever have reached by remaining on the purely physical plane. And whenmen thus unite themselves in associations, a collective force isgenerated which may exercise immense influence over the world around. Hence the importance of secret societies. 

Let it be said once and for all, secret societies have not always beenformed for evil purposes. On the contrary, many have arisen from thehighest aspirations of the human mind--the desire for a knowledge ofeternal verities. The evil arising from such systems has usuallyconsisted in the perversion of principles that once were pure and holy. If I do not insist further on this point, it is because a vastliterature has already been devoted to the subject, so that it need onlybe touched on briefly here. 

Now, from the earliest times groups of Initiates or "Wise Men" haveexisted, claiming to be in possession of esoteric doctrines known as the"Mysteries, " incapable of apprehension by the vulgar, and relating tothe origin and end of man, the life of the soul after death, and thenature of God or the gods. It is this exclusive attitude whichconstitutes the essential difference between the Initiates of theancient world and the great Teachers of religion with whom modernoccultists seek to confound them. For whilst religious leaders such asBuddha and Mohammed sought for divine knowledge in order that they mightimpart it to the world, the Initiates believed that sacred mysteriesshould not be revealed to the profane but should remain exclusively intheir own keeping, although the desire for initiation might spring fromthe highest aspiration, the gratification, whether real or imaginary, ofthis desire often led to spiritual arrogance and abominable tyranny, resulting in the fearful trials, the tortures physical and mental, ending even at times in death, to which the neophyte was subjected byhis superiors. 

The Mysteries

According to a theory current in occult and masonic circles, certainideas were common to all the more important "Mysteries, " thus forming acontinuous tradition handed down through succeeding groups of Initiatesof different ages and countries. Amongst these ideas is said to havebeen the conception of the unity of God. Whilst to the multitude it wasdeemed advisable to preach polytheism, since only in this manner couldthe plural aspects of the Divine be apprehended by the multitude, theInitiates themselves believed in the existence of one Supreme Being, theCreator of the Universe, pervading and governing all things, LePlongeon, whose object is to show an affinity between the sacredMysteries of the Mayas and of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Greeks, asserts that "The idea of a sole and omnipotent Deity, who created allthings, seems to have been the universal belief in early ages, amongstall the nations that had reached a high degree of civilization. This wasthe doctrine of the Egyptian priests. "[11] The same writer goes on tosay that the "doctrine of a Supreme Deity composed of three partsdistinct from each other, yet forming one, was universally prevalentamong the civilized nations of America, Asia, and the Egyptians, " andthat the priests and learned men of Egypt, Chaldea, India, or China"... Kept it a profound secret and imparted it only to a few select amongthose initiated in the sacred mysteries. "[12] This view has beenexpressed by many other writers, yet lacks historical proof. 

That monotheism existed in Egypt before the days of Moses is, however, certain. Adolf Erman asserts that "even in early times the educatedclass" believed all the deities of the Egyptian religion to be identicaland that "the priests did not shut their eyes to this doctrine, butstrove to grasp the idea of the one God, divided into different personsby poesy and myth.... The priesthood, however, had not the courage totake the final step, to do away with those distinctions which theydeclared to be immaterial, and to adore the one God under the onename. "[13] It was left to Amenhotep IV, later known as Ikhnaton, toproclaim this doctrine openly to the people. Professor Breasted hasdescribed the hymns of praise to the Sun God which Ikhnaton himselfwrote on the walls of the Amarna tomb-chapels:

 They show us the simplicity and beauty of the young king's faith in the sole God. He had gained the belief that one God created not only all the lower creatures but also all races of men, both Egyptians and foreigners. Moreover, the king saw in his God a kindly Father, who maintained all his creatures by his goodness.... In all the progress of men which we have followed through thousands of years, no one had ever before caught such a vision of the great Father of all. [14]

May not the reason why Ikhnaton was later described as a "heretic" bethat he violated the code of the priestly hierarchy by revealing thissecret doctrine to the profane? Hence, too, perhaps the necessity inwhich the King found himself of suppressing the priesthood, which bypersisting in its exclusive attitude kept what he perceived to be thetruth from the minds of the people. 

The earliest European centre of the Mysteries appears to have beenGreece, where the Eleusinian Mysteries existed at a very early date. Pythagoras, who was born in Samos about 582 B. C. , spent some years inEgypt, where he was initiated into the Mysteries of Isis. After hisreturn to Greece, Pythagoras is said to have been initiated into theEleusinian Mysteries and attempted to found a secret society in Samos;but this proving unsuccessful, he journeyed on to Crotona in Italy, where he collected around him a great number of disciples and finallyestablished his sect. This was divided into two classes ofInitiates--the first admitted only into the exoteric doctrines of themaster, with whom they were not allowed to speak until after a period offive years' probation; the second consisting of the real Initiates, towhom all the mysteries of the esoteric doctrines of Pythagoras wereunfolded. This course of instruction, given, after the manner of theEgyptians, by means of images and symbols, began with geometricalscience, in which Pythagoras during his stay in Egypt had become anadept, and led up finally to abstruse speculations concerning thetransmigration of the soul and the nature of God, who was representedunder the conception of a Universal Mind diffused through all things. Itis, however, as the precursor of secret societies formed later in theWest of Europe that the sect of Pythagoras enters into the scope of thisbook. Early masonic tradition traces Freemasonry partly to Pythagoras, who is said to have travelled in England, and there is certainly somereason to believe that his geometrical ideas entered into the system ofthe operative guilds of masons. 

The Jewish Cabala[15]

According to Fabre d'Olivet, Moses, who "was learned in all the wisdomof the Egyptians, " drew from the Egyptian Mysteries a part of the oraltradition which was handed down through the leaders of theIsraelites. [16] That such an oral tradition, distinct from the writtenword embodied in the Pentateuch, did descend from Moses and that it waslater committed to writing in the Talmud and the Cabala is the opinionof many Jewish writers. [17]

The first form of the Talmud, called the Mischna, appeared in about thesecond or third century A. D. ; a little later a commentary was addedunder the name of the Gemara. These two works compose the JerusalemTalmud, which was revised in the third to the fifth centry[A]. Thislater edition was named the Babylonian Talmud and is the one now in use. 

The Talmud relates mainly to the affairs of everyday life--the laws ofbuying and selling, of making contracts--also to external religiousobservances, on all of which the most meticulous details are given. As aJewish writer has expressed it:

 ... The oddest rabbinical conceits are elaborated through many volumes with the finest dialectic, and the most absurd questions are discussed with the highest efforts of intellectual power; for example, how many white hairs may a red cow have, and yet remain a _red_ cow; what sort of scabs require this or that purification; whether a louse or a flea may be killed on the Sabbath--the first being allowed, while the second is a deadly sin; whether the slaughter of an animal ought to be executed at the neck or the tail; whether the high priest put on his shirt or his hose first; whether the _Jabam_, that is, the brother of a man who died childless, being required by law to marry the widow, is relieved from his obligation if he falls off a roof and sticks in the mire. [18]

But it is in the Cabala, a Hebrew word signifying "reception, " that isto say "a doctrine orally received, " that the speculative andphilosophical or rather the theosophical doctrines of Israel are to befound. These are contained in two books, the _Sepher Yetzirah_ and the_Zohar_. 

The _Sepher Yetzirah_, or Book of the Creation, is described byEdersheim as "a monologue on the part of Abraham, in which, by thecontemplation of all that is around him, he ultimately arrives at theconclusion of the unity of God"[19]; but since this process isaccomplished by an arrangement of the Divine Emanations under the nameof the Ten Sephiroths, and in the permutation of numerals and of theletters of the Hebrew alphabet, it would certainly convey no suchidea--nor probably indeed any idea at all--to the mind uninitiated intoCabalistic systems. The Sepher Yetzirah is in fact admittedly a work ofextraordinary obscurity[20] and almost certainly of extreme antiquity. Monsieur Paul Vulliaud, in his exhaustive work on the Cabala recentlypublished, [21] says that its date has been placed as early as the sixthcentury before Christ and as late as the tenth century A. D. , but that itis at any rate older than the Talmud is shown by the fact that in theTalmud the Rabbis are described as studying it for magical purposes. [22]The Sepher Yetzirah is also said to be the work referred to in the Koranunder the name of the "Book of Abraham. "[23]

The immense compilation known as the _Sepher-Ha-Zohar_, or Book ofLight, is, however, of greater importance to the study of Cabalisticphilosophy. According to the Zohar itself, the "Mysteries of Wisdom"were imparted to Adam by God whilst he was still in the Garden of Eden, in the form of a book delivered by the angel Razael. From Adam the bookpassed on to Seth, then to Enoch, to Noah, to Abraham, and later toMoses, one of its principal exponents. [24] Other Jewish writers declare, however, that Moses received it for the first time on Mount Sinai andcommunicated it to the Seventy Elders, by whom it was handed down toDavid and Solomon, then to Ezra and Nehemiah, and finally to the Rabbisof the early Christian era. [25]

Until this date the Zohar had remained a purely oral tradition, but nowfor the first time it is said to have been written down by the disciplesof Simon ben Jochai. The Talmud relates that for twelve years the RabbiSimon and his son Eliezer concealed themselves in a cavern, where, sitting in the sand up to their necks, they meditated on the sacred lawand were frequently visited by the prophet Elias. [26] In this way, Jewish legend adds, the great book of the Zohar was composed andcommitted to writing by the Rabbi's son Eliezer and his secretary theRabbi Abba. [27]

The first date at which the Zohar is definitely known to have appearedis the end of the thirteenth century, when it was committed to writingby a Spanish Jew, Moses de Leon, who, according to Dr. Ginsburg, said hehad discovered and reproduced the original document of Simon ben Jochai;his wife and daughter, however, declared that he had composed it allhimself. [28] Which is the truth? Jewish opinion is strongly divided onthis question, one body maintaining that the Zohar is the comparativelymodern work of Moses de Leon, the other declaring it to be of extremeantiquity. M. Vulliaud, who has collated all these views in the courseof some fifty pages, shows that although the name Zohar might haveoriginated with Moses de Leon, the ideas it embodied were far older thanthe thirteenth century. How, he asks pertinently, would it have beenpossible for the Rabbis of the Middle Ages to have been deceived intoaccepting as an ancient document a work that was of completely modernorigin?[29] Obviously the Zohar was not the composition of Moses deLeon, but a compilation made by him from various documents dating fromvery early times. Moreover, as M. Vulliaud goes on to explain, those whodeny its antiquity are the anti-Cabalists, headed by Graetz, whoseobject is to prove the Cabala to be at variance with orthodox Judaism. Theodore Reinach goes so far as to declare the Cabala to be "a subtlepoison which enters into the veins of Judaism and wholly infests it";Salomon Reinach calls it "one of the worst aberrations of the humanmind. "[30] This view, many a student of the Cabala will hardly dispute, but to say that it is foreign to Judaism is another matter. The fact isthat the main ideas of the Zohar find confirmation in the Talmud. As the_Jewish Encyclopædia_ observes, "the Cabala is not really in oppositionto the Talmud, " and "many Talmudic Jews have supported and contributedto it. "[31] Adolphe Franck does not hesitate to describe it as "theheart and life of Judaism. "[32] "The greater number of the most eminentRabbis of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries believed firmly inthe sacredness of the Zohar and the infallibility of its teaching. "[33]

The question of the antiquity of the Cabala is therefore in realitylargely a matter of names. That a mystical tradition existed amongst theJews from remote antiquity will hardly be denied by anyone[34]; it istherefore, as M. Vulliaud observes, "only a matter of knowing at whatmoment Jewish mysticism took the name of Cabala. "[35] Edersheim assertsthat--

 It is undeniable that, already at the time of Jesus Christ, there existed an assemblage of doctrines and speculations that were carefully concealed from the multitude. They were not even revealed to ordinary scholars, for fear of leading them towards heretical ideas. This kind bore the name of Kabbalah, and as the term (of Kabbalah, to receive, transmit) indicates, it represented the spiritual traditions transmitted from the earliest ages, although mingled in the course of time with impure or foreign elements. [36]

Is the Cabala, then, as Gougenot des Mousseaux asserts, older than theJewish race, a legacy handed down from the first patriarchs of theworld?[37] We must admit this hypothesis to be incapable of proof, yetit is one that has found so much favour with students of occulttraditions that it cannot be ignored. The Jewish Cabala itself supportsit by tracing its descent from the patriarchs--Adam, Noah, Enoch, andAbraham--who lived before the Jews as a separate race came intoexistence. Eliphas Lévi accepts this genealogy, and relates that "theHoly Cabala" was the tradition of the children of Seth carried out ofChaldea by Abraham, who was "the inheritor of the secrets of Enoch andthe father of initiation in Israel. "[38]

According to this theory, which we find again propounded by the AmericanFreemason, Dr. Mackey, [39] there was, besides the divine Cabala of thechildren of Seth, the magical Cabala of the children of Cain, whichdescended to the Sabeists, or star-worshippers, of Chaldea, adepts inastrology and necromancy. Sorcery, as we know, had been practised by theCanaanites before the occupation of Palestine by the Israelites; EgyptIndia, and Greece also had their soothsayers and diviners. In spite ofthe imprecations against sorcery contained in the law of Moses, theJews, disregarding these warnings, caught the contagion and mingled thesacred tradition they had inherited with magical ideas partly borrowedfrom other races and partly of their own devising. At the same time thespeculative side of the Jewish Cabala borrowed from the philosophy ofthe Persian Magi, of the Neo-Platonists, [40] and of theNeo-Pythagoreans. There is, then, some justification for theanti-Cabalists' contention that what we know to-day as the Cabala is notof purely Jewish origin. 

Gougenot des Mousseaux, who had made a profound study of occultism, asserts that there were therefore two Cabalas: the ancient sacredtradition handed down from the first patriarchs of the human race; andthe evil Cabala, wherein this sacred tradition was mingled by the Rabbiswith barbaric superstitions, combined with their own imaginings andhenceforth marked with their seal. [41] This view also finds expressionin the remarkable work of the converted Jew Drach, who refers to--

 The ancient and true Cabala, which ... We distinguish from the modern Cabala, false, condemnable, and condemned by the Holy See, the work of the Rabbis, who have also falsified and perverted the Talmudic tradition. The doctors of the Synagogue trace it back to Moses, whilst at the same time admitting that the principal truths it contains were those known by revelation to the first patriarchs of the world. [42]

Further on Drach quotes the statement of Sixtus of Sienna, anotherconverted Jew and a Dominican, protected by Pius V:

 Since by the decree of the Holy Roman Inquisition all books appertaining to the Cabala have lately been condemned, one must know that the Cabala is double; that one is true, the other false. The true and pious one is that which ... Elucidates the secret mysteries of the holy law according to the principle of anagogy (i. E. Figurative interpretation). This Cabala therefore the Church has never condemned. The false and impious Cabala is a certain mendacious kind of Jewish tradition, full of innumerable vanities and falsehoods, differing but little from necromancy. This kind of superstition, therefore, improperly called Cabala, the Church within the last few years has deservedly condemned. [43]

The modern Jewish Cabala presents a dual aspect--theoretical andpractical; the former concerned with theosophical speculations, thelatter with magical practices. It would be impossible here to give anidea of Cabalistic theosophy with its extraordinary imaginings on theSephiroths, the attributes and functions of good and bad angels, dissertations on the nature of demons, and minute details on theappearance of God under the name of the Ancient of Ancients, from whosehead 400, 000 worlds receive the light. "The length of this face from thetop of the head is three hundred and seventy times ten thousand worlds. It is called the 'Long Face, ' for such is the name of the Ancient ofAncients. "[44] The description of the hair and beard alone belonging tothis gigantic countenance occupies a large place in the Zoharictreatise, Idra Raba. [45]

According to the Cabala, every letter in the Scriptures contains amystery only to be solved by the initiated. [46] By means of this systemof interpretation passages of the Old Testament are shown to bearmeanings totally unapparent to the ordinary reader. Thus the Zoharexplains that Noah was lamed for life by the bite of a lion whilst hewas in the ark, [47] the adventures of Jonah inside the whale are relatedwith an extraordinary wealth of imagination, [48] whilst the beautifulstory of Elisha and the Shunnamite woman is travestied in the mostgrotesque manner. [49]

In the practical Cabala this method of "decoding" is reduced to atheurgic or magical system in which the healing of diseases plays animportant part and is effected by means of the mystical arrangement ofnumbers and letters, by the pronunciation of the Ineffable Name, by theuse of amulets and talismans, or by compounds supposed to containcertain occult properties. 

All these ideas derived from very ancient cults; even the art of workingmiracles by the use of the Divine Name, which after the appropriation ofthe Cabala by the Jews became the particular practice of Jewishmiracle-workers, appears to have originated in Chaldea. [50] Nor can theinsistence on the Chosen People theory, which forms the basis of allTalmudic and Cabalistic writings, be regarded as of purely Jewishorigin; the ancient Egyptians likewise believed themselves to be "thepeculiar people specially loved by the gods. "[51] But in the hands ofthe Jews this belief became a pretension to the exclusive enjoyment ofdivine favour. According to the Zohar, "all Israelites will have a partin the future world, "[52] and on arrival there will not be handed overlike the _goyim_ (or non-Jewish races) to the hands of the angel Doumaand sent down to Hell. [53] Indeed the _goyim_ are even denied humanattributes. Thus the Zohar again explains that the words of theScripture "Jehovah Elohim made man" mean that He made Israel. [54] Theseventeenth-century Rabbinical treatise Emek ha Melek observes: "OurRabbis of blessed memory have said: 'Ye Jews are men because of the soulye have from the Supreme Man (i. E. God). But the nations of the worldare not styled men because they have not, from the Holy and Supreme Man, the Neschama (or glorious soul), but they have the Nephesch (soul) fromAdam Belial, that is the malicious and unnecessary man, called Sammael, the Supreme Devil. '"[55]

In conformity with this exclusive attitude towards the rest of the humanrace, the Messianic idea which forms the dominating theme of the Cabalais made to serve purely Jewish interests. Yet in its origins this ideawas possibly not Jewish. It is said by believers in an ancient secrettradition common to other races besides the Jews, that a part of thistradition related to a past Golden Age when man was free from care andevil non-existent, to the subsequent fall of Man and the loss of thisprimitive felicity, and finally to a revelation received from Heavenforetelling the reparation of this loss and the coming of a Redeemer whoshould save the world and restore the Golden Age. According to Drach:

 The tradition of a Man-God who should present Himself as the teacher and liberator of the fallen human race was constantly taught amongst all the enlightened nations of the globe. _Vetus et constans opinio_, as Suetonius says. It is of all times and of all places. [56]

And Drach goes on to quote the evidence of Volney, who had travelled inthe East and declared that--

 The sacred and mythological traditions of earlier times had spread throughout all Asia the belief in a great Mediator who was to come, of a future Saviour, King, God, Conqueror, and Legislator who would bring back the Golden Age to earth and deliver men from the empire of evil. [57]

All that can be said with any degree of certainty with regard to thisbelief is that it did exist amongst the Zoroastrians of Persia as wellas amongst the Jews. D'Herbelot, quoting Abulfaraj, shows that fivehundred years before Christ, Zerdascht, the leader of the Zoroastrians, predicted the coming of the Messiah, at whose birth a star would appear. He also told his disciples that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, that they would be the first to hear of Him, and that they should bringHim gifts. [58]

Drach believes that this tradition was taught in the ancientsynagogue, [59] thus explaining the words of St. Paul that unto the Jews"were committed the oracles of God"[60]:

 This oral doctrine, which is the Cabala, had for its object the most sublime truths of the Faith which it brought back incessantly to the promised Redeemer, the foundation of the whole system of the ancient tradition. [61]

Drach further asserts that the doctrine of the Trinity formed a part ofthis tradition:

 Whoever has familiarized himself with that which was taught by the ancient doctors of the Synagogue, particularly those who lived before the coming of the Saviour, knows that the Trinity in one God was a truth admitted amongst them from the earliest times. [62]

M. Vulliaud points out that Graetz admits the existence of this idea inthe Zohar: "It even taught certain doctrines which appeared favourableto the Christian dogma of the Trinity!" And again: "It is incontestablethat the Zohar makes allusions to the beliefs in the Trinity and theIncarnation. "[63] M. Vulliaud adds: "The idea of the Trinity musttherefore play an important part in the Cabala, since it has beenpossible to affirm that 'the characteristic of the Zohar and itsparticular conception is its attachment to the principle of theTrinity, '"[64] and further quotes Edersheim as saying that "a greatpart of the explanation given in the writings of the Cabalists resemblesin a surprising manner the highest truths of Christianity. "[65] Itwould appear, then, that certain remnants of the ancient secrettradition lingered on in the Cabala. The _Jewish Encyclopædia_, perhapsunintentionally, endorses this opinion, since in deriding thesixteenth-century Christian Cabalists for asserting that the Cabalacontained traces of Christianity, it goes on to say that what appears tobe Christian in the Cabala is only ancient esoteric doctrine. [66] Here, then, we have it on the authority of modern Jewish scholars that theancient secret tradition was in harmony with Christian teaching. But inthe teaching of the later synagogue the philosophy of the earlier sageswas narrowed down to suit the exclusive system of the Jewish hierarchy, and the ancient hope of a Redeemer who should restore Man to the stateof felicity he had lost at the Fall was transformed into the idea ofsalvation for the Jews alone[67] under the ægis of a triumphant and evenan avenging Messiah. [68] It is this Messianic dream perpetuated in themodern Cabala which nineteen hundred years ago the advent of Christ onearth came to disturb. 

The Coming of the Redeemer

The fact that many Christian doctrines, such as the conception of aTrinity, the miraculous birth and murder of a Deity, had found a placein earlier religions has frequently been used as an argument to showthat the story of Christ was merely a new version of various ancientlegends, those of Attis, Adonis, or of Osiris, and that consequently theChristian religion is founded on a myth. The answer to this is that theexistence of Christ on earth is an historic fact which no seriousauthority has ever denied. The attempts of such writers as Drews andJ. M. Robertson to establish the theory of the "Christ-Myth, " which findan echo in the utterances of Socialist orators, [69] have been met withso much able criticism as to need no further refutation. Sir JamesFrazer, who will certainly not be accused of bigoted orthodoxy, observesin this connexion:

 The doubts which have been cast on the historical reality of Jesus are, in my judgement, unworthy of serious attention.... To dissolve the founder of Christianity into a myth, as some would do, is hardly less absurd than it would be to do the same for Mohammed, Luther, and Calvin. [70]

May not the fact that certain circumstances in the life of Christ wereforeshadowed by earlier religions indicate, as Eliphas Lévi observes, that the ancients had an intuition of Christian mysteries?[71]

To those therefore who had adhered to the ancient tradition, Christappeared as the fulfilment of a prophecy as old as the world. Thus thewise men came from afar to worship the Babe of Bethlehem, and when theysaw His star in the East they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. InChrist they hailed not only Him who was born King of the Jews, but theSaviour of the whole human race. [72]

In the light of this great hope, that wondrous night in Bethlehem isseen in all its sublimity. Throughout the ages the seers had looked forthe coming of the Redeemer, and lo! He was here; but it was not to themighty in Israel, to the High Priests and the Scribes, that His birthwas announced, but to humble shepherds watching their flocks by night. And these men of simple faith, hearing from the angels "the good tidingsof great joy" that a Saviour, "Christ the Lord" was born, went withhaste to see the babe lying in the manger, and returned "glorifying andpraising God. " So also to the devout in Israel, to Simeon and to Annathe prophetess, the great event appeared in its universal significance, and Simeon, departing in peace, knew that his eyes had seen thesalvation that was to be "a light to lighten the Gentiles" as well asthe glory of the people of Israel. 

But to the Jews, in whose hands the ancient tradition had been turned tothe exclusive advantage of the Jewish race, to the Rabbis, who had, moreover, constituted themselves the sole guardians within this nationof the said tradition, the manner of its fulfilment was necessarilyabhorrent. Instead of a resplendent Messiah who should be presented bythem to the people, a Saviour was born amongst the people themselves andbrought to Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord; a Saviour moreoverwho, as time went on, imparted His divine message to the poor and humbleand declared that His Kingdom was not of this world. This was clearlywhat Mary meant when she said that God had "scattered the proud in theimagination of their hearts, " that He had "put down the mighty fromtheir seats, and exalted them of low degree. " Christ was thereforedoubly hateful to the Jewish hierarchy in that He attacked theprivilege of the race to which they belonged by throwing open the doorto all mankind, and the privilege of the caste to which they belonged byrevealing sacred doctrines to the profane and destroying their claim toexclusive knowledge. 

Unless viewed from this aspect, neither the antagonism displayed by theScribes and Pharisees towards our Lord nor the denunciations He utteredagainst them can be properly understood. "Woe unto you, Lawyers! for yehave taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, andthem that were entering in ye hindered.... Woe unto you, Scribes andPharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men:tor ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that areentering to go in. " What did Christ mean by the key of knowledge?Clearly the sacred tradition which, as Drach explains, foreshadowed thedoctrines of Christianity. [73] It was the Rabbis who perverted thattradition, and thus "the guilt of these perfidious Doctors consisted intheir concealing from the people the traditional explanation of thesacred books by means of which they would have been able to recognizethe Messiah in the person of Jesus Christ. "[74] Many of the people, however, did recognize Him; indeed, the multitude acclaimed Him, spreading their garments before Him and crying, "Hosanna to the Son ofDavid! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!" Writers whohave cited the choice of Barabbas in the place of Christ as an instanceof misguided popular judgement, overlook the fact that this choice wasnot spontaneous; it was the Chief Priests who delivered Christ "fromenvy" and who "moved the people that Pilate should rather release untothem Barabbas. " _Then_ the people obediently cried out, "Crucify Him!"

So also it was the Rabbis who, after hiding from the people the meaningof the sacred tradition at the moment of its fulfilment, afterwardspoisoned that same stream for future generations. Abominable calumnieson Christ and Christianity occur not only in the Cabala but in theearlier editions of the Talmud. In these, says Barclay--

 Our Lord and Saviour is "that one, " "such a one, " "a fool, " "the leper, " "the deceiver of Israel, " etc. Efforts are made to prove that He is the son of Joseph Pandira before his marriage with Mary. His miracles are attributed to sorcery, the secret of which He brought in a slit in His flesh out of Egypt. He is said to have been first stoned and then hanged on the eve of the Passover. His disciples are called heretics and opprobrious names. They are accused of immoral practices, and the New Testament is called a sinful book. The references to these subjects manifest the most bitter aversion and hatred. [75]

One might look in vain for passages such as these in English or Frenchtranslations of the Talmud, for the reason that no complete translationexists in these languages. This fact is of great significance. Whilstthe sacred books of every other important religion have been renderedinto our own tongue and are open to everyone to study, the book thatforms the foundation of modern Judaism is closed to the general public. We can read English translations of the Koran, of the Dhammapada, of theSutta Nipata, of the Zend Avesta, of the Shu King, of the Laws of Manu, of the Bhagavadgita, but we cannot read the Talmud. In the long seriesof Sacred Books of the East the Talmud finds no place. All that isaccessible to the ordinary reader consists, on one hand, in expurgatedversions or judicious selections by Jewish and pro-Jewish compilers, and, on the other hand, in "anti-Semitic" publications on which it wouldbe dangerous to place reliance. The principal English translation byRodkinson is very incomplete, and the folios are nowhere indicated, sothat it is impossible to look up a passage. [76] The French translationby Jean de Pauly[B] professes to present the entire text of the VenetianTalmud of 1520, but it does nothing of the kind. [77] The translator, inthe Preface, in fact admits that he has left out "sterile discussions"and has throughout attempted to tone down "the brutality of certainexpressions which offend our ears. " This of course affords him infinitelatitude, so that all passages likely to prove displeasing to the"Hébraisants, " to whom his work is particularly dedicated, arediscreetly expunged. Jean de Pauly's translation of the Cabala appears, however, to be complete. [78] But a fair and honest rendering of thewhole Talmud into English or French still remains to be made. 

Moreover, even the Hebrew scholar is obliged to exercise somediscrimination if he desires to consult the Talmud in its originalform. For by the sixteenth century, when the study of Hebrew becamegeneral amongst Christians, the antisocial and anti-Christian tendenciesof the Talmud attracted the attention of the Censor, and in the BâleTalmud of 1581 the most obnoxious passages and the entire treatiseAbodah Zara were suppressed. [79]

In the Cracow edition of 1604 that followed, these passages wererestored by the Jews, a proceeding which aroused so much indignationamongst Christian students of Hebrew that the Jews became alarmed. Accordingly a Jewish synod, assembled in Poland in 1631, ordered theoffending passages to be expunged again, but--according to Drach--to bereplaced by circles which the Rabbis were to fill in orally when givinginstruction to young Jews. [80] After that date the Talmud was for a timecarefully bowdlerized, so that in order to discover its original form itis advisable to go back to the Venetian Talmud of 1520 before anyomissions were made, or to consult a modern edition. For now that theJews no longer fear the Christians, these passages are all said to havebeen replaced and no attempt is made, as in the Middle Ages, to provethat they do not refer to the Founder of Christianity. [81]

Thus the _Jewish Encyclopædia_ admits that Jewish legends concerningJesus are found in the Talmud and Midrash and in "the life of Jesus(Toledot Yeshu) that originated in the Middle Ages. It is the tendencyof all these sources to belittle the person of Jesus by ascribing to Himillegitimate birth, magic, and a shameful death. "[82]

The last work mentioned, the _Toledot Yeshu_, or the _Sepher ToldosJeschu_, described here as originating in the Middle Ages, probablybelongs in reality to a much earlier period. Eliphas Lévi asserts that"the Sepher Toldos, to which the Jews attribute a great antiquity andwhich they hid from the Christians with such precautions that this bookwas for a long while unfindable, is quoted for the first time byRaymond Martin of the Order of the Preaching Brothers towards the endof the thirteenth century.... This book was evidently written by a Rabbiinitiated into the mysteries of the Cabala. "[83] Whether then theToledot Yeshu had existed for many centuries before it was first broughtto light or whether it was a collection of Jewish traditions woven intoa coherent narrative by a thirteenth-century Rabbi, the ideas itcontains can be traced back at least as far as the second century of theChristian era. Origen, who in the middle of the third century wrote hisreply to the attack of Celsus on Christianity, refers to a scandalousstory closely resembling the Toledot Yeshu, which Celsus, who livedtowards the end of the second century, had quoted on the authority of aJew. [84] It is evident, therefore, that the legend it contains had longbeen current in Jewish circles, but the book itself did not come intothe hands of Christians until it was translated into Latin by RaymondMartin. Later on Luther summarized it in German under the name of _SchemHamphorasch_; Wagenseil in 1681 and Huldrich in 1705 published Latintranslations. [85] It is also to be found in French in Gustave Brunei's_Evangiles Apocryphes_. 

However repugnant it is to transcribe any portion of this blasphemouswork, its main outline must be given here in order to trace thesubsequent course of the anti-Christian secret tradition in which, as weshall see, it has been perpetuated up to our own day. Briefly, then, theToledot Yeshu relates with the most indecent details that Miriam, ahairdresser of Bethlehem, [86] affianced to a young man named Jochanan, was seduced by a libertine, Joseph Panther or Pandira, and gave birth toa son whom she named Johosuah or Jeschu. According to the Talmudicauthors of the Sota and the Sanhedrim, Jeschu was taken during hisboyhood to Egypt, where he was initiated into the secret doctrines ofthe priests, and on his return to Palestine gave himself up to thepractice of magic. [87] The Toledot Yeshu, however, goes on to say thaton reaching manhood Jeschu learnt the secret of his illegitimacy, onaccount of which he was driven out of the Synagogue and took refuge fora time in Galilee. Now, there was in the Temple a stone on which wasengraved the Tetragrammaton or Schem Hamphorasch, that is to say, theIneffable Name of God; this stone had been found by King David when thefoundations of the Temple were being prepared and was deposited by himin the Holy of Holies. Jeschu, knowing this, came from Galilee and, penetrating into the Holy of Holies, read the Ineffable Name, which hetranscribed on to a piece of parchment and concealed in an incisionunder his skin. By this means he was able to work miracles and topersuade the people that he was the son of God foretold by Isaiah. Withthe aid of Judas, the Sages of the Synagogue succeeded in capturingJeschu, who was then led before the Great and Little Sanhedrim, by whomhe was condemned to be stoned to death and finally hanged. 

Such is the story of Christ according to the Jewish Cabalists, whichshould be compared not only with the Christian tradition but with thatof the Moslems. It is perhaps not sufficiently known that the Koran, whilst denying the divinity of Christ and also the fact of Hiscrucifixion, [88] nevertheless indignantly denounces the infamous legendsconcerning Him perpetuated by the Jews, and confirms in beautifullanguage the story of the Annunciation and the doctrine of theMiraculous Conception. [89] "Remember when the angels said, 'O Mary!verily hath God chosen thee and purified thee, and chosen thee above thewomen of the worlds. ' ... Remember when the angels said, 'O Mary! verilyGod announceth to thee the Word from Him: His name shall be Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, illustrious in this world, and in the next, andone of those who have near access to God. '"

The Mother of Jesus is shown to have been pure and to have "kept hermaidenhood"[90]; it was the Jews who spoke against Mary "a grievouscalumny. "[91] Jesus Himself is described as "strengthened with the HolySpirit, " and the Jews are reproached for rejecting "the Apostle ofGod, "[92] to whom was given "the Evangel with its guidance and lightconfirmatory of the preceding Law. "[93]

Thus during the centuries that saw the birth of Christianity, althoughother non-Christian forces arrayed themselves against the new faith, itwas left to the Jews to inaugurate a campaign of vilification againstthe person of its Founder, whom Moslems to this day revere as one of thegreat teachers of the world. [94]

The Essenes

A subtler device for discrediting Christianity and undermining belief inthe divine character of our Lord has been adopted by modern writers, principally Jewish, who set out to prove that He belonged to the sect ofthe Essenes, a community of ascetics holding all goods in common, whichhad existed in Palestine before the birth of Christ. Thus the Jewishhistorian Graetz declares that Jesus simply appropriated to himself theessential features of Essenism, and that primitive Christianity was"nothing but an offshoot of Essenism. "[95] The Christian Jew Dr. Ginsburg partially endorses this view in a small pamphlet[96] containingmost of the evidence that has been brought forward on the subject, andhimself expresses the opinion that "it will hardly be doubted that ourSaviour Himself belonged to this holy brotherhood. "[97] So afterrepresenting Christ as a magician in the Toledot Yeshu and the Talmud, Jewish tradition seeks to explain His miraculous works as those of amere healer--an idea that we shall find descending right through thesecret societies to this day. Of course if this were true, if themiracles of Christ were simply due to a knowledge of natural laws andHis doctrines were the outcome of a sect, the whole theory of His divinepower and mission falls to the ground. This is why it is essential toexpose the fallacies and even the bad faith on which the attempt toidentify Him with the Essenes is based. 

Now, we have only to study the Gospels carefully in order to realizethat the teachings of Christ were totally different from those peculiarto the Essenes. [98] Christ did not live in a fraternity, but, as Dr. Ginsburg himself points out, associated with publicans and sinners. TheEssenes did not frequent the Temple and Christ was there frequently. TheEssenes disapproved of wine and marriage, whilst Christ sanctionedmarriage by His presence at the wedding of Cana in Galilee and thereturned water into wine. A further point, the most conclusive of all, Dr. Ginsburg ignores, namely, that one of the principal traits of theEssenes which distinguished them from the other Jewish sects of theirday was their disapproval of ointment, which they regarded as defiling, whilst Christ not only commended the woman who brought the precious jarof ointment, but reproached Simon for the omission: "My head with oilthou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed My feet withointment. " It is obvious that if Christ had been an Essene but haddeparted from His usual custom on this occasion out of deference to thewoman's feelings, he would have understood why Simon had not offered Himthe same attention, and at any rate Simon would have excused himself onthese grounds. Further, if His disciples had been Essenes, would theynot have protested against this violation of their principles, insteadof merely objecting that the ointment was of too costly a kind?

But it is in attributing to Christ the Communistic doctrines of theEssenes that Dr. Ginsburg's conclusions are the most misleading--a pointof particular importance in view of the fact that it is on this falsehypothesis that so-called "Christian Socialism" has been built up. "TheEssenes, " he writes, "had all things in common, and appointed one of thebrethren as steward to manage the common bag; so the primitiveChristians (Acts ii. 44, 45, iv. 32-4; John xii. 6, xiii. 29). " It isperfectly true that, as the first reference to the Acts testifies, someof the primitive Christians after the death of Christ formed themselvesinto a body having all things in common, but there is not the slightestevidence that Christ and His disciples followed this principle. Thesolitary passages in the Gospel of St. John, which are all that Dr. Ginsburg can quote in support of this contention, may have referred toan alms-bag or a fund for certain expenses, not to a common pool of allmonetary wealth. Still less is there any evidence that Christ advocatedCommunism to the world in general. When the young man having greatpossessions asked what he should do to inherit eternal life, Christ toldhim to follow the commandments, but on the young man asking what more hecould do, answered: "If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hastand give to the poor. " Renunciation--but not the pooling--of all wealthwas thus a counsel of perfection for the few who desired to devote theirlives to God, as monks and nuns have always done, and bore no relationto the Communistic system of the Essenes. 

Dr. Ginsburg goes on to say: "Essenism put all its members on the samelevel, forbidding the exercise of authority of one over the other andenjoining mutual service; so Christ (Matt. Xx. 25-8; Mark ix. 35-7, x. 42-5). Essenism commanded its disciples to call no man master upon theearth; so Christ (Matt. Xxiii. 8-10). " As a matter of fact, Christstrongly upheld the exercise of authority, not only in the oft-quotedpassage, "Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, " but in Hisapproval of the Centurion's speech: "I am a man under authority, havingsoldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and toanother, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doethit. " Everywhere Christ commends the faithful servant and enjoinsobedience to masters. If we look up the reference to the Gospel of St. Matthew where Dr. Ginsburg says that Christ commanded His disciples tocall no man master on earth, we shall find that he has not onlyperverted the sense of the passage but reversed the order of the words, which, following on a denunciation of the Jewish Rabbis, runs thus: "Butbe not ye called Rabbi: for one is your master, even Christ, and all yeare brethren.... Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. "The apostles were therefore, never ordered to call no man master, butnot to be called master themselves. Moreover, if we refer to the Greektext, we shall see that this was meant in a spiritual and not a socialsense. The word for "master" here given is in the first verse διδάσκαλος, i. E. Teacher, in the second, καθηγητὴς literallyguide, and the word is servant is διακὸνοσ. When masters andservants in the social sense are referred to in the Gospels, the wordemployed for master is κύριος and for servant δοῦλος. Dr. Ginsburg should have been aware of this distinction and that thepassage in question had therefore no bearing on his argument. As amatter of fact it would appear that some of the apostles kept servants, since Christ commends them for exacting strict attention to duty:

 Which of you, having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded to him? I trow not. [99]

This passage would alone suffice to show that Christ and His apostlesdid not inhabit communities where all were equal, but followed the usualpractices of the social system under which they lived, though adoptingcertain rules, such as taking only one garment and carrying no moneywhen they went on journeys. Those resemblances between the teaching ofthe Essenes and the Sermon on the Mount which Dr. Ginsburg indicatesrefer not to the customs of a sect, but to general precepts for humanconduct--humility, meekness, charity, and so forth. 

At the same time it is clear that if the Essenes in general conformed tosome of the principles laid down by Christ, certain of their doctrineswere completely at variance with those of Christ and of primitiveChristians, in particular their custom of praying to the rising sun andtheir disbelief in the resurrection of the body. [100] St. Paul denouncesasceticism, the cardinal doctrine of the Essenes, in unmeasured terms, warning the brethren that "in the latter times some shall depart fromthe faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, ... Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which Godhath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe andknow the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to berefused, if it be received with thanksgiving ... If thou put thebrethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good ministerof Jesus Christ. "

This would suggest that certain Essenean ideas had crept into Christiancommunities and were regarded by those who remembered Christ's trueteaching as a dangerous perversion. 

The Essenes were therefore not Christians, but a secret society, practising four degrees of initiation, and bound by terrible oaths notto divulge the sacred mysteries confided to them. And what were thosemysteries but those of the Jewish secret tradition which we now know asthe Cabala? Dr. Ginsburg throws an important light on Essenism when, inone passage alone, he refers to the obligation of the Essenes "not todivulge the secret doctrines to anyone, ... Carefully to preserve thebooks belonging to their sect and the names of the angels or themysteries connected with the Tetragrammaton and the other names of Godand the angels, comprised in the theosophy as well as with the cosmogonywhich also played so important a part among the Jewish mystics and theKabbalists. "[101] The truth is clearly that the Essenes were Cabalists, though doubtless Cabalists of a superior kind. The Cabal they possessedvery possibly descended from pre-Christian times and had remaineduncontaminated by the anti-Christian strain introduced into it by theRabbis after the death of Christ. [102]

The Essenes are of importance to the subject of this book as the firstof the secret societies from which a direct line of tradition can betraced up to the present day. But if in this peaceful community noactually anti-Christian influence is to be discerned, the same cannot besaid of the succeeding pseudo-Christian sects which, whilst professingChristianity, mingled with Christian doctrines the poison of theperverted Cabala, main source of the errors which henceforth rent theChristian Church in twain. 

The Gnostics

The first school of thought to create a schism in Christianity was thecollection of sects known under the generic name of Gnosticism. In itspurer forms Gnosticism aimed at supplementing faith by knowledge ofeternal verities and at giving a wider meaning to Christianity bylinking it up with earlier faiths. "The belief that the divinity hadbeen manifested in the religious institutions of all nations"[103] thusled to the conception of a sort of universal religion containing thedivine elements of all. 

Gnosticism, however, as the _Jewish Encyclopædia_ points out, "wasJewish in character long before it became Christian. "[104] M. Matterindicates Syria and Palestine as its cradle and Alexandria as the centreby which it was influenced at the time of its alliance withChristianity. This influence again was predominantly Jewish. Philo andAristobulus, the leading Jewish philosophers of Alexandria, "whollyattached to the ancient religion of their fathers, both resolved toadorn it with the spoils of other systems and to open to Judaism the wayto immense conquests. "[105] This method of borrowing from other racesand religions those ideas useful for their purpose has always been thecustom of the Jews. The Cabala, as we have seen, was made up of theseheterogeneous elements. And it is here we find the principal progenitorof Gnosticism. The Freemason Ragon gives the clue in the words: "TheCabala is the key of the occult sciences. The Gnostics were born of theCabalists. "[106]

For the Cabala was much older than the Gnostics. Modern historians whodate it merely from the publication of the Zohar by Moses de Leon in thethirteenth century or from the school of Luria in the sixteenth centuryobscure this most important fact which Jewish savants have alwaysclearly, recognized. [107] The _Jewish Encyclopædia_, whilst denying thecertainty of connexion between Gnosticism and the Cabala, neverthelessadmits that the investigations of the anti-Cabalist Graetz "must beresumed on a new basis, " and it goes on to show that "it was Alexandriaof the first century, or earlier, with her strange commingling ofEgyptian, Chaldean, Judean, and Greek culture which furnished soil andseeds for that mystic philosophy. "[108] But since Alexandria was at thesame period the home of Gnosticism, which was formed from the sameelements enumerated here, the connexion between the two systems isclearly evident. M. Matter is therefore right in saying that Gnosticismwas not a defection from Christianity, but a combination of systems intowhich a few Christian elements were introduced. The result of Gnosticismwas thus not to christianize the Cabala, but to cabalize Christianity bymingling its pure and simple teaching with theosophy and even magic. The_Jewish Encyclopædia_ quotes the opinion that "the central doctrine ofGnosticism--a movement closely connected with Jewish mysticism--wasnothing else than the attempt to liberate the soul and unite it withGod"; but as this was apparently to be effected "through the employmentof mysteries, incantations, names of angels, " etc. , it will be seen howwidely even this phase of Gnosticism differs from Christianity andidentifies itself with the magical Cabala of the Jews. 

Indeed, the man generally recognized as the founder of Gnosticism, a Jewcommonly known as Simon Magus, was not only a Cabalist mystic butavowedly a magician, who with a band of Jews, including his masterDositheus and his disciples Menander and Cerinthus, instituted apriesthood of the Mysteries and practised occult arts andexorcisms. [109] It was this Simon of whom we read in the Acts of theApostles that he "bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out thathimself was some great one: to whom they all gave heed from the least tothe greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God, " and whosought to purchase the power of the laying on of hands with money. Simon, indeed, crazed by his incantations and ecstasies, developedmegalomania in an acute form, arrogating to himself divine honours andaspiring to the adoration of the whole world. According to acontemporary legend, he eventually became sorcerer to Nero and ended hislife in Rome. [110]

The prevalence of sorcery amongst the Jews during the first century ofthe Christian era is shown by other passages in the Acts of theApostles; in Paphos the "false prophet, " a Jew, whose surname wasBar-Jesus, otherwise known as "Elymas the sorcerer, " opposed theteaching of St. Paul and brought on himself the imprecation: "O full ofall subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy ofall righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of theLord?"

Perversion is the keynote of all the debased forms of Gnosticism. According to Eliphas Lévi, certain of the Gnostics introduced into theirrites that profanation of Christian mysteries which was to form thebasis of black magic in the Middle Ages. [111] The glorification of evil, which plays so important a part in the modern revolutionary movement, constituted the creed of the Ophites, who worshipped the Serpent(ὅφις) because he had revolted against Jehovah, to whom theyreferred under the Cabalistic term of the "demiurgus, "[112] and stillmore of the Cainites, so-called from their cult of Cain, whom, withDathan and Abiram, the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, and finallyJudas Iscariot, they regarded as noble victims of the demiurgus. [113]Animated by hatred of all social and moral order, the Cainites "calledupon all men to destroy the works of God and to commit every kind ofinfamy. "[114]

These men were therefore not only the enemies of Christianity but oforthodox Judaism, since it was against the Jehovah of the Jews thattheir hatred was particularly directed. Another Gnostic sect, theCarpocratians, followers of Carpocrates of Alexandria and his sonEpiphanus--who died from his debaucheries and was venerated as agod[115]--likewise regarded all written laws, Christian or Mosaic, withcontempt and recognized only the γνῶσις or knowledge given tothe great men of every nation--Plato and Pythagoras, Moses andChrist--which "frees one from all that the vulgar call religion" and"makes man equal to God. "[116]

So in the Carpocratians of the second century we find already thetendency towards that _deification of humanity_ which forms the supremedoctrine of the secret societies and of the visionary Socialists of ourday. The war now begins between the two contending principles: theChristian conception of man reaching up to God and the secret societyconception of man as God, needing no revelation from on high and noguidance but the law of his own nature. And since that nature is initself divine, all that springs from it is praiseworthy, and those actsusually regarded as sins are not to be condemned. By this line ofreasoning the Carpocratians arrived at much the same conclusions asmodern Communists with regard to the ideal social system. ThusEpiphanus held that since Nature herself reveals the principle of thecommunity and the unity of all things, human laws which are contrary tothis law of Nature are so many culpable infractions of the legitimateorder of things. Before these laws were imposed on humanity everythingwas in common--land, goods, and women. According to certaincontemporaries, the Carpocratians returned to this primitive system byinstituting the community of women and indulging in every kind oflicence. 

The further Gnostic sect of Antitacts, following this same cult of humannature, taught revolt against all positive religion and laws and thenecessity for gratifying the flesh; the Adamites of North Africa, goinga step further in the return to Nature, cast off all clothing at theirreligious services so as to represent the primitive innocence of thegarden of Eden--a precedent followed by the Adamites of Germany in thefifteenth century. [117]

These Gnostics, says Eliphas Lévi, under the pretext of "spiritualizingmatter, materialized the spirit in the most revolting ways.... Rebels tothe hierarchic order, ... They wished to substitute the mystical licenceof sensual passions to wise Christian sobriety and obedience to laws.... Enemies of the family, they wished to produce sterility by increasingdebauchery. "[118]

By way of systematically perverting the doctrines of the Christian faiththe Gnostics claimed to possess the true versions of the Gospels, andprofessed belief in these to the exclusion of all the others. [119] Thusthe Ebionites had their own corrupted version of the Gospel of St. Matthew founded on the "Gospel of the Hebrews, " known earlier to theJewish Christians; the Marcosians had their version of St. Luke, theCainites their own "Gospel of Judas, " and the Valentinians their "Gospelof St. John. " As we shall see later, the Gospel of St. John is the onethat throughout the war on Christianity has been specially chosen forthe purpose of perversion. 

Of course this spirit of perversion was nothing new; many centuriesearlier the prophet Isaiah had denounced it in the words: "Woe unto themthat call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, andlight for darkness!" But the role of the Gnostics was to reduceperversion to a system by binding men together into sects working underthe guise of enlightenment in order to obscure all recognized ideas ofmorality and religion. It is this which constitutes their importance inthe history of secret societies. 

Whether the Gnostics themselves can be described as a secret society, orrather as a ramification of secret societies, is open to question. M. Matter, quoting a number of third-century writers, shows the possibilitythat they had mysteries and initiations; the Church Fathers definitelyasserted this to be the case. [120] According to Tertullian, theValentinians continued, or rather perverted, the mysteries of Eleusis, out of which they made a "sanctuary of prostitution. "[121]

The Valentinians are known to have divided their members into threeclasses--the Pneumatics, the Psychics, and the Hylics (i. E. Materialists); the Basilideans are also said to have possessed secretdoctrines known to hardly one in a thousand of the sect. From all thisM. Matter concludes that:

 1. The Gnostics professed to hold by means of tradition a secret doctrine superior to that contained in the public writings of the apostles. 

 2. That they did not communicate this doctrine to everyone.... 

 3. That they communicated it by means of emblems and symbols, as the Diagram of the Ophites proves. 

 4. That in these communications they imitated the rites and trials of the mysteries of Eleusis. [122]

This claim to the possession of a secret oral tradition, whether knownunder the name of γνῶσις or of Cabala, confirms the conceptionof the Gnostics as Cabalists and shows how far they had departed fromChristian teaching. For if only in this idea of "one doctrine for theignorant and another for the initiated, " the Gnostics had restored thevery system which Christianity had come to destroy. [123]

Manicheism

Whilst we have seen the Gnostic sects working for more or lesssubversive purposes under the guise of esoteric doctrines, we find inthe Manicheans of Persia, who followed a century later, a sectembodying the same tendencies and approaching still nearer to secretsociety organization. 

Cubricus or Corbicius, the founder of Manicheism, was born in Babyloniaabout the year A. D. 216. Whilst still a child he is said to have beenbought as a slave by a rich widow of Ctesiphon, who liberated him and onher death left him great wealth. According to another story--for thewhole history of Manes rests on legends--he inherited from a rich oldwoman the books of a Saracen named Scythianus on the wisdom of theEgyptians. Combining the doctrines these books contained with ideasborrowed from Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, and Christianity, and alsowith certain additions of his own, he elaborated a philosophic systemwhich he proceeded to teach. Cubricus then changed his name to Mani orManes and proclaimed himself the Paraclete promised by Jesus Christ. Hisfollowers were divided into two classes--the outer circle of hearers orcombatants, and the inner circle of teachers or ascetics described asthe Elect. As evidence of their resemblance with Freemasons, it has beensaid that the Manicheans made use of secret signs, grips, and passwords, that owing to the circumstances of their master's adoption they calledManes "the son of the widow" and themselves "the children of the widow, "but this is not clearly proved. One of their customs is, however, interesting in this connexion. According to legend, Manes undertook tocure the son of the King of Persia who had fallen ill, but the princedied, whereupon Manes was flayed alive by order of the king and hiscorpse hanged up at the city gate. Every year after this, on GoodFriday, the Manicheans carried out a mourning ceremony known as the Bemaaround the catafalque of Manes, whose real sufferings they were wont tocontrast with the unreal sufferings of Christ. 

The fundamental doctrine of Manicheism is Dualism--that is to say, theexistence of two opposing principles in the world, light and darkness, good and evil--founded, however, not on the Christian conception of thisidea, but on the Zoroastrian conception of Ormuzd and Ahriman, and soperverted and mingled with Cabalistic superstitions that it met with asvehement denunciation by Persian priests as by Christian Fathers. Thus, according to the doctrine of Manes, all matter is absolute evil, theprinciple of evil is eternal, humanity itself is of Satanic origin, andthe first human beings, Adam and Eve, are represented as the offspringof devils. [124] Much the same idea may be found in the Jewish Cabala, where it is said that Adam, after other abominable practices, cohabitedwith female devils whilst Eve consoled herself with male devils, so thatwhole races of demons were born into the world. Eve is also accused ofcohabiting with the Serpent. [125] In the Yalkut Shimoni it is alsorelated that during the 130 years that Adam lived apart from Eve, "hebegat a generation of devils, spirits, and hobgoblins. "[126] Manicheandemonology thus paved the way for the placation of the powers ofdarkness practised by the Euchites at the end of the fourth century andlater by the Paulicians, the Bogomils, and the Luciferians. 

So it is in Gnosticism and Manicheism that we find evidence of the firstattempts to pervert Christianity. The very fact that all such have beencondemned by the Church as "heresies" has tended to enlist sympathy intheir favour, yet even Eliphas Lévi recognizes that here the action ofthe Church was right, for the "monstrous gnosis of Manes" was adesecration not only of Christian doctrines but of pre-Christian sacredtraditions. 

2

THE REVOLT AGAINST ISLAM[127]

We have followed the efforts of subversive sects hitherto directedagainst Christianity and orthodox Judaism; we shall now see thisattempt, reduced by gradual stages to a working system of extraordinaryefficiency, organized for the purpose of undermining all moral andreligious beliefs in the minds of Moslems. In the middle of the seventhcentury an immense schism was created in Islam by the rival advocates ofsuccessors to the Prophet, the orthodox Islamites known by the name ofSunnis adhering to the elected Khalifas Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othman, whilst the party of revolt, known as the Shiahs, claimed the Khalifatefor the descendants of Mohammed through Ali, son of Abu-Talib andhusband of Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. This division ended in openwarfare; Ali was finally assassinated, his elder son Hason was poisonedin Medina, his younger son Husain fell at the battle of Kerbela fightingagainst the supporters of Othman. The deaths of Hasan and Husain arestill mourned yearly by the Shiahs at the Moharram. 

The Ismailis

The Shiahs themselves split again over the question of Ali's successorsinto four factions, the fourth of which divided again into two furthersects. Both of these retained their allegiance to the descendants of Alias far as Jafar-as-Sadik, but whilst one party, known as the Imamias orIsna-Asharias (i. E. The Twelvers), supported the succession through hisyounger son Musa to the twelfth Iman Mohammed, son of Askeri, theIsmailis (or Seveners) adhered to Ismail, the elder son ofJafar-as-Sadik. 

[Illustration:

 Choice of SUNNIS Abu Bakr (1st Khalifa) 632 Omar 634 Othman 644 Ali

 Choice of SHIAHS

 Abd-ul-Muttalib Abdullah MOHAMMED A. D. 570-632 Fatima married Ali Abu Tälib ALI (4th Sunni and 1st Shiah Khalifa murdered in Kufa) (2) Hasan poisoned A. D. 680 (3) Husain killed at battle of Kerbela A. D. 680 (4) Ali II (5) Mohammed (6) Jafar-as-Sadik Choice of ISMAILIS (7) Ismail Mohammed disappeared circ. 770 Choice of IMAMIAS or ISNA-ASHARIAS (7) Abu'I Hasan Musa (8) Ali III (9) Abu Jafar Mohammed (10) Ali (11) Abu Mohammed al Askari (12) Mohammed al Mahdi

 SHIAHS ISMAILIS circ. A. D. 770 BATINIS (founded by Abdullah ibn Maymūn) circ. A. D. 872 FATIMITES (under Ubeidallah 1st Fatimite Khalifa) A. D. 909 Fatimite Khalifas of Egypt A. D. 977 HAKIM 6th Fatimite Khalifa A. D. 996 Founds Dar-ul-Hikmat A. D. 1004 ASSASSINS (under Hasan Saba) A. D. 1090 DRUSES (under Hazza) circ. A. D. 1021 KARMATHITES (under Hamdan Karmath) A. D. 896

 THE SUCCESSORS OF THE PROPHET

 The above table shows the rival lines of Khalifas--on the left the elected successors, choice of the Sunnis; on the right the lineal descendants, choice of the Shiahs. The figure at the side of each name indicates the number in succession of the Khalifa mentioned. The table inset shows the sects to which the disputes over the succession gave birth. 

]

So far, however, in spite of divisions, no body of Shiahs had everdeviated from the fundamental doctrines of Islamism, but merely claimedthat these had been handed down through a different line from thatrecognized by the Sunnis. The earliest Ismailis, who formed themselvesinto a party at about the time of the death of Mohammed, son of Ismail(i. E. Circ. A. D. 770), still remained believers, declaring only that thetrue teaching of the Prophet had descended to Mohammed, who was not deadbut would return in the fullness of time and that he was the Mahdi whomMoslems must await. But in about A. D. 873 an intriguer of extraordinarysubtlety succeeded in capturing the movement, which, hitherto merelyschismatic, now became definitely subversive, not only of Islamism, butof all religious belief. 

This man, Abdullah ibn Maymūn, the son of a learned and free-thinkingdoctor in Southern Persia, brought up in the doctrines of GnosticDualism and profoundly versed in all religions, was in reality, like hisfather, a pure materialist. By professing adherence to the creed oforthodox Shi-ism, and proclaiming a knowledge of the mystic doctrineswhich the Ismailis believed to have descended through Ismail to his sonMohammed, Abdullah succeeded in placing himself at the head of theIsmailis. 

His advocacy of Ismail was thus merely a mask, his real aim beingmaterialism, which he now proceeded to make into a system by founding asect known as the Batinis with seven degrees of initiation. Dozy hasgiven the following description of this amazing project:

 To link together into one body the vanquished and the conquerors; to unite in the form of a vast secret society with many degrees of initiation free-thinkers--who regarded religion only as a curb for the people--and bigots of all sects; to make tools of believers in order to give power to sceptics; to induce conquerors to overturn the empires they had founded; to build up a party, numerous, compact, and disciplined, which in due time would give the throne, if not to himself, at least to his descendants, such was Abdullah ibn Maymūn's general aim--an extraordinary conception which he worked out with marvellous tact, incomparable skill, and a profound knowledge of the human heart. The means which he adopted were devised with diabolical cunning.... 

 It was ... Not among the Shi-ites that he sought his true supporters, but among the Ghebers, the Manicheans, the pagans of Harran, and the students of Greek philosophy; on the last alone could he rely, to them alone could he gradually unfold the final mystery, and reveal that Imams, religions, and morality were nothing but an imposture and an absurdity. The rest of mankind--the "asses, " as Abdullah called them--were incapable of understanding such doctrines. But to gain his end he by no means disdained their aid; on the contrary, he solicited it, but he took care to initiate devout and lowly souls only in the first grades of the sect. His missionaries, who were inculcated with the idea that their first duty was to conceal their true sentiments and adapt themselves to the views of their auditors, appeared in many guises, and spoke, as it were, in a different language to each class. They won over the ignorant vulgar by feats of legerdemain which passed for miracles, or excited their curiosity by enigmatical discourse. In the presence of the devout they assumed the mask of virtue and piety. With mystics they were mystical, and unfolded the inner meanings of phenomena, or explained allegories and the figurative sense of the allegories themselves.... 

 By means such as these the extraordinary result was brought about that a multitude of men of diverse beliefs were all working together for an object known only to a few of them.... [128]

I quote this passage at length because it is of immense importance inthrowing a light on the organization of modern secret societies. It doesnot matter what the end may be, whether political, social, or religious, the system remains the same--the setting in motion of a vast number ofpeople and making them work in a cause unknown to them. That this wasthe method adopted by Weishaupt in organizing the Illuminati and that itcame to him from the East will be shown later on. We shall now see howthe system of the philosopher Abdullah paved the way for bloodshed bythe most terrible sect the world had ever seen. 

The Karmathites

The first open acts of violence resulting from the doctrines of Abdullahwere carried out by the Karmathites, a new development of the Ismailis. Amongst the many Dais sent out by the leader--which included his sonAhmed and Ahmed's son--was the Dai Hosein Ahwazi, Abdullah's envoy toIrak in Persia, who initiated a certain Hamdan surnamed Karmath into thesecrets of the sect. Karmath, who was a born intriguer and believed innothing, became the leader of the Karmathites in Arabia, where a numberof Arabs were soon enlisted in the society. With extraordinary skill hesucceeded in persuading these dupes to make over all their money to him, first by means of small contributions, later by larger sums, until atlast he convinced them of the advantages of abolishing all privateproperty and establishing the system of the community of goods andwives. This principle was enforced by the passage of the Koran:"Remember the grace of God in that whilst you were enemies, He hasunited your hearts, so that by His grace you have become brothers.... "De Sacy thus trans-scribes the methods employed as given by thehistorian Nowairi:

 When Karmath had succeeded in establishing all this, and everyone had agreed to conform to it, he ordered the Dais to assemble all the women on a certain night so that they should mingle promiscuously with all the men. This, he said, was perfection and the last degree of friendship and fraternal union. Often a husband led his wife and presented her himself to one of his brothers when that gave him pleasure. When he (Karmath) saw that he had become absolute master of their minds, had assured himself of their obedience, and found out the degree of their intelligence and discernment, he began to lead them quite astray. He put before them arguments borrowed from the doctrines of the Dualists. They fell in easily with all that he proposed, and then he took away from them all religion and released them from all those duties of piety, devotion, and the fear of God that he prescribed for them in the beginning. He permitted them pillage, and every sort of immoral licence, and taught them to throw off the yoke of prayer, fasting, and other precepts. He taught them that they were held by no obligations, and that they could pillage the goods and shed the blood of their adversaries with impunity, that the knowledge of the master of truth to whom he had called them took the place of everything else, and that with this knowledge they need no longer fear sin or punishment. 

As the result of these teachings the Karmathites rapidly became a bandof brigands, pillaging and massacring all those who opposed them andspreading terror throughout all the surrounding districts. 

Peaceful fraternity was thus turned into a wild lust for conquest; theKarmathites succeeded in dominating a great part of Arabia and the mouthof the Euphrates, and in A. D. 920 extended their ravages westwards. Theytook possession of the holy city of Mecca, in the defence of which30, 000 Moslems fell. "For a whole century, " says von Hammer, "thepernicious doctrines of Karmath raged with fire and sword in the verybosom of Islamism, until the widespread conflagration was extinguishedin blood. "

But in proclaiming themselves revolutionaries the Karmathites haddeparted from the plan laid down by the originator of their creed, Abdullah ibn Maymūn, which had consisted not in acts of open violencebut in a secret doctrine which should lead to the gradual undermining ofall religious faith and a condition of mental anarchy rather than ofmaterial chaos. For violence, as always, had produced counter-violence, and it was thus that while the Karmathites were rushing to their owndestruction through a series of bloody conflicts, another branch of theIsmailis were quietly reorganizing their forces more in conformity withthe original method of their founder. These were the Fatimites, so-called from their professed belief that the doctrine of the Prophethad descended from Ali, husband of Fatima, Mohammed's daughter. Whilstless extreme than the Karmathites, or than their predecessor Abdullahibn Maymūn, the Fatimites, according to the historian Makrizi, adopted the method of instilling doubts into the minds of believers andaimed at the substitution of a natural for a revealed religion. Indeed, after the establishment of their power in Egypt, it is difficult todistinguish any appreciable degree of difference in the character oftheir teaching from the anarchic code of Abdullah and his more violentexponent Karmath. 

The Fatimites

The founder of the Fatimite dynasty of the Khalifas was one Ubeidallah, known as the Mahdi, accused of Jewish ancestry by his adversaries theAbbasides, who declared--apparently without truth--that he was the sonor grandson of Ahmed, son of Adbullah ibn Maymūn, by a Jewess. Underthe fourth Fatimite Khalifa Egypt fell into the power of the dynasty, and, before long, bi-weekly assemblages of both men and women known as"societies of wisdom" were instituted in Cairo. In 1004 these acquired agreater importance by the establishment of the Dar ul Hikmat, or theHouse of Knowledge, by the sixth Khalifa Hakim, who was raised to adeity after his death and is worshipped to this day by the Druses. Underthe direction of the Dar ul Hikmat or Grand Lodge of Cairo, theFatimites continued the plan of Abdullah ibn Maymūn's secret societywith the addition of two more degrees, making nine in all. Their methodof enlisting proselytes and system of initiation--which, as ClaudioJannet points out, "are absolutely those which Weishaupt, the founder ofthe _Illuminati_, prescribed to the 'Insinuating Brothers'"[129]--weretranscribed by the fourteenth-century historian Nowairi in a descriptionthat may be briefly summarized thus[130]:

The proselytes were broadly divided into two classes, the learned andthe ignorant. The Dai was to agree with the former, applauding hiswisdom, and to impress the latter with his own knowledge by asking himperplexing questions on the Koran. Thus in initiating him into the firstdegree the Dai assumed an air of profundity and explained that religiousdoctrines were too abstruse for the ordinary mind, but must beinterpreted by men who, like the Dais, had a special knowledge of thisscience. The initiate was bound to absolute secrecy concerning thetruths to be revealed to him and obliged to pay in advance for theserevelations. In order to pique his curiosity, the Dai would suddenlystop short in the middle of a discourse, and should the novice finallydecline to pay the required sum, he was left in a state of bewildermentwhich inspired him with the desire to know more. 

In the second degree the initiate was persuaded that all his formerteachers were wrong and that he must place his confidence solely inthose Imams endowed with authority from God; in the third he learnt thatthese Imams were those of the Ismailis, seven in number ending withMohammed, son of Ismail, in contradistinction to the twelve Imams of theImamias who supported the claims of Ismail's brother Musa; in the fourthhe was told that the prophets preceding the Imams descending from Aliwere also seven in number--namely Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, thefirst Mohammed, and finally Mohammed son of Ismail. 

So far, then, nothing was said to the initiate in contradiction to thebroad tenets of orthodox Islamism. But with the fifth degree the processof undermining his religion began, he was now told to reject traditionand to disregard the precepts of Mohammed; in the sixth he was taughtthat all religious observances--prayer, fasting, etc. --were onlyemblematic, that in fact all these things were devices to keep thecommon herd of men in subordination; in the seventh the doctrines ofDualism, of a greater and a lesser deity, were introduced and the unityof God--fundamental doctrine of Islamism--was destroyed; in the eighth agreat vagueness was expressed on the attributes of the first andgreatest of these deities, and it was pointed out that real prophetswere those who concerned themselves with practical matters--politicalinstitutions and good forms of government; finally, in the ninth, theadept was shown that all religious teaching was allegorical and thatreligious precepts need only be observed in so far as it is necessary tomaintain order, but the man who understands the truth may disregard allsuch doctrines. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the other prophets weretherefore only teachers who had profited by the lessons of philosophy. All belief in revealed religion was thus destroyed. It will be seen thenthat in the last degrees the whole teaching of the first five wasreversed and therefore shown to be a fraud. Fraud in fact constitutedthe system of the society; in the instructions to the Dais everyartifice is described for enlisting proselytes by misrepresentation:Jews were to be won by speaking ill of Christians, Christians byspeaking ill of Jews and Moslems alike, Sunnis by referring with respectto the orthodox Khalifas Abu Bakr and Omar and criticizing Ali and hisdescendants. Above all, care was to be taken not to put beforeproselytes doctrines that might revolt them, but to make them advancestep by step. By these means they would be ready to obey any commands. As the instructions express it:

 If you were to give the order to whoever it might be to take from him all that he holds most precious, above all his money, he would oppose none of your orders, and if death surprised him he would leave you all that he possesses in his will and make you his heir. He will think that in the whole world he cannot find a man more worthy than you. 

Such was the great secret society which was to form the model for theIlluminati of the eighteenth century, to whom the summary of von Hammermight with equal truth apply:

 To believe nothing and to dare all was, in two words, the sum of this system, which annihilated every principle of religion and morality, and had no other object than to execute ambitious designs with suitable ministers, who, daring all and knowing nothing, since they consider everything a cheat and nothing forbidden, are the best tools of an infernal policy. A system which, with no other aim than the gratification of an insatiable lust for domination, instead of seeking the highest of human objects, precipitates itself into the abyss, and mangling itself, is buried amidst the ruins of thrones and altars, the wreck of national happiness, and the universal execration of mankind. [131]

The Druses

The terrible Grand Lodge of Cairo before long became the centre of a newand extraordinary cult. Hakim sixth Fatimite Khalifa and founder of theDar ul Hikmat--a monster of tyranny and crime whose reign can only becompared to that of Caligula or Nero--was now raised to the place of adivinity by one Ismail Darazi, a Turk who in 1016 announced in a mosquein Cairo that the Khalifa should be made an object of worship. Hakim, who "believed that divine reason was incarnate in him, " four years laterproclaimed himself a deity, and the cult was finally established by oneof his viziers, the Persian mystic Hamza ibn Ali. Hakim's cruelties, however, had so outraged the people of Egypt that a year later he wasmurdered by a band of malcontents, led, it is said, by his sister, whoafterwards concealed his body--a circumstance which gave his followersthe opportunity to declare that the divinity had merely vanished inorder to test the faith of believers, but would reappear in time andpunish apostates. This belief became the doctrine of the Druses ofLebanon, whom Darazi had won over to the worship of Hakim. 

It is unnecessary to enter into the details of this strange religion, which still persists to-day in the range of Lebanon; suffice it to saythat, although the outcome of the Ismailis, the Druses do not appear tohave embraced the materialism of Abdullah ibn Maymūn, but to havegrafted on a primitive form of Nature-worship and of Sabeism the avowedbelief of the Ismailis in the dynasty of Ali and his successors, andbeyond this an abstruse, esoteric creed concerning the nature of theSupreme Deity. God they declare to be "Universal Reason, " who manifestsHimself by a series of "avatars. " Hakim was the last of the divineembodiments, and "when evil and misery have increased to the predestinedheight he will again appear, to conquer the world and to make hisreligion supreme. "

It is, however, as a secret society that the Druses enter into the scopeof this book, for their organization presents several analogies withthat which we now know as "masonic. " Instead of the nine degreesinstituted by the Lodge of Cairo, the Druses are divided into onlythree--Profanes, Aspirants, and Wise--to whom their doctrines aregradually unfolded under seal of the strictest secrecy, to ensure whichsigns and passwords are employed after the manner of Freemasonry. Acertain degree of duplicity appears to enter into their scheme, muchresembling that enjoined to the Ismaili Dais when enlisting proselytesbelonging to other religions: thus in talking to Mohammedans, the Drusesprofess to be followers of the Prophet; with Christians, they pretend tohold the doctrines of Christianity, an attitude they defend on the scorethat it is unlawful to reveal the secret dogmas of their creed to a"Black, " or unbeliever. 

The Druses are in the habit of holding meetings where, as in the Dar ulHikmat, both men and women assemble and religious and politicalquestions are discussed; the uninitiated, however, are allowed toexercise no influence on decisions, which are reached by the innercircle, to which only the "Wise" are admitted. The resemblance betweenthis organization and that of Grand Orient Freemasonry is clearlyapparent. The Druses also have modes of recognition which are common toFreemasonry, and M. Achille Laurent has observed: "The formula orcatechism of the Druses resembles that of the Freemasons; one can learnit only from the _Akals_ (or Akels = Intelligent, a small group ofhigher initiates), who only reveal its mysteries after having subjectedone to tests and made one take terrible oaths. "

I shall refer again later in this book to the affinity between theDruses and Freemasons of the Grand Orient. 

The Assassins

It will be seen that the Druses, distinguishing themselves from otherIsmaili sects by their worship of Hakim, yet retaining genuine religiousbeliefs, had not carried on the atheistical tradition of Abdullah ibnMaymūn and of the Grand Lodge of Cairo. But this tradition was tofind in 1090 an exponent in the Persian Hasan Saba, a native ofKhorasan, the son of Ali, a strict Shiah, who, finding himself suspectedof heretical ideas, ended by declaring himself a Sunni. Hasan, broughtup in this atmosphere of duplicity, was therefore well fitted to playthe Machiavellian rôle of an Ismaili Dai. 

Von Hammer regards Hasan as a mighty genius, one of a splendid triad, of which the two others were his schoolfellows the poet Omar Khayyám andNizam ul Mulk, Grand Vizier under the Seljuk Sultan, Malik Shah. Hasan, having through the protection of Nizam ul Mulk secured titles andrevenues and finally risen to office at the Court of the Sultan, attempted to supplant his benefactor and eventually retired in disgrace, vowing vengeance against the Sultan and vizier. At this juncture heencountered several Ismailis, one of whom, a Dai named Mumin, finallyconverted him to the principles of his sect, and Hasan, declaringhimself now to be a convinced adherent of the Fatimite Khalifas, journedto Cairo, where he was received with honour by the Dar ul Hikmat andalso by the Khalifa Mustansir, to whom he became counsellor. But hisintrigues once more involving him in disgrace, he fled to Aleppo andlaid the foundations of his new sect. After enlisting proselytes inBagdad, Ispahan, Khusistan, and Damaghan, he succeeded in obtaining bystrategy the fortress of Alamut in Persia on the Caspian Sea, where hecompleted the plans for his great secret society which was to become forever infamous under the name of the Hashishiyīn, or _Assassins_. 

Under the pretence of belief in the doctrines of Islam and also ofadherence to the Ismaili line of succession from the Prophet, Hasan Sabanow set out to pave his way to power, and in order to achieve this endadopted the same method as Abdullah ibn Maymūn. But the terribleefficiency of Hasan's society consisted in the fact that a system ofphysical force was now organized in a manner undreamt of by hispredecessor. As von Hammer has observed in an admirable passage:

 Opinions are powerless, so long as they only confuse the brain, without arming the hand. Scepticism and free-thinking, as long as they occupied only the minds of the indolent and philosophical, have caused the ruin of no throne, for which purpose religious and political fanaticism are the strongest levers in the hands of nations. It is nothing to the ambitious man what people believe, but it is everything to know how he may turn them for the execution of his projects. [132]

Thus, as in the case of the French Revolution, "whose first movers, " vonHammer also observes, "were the tools or leaders of secret societies, "it was not mere theory but the method of enlisting numerous dupes andplacing weapons in their hands that brought about the "Terror" of theAssassins six centuries before that of their spiritual descendants, theJacobins of 1793. 

Taking as his groundwork the organization of the Grand Lodge of Cairo, Hasan reduced the nine degrees to their original number of seven, butthese now received a definite nomenclature, and included not only realinitiates but active agents. 

Descending downwards, the degrees of the Assassins were thus as follows:first, the Grand Master, known as the Shaikh-al-Jabal or "Old Man of theMountain"--owing to the fact that the Order always possessed itself ofcastles in mountainous regions; second, the Dail Kebir or Grand Priors;third, the fully initiated Dais, religious nuncios and politicalemissaries; fourth, the Rafiqs or associates, in training for the higherdegrees; fifth, the Fadais or "devoted, " who undertook to deliver thesecret blow on which their superiors had decided; sixth, the Lasiqus, orlaw brothers; and lastly the "common people, " who were to be simplyblind instruments. If the equivalents to the words "Dai, " "Rafiqs, " and"Fadais" given by von Hammer and Dr. Bussell as "Master Masons, " "FellowCrafts, " and "Entered Apprentices" are accepted, an interesting analogywith the degrees of Freemasonry is provided. 

Designs against religion were, of course, not admitted by the Order;"strict uniformity to Islam was demanded from all the lower rank ofuninitiated, but the _adept_ was taught to see through the deception of'faith and works. ' He believed in nothing and recognized that all actsor means were indifferent and the (secular) end alone to beconsidered. "[133]

Thus the final object was domination by a few men consumed with the lustof power "under the cloak of religion and piety, " and the method bywhich this was to be established was the wholesale assassination ofthose who opposed them. 

In order to stimulate the energy of the Fadais, who were required tocarry out these crimes, the superiors of the Order had recourse to aningenious system of delusion. Throughout the territory occupied by theAssassins were exquisite gardens with fruit trees, bowers of roses, andsparkling streams. Here were arranged luxurious resting-places withPersian carpets and soft divans, around which hovered black-eyed"houris" bearing wine in gold and silver drinking-vessels, whilst softmusic mingled with the murmuring water and the song of birds. The youngman whom the Assassins desired to train for a career of crime wasintroduced to the Grand Master of the Order and intoxicated withhaschisch--hence the name "Hashishiyīn" applied to the sect, fromwhich the word assassin is derived. Under the brief spell ofunconsciousness induced by this seductive drug the prospective Fadai wasthen carried into the garden, where on awaking he believed himself to bein Paradise. After enjoying all its delights he was given a fresh doseof the opiate, and, once more unconscious, was transported back to thepresence of the Grand Master, who assured him that he had never left hisside but had merely experienced a foretaste of the Paradise that awaitedhim if he obeyed the orders of his chiefs. The neophyte, thus spurred onby the belief that he was carrying out the commands of the Prophet, whowould reward him with eternal bliss, eagerly entered into the schemeslaid down for him and devoted his life to murder. Thus by the lure ofParadise the Assassins enlisted instruments for their criminal work andestablished a system of organized murder on a basis of religiousfervour. "'Nothing is true and all is allowed' was the ground of theirsecret doctrine, which, however, being imparted but to few and concealedunder the veil of the most austere religionism and piety, restrained themind under the yoke of blind obedience. "[134] To the outside world allthis remained a profound mystery; fidelity to Islam was proclaimed asthe fundamental doctrine of the sect, and when the envoy of Sultan Sajarwas sent to collect information on the religious beliefs of the Order hewas met with the assurance: "We believe in the unity of God, andconsider that only as true wisdom which accords with His word and thecommands of the prophet. "

Von Hammer, answering the possible contention that, as in the case ofthe Templars and the Bavarian Illuminati, these methods of deceptionmight be declared a calumny on the Order, points out that in the case ofthe Assassins no possible doubt existed, for their secret doctrines wereeventually revealed by the leaders themselves, first by Hasan II, thethird successor of Hasan Saba, and later by Jalal-ud-din Hasan, whopublicly anathematized the founders of the sect and ordered the burningof the books that contained their designs against religion--a proceedingwhich, however, appears to have been a strategical manoeuvre forrestoring confidence in the Order and enabling him to continue the workof subversion and crime. A veritable Reign of Terror was thusestablished throughout the East; the Rafiqs and Fadais "spreadthemselves in troops over the whole of Asia and darkened the face of theearth"; and "in the annals of the Assassins is found the chronologicalenumeration of celebrated men of all nations who have fallen the victimsof the Ismailis, to the joy of their murderers and the sorrow of theworld. "[135]

Inevitably this long and systematic indulgence in blood-lust recoiled onthe heads of the leaders, and the Assassins, like the Terrorists ofFrance, ended by turning on each other. The Old Man of the Mountainhimself was murdered by his brother-in-law and his son Mohammed;Mohammed, in his turn, whilst "aiming at the life of his sonJalal-ud-din, was anticipated by him with poison, which murder was againavenged by poison, " so that from "Hasan the Illuminator" down to thelast of his line the Grand Masters fell by the hands of theirnext-of-kin, and "poison and the dagger prepared the grave which theOrder had opened for so many. "[136] Finally in 1250 the conqueringhordes of the Mongol Mangu Khan swept away the dynasty of the Assassins. 

But, although as reigning powers the Assassins and Fatimites ceased toexist, the sects from which they derived have continued up to thepresent day; still every year at the celebration of the Moharram theShiahs beat their breasts and besprinkle themselves with blood, callingaloud on the martyred heroes Hasan and Husain; the Druses of the Lebanonstill await the return of Hakim, and in that inscrutable East, thecradle of all the mysteries, the profoundest European adept of secretsociety intrigue may find himself outdistanced by pastmasters in the artin which he believed himself proficient. 

The sect of Hasan Saba was the supreme model on which all systems oforganized murder working through fanaticism, such as the Carbonari andthe Irish Republican Brotherhood, were based, and the signs, thesymbols, the initiations, of the Grand Lodge of Cairo formed thegroundwork for the great secret societies of Europe. 

How came this system to be transported to the West? By what channel didthe ideas of these succeeding Eastern sects penetrate to the Christianworld? In order to answer this question we must turn to the history ofthe Crusades. 

3

THE TEMPLERS

In the year 1118--nineteen years after the first crusade had ended withthe defeat of the Moslems, the capture of Antioch and Jerusalem, and theinstalment of Godefroi de Bouillon as king of the latter city--a band ofnine French _gentilshommes_, led by Hugues de Payens and Godefroi deSaint-Omer, formed themselves into an Order for the protection ofpilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre. Baldwin II, who at this moment succeededto the throne of Jerusalem, presented them with a house near the site ofthe Temple of Solomon--hence the name of Knights Templar under whichthey were to become famous. In 1128 the Order was sanctioned by theCouncil of Troyes and by the Pope, and a rule was drawn up by St. Bernard under which the Knights Templar were bound by the vows ofpoverty, chastity, and obedience. 

But although the Templars distinguished themselves by many deeds ofvalour, the regulation that they were to live solely on alms led todonations so enormous that, abandoning their vow of poverty, they spreadthemselves over Europe, and by the end of the twelfth century had becomea rich and powerful body. The motto that the Order had inscribed uponits banner, "_Non nobis, Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam_, " waslikewise forgotten, for, their faith waxing cold, they gave themselvesup to pride and ostentation. Thus, as an eighteenth-century masonicwriter has expressed it:

 The war, which for the greater number of warriors of good faith proved the source of weariness, of losses and misfortunes, became for them (the Templars) only the opportunity for booty and aggrandizement, and if they distinguished themselves by a few brilliant actions, their motive soon ceased to be a matter of doubt when they were seen to enrich themselves even with the spoils of the confederates, to increase their credit by the extent of the new possessions they had acquired, to carry arrogance to the point of rivalling crowned princes in pomp and grandeur, to refuse their aid against the enemies of the faith, as the history of Saladin testifies, and finally to ally themselves with that horrible and sanguinary prince named the Old Man of the Mountain, Prince of the Assassins. [137]

The truth of the last accusation is, however, open to question. For atime, at any rate, the Templars had been at war with the Assassins. Whenin 1152 the Assassins murdered Raymond, Comte de Tripoli, the Templarsentered their territory and forced them to sign a treaty by which theywere to pay a yearly tribute of 12, 000 gold pieces in expiation of thecrime. Some years later the Old Man of the Mountain sent an ambassadorto Amaury, King of Jerusalem, to tell him privately that if the Templarswould forgo the payment of this tribute he and his followers wouldembrace the Christian faith. Amaury accepted, offering at the same timeto compensate the Templars, but some of the Knights assassinated theambassador before he could return to his master. When asked forreparations the Grand Master threw the blame on an evil one-eyed Knightnamed Gautier de Maisnil. [138]

It is evident, therefore, that the relations between the Templars andthe Assassins were at first far from amicable; nevertheless, it appearsprobable that later on an understanding was brought about between them. Both on this charge and on that of treachery towards the Christianarmies, Dr. Bussell's impartial view of the question may be quoted:

 When in 1149 the Emperor Conrad III failed before Damascus, the Templars were believed to have a secret understanding with the garrison of that city; ... In 1154 they were said to have sold, for 60, 000 gold pieces, a prince of Egypt who had wished to become a Christian; he was taken home to suffer certain death at the hands of his fanatical family. In 1166 Amaury, King of Jerusalem, hanged twelve members of the Order for betraying a fortress to Nureddin. 

And Dr. Bussell goes on to say that it cannot be disputed that they had"long and important dealings" with the Assassins "and were thereforesuspected (not unfairly) of imbibing their precepts and following theirprinciples. "[139]

By the end of the thirteenth century the Templars had become suspect, not only in the eyes of the clergy, but of the general public. "Amongstthe common people, " one of their latest apologists admits, "vaguerumours circulated. They talked of the covetousness and want of scrupleof the Knights, of their passion for aggrandizement and their rapacity. Their haughty insolence was proverbial. Drinking habits were attributedto them; the saying was already in use 'to drink like a Templar. ' Theold German word _Tempelhaus_ indicated a house of ill-fame. "[140]

The same rumours had reached Clement V even before his accession to thepapal throne in 1305, [141] and in this same year he summoned the GrandMaster of the Order, Jacques du Molay, to return to France from theisland of Cyprus, where he was assembling fresh forces to avenge therecent reverses of the Christian armies. 

Du Molay arrived in France with sixty other Knights Templar and 150, 000gold florins, as well as a large quantity of silver that the Order hadamassed in the East. [142]

The Pope now set himself to make enquiries concerning the charges of"unspeakable apostasy against God, detestable idolatry, execrable vice, and many heresies" that had been "secretly intimated" to him. But, toquote his own words:

 Because it did not seem likely nor credible that men of such religion who were believed often to shed their blood and frequently expose their persons to the peril of death for Christ's name, and who showed such great and many signs of devotion both in divine offices as well as in fasts, as in other devotional observances, should be so forgetful of their salvation as to do these things, we were unwilling ... To give ear to this kind of insinuation ... (_hujusmodi insinuacioni ac delacioni ipsorum ... Aurem noluimus inclinare_). [143]

The King of France, Philippe le Bel, who had hitherto been the friend ofthe Templars, now became alarmed and urged the Pope to take actionagainst them; but before the Pope was able to find out more about thematter, the King took the law into his own hands and had all theTemplars in France arrested on October 13, 1307. The following chargeswere then brought against them by the Inquisitor for France before whomthey were examined:

 1. The ceremony of initiation into their Order was accompanied by insults to the Cross, the denial of Christ, and gross obscenities. 

 2. The adoration of an idol which was said to be the image of the true God. 

 3. The omission of the words of consecration at Mass. 

 4. The right that the lay chiefs arrogated to themselves of giving absolution. 

 5. The authorization of unnatural vice. 

To all these infamies a great number of the Knights, including Jacquesdu Molay, confessed in almost precisely the same terms; at theiradmission into the Order, they said, they had been shown the cross onwhich was the figure of Christ, and had been asked whether they believedin Him; when they answered yes, they were told in some cases that thiswas wrong (_dixit sibi quod male credebat_), [144] because He was notGod, He was a false prophet (_quia falsus propheta erat, nec eratDeus_). [145] Some added that they were then shown an idol or a beardedhead which they were told to worship[146]; one added that this was ofsuch "a terrible aspect that it seemed to him to be the face of somedevil, called in French _un maufé_, and that whenever he saw it he wasso overcome with fear that he could hardly look at it without fear andtrembling. "[147] All who confessed declared that they had been orderedto spit on the crucifix, and very many that they had received theinjunction to commit obscenities and to practise unnatural vice. Somesaid that on their refusal to carry out these orders they had beenthreatened with imprisonment, even perpetual imprisonment; a few saidthey had actually been incarcerated[148]; one declared that he had beenterrorized, seized by the throat, and threatened with death. [149]

Since, however, a number of these confessions were made under torture, it is more important to consider the evidence provided by the trial ofthe Knights at the hands of the Pope, where this method was notemployed. 

Now, at the time the Templars were arrested, Clement V. , deeplyresenting the King's interference with an Order which existed entirelyunder papal jurisdiction, wrote in the strongest terms of remonstranceto Philippe le Bel urging their release, and even after their trial, neither the confessions of the Knights nor the angry expostulations ofthe King could persuade him to believe in their guilt. [150] But as thescandal concerning the Templars was increasing, he consented to receivein private audience "a certain Knight of the Order, of great nobilityand held by the said Order in no slight esteem, " who testified to theabominations that took place on the reception of the Brethren, thespitting on the cross, and other things which were not lawful nor, humanly speaking, decent. [151]

The Pope then decided to hold an examination of seventy-two FrenchKnights at Poictiers in order to discover whether the confessions madeby them before the Inquisitor at Paris could be substantiated, and atthis examination, conducted without torture or pressure of any kind inthe presence of the Pope himself, the witnesses declared on oath thatthey would tell "the full and pure truth. " They then made confessionswhich were committed to writing in their presence, and these beingafterwards read aloud to them, they expressly and willingly approvedthem (_perseverantes in illis eas expresse et sponte, prout recitatefuerunt approbarunt_). [152]

Besides this, an examination of the Grand Master, Jacques du Molay, andthe Preceptors of the Order was held in the presence of "three Cardinalsand four public notaries and many other good men. " These witnesses, saysthe official report, "having sworn with their hands on the Gospel ofGod" (_ad sancta dei evangelia ab iis corporaliter tacta_) that--

 they would on all the aforesaid things speak the pure and full truth, they, separately, freely, and spontaneously, without any coercion and fear, deposed and confessed among other things, the denial of Christ and spitting upon the cross when they were received into the Order of the Temple. And some of them (deposed and confessed) that under the same form, namely, with denial of Christ and spitting on the cross, they had received many Brothers into the Order. Some of them too confessed certain other horrible and disgusting things on which we are silent.... Besides this, they said and confessed that those things which are contained in the confessions and depositions of heretical depravity which they made lately before the Inquisitor (of Paris) were true. 

Their confessions, being again committed to writing, were approved bythe witnesses, who then with bended knees and many tears asked for andobtained absolution. [153]

The Pope, however, still refused to take action against the whole Ordermerely because the Master and Brethren around him had "gravely sinned, "and it was decided to hold a papal commission in Paris. The firstsitting took place in November 1309, when the Grand Master and 231Knights were summoned before the pontifical commissioners. "Thisenquiry, " says Michelet, "was conducted slowly, with much considerationand gentleness (_avec beaucoup de ménagement et de douceur_) by highecclesiastical dignitaries, an archbishop, several bishops, etc. "[154]But although a number of the Knights, including the Grand Master, nowretracted their admissions, some damning confessions were againforthcoming. 

It is impossible within the scope of this book to follow the many trialsof the Templars that took place in different countries--in Italy, atRavenna, Pisa, Bologna, and Florence, where torture was not employed andblasphemies were admitted, [155] or in Germany, where torture wasemployed but no confessions were made and a verdict was given in favourof the Order. A few details concerning the trial in England may, however, be of interest. 

It has generally been held that torture was not applied in England owingto the humanity of Edward II, who at first absolutely refused to listento any accusations against the Order. [156] On December 10, 1307, he hadwritten to the Pope in these terms:

 And because the said Master or Brethren constant in the purity of the Catholic faith have been frequently commended by us, and by all our kingdom, both in their life and morals, we are unable to believe in suspicious stories of this kind until we know with greater certainty about these things. 

 We, therefore, pity from our souls the suffering and losses of the Sd. Master and brethren, which they suffer in consequence of such infamy, and we supplicate most affectionately your Sanctity if it please you, that considering with favour suited to the good character of the Master and brethren, you may deem fit to meet with more indulgence the detractions, calumnies and charges by certain envious and evil disposed persons, who endeavour to turn their good deeds into works of perverseness opposed to divine teaching; until the said charges attributed to them shall have been brought legally before you or your representatives here and more fully proved. [157]

Edward II also wrote in the same terms to the Kings of Portugal, Castile, Aragon, and Sicily. But two years later, after Clement V hadhimself heard the confessions of the Order, and a Papal Bull had beenissued declaring that "the unspeakable wickednesses and abominablecrimes of notorious heresy" had now "come to the knowledge of almosteveryone, " Edward II was persuaded to arrest the Templars and ordertheir examination. According to Mr. Castle, whose interesting treatisewe quote here, the King would not allow torture to be employed, with theresult that the Knights denied all charges; but later, it is said, heallowed himself to be overpersuaded, and "torture appears to have beenapplied on one or two occasions, "[158] with the result that threeKnights confessed to all and were given absolution. [159] At Southwark, however, "a considerable number of brethren" admitted that "they hadbeen strongly accused of the crimes of negation and spitting, they didnot say they were guilty but that they could not purge themselves ... And therefore they abjured these and all other heresies. "[160] Evidencewas also given against the Order by outside witnesses, and the samestories of intimidation at the ceremony of reception were told. [161] Atany rate, the result of the investigation was not altogethersatisfactory, and the Templars were finally suppressed in England aselsewhere by the Council of Vienne in 1312. 

In France more rigorous measures were adopted and fifty-four Knights whohad retracted their confessions were burnt at the stake as "relapsedheretics" on May 12, 1310. Four years later, on March 14, 1314, theGrand Master, Jacques du Molay, suffered the same fate. 

Now, however much we must execrate the barbarity of this sentence--asalso the cruelties that had preceded it--- this is no reason why weshould admit the claim of the Order to noble martyrdom put forward bythe historians who have espoused their cause. The character of theTemplars is not rehabilitated by condemning the conduct of the King andPope. Yet this is the line of argument usually adopted by the defendersof the Order. Thus the two main contentions on which they base theirdefence are, firstly, that the confessions of the Knights were madeunder torture, therefore they must be regarded as null and void; and, secondly, that the whole affair was a plot concerted between the Kingand Pope in order to obtain possession of the Templars' riches. Let usexamine these contentions in turn. 

In the first place, as we have seen, all confessions were not made undertorture. No one, as far as I am aware, disputes Michelet's assertionthat the enquiry before the Papal Commission in Paris, at which a numberof Knights adhered to the statements they had made to the Pope, wasconducted without pressure of any kind. But further, the fact thatconfessions are made under torture does not necessarily invalidate themas evidence. Guy Fawkes also confessed under torture, yet it is neversuggested that the whole story of the Gunpowder Plot was a myth. Torture, however much we may condemn it, has frequently proved the onlymethod for overcoming the intimidation exercised over the mind of aconspirator; a man bound by the terrible obligations of a confederacyand fearing the vengeance of his fellow-conspirators will not readilyyield to persuasion, but only to force. If, then, some of the Templarswere terrorized by torture, or even by the fear of torture, it must notbe forgotten that terrorism was exercised by both sides. Few will denythat the Knights were bound by oaths of secrecy, so that on one handthey were threatened with the vengeance of the Order if they betrayedits secrets, and on the other faced with torture if they refused toconfess. Thus they found themselves between the devil and the deep sea. It was therefore not a case of a mild and unoffending Order meetingwith brutal treatment at the hands of authority, but of the victims of aterrible autocracy being delivered into the hands of another autocracy. 

Moreover, do the confessions of the Knights appear to be the outcome ofpure imagination such as men under the influence of torture mightdevise? It is certainly difficult to believe that the accounts of theceremony of initiation given in detail by men in different countries, all closely resembling each other, yet related in different phraseology, could be pure inventions. Had the victims been driven to invent theywould surely have contradicted each other, have cried out in their agonythat all kinds of wild and fantastic rites had taken place in order tosatisfy the demands of their interlocutors. But no, each appears to bedescribing the same ceremony more or less completely, withcharacteristic touches that indicate the personality of the speaker, andin the main all the stories tally. 

The further contention that the case against the Templars wasmanufactured by the King and Pope with a view to obtaining their wealthis entirely disproved by facts. The latest French historian of mediævalFrance, whilst expressing disbelief in the guilt of the Templars, characterizes this counter-accusation as "puerile. " "Philippe le Bel, "writes M. Funck-Brentano, "has never been understood; from the beginningpeople have not been just to him. This young prince was one of thegreatest kings and the noblest characters that have appeared inhistory. "[162]

Without carrying appreciation so far, one must nevertheless accord to M. Funck-Brentano's statement of facts the attention it merits. Philippehas been blamed for debasing the coin of the realm; in reality he merelyordered it to be mixed with alloy as a necessary measure after the warwith England, [163] precisely as own coinage was debased in consequenceof the recent war. This was done quite openly and the coinage wasrestored at the earliest opportunity. Intensely national, his policy ofattacking the Lombards, exiling the Jews, and suppressing the Templars, however regrettable the methods by which it was carried out, resulted inimmense benefits to France; M. Funck-Brentano has graphically describedthe prosperity of the whole country during the early fourteenthcentury--the increase of population, flourishing agriculture andindustry. "In Provence and Languedoc one meets swineherds who havevineyards; simple cowherds who have town houses. "[164]

The attitude of Philippe le Bel towards the Templars must be viewed inthis light--ruthless suppression of any body of people who interferedwith the prosperity of France. His action was not that of arbitraryauthority; he "proceeded, " says M. Funck-Brentano, "by means of anappeal to the people. In his name Nogaret (the Chancellor) spoke to theParisians in the garden of the Palace (October 13, 1307). Popularassemblies were convoked all over France";[165] "the Parliament ofTours, with hardly a dissentient vote, declared the Templars worthy ofdeath. The University of Paris gave the weight of their judgement as tothe fullness and authenticity of the confessions. "[166] Even assumingthat these bodies were actuated by the same servility as that which hasbeen attributed to the Pope, how are we to explain the fact that thetrial of the Order aroused no opposition among the far from docilepeople of Paris? If the Templars had indeed, as they professed, beenleading noble and upright lives, devoting themselves to the care of thepoor, one might surely expect their arrest to be followed by popularrisings. But there appears to have been no sign of this. 

As to the Pope, we have already seen that from the outset he had shownhimself extremely reluctant to condemn the Order, and no satisfactoryexplanation is given of his change of attitude except that he wished toplease the King. As far as his own interests were concerned, it isobvious that he could have nothing to gain by publishing to the world ascandal that must inevitably bring opprobrium on the Church. Hislamentations to this effect in the famous Bull[167] clearly show that herecognized this danger and therefore desired at all costs to clear theaccused Knights, if evidence could be obtained in their favour. It wasonly when the Templars made damning admissions in his presence that hewas obliged to abandon their defence. [168] Yet we are told that he didthis out of base compliance with the wishes of Philippe le Bel. 

Philippe le Bell is thus represented as the arch-villain of the wholepiece, through seven long years hounding down a blameless Order--fromwhom up to the very moment of their arrest he had repeatedly receivedloans of money--solely with the object of appropriating their wealth. Yet after all we find that the property of the Templars was notappropriated by the King, but was given by him to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem!

 What was the fate of the Templars' goods? Philippe le Bel decided that they should be handed over to the Hospitallers. Clement V states that the Orders given by the King on this subject were executed. Even the domain of the Temple in Paris ... Up to the eve of the Revolution was the property of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The royal treasury kept for itself certain sums for the costs of the trial. These had been immense. [169]

These facts in no way daunt the antagonists of Philippe, who we are nowassured--again without any proof whatever--was overruled by the Pope inthis matter. But setting all morality aside, as a mere question ofpolicy, is it likely that the King would have deprived himself of hismost valuable financial supporters and gone to the immense trouble ofbringing them to trial without first assuring himself that he wouldbenefit by the affair? Would he, in other words, have killed the goosethat laid the golden eggs without any guarantee that the body of thegoose would remain in his possession? Again, if, as we are told, thePope suppressed the Order so as to please the King, why should he havethwarted him over the whole purpose the King had in view? Might we notexpect indignant remonstrances from Philippe at thus being baulked ofthe booty he had toiled so long to gain? But, on the contrary, we findhim completely in agreement with the Pope on this subject. In November1309 Clement V distinctly stated that "Philippe the Illustrious, King ofFrance, " to whom the facts concerning the Templars had been told, was"not prompted by avarice since he desired to keep or appropriate forhimself no part of the property of the Templars, but liberally anddevotedly left them to us and the Church to be administered, " etc. [170]

Thus the whole theory concerning the object for which the Templars weresuppressed falls to the ground--a theory which on examination is seen tobe built up entirely on the plan of imputing motives without anyjustification in facts. The King acted from cupidity, the Pope fromservility, and the Templars confessed from fear of torture--on thesepure hypotheses defenders of the Order base their arguments. 

The truth is, far more probably, that if the King had any additionalreason for suppressing the Templars it was not envy of their wealth butfear of the immense power their wealth conferred; the Order dared evento defy the King and to refuse to pay taxes. The Temple in factconstituted an _imperium in imperio_ that threatened not only the royalauthority but the whole social system. [171] An important light is thrownon the situation by M. Funck-Brentano in this passage:

 As the Templars had houses in all countries, they practised the financial operations of the international banks of our times; they were acquainted with letters of change, orders payable at sight, they instituted dividends and annuities on deposited capital, advanced funds, lent on credit, controlled private accounts, undertook to raise taxes for the lay and ecclesiastical seigneurs. [172]

Through their proficiency in these matters--acquired very possibly fromthe Jews of Alexandria whom they must have met in the East--the Templarshad become the "international financiers" and "internationalcapitalists" of their day; had they not been suppressed, all the evilsnow denounced by Socialists as peculiar to the system they describe as"Capitalism"--trusts, monopolies, and "corners"--would in allprobability have been inaugurated during the course of the fourteenthcentury in a far worse form than at the present day, since nolegislation existed to protect the community at large. The feudalsystem, as Marx and Engels perceived, was the principal obstacle toexploitation by a financial autocracy. [173]

Moreover, it is by no means improbable that this order of things wouldhave been brought about by the violent overthrow of the Frenchmonarchy--indeed, of all monarchies; the Templars, "those terribleconspirators, " says Eliphas Lévi, "threatened the whole world with animmense revolution. "[174]

Here perhaps we may find the reason why this band of dissolute andrapacious nobles has enlisted the passionate sympathy of democraticwriters. For it will be noticed that these same writers who attributethe King's condemnation of the Order to envy of their wealth never applythis argument to the demagogues of the eighteenth century and suggestthat their accusations against the nobles of France were inspired bycupidity, nor would they ever admit that any such motive may enter intothe diatribes against private owners of wealth to-day. The Templars thusremain the only body of capitalists, with the exception of the Jews, tobe not only pardoned for their riches but exalted as noble victims ofprejudice and envy. Is it merely because the Templars were the enemiesof monarchy? Or is it that the world revolution, whilst attackingprivate owners of property, has never been opposed to InternationalFinance, particularly when combined with anti-Christian tendencies?

It is the continued defence of the Templars which, to the presentwriter, appears the most convincing evidence against them. For even ifone believes them innocent of the crimes laid to their charge, how is itpossible to admire them in their later stages? The fact that cannot bedenied is that they were false to their obligations; that they took thevow of poverty and then grew not only rich but arrogant; that they tookthe vow of chastity and became notoriously immoral. [175] Are all thesethings then condoned because the Templars formed a link in the chain ofworld revolution?

At this distance of time the guilt or innocence of the Templars willprobably never be conclusively established either way; on the mass ofconflicting evidence bequeathed to us by history no one can pronounce afinal judgement. 

Without attempting to digmatize on the question, I would suggest thatthe real truth may be that the Knights were both innocent and guilty, that is to say, that a certain number were initiated into the secretdoctrine of the Order whilst the majority remained throughout inignorance. Thus according to the evidence of Stephen de Stapelbrugge, anEnglish Knight, "there were two modes of reception, one lawful and goodand the other contrary to the Faith. "[176] This would account for thefact that some of the accused declined to confess even under thegreatest pressure. These may really have known nothing of the realdoctrines of the Order, which were confided orally only to those whomthe superiors regarded as unlikely to be revolted by them. Such havealways been the methods of secret societies, from the Ismailis onward. 

This theory of a double doctrine is put forward by Loiseleur, whoobserves:

 If we consult the statutes of the Order of the Temple as they have come down to us, we shall certainly discover there is nothing that justifies the strange and abominable practices revealed at the Inquiry. But ... Besides the public rule, had not the Order another one, whether traditional or written, authorizing or even prescribing these practices--a secret rule, revealed only to the initiates?[177]

Eliphas Lévi also exonerates the majority of the Templars fromcomplicity in either anti-monarchical or anti-religious designs:

 These tendencies were enveloped in profound mystery and the Order made an outward profession of the most perfect orthodoxy. The Chiefs alone knew whither they were going; the rest followed unsuspectingly. [178]

What, then, was the Templar heresy? On this point we find a variety ofopinions. According to Wilcke, Ranke, and Weber it was "the unitariandeism of Islam"[179]; Lecouteulx de Canteleu thinks, however, it wasderived from heretical Islamic sources, and relates that whilst inPalestine, one of the Knights, Guillaume de Montbard, was initiated bythe Old Man of the Mountain in a cave of Mount Lebanon. [180] That acertain resemblance existed between the Templars and the Assassins hasbeen indicated by von Hammer, [181] and further emphasized by theFreemason Clavel:

 Oriental historians show us, at different periods, the Order of the Templars maintaining intimate relations with that of the Assassins, and they insist on the affinity that existed between the two associations. They remark that they had adopted the same colours, white and red; that they had the same organization, the same hierarchy of degrees, those of fedavi, refik, and dai in one corresponding to those of novice, professed, and knight in the other; that both conspired for the ruin of the religions they professed in public, and that finally both possessed numerous castles, the former in Asia, the latter in Europe. [182]

But in spite of these outward resemblances it does not appear from theconfessions of the Knights that the secret doctrine of the Templars wasthat of the Assassins or of any Ismaili sect by which, in accordancewith orthodox Islamism, Jesus was openly held up as a prophet, although, secretly, indifference to all religion was inculcated. The Templars, asfar as can be discovered, were anti-Christian deists; Loiseleurconsiders that their ideas were derived from Gnostic or Manicheandualists--Cathari, Paulicians, or more particularly Bogomils, of which abrief account must be given here. 

The _Paulicians_, who flourished about the seventh century A. D. , bore aresemblance to the Cainites and Ophites in their detestation of theDemiurgus and in the corruption of their morals. Later, in the ninthcentury, the _Bogomils_, whose name signifies in Slavonic "friends ofGod" and who had migrated from Northern Syria and Mesopotamia to theBalkan Peninsula, particularly Thrace, appeared as a further developmentof Manichean dualism. Their doctrine may be summarized thus:

God, the Supreme Father, has two sons, the elder Satanael, the youngerJesus. To Satanael, who sat on the right hand of God, belonged the rightof governing the celestial world, but, filled with pride, he rebelledagainst his Father and fell from Heaven. Then, aided by the companionsof his fall, he created the visible world, image of the celestial, having like the other its sun, moon, and stars, and last he created manand the serpent which became his minister. Later Christ came to earth inorder to show men the way to Heaven, but His death was ineffectual, foreven by descending into Hell He could not wrest the power from Satanael, i. E. Satan. 

This belief in the impotence of Christ and the necessity therefore forplacating Satan, not only "the Prince of this world, " but its creator, led to the further doctrine that Satan, being all-powerful, should beadored. Nicetas Choniates, a Byzantine historian of the twelfth century, described the followers of this cult as "Satanists, " because"considering Satan powerful they worshipped him lest he might do themharm"; subsequently they were known as Luciferians, their doctrine (asstated by Neuss and Vitoduranus) being that Lucifer was unjustly drivenout of Heaven, that one day he will ascend there again and be restoredto his former glory and power in the celestial world. 

The Bogomils and Luciferians were thus closely akin, but whilst theformer divided their worship between God and His two sons, the latterworshipped Lucifer only, regarding the material world as his work andholding that by indulging the flesh they were propitiating theirDemon-Creator. It was said that a black cat, the symbol of Satan, figured in their ceremonies as an object of worship, also that at theirhorrible nocturnal orgies sacrifices of children were made and theirblood used for making the Eucharistic bread of the sect. [183]

 Thus the Templars recognize at the same time a good god, incommunicable to man and consequently without symbolic representation, and a bad god, to whom they give the features of an idol of fearful aspect. [184]

Their most fervent worship was addressed to this god of evil, who alonecould enrich them. "They said with the Luciferians: 'The elder son ofGod, Satanael or Lucifer alone has a right to the homage of mortals;Jesus his younger brother does not deserve this honour. '"[185]

Although we shall not find these ideas so clearly defined in theconfessions of the Knights, some colour is lent to this theory by thosewho related that the reason given to them for not believing in Christwas "that He was nothing, He was a false prophet and of no value, andthat they should believe in the Higher God of Heaven who could savethem. "[186] According to Loiseleur, the idol they were taught toworship, the bearded head known to history as Baphomet, represented "theinferior god, organizer and dominator of the material world, author ofgood and evil here below, him by whom evil was introduced intocreation. "[187]

The etymology of the word Baphomet is difficult to discover; Raynouardsays it originated with two witnesses heard at Carcassonne who spoke of"Figura Baflometi, " and suggests that it was a corruption of "Mohammed, "whom the Inquisitors wished to make the Knights confess they were taughtto adore. [188] But this surmise with regard to the intentions of theInquisitors seems highly improbable, since they must have been wellaware that, as Wilcke points out, the Moslems forbid all idols. [189] Forthis reason Wilcke concludes that the Mohammedanism of the Templars wascombined with Cabalism and that their idol was in reality the_macroprosopos_, or head of the Ancient of Ancients, represented as anold man with a long beard, or sometimes as three heads in one, which hasalready been referred to under the name of the Long Face in the firstchapter of this book--a theory which would agree with Eliphas Lévi'sassertion that the Templars were "initiated into the mysteriousdoctrines of the Cabala. "[190] But Lévi goes on to define this teachingunder the name of Johannism. It is here that we reach a further theorywith regard to the secret doctrine of the Templars--- the most importantof all, since it emanates from masonic and neo-Templar sources thuseffectually disposing of the contention that the charge brought againstthe Order of apostasy from the Catholic faith is solely the invention ofCatholic writers. 

In 1842 the Freemason Ragon related that the Templars learnt from the"initiates of the East" a certain Judaic doctrine which was attributedto St. John the Apostle; therefore "they renounced the religion of St. Peter" and became Johannites. [191] Eliphas Lévi expresses the sameopinion. 

Now, these statements are apparently founded on a legend which was firstpublished early in the nineteenth century, when an association callingitself the _Ordre du Temple_ and claiming direct descent from theoriginal Templar Order published two works, the _Manuel des Chevaliersde l'Ordre du Temple_ in 1811, and the _Lévitikon_ in 1831, togetherwith a version of the Gospel of St. John differing from the Vulgate. These books, which appear to have been printed only for privatecirculation amongst the members and are now extremely rare, relate thatthe Order of the Temple had never ceased to exist since the days ofJacques du Molay, who appointed Jacques de Larménie his successor inoffice, and from that time onwards a line of Grand Masters had succeededeach other without a break up to the end of the eighteenth century, whenit ceased for a brief period but was reinstituted under a new GrandMaster, Fabré Palaprat, in 1804. Besides publishing the list of allGrand Masters, known as the "Charter of Larmenius, " said to have beenpreserved in the secret archives of the Temple, these works alsoreproduce another document drawn from the same repository describing theorigins of the Order. This manuscript, written in Greek on parchment, dated 1154, purports to be partly taken from a fifth-century MS. Andrelates that Hugues de Payens, first Grand Master of the Templars, wasinitiated in 1118--that is to say, in the year the Order wasfounded--into the religious doctrine of "the Primitive Christian Church"by its Sovereign Pontiff and Patriarch, Theoclet, sixtieth in directsuccession from St. John the Apostle. The history of the PrimitiveChurch is then given as follows:

 Moses was initiated in Egypt. Profoundly versed in the physical, theological, and metaphysical mysteries of the priests, he knew how to profit by these so as to surmount the power of the Mages and deliver his companions. Aaron, his brother, and the chiefs of the Hebrews became the depositaries of his doctrine.... 

 The Son of God afterwards appeared on the scene of the world.... He was brought up at the school of Alexandria.... Imbued with a spirit wholly divine, endowed with the most astounding qualities (_dispositions_), he was able to reach all the degrees of Egyptian initiation. On his return to Jerusalem, he presented himself before the chiefs of the Synagogue.... Jesus Christ, directing the fruit of his lofty meditations towards universal civilization and the happiness of the world, rent the veil which concealed the truth from the peoples. He preached the love of God, the love of one's neighbour, and equality before the common Father of all men.... 

 Jesus conferred evangelical initiation on his apostles and disciples. He transmitted his spirit to them, divided them into several orders after the practice of John, the beloved disciple, the apostle of fraternal love, whom he had instituted Sovereign Pontiff and Patriarch.... 

Here we have the whole Cabalistic legend of a secret doctrine descendingfrom Moses, of Christ as an Egyptian initiate and founder of a secretorder--a theory, of course, absolutely destructive of belief in Hisdivinity. The legend of the _Ordre du Temple_ goes on to say:

 Up to about the year 1118 (i. E. The year the Order of the Temple was founded) the mysteries and the hierarchic Order of the initiation of Egypt, transmitted to the Jews by Moses, then to the Christians by J. C. , were religiously preserved by the successors of St. John the Apostle. These mysteries and initiations, regenerated by the evangelical initiation (or baptism), were a sacred trust which the simplicity of the primitive and unchanging morality of the _Brothers of the East_ had preserved from all adulteration.... 

 The Christians, persecuted by the infidels, appreciating the courage and piety of these brave crusaders, who, with the sword in one hand and the cross in the other, flew to the defence of the holy places, and, above all, doing striking justice to the virtues and the ardent charity of Hugues de Payens, held it their duty to confide to hands so pure the treasures of knowledge acquired throughout so many centuries, sanctified by the cross, the dogma and the morality of the Man-God. Hugues was invested with the Apostolic Patriarchal power and placed in the legitimate order of the successors of St. John the apostle or the evangelist. 

 Such is the origin of the foundation of the Order of the Temple and of the fusion in this Order of the different kinds of initiation of the Christians of the East designated under the title of Primitive Christians or Johannites. 

It will be seen at once that all this story is subtly subversive of trueChristianity, and that the appellation of Christians applied to theJohannites is an imposture. Indeed Fabré Palaprat, Grand Master of the_Ordre du Temple_ in 1804, who in his book on the Templars repeats thestory contained in the _Lévitikon and the Manuel des Chevaliers duTemple_, whilst making the same profession of "primitive Christian"doctrines descending from St. John through Theoclet and Hugues de Payensto the Order over which he presides, goes on to say that the secretdoctrine of the Templars "was essentially contrary to the canons of theChurch of Rome and that it is principally to this fact that one mustattribute the persecution of which history has preserved the memory. "[192]The belief of the Primitive Christians, and consequently that theTemplars, with regard to the miracles of Christ is that He "did or mayhave done extraordinary or miraculous things, " and that since "God cando things incomprehensible to human intelligence, " the Primitive Churchvenerates "all the acts of Christ as they are described in the Gospel, whether it considers them as acts of human science or whether as acts ofdivine power. "[193] Belief in the divinity of Christ is thus left anopen question, and the same attitude is maintained towards theResurrection, of which the story is omitted in the Gospel of St. Johnpossessed by the Order. Fabré Palaprat further admits that the gravestaccusations brought against the Templars were founded on facts which heattempts to explain away in the following manner:

 The Templars having in 1307 carefully abstracted all the manuscripts composing the secret archives of the Order from the search made by authority, and these authentic manuscripts having been preciously preserved since that period, we have to-day the certainty that the Knights endured a great number of religious and moral trials before reaching the different degrees of initiation: thus, for example, the recipient might receive the injunction under pain of death to trample on the crucifix or to worship an idol, but if he yielded to the terror which they sought to inspire in him he was declared unworthy of being admitted to the higher grades of the Order. One can imagine in this way how beings, too feeble or too immoral to endure the trials of initiation, may have accused the Templars of giving themselves up to infamous practices and of having superstitious beliefs. 

It is certainly not surprising that an Order which gave such injunctionsas these, for whatever purpose, should have become the object ofsuspicion. 

Eliphas Lévi, who, like Ragon, accepts the statements of the _Ordre duTemple_ concerning the "Johannite" origin of the Templars' secretdoctrine, is, however, not deceived by these professions ofChristianity, and boldly asserts that the Sovereign Pontiff Theocletinitiated Hugues de Payens "into the mysteries and hopes of hispretended Church, he lured him by the ideas of sacerdotal sovereigntyand supreme royalty, he indicated him finally as his successor. So theOrder of the Knights of the Temple was stained from its origin withschism and conspiracy against Kings. "[194] Further, Lévi relates thatthe real story told to initiates concerning Christ was no other than theinfamous _Toledot Yeshu_ described in the first chapter of this book, and which the Johannites dared to attribute to St. John. [195] This wouldaccord with the confession of the Catalonian Knight Templar, Galcerandusde Teus, who stated that the form of absolution in the Order was: "Ipray God that He may pardon your sins as He pardoned St. Mary Magdaleneand the thief on the cross"; but the witness went on to explain:

 By the thief of which the head of the Chapter speaks, is meant, according to our statutes, that Jesus or Christ who was crucified by the Jews because he was not God, and yet he said he was God and the King of the Jews, which was an outrage to the true God who is in Heaven. When Jesus, a few moments before his death, had his side pierced by the lance of Longinus, he repented of having called himself God and King of the Jews and he asked pardon of the true God; then the true God pardoned him. It is thus that we apply to the crucified Christ these words: "as God pardoned the thief on the cross. "[196]

Raynouard, who quotes this deposition, stigmatizes it as "singular andextravagant"; M. Matter agrees that it is doubtless extravagant, butthat "it merits attention. There was a whole system there, which was notthe invention of Galcerant. "[197] Eliphas Lévi provides the clue to thatsystem and to the reason why Christ was described as a thief, byindicating the Cabalistic legend wherein He was described as having_stolen_ the sacred Name from the Holy of Holies. Elsewhere he explainsthat the Johannites "made themselves out to be the only people initiatedinto the true mysteries of the religion of the Saviour. They professedto know the real history of Jesus Christ, and by adopting part of Jewishtraditions and the stories of the Talmud, they made out that the factsrelated in the Gospels"--that is to say, the Gospels accepted by theorthodox Church--"were only allegories of which St. John gives thekey. "[198]

But it is time to pass from legend to facts. For the whole story of theinitiation of the Templars by the "Johannites" rests principally on thedocuments produced by the Ordre du Temple in 1811. According to theAbbés Grégoire and Münter the authenticity and antiquity of thesedocuments are beyond dispute. Grégoire, referring to the parchmentmanuscript of the _Lévitikon_ and Gospel of St. John, says that"Hellenists versed in paleography believe this manuscript to be of thethirteenth century, others declare it to be earlier and to go back tothe eleventh century. "[199] Matter, on the other hand, quoting Münter'sopinion that the manuscripts in the archives of the modern Templars datefrom the thirteenth century, observes that this is all a tissue oferrors and that the critics, including the learned Professor Thilo ofHalle, have recognized that the manuscript in question, far frombelonging to the thirteenth century, dates from the beginning of theeighteenth. From the arrangement of the chapters of the Gospel, M. Matter arrives at the conclusion that it was intended to accompany theceremonies of some masonic or secret society. [200] We shall return tothis possibility in a later chapter. 

The antiquity of the manuscript containing the history of the Templarsthus remains an open question on which no one can pronounce an opinionwithout having seen the original. In order, then, to judge of theprobability of the story that this manuscript contained it is necessaryto consult the facts of history and to discover what proof can be foundthat any such sect as the Johannites existed at the time of the Crusadesor earlier. Certainly none is known to have been called by this name orby one resembling it before 1622, when some Portuguese monks reportedthe existence of a sect whom they described as "Christians of St. John"inhabiting the banks of the Euphrates. The appellation appears, however, to have been wrongly applied by the monks, for the sectarians inquestion, variously known as the Mandæans, Mandaites, Sabians, Nazoreans, etc. , called themselves Mandaï Iyahi, that is to say, thedisciples, or rather the wise men, of John, the word _mandaï_ beingderived from the Chaldean word _manda_, corresponding to the Greek wordγνῶσις or wisdom. [201] The multiplicity of names given to theMandæans arises apparently from the fact that in their dealings withother communities they took the name of Sabians, whilst they called thewise and learned amongst themselves Nazoreans. [202] The sect formerlyinhabited the banks of the Jordan, but was driven out by the Moslems, who forced them to retire to Mesopotamia and Babylonia, where theyparticularly affected the neighbourhood of rivers in order to be able tocarry out their peculiar baptismal rites. [203]

There can be no doubt that the doctrines of the Mandæans do resemble thedescription of the Johannite heresy as given by Eliphas Lévi, though notby the _Ordre du Temple_, in that the Mandæans professed to be thedisciples of St. John--the Baptist, however, not the Apostle--but wereat the same time the enemies of Jesus Christ. According to the Mandæans'_Book of John_ (Sidra d'Yahya), Yahya, that is to say, St. John, baptized myriads of men during forty years in the Jordan. By amistake--or in response to a written mandate from heaven saying, "Yahya, baptize the liar in the Jordan"--he baptized the false prophetYishu Meshiha (the Messiah Jesus), son of the devil Ruha Kadishta. [204]The same idea is found in another book of the sect, called the "Book ofAdam, " which represents Jesus as the perverter of St. John's doctrineand the disseminator of iniquity and perfidy throughout the world. [205]The resemblance between all this and the legends of the Talmud, theCabala, and the Toledot Yeshu is at once apparent; moreover, theMandæans claim for the "Book of Adam" the same origin as the Jewsclaimed for the Cabala, namely, that it was delivered to Adam by Godthrough the hands of the angel Razael. [206] This book, known to scholarsas the _Codex Nasaræus_, is described by Münter as "a sort of mosaicwithout order, without method, where one finds mentioned Noah, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, the Temple of Jerusalem, St. John the Baptist, JesusChrist, the Christians, and Mohammed. " M. Matter, whilst denying anyproof of the Templar succession from the Mandæans, nevertheless givesgood reason for believing that the sect itself existed from the firstcenturies of the Christian era and that its books dated from the eighthcentury[207]; further that these Mandæans or Nazoreans--not to beconfounded with the pre-Christian Nazarites or Christian Nazarenes--wereJews who revered St. John the Baptist as the prophet of ancient Mosaism, but regarded Jesus Christ as a false Messiah sent by the powers ofdarkness. [208] Modern Jewish opinion confirms this affirmation of Judaicinspiration and agrees with Matter in describing the Mandæans asGnostics: "Their sacred books are in an Aramaic dialect, which has closeaffinities with that of the Talmud of Babylon. " The Jewish influence isdistinctly visible in the Mandæan religion. "It is essentially of thetype of ancient Gnosticism, traces of which are found in the Talmud, theMidrash, and in a modified form the later Cabala. "[209]

It may then be regarded as certain that a sect existed long before thetime of the Crusades corresponding to the description of the Johannitesgiven by Eliphas Lévi in that it was Cabalistic, anti-Christian, yetprofessedly founded on the doctrines of one of the St. Johns. Whether itwas by this sect that the Templars were indoctrinated must remain anopen question. M. Matter objects that the evidence lacking to such aconclusion lies in the fact that the Templars expressed no particularreverence for St. John; but Loiseleur asserts that the Templars didprefer the Gospel of St. John to that of the other evangelists, and thatmodern masonic lodges claiming descent from the Templars possess aspecial version of this Gospel said to have been copied from theoriginal on Mount Athos. [210] It is also said that "Baphomets" werepreserved in the masonic lodges of Hungary, where a debased form ofMasonry, known as Johannite Masonry, survives to this day. If theTemplar heresy was that of the Johannites, the head in question mightpossibly represent that of John the Baptist, which would accord with thetheory that the word Baphomet was derived from Greek words signifyingbaptism of wisdom. This would, moreover, not be incompatible withLoiseleur's theory of an affinity between the Templars and the Bogomils, for the Bogomils also possessed their own version of the Gospel of St. John, which they placed on the heads of their neophytes during theceremony of initiation, [211] giving as the reason for the 'I peculiarveneration they professed for its author that they regarded St. John asthe servant of the Jewish God Satanael. [212] Eliphas Lévi even goes sofar as to accuse the Templars of following the occult practices of theLuciferians, who carried the doctrines of the Bogomils to the point ofpaying homage to the powers of darkness:

 Let us declare for the edification of the vulgar ... And for the greater glory of the Church which has persecuted the Templars, burned the magicians and excommunicated the Free-Masons, etc. , let us say boldly and loudly, that all the initiates of the occult sciences ... Have adored, do and will always adore that which is signified by this frightful symbol [the Sabbatic goat]. [213] Yes, in our profound conviction, the Grand Masters of the Order of the Templars adored Baphomet and caused him to be adored by their initiates. [214]

It will be seen, then, that the accusation of heresy brought against theTemplars does not emanate solely from the Catholic Church, but also fromthe secret societies. Even our Freemasons, who, for reasons I shall showlater, have generally defended the Order, are now willing to admit thatthere was a very real case against them. Thus Dr. Ranking, who hasdevoted many years of study to the question, has arrived at theconclusion that Johannism is the real clue to the Templar heresy. In avery interesting paper published in the masonic journal _Ars QuatuorCoronatorum_, he observes that "the record of the Templars in Palestineis one long tale of intrigue and treachery on the part of the Order, "and finally:

 That from the very commencement of Christianity there has been transmitted through the centuries a body of doctrine incompatible with Christianity in the various official Churches.... 

 That the bodies teaching these doctrines professed to do so on the authority of St. John, to whom, as they claimed, the true secrets had been committed by the Founder of Christianity. 

 That during the Middle Ages the main support of the Gnostic bodies and the main repository of this knowledge was the Society of the Templars. [215]

What is the explanation of this choice of St. John for the propagationof anti-Christian doctrines which we shall find continuing up to thepresent day? What else than the method of perversion which in itsextreme form becomes Satanism, and consists in always selecting the mostsacred things for the purpose of desecration? Precisely then because theGospel of St. John is the one of all the four which most insists on thedivinity of Christ, the occult anti-Christian sects have habitually madeit the basis of their rites. 

4

THREE CENTURIES OF OCCULTISM

It has been shown in the foregoing chapters that from very early timesoccult sects had existed for two purposes--esoteric and political. Whilst the Manicheans, the early Ismailis, the Bogomils, and theLuciferians had concerned themselves mainly with religious or esotericdoctrines, the later Ismailis, the Fatimites, the Karmathites, andTemplars had combined secrecy and occult rites with the political aim ofdomination. We shall find this double tradition running through all thesecret society movement up to the present day. 

The Dualist doctrines attributed to the Templars were not, however, confined to this Order in Europe, but had been, as we have seen, thoseprofessed by the Bogomils and also by the Cathari, who spread westwardsfrom Bulgaria and Bosnia to France. It was owing to their sojourn inBulgaria that the Cathari gained the popular nickname of "Bulgars" or"Bourgres, " signifying those addicted to unnatural vice. One section ofthe Cathari in the South of France became known after 1180 as theAlbigenses, thus called from the town of Albi, although theirheadquarters were really in Toulouse. Christians only in name, theyadhered in secret to the Gnostic and Manichean doctrines of the earlierCathari, which they would appear to have combined with Johannism, since, like this Eastern sect, they claimed to possess their own Gospel of St. John. [216]

Although not strictly a secret society, the Albigenses were dividedafter the secret society system into initiates and semi-initiates. Theformer, few in number, known as the _Perfecti_, led in appearance anaustere life, refraining from meat and professing abhorrence of oathsor of lying. The mystery in which they enveloped themselves won for themthe adoring reverence of the _Credentes_, who formed the great majorityof the sect and gave themselves up to every vice, to usury, brigandage, and perjury, and whilst describing marriage as prostitution, condoningincest and all forms of licence. [217] The _Credentes_, who were probablynot fully initiated into the Dualist doctrines of their superiors, looked to them for salvation through the laying-on of hands according tothe system of the Manicheans. 

It was amongst the nobles of Languedoc that the Albigenses found theirprincipal support. This "Judæa of France, " as it has been called, waspeopled by a medley of mixed races, Iberian, Gallic, Roman, andSemitic. [218] The nobles, very different from the "ignorant and piouschivalry of the North, " had lost all respect for their traditions. "There were few who in going back did not encounter some Saracen orJewish grandmother in their genealogy. "[219] Moreover, many had broughtback to Europe the laxity of morals they had contracted during theCrusades. The Comte de Comminges practised polygamy, and, according toecclesiastical chronicles, Raymond VI, Comte de Toulouse, one of themost ardent of the Albigense _Credentes_, had his harem. [220] TheAlbigensian movement has been falsely represented as a protest merelyagainst the tyranny of the Church of Rome; in reality it was a risingagainst the fundamental doctrines of Christianity--more than this, against all principles of religion and morality. For whilst some of thesect openly declared that the Jewish law was preferable to that of theChristians, [221] to others the God of the Old Testament was as abhorrentas the "false Christ" who suffered at Golgotha; the old hatred of theGnostics and Manicheans for the demiurgus lived again in these rebelsagainst the social order. Forerunners of the seventeenth-centuryLibertines and eighteenth-century Illuminati, the Albigense nobles, under the pretext of fighting the priesthood, strove to throw off allthe restraints the Church imposed. 

Inevitably the disorders that took place throughout the South of Franceled to reprisals, and the Albigenses were suppressed with all thecruelty of the age--a fact which has afforded historians the opportunityto exalt them as noble martyrs, victims of ecclesiastical despotism. Butagain, as in the case of the Templars, the fact that they werepersecuted does not prove them innocent of the crimes laid to theircharge. 

Satanism

At the beginning of the fourteenth century another development ofDualism, far more horrible than the Manichean heresy of the Albigenses, began to make itself felt. This was the cult of Satanism, or blackmagic. The subject is one that must be approached with extreme caution, owing to the fact that on one hand much that has been written about itis the result of mediæval superstition, which sees in every departurefrom the Roman Catholic Faith the direct intervention of the Evil One, whilst on the other hand the conspiracy of history, which denies _intoto_ the existence of the Occult Power, discredits all revelations onthis question, from whatever source they emanate, as the outcome ofhysterical imagination. [222] This is rendered all the easier since thesubject by its amazing extravagance lends itself to ridicule. 

It is, however, idle to deny that the cult of evil has always existed;the invocation of the powers of darkness was practised in the earliestdays of the human race and, after the Christian era, found itsexpression, as we have seen, in the Cainites, the Euchites, and theLuciferians. These are not surmises, but actual facts of history. Towards the end of the twelfth century Luciferianism spread eastwardsthrough Styria, the Tyrol, and Bohemia, even as far as Brandenburg; bythe beginning of the thirteenth century it had invaded western Germany, and in the fourteenth century reached its zenith in that country, asalso in Italy and France. The cult had now reached a further stage inits development, and it was not the mere propitiation of Satanael as theprince of this world practised by the Luciferians, but actualSatanism--the love of evil for the sake of evil--which formed thedoctrine of the sect known in Italy as _la vecchia religione_ or the"old religion. " Sorcery was adopted as a profession, and witches, not, as is popularly supposed, sporadic growths, were trained in schools ofmagic to practise their art. These facts should be remembered when theChurch is blamed for the violence it displayed against witchcraft--itwas not individuals, but a system which it set out to destroy. 

The essence of Satanism is desecration. In the ceremonies for infernalevocation described by Eliphas Lévi we read: "It is requisite to profanethe ceremonies of the religion one belongs to and to trample its holiestsymbols under foot. "[223] This practice found a climax in desecratingthe Holy Sacrament. The consecrated wafer was given as food to mice, toads, and pigs, or denied in unspeakable ways. A revolting descriptionof the Black Mass may be found in Huysmans's book _Là-bas_. It isunnecessary to transcribe the loathsome details here. Suffice it, then, to show that this cult had a very real existence, and if any furtherdoubt remains on the matter, the life of Gilles de Rais suppliesdocumentary evidence of the visible results of black magic in the MiddleAges. 

Gilles de Rais was born at Machecoul in Brittany about the year 1404. The first period of his life was glorious; the companion and guide ofJeanne d'Arc, he became Maréchal of France and distinguished himself bymany deeds of valour. But after dissipating his immense fortune, largelyon Church ceremonies carried out with the wildest extravagance, he wasled to study alchemy, partly by curiosity and partly as a means forrestoring his shattered fortunes. Hearing that Germany and Italy werethe countries where alchemy flourished, he enlisted Italians in hisservice and was gradually drawn into the further region of magic. According to Huysmans, Gilles de Rais had remained until this moment aChristian mystic under the influence of Jeanne d'Arc, but after herdeath--possibly in despair--he offered himself to the powers ofdarkness. Evokers of Satan now flocked to him from every side, amongstthem Prelati, an Italian, by no means the old and wrinkled sorcerer oftradition, but a young and attractive man of charming manners. For itwas from Italy that came the most skilful adepts in the art of alchemy, astrology, magic, and infernal evocation, who spread themselves overEurope, particularly France. Under the influence of these initiatorsGilles de Rais signed a letter to the devil in a meadow near Machecoulasking him for "knowledge, power, and riches, " and offering in exchangeanything that might be asked of him with the exception of his life orhis soul. But in spite of this appeal and of a pact signed with theblood of the writer, no Satanic apparitions were forthcoming. 

It was then that, becoming still more desperate, Gilles de Rais hadrecourse to the abominations for which his name has remainedinfamous--still more frightful invocations, loathsome debaucheries, perverted vice in every form, Sadic cruelties, horrible sacrifices, and, finally, holocausts of little boys and girls collected by his agents inthe surrounding country and put to death with the most inhuman tortures. During the years 1432-40 literally hundreds of children disappeared. Many of the names of the unhappy little victims were preserved in therecords of the period. Gilles de Rais met with a well-deserved end: in1440 he was hanged and burnt. So far he does not appear to have found apanegyrist to place him in the ranks of noble martyrs. 

It will, of course, be urged that the crimes here described were thoseof a criminal lunatic and not to be attributed to any occult cause; theanswer to this is that Gilles was not an isolated unit, but one of agroup of occultists who cannot all have been mad. Moreover, it was onlyafter his invocation of the Evil One that he developed these monstrousproclivities. So also his eighteenth-century replica, the Marquis deSade, combined with his abominations an impassioned hatred of theChristian religion. 

What is the explanation of this craze for magic in Western Europe?Deschamps points to the Cabala, "that science of demoniacal arts, ofwhich the Jews were the initiators, " and undoubtedly in anycomprehensive review of the question the influence of the JewishCabalists cannot be ignored. In Spain, Portugal, Provence, and Italy theJews by the fifteenth century had become a power; as early as 1450 theyhad penetrated into the intellectual circles of Florence, and it wasalso in Italy that, a century later, the modern Cabalistic school wasinaugurated by Isaac Luria (1533-72), whose doctrines were organizedinto a practical system by the Hasidim of Eastern Europe for the writingof amulets, the conjuration of devils, mystical jugglery with numbersand letters, etc. [224] Italy in the fifteenth century was thus a centrefrom which Cabalistic influences radiated, and it may be that theItalians who indoctrinated Gilles de Rais had drawn their inspirationfrom this source. Indeed Eliphas Lévi, who certainly cannot be accusedof "Anti-Semitism, " declares that "the Jews, the most faithful trusteesof the secret of the Cabala, were almost always the reat masters ofmagic in the Middle Ages, "[225] and suggests that Gilles de Rais tookhis monstrous recipes for using the blood of murdered children "fromsome of those old Hebrew _grimoires_ (books on magic), which, if theyhad been known, would have sufficed to hold up the Jews to theexecration of the whole earth. "[226] Voltaire, in his _Henriade_, likewise attributes the magical blood-rites practised in the sixteenthcentury to Jewish inspiration:

 Dans l'ombre de la nuit, sous une voûte obscure, Le silence conduit leui assemblée impure. A la pàle lueur d'un magique flambeau S'élève un vil autel dressé sur un tombeau. C'est là que des deux rois on plaça les images, Objets de leur terreur, objets de leurs outrages. Leurs sacrilèges mains out mêlé sur l'autel A des noms infernaux le nom de l'Éternel. Sur ces murs ténébreux des lances sont rangées, Dans des vases de sang leurs pointes sont plongées; Appareil menaçant de leur mystère affreux. Le prêtre de ce temple est un de ces Hébreux Qui, proscrits sur la terre et citoyens du monde, Portent de mers en mers leur misère profonde, Et, d'un antique ramas de superstitions, Out rempli dès longtemps toutes les nations, etc. 

Voltaire adds in a footnote: "It was ordinarily Jews that were made useof for magical operations. This ancient superstition comes from thesecrets of the Cabala, of which the Jews called themselves the soledepositaries. Catherine de Medicis, the Maréchal d'Ancre, and manyothers employed Jews for these spells. "

This charge of black magic recurs all through the history of Europe fromthe earliest times. The Jews are accused of poisoning wells, ofpractising ritual murder, of using stolen church property for purposesof desecration, etc. No doubt there enters into all this a great amountof exaggeration, inspired by popular prejudice and mediævalsuperstition. Yet, whilst condeming the persecution to which the Jewswere subjected on this account, it must be admitted that they laidthemselves open to suspicion by their real addiction to magical arts. Ifignorant superstition is found on the side of the persecutors, stillmore amazing superstition is found on the side of the persecuted. Demonology in Europe was in fact essentially a Jewish science, foralthough a belief in evil spirits existed from the earliest times andhas always continued to exist amongst primitive races, and also amongstthe ignorant classes in civilized countries, it was mainly through theJews that these dark superstitions were imported to the West, where theypersisted not merely amongst the lower strata of the Jewish population, but formed an essential part of Jewish tradition. Thus the Talmud says:

 If the eye could perceive the demons that people the universe, existence would be impossible. The demons are more numerous than we are: they surround us on all sides like trenches dug round vineyards. Every one of us has a thousand on his left hand and ten thousand on his right. The discomfort endured by those who attend rabbinical conferences ... Comes from the demons mingling with men in these circumstances. Besides, the fatigue one feels in one's knees in walking comes from the demons that one knocks up against at every step. If the clothing of the Rabbis wears out so quickly, it is again because the demons rub up against them. Whoever wants to convince himself of their presence has only to surround his bed with sifted cinders and the next morning he will see the imprints of cocks' feet. [227]

The same treatise goes on to give directions for seeing demons byburning portions of a black cat and placing the ashes in one's eye:"then at once one perceives the demons. " The Talmud also explains thatdevils particularly inhabit the waterspouts on houses and are fond ofdrinking out of water-jugs, therefore it is advisable to pour a littlewater out of a jug before drinking, so as to get rid of the uncleanpart. [228]

These ideas received a fresh impetus from the publication of the Zohar, which, a Jewish writer tells us, "from the fourteenth century heldalmost unbroken sway over the minds of the majority of the Jews. In itthe Talmudic legends concerning the existence and activity of the_shedhim_ (demons) are repeated and amplified, and a hierarchy of demonswas established corresponding to the heavenly hierarchy.... Manasseh[ben Israel]'s _Nishmat Hayim_ is full of information concerning beliefin demons.... Even the scholarly and learned Rabbis of the seventeenthcentury clung to the belief. "[229]

Here, then, it is not a case of ignorant peasants evolving fantasticvisions from their own scared imaginations, but of the Rabbis, theacknowledged leaders of a race claiming civilized traditions and a highorder of intelligence, deliberately inculcating in their disciples theperpetual fear of demoniacal influences. How much of this fearcommunicated itself to the Gentile population? It is at any rate acurious coincidence to notice the resemblances between so-called popularsuperstitions and the writings of the Rabbis. For example, the vileconfessions made both by Scotch and French peasant women accused ofwitchcraft concerning the nocturnal visits paid them by male devils[230]find an exact counterpart in passages of the Cabala, where it is saidthat "the demons are both male and female, and they also endeavour toconsort with human beings--a conception from which arises the belief in_incubi_ and _succubæ_. "[231] Thus, on Jewish authority, we learn theJudaic origin of this strange delusion. 

It is clearly to the same source that we may trace the magical formulæfor the healing of diseases current at the same period. From theearliest times the Jews had specialized in medicine, and many royalpersonages insisted on employing Jewish doctors, [232] some of whom mayhave acquired medical knowledge of a high order. The Jewish writerMargoliouth dwells on this fact with some complacency, and goes on tocontrast the scientific methods of the Hebrew doctors with thequackeries of the monks:

 In spite of the reports circulated by the monks, that the Jews were sorcerers (in consequence of their superior medical skill), Christian patients would frequent the houses of the Jewish physicians in preference to the monasteries, where cures were pretended to have been effected by some extraordinary relics, such as the nails of St. Augustine, the extremity of St. Peter's second toe, ... Etc. It need hardly be added that the cures effected by the Jewish physicians were more numerous than those by the monkish impostors. [233]

Yet in reality the grotesque remedies which Margoliouth attributes toChristian superstition appear to have been partly derived from Jewishsources. The author of a further article on Magic in Hastings'_Encyclopædia_ goes on to say that the magical formulæ handed down inLatin in ancient medical writings and used by the monks were mainly ofEastern origin, derived from Babylonish, Egyptian, and Jewish magic. Themonks therefore "played merely an intermediate rôle. "[234] Indeed, ifwe turn to the Talmud we shall find cures recommended no less absurdthan those which Margoliouth derides. For example:

 The eggs of a grasshopper as a remedy for toothache, the tooth of a fox as a remedy for sleep, viz. The tooth of a live fox to prevent sleep and of a dead one to cause sleep, the nail from the gallows where a man was hanged, as a remedy for swelling. [235]

A strongly "pro-Semite" writer quotes a number of Jewish medicalwritings of the eighteenth century, republished as late as the end ofthe nineteenth, which show the persistence of these magical formulæamongst the Jews. Most of these are too loathsome to transcribe; butsome of the more innocuous are as follows: "For epilepsy kill a cock andlet it putrefy. " "In order to protect yourself from all evils, girdyourself with the rope with which a criminal has been hung. " Blood ofdifferent kinds also plays an important part: "Fox's blood and wolf'sblood are good for stone in the bladder, ram's blood for colic, weaselblood for scrofula, " etc. --these to be externally applied. [236]

But to return to Satanism. Whoever were the secret inspirers of magicaland diabolical practices during the fourteenth to the eighteenthcenturies, the evidence of the existence of Satanism during this longperiod is overwhelming and rests on the actual facts of history. Detailsquite as extravagant and revolting as those contained in the works ofEliphas Lévi[237] or in Huysmans's _Là-bas_ are given in documentaryform by Margaret Alice Murray in her singularly passionless workrelating principally to the witches of Scotland. [238]

The cult of evil is a reality--by whatever means we may seek to explainit. Eliphas Lévi, whilst denying the existence of Satan "as a superiorpersonality and power, " admits this fundamental truth: "Evil exists; itis impossible to doubt it. We can do good or evil. There are beings whoknowingly and voluntarily do evil. "[239] There are also beings who loveevil. Lévi has admirably described the spirit that animates such beingsin his definition of black magic:

 Black magic is really but a combination of sacrileges and murders graduated with a view to the permanent perversion of the human will and the realization in a living man of the monstrous phantom of the fiend. It is, therefore, properly speaking, the religion of the devil, the worship of darkness, the hatred of goodness exaggerated to the point of paroxysm; it is the incarnation of death and the permanent creation of hell. [240]

The Middle Ages, which depicted the devil fleeing from holy water, werenot perhaps quite so benighted as our superior modern culture has led usto suppose. For that "hatred of goodness exaggerated to the point ofparoxysm, " that impulse to desecrate and defile which forms the basis ofblack magic and has manifested itself in successive phases of theworld-revolution, springs from fear. So by their very hatred the powersof darkness proclaim the existence of the powers of light and their ownimpotence. In the cry of the demoniac: "What have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thouart, the Holy One of God, " do we not hear the unwilling tribute of thevanquished to the victor in the mighty conflict between good; and evil?

The Rosicrucians

In dealing with the question of Magic it is necessary to realize thatalthough to the world in general the word is synonymous with necromancy, it does not bear this significance in the language of occultism, particularly the occultism of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Magic at this date was a term employed to cover many branches ofinvestigation which Robert Fludd, the English Rosicrucian, classifiedunder various headings, of which the first three are as follows: (1)"_Natural Magic_, ... That most occult and secret department of physicsby which the mystical properties of natural substances are extracted";(2) _Mathematical Magic_, which enables adepts in the art to "constructmarvellous machines by means of their geometrical knowledge "; whilst(3) _Venefic Magic_ "is familiar with potions, philtres, and withvarious preparations of poisons. "[241]

It is obvious that all these have now passed into the realms of scienceand are no longer regarded as magical arts; but the further categoriesenumerated by Fludd and comprised under the general heading of_Necromantic Magic_ retain the popular sense of the term. These aredescribed as (i) _Goetic_, which consists in "diabolical commerce withunclean spirits, in rites of criminal curiosity, in illicit songs andinvocations, and in the evocation of the souls of the dead"; (2)_Maleficent_, which is the adjuration of the devils by the virtue ofDivine Names; and (3) _Theurgic_, purporting "to be governed by goodangels and the Divine Will, but its wonders are most frequentlyperformed by evil spirits, who assume the names of God and of theangels. " (4) "The last species of magic is the _Thaumaturgic_, begettingillusory phenomena; by this art the Magi produced their phantoms andother marvels. " To this list might be added _Celestial Magic_, orknowledge dealing with the influence of the heavenly bodies, on whichastrology is based. 

The forms of magic dealt with in the preceding part of this chapterbelong therefore to the second half of these categories, that is to say, to Necromantic Magic. But at the same period another movement wasgradually taking shape which concerned itself with the first categoryenumerated above, that is to say, the secret properties of naturalsubstances. 

A man whose methods appear to have approached to the modern conceptionof scientific research was Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, commonly known as Paracelsus, the son of a German doctor, born about1493, who during his travels in the East is said to have acquired aknowledge of some secret doctrine which he afterwards elaborated into asystem for the healing of diseases. Although his ideas were thusdoubtless drawn from some of the same sources as those from which theJewish Cabala descended, Paracelsus does not appear to have been aCabalist, but a scientist of no mean order, and, as an isolated thinker, apparently connected with no secret association, does not enter furtherinto the scope of this work. 

Paracelsus must therefore not be identified with the school of so-called"Christian Cabalists, " who, from Raymond Lulli, the "doctor illuminatus"of the thirteenth century, onward, drew their inspiration from theCabala of the Jews. This is not to say that the influence under whichthey fell was wholly pernicious, for, just as certain Jews appear tohave acquired some real medical skill, so also they appear to havepossessed some real knowledge of natural science, inherited perhaps fromthe ancient traditions of the East or derived from the writings ofHippocrates, Galen, and other of the great Greek physicians and as yetunknown to Europe. Thus Eliphas Lévi relates that the Rabbi Jechiel, aCabalistic Jew protected by St. Louis, possessed the secret ofever-burning lamps, [242] claimed later by the Rosicrucians, whichsuggests the possibility that some kind of luminous gas or electriclight may have been known to the Jews. In alchemy they were theacknowledged leaders; the most noted alchemist of the fourteenthcentury, Nicholas Flamel, discovered the secret of the art from the bookof "Abraham the Jew, Prince, Priest, Levite, Astrologer, andPhilosopher, " and this actual book is said to have passed later into thepossession of Cardinal Richelieu. [243]

It was likewise from a Florentine Jew, Alemanus or Datylus, that Picodella Mirandola, the fifteenth-century mystic, received instructions inthe Cabala[244] and imagined that he had discovered in it the doctrinesof Christianity. This delighted Pope Sixtus IV, who thereupon orderedCabalistic writings to be translated into Latin for the use of divinitystudents. At the same time the Cabala was introduced into Germany byReuchlin, who had learnt Hebrew from the Rabbi Jacob b. Jechiel Loans, court physician to Frederick III, and in 1494 published a Cabalistictreatise _De Verbo Mirifico_, showing that all wisdom and truephilosophy are derived from the Hebrews. Considerable alarm appears, however, to have been created by the spread of Rabbinical literature, and in 1509 a Jew converted to Christianity, named Pfefferkorn, persuaded the Emperor Maximilian I to burn all Jewish books except theOld Testament. Reuchlin, consulted on this matter, advised only thedestruction of the Toledot Yeshu and of the Sepher Nizzachon by theRabbi Lipmann, because these works "were full of blasphemies againstChrist and against the Christian religion, " but urged the preservationof the rest. In this defence of Jewish literature he was supported bythe Duke of Bavaria, who appointed him professor at Ingoldstadt, but wasstrongly condemned by the Dominicans of Cologne. In reply to theirattacks Reuchlin launched his defence _De Arte Cabalistica_, glorifyingthe Cabala, of which the "central doctrine for him was the Messianologyaround which all its other doctrines grouped themselves. "[245] Hiswhole philosophical system, as he himself admitted, was in fact entirelyCabalistic, and his views were shared by his contemporary CorneliusAgrippa of Nettesheim. As a result of these teachings a craze forCabalism spread amongst Christian prelates, statesmen, and warriors, anda number of Christian thinkers took up the doctrines of the Cabala and"essayed to work them over in their own way. " Athanasius Kircher andKnorr, Baron von Rosenroth, author of the _Kabbala Denudata_, in thecourse of the seventeenth century "endeavoured to spread the Cabalaamong the Christians by translating Cabalistic works which they regardedas most ancient wisdom. " "Most of them, " the _Jewish Encyclopædia_ goeson to observe derisively, "held the absurd idea that the Cabalacontained proofs of the truth of Christianity.... Much that appearsChristian [in the Cabala] is, in fact, nothing but the logicaldevelopment of certain ancient esoteric doctrines. "[246]

The Rosicrucians appear to have been the outcome both of this Cabalisticmovement and of the teachings of Paracelsus. The earliest intimation oftheir existence was given in a series of pamphlets which appeared at thebeginning of the seventeenth century. The first of these, entitled the_Fama Fraternitatis; or a Discovery of the Fraternity of the mostLaudable Order of the Rosy Cross_, was published at Cassel in 1614 andthe _Confessio Fraternitatis_ early in the following year. These containwhat may be described as the "Grand Legend" of Rosicrucianism, which hasbeen repeated with slight variations up to the present day. Briefly, this story is as follows[247]:

"The most godly and highly-illuminated Father, our brother C. R. , " thatis to say, Christian Rosenkreutz, "a German, the chief and original ofour Fraternity, " was born in 1378, and some sixteen years latertravelled to the East with a Brother P. A. L. , who had determined to go tothe Holy Land. On reaching Cyprus, Brother P. A. L. Died and "so nevercame to Jerusalem. " Brother C. R. , however, having become acquainted withcertain Wise Men of "Damasco in Arabia, " and beheld what great wondersthey wrought, went on alone to Damasco. Here the Wise Men received him, and he then set himself to study Physick and Mathematics and totranslate the Book M into Latin. After three years he went to Egypt, whence he journeyed on to Fez, where "he did get acquaintance with thosewho are called the Elementary inhabitants, who revealed to him many oftheir secrets.... Of those of Fez he often did confess that their Magiawas not altogether pure and also that their Cabala was defiled withtheir religion, but notwithstanding he knew how to make good use of thesame. " After two years Brother C. R. Departed the city Fez and sailedaway with many costly things into Spain, where he conferred with thelearned men and being "ready bountifully to impart all his arts andsecrets" showed them amongst other things how "there might be a societyin Europe which might have gold, silver, and precious stones sufficientfor them to bestow on kings for their necessary uses and lawfulpurposes.... "

Christian Rosenkreutz then returned to Germany, where "there is nowadaysno want of learned men, Magicians, Cabalists, Physicians, andPhilosophers. " Here he "builded himself a fitting and neat habitation inwhich he ruminated his voyage and philosophy and reduced them togetherin a true memorial. " At the end of five years' meditation there "cameagain into his mind the wished-for Reformation: accordingly he chosesome few adjoyned with him, " the Brethren G. V. , I. A. , and I. O. --thelast of whom "was very expert and well learned in Cabala as his book Hwitnesseth"--to form a circle of initiates. "After this manner beganthe Fraternity of the Rosy Cross. " Five other Brethren were afterwardsadded, all Germans except I. A. , and these eight constituted his newbuilding called Sancti Spiritus. The following agreement was then drawnup:

 First, that none of them should profess any other thing than to cure the sick, and that gratis. 

 Second, none of the posterity should be constrained to wear one certain kind of habit, but therein to follow the custom of the country. 

 Third, that every year, upon the day C. , they should meet together at the house Sancti Spiritus, or write the cause of his absence. 

 Fourth, every Brother should look about for a worthy person who, after his decease, might succeed him. 

 Fifth, the word C. R. Should be their seal, mark, and character. 

 Sixth, the Fraternity should remain secret one hundred years. 

Finally Brother C. R. Died, but where and when, or in what country he wasburied, remained a secret. The date, however, is generally given as1484. In 1604 the Brethren who then constituted the inner circle of theOrder discovered a door on which was written in large letters

 Post 120 Annos Patebo. 

On opening the door a vault was disclosed to view, where beneath a brasstablet the body of Christian Rosenkreutz was found, "whole andunconsumed, " with all his "ornaments and attires, " and holding in hishand the parchment "I" which "next unto the Bible is our greatesttreasure, " whilst beside him lay a number of books, amongst others the_Vocabulario_ of Paracelsus, who, however, the _Fama_ observes, earlier"was none of our Fraternity. "[248]

The Brethren now knew that after a time there would be "a generalreformation both of divine and human things. " While declaring theirbelief in the Christian faith, the _Fama_ goes on to explain that:

 Our Philosophy is not a new invention, but as Adam after his fall hath received it and as Moses and Solomon used it, ... Wherein Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and others did hit the mark and wherein Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, did excel, but especially wherewith that wonderful Book the Bible agreeth. 

It will be seen that, according to this Manifesto, Rosicrucianism was acombination of the ancient secret tradition handed down from thepatriarchs through the philosophers of Greece and of the first Cabala ofthe Jews. 

The "Grand Legend" of Rosicrucianism rests, however, on no historicalevidence; there is, in fact, not the least reason to suppose that anysuch person as Christian Rosenkreutz ever existed. The Illuminatus vonKnigge in the eighteenth century asserted that:

 It is now recognized amongst enlightened men that no real Rosicrucians have existed, but that the whole of what is contained in the _Fama_ and the _Universal Reformation of the World_ [another Rosicrucian pamphlet which appeared in the same year] was only a subtle allegory of Valentine Andrea, of which afterwards partly deceivers (such as the Jesuits) and partly visionaries made use in order to realize this dream. [249]

What, then, was the origin of the name Rose-Cross? According to oneRosicrucian tradition, the word "Rose" does not derive from the flowerdepicted on the Rosicrucian cross, but from the Latin word _ros_, signifying "dew, " which was supposed to be the most powerful solvent ofgold, whilst _crux_, the cross, was the chemical hieroglyphic for"light. "[250] It is said that the Rosicrucians interpreted the initialson the cross INRI by the sentence "Igne Nitrum Roris Invenitur. "[251]Supposing this derivation to be correct, it would be interesting to knowwhether any connexion could be traced between the first appearance ofthe word Rosie Cross in the _Fama Fraternitatis_ at the date of 1614 andthe cabalistic treatise of the celebrated Rabbi of Prague, ShabbethaiSheftel Horowitz, entitled _Shefa Tal_, that is to say, "The Effusion ofDew, " which appeared in 1612. [252] Although this book has often beenreprinted, no copy is to be found in the British Museum, so I am unableto pursue this line of enquiry further. A simpler explanation may bethat the Rosy Cross derived from the Red Cross of the Templars. Mirabeau, who as a Freemason and an Illuminatus was in a position todiscover many facts about the secret societies of Germany during hisstay in the country, definitely asserts that "the Rose Croix Masons ofthe seventeenth century were only the ancient Order of the Templarssecretly perpetuated. "[253]

Lecouteulx de Canteleu is more explicit:

 In France the Knights (Templar) who left the Order, henceforth hidden, and so to speak unknown, formed the Order of the Flaming Star and of the Rose-Croix, which in the fifteenth century spread itself in Bohemia and Silesia. Every Grand officer of these Orders had all his life to wear the Red Cross and to repeat every day the prayer of St. Bernard. [254]

Eckert states that the ritual, symbols, and names of the Rose-Croix wereborrowed from the Templars, and that the Order was divided into sevendegrees, according to the seven days of creation, at the same timesignifying that their "principal aim was that of the mysterious, theinvestigation of Being and of the forces of nature. "[255]

The Rosicrucian Kenneth Mackenzie, in his _Masonic Cyclopædia_, appearsto suggest the same possibility of Templar origin. Under the heading ofRosicrucians he refers enigmatically to an invisible fraternity that hasexisted from very ancient times, as early as the days of the Crusades, "bound by solemn obligations of impenetrable secrecy, " and joiningtogether in work for humanity and to "glorify the good. " At variousperiods of history this body has emerged into a sort of temporary light;but its true name has never transpired and is only known to theinnermost adepts and rulers of the society. "The Rosicrucians of thesixteenth century finally disappeared and re-entered this invisiblefraternity "--from which they had presumably emerged. Whether any suchbody really existed or whether the above account is simply an attempt atmystification devised to excite curiosity, the incredulous may question. The writer here observes that it would be indiscreet to say more, butelsewhere he throws out a hint that may have some bearing on the matter, for in his article on the Templars he says that after the suppression ofthe Order it was revived in a more secret form and subsists to thepresent day. This would exactly accord with Mirabeau's statement thatthe Rosicrucians were only the Order of the Templars secretlyperpetuated. Moreover, as we shall see later, according to a legendpreserved by the Royal Order of Scotland, the degree of the Rosy Crosshad been instituted by that Order in conjunction with the Templars in1314, and it would certainly be a remarkable coincidence that a manbearing the name of Rosenkreutz should happen to have inaugurated asociety, founded, like the Templars, on Eastern secret doctrines duringthe course of the same century, without any connexion existing betweenthe two. 

I would suggest, then, that Christian Rosenkreutz was a purely mythicalpersonage, and that the whole legend concerning his travels was inventedto disguise the real sources whence the Rosicrucians derived theirsystem, which would appear to have been a compound of ancient esotericdoctrines, of Arabian and Syrian magic, and of Jewish Cabalism, partlyinherited from the Templars but reinforced by direct contact withCabalistic Jews in Germany. The Rose-Croix, says Mirabeau, "were amystical, Cabalistic, theological, and magical sect, " and Rosicrucianismthus became in the seventeenth century the generic title by whicheverything of the nature of Cabalism, Theosophy, Alchemy, Astrology, andMysticism was designated. For this reason it has been said that theycannot be regarded as the descendants of the Templars. Mr. Waite, inreferring to "the alleged connexion between the Templars and theBrethren of the Rosy Cross, " observes:

 The Templars were not alchemists, they had no scientific pretensions, and their secret, so far as it can be ascertained, was a religious secret of an anti-Christian kind. The Rosicrucians, on the other hand, were pre-eminently a learned society and they were also a Christian sect. [256]

The fact that the Templars do not appear to have practised alchemy isbeside the point; it is not pretended that the Rosicrucians followed theTemplars in every particular, but that they were the inheritors of asecret tradition passed on to them by the earlier Order. Moreover, thatthey were a learned society, or even a society at all, is not at allcertain, for they would appear to have possessed no organization likethe Templars or the Freemasons, but to have consisted rather of isolatedoccultists bound together by some tie of secret knowledge concerningnatural phenomena. This secrecy was no doubt necessary at a period whenscientific research was liable to be regarded as sorcery, but whetherthe Rosicrucians really accomplished anything is extremely doubtful. They are said to have been alchemists; but did they ever succeed intransmuting metals? They are described as learned, yet do the pamphletsemanating from the Fraternity betray any proof of superior knowledge?"The Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosenkreutz, " which appeared in1616, certainly appears to be the purest nonsense--magical imaginings ofthe most puerile kind; and Mr. Waite himself observes that thepublication of the _Fama_ and the _Confessio Fraternitalis_ will not addnew lustre to the Rosicrucian reputations:

 We are accustomed to regard the adepts of the Rosy Cross as beings of sublime elevation and preternatural physical powers, masters of Nature, monarchs of the intellectual world.... But here in their own acknowledged manifestos they avow themselves a mere theosophical offshoot of the Lutheran heresy, acknowledging the spiritual supremacy of a temporal prince, and calling the Pope anti-Christ.... We find them intemperate in their language, rabid in their religious prejudices, and instead of towering giant-like above the intellectual average of their age, we see them buffeted by the same passions and identified with all opinions of the men by whom they were environed. The voice which addresses us behind the mystical mask of the Rose-Croix does not come from an intellectual throne.... 

So much for the Rosicrucians as a "learned society. "

What, then, of their claim to be a Christian body? The Rosicrucianstudent of the Cabala, Julius Sperber, in his _Echo of the DivinelyIlluminated Fraternity of the Admirable Order of the R. C. _ (1615), hasindicated the place assigned to Christ by the Rosicrucians. In DeQuincey's words:

 Having maintained the probability of the Rosicrucian pretensions on the ground that such _magnalia Dei_ had from the creation downwards been confided to the keeping of a few individuals--agreeably to which he affirms that Adam was the first Rosicrucian of the Old Testament and Simeon the last--he goes on to ask whether the Gospel put an end to the secret tradition? By no means, he answers: Christ established a new "college of magic" among His disciples, and the greater mysteries were revealed to St. John and St. Paul. 

John Yarker, quoting this passage, adds: "This, Brother Findel pointsout, was a claim of the Carpocratian Gnostics"; it was also, as we haveseen, a part of the Johannite tradition which is said to have beenimparted to the Templars. We shall find the same idea of Christ as an"initiate" running all through the secret societies up to the presentday. 

These doctrines not unnaturally brought on the Rosicrucians thesuspicion of being an anti-Christian body. The writer of a contemporarypamphlet published in 1624, declares that "this fraternity is astratagem of the Jews and Cabalistic Hebrews, in whose philosophy, saysPic de la Mirandole, all things are ... As if hidden in the majesty oftruth or as ... In very sacred Mysteries. "[257]

Another work, _Examination of the Unknown and Novel Cabala of theBrethren of the Rose-Cross_, agrees with the assertion that the chief ofthis "execrable college is Satan, that its first rule is denial of God, blasphemy against the most simple and undivided Trinity, trampling onthe mysteries of the redemption, spitting in the face of the mother ofGod and of all the saints. " The sect is further accused of compacts withthe devil, sacrifices of children, of cherishing toads, making poisonouspowders, dancing with fiends, etc. 

Now, although all this would appear to be quite incompatible with thecharacter of the Rosicrucians as far as it is known, we have alreadyseen that the practices here described were by no means imaginary; inthis same seventeenth century, when the fame of the Rosicrucians wasfirst noised abroad, black magic was still, as in the days of Gilles deRais, a horrible reality, not only in France but in England, Scotland, and Germany, where sorcerers of both sexes were continually put todeath. [258] However much we may deplore the methods employed againstthese people or question the supernatural origin of their cult, it wouldbe idle to deny that the cult itself existed. 

Moreover, towards the end of the century it assumed in France a verytangible form in the series of mysterious dramas known as the "Affairedes Poisons, " of which the first act took place in 1666, when thecelebrated Marquise de Brinvilliers embarked on her amazing career ofcrime in collaboration with her lover Sainte-Croix. This extraordinarywoman, who for ten years made a hobby of trying the effects of variousslow poisons on her nearest relations, thereby causing the death of herfather and brothers, might appear to have been merely an isolatedcriminal of the abnormal type but for the sequel to her exploits in theepidemic of poisoning which followed and during twenty years kept Parisin a state of terror. The investigations of the police finally led tothe discovery of a whole band of magicians and alchemists--"a vastramification of malefactors covering all France"--who specialized inthe art of poisoning without fear of detection. 

Concerning all these sorcerers, alchemists, compounders of magicalpowders and philtres, frightful rumours circulated, "pacts with thedevil were talked of, sacrifices of new-born babies, incantations, sacrilegious Masses and other practices as disquieting as they werelugubrious. "[259] Even the King's mistress, Madame de Montespan, issaid to have had recourse to black Masses in order to retain the royalfavour through the agency of the celebrated sorceress La Voisin, withwhom she was later implicated in an accusation of having attempted thelife of the King. 

All the extraordinary details of these events have recently beendescribed in the book of Madame Latour, where the intimate connexionbetween the poisoners and the magicians is shown. In the opinion ofcontemporaries, these were not isolated individuals:

 "Their methods were too certain, their execution of crime too skilful and too easy for them not to have belonged, either directly or indirectly, to a whole organization of criminals who prepared the way, and studied the method of giving to crime the appearance of illness, of forming, in a word, a school. "[260]

The author of the work here quoted draws an interesting parallel betweenthis organization and the modern traffic in cocaine, and goes on todescribe the three degrees into which it was divided: firstly, theHeads, cultivated and intelligent men, who understood chemistry, physics, and nearly all useful sciences, "invisible counsellors butsupreme, without whom the sorcerers and diviners would have beenpowerless"; secondly, the visible magicians employing mysteriousprocesses, complicated rites and terrifying ceremonies; and thirdly, thecrowd of nobles and plebeians who flocked to the doors of the sorcerersand filled their pockets in return for magic potions, philtres, and, incertain cases, insidious poisons. Thus La Voisin must be placed in thesecond category; "in spite of her luxury, her profits, and her fame, "she "is only a subaltern agent in this vast organization of criminals. She depends entirely for her great enterprises on the intellectualchiefs of the corporation.... "[261]

Who were these intellectual chiefs? The man who first initiated Madamede Brinvilliers' lover Sainte-Croix into the art of poisoning was anItalian named Exili or Eggidi; but the real initiate from whom Eggidiand another Italian poisoner had learnt their secrets is said to havebeen Glaser, variously described as a German or a Swiss chemist, whofollowed the principles of Paracelsus and occupied the post of physicianto the King and the Duc d'Orléans. [262] This man, about whose historylittle is known, might thus have been a kind of Rosicrucian. For since, as has been said, the intellectual chiefs from whom the poisonersderived their inspiration were men versed in chemistry, in science, inphysics, and the treatment of diseases, and since, further, theyincluded alchemists and people professing to be in possession of thePhilosopher's Stone, their resemblance with the Rosicrucians is at onceapparent. Indeed, in turning back to the branches of magic enumerated bythe Rosicrucian Robert Fludd, we find not only Natural Magic, "that mostoccult and secret department of physics by which the mystical propertiesof natural substances are extracted, " but also Venefic Magic, which "isfamiliar with potions, philtres, and with various preparations ofpoisons. "

The art of poisoning was therefore known to the Rosicrucians, and, although there is no reason to suppose it was ever practised by theheads of the Fraternity, it is possible that the inspirers of thepoisoners may have been perverted Rosicrucians, that is to say, studentsof those portions of the Cabala relating to magic both of thenecromantic and venefic varieties, who turned the scientific knowledgewhich the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross used for healing to a preciselyopposite and deadly purpose. This would explain the fact thatcontemporaries like the author of the _Examination of the Unknown andNovel Cabala of the Brethren of the Rose-Cross_ should identify thesebrethren with the magicians and believe them to be guilty of practicesderiving from the same source as Rosicrucian knowledge--the Cabala ofthe Jews. Their modern admirers would, of course, declare that they werethe poles asunder, the difference being between white and black magic. Huysmans, however, scoffs at this distinction and says the use of theterm "white magic" was a ruse of the Rose-Croix. 

But of the real doctrines of the Rosicrucians no one can speak withcertainty. The whole story of the Fraternity is wrapped in mystery. Mystery was avowedly the essence of their system; their identity, theiraims, their doctrines, are said to have been kept a profound secret fromthe world. Indeed it is said that no real Rosicrucian ever allowedhimself to be known as such. As a result of this systematic method ofconcealment, sceptics on the one hand have declared the Rosicrucians tohave been charlatans and impostors or have denied their very existence, whilst on the other hand romancers have exalted them as depositaries ofsupernatural wisdom. The question is further obscured by the fact thatmost accounts of the Fraternity--as, for example, those of Eliphas Lévi, Hargrave Jennings, Kenneth Mackenzie, Mr. A. E. Waite, Dr. Wynn Westcott, and Mr. Cadbury Jones--are the work of men claiming or believingthemselves to be initiated into Rosicrucianism or other occult systemsof a kindred nature and as such in possession of peculiar and exclusiveknowledge. This pretension may at once be dismissed as an absurdity;nothing is easier than for anyone to make a compound out of JewishCabalism and Eastern theosophy and to label it Rosicrucianism, but noproof whatever exists of any affiliation between the self-styledRosicrucians of to-day and the seventeenth-century "Brothers of the RosyCross. "[263]

In spite of Mr. Wake's claim, "The Real History of the Rosicrucians"still remains to be written, at any rate in the English language. Thebook he has published under this name is merely a superficial study ofthe question largely composed of reprints of Rosicrucian pamphletsaccessible to any student. Mr. Wigston and Mrs. Pott merely echo Mr. Waite. Thus everything that has been published hitherto consists in therepetition of Rosicrucian legends or in unsubstantiated theorizings ontheir doctrines. What we need are facts. We want to know who were theearly Rosicrucians, when the Fraternity originated, and what were itsreal aims. These researches must be made, not by an occultist weavinghis own theories into the subject, but by a historian free from anyprejudices for or against the Order, capable of weighing evidence andbringing a judicial mind to bear on the material to be found in thelibraries of the Continent--notably the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal inParis. Such a work would be a valuable contribution to the history ofsecret societies in our country. 

But if the Continental Brethren of the Rose-Croix form but a shadowygroup of "Invisibles" whose identity yet remains a mystery, the Englishadepts of the Order stand forth in the light of day as, philosopherswell known to their age and country. That Francis Bacon was initiatedinto Rosicrucianism is now recognized by Freemasons, but a more definitelink with the Rosicrucians of the Continent was Robert Fludd, who aftertravelling for six years in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain--where heformed connexions with Jewish Cabalists[264]--was visited by the GermanJew Rosicrucian Michel Maier--doctor to the Emperor Rudolf--by whom heappears to have been initiated into further mysteries. 

In 1616 Fludd published his _Tractatus Apologeticus_, defending theRosicrucians against the charges of "detestable magic and diabolicalsuperstition" brought against them by Libavius. Twelve years later Fluddwas attacked by Father Mersenne, to whom a reply was made "by Fludd or afriend of Fludd's" containing a further defence of the Order. "TheBook, " says Mr. Waite, "treats of the noble art of magic, the foundationand nature of the Cabala, the essence of veritable alchemy, and of theCausa Fratrum Rosae Crucis. It identifies the palace or home of theRosicrucians with the Scriptural House of Wisdom. "

In further works by English writers the Eastern origin of the Fraternityis insisted on. Thus Thomas Vaughan, known as Eugenius Philalethes, writing in praise of the Rosicrucians in 1652, says that "theirknowledge at first was not purchased by their own disquisitions, forthey received it from the Arabians, amongst whom it remained as themonument and legacy of the Children of the East. Nor is this at allimprobable, for the Eastern countries have been always famous formagical and secret societies. "

Another apologist of the Rosicrucians, John Heydon, who travelled inEgypt, Persia, and Arabia, is described by a contemporary as having beenin "many strange places among the Rosie Crucians and at their castles, holy houses, temples, sepulchres, sacrifices. " Heydon himself, whilstdeclaring that he is not a Rosicrucian, says that he knows members ofthe Fraternity and its secrets, that they are sons of Moses, and that"this Rosie Crucian Physick or Medicine, I happily and unexpectedlyalight upon in Arabia. " These references to castles, temples, sacrifices, encountered in Egypt, Persia, and Arabia inevitably recallmemories of both Templars and Ismailis. Is there no connexion between"the Invisible Mountains of the Brethren" referred to elsewhere byHeydon and the Mountains of the Assassins and the Freemasons? betweenthe Scriptural "House of Wisdom" and the Dar-ul-Hikmat or Grand Lodge ofCairo, the model for Western masonic lodges?

It is as the precursors of the crisis which arose in 1717 that theEnglish Rosicrucians of the seventeenth century are of supremeimportance. No longer need we concern ourselves with shadowy Brethrenlaying dubious claim to supernatural wisdom, but with a concreteassociation of professed Initiates proclaiming their existence to theworld under the name of Freemasonry. 

5

ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY

"The origin of Freemasonry, " says a masonic writer of the eighteenthcentury, "is known to Freemasons alone. "[265] If this was once thecase, it is so no longer, for, although the question would certainlyappear to be one on which the initiated should be most qualified tospeak, the fact is that no official theory on the origin of Freemasonryexists; the great mass of the Freemasons do _not_ know or care to knowanything about the history of their Order, whilst Masonic authoritiesare entirely disagreed on the matter. Dr. Mackey admits that "the originand source whence first sprang the institution of Freemasonry has givenrise to more difference of opinion and discussion among masonic scholarsthan any other topic in the literature of the institution. "[266] Nor isthis ignorance maintained merely in books for the general public, sincein those specially addressed to the Craft and at discussions in lodgesthe same diversity of opinion prevails, and no decisive conclusionsappear to be reached. Thus Mr. Albert Churchward, a Freemason of thethirtieth degree, who deplores the small amount of interest taken inthis matter by Masons in general, observes:

Hitherto there have been so many contradictory opinions and theories inthe attempt to supply the origin and the reason whence, where, and whythe Brotherhood of Freemasonry came into existence, and all the"different parts" and various rituals of the "different degrees. " Allthat has been written on this has hitherto been _theories_, without anyfacts for their fundation. [267]

In the absence, therefore, of any origin universally recognized by theCraft, it is surely open to the lay mind to speculate on the matter andto draw conclusions from history as to which of the many explanationsput forward seems to supply the key to the mystery. 

According to the _Royal Masonic Cyclopædia_, no less than twelvetheories have been advanced as to the origins of the Order, namely, thatMasonry derived:

"(1) From the patriarchs. (2) From the mysteries of the pagans. (3) Fromthe construction of Solomon's Temple, (4) From the Crusades. (5) Fromthe Knights Templar. (6) From the Roman Collegia of Artificers. (7) Fromthe operative masons of the Middle Ages. (8) From the Rosicrucians ofthe sixteenth century. (9) From Oliver Cromwell. (10) From PrinceCharles Stuart for political purposes. (11) From Sir Christopher Wren, at the building of St. Paul's. (12) From Dr. Desaguliers and his friendsin 1717. "

This enumeration is, however, misleading, for it implies that in _one_of these various theories the true origin of Freemasonry may be found. In reality modern Freemasonry is a dual system, a blend of two distincttraditions--of operative masonry, that is to say the actual art ofbuilding, and of speculative theory on the great truths of life anddeath. As a well-known Freemason, the Count Goblet d'Alviella, hasexpressed it: "Speculative Masonry" (that is to say, the dual system wenow know as Freemasonry) "is the legitimate offspring of a fruitfulunion between the professional guild of mediæval Masons and of a secretgroup of philosophical Adepts, the first having furnished the form andthe second the spirit. "[268] In studying the origins of the presentsystem we have therefore (1) to examine separately the history of eachof these two traditions, and (2) to discover their point of junction. 

Operative Masonry

Beginning with the first of these two traditions, we find that guilds ofworking masons existed in very ancient times. Without going back as faras ancient Egypt or Greece, which would be beyond the scope of thepresent work, the course of these associations may be traced throughoutthe history of Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era. According to certain masonic writers, the Druids originally came fromEgypt and brought with them traditions relating to the art of building. The _Culdees_, who later on established schools and colleges in thiscountry for the teaching of arts, sciences, and handicrafts, are saidto have derived from the Druids. 

But a more probable source of inspiration in the art of building are theRomans, who established the famous collegia of architects referred to inthe list of alternative theories given in the _Masonic Cyclopædia_. Advocates of the Roman Collegia origin of Freemasonry might be right asfar as operative masonry is concerned, for it is to the period followingon the Roman occupation of Britain that our masonic guilds can with thegreatest degree of certainty be traced. Owing to the importance the artof building now acquired it is said that many distinguished men, such asSt. Alban, King Alfred, King Edwin, and King Athelstan, were numberedamongst its patrons, [269] so that in time the guilds came to occupy theposition of privileged bodies and were known as "free corporations";further that York was the first masonic centre in England, largely underthe control of the Culdees, who at the same period exercised muchinfluence over the Masonic Collegia in Scotland, at Kilwinning, Melrose, and Aberdeen. [270]

But it must be remembered that all this is speculation. No documentaryevidence has ever been produced to prove the existence of masonic guildsbefore the famous York charter of A. D. 936, and even the date of thisdocument is doubtful. Only with the period of Gothic architecture do wereach firm ground. That guilds of working masons known in France as"Compagnonnages" and in Germany as "Steinmetzen" did then form closecorporations and possibly possess secrets connected with theirprofession is more than probable. That, in consequence of their skill inbuilding the magnificent cathedrals of this period, they now came tooccupy a privileged position seems fairly certain. 

The Abbé Grandidier, writing from Strasbourg in 1778, traces the wholesystem of Freemasonry from these German guilds: "This much-vauntedSociety of Freemasons is nothing but a servile imitation of an ancientand useful _confrèrie_ of real masons whose headquarters was formerly atStrasbourg and of which the constitution was confirmed by the EmperorMaximilian in 1498. "[271]

As far as it is possible to discover from the scanty documentaryevidence the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries provide, the same privileges appear to have been accorded to the guilds ofworking masons in England and Scotland, which, although presided over bypowerful nobles and apparently on occasion admitting members fromoutside the Craft, remained essentially operative bodies. Neverthelesswe find the assemblies of Masons suppressed by Act of Parliament in thebeginning of the reign of Henry VI, and later on an armed force sent byQueen Elizabeth to break up the Annual Grand Lodge at York. It ispossible that the fraternity merely by the secrecy with which it wassurrounded excited the suspicions of authority, for nothing could bemore law-abiding than its published statutes. Masons were to be "truemen to God and the Holy Church, " also to the masters that they served. They were to be honest in their manner of life and "to do no villainywhereby the Craft or the Science may be slandered. "[272]

Yet the seventeenth-century writer Plot, in his _Natural History ofStaffordshire_, expresses some suspicion with regard to the secrets ofFreemasonry. That these could not be merely trade secrets relating tothe art of building, but that already some speculative element had beenintroduced to the lodges, seems the more probable from the fact that bythe middle of the seventeenth century not only noble patrons headed theCraft, but ordinary gentlemen entirely unconnected with building werereceived into the fraternity. The well-known entry in the diary of EliasAshmole under the date of October 16, 1646, clearly proves this fact: "Iwas made a Freemason at Warrington in Lancashire with Col. HenryMainwaring of Karticham [?] in Cheshire. The names of those that werethen of the Lodge, Mr. Rich. Penket, Warden, Mr. James Collier, Mr. Rich. Sankey, Henry Littler, John Ellam, Rich. Ellam and Hugh Brewer. "[273]"It is now ascertained, " says Yarker, "that the majority of themembers present were not operative masons. "[274]

Again, in 1682 Ashmole relates that he attended a meeting held at MasonHall in London, where with a number of other gentlemen he was admittedinto "the Fellowship of the Freemasons, " that is to say, into the seconddegree. We have then clear proof that already in the seventeenth centuryFreemasonry had ceased to be an association composed exclusively of menconcerned with building, although eminent architects ranked high in theOrder; Inigo Jones is said to have been Grand Master under James I, andSir Christopher Wren to have occupied the same position from about 1685to 1702. But it was not until 1703 that the Lodge of St. Paul in Londonofficially announced "that the privileges of Masonry should no longer berestricted to operative Masons, but extended to men of variousprofessions, provided they were regularly approved and initiated intothe Order. "[275]

This was followed in 1717 by the great _coup d'état_ when Grand Lodgewas founded, and Speculative Masonry, which we now know as Freemasonry, was established on a settled basis with a ritual, rules, andconstitution drawn up in due form. It is at this important date that theofficial history of Freemasonry begins. 

But before pursuing the course of the Order through what is known as the"Grand Lodge Era, " it is necessary to go back and enquire into theorigins of the philosophy that was now combined with the system ofoperative masonry. This is the point on which opinions are divided andto which the various theories summarized in the _Masonic Cyclopcædia_relate. Let us examine each of these in turn. 

Speculative Masonry

According to certain sceptics concerning the mysteries of Freemasonry, the system inaugurated in 1717 had no existence before that date, but"was devised, promulgated, and palmed upon the world by Dr. Desaguliers, Dr. Anderson, and others, who then founded the Grand Lodge of England. "Mr. Paton, in an admirable little pamphlet, [276] has shown the futilityof this contention and also the injustice of representing the foundersof Grand Lodge as perpetrating so gross a deception. 

 This 1717 theory ascribes to men of the highest character the invention of a system of mere imposture.... It was brought forward with pretensions which its framers knew to be false pretensions of high antiquity; whereas ... It had newly been invented in their studies. Is this likely? Or is it reasonable to ascribe such conduct to honourable men, without even assigning a probable motive for it?

We have indeed only to study masonic ritual--which is open to everyoneto read--in order to arrive at the same conclusion, that there could beno motive for this imposture, and further that these two clergymencannot be supposed to have evolved the whole thing out of their heads. Obviously some movement of a kindred nature must have led up to thiscrisis. And since Elias Ashmole's diary clearly proves that a ceremonyof masonic initiation had existed in the preceding century, it is surelyonly reasonable to conclude that Drs. Anderson and Desaguliers revisedbut did not originate the ritual and constitutions drawn up by them. 

Now, although the ritual of Freemasonry is couched in modern and by nomeans classical English, the ideas running through it certainly beartraces of extreme antiquity. The central idea of Freemasonry concerninga loss which has befallen man and the hope of its ultimate recovery isin fact no other than the ancient secret tradition described in thefirst chapter of this book. Certain masonic writers indeed ascribe toFreemasonry precisely the same genealogy as that of the early Cabala, declaring that it descended from Adam and the first patriarchs of thehuman race, and thence through groups of Wise Men amongst the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, and Greeks. [277] Mr. Albert Churchward insistsparticularly on the Egyptian origin of the speculative element inFreemasonry: "Brother Gould and other Freemasons will never understandthe meaning and origin of our sacred tenets till they have studied andunlocked the mysteries of the past. " This study will then reveal thefact that "the Druids, the Gymnosophists of India, the Magi of Persia, and the Chaldeans of Assyria had all the same religious rites andceremonies as practised by their priests who were initiated to theirOrder, and that these were solemnly sworn to keep the doctrines aprofound secret from the rest of mankind. All these flowed from onesource--Egypt. "[278]

Mr. Churchward further quotes the speech of the Rev. Dr. William Dodd atthe opening of a masonic temple in 1794, who traced Freemasonry from"the first astronomers on the plains of Chaldea, the wise and mystickings and priests of Egypt, the sages of Greece and philosophers ofRome, " etc. [279]

But how did these traditions descend to the masons of the West?According to a large body of masonic opinion in this country whichrecognizes only a single source of inspiration to the system we now knowas Freemasonry, the speculative as well as the operative traditions ofthe Order descended from the building guilds and were imported toEngland by means of the Roman Collegia. Mr. Churchward, however, strongly dissents from this view:

 In the new and revised edition of the Perfect Ceremonies, according to our E. Working, a theory is given that Freemasonry originated from certain guilds of workmen which are well known in history as the "Roman College of Artificers. " There is no foundation of fact for such a theory. Freemasonry is now, and always was, an Eschatology, as may be proved by the whole of our signs, symbols, and words, and our rituals. [280]

But what Mr. Churchward fails to explain is how this eschatology reachedthe working masons; moreover why, if as he asserts, it derived fromEgypt, Assyria, India, and Persia, Freemasonry no longer bears the stampof these countries. For although vestiges of Sabeism may be found in thedecoration of the lodges, and brief references to the mysteries of Egyptand Phœnicia, to the secret teaching of Pythagoras, to Euclid, and toPlato in the Ritual and instructions of the Craft degrees--neverthelessthe form in which the ancient tradition is clothed, the phraseology andpass-words employed, are neither Egyptian, Chaldean, Greek, nor Persian, but Judaic. Thus although some portion of the ancient secret traditionmay have penetrated to Great Britain through the Druids or theRomans--versed in the lore of Greece and Egypt--another channel for itsintroduction was clearly the Cabala of the Jews. Certain masonic writersrecognize this double tradition, the one descending from Egypt, Chaldea, and Greece, the other from the Israelites, and assert that it is fromthe latter source their system is derived. [281] For after tracing itsorigin from Adam, Noah, Enoch, and Abraham, they proceed to show itsline of descent through Moses, David, and Solomon[282]--descent fromSolomon is in fact officially recognized by the Craft and forms a partof the instructions to candidates for initiation into the first degree. But, as we have already seen, this is the precise genealogy attributedto the Cabala by the Jews. Moreover, modern Freemasonry is entirelybuilt up on the Solomonic, or rather the Hiramic legend. For the sake ofreaders unfamiliar with the ritual of Freemasonry a brief _résumé_ ofthis "Grand Legend" must be given here. 

Solomon, when building the Temple, employed the services of a certainartificer in brass, named Hiram, the son of a widow of the tribe ofNaphthali, who was sent to him by Hiram, King of Tyre. So much we knowfrom the Book of Kings, but the masonic legend goes on to relate thatHiram, the widow's son, referred to as Hiram Abiff, and described as themaster-builder, met with an untimely end. For the purpose of preservingorder the masons working on the Temple were divided into three classes, Entered Apprentices, Fellow Crafts, and Master Masons, the first twodistinguished by different pass-words and grips and paid at differentrates of wages, the last consisting only of three persons--Solomonhimself, Hiram King of Tyre, who had provided him with wood and preciousstones and Hiram Abiff. Now, before the completion of the Temple fifteenof the Fellow Crafts conspired together to find out the secrets of theMaster Masons and resolved to waylay Hiram Abiff at the door of theTemple. 

At the last moment twelve of the fifteen drew back, but the remainingthree carried out the fell design, and after threatening Hiram in vainin order to obtain the secrets, killed him with three blows on the head, delivered by each in turn. They then conveyed the body away and buriedit on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Solomon, informed of the disappearanceof the master-builder, sent out fifteen Fellow Crafts to seek for him;five of these, having arrived at the mountain, noticed a place where theearth had been disturbed and there discovered the body of Hiram. Leavinga branch of acacia to mark the spot, they returned with their story toSolomon, who ordered them to go and exhume the body--an order that wasimmediately carried out. 

The murder and exhumation, or "raising, " of Hiram, accompanied byextraordinary lamentations, form the climax of Craft Masonry; and whenit is remembered that in all probability no such, tragedy ever tookplace, that possibly no one known as Hiram Abiff ever existed, [283] thewhole story can only be regarded as the survival of some ancient cultrelating not to an actual event, but to an esoteric doctrine. A legendand a ceremony of this kind is indeed to be found in many earliermythologies; the story of the murder of Hiram had been foreshadowed bythe Egyptian legend of the murder of Osiris and the quest for his bodyby Isis, whilst the lamentations around the tomb of Hiram had acounterpart in the mourning ceremonies for Osiris and Adonis--both, likeHiram, subsequently "raised"--and later on in that which took placearound the catafalque of Manes, who, like Hiram, was barbarously put todeath and is said to have been known to the Manicheans as "the son ofthe widow. " But in the form given to it by Freemasonry the legend ispurely Judaic, and would therefore appear to have derived from theJudaic version of the ancient tradition. The pillars of the Temple, Jachin and Boaz, which play so important a part in Craft Masonry, aresymbols which occur in the Jewish Cabala, where they are described astwo of the ten Sephiroths. [284] A writer of the eighteenth century, referring to "fyve curiosities" he has discovered in Scotland, describesone as--

 The Mason word, which tho' some make a Misterie of it, I will not conceal a little of what I know. It is lyke a Rabbinical Tradition in way of Comment on Jachin and Boaz, the Two Pillars erected in Solomon's Temple with ane Addition delyvered from Hand to Hand, by which they know and become familiar one with another. [285]

This is precisely the system by which the Cabala was handed down amongstthe Jews. The _Jewish Encyclopædia_ lends colour to the theory ofCabalistic transmission by suggesting that the story of Hiram "maypossibly trace back to the Rabbinic legend concerning the Temple ofSolomon, " that "while all the workmen were killed so that they shouldnot build another temple devoted to idolatry, Hiram himself was raisedto Heaven like Enoch. "[286]

How did this Rabbinic legend find its way into Freemasonry? Advocates ofthe Roman Collegia theory explain it in the following manner. 

After the building of the Temple of Solomon the masons who had beenengaged in the work were dispersed and a number made their way toEurope, some to Marseilles, some perhaps to Rome, where they may haveintroduced Judaic legends to the Collegia, which then passed on to theComacini Masters of the seventh century and from these to the mediævalworking guilds of England, France, and Germany. It is said that duringthe Middle Ages a story concerning the Temple of Solomon was currentamongst the _compagnonnages_ of France. In one of these groups, known as"the children of Solomon, " the legend of Hiram appears to have existedmuch in its present form; according to another group the victim of themurder was not Hiram Abiff, but one of his companions named MaîtreJacques, who, whilst engaged with Hiram on the construction of theTemple, met his death at the hands of five wicked Fellow Crafts, instigated by a sixth, the Père Soubise. [287]

But the date at which this legend originated is unknown. Clavel thinksthat the "Hebraic mysteries" existed as early as the Roman Collegia, which he describes as largely Judaized[288]; Yarker expresses preciselythe opposite view: "It is not so difficult to connect Freemasonry withthe Collegia; the difficulty lies in attributing Jewish traditions tothe Collegia, and we say on the evidence of the oldest charges that suchtraditions had no existence in Saxon times. "[289] Again: "So far asthis country is concerned, we know nothing from documents of a Masonrydating from Solomon's Temple until after the Crusades, when theconstitution believed to have been sanctioned by King Athelstangradually underwent a change. "[290] In a discussion which took placerecently at the Quatuor Coronati Lodge the Hiramic legend could only betraced back--and then without absolute certainty--to the fourteenthcentury, which would coincide with the date indicated by Yarker. [291]

Up to this period the lore of the masonic guilds appears to havecontained only the exoteric doctrines of Egypt and Greece--which mayhave reached them through the Roman Collegia, whilst the traditions ofMasonry are traced from Adam, Jabal, Tubal Cain, from Nimrod and theTower of Babel, with Hermes and Pythagoras as their more immediateprogenitors. [292] These doctrines were evidently in the main geometricalor technical, and in no sense Cabalistic. There is therefore somejustification for Eckert's statement that "the Judeo-Christian mysterieswere not yet introduced into the masonic corporations; nowhere can wefind the least trace of them. Nowhere do we find any classification, noteven that of masters, fellow-crafts, and apprentices. We observe nosymbol of the Temple of Solomon; all their symbolism relates to masoniclabours and to a few philosophical maxims of morality. "[293] The dateat which Eckert, like Yarker, places the introduction of these Judaicelements is the time of the Crusades. 

But whilst recognizing that modern Craft Masonry is largely founded onthe Cabala, it is necessary to distinguish between the differentCabalas. For by this date no less than three Cabalas appear to haveexisted: firstly, the ancient secret tradition of the patriarchs handeddown from the Egyptians through the Greeks and Romans, and possiblythrough the Roman Collegia to the Craft Masons of Britain; secondly, theJewish version of this tradition, the first Cabala of the Jews, in noway incompatible with Christianity, descending from Moses, David andSolomon to the Essenes and the more enlightened Jews; and thirdly, theperverted Cabala, mingled by the Rabbis with magic, barbaricsuperstitions, and--after the death of Christ--with anti-Christianlegends. 

Whatever Cabalistic elements were introduced into Craft Masonry at thetime of the Crusades appear to have belonged to the second of thesetraditions, the unperverted Cabala of the Jews, known to the Essenes. There are, in fact, striking resemblances betwen Freemasonry andEssenism--degrees of initiation, oaths of secrecy, the wearing of theapron, and a certain masonic sign; whilst to the Sabeist traditions ofthe Essenes may perhaps be traced the solar and stellar symbolism of thelodges. [294] The Hiramic legend may have belonged to the same tradition. 

The Templar Tradition

If then no documentary evidence can be brought forward to show thateither the Solomonic legend or any traces of Judaic symbolism andtraditions existed either in the monuments of the period or in theritual of the masons before the fourteenth century, it is surelyreasonable to recognize the plausibility of the contention put forwardby a great number of masonic writers--particularly on theContinent--that the Judaic elements penetrated into Masonry by means ofthe Templars. [295] The Templars, as we have already seen, had takentheir name from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. What then morelikely than that during the time they had lived there they had learntthe Rabbinical legends connected with the Temple? According to GeorgeSand, who was deeply versed in the history of secret societies, theHiramic legend was adopted by the Templars as symbolic of thedestruction of their Order. "They wept over their impotence in theperson of Hiram. The word lost and recovered is their empire.... "[296]The Freemason Ragon likewise declares that the catastrophe they lamentedwas the catastrophe that destroyed their Order. [297] Further, the GrandMaster whose fate they deplored was Jacques du Molay. Here then we havetwo bodies in France at the same period, the Templars and the_compagnonnages_, both possessing a legend concerning the Temple ofSolomon and both mourning a Maître Jacques who had been barbarously putto death. If we accept the possibility that the Hiramic legend existedamongst the masons before the Crusades, how are we to explain thisextraordinary coincidence? It is certainly easier to believe that theJudaic traditions were introduced to the masons by the Templars andgrafted on to the ancient lore that the masonic guilds had inheritedfrom the Roman Collegia. 

That some connexion existed between the Templars and the working masonsis indicated by the new influence that entered into building at thisperiod. A modern Freemason comparing "the beautifully designed anddeep-cut marks of the true Gothic period, say circa 1150-1350, " with"the careless and roughly executed marks, many of them mere scratches, of later periods, " points out that "the Knights Templars rose and fellwith that wonderful development of architecture. " The same writer goeson to show that some of the most important masonic symbols, theequilateral triangle and the Mason's square surmounting two pillars, came through from Gothic times. [298] Yarker asserts that the level, theflaming star, and the Tau cross which have since passed into thesymbolism of Freemasonry may be traced to the Knights Templar, as alsothe five-pointed star in Salisbury Cathedral, the double triangle inWestminster Abbey, Jachin and Boaz, the circle and the pentagon in themasonry of the fourteenth century. Yarker cites later, in 1556, the eyeand crescent moon, the three stars and the ladder of five steps, asfurther evidences of Templar influence. [299] "The Templars were largebuilders, and Jacques du Molay alleged the zeal of his Order indecorating churches in the process against him in 1310; hence thealleged connexion of Templary and Freemasonry is bound to have asubstratum of truth. "[300]

Moreover, according to a masonic tradition, an alliance definitely tookplace between the Templars and the masonic guilds at this period. Duringthe proceedings taken against the Order of the Temple in France it issaid that Pierre d'Aumont and seven other Knights escaped to Scotland inthe guise of working masons and landed in the Island of Mull. On St. John's Day, 1307, they held their first chapter. Robert Bruce then tookthem under his protection, and seven years later they fought under hisstandard at Bannockburn against Edward II, who had suppressed theirOrder in England. After this battle, which took place on St. John theBaptist's Day in summer (June 24), Robert Bruce is said to haveinstituted the Royal Order of H. R. M. (Heredom) and Knights of theR. S. Y. C. S. (Rosy Cross). [301] These two degrees now constitute the RoyalOrder of Scotland, and it seems not improbable that in reality they werebrought to Scotland by the Templars. Thus, according to one of the earlywriters on Freemasonry, the degree of the Rose-Croix originated with theTemplars in Palestine as early as 1188[302]; whilst the Eastern originof the word Heredom, supposed to derive from a mythical mountain on anisland south of the Hebrides[303] where the Culdees practised theirrites, is indicated by another eighteenth-century writer, who traces itto a Jewish source. [304] In this same year of 1314 Robert Bruce is saidto have united the Templars and the Royal Order of H. R. M. With theguilds of working masons, who had also fought in his army, at the famousLodge of Kilwinning, founded in 1286, [305] which now added to its namethat of Heredom and became the chief seat of the Order. [306] Scotlandwas essentially a home of operative masonry, and, in view of theTemplar's prowess in the art of building, what more natural than thatthe two bodies should enter into an alliance? Already in England theTemple is said between 1155 and 1199 to have administered theCraft. [307] It is thus at Heredom of Kilwinning, "the Holy House ofMasonry"--"Mother Kilwinning, " as it is still known to Freemasons--thata speculative element of a fresh kind may have found its way into thelodges. Is it not here, then, that we may see that "fruitful unionbetween the professional guild of mediæval masons and a secret group ofphilosophical Adepts" alluded to by Count Goblet d'Aviella and describedby Mr. Waite in the following words:

 The mystery of the building guilds--whatever it may be held to have been--was that of a simple, unpolished, pious, and utilitarian device; and this daughter of Nature, in the absence of all intention on her own part, underwent, or was coerced into one of the strangest marriages which has been celebrated in occult history. It so happened that her particular form and figure lent itself to such a union, etc. [308]?

Mr. Waite with his usual vagueness does not explain when and where thismarriage took place, but the account would certainly apply to thealliance between the Templars and Scottish guilds of working masons, which, as we have seen, is admitted by masonic authorities, and presentsexactly the conditions described, the Templars being peculiarly fittedby their initiation into the legend concerning the building of theTemple of Solomon to co-operate with the masons, and the masons beingprepared by their partial initiation into ancient mysteries to receivethe fresh influx of Eastern tradition from the Templars. 

A further indication of the Templar influence in Craft Masonry is thesystem of degrees and initiations. The names of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason are said to have derived fromScotland, [309] and the analogy between these and the degrees of theAssassins has already been shown. Indeed, the resemblance between theouter organization of Freemasonry and the system of the Ismailis isshown by many writers. Thus Dr. Bussell observes: "No doubt togetherwith some knowledge of geometry regarded as an esoteric trade secret, many symbols to-day current did pass down from very primitive times. Buta more certain model was the Grand Lodge of the Ismailis in Cairo"--thatis to say the Dar-ul-Hikmat. [310] Syed Ameer Ali also expresses theopinion that "Makrisi's account of the different degrees of initiationadopted in this lodge forms an invaluable record of Freemasonry. Infact, the lodge at Cairo became the model of all the Lodges createdafterwards in Christendom. "[311] Mr. Bernard Springett, a Freemason, quoting this passage, adds: "In this last assertion I am myself greatlyin agreement. "[312]

It is surely therefore legitimate to surmise that this system penetratedto Craft Masonry through the Templars, whose connexion with theAssassins--offshoot of the Dar-ul-Hikmat--was a matter of commonknowledge. 

The question of the Templar succession in Freemasonry forms perhaps themost controversial point in the whole history of the Roman Collegiatheory, Continental Masons more generally accepting it, and evenglorying in it. [313] Mackey, in his _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, thus sumsup the matter:

 The connexion between the Knights Templar and the Freemasons has been repeatedly asserted by the enemies of both institutions, and has often been admitted by their friends. Lawrie, on this subject, holds the following language: "We know that the Knights Templar not only possessed the mysteries but performed the ceremonies and inculcated the duties of Freemasons, " and he attributes the dissolution of the Order to the discovery of their being Freemasons and their assembling in secret to practise the rites of the Order. [314]

This explains why Freemasons have always shown indulgence to theTemplars. 

 It was above all Freemasonry [says Findel], which--because it falsely held itself to be a daughter of Templarism--took the greatest pains to represent the Order of the Templars as innocent and therefore free from all mystery. For this purpose not only legends and unhistorical facts were brought forward, but manœuvres were also resorted to in order to suppress the truth. The masonic reverers of the Temple Order bought up the whole edition of the _Actes du Procès_ of Moldenhawer, because this showed the guilt of the Order; only a few copies reached the booksellers.... Already several decades before ... The Freemasons in their unhistorical efforts had been guilty of real forgery. Dupuy had published his _History of the Trial of the Templars_ as early as 1654 in Paris, for which he had made use of the original of the _Actes du Procès_, according to which the guilt of the Order leaves no room for doubt.... But when in the middle of the eighteenth century several branches of Freemasonry wished to recall the Templar Order into being, the work of Dupuy was naturally very displeasing. It had already been current amongst the public for a hundred years, so it could no longer be bought; therefore they falsified it. [315]

Accordingly in 1751 a reprint of Dupuy's work appeared with the additionof a number of notes and remarks and mutilated in such a way as to provenot the guilt but the innocence of the Templars. 

Now, although British Masonry has played no part in these intrigues, thequestion of the Templar succession has been very inadequately dealt withby the masonic writers of our country. As a rule they have adopted oneof two courses--either they have persistently denied connexion with theTemplars or they have represented them as a blameless and cruellymaligned Order. But in reality neither of these expedients is necessaryto save the honour of British Masonry, for not even the bitterest enemyof Masonry has ever suggested that British masons have adopted anyportion of the Templar heresy. The Knights who fled to Scotland may havebeen perfectly innocent of the charges brought against their Order;indeed, there is good reason to believe this was the case. Thus the_Manuel des Chevaliers de l'Ordre du Temple_ relates the incident in thefollowing manner:

 After the death of Jacques du Molay, some Scottish Templars having become apostates, at the instigation of Robert Bruce ranged themselves under the banners of a new Order[316] instituted by this prince and in which the receptions were based on those of the Order of the Temple. It is there that we must seek the origin of Scottish Masonry and even that of the other masonic rites. The Scottish Templars were excommunicated in 1324 by Larmenius, who declared them to be _Templi desertores_ and the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, _Dominiorum Militiæ spoliatores_, placed for ever outside the pale of the Temple: _Extra girum Templi, nunc et in futurum, volo, dico et jubeo. _ A similar anathema has since been launched by several Grand Masters against Templars who were rebellious to legitimate authority. From the schism that was introduced into Scotland a number of sects took birth. [317]

This account forms a complete exoneration of the Scottish Templars; asapostates from the bogus Christian Church and the doctrines of Johannismthey showed themselves loyal to the true Church and to the Christianfaith as formulated in the published statutes of their Order. What theyappear, then, to have introduced to Masonry was their manner ofreception, that is to say their outer forms and organization, andpossibly certain Eastern esoteric doctrines and Judaic legendsconcerning the building of the Temple of Solomon in no way incompatiblewith the teaching of Christianity. 

It will be noticed, moreover, that in the ban passed by the _Ordre duTemple_ on the Scottish Templars the Knights of St. John of Jerusalemare also included. This is a further tribute to the orthodoxy of theScottish Knights. For to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem--to whomthe Templar property was given--no suspicion of heresy had everattached. After the suppression of the Order of the Temple in 1312 anumber of the Knights joined themselves to the Knights of St. John ofJerusalem, by whom the Templar system appears to have been purged of itsheretical elements. As we shall see later, the same process is said tohave been carried out by the Royal Order of Scotland, All this suggeststhat the Templars had imported a secret doctrine from the East which wascapable either of a Christian or an anti-Christian interpretation, thatthrough their connexion with the Royal Order of Scotland and the Knightsof St. John of Jerusalem this Christian interpretation was preserved, and finally that it was this pure doctrine which passed intoFreemasonry. According to early masonic authorities, the adoption of thetwo St. Johns as the patron saints of Masonry arose, not from Johannism, but from the alliance between the Templars and the Knights of St. Johnof Jerusalem. [318]

It is important to remember that the theory of the Templar connexionwith Freemasonry was held by the Continental Freemasons of theeighteenth century, who, living at the time the Order was reconstitutedon its present basis, were clearly in a better position to know itsorigins than we who are separated from that date by a distance of twohundred years. But since their testimony first comes to light at theperiod of the upper degrees, in which the Templar influence is moreclearly visible than in Craft Masonry, it must be reserved for a laterchapter. Before passing on to this further stage in the history of theCraft, it is necessary to consider one more link in the chain of themasonic tradition--the "Holy Vehm. "

The Vehmgerichts[319]

These dread tribunals, said to have been established by Charlemagne in772[320] in Westphalia, had for their avowed object the establishment oflaw and order amidst the unsettled and even anarchic conditions thatthen reigned in Germany. But by degrees the power arrogated to itself bythe "Holy Vehm" became so formidable that succeeding emperors wereunable to control its workings and found themselves forced to becomeinitiates from motives of self-protection. During the twelfth centurythe Vehmgerichts, by their continual executions, had created a veritable"Red Terror, " so that the East of Germany was known as the Red Land. In1371, says Lecouteulx de Canteleu, a fresh impetus was given to the"Holy Vehm" by a number of the Knights Templar who, on the dissolutionof their Order, had found their way to Germany and now sought admissionto the Secret Tribunals. [321] How much of Templar lore passed into thehand of the Vehmgerichts it is impossible to know, but there iscertainly a resemblance between the methods of initiation andintimidation employed by the Vehms and those described by certain of theTemplars, still more between the ceremony of the Vehms and the ritual ofFreemasonry. 

Thus the members of the Vehms, known as the _Wissende_ (or Enlightened), were divided into three degrees of initiation: the Free Judges, theveritable Free Judges, and the Holy Judges of the Secret Tribunal. Thecandidate for initiation was led blindfold before the dread Tribunal, presided over by a _Stuhlherr_ (or master of the chair) or hissubstitute, a _Freigraf_, with a sword and branch of willow at his side. The initiate was then bound by a terrible oath not to reveal the secretsof the "Holy Vehm, " to warn no one of danger threatening them by itsdecrees, to denounce anyone, whether father, mother, brother, sister, friend, or relation, if such a one had been condemned by the Tribunal. After this he was given the password and grip by which the confederatesrecognized each other. In the event of his turning traitor or revealingthe secrets confided to him his eyes were bandaged, his hands tiedbehind his back, and his tongue was torn out through the back of hisneck, after which he was hanged by the feet till he was dead, with thesolemn imprecation that his body should be given as a prey to the birdsof the air. 

It is difficult to believe that the points of resemblance with modernmasonic ritual[322] which may here be discerned can be a mere matter ofcoincidence, yet it would be equally unreasonable to trace the originsof Freemasonry to the Vehmgerichts. Clearly both derived from a commonsource, either the old pagan traditions on which the early Vehms werefounded or the system of the Templars. The latter seems the moreprobable for two reasons: firstly, on account of the resemblance betweenthe methods of the Vehmgerichts and the Assassins, which would beexplained if the Templars formed the connecting link; and secondly, thefact that in contemporary documents the members of the Secret Tribunalswere frequently referred to under the name of Rose-Croix. [323] Now, since, as we have seen, the degree of the Rosy Cross is said to havebeen brought to Europe by the Templars, this would account for thepersistence of the name in the Vehmgerichts as well as in theRosicrucians of the seventeenth century, who are said to have continuedthe Templar tradition. Thus Templarism and Rosicrucianism appear to havebeen always closely connected, a fact which is not surprising since bothderive from a common source--the traditions of the near East. 

This brings us to an alternative theory concerning the channel throughwhich Eastern doctrines, and particularly Cabalism, found their way intoFreemasonry. For it must be admitted that one obstacle to the completeacceptance of the theory of the Templar succession exists, namely, thatalthough the Judaic element cannot be traced further back than theCrusades, neither can it with certainty be pronounced to have come intoexistence during the three centuries that followed after. Indeed, beforethe publication of Anderson's "Constitutions" in 1723 there is nodefinite evidence that the Solomonic legend had been incorporated intothe ritual of British Masonry. So although the possession of the legendby the _compagnonnages_ of the Middle Ages would tend to prove itsantiquity, there is always the possibility that it was introduced bysome later body of adepts than the Templars. According to the partisansof a further theory, these adepts were the Rosicrucians. 

Rosicrucian Origin

One of the earliest and most eminent precursors of Freemasonry is saidto have been Francis Bacon. As we have already seen, Bacon is recognizedto have been a Rosicrucian, and that the secret philosophical doctrinehe professed was closely akin to Freemasonry is clearly apparent in his_New Atlantis_. The reference to the "Wise Men of the Society ofSolomon's House" cannot be a mere coincidence. The choice ofAtlantis--the legendary island supposed to have been submerged by theAtlantic Ocean in the remote past--would suggest that Bacon had someknowledge of a secret tradition descending from the earliest patriarchsof the human race, whom, like the modern writer Le Plongeon, he imaginedto have inhabited the Western hemisphere and to have been thepredecessors of the Egyptian initiates. Le Plongeon, however, placesthis early seat of the mysteries still further West than the AtlanticOcean, in the region of Mayax and Yucatan. [324]

Bacon further relates that this tradition was preserved in its pure formby certain of the Jews, who, whilst accepting the Cabala, rejected itsanti-Christian tendencies. Thus in this island of Bensalem there areJews "of a far differing disposition from the Jews in other parts. Forwhereas they hate the name of Christ, and have a secret inbred rancouragainst the people amongst whom they live; these contrariwise give untoour Saviour many high attributes, " but at the same time they believe"that Moses by a secret Cabala ordained the laws of Bensalem which theynow use, and that when the Messiah should come and sit on His throne atJerusalem, the King of Bensalem should sit at His feet, whereas otherkings should keep at a great distance. " This passage is of particularinterest as showing that Bacon recognized the divergence between theancient secret tradition descending from Moses and the perverted JewishCabala of the Rabbis, and that he was perfectly aware of the tendencyeven among the best of Jews to turn the former to the advantage of theMessianic dreams. 

Mrs. Pott, who in her _Francis Bacon and his Secret Society_ sets out toprove that Bacon was the founder of Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, ignores all the previous history of the secret tradition. Bacon was notthe originator but the inheritor of the ideas on which both thesesocieties were founded. And the further contention that Bacon was at thesame time the author of the greatest dramas in the English language andof _The Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosengreutz_ is manifestlyabsurd. Nevertheless, Bacon's influence amongst the Rosicrucians isapparent; Heydon's _Voyage to the Land of the Rosicrucians_ is in fact amere plagiarism of Bacon's _New Atlantis_. 

Mrs. Pott seems to imagine that by proclaiming Bacon to have been thefounder or even a member of the Order of Freemasonry she is revealing agreat masonic secret which Freemasons have conspired to keep dark. Butwhy should the Craft desire to disown so illustrious a progenitor orseek to conceal his connexion with the Order if any such existed?Findel, indeed, frankly admits that the _New Atlantis_ containedunmistakable allusions to Freemasonry and that Bacon contributed to itsfinal transformation. [325] This was doubtless brought about largely bythe English Rosicrucians who followed after. To suggest then thatFreemasonry originated with the Rosicrucians is to ignore the previoushistory of the secret tradition. Rosicrucianism was not the beginningbut a link in the long chain connecting Freemasonry with far earliersecret associations. The resemblance between the two Orders admits of nodenial. Thus Yarker writes: "The symbolic tracing of the Rosicrucianswas a Square Temple approached by seven steps ... Here also we find thetwo pillars of Hermes, the five-pointed star, sun and moon, compasses, square and triangle. " Yarker further observes that "even Wren was moreor less a student of Hermeticism, and if we had a full list ofFreemasons and Rosicrucians we should probably be surprised at thenumbers who belonged to both systems. "[326]

Professor Bühle emphatically states that "Freemasonry is neither morenor less than Rosicrucianism as modified by those who transplanted itinto England. " Chambers, who published his famous _Cyclopædia_ in 1728, observes: "Some who are no friends to Freemasonry, make the presentflourishing society of Freemasons a branch of _Rosicrucians_, or ratherthe Rosicrucians themselves under a new name or relation, viz. Asretainers to building. And it is certain there are some Freemasons whohave all the characters of Rosicrucians. "

The connexion between Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism is, however, aquestion hardly less controversial than that of the connexion betweenFreemasonry and Templarism. 

Dr. Mackey violently disputes the theory. "The Rosicrucians, " he writes, "as this brief history indicates, had no connexion whatever with themasonic fraternity. Notwithstanding this fact, Barruel, the mostmalignant of our revilers, with a characteristic spirit ofmisrepresentation, attempted to identify the two institutions. "[327]But the aforesaid "brief history" indicates nothing of the kind, and thereference to Barruel as a malignant reviler for suggesting a connexion, which, as we have seen, many Freemasons admit, shows on which side this"spirit of misrepresentation" exists. It is interesting, however, tonote that in the eyes of certain masonic writers connexion with theRosicrucians is regarded as highly discreditable; the fraternity wouldthus appear to have been less blameless than we have been taught tobelieve. Mr. Waite is equally concerned with proving that there "is notraceable connexion between Masonry and Rosicrucianism, " and he goes onto explain that Freemasonry was never a learned society, that it neverlaid claim to "any transcendental secrets of alchemy and magic, or toany skill in medicine, " etc. [328]

The truth may lie between the opposing contentions of Prof. Bühle andhis two masonic antagonists. The Freemasons were clearly, for thereasons given by Mr. Waite, not a mere continuation of the Rosicrucians, but more likely borrowed from the Rosicrucians a part of their systemand symbols which they adapted to their own purpose. Moreover, theincontrovertible fact is that in the list of English Freemasons andRosicrucians we find men who belonged to both Orders and amongst thesetwo who contributed largely to the constitutions of English Freemasonry. 

The first of these is Robert Fludd, whom Mr. Waite describes as "thecentral figure of Rosicrucian literature, ... An intellectual giant, ... A man of immense erudition, of exalted mind, and, to judge by hiswritings, of extreme personal sanctity. Ennemoser describes him as oneof the most distinguished disciples of Paracelsus.... "[329] Yarker addsthis clue: "In 1630 we find Fludd, the chief of the Rosicrucians, usingarchitectural language, and there is proof that his Society was dividedinto degrees, and from the fact that the Masons' Company of London hada copy of the Masonic Charges 'presented by Mr. Fflood' we may supposethat he was a Freemason before 1620. "[330]

A still more important link is Elias Ashmole, the antiquary, astrologer, and alchemist, founder of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, who was bornin 1617. An avowed Rosicrucian, and as we have seen, also a Freemason, Ashmole displayed great energy in reconstituting the Craft; he is saidto have perfected its organization, to have added to it further mysticsymbols, and according to Ragon, it was he who drew up the ritual of theexisting three Craft degrees--Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, andMaster Mason--which was adopted by Grand Lodge in 1717. Whence did thesefresh inspirations come but from the Rosicrucians? For, as Ragon alsoinforms us, in the year that Ashmole was received into Freemasonry theRosicrucians held their meeting in the same room at Mason Hall![331]

How, then, can it be said that there was "no traceable connexion betweenFreemasonry and Rosicrucianism?" and why should it be the part of a"malignant reviler" to connect them? It is not suggested thatRosicrucians, such as Fludd or Ashmole, imported any magical elementsinto Freemasonry, but simply the system and symbols of the Rose-Croixwith a certain degree of esoteric learning. That Rosicrucianism forms animportant link in the chain of the secret tradition is thereforeundeniable. 

The Seventeenth-Century Rabbis

There is, however, a third channel through which the Judaic legends ofFreemasonry may have penetrated to the Craft, namely, the Rabbis of theseventeenth century. The Jewish writer Bernard Lazare has declared that"there were Jews around the cradle of Freemasonry, "[332] and if thisstatement is applied to the period preceding the institution of GrandLodge in 1717 it certainly finds confirmation in fact. Thus it is saidthat in the preceding century the coat-of-arms now used by Grand Lodgehad been designed by an Amsterdam Jew, Jacob Jehuda Leon Templo, colleague of Cromwell's friend the Cabalist, Manasseh ben Israel. [333]To quote Jewish authority on this question, Mr. Lucien Wolf writes thatTemplo "had a monomania for ... Everything relating to the Temple ofSolomon and the Tabernacle of the Wilderness. He constructed giganticmodels of both these edifices. "[334] These he exhibited in London, which he visited in 1675 and earlier, and it seems not unreasonable toconclude that this may have provided a fresh source of inspiration tothe Freemasons who framed the masonic ritual some forty years later. Atany rate, the masonic coat-of-arms still used by Grand Lodge of Englandis undoubtedly of Jewish design. 

"This coat, " says Mr. Lucien Wolf, "is entirely composed of Jewishsymbols, " and is "an attempt to display heraldically the various formsof the Cherubim pictured to us in the second vision of Ezekiel--an Ox, aMan, a Lion, and an Eagle--and thus belongs to the highest and mostmystical domain of Hebrew symbolism. "[335]

In other words, this vision, known to the Jews as the "Mercaba, "[336]belongs to the Cabala, where a particular interpretation is placed oneach figure so as to provide an esoteric meaning not perceptible to theuninitiated. [337] The masonic coat-of-arms is thus entirely Cabalistic;as is also the seal on the diplomas of Craft Masonry, where anotherCabalistic figure, that of a man and woman combined, is reproduced. [338]

Of the Jewish influence in Masonry after 1717 I shall speak later. 

To sum up, then, the origins of the system we now know as Freemasonryare not to be found in one source alone. The twelve alternative sourcesenumerated in the _Masonic Cyclopædia_ and quoted at the beginning ofthis chapter may all have contributed to its formation. Thus OperativeMasonry may have descended from the Roman Collegia and through theoperative masons of the Middle Ages, whilst Speculative Masonry may havederived from the patriarchs and the mysteries of the pagans. But thesource of inspiration which admits of no denial is the Jewish Cabala. Whether this penetrated to our country through the Roman Collegia, the_compagnonnages_, the Templars, the Rosicrucians, or through the Jews ofthe seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, whose activities behind thescenes of Freemasonry we shall see later, is a matter of speculation. The fact remains that when the ritual and constitutions of Masonry weredrawn up in 1717, although certain fragments of the ancient Egyptian andPythagorean doctrines were retained, the Judaic version of the secrettradition was the one selected by the founders of Grand Lodge on whichto build up their system. 

6

THE GRAND LODGE ERA

Whatever were the origins of the Order we now know as Freemasonry, it isclear that during the century preceding its reorganization under GrandLodge of London the secret system of binding men together for a commonpurpose, based on Eastern esoteric doctrines, had been anticipated bythe Rosicrucians. Was this secret system employed, however by any otherbody of men? It is certainly easy to imagine how in this momentousseventeenth century, when men of all opinions were coalescing againstopposing forces--Lutherans combining against the Papacy, Catholicsrallying their forces against invading Protestantism, Republicansplotting in favour of Cromwell, Royalists in their turn plotting torestore the Stuarts, finally Royalists plotting against each other onbehalf of rival dynasties--an organization of this kind, enabling one towork secretly for a cause and to set invisibly vast numbers of humanbeings in motion, might prove invaluable to any party. 

Thus, according to certain masonic writers on the Continent, the systemused by the Rosicrucians in their fight against "Popery" was alsoemployed by the Jesuits for a directly opposite purpose. In themanuscripts of the Prince of Hesse published by Lecouteulx de Canteleuit is declared that in 1714 the Jesuits used the mysteries of theRose-Croix. Mirabeau also relates that "the Jesuits profited by theinternal troubles of the reign of Charles I to possess themselves of thesymbols, the allegories, and the carpets (tapis) of the Rose-Croixmasons, who were only the ancient order of the Templars secretlyperpetuated. It may be seen by means of what imperceptible innovationsthey succeeded in substituting their catechism to the instruction of theTemplars. "[339]

Other Continental writers again assert that Cromwell, the arch-opponentof the Catholic Church, was "a higher initiate of masonic mysteries, "and used the system for his own elevation to power[340]; further, thathe found himself outdistanced by the Levellers; that this sect, whosename certainly suggests masonic inspiration, adopted for its symbols thesquare and compass, [341] and in its claim of real equality threatenedthe supremacy of the usurper. Finally, Elias Ashmole, the RosicrucianRoyalist, is said to have turned the masonic system against Cromwell, sothat towards the end of the seventeenth century the Order rallied to theStuart cause. [342]

But all this is pure speculation resting on no basis of known facts. Theaccusation that the Jesuits used the system of the Rose-Croix as a coverto political intrigues is referred to by the Rosicrucian Eliphas Lévi asthe outcome of ignorance, which "refutes itself. " It is significant tonotice that it emanates mainly from Germany and from the Illuminati; thePrince of Hesse was a member of the _Stricte Observance_ and Mirabeau anIlluminatus at the time he wrote the passage quoted above. That in theseventeenth century certain Jesuits played the part of politicalintriguers I suppose their warmest friends will hardly deny, but thatthey employed any secret or masonic system seems to me perfectlyincapable of proof. I shall return to this point later, however, inconnexion with the Illuminati. 

As to Cromwell, the only circumstance that lends any colour to thepossibility of his connexion with Freemasonry is his known friendshipfor Manasseh ben Israel, the colleague of the Rabbi Templo who designedthe coat-of-arms later adopted by Grand Lodge. If, therefore, the Jewsof Amsterdam were a source of inspiration to the Freemasons of theseventeenth century, it is not impossible that Cromwell may have beenthe channel through which this influence first penetrated. 

In the matter of the Stuarts we are, however, on firm ground with regardto Freemasonry. That the lodges at the end of the seventeenth centurywere Royalist is certain, and there seems good reason to believe that, when the revolution of 1688 divided the Royalist cause, the Jacobiteswho fled to France with James II took Freemasonry with them. [343] Withthe help of the French they established lodges in which, it is said, masonic rites and symbols were used to promote the cause of the Stuarts. Thus the land of promise signified Great Britain, Jerusalem stood forLondon, and the murder of Hiram represented the execution of CharlesI. [344]

Meanwhile Freemasonry in England did not continue to adhere to theStuart cause as it had done under the ægis of Elias Ashmole, and by 1717is said to have become Hanoverian. 

From this important date the official history of the present system maybe said to begin; hitherto everything rests on stray documents, of whichthe authenticity is frequently doubtful, and which provide no continuoushistory of the Order. In 1717 for the first time Freemasonry wasestablished on a settled basis and in the process underwent afundamental change. So far it would seem to have retained an operativeelement, but in the transformation that now took place this was entirelyeliminated, and the whole Order was transformed into a middle-andupper-class speculative body. This _coup d'état_, already suggested in1703, took place in 1716, when four London lodges of Freemasons mettogether at the Apple Tree Tavern in Charles Street, Covent Garden, "andhaving put into the chair the oldest Master Mason (now the Master of alodge), they constituted themselves a Grand Lodge, _pro tempore_, in dueform. " On St. John the Baptist's Day, June 24 of the next year, theannual assembly and banquet were held at the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul's Churchyard, when Mr. Antony Sayer was elected Grand Master andinvested with all the badges of office. [345]

It is evident from the above account that already in 1717 thespeculative elements must have predominated in the lodges, otherwise wemight expect to find the operative masons taking some part in theseproceedings and expressing their opinion as to whether their associationshould pass under the control of men entirely unconnected with theCraft. But no, the leaders of the new movement all appear to havebelonged to the middle class, nor from this moment do either masons orarchitects seem to have played any prominent part in Freemasonry. 

But the point that official history does not attempt to elucidate isthe reason for this decision. Why should the Freemasons ofLondon--whether they were at this date a speculative or only asemi-speculative association--have suddenly recognized the necessity ofestablishing a Grand Lodge and drawing up a ritual and "Constitution"?It is evident, then, that some circumstances must have arisen which ledthem to take this important step. I would suggest that the following maybe the solution to the problem. 

Freemasonry, as we have seen, was a system that could be employed in anycause and had now come to be used by intriguers of every kind--and notonly by intriguers, but by merely convivial bodies, "jolly Brotherhoodsof the Bottle, " who modelled themselves on masonic associations. [346]But the honest citizens of London who met and feasted at the Goose andGridiron were clearly not intriguers, they were neither Royalist norRepublican plotters, neither Catholic nor Lutheran fanatics, neitheralchemists nor magicians, nor can it be supposed that they were simplyrevellers. If they were political, they were certainly not supporters ofthe Stuarts; on the contrary, they were generally reported to have beenHanoverian in their sympathies, indeed Dr. Bussell goes so far as to saythat Grand Lodge was instituted to support the Hanoverian dynasty. [347]It would be perhaps nearer the truth to conclude that if they wereHanoverian it was because they were constitutional, and the Hanoveriandynasty having now been established they wished to avoid furtherchanges. In a word, then, they were simply men of peace, anxious to putan end to dissensions, who, seeing the system of Masonry utilized forthe purpose of promoting discord, determined to wrest it from the handsof political intriguers and restore it to its original character ofbrotherhood, though not of brotherhood between working masons only, butbetween men drawn from all classes and professions. By founding a GrandLodge in London and drawing up a ritual and "Constitutions, " they hopedto prevent the perversion of their signs and symbols and to establishthe Order on a settled basis. 

According to Nicolai this pacific purpose had already animated EnglishFreemasons under the Grand Mastership of Sir Christopher Wren: "Itsprincipal object from this period was to moderate the religious hatredsso terrible in England during the reign of James II and to try andestablish some kind of concord or fraternity, by weakening as far aspossible the antagonisms arising from the differences of religions, ranks, and interests. " An eighteenth-century manuscript of the Prince ofHesse quoted by Lecouteulx de Canteleu expresses the view that in 1717"_the mysteries of Freemasonry were reformed and purified in England ofall political tendencies_. "

In the matter of religion, Craft Masonry adopted an equallynon-sectarian attitude. The first "Constitutions" of the Order, drawn upby Dr. Anderson in 1723, contain the following paragraph:

 Concerning God and Religion

 A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral Law; and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine. But though in ancient Times Masons were charged in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet, 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is to be good Men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguish'd; whereby Masonry becomes the Centre of Union and the Means of Conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must have remained at a perpetual Distance. 

The phrase "that Religion in which all men agree" has been censured byCatholic writers as advocating a universal religion in the place ofChristianity. But this by no means follows. The idea is surely thatMasons should be men adhering to that law of right and wrong common toall religious faiths. Craft Masonry may thus be described as Deist incharacter, but not in the accepted sense of the word which implies therejection of Christian doctrines. If Freemasonry had been Deist in thissense might we not expect to find some connexion between the founders ofGrand Lodge and the school of Deists--Toland, Bolingbroke, Woolston, Hume, and others--which flourished precisely at this period? Might notsome analogy be detected between the organization of the Order and theSodalities described in Toland's _Pantheisticon_, published in 1720? Butof this I can find no trace whatever. The principal founders of GrandLodge were, as we have seen, clergymen, both engaged in preachingChristian doctrines at their respective churches. [348] It is surelytherefore reasonable to conclude that Freemasonry at the time of itsreorganization in 1717 was Deistic only in so far that it invited men tomeet together on the common ground of a belief in God. Moreover, some ofthe early English rituals contain distinctly Christian elements. Thusboth in _Jachin and Boaz_ (1762) and _Hiram or the Grand Master Key tothe Door of both Antient and Modern Freemasonry by a Member of the RoyalArch_ (1766) we find prayers in the lodges concluding with the name ofChrist. These passages were replaced much later by purely Deisticformulas under the Grand Mastership of the free-thinking Duke of Sussexin 1813. 

But in spite of its innocuous character, Freemasonry, merely by reasonof its secrecy, soon began to excite alarm in the public mind. As earlyas 1724 a work entitled _The Grand Mystery of the Freemasons Discovered_had provoked an angry remonstrance from the Craft[349]; and when theFrench edict against the Order was passed, a letter signed "Jachin"appeared in _The Gentleman's Magazine_ declaring the "Freemasons whohave lately been suppressed not only in France but in Holland" to be "adangerous Race of Men":

 No Government ought to suffer such clandestine Assemblies where Plots against the State may be carried on, under the Pretence of Brotherly Love and good Fellowship. 

The writer, evidently unaware of possible Templar traditions, goes on toobserve that the sentinel placed at the door of the lodge with a drawnsword in his hand "is not the only mark of their being a militaryOrder"; and suggests that the title of Grand Master is taken inimitation of the Knights of Malta. "Jachin, " moreover, scents a Popishplot:

 They not only admit Turks, Jews, Infidels, but even Jacobites, non-jurors and Papists themselves ... How can we be sure that those Persons who are known to be well affected, are let into all their Mysteries? They make no scruple to acknowledge that there is a Distinction between Prentices and Master Masons and who knows whether they may not have an higher Order of Cabalists, who keep the Grand Secret of all entirely to themselves?[350]

Later on in France, the Abbé Pérau published his satires on Freemasonry, _Le Secret des Francs-Maçons_ (1742), _L'Ordre des Francs-Maçons trahiet le Secret des Mopses révélé_, (1745), and _Les Francs-Maçons écrasés_(1746)[351] and in about 1761 another English writer said to be a Masonbrought down a torrent of invective on his head by the publication ofthe ritual of the Craft Degrees under the name of _Jachin andBoaz_. [352]

It must be admitted that from all this controversy no party emerges in avery charitable light, Catholics and Protestants alike indulging insarcasms and reckless accusations against Freemasonry, the Freemasonsretorting with far from brotherly forbearance. [353] But, again, one mustremember that all these men were of their age--an age which seen throughthe eyes of Hogarth would certainly not appear to have beendistinguished for delicacy. It should be noted, however, when one readsin masonic works of the "persecutions" to which Freemasonry has beensubjected, that aggression was not confined only to the one side in theconflict; moreover, that the Freemasons at this period were dividedamongst themselves and expressed with regard to opposing groups much thesame suspicions that non-Masons expressed with regard to the Order as awhole. For the years following after the suppression of Masonry inFrance were marked by the most important development in the history ofthe modern Order--the inauguration of the Additional Degrees. 

The Additional Degrees

The origin and inspiration of the additional degrees has provoked hardlyless controversy in masonic circles than the origin of Masonry itself. It should be explained that Craft Masonry, or Blue Masonry--that is tosay, the first three degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, andMaster Mason of which I have attempted to trace the history--were theonly degrees recognized by Grand Lodge at the time of its foundation in1717 and still form the basis of all forms of modern Masonry. On thisfoundation were erected, somewhere between 1740 and 1743, the degree ofthe Royal Arch and the first of the series of upper degrees now known asthe Scottish Rite or as the Ancient and Accepted Rite. The acceptance orrejection of this superstructure has always formed a subject of violentcontroversy between Masons, one body affirming that Craft Masonry is theonly true and genuine Masonry, the other declaring that the real objectof Masonry is only to be found in the higher degrees. It was thiscontroversy, centring round the Royal Arch degree, that about the middleof the eighteenth century split Masonry into opposing camps of Ancientsand Moderns, the Ancients declaring that the R. A. Was "the Root, Heart, and Marrow of Freemasonry, "[354] the Moderns rejecting it. Althoughworked by the Ancients from 1756 onwards, this degree was definitelyrepudiated by Grand Lodge in 1792, [355] and only in 1813 was officiallyreceived into English Freemasonry. 

The R. A. Degree, which is said nevertheless to be contained in embryo inthe 1723 Book of Constitutions, [356] is purely Judaic--a glorificationof Israel and commemorating the building of the second Temple. That itwas derived from the Jewish Cabala seems probable, and Yarker, commenting on the phrase in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ quotedabove--"Who knows whether they (the Freemasons) have not a higher orderof Cabalists, who keep the Grand Secret of all entirely tothemselves"--observes: "It looks very like an intimation of the RoyalArch degree, "[357] and elsewhere he states that "the Royal Arch degree, when it had the Three Veils, must have been the work, even if byinstruction, of a Cabalistic Jew about 1740, and from this time we mayexpect to find a secret tradition grafted upon Anderson's system. "[358]

Precisely in this same year of 1740 Mr. Waite says that "an itinerantpedlar of the Royal Arch degree is said to have propagated it inIreland, claiming that it was practised at York and London, "[359] andin 1744 a certain Dr. Dassigny wrote that the minds of the Dublinbrethren had been lately disturbed about Royal Arch Masonry owing to theactivities in Dublin of "a number of traders or hucksters in pretendedMasonry, " whom the writer connects with "Italians" or the "ItalicOrder. "

A Freemason quoting this passage in a recent discussion on the upperdegrees expresses the opinion that these hucksters were "Jacobiteemissaries disguised under the form of a pretended Masonry, " and that"by Italians and Italian Order he intends a reference to the Court ofKing James III, i. E. The Old Pretender at Rome, and to the Ecossais(Italic) Order of Masonry. "[360] It is much more likely that he hadreferred to another source of masonic instruction in Italy which I shallindicate in a later chapter. 

But precisely at the moment when it is suggested that the Jacobites wereintriguing to introduce the Royal Arch degree into Masonry they are alsosaid to have been engaged in elaborating the "Scottish Rite. " Let usexamine this contention. 

Freemasonry in France

The foundation of Grand Lodge in London had been followed by theinauguration of Masonic Lodges on the Continent--in 1721 at Mons, in1725 in Paris, in 1728 at Madrid, in 1731 at The Hague, in 1733 atHamburg, etc. Several of these received their warrant from the GrandLodge of England. But this was not the case with the Grand Lodge ofParis, which did not receive a warrant till 1743. 

The men who founded this lodge, far from being non-political, wereJacobite leaders engaged in active schemes for the restoration of theStuart dynasty. The leader of the group, Charles Radcliffe, had beenimprisoned with his brother, the ill-fated Lord Derwentwater who wasexecuted on Tower Hill in 1716. Charles had succeeded in escaping fromNewgate and made his way to France, where he assumed the title of LordDerwentwater, although the Earldom had ceased to exist under thebill of attainder against his brother. [361] It was this LordDerwentwater--afterwards executed for taking part in the 1745rebellion--who with several other Jacobites is said to have founded theGrand Lodge of Paris in 1725, and himself to have become Grand Master. 

The Jacobite character of the Paris lodge is not a matter of dispute. Mr. Gould relates that "the colleagues of Lord Derwentwater are statedto have been a Chevalier Maskeline, a Squire Heguerty, and others, allpartisans of the Stuarts. "[362] But he goes on to contest the theorythat they used Freemasonry in the Stuart cause, which he regards asamounting to a charge of bad faith. This is surely unreasonable. Thefounders of Grand Lodge in Paris did not derive from Grand Lodge inLondon, from which they held no warrant, [363] but, as we have seen, tooktheir Freemasonry with them to France before Grand Lodge of London wasinstituted; they were therefore in no way bound by its regulations. Anduntil the Constitutions of Anderson were published in 1723 no rule hadbeen laid down that the Lodges should be non-political. In the old daysFreemasonry had always been Royalist, as we see from the ancient chargesthat members should be "true liegemen of the King"; and if the adherentsof James Edward saw in him their rightful sovereign, they may haveconceived that they were using Freemasonry for a lawful purpose inadapting it to his cause. So although we may applaud the decision of theLondon Freemasons to purge Freemasonry of political tendencies andtransform it into a harmonious system of brotherhood, we cannot accusethe Jacobites in France of bad faith in not conforming to a decision inwhich they had taken no part and in establishing lodges on their ownlines. 

Unfortunately, however, as too frequently happens when men form secretconfederacies for a wholly honourable purpose, their ranks werepenetrated by confederates of another kind. It has been said in anearlier chapter that, according to the documents produced by the _Ordredu Temple_ in the early part of the nineteenth century, the Templars hadnever ceased to exist in spite of their official suppression in 1312, and that a line of Grand Masters had succeeded each other in unbrokensuccession from Jacques du Molay to the Duc de Cossé-Brissac, who waskilled in 1792. The Grand Master appointed in 1705 is stated to havebeen Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, later the Regent. Mr. Waite has expressedthe opinion that all this was an invention of the late eighteenthcentury, and that the Charter of Larmenius was fabricated at this datethough not published until 1811 by the revived _Ordre du Temple_ underthe Grand Master, Fabré Palaprat. But evidence points to a contraryconclusion. M. Matter, who, as we have seen, disbelieves the story ofthe _Ordre du Temple_ and the authenticity of the Charter of Larmeniusin so far as it professes to be a genuine fourteenth-century document, nevertheless asserts that the _savants_ who have examined it declare itto date from the early part of the eighteenth century, at which periodMatter believes the Gospel of St. John used by the Order to have beenarranged so as "to accompany the ceremonies of some masonic or secretsociety. " Now, it was about 1740 that a revival of Templarism took placein France and Germany; we cannot therefore doubt that if Matter is rightin this hypothesis, the secret society in question was that of theTemplars, whether they existed as lineal descendants of thetwelfth-century Order or merely as a revival of that Order. Theexistence of the German Templars at this date under the name of the_Stricte Observance_ (which we shall deal with in a further chapter) isindeed a fact disputed by no one; but that there was also an _Ordre duTemple_ in France at the very beginning of the eighteenth century mustbe regarded as highly probable. Dr. Mackey, John Yarker, and Lecouteulxde Canteleu (who, owing to his possession of Templar documents, hadexclusive sources of information) all declare this to have been the caseand accept the Charter of Larmenius as authentic. "It is quite certain, "says Yarker, "that there was at this period in France an _Ordre duTemple_, with a charter from John Mark Larmenius, who claimedappointment from Jacques du Molay. Philippe of Orléans accepted theGrand Mastership in 1705 and signed the Statutes. "[364]

Without, however, necessarily accepting the Charter of Larmenius asauthentic let us examine the probability of this assertion with regardto the Duc d'Orléans. 

Amongst the Jacobites supporting Lord Derwentwater at the Grand Lodge ofParis was a certain Andrew Michael Ramsay, known as Chevalier Ramsay, who was born at Ayr near the famous Lodge of Kilwinning, where theTemplars are said to have formed their alliance with the masons in 1314. In 1710 Ramsay was converted to the Roman Catholic faith by Fénelon andin 1724 became tutor to the sons of the Pretender at Rome. Mr. Gould hasrelated that during his stay in France, Ramsay had formed a friendshipwith the Regent, Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, who was Grand Master of the_Ordre de Saint-Lazare_, instituted during the Crusades as a body ofHospitallers devoting themselves to the care of the lepers and which in1608 had been joined to the _Ordre du Mont-Carmel_. It seems probablefrom all accounts that Ramsay was a Chevalier of this Order, but hecannot have been admitted into it by the Duc d'Orléans, for the GrandMaster of the Ordre de Saint-Lazare was not the Duc d'Orléans but theMarquis de Dangeau, who, on his death in 1720, was succeeded by the sonof the Regent, the Duc de Chartres. [365] If, then, Ramsay was admittedto any Order by the Regent, it was surely the _Ordre du Temple_, ofwhich the Regent is said to have been the Grand Master at this date. 

Now, the infamous character of the Duc d'Orléans is a matter of commonknowledge; moreover, during the Regency--that period of impiety andmoral dissolution hitherto unparalleled in the history of France--thechief of council was the Duc de Bourbon, who later placed his mistressthe Marquise de Prie and the financier Paris Duverney at the head ofaffairs, thus creating a scandal of such magnitude that he was exiledin 1726 through the influence of Cardinal Fleury. This Duc de Bourbon in1737 is said to have become Grand Master of the Temple. "It was thus, "observes de Canteleu, "that these two Grand Masters of the Templedegraded the royal authority and ceaselessly increased hatred againstthe government. "

It would therefore seem strange that a man so upright as Ramsay appearsto have been, who had moreover but recently been converted to theCatholic Church, should have formed a friendship with the dissoluteRegent of France, unless there had been some bond between them. But herewe have a possible explanation--Templarism. Doubtless during Ramsay'syouth at Kilwinning many Templar traditions had come to his knowledge, and if in France he found himself befriended by the Grand Masterhimself, what wonder that he should have entered into an alliance whichresulted in his admission to an Order he had been accustomed to revereand which, moreover, was represented to him as the _fons et origo_ ofthe masonic brotherhood to which he also belonged? It is thus that wefind Ramsay in the very year that the Duc de Bourbon is said to havebeen made Grand Master of the Temple artlessly writing to CardinalFleury asking him to extend his protection to the society of Freemasonsin Paris and enclosing a copy of the speech which he was to deliver onthe following day, March 21, 1737. It is in this famous oration that forthe first time we find Freemasonry traced to the Crusades:

 At the time of the Crusades in Palestine many princes, lords, and citizens associated themselves, and vowed to restore the Temple of the Christians in the Holy Land, and to employ themselves in bringing back their architecture to its first institution. They agreed upon several ancient signs and symbolic words drawn from the well of religion in order to recognize themselves amongst the heathens and Saracens. These signs and words were only communicated to those who promised solemnly, and even sometimes at the foot of the altar, never to reveal them. This sacred promise was therefore not an execrable oath, as it has been called, but a respectable bond to unite Christians of all nationalities into one confraternity. Some time afterwards our Order formed an intimate union with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. From that time our Lodges took the name of Lodges of St. John. [366]

This speech of Ramsay's has raised a storm of controversy amongstFreemasons because it contains a very decided hint of a connexionbetween Templarism and Freemasonry. Mr. Tuckett, in the paper referredto above, points out that only the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem arehere mentioned, [367] but Ramsay distinctly speaks of "our Order" forminga union with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and we know that theTemplars did eventually form such a union. The fact that Ramsay does notmention the Templars by name admits of a very plausible explanation. Itmust be remembered that, as Mr. Gould has shown, a copy of the orationwas enclosed by Ramsay in his letter to Cardinal Fleury appealing forroyal protection to be extended to Freemasonry; it is therefore hardlylikely that he would have proclaimed a connexion between the Order hewas anxious to present in the most favourable light and one which hadformerly been suppressed by King and Pope. Moreover, if the Charter ofLarmenius is to be believed, the newly elected Grand Master of theTemple was the Duc de Bourbon, who had already incurred the Cardinal'sdispleasure. Obviously, therefore, Templar influence was kept in thebackground. This is not to imply bad faith on the part of Ramsay, whodoubtless held the Order of Templars to be wholly praiseworthy; but hecould not expect the King or Cardinal to share his view, and thereforeheld it more prudent to refer to the progenitors of Freemasonry underthe vague description of a crusading body. Ramsay's well-meant effortmet, however, with no success. Whether on account of this unluckyreference by which the Cardinal may have detected Templar influence orfor some other reason, the appeal for royal protection was not onlyrefused, but the new Order, which hitherto Catholics had been allowed toenter, was now prohibited by Royal edict. In the following year, 1738, the Pope, Clement XII, issued a bull, _In Eminenti_, banningFreemasonry and excommunicating Catholics who took part in it. 

But this prohibition appears to have been without effect, forFreemasonry not only prospered but soon began to manufacture newdegrees. And in the masonic literature of the following thirty years theTemplar tradition becomes still more clearly apparent. Thus theChevalier de Bérage in a well-known pamphlet, of which the first editionis said to have appeared in 1747, [368] gives the following account ofthe origins of Freemasonry:

 This Order was instituted by Godefroi de Bouillon in Palestine in 1330, [369] after the decadence of the Christian armies, and was only communicated to the French Masons some time after and to a very small number, as a reward for the obliging services they rendered to several of our English and Scottish Knights, from whom true Masonry is taken. Their Metropolitan Lodge is situated on the Mountain of Heredom where the first Lodge was held in Europe and which exists in all its splendour. The General Council is still held there and it is the seal of the Sovereign Grand Master in office. This mountain is situated between the West and North of Scotland at sixty miles from Edinburgh. 

Apart from the historical confusion of the first sentence, this passageis of interest as evidence that the theory of a connexion betweencertain crusading Knights and the Lodge of Heredom of Kilwinning wascurrent as early as 1747. The Baron Tschoudy in his _ÉtoileFlamboyante_, which appeared in 1766, says that the crusading origin ofFreemasonry is the one officially taught in the lodges, where candidatesfor initiation are told that several Knights who had set forth to rescuethe holy places of Palestine from the Saracens "formed an associationunder the name of Free Masons, thus indicating that their principaldesire was the reconstruction of the Temple of Solomon, " that, further, they adopted certain signs, grips, and passwords as a defence againstthe Saracens, and finally that "our Society ... Fraternized on thefooting of an Order with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, fromwhich it is apparent that the Freemasons borrowed the custom ofregarding St. John as the patron of the whole Order in general. "[370]After the crusades "the Masons kept their rites and methods and in thisway perpetuated the royal art by establishing lodges, first in England, then in Scotland, " etc. [371]

In this account, therefore, Freemasonry is represented as having beeninstituted for the defence of Christian doctrines. De Bérage expressesthe same view and explains that the object of these Crusaders in thusbinding themselves together was to protect their lives against theSaracens by enveloping their sacred doctrines in a veil of mystery. Forthis purpose they made use of Jewish symbolism, which they invested witha Christian meaning. Thus the Temple of Solomon was used to denote theChurch of Christ, the bough of acacia signified the Cross, the squareand the compass the union between the Old and New Testaments, etc. So"the mysteries of Masonry were in their principle, and are still, nothing else than those of the Christian religion. "[372]

Baron Tschoudy, however, declares that all this stops short of thetruth, that Freemasonry originated long before the Crusades inPalestine, and that the real "ancestors, fathers, authors of the Masons, those illustrious men of whom I will not say the date nor betray thesecret, " were a "disciplined body" whom Tschoudy describes by the nameof "the Knights of the Aurora and Palestine. " After "the almost totaldestruction of the Jewish people" these "Knights" had always hoped toregain possession of the domains of their fathers and to rebuild theTemple, and they carefully preserved their "regulations and particularliturgy, " together with a "sublime treatise" which was the object oftheir continual study and of their philosophical speculations. Tschoudyfurther relates that they were students of the "occult sciences, " ofwhich alchemy formed a part, and that they had "abjured the principlesof the Jewish religion in order to follow the lights of the Christianfaith. " At the time of the Crusades the Knights of Palestine came outfrom the desert of the Thebaïd, where they had remained hidden, andjoined to themselves some of the crusaders who had remained inJerusalem. Declaring that they were the descendants of the masons whohad worked on the Temple of Solomon, they professed to concernthemselves with "speculative architecure, " which served to disguise amore glorious point of view. From this time they took the name of FreeMasons, presented themselves under this title to the crusading armiesand assembled under their banners. [373]

It would of course be absurd to regard any of the foregoing accounts ashistorical facts; the important point is that they tend to prove thefallacy of supposing that the Johannite-Templar theory originated withthe revived _Ordre du Temple_, since one corresponding to it so closelywas current in the middle of the preceding century. It is true that inthese earlier accounts the actual words "Johannite" and "Templar" do notoccur, but the resemblance between the sect of Jews professing theChristian faith but possessing a "particular liturgy" and a "sublimetreatise"--apparently some early form of the Cabala--dealing with occultscience, and the Mandæans or Johannites with their Cabalistic "Book ofAdam, " their Book of John, and their ritual, is at once apparent. Further, the allusions to the connexion between the Knights who had beenindoctrinated in the Holy Land and the Scottish lodges coincides exactlywith the Templar tradition, published not only by the _Ordre du Temple_but handed down in the Royal Order of Scotland. 

From all this the following facts stand out: (1) that whilst BritishCraft Masonry traced its origin to the operative guilds of masons, theFreemasons of France from 1737 onwards placed the origin of the Order incrusading chivalry; (2) that it was amongst these Freemasons that theupper degrees known as the Scottish Rite arose; and (3) that, as weshall now see, these degrees clearly suggest Templar inspiration. 

The earliest form of the upper degrees appears to have been the onegiven by de Bérage, as follows:

 1. Parfait Maçon Élu. 2. Élu de Perignan. 3. Élu des Quinze. 4. Petit Architecte. 5. Grand Architecte. 6. Chevalier de l'Épée et de Rose-Croix. 7. Noachite ou Chevalier Prussien. 

The first of these to make its appearance is believed to have been theone here assigned to the sixth place. This degree known in modernMasonry as "Prince of the Rose-Croix of Heredom or Knight of the Pelicanand Eagle" became the eighteenth and the most important degree in whatwas later called the Scottish Rite, or at the present time in Englandthe Ancient and Accepted Rite. 

Why was this Rite called Scottish? "It cannot be too strongly insistedon, " says Mr. Gould, "that all Scottish Masonry has nothing whatever todo with the Grand Lodge of Scotland, nor, with one possibleexception--that of the Royal Order of Scotland--did it ever originate inthat country. "[374] But in the case of the Rose-Croix degree there issurely some justification for the term in legend, if not in proven fact, for, as we have already seen, according to the tradition of the RoyalOrder of Scotland this degree had been contained in it since thefourteenth century, when the degrees of H. R. M. (Heredom) and R. S. Y. C. S. (Rosy Cross) are said to have been instituted by Robert Bruce incollaboration with the Templars after the battle of Bannockburn. Dr. Mackey is one of the few Masons who admit this probable affiliation, andin referring to the tradition of the Royal Order of Scotland observes:"From that Order it seems to us by no means improbable that the presentdegree of Rose-Croix de Heredom may have taken its origin. "[375]

But the Rose-Croix degree, like the Templar tradition from which itappears to have descended, is capable of a dual interpretation, orrather of a multiple interpretation, for no degree in Masonry has beensubject to so many variations. That on the Continent it had descendedthrough the Rosicrucians in an alchemical form seems more than probable. It would certainly be difficult to believe that a degree of R. S. Y. C. S. Was imported from the East and incorporated in the Royal Order ofScotland in 1314; that by a mere coincidence a man named ChristianRosenkreutz was--according to the Rosicrucian legend--born in the samecentury and transmitted a secret doctrine he had discovered in the Eastto the seventeenth-century Brethren of the Rosy Cross; and finally, that a degree of the Rose-Croix was founded in circ. 1741 without anyconnexion existing between these succeeding movements. Even if we denydirect affiliation, we must surely admit a common source of inspirationproducing, if not a continuation, at any rate a periodic revival of thesame ideas. Dr. Oliver indeed admits affiliation between theseventeenth-century fraternity and the eighteenth-century degree, andafter pointing out that the first indication of the Rose-Croix degreeappears in the _Fama Fraternitatis_ in 1613, goes on to say:

 It was known much sooner, although not probably as a degree in Masonry, for it existed as a cabalistic science from the earliest times in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as amongst the Jews and Moors in times more recent, and in our own country the names of Roger Bacon, Fludd, Ashmole, and many others are found in its list of adepts. [376]

Dr. Mackey, quoting this passage, observes that "Oliver confounds themasonic Rose-Croix with the alchemical Rosicrucians, " and proceeds togive an account of the Rose-Croix degree as worked in England andAmerica, which he truly describes as "in the strictest sense a Christiandegree. "[377] But the point Dr. Mackey overlooks is that this is onlyone version of the degree, which, as we shall see later, has been andstill is worked in a very different manner on the Continent. 

It is, however, certain that the version of the Rose-Croix degree firstadopted by the Freemasons of France in about 1741 was not only soChristian but so Catholic in character as to have given rise to thebelief that it was devised by the Jesuits in order to counteract theattacks of which Catholicism was the object. [378] In a paper on theAdditional Degrees Mr. J. S. Tuckett writes:

 There is undeniable evidence that in their _earliest forms_ the Ecossais or Scots Degrees were Roman Catholic; I have a MS. Ritual in French of what I believe to be the _original_ Chev. De l'Aigle or S∴P∴D∴R∴C∴ (Souverain Prince de Rose-Croix) and in it the New Law is declared to be "la foy Catholique, " and the Baron Tschoudy in his _L'Étoile Flamboyante_ of 1766 describes the same Degree as "le Catholicisme mis en grade" (Vol. I. P. 114). I suggest that Ecossais or Scots Masonry was intended to be a Roman Catholic as well as a Stuart form of Freemasonry, in which none but those devoted to both Restorations were to be admitted. [379]

But is it necessary to read this political intention into the degree? Ifthe tradition of the Royal Order of Scotland is to be believed, the ideaof the Rose-Croix degree was far older than the Stuart cause, and datedback to Bannockburn, when the degree of Heredom with which it wascoupled was instituted in order "to correct the errors and reform theabuses which had crept in among the three degrees of St. John'sMasonry, " and to provide a "Christianized form of the Third Degree, ""purified of the dross of paganism and even of Judaism. "[380] Whetherthe antiquity attributed to these degrees can be proved or not, itcertainly appears probable that the legend of the Royal Order ofScotland had some foundation in fact, and therefore that the ideasembodied in the eighteenth-century Rose-Croix degree may have been drawnfrom the store of that Order and brought by the Jacobites to France. Atthe same time there is no evidence in support of the statement made bycertain Continental writers that Ramsay actually instituted this or anyof the upper degrees. On the contrary, in his Oration he expresslystates that Freemasonry is composed of the Craft degrees only:

 We have amongst us three kinds of brothers: Novices or Apprentices, Fellows or Professed Brothers, Masters or Perfected Brethren. To the first are explained the moral virtues; to the second the heroic virtues; to the last the Christian virtues.... 

It might be said then that the Rose-Croix degree was here foreshadowedin the Masters' degree, in that the latter definitely inculcatedChristianity. This would be perfectly in accord with Ramsay's point ofview as set forth in his account of his conversion by Fénelon. When hefirst met the Archbishop of Cambrai in 1710, Ramsay relates that he hadlost faith in all Christian sects and had resolved to "take refuge in awise Deism limited to respect for the Divinity and for the immutableideas of pure virtue, " but that his conversation with Fénelon led him toaccept the Catholic faith. And he goes on to show that "Monsieur deCambrai turned Atheists into Deists, Deists into Christians, andChristians into Catholics by a sequence of ideas full of enlightenmentand feeling. "[381]

Might not this be the process which Ramsay aimed at introducing intoFreemasonry--the process which in fact does form part of the masonicsystem in England to-day, where the Atheist must become, at least byprofession, a Deist before he can be admitted to the Craft Degrees, whilst the Rose-Croix degree is reserved solely for those who professthe Christian faith? Such was undoubtedly the idea of the men whointroduced the Rose-Croix degree into France; and Ragon, who gives anaccount of this "Ancien Rose-Croix Francais"--which is almost identicalwith the degree now worked in England, but long since abandoned inFrance--objects to it on the very score of its Christian character. [382]

In this respect the Rose-Croix amongst all the upper degrees introducedto France in the middle of the eighteenth century stands alone, and italone can with any probability be attributed to Scottish Jacobiteinspiration. It was not, in fact, until three or four years after LordDerwentwater or his mysterious successor Lord Harnouester[383] hadresigned the Grand Mastership in favour of the Duc d'Antin in 1738 thatthe additional degrees were first heard of, and it was not until eightyears after the Stuart cause had received its death-blow at Culloden, that is to say, in 1754, that the Rite of Perfection in which theso-called Scots Degrees were incorporated was drawn up in the followingform:

 Rite of Perfection

 1. Entered Apprentice. 2. Fellow Craft. 3. Master Mason. 4. Secret Master. 5. Perfect Master. 6. Intimate Secretary. 7. Intendant of the Buildings. 8. Provost and Judge. 9. Elect of Nine. 10. Elect of Fifteen. 11. Chief of the Twelve Tribes. 12. Grand Master Architect. 13. Knight of the Ninth Arch. 14. Ancient Grand Elect. 15. Knight of the Sword. 16. Prince of Jerusalem. 17. Knight of the East and West. 18. Rose-Croix Knight. 19. Grand Pontiff. 20. Grand Patriarch. 21. Grand Master of the Key of Masonry. 22. Prince of Libanus or Knight of the Royal Axe. 23. Sovereign Prince Adept. 24. Commander of the Black and White Eagle. 25. Commander of the Royal Secret. [384]

We have only to glance at the nomenclature of the last twenty-two ofthese degrees to see that on the basis of mere operative Masonry therehas been built up a system composed of two elements: crusading chivalryand Judaic tradition. What else is this but Templarism? Even Mr. Gould, usually so reticent on Templar influence, admits it at this period:

 In France ... Some of the Scots lodges would appear to have very early manufactured new degrees, connecting these very distinguished Scots Masons with the Knights Templar, and thus given rise to the subsequent flood of Templarism. The earliest of all are supposed to have been the Masons of Lyons who invented the Kadosch degree, representing the vengeance of the Templars, in 1741. From that time new rites multiplied in France and Germany, but all those of French origin contain Knightly, and almost all, Templar grades. In every case the connecting link was composed of one or more Scots degrees. [385]

The name Kadosch here mentioned is a Hebrew word signifying "holy" or"consecrated, " which in the Cabala is found in conjunction with theTetragrammaton. [386] The degree is said to have developed from that ofGrand Elect, [387] one of the three "degrees of vengeance" celebratingwith sanguinary realism the avenging of the murder of Hiram. But in itsfinal form of Knight Kadosch--later to become the thirtieth degree ofthe "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite"--the Hiramic legend was changedinto the history of the Templars with Jacques du Molay as thevictim. [388] So the reprobation of attack on authority personified bythe master-builder becomes approbation of attack on authority in theperson of the King of France. 

The introduction of the upper degrees with their political and, lateron, anti-Christian tendencies thus marked a complete departure from thefundamental principle of Freemasonry that "nothing concerning thereligion or government shall ever be spoken of in the lodge. " For thisreason they have been assailed not only by anti-masonic writers but byFreemasons themselves. [389] To represent Barruel and Robison as theenemies of Freemasonry is therefore absolutely false; neither of thesemen denounced Craft Masonry as practised in England, but only thesuperstructure erected on the Continent. Barruel indeed incurs thereproaches of Mounier for his championship of English Freemasons:

He vaunts their respect for religious opinion and for authority. When hespeaks of Freemasons in general they are impious, rebellious successorsof the Templars and Albigenses, but _all those of England are innocent_. More than this, all the Entered Apprentices, Fellow Crafts, and MasterMasons in all parts of the world are innocent; there are only guiltyones in the higher degrees, which are not essential to the institutionand are sought by a small number of people. [390]

In this opinion of Barruel's a great number of Masonic writersconcur--Clavel, Ragon, Rebold, Thory, Findel, and others too numerous tomention; all indicate Craft Masonry as the only true kind and the upperdegrees as constituting a danger to the Order. Rebold, who gives a listof these writers, quotes a masonic publication, authorized by the GrandOrient and the Supreme Council of France, in which it is said that "fromall these rites there result the most foolish conceptions, ... The mostabsurd legends, ... The most extravagant systems, the most immoralprinciples, and those the most dangerous for the peace and preservationof States, " and that therefore except the first three degrees ofMasonry, which are really ancient and universal, everything is "chimera, extravagance, futility, and lies. "[391] Did Barruel and Robison everuse stronger language than this?

To attribute the perversion of Masonry to Jacobite influence would beabsurd. How could it be supposed that either Ramsay or Lord Derwentwater(who died as a devout Catholic on the scaffold in 1746) could have beenconcerned in an attempt to undermine the Catholic faith or the monarchyof France? I would suggest, then, that the term "Scots Masonry" becamesimply a veil for Templarism--Templarism, moreover, of a very differentkind to that from which the original degree of the Rose-Croix wasderived. It was this so-called Scots Masonry that, after the resignationof Lord Derwentwater, "boldly came forward and claimed to be not merelya part of Masonry but the real Masonry, possessed of superior knowledgeand entitled to greater privileges and the right to rule over theordinary, i. E. Craft Masonry. "[392] The Grand Lodge of France seems, however, to have realized the danger of submitting to the domination ofthe Templar element, and on the death of the Duc d'Antin and hisreplacement by the Comte de Clermont in 1743, signified its adherence toEnglish Craft Masonry by proclaiming itself Grande Loge _Anglaise_ deFrance and reissued the "Constitutions" of Anderson, first published in1723, with the injunction that the Scots Masters should be placed on thesame level as the simple Apprentices and Fellow Crafts and allowed towear no badges of distinction. [393]

Grand Lodge of England appears to have been reassured by thisproclamation as to the character of French Freemasonry, for now, in1743, it at last delivered a warrant to Grand Lodge of France. Yet inreality it was from this moment that French Freemasonry degenerated themost rapidly. The Order was soon invaded by intriguers. This wasrendered all the easier by the apathy of the Comte de Clermont, appointed Grand Master in 1743, who seems to have taken little interestin the Order and employed a substitute in the person of a dancing masternamed Lacorne, a man of low character through whose influence the lodgesfell into a state of anarchy. Freemasonry was thus divided into warringfactions: Lacorne and the crowd of low-class supporters who had followedhim into the lodges founded a Grand Lodge of their own (Grande LogeLacorne), and in 1756 the original Freemasons again attempted to makeCraft Masonry the national Masonry of France by deleting the word"Anglaise" from the appellation of Grand Lodge, and renaming it "GrandLoge Nationale de France. " But many lodges still continue to work theadditional degrees. 

The rivalry between the two groups became so violent that in 1767 thegovernment intervened and closed down Grand Lodge. 

The Templar group had, however, formed two separate associations, the"Knights of the East" (1756) and the "Council of the Emperors of theEast and West" (1758). In 1761 a Jew named Stephen Morin was sent toAmerica by the "Emperors" armed with a warrant from the Duc de Clermontand Grand Lodge of Paris and bearing the sonorous title of "Grand ElectPerfect and Sublime Master, " with orders to establish a Lodge in thatcountry. In 1766 he was accused in Grand Lodge of "propagating strangeand monstrous doctrines" and his patent of Grand Inspector waswithdrawn. [394] Morin, however, had succeeded in establishing the Riteof Perfection. Sixteen Inspectors, nearly all Jews, were now appointed. These included Isaac Iong, Isaac de Costa, Moses Hayes, B. Spitser, Moses Cohen, Abraham Jacobs, and Hyman Long. 

Meanwhile in France the closing of Grand Lodge had not preventedmeetings of Lacorne's group, which, on the death of the Duc de Clermontin 1772, instituted the "Grand Orient" with the Duc de Chartres--thefuture "Philippe Égalité"--as Grand Master. The Grand Orient theninvited the Grande Loge to revoke the decree of expulsion and unite withit, and this offer being accepted, the revolutionary party inevitablycarried all before it, and the Duc de Chartres was declared Grand Masterof all the councils, chapters, and Scotch lodges of France. [395] In 1782the "Council of Emperors" and the "Knights of the East" combined to formthe "Grand Chapitre Général de France, " which in 1786 joined up with theGrand Orient. The victory of the revolutionary party was then complete. 

It is necessary to enter into all these tedious details in order tounderstand the nature of the factions grouped together under the bannerof Masonry at this period. The Martinist Papus attributes therevolutionary influences that now prevailed in the lodges to theirinvasion by the Templars, and goes on to explain that this was owing toa change that had taken place in the _Ordre du Temple_. Under the GrandMastership of the Regent and his successor the Duc de Bourbon, therevolutionary elements amongst the Templars had had full play, but from1741 onwards the Grand Masters of the Order were supporters of themonarchy. When the Revolution came, the Duc de Cossé-Brissac, who hadbeen Grand Master since 1776, perished amongst the defenders of thethrone. It was thus that by the middle of the century the Order of theTemple ceased to be a revolutionary force, and the discontented elementsit had contained, no longer able to find in it a refuge, threwthemselves into Freemasonry, and entering the higher degrees turned themto their subversive purpose. According to Papus, Lacorne was a member ofthe Templar group, and the dissensions that took place were principallya fight between the ex-Templars and the genuine Freemasons which endedin the triumph of the former:

 Victorious rebels thus founded the Grand Orient of France. So a contemporary Mason is able to write: "It is not excessive to say that the masonic revolution of 1773 was the prelude and the precursor of the Revolution of 1789. " What must be well observed is the secret action of the Brothers of the Templar Rite. It is they who are the real fomentors of revolution, the others are only docile agents. [396]

But all this attributes the baneful influence of Templarism to theFrench Templars alone, and the existence of such a body rests on noabsolutely certain evidence. What is certain and admits of no denial onthe part of any historian, is the inauguration of a Templar Order inGermany at the very moment when the so-called Scottish degrees wereintroduced into French Masonry. We shall now return to 1738 and followevents that were taking place at this important moment beyond theRhine. 

7

GERMAN TEMPLARISM AND FRENCH ILLUMINISM

The year after Ramsay's oration--that is to say in 1738--Frederick, Crown Prince of Prussia, the future Frederick the Great, who for twoyears had been carrying on a correspondence with Voltaire, suddenlyevinced a curiosity to know the secrets of Freemasonry which he hadhitherto derided as "Kinderspiel, " and accordingly went through a hastyinitiation during the night of August 14-15, whilst passing throughBrunswick. [397]

The ceremony took place not at a masonic lodge, but at a hotel, in thepresence of a deputation summoned by the Graf von Lippe-Bückeburg fromGrand Lodge of Hamburg for the occasion. It is evident that something ofan unusual kind must have occurred to necessitate these speedy andmakeshift arrangements. Carlyle, in his account of the episode, endeavours to pass it off as a "very trifling circumstance"--a reasonthe more for regarding it as of the highest importance since we know nowfrom facts that have recently come to light how carefully Carlyle wasspoon-fed by Potsdam whilst writing his book on Frederick theGreat. [398]

But let us follow Frederick's masonic career. In June 1740, after hisaccession to the throne, his interest in Masonry had clearly not waned, for we find him presiding over a lodge at Charlottenburg, where hereceived into the Order two of his brothers, his brother-in-law, andDuke Frederick William of Holstein-Beck. At his desire the Baron deBielfeld and his privy councillor Jordan founded a lodge at Berlin, the"Three Globes, " which by 1746 had no less than fourteen lodges under itsjurisdiction. 

In this same year of 1740 Voltaire, in response to urgent invitations, paid his first visit to Frederick the Great in Germany. Voltaire isusually said not to have yet become a Mason, and the date of hisinitiation is supposed to have been 1778, when he was received into the_Loge des Neuf Soeurs_ in Paris. But this by no means precludes thepossibility that he had belonged to another masonic Order at an earlierdate. At any rate, Voltaire's visit to Germany was followed by tworemarkable events in the masonic world of France. The first of these wasthe institution of the additional degrees; the second--perhaps notwholly unconnected with the first--was the arrival in Paris of a masonicdelegate from Germany named von Marschall, who brought with himinstructions for a new or rather a revived Order of Templarism, in whichhe attempted to interest Prince Charles Edward and his followers. 

Von Marschall was followed about two years later by Baron von Hunt, whohad been initiated in 1741 into the three degrees of Craft Masonry inGermany and now came to consecrate a lodge in Paris. According to vonHundt's own account, he was then received into the Order of the Templeby an unknown Knight of the Red Plume, in the presence of LordKilmarnock, [399] and was presented as a distinguished Brother to PrinceCharles Edward, whom he imagined to be Grand Master of the Order. [400]But all this was afterwards shown to be a pure frabrication, for PrinceCharles Edward dened all knowledge of the affair, and von Hundt himselfadmitted later that he did not know the name of the lodge or chapter inwhich he was received, but that he was directed from "a hidden centre"and by Unknown Superiors, whose identity he was bound not toreveal. [401] In reality it appears that von Hundt's account was exactlythe opposite of the truth, [402] and that it was von Hundt who, secondingvon Marschall's effort, tried to enrol Prince Charles Edward in the newGerman Order by assuring him that he could raise powerful support forthe Stuart cause under the cover of reorganizing the Templar Order, ofwhich he claimed to possess the true secrets handed down from theKnights of the fourteenth century. By way of further rehabilitating theOrder, von Hundt declared that all the accusations brought against itby Philippe le Bel and the Pope were based on false charges manufacturedby two recreant Knights named Noffodei and Florian as a revenge forhaving been deprived of their commands by the Order in consequence ofcertain crimes they had committed. [403] According to Lecouteulx deCanteleu, von Hundt eventually succeeded--after the defeat ofCulloden--in persuading Prince Charles Edward to enter his Order. Butthis is extremely doubtful. At any rate, when in 1751 von Hundtofficially founded his new Templar Order under the name of the _StricteObservance_, the unfortunate Charles Edward played no part at all in thescheme. As Mr. Gould has truly observed, "no trace of Jacobite intriguesever blended with the teaching of the _Stricte Observance_. "[404]

The _Order of the Stricte Observance_ was in reality a purely Germanassociation composed of men drawn entirely from the intellectual andaristocratic classes, and, in imitation of the chivalric Orders of thepast, known to each other under knightly titles. Thus Prince Charles ofHesse became Eques a Leone Resurgente, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick Equesa Victoria, the Prussian minister von Bischoffswerder Eques a Grypho, Baron de Wachter Eques a Ceraso, Christian Bode (Councillor of Legationin Saxe-Gotha) Eques a Lilio Convallium, von Haugwitz (Cabinet Ministerof 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 SacredMountain, were simply figure-heads; the real leaders, known as the"Unknown Superiors, " remained in the background, unadorned by titles ofchivalry but exercising supreme jurisdiction over the Order. The systemhad been foreshadowed by the "Invisibles" of seventeenth-centuryRosicrucianism; but now, instead of an intangible group whose veryexistence was only known vaguely to the world, there appeared in thelight of day a powerful organization led apparently by men of influenceand position yet secretly directed by hidden chiefs. [405] Mirabeau hasdescribed the advent of these mysterious directors in the followingpassage:

 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 re-establish 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. [406]

Now, in the manuscripts of the Prince of Hesse published by Lecouteulxde Canteleu it is said that this man Johnston, or rather Johnson, whoproclaimed himself to be "Grand Prior of the Order, " was a Jew namedLeicht or Leucht. [407] Gould says that his real name was either Leuchtor Becker, but that he professed to be an Englishman, although unable tospeak the English language, hence his assumption of the nameJohnson. [408] Mr. Gould has described Johnson as a "consummate rogue andan unmitigated vagabond ... Of almost repulsive demeanour and of noeducation, but gifted with boundless impudence and low cunning. " Indeed, von Hundt himself, after enlisting Johnson's services, found him toodangerous and declared him to be an adventurer. Johnson was thereuponarrested by von Hundt's friend the councillor von Pritsch, and throwninto the castle of Wartburg, where sudden death ended his career. 

It is, however, improbable that Mirabeau could be right in indicatingJohnson as one of the "Unknown Superiors, " who were doubtless men ofvaster conceptions than this adventurer appears to have been. Moreover, the manner of his end clearly proves that he occupied a subordinateposition in the _Stricte Observance_. 

Here, then, we have a very curious sequence of events which it may bewell to recapitulate briefly in order to appreciate their fullsignificance:

 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. 

 " Morin sent to found Rite of Perfection in America. 

 1762. Grand Masonic Constitutions ratified in Berlin. [409]

It will be seen then that what Mr. Gould describes as "the flood ofTemplarism, " which both he and Mr. Tuckett attribute to the so-calledScots Masons, [410] corresponds precisely with the decline of Jacobiteand the rise of German influence. Would it not therefore appear probablethat, except in the case of the Rose-Croix degree, the authors of theupper degrees were not Scotsmen nor Jacobites, that Scots Masonry was aterm used to cover not merely Templarism but more especially GermanTemplarism, and that the real author and inspirer of the movement wasFrederick the Great? No, it is significant to find that in the historyof the _Ordre du Temple_, published at the beginning of the nineteenthcentury, Frederick the Great is cited as one of the most distinguishedmembers of this Order in the past, [411] and the Abbé Grégoire adds thathe was "consecrated" at Remersberg (Rheinsberg?) in 1738, that is to sayin the same year that he was initiated into Masonry at Brunswick. [412]There is therefore a definite reason for connecting Frederick withTemplarism at this date. 

I would suggest, then, that the truth about the Templar succession maybe found in one of the two following theories:

1. That the documents produced by the _Ordre du Temple_ in thenineteenth century, including the Charter of Larmenius, were genuine;that the Order had never ceased to exist since the days of the Crusades;that the Templar heresy was Johannism, but that this was not held by theTemplars who escaped to Scotland; that the Rose-Croix degree in itspurely Christian form was introduced by the Scottish Templars toScotland and four hundred years later brought by Ramsay to France; thatthe Master of the Temple at this date was the Regent, Philippe Ducd'Orléans, as stated in the Charter of Larmenius. Finally, that afterthis, fresh Templar degrees were introduced from Germany by von Hundt, acting on behalf of Frederick the Great. 

2. That the documents produced by the _Ordre du Temple_ in thenineteenth century were, as M. Matter declares, early eighteenth-centuryfabrications; that although, in view of the tradition preserved in theRoyal Order of Scotland, there appears to be good reason to believe thestory of the Scottish Templars and the origin of the Rose-Croix degree, the rest of the history of the Templars, including the Charter ofLarmenius, was an invention of the "Concealed Superiors" of the _StricteObservance_ in Germany, and that the most important of these "ConcealedSuperiors" were Frederick the Great and Voltaire. 

I shall not attempt to decide which of these two theories is correct;all that I do maintain is that in either case the preponderating rôle inTemplarism at this crisis was played by Frederick the Great, probablywith the co-operation of Voltaire, who in his _Essai sur les Mæurs_championed the cause of the Templars. Let us follow the reasons forarriving at this conclusion. 

Ramsay's oration in 1737 connecting Freemasonry with the Templars maywell have come to the ears of Frederick and suggested to him the idea ofusing Masonry as a cover for his intrigues--hence his hasty initiationat Brunswick. But in order to acquire influence in a secret society itis always necessary to establish a claim to superior knowledge, andTemplarism seemed to provide a fruitful source of inspiration. For thispurpose new light must be thrown on the Order. Now, there was probablyno one better qualified than Voltaire, with his knowledge of the ancientand medieval world and hatred of the Catholic Church, to undertake theconstruction of a historical romance subversive of the Catholicfaith--hence the urgent summons to the philosopher to visit Frederick. We can imagine Voltaire delving amongst the records of the past in orderto reconstruct the Templar heresy. This was clearly Gnostic, and theMandæans or Christians of St. John may well have appeared to present therequired characteristics. If it could be shown that here in Johannismtrue "primitive Christianity" was to be found, what a blow for the"infâme"! A skilful forger could easily be found to fabricate thedocuments said to have been preserved in the secret archives of theOrder. Further we find von Marschall arriving in the following year inFrance to reorganize the Templars, and von Hundt later claiming to be inpossession of the true secrets of the Order handed down from thefourteenth century. That some documents bearing on this question wereeither discovered or fabricated under the direction of Frederick theGreat seems the more probable from the existence of a masonic traditionto this effect. Thus Dr. Oliver quotes a Report of the GrandInspectors-General in the nineteenth century stating that:

 During the Crusades, at which 27, 000 Masons were present, some masonic MSS. Of great importance were discovered among the descendants of the ancient Jews, and that other valuable documents were found at different periods down to the year of Light 5557 (i. E. 1553), at which time a record came to light in Syrian characters, relating to the most remote antiquity, and from which it would appear that the world is many thousand years older than given by the Mosaic account. Few of these characters were translated till the reign of our illustrious and most enlightened Brother Frederick II, King of Prussia, whose well-known zeal for the Craft was the cause of so much improvement in the Society over which he condescended to preside. [413]

I suggest, then, that the documents here referred to and containing thesecrets claimed by von Hundt may have been the ones afterwards publishedby the _Ordre du Temple_ in the nineteenth century, and that ifunauthentic they were the work of Voltaire, aided probably by a Jewcapable of forging Syriac manuscripts. That Johnson was the Jew inquestion seems probable, since Findel definitely asserts that thehistory of the continuation of the Order of Knights Templar was hiswork. [414] Frederick, as we know, was in the habit of employing Jews tocarry out shady transactions, and he may well have used Johnson to forgedocuments as he used Ephraim to coin false money for him. It would befurther quite in keeping with his policy to get rid of the man as soonas he had served his purpose, lest he should betray his secrets. 

At any rate, whatever were the methods employed by Frederick the Greatfor obtaining control over Masonry, the fruitful results of that "verytrifling circumstance, " his initiation at Brunswick, become more andmore apparent as the century advances. Thus when in 1786 the Rite ofPerfection was reorganized and rechristened the "Ancient and AcceptedScottish Rite"--always the same Scottish cover for Prussianism!--it issaid to have been Frederick who conducted operations, drew up the newConstitutions of the Order, and rearranged the degrees so as to bringthe total number up to thirty-three[415], as follows:

 26. Prince of Mercy. 27. Sovereign Commander of the Temple. 28. Knight of the Sun. 29. Grand Scotch Knight of St. Andrew. 30. Grand Elect Knight of Kadosch. 31. Grand Inspector Inquisitor Commander. 32. Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. 33. Sovereign Grand Inspector-General. 

In the last four degrees Frederick the Great and Prussia play animportant part; in the thirtieth degree of Knight Kadosch, largelymodelled on the Vehmgerichts, the Knights wear Teutonic crosses, thethrone is surmounted by the double-headed eagle of Prussia, and thePresident, who is called Thrice Puissant Grand Master, representsFrederick himself; in the thirty-second degree of Sublime Prince of theRoyal Secret, Frederick is described as the head of ContinentalFreemasonry; in the thirty-third degree of Sovereign GrandInspector-General the jewel is again the double-headed eagle, and theSovereign Grand Commander is Frederick, who at the time this degree wasinstituted figured with Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, Grand Master of theGrand Orient, as his lieutenant. The most important of these innovationswas the thirty-second degree, which was in reality a system rather thana degree for bringing together the Masons of all countries under onehead--hence the immense power acquired by Frederick. By 1786 FrenchMasonry was thus entirely Prussianized and Frederick had indeed becomethe idol of Masonry everywhere. Yet probably no one ever despisedFreemasonry more profoundly. As the American Mason Albert Pike shrewdlyobserved:

 There is no doubt that Frederick came to the conclusion that the great pretensions of Masonry in the blue degrees were merely imaginary and deceptive. He ridiculed the Order, and thought its ceremonies mere child's play; and some of his sayings to that effect have been preserved. It does not at all follow that he might not at a later day have found it politic to put himself at the head of an Order that had become a power.... [416]

It is not without significance to find that in the year following theofficial foundation of the _Stricte Observance_, that is to say in 1752, Lord Holdernesse, in a letter to the British Ambassador in Paris, LordAlbemarle, headed "Very secret, " speaks of "the influence which the Kingof Prussia has of late obtained over all the French Councils"; and a fewweeks later Lord Albemarle refers to "the great influence of thePrussian Court over the French Councils by which they are so blinded asnot to be able to judge for themselves. "[417]

But it is time to turn to another sphere of activity which Masonryopened out to the ambitions of Frederick. 

The making of the _Encyclopédie_, which even those writers the mostsceptical with regard to secret influences behind the revolutionarymovement admit to have contributed towards the final cataclysm, is aquestion on which official history has thrown but little light. According to the authorized version of the story--as related, forexample, in Lord Morley's work on the Encyclopædists--the plan oftranslating Ephraim Chambers's _Cyclopædia_, which had appeared in 1728, was suggested to Diderot "some fifteen years later" by a Frenchbookseller named Le Breton. Diderot's "fertile and energeticintelligence transformed the scheme.... It was resolved to makeChambers's work a mere starting-point for a new enterprise of far widerscope. " We then go on to read of the financial difficulties that nowbeset the publisher, of the embarrassment of Diderot, who "felt himselfunequal to the task of arranging and supervising every department of anew book that was to include the whole circle of the sciences, " of thefortunate enlisting of d'Alembert as a collaborator, and later of menbelonging to all kinds of professions, "all united in a work that was asuseful as it was laborious, without any view of interest ... Without anycommon understanding and agreement, " further, of the cruel persecutionsencountered at the hands of the Jesuits, "who had expected at least tohave control of the articles on theology, " and finally of the tyrannicalsuppression of the great work on account of the anti-Christiantendencies these same articles displayed. [418]

Now for a further light on the matter. 

In the famous speech of the Chevalier Ramsay already quoted, which wasdelivered at Grand Lodge of Paris in 1737, the following passage occurs:

 The fourth quality required in our Order is the taste for useful sciences and the liberal arts. Thus, the Order exacts of each of you to contribute, by his protection, liberality, or labour, to a vast work for which no academy can suffice, because all these societies being composed of a very small number of men, their work cannot embrace an object so extended. All the Grand Masters in Germany, England, Italy, and elsewhere exhort all the learned men and all the artisans of the Fraternity to unite to furnish the materials for a Universal Dictionary of all the liberal arts and useful sciences; excepting only theology and politics. The work has already been commenced in London, and by means of the unions of our brothers it may be carried to a conclusion in a few years. [419]

So after all it was no enterprising bookseller, no brilliantly inspiredphilosopher, who conceived the idea of the _Encyclopédie_, but apowerful international organization able to employ the services of moremen than all the academies could supply, which devised the scheme atleast six years before the date at which it is said to have occurred toDiderot. Thus the whole story as usually told to us would appear to be acomplete fabrication--struggling publishers, toiling _littérateurs_carrying out their superhuman task as "independent men of letters"without the patronage of the great--which Lord Morley points out as "oneof the most important facts in the history of the Encyclopædia"--writersof all kinds bound together by no "common understanding or agreement, "are all seen in reality to have been closely associated as "artisans ofthe Fraternity" carrying out the orders of their superiors. 

The _Encyclopédie_ was therefore essentially a Masonic publication, andPapus, whilst erroneously attributing the famous oration andconsequently the plan of the _Encyclopédie_ to the inspiration of theDuc d'Antin, emphasizes the importance of this fact. Thus, he writes:

 The Revolution manifests itself by two stages:

 1st. _Intellectual revolution_, by the publication of the _Encyclopédie_, due to French Freemasonry under the high inspiration of the Duc d'Antin. 

 2nd. _Occult revolution_ in the Lodges, due in great part to the members of the Templar Rite and executed by a group of expelled Freemasons afterwards amnestied. [420]

The masonic authorship of the _Encyclopédie_ and the consequentdissemination of revolutionary doctrines has remained no matter of doubtto the Freemasons of France; on the contrary, they glory in the fact. Atthe congress of the Grand Orient in 1904 the Freemason Bonnet declared:

 In the eighteenth century the glorious line of Encyclopædists formed in our temples a fervent audience which was then alone in invoking the radiant device as yet unknown to the crowd: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. " The revolutionary seed quickly germinated amidst this _élite_. Our illustrious Freemasons d'Alembert, Diderot, Helvétius, d'Holbach, Voltaire, Condorcet, completed the evolution of minds and prepared the new era. And, when the Bastille fell, Freemasonry had the supreme honour of giving to humanity the charter (i. E. The Declaration of the Rights of Man) which it had elaborated with devotion. (_Applause_. )

This charter, the orator went on to say, was the work of the FreemasonLafayette, and was adopted by the Constituent Assembly, of which morethan 300 members were Freemasons. 

But in using the lodges to sow the seeds of revolution, theEncyclopædists betrayed not only the cause of monarchy but of Masonry aswell. It will be noticed that, in conformity with true masonicprinciples, Ramsay in his oration expressly stated that the encyclopædiawas to concern itself with the liberal arts and sciences[421] and thattheology and politics were to be excluded from the contemplated scheme. How, then, did it come to pass that these were eventually the twosubjects to which the Encyclopædists devoted the greatest attention, sothat their work became principally an attack on Church and monarchy? IfPapus was right in attributing this revolutionary tendency to the_Encyclopédie_ from the time of the famous oration, then Ramsay couldonly be set down as the profoundest hypocrite or as the mouthpiece ofhypocrites professing intentions the very reverse of their real designs. A far more probable explanation seems to be that during the intervalbetween Ramsay's speech and the date when the _Encyclopédie_ was begunin earnest, the scheme underwent a change. It will be noticed that theyear of 1746, when Diderot and d'Alembert are said to have embarked ontheir task, coincided with the decadence of French Freemasonry under theComte de Clermont and the invasion of the lodges by the subversiveelements; thus the project propounded with the best intentions by theFreemasons of 1737 was filched by their revolutionary successors andturned to a diametrically opposite purpose. 

But it is not to the dancing-master Lacorne and his middle-classfollowing that we can attribute the efficiency with which not only the_Encyclopédie_ but a host of minor revolutionary publications werecirculated all over France. Frederick the Great had seen hisopportunity. If I am right in my surmise that Ramsay's speech hadreached the ears of Frederick, the prospect of the _Encyclopédie_contained therein may well have appeared to him a magnificent method forobtaining a footing in the intellectual circles of France; hence then, doubtless, an additional reason for his hasty initiation into Masonry, his summons to Voltaire, and his subsequent overtures to Diderot andd'Alembert, who, by the time the first volume of the _Encyclopédie_appeared in 1751, had both been made members of the Royal Academy ofPrussia. In the following year Frederick offered d'Alembert thepresidency of the Academy in place of Maupertuis, an offer which wasrefused; but in 1755 and again in 1763 d'Alembert visited Frederick inGermany and received his pension regularly from Berlin. It is thereforenot surprising that when the _Encyclopédie_ had reached the letter P, itincluded, in an unsigned article on Prussia, a panegyric on the virtuesand the talents of the illustrious monarch who presided over thedestinies of that favoured country. 

The art of Frederick the Great, as of his successors on the throne ofthe Hohenzollerns, was to make use of every movement that could furtherthe design of Prussian supremacy. He used the Freemasons as he used thephilosophers and as he used the Jews, to carry out his great scheme--thedestruction of the French monarchy and of the alliance between Franceand Austria. Whilst through his representatives at the Court of Francehe was able to create discord between Versailles and Vienna and bringdiscredit on Marie Antoinette, through his allies in the masonic lodgesand in the secret societies he was able to reach the people of France. The gold and the printing presses of Frederick the Great were added tothose of the Orléanistes for the circulation of seditious literaturethroughout the provinces. [422]

So as the century advanced the association founded by Royalists andCatholics was turned into an engine of destruction by revolutionaryintriguers; the rites and symbols were gradually perverted to an enddirectly opposed to that for which they had been instituted, and the twodegrees of Rose-Croix and Knight Kadosch came to symbolize respectivelywar on religion and war on the monarchy of France. 

It is no orthodox Catholic but an occultist and Rosicrucian who thusdescribes the rôle of Masonry in the Revolution:

 Masonry has not only been profaned but it has been served as a cover and pretext for the plots of anarchy, by the occult influence of the avengers of Jacques du Molay and the continuers of the schismatic work of the Temple. Instead of avenging the death of Hiram, they have avenged his assassins. The anarchists have taken the plumb-line, the square, and the mallet and have written on them liberty, equality, fraternity. That is to say, liberty for envyings, equality in degradation, fraternity for destruction. Those are the men whom the Church has justly condemned and that she will always condemn. [423]

But it is time to turn to another masonic power which meanwhile hadentered the lists, the Martinistes or French Illuminés. 

French Illuminism

Whilst Frederick the Great, the Freemasons, the Encyclopædists, and theOrléanistes were working on the material plane to undermine the Churchand monarchy in France, another cult had arisen which by the middle ofthe century succeeded in insinuating itself into the lodges. This was arecrudescence of the old craze for occultism, which now spread likewildfire all over Europe from Bordeaux to St. Petersburg. During thereign of Anna of Courland (1730-40) the Russian Court was permeated withsuperstition, and professional magicians and charlatans of every kindwere encouraged. The upper classes of Germany in the eighteenth centuryproved equally susceptible to the attractions of the supernatural, andprinces desirous of long life or greater power eagerly pursued the questof the Philosopher's Stone, the "Elixir of Life, " and evoked spiritsunder the direction of occultists in their service. 

In France occultism, reduced to a system, adopted the outer forms ofMasonry as a cover to the propagation of its doctrines. It was in 1754that Martines de Pasqually (or Paschalis), a Rose-Croix Mason, [424]founded his Order of Élus Cohens (Elected Priests), known later as the_Martinistes_ or the French _Illuminés_. Although brought up in theChristian faith, Pasqually has been frequently described as a Jew. TheBaron de Gleichen, himself a Martiniste and a member of the AmisRéunis, [425] throws an interesting light on the matter in this passage:"Pasqualis was originally Spanish, perhaps of the Jewish race, sincehis disciples inherited from him a large number of Jewishmanuscripts. "[426]

It was "this Cabalistic sect, "[427] the Martinistes, which now becamethe third great masonic power in France. 

The rite of the Martinistes was broadly divided into two classes, in thefirst of which was represented the fall of man and in the second hisfinal restoration--a further variation on the masonic theme of a lossand a recovery. After the first three Craft degrees came the Cohendegrees of the same--Apprentice Cohen, Fellow Craft Cohen, and MasterCohen--then those of Grand Architect, Grand Elect of Zerubbabel orKnight of the East: but above these were concealed degrees leading up tothe Rose-Croix, which formed the capstone of the edifice. [428] Pasquallyfirst established his rite at Marseilles, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, thenin Paris, and before long Martiniste lodges spread all over France withthe centre at Lyons under the direction of Willermoz, a prosperousmerchant living there. From this moment other occult Orders sprang up inall directions. In 1760 Dom Pernetti founded his sect of "Illuminésd'Avignon" in that city, declaring himself a high initiate ofFreemasonry and teaching the doctrines of Swedenborg. Later a certainChastanier founded the "Illuminés Théosophes, " a modified version ofPernetti's rite; and in 1783 the Marquis de Thomé started a purifiedvariety of Swedenborgianism under the name of "Rite of Swedenborg. "

Beneath all these occult sects one common source of inspiration is to befound--the perverted and magical Cabala of the Jews, that conglomerationof wild theosophical imaginings and barbaric superstitions founded onancient pagan cults and added to throughout seventeen centuries bysucceeding generations of Jewish occultists. [429] This influence isparticularly to be detected in the various forms of the Rose-Croixdegree, which in nearly all these associations forms the highest andmost secret degree. The ritual of "the eminent Order of the Knights ofthe Black Eagle or Sovereigns of the Rose-Croix, " a secret andunpublished document of the eighteenth century, which differs entirelyfrom the published rituals, explains that no one can attain to knowledgeof the higher sciences without the "Clavicules de Salomon, " of whichthe real secrets were never committed to print and which is said tocontain the whole of Cabalistic science. [430] The catechism of this samedegree deals mainly with the transmutation of metals, the Philosopher'sStone, etc. 

In the Rite of Perfection as worked in France and America thisCabalistic influence is shown in those degrees known under the name ofthe "Ineffable Degrees, " derived from the Jewish belief in the mysterythat surrounds the Ineflable Name of God. According to the custom of theJews, the sacred name Jehovah or Jah-ve, composed of the four lettersyod, he, vau, he, which formed the Tetragrammaton, was never to bepronounced by the profane, who were obliged to substitute for it theword "Adonai. " The Tetragrammaton might only be uttered once a year onthe Day of Atonement by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies amid thesound of trumpets and cymbals, which prevented the people from hearingit. It is said that in consequence of the people thus refraining fromits utterance, the true pronunciation of the name was at last lost. TheJews further believed that the Tetragrammaton was possessed of unboundedpowers. "He who pronounces it shakes heaven and earth and inspires thevery angels with astonishment and terror. "[431] The Ineffable Name thusconferred miraculous gifts; it was engraved on the rod of Moses andenabled him to perform wonders, just as, according to the Toledot Yeshu, it conferred the same powers on Christ. 

This superstition was clearly a part of Rosicrucian tradition, for thesymbol of the Tetragrammaton within a triangle, adopted by the masoniclodges, figures in Fludd's Cabalistic system. [432] In the "Ineffabledegrees" it was invested with all the mystic awe by which it issurrounded in Jewish theology, and, according to early American working:"Brothers and Companions of these degrees received the name of God as itwas revealed to Enoch and were sworn to pronounce it but once in theirlives. "

In the alchemical version of the Rose-Croix degree referred to above theIneffable Name is actually invested with magical powers as in theJewish Cabala. Ragon, after describing the Jewish ceremony when the wordJehovah was pronounced by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies, goes onto say that "Schem-hamm-phorasch, " another term for the Tetragrammaton, forms the sacred word of a Scotch degree, and that this belief in itsmystic properties "will be found at the head of the instructions for thethird degree of the Knight of the Black Eagle, called Rose-Croix, " thus:

 Q. What is the most powerful name of God on the pentaculum? A. Adonai. Q. What is its power? A. To move the Universe. 

 That one of the Knights who had the good fortune to pronounce it cabalistically would have at his disposal the powers that inhabit the four elements and the celestial spirits, and would possess all the virtues possible to man. [433]

That this form of the Rose-Croix was of purely Jewish origin is thusclearly evident. In the address to the candidate for initiation into theRose-Croix degree at the Lodge of the "Contrat Social" it is stated:

 This degree, which includes an Order of Perfect Masons, was brought to light by Brother R. , who took it from the Kabbalistic treasure of the Doctor and Rabbi Néamuth, chief of the synagogue of Leyden in Holland, who had preserved its precious secrets and its costume, both of which we shall see in the same order in which he placed them in his mysterious Talmud. [434]

Now, we know that in the eighteenth century a society of Rosicrucianmagicians had been instituted in Florence which was believed to dateback to the fifteenth century and to have been partly, if not whollycomposed of Orientals, as we shall see in the next chapter; but it seemsprobable that this sect, whilst secretly inspiring the Rose-Croixmasons, was itself either nameless or concealed under a disguise. Thusin 1782 an English Freemason writes: "I have found some rather curiousMSS. In Algiers in Hebrew relating to the society of the Rosicrucians, which exists at present under another name with the same forms. I hope, moreover to be admitted to their knowledge. "[435]

It has frequently been argued that Jews can have played no part inFreemasonry at this period since they themselves were not admitted tothe lodges. But this is by no means certain; in the article from _TheGentleman's Magazine_ already quoted it is stated that Jews areadmitted; de Luchet further quotes the instance of David Moses Hertzreceived in a London lodge in 1787; and the author of _Les Franc-Masonsécrasés_, published in 1746, states that he has seen three Jews receivedinto a lodge at Amsterdam. In the "Melchisedeck Lodges" of the Continentnon-Christians were openly admitted, and here again the Rose-Croixdegree occupies the most important place. The highest degrees of thisrite were the Initiated Brothers of Asia, the Masters of the Wise, andthe Royal Priests, otherwise known as the degree of Melchisedeck or thetrue Brothers of the Rose-Croix. 

This Order, usually described as the _Asiatic Brethren_, of which thecentre was in Vienna and the leader a certain Baron von Eckhoffen, issaid to have been a continuation of the "Brothers of the Golden and RosyCross, " a revival of the seventeenth-century Rosicrucians organized in1710 by a Saxon priest, Samuel Richter, known as Sincerus Renatus. Thereal origins of the Asiatic Brethren are, however, obscure and littleliterature on the subject is to be found in this country. [436] Theirfurther title of "the Knights and Brethren of St. John the Evangelist"suggests Johannite inspiration and was clearly an imposture, since theyincluded Jews, Turks, Persians, and Armenians. De Luchet, who as acontemporary was in a position to acquire first-hand information, thusdescribes the organization of the Order, which, it will be seen, wasentirely Judaic. "The superior direction is called the small andconstant Sanhedrim of Europe. The names of those employed by which theyconceal themselves from their inferiors are Hebrew. The signs of thethird principal degree (i. E. The Rose-Croix) are Urim and Thummim.... The Order has the true secrets and the explanations, moral andphysical, of the hierogyphics of the very venerable Order ofFreemasonry. "[437] The initiate had to swear absolute submission andunswerving obedience to the laws of the Order and to follow its lawsimplicitly to the end of his life, without asking by whom they weregiven or whence they came. 

"Who, " asks de Luchet, "gave to the Order these so-called secrets? Thatis the great and insidious question for the secret societies. But theInitiate who remains, and must remain eternally in the Order, neverfinds this out, he dare not even ask it, he must promise never to askit. In this way those who participate in the secrets of the Order remainthe Masters. "

Again, as in the _Stricte Observance_, the same system of "ConcealedSuperiors"--the same blind obedience to unknown directors!

Under the guidance of these various sects of Illuminés a wave ofoccultism swept over France, and lodges everywhere became centres ofinstruction on the Cabala, magic, divination, alchemy, andtheosophy[438]; masonic rites degenerated into ceremonies for theevocation of spirits--women, who were now admitted to these assemblies, screamed, fainted, fell into convulsions, and lent themselves toexperiments of the most horrible kind. [439]

By means of these occult practices the _Illuminés_ in time became thethird great masonic power in France, and the rival Orders perceived theexpediency of joining forces. Accordingly in 1771 an amalgamation of allthe masonic groups was effected at the new lodge of the _Amis Réunis_. 

The founder of this lodge was Savalette de Langes, Keeper of the RoyalTreasury, Grand Officer of the Grand Orient, and a high initiate ofMasonry--"versed in all mysteries, in all the lodges, and in all theplots. " In order to unite them he made his lodge a mixture of allsophistic, Martiniste, and masonic systems, "and as a bait to thearistocracy organized balls and concerts at which the adepts, male andfemale, danced and feasted, or sang of the beauties of their libertyand equality, little knowing that above them was a secret committeewhich was arranging to extend this equality beyond the lodge to rank andfortune, to castles and to cottages, to marquesses and bourgeois"alike. [440]

A further development of the Amis Réunis was the Rite of the_Philalèthes_, compounded by Savalette de Langes in 1773 out ofSwedenborgian, Martiniste, and Rosicrucian mysteries, into which thehigher initiates of the Amis Réunis--Court de Gebelin, the Prince deHesse, Condorcet, the Vicomte de Tavannes, Willermoz, and others--wereinitiated. A modified form of this rite was instituted at Narbonne in1780 under the name of "Free and Accepted Masons du Rit Primitif, " theEnglish nomenclature being adopted (according to Clavel) in order tomake it appear that the rite emanated from England. In reality itsfounder, the Marquis de Chefdebien d'Armisson, a member of the GrandOrient and of the Amis Réunis, drew his inspiration from certain GermanFreemasons with whom he maintained throughout close relations and whowere presumably members of the Stricte Observance, since Chefdebien wasa member of this Order, in which he bore the title of "Eques a CapiteGaleato. " The correspondence that passed between Chefdebien andSalvalette de Langes, recently discovered and published in France, isone of the most illuminating records of the masonic ramifications inexistence before the Revolution ever brought to light. [441] To judge bythe tone of these letters, the leaders of the Rit Primitif would appearto have been law-abiding and loyal gentlemen devoted to the Catholicreligion, yet in their passion for new forms of Masonry and thirst foroccult lore ready to associate themselves with every kind of adventurerand charlatan who might be able to initiate them into further mysteries. In the curious notes drawn up by Savalette for the guidance of theMarquis de Chefdebien we catch a glimpse of the power behind thephilosophers of the _salons_ and the aristocratic adepts of thelodges--the professional magicians and men of mystery; and behind theseagain the concealed directors of the secret societies, the _realinitiates_. 

The Magicians

The part played by magicians during the period preceding the FrenchRevolution is of course a matter of common knowledge and has never beendisputed by official history. But like the schools of philosophers thissudden crop of magicians is always represented as a sporadic growthcalled into being by the idle and curious society of the day. Theimportant point to realize is that just as the philosophers were allFreemasons, the principal magicians were not only Freemasons but membersof occult secret societies. It is therefore not as isolated charlatansbut as agents of some hidden power that we must regard the men whom wewill now pass in a rapid survey. 

One of the first to appear in the field was Schroepfer, a coffee-housekeeper of Leipzig, who declared that no one could be a true Freemasonwithout practising magic. Accordingly he proclaimed himself the"reformer of Freemasonry, " and set up a lodge in his own house with arite based on the Rose-Croix degree for the purpose of evoking spirits. The meetings took place at dead of night, when by means of carefullyarranged lights, magic mirrors, and possibly of electricity, Schroepfercontrived to produce apparitions which his disciples--under theinfluence of strong punch--took to be visitors from the otherworld. [442] In the end Schroepfer, driven crazy by his own incantations, blew out his brains in a garden near Leipzig. 

According to Lecouteulx de Canteleu, it was Schroepfer who indoctrinatedthe famous "Comte de Saint-Germain"--"The Master" of our modernco-masonic lodges. The identity of this mysterious personage has neverbeen established[443]; by some contemporaries he was said to be anatural son of the King of Portugal, by others the son of a Jew and aPolish Princess. The Duc de Choiseul on being asked whether he knew theorigin of Saint-Germain replied: "No doubt we know it, he is the son ofa Portuguese Jew who exploits the credulity of the town and Court. "[444]In 1780 a rumour went round that his father was a Jew of Bordeaux, but according to the _Souvenirs of the Marquise de Créquy_ the Baron deBreteuil discovered from the archives of his Ministry that the pretendedComte de Saint-Germain was the son of a Jewish doctor of Strasburg, thathis real name was Daniel Wolf, and that he was born in 1704. [445] Thegeneral opinion thus appears to have been in favour of his Jewishancestry. 

Saint-German seems first to have been heard of in Germany about 1740, where his marvellous powers attracted the attention of the Maréchal deBelle-Isle, who, always the ready dupe of charlatans, brought him backwith him to the Court of France, where he speedily gained the favour ofMadame de Pompadour. The Marquise before long presented him to the King, who granted him an apartment at Chambord and, enchanted by his brilliantwit, frequently spent long evenings in conversation with him in therooms of Madame de Pompadour. Meanwhile his invention of flat-bottomedboats for the invasion of England raised him still higher in theestimation of the Maréchal de Belle-Isle. In 1761 we hear of him asliving in great splendour in Holland and giving out that he had reachedthe age of seventy-four, though appearing to be only fifty; if this wereso, he must have been ninety-seven at the time of his death in 1784 atSchleswig. But this feat of longevity is far from satisfying his modernadmirers, who declare that Saint-Germain did not die in 1784, but isstill alive to-day in some corner of Eastern Europe. This is inaccordance with the theory, said to have been circulated bySaint-Germain himself, that by the eighteenth century he had passedthrough several incarnations and that the last one had continued for1, 500 years. Barruel, however, explains that Saint-Germain in thusreferring to his age spoke in masonic language, in which a man who hastaken the first degree is said to be three years old, after the secondfive, or the third seven, so that by means of the huge increase thehigher degrees conferred it might be quite possible for an exalted adeptto attain the age of 1, 500. 

Saint-Germain has been represented by modern writers--not only those whocompose his following--as a person of extraordinary attainments, a sortof super-man towering over the minor magicians of his day. Contemporaries, however, take him less seriously and represent himrather as an expert charlatan whom the wits of the _salons_ made thebutt of pleasantries. His principal importance to the subject of thisbook consists, however, in his influence on the secret societies. According to the _Mémoires authentiques pour servir à l'histoire duComte de Cagliostro_, Saint-Germain was the "Grand Master ofFreemasonry, "[446] and it was he who initiated Cagliostro into themysteries of Egyptian masonry. 

Joseph Balsamo, born in 1743, who assumed the name of Comte deCagliostro, as a magician far eclipsed his master. Like Saint-Germain, he was generally reputed to be a Jew--the son of Pietro Balsamo, aSicilian tradesman of Jewish origin[447]--and he made no secret of hisarden admiration for the Jewish race. After the death of his parents heescaped from the monastery in which he had been placed at Palermo andjoined himself to a man known as Altotas, said to have been an Armenian, with whom he travelled to Greece and Egypt[448]. Cagliostro's travelslater took him to Poland and Germany, where he was initiated intoFreemasonry[449], and finally to France; but it was in England that hehimself declared that he elaborated his famous "Egyptian Rite, " which hefounded officially in 1782. According to his own account, this rite wasderived from a manuscript by a certain George Cofton--whose identity hasnever been discovered--which he bought by chance in London[450]. Yarker, however, expresses the opinion that "the rite of Cagliostro was clearlythat of Pasqually, " and that if he acquired it from a manuscript inLondon it would indicate that Pasquilly had disciples in that city. Afar more probable explanation is that Cagliostro derived his Egyptianmasonry from the same source as that on which Pasqually had drawn forhis Order of Martinistes, namely the Cabala, and that it was not from asingle manuscript but from an eminent Jewish Cabalist in London that hetook his instructions. Who this may have been we shall soon see. At anyrate, in a contemporary account of Cagliostro we find him described as"a doctor initiated into Cabalistic art" and a Rose-Croix; but afterfounding his own rite he acquired the name of Grand Copht, that is tosay, Supreme Head of Egyptian Masonry, a new branch that he wished tograft on to old European Freemasonry. [451] We shall return to hisfurther masonic adventures later. 

In a superior category to Saint-German and Cagliostro was the famousSwabian doctor Mesmer, who has given his name to an important branch ofnatural science. In about 1780 Mesmer announced his great discovery of"animal magnetism, the principle of life in all organized beings, thesoul of all that breathes. " But if to-day Mesmerism has come to beregarded as almost synonymous with hypnotism and in no way a branch ofoccultism, Mesmer himself--stirring the fluid in his magic bucket, around which his disciples wept, slept, fell into trances orconvulsions, raved or prophesied[452]--earned not unnaturally thereputation of a charlatan. The Freemasons, eager to discover the secretof the magic bucket, hastened to enrol him in their Order, and Mesmerwas received into the Primitive Rite of Free and Accepted Masons in1785. [453]

Space forbids a description of the minor magicians who flourished atthis period--of _Schroeder_, founder in 1776 of a chapter of "True andAncient Rose-Croix Masons, " practising certain magical, theosophical, and alchemical degrees; of _Gassner_, worker of miracles in theneighbourhood of Ratisbonne; of "the Jew Leon, " one of a band ofcharlatans who made large sums of money with magic mirrors in which theimaginative were able to see their absent friends, and who was finallybanished from France by the police, --all these and many others exploitedthe credulity and curiosity of the upper classes both in France andGermany between the years of 1740 and 1790. De Luchet, writing beforethe French Revolution, describes the part played in their mysteries bythe soul of a Cabalistic Jew named Gablidone who had lived beforeChrist, and who predicted that "in the year 1800 there will be, on ourglobe, a very remarkable revolution, and there will be no other religionbut that of the patriarchs. "[454]

How are we to account for this extraordinary wave of Cabalism in WesternEurope? By whom was it inspired? If, as Jewish writers assure us, neither Marlines Pasqually, Saint-Germain, Cagliostro, nor any of thevisible occultists or magicians were Jews, the problem only becomes themore insoluble. We cannot believe that Sanhedrims, Hebrew hieroglyphics, the contemplation of the Tetragrammaton, and other Cabalistic ritesoriginated in the brains of French and German aristocrats, philosophers, and Freemasons. Let us turn, then, to events taking place at this momentin the world of Jewry and see whether these may provide some clue. 

8

THE JEWISH CABALISTS

It has been shown in the preceding chapters that the Jewish Cabalaplayed an important part in the occult and anti-Christian sects from thevery beginning of the Christian era. The time has now come to enquirewhat part Jewish influence played meanwhile in revolutions. Merely toask the question is to bring on oneself the accusation of"anti-Semitism, " yet the Jewish writer Bernard Lazare has shown thefalseness of this charge:

 This [he writes] is what must separate the impartial historian from anti-Semitism. The anti-Semite says: "The Jew is the preparer, the machinator, the chief engineer of revolutions"; the impartial historian confines himself to studying the part which the Jew, considering his spirit, his character, the nature of his philosophy, and his religion, may have taken in revolutionary processes and movements. [455]

Lazare himself expresses the opinion, however, that--

 The complaint of the anti-Semites seems to be founded: the Jew has the revolutionary spirit; consciously or not he is an agent of revolution. Yet the complaint complicates itself, for anti-Semitism accuses the Jews of being the cause of revolutions. Let us examine what this accusation is worth.... [456]

In the light of our present knowledge it would certainly be absurd toascribe to the Jews the authorship of the conspiracy of Catiline or ofthe Gracchi, the rising of Jack Straw and Wat Tyler, Jack Cade'srebellion, the _jacqueries_ of France, or the Peasants' Wars in Germany, although historical research may lead in time to the discovery ofcertain occult influences--not necessarily Jewish--behind the Europeaninsurrections here referred to. Moreover, apart from grievances orother causes of rebellion, the revolutionary spirit has always existedindependently of the Jews. In all times and in all countries there havebeen men born to make trouble as the sparks fly upward. 

Nevertheless, in modern revolutions the part played by the Jews cannotbe ignored, and the influence they have exercised will be seen onexamination to have been twofold--financial and occult. Throughout theMiddle Ages it is as sorcerers and usurers that they incur thereproaches of the Christian world, and it is still in the same role, under the more modern terms of magicians and loan-mongers, that wedetect their presence behind the scenes of revolution from theseventeenth century onward. Wherever money was to be made out of socialor political upheavals, wealthy Jews have been found to back the winningside; and wherever the Christian races have turned against their owninstitutions, Jewish Rabbis, philosophers, professors, and occultistshave lent them their support. It was not then necessarily that Jewscreated these movements, but they knew how to make use of them for theirown ends. 

It is thus that in the Great Rebellion we find them not amongst theIronsides of Cromwell or the members of his State Council, butfurnishing money and information to the insurgents, acting as armycontractors, loan-mongers, and super-spies--or to use the moreeuphonious term of Mr. Lucien Wolf, as "political intelligencers" ofextraordinary efficiency. Thus Mr. Lucien Wolf, in referring toCarvajal, "the great Jew of the Commonwealth, " explains that "the wideramifications of his commercial transactions and his relations withother Crypto-Jews all over the world placed him in an unrivalledposition to obtain news of the enemies of the Commonwealth. "[457]

It is obvious that a "secret service" of this kind rendered the Jews aformidable hidden power, the more so since their very existence wasfrequently unknown to the rest of the population around them. Thisprecaution was necessary because Jews were not supposed to exist at thatdate in England. In 1290 Edward I had expelled them all, and for threeand a half centuries they had remained in exile; the Crypto-Jews orMarranos who had come over from Spain contrived, however, to remain inthe country by skilfully taking the colour of their surroundings. Mr. Wolf goes on to observe that Jewish services were regularly held in thesecret Synagogue, but "in public Carvajal and his friends followed thepractice of the secret Jews in Spain and Portugal, passing as RomanCatholics and regularly attending mass in the Spanish Ambassador'schapel. "[458] But when war between England and Spain rendered thisexpedient inadvisable, the Marranos threw off the disguise ofChristianity and proclaimed themselves followers of the Jewish faith. 

Now, just at this period the Messianic era was generally believed by theJews to be approaching, and it appears to have occurred to them thatCromwell might be fitted to the part. Consequently emissaries weredespatched to search the archives of Cambridge in order to discoverwhether the Protector could possibly be of Jewish descent. [459] Thisquest proving fruitless, the Cabalist Rabbi of Amsterdam, Manasseh benIsrael, [460] addressed a petition to Cromwell for the readmission of theJews to England, in which he adroitly insisted on the retribution thatovertakes those who afflict the people of Israel and the rewards thatawait those who "cherish" them. These arguments were not without effecton Cromwell, who entertained the same superstition, and although he issaid to have declined the Jews' offer to buy St. Paul's Cathedral andthe Bodleian Library because he considered the £500, 000 they offeredinadequate, [461] he exerted every effort to obtain their readmission tothe country. In this he encountered violent opposition, and it seemsthat Jews were not permitted to return in large numbers, or at any rateto enjoy full rights and privileges, until after the accession ofCharles II, who in his turn had enlisted their financial aid. [462]Later, in 1688, the Jews of Amsterdam helped with their credit theexpedition of William of Orange against James II; the former in returnbrought many Jews with him to England. So a Jewish writer is able toboast that "a Monarch reigned who was indebted to Hebrew gold for hisroyal diadem. "[463]

In all this it is impossible to follow any consecutive political plan;the rôle of the Jews seems to have been to support no cause consistentlybut to obtain a footing in every camp, to back any venture that offereda chance of profit. Yet mingled with these material designs were stilltheir ancient Messianic dreams. It is curious to note that the sameMessianic idea pervaded the Levellers, the rebels of the Commonwealth;such phrases as "Let Israel go free, " "Israel's restoration is nowbeginning, " recur frequently in the literature of the sect. GerardWinstanley, one of the two principal leaders, addressed an epistle to"the Twelve Tribes of Israel that are circumcised in heart and scatteredthrough all the Nations of the Earth, " and promised them "David theirKing that they have been waiting for. " The other leader of the movement, by name Everard, in fact declared, when summoned before the Lord Fairfaxat Whitehall, that "he was of the race of the Jews. "[464] It is truethat the Levellers were by profession Christian, but after the manner ofthe Bavarian Illuminati and of the Christian Socialists two centurieslater, claiming Christ as the author of their Communistic andequalitarian doctrines: "For Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all Men, isthe greatest, first, and truest Leveller that ever was spoken of in theworld. " The Levellers are said to have derived originally from theGerman Anabaptists; but Claudio Jannet, quoting German authorities, shows that there were Jews amongst the Anabaptists. "They were carriedaway by their hatred of the name of Christian and imagined that theirdreams of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel would be realizedamidst the conflagration. "[465] Whether this was so or not, it is clearthat by the middle of the seventeenth century the mystical ideas ofJudaism had penetrated into all parts of Europe. Was there then someCabalistic centre from which they radiated? Let us turn our eyeseastward and we shall see. 

Since the sixteenth century the great mass of Jewry had settled inPoland, and a succession of miracle-workers known by the name ofZaddikim or Ba'al Shems had arisen. The latter word, which signifies"Master of the Name, " originated with the German Polish Jews and wasderived from the Cabalistic belief in the miraculous use of the sacredname of Jehovah, known as the Tetragrammaton. 

According to Cabalistic traditions, certain Jews of peculiar sanctity orknowledge were able with impunity to make use of the Divine Name. ABa'al Shem was therefore one who had acquired this power and employed itin writing amulets, invoking spirits, and prescribing cures for variousdiseases. Poland and particularly Podolia--which had not yet been cededto Russia--became thus a centre of Cabalism where a series ofextraordinary movements of a mystical kind followed each other. In 1666, when the Messianic era was still believed to be approaching, the wholeJewish world was convulsed by the sudden appearance of Shabbethai Zebi, the son of a poulterer in Smyrna named Mordecai, who proclaimed himselfthe promised Messiah and rallied to his support a huge following notonly amongst the Jews of Palestine, Egypt, and Eastern Europe, but eventhe hard-headed Jews of the Continental bourses. [466] Samuel Pepys inhis Diary refers to the bets made amongst the Jews in London on thechances of "a certain person now in Smyrna" being acclaimed King of theWorld and the true Messiah. [467]

Shabbethai, who was an expert Cabalist and had the temerity to utter theIneffable Name Jehovah, was said to be possessed of marvellous powers, his skin exuded exquisite perfume, he indulged perpetually insea-bathing and lived in a state of chronic ecstasy. The pretensions ofShabbethai, who took the title of "King of the Kings of the Earth, "split Jewry in two; many Rabbis launched imprecations against him, andthose who had believed in him were bitterly disillusioned when, challenged by the Sultan to prove his claim to be the Messiah byallowing poisoned arrows to be shot at him, he suddenly renounced theJewish faith and proclaimed himself a Mohammedan. His conversion, however, appeared to be only partial, for "at times he would assume therôle of a pious Mohammedan and revile Judaism; at others he would enterinto relations with Jews as one of their own faith. "[468] By this meanshe retained the allegiance both of Moslems and of Jews. But the Rabbis, alarmed for the cause of Judaism, succeeded in obtaining hisincarceration by the Sultan in a castle near Belgrade, where he died ofcolic in 1676. [469]

This prosaic ending to the career of the Messiah did not, however, altogether extinguish the enthusiasm of his followers, and theShabbethan movement continued into the next century. In Poland Cabalismbroke out with renewed energy; fresh Zaddikim and Ba'al Shems arose, themost noted of these being Israel of Podolia, known as Ba'al Shem Tob, orby the initial letters of this name, Besht, who founded his sect ofHasidim in 1740. 

Besht, whilst opposing bigoted Rabbinism and claiming the Zohar as hisinspiration, did not, however, adhere strictly to the doctrine of theCabala that the universe was an emanation of God, but evolved a form ofPantheism, declaring that the whole universe was God, that even evilexists in God since evil is not bad in itself but only in its relationto Man; sin therefore has no positive existence. [470] As a result thefollowers of Besht, calling themselves the "New Saints, " and at hisdeath numbering no less than 40, 000, threw aside not only the preceptsof the Talmud, but all the restraints of morality and even decency. [471]

Another Ba'al Shem of the same period was Heilprin, alias Joel Ben Uriof Satanov, who, like Israel of Podolia, professed to perform miraclesby the use of the Divine Name and collected around him many pupils, who, on the death of their master, "formed a band of charlatans andshamelessly exploited the credulity of their contemporaries. "[472]

But the most important of these Cabalistic groups was that of theFrankists, who were sometimes known as the Zoharists or theIlluminated, [473] from their adherence to the Zohar or book of Light, orin their birthplace Podolia as the Shabbethan Zebists, from theirallegiance to the false Messiah of the preceding century--a heresy thathad been "kept alive in secret circles which had something akin to amasonic organization. "[474] The founder of this sect was Jacob Frank, abrandy distiller profoundly versed in the doctrines of the Cabala, whoin 1755 collected around him a large following in Podolia and lived in astyle of oriental magnificence, maintained by vast wealth of which noone ever discovered the source. The persecution to which he wassubjected by the Rabbis led the Catholic clergy to champion his cause, whereupon Frank threw himself on the mercy of the Bishop of Kaminick, and publicly burnt the Talmud, declaring that he recognized only theZohar, which, he alleged, admitted the doctrine of the Trinity. Thus theZoharists "claimed that they regarded the Messiah-Deliverer as one ofthe three divinities, but failed to state that by the Messiah they meantShabbethai Zebi. "[475] The Bishop was apparently deceived by thismanoeuvre, and in 1759 the Zoharites declared themselves converted toChristianity, and were baptized, including Frank himself, who took thename of Joseph. "The insincerity of the Frankists soon became apparent, however, for they continued to inter-marry only among themselves andheld Frank in reverence, calling him 'The Holy Master. '"[476] It soonbecame evident that, whilst openly embracing the Catholic faith, theyhad in reality retained their secret Judaism. [477] Moreover, it wasdiscovered that Frank endeavoured to pass as a Mohammedan in Turkey; "hewas therefore arrested in Warsaw and delivered to the Church tribunal onthe charge of feigned conversion to Christianity and the spreading of apernicious heresy. "[478] Unlike his predecessor in apostasy, ShabbethaiZebi, Frank, however, came to no untimely end, but after his releasefrom prison continued to prey on the credulity of Christians andfrequently travelled to Vienna with his daughter, Eve, who succeeded induping the pious Maria Theresa. But here also "the sectarian plans ofFrank were found out, "[479] and he was obliged to leave Austria. Finally he settled at Offenbach and supported by liberal subsidies fromthe other Jews, he resumed his former splendour[480]

 with a retinue of several hundred beautiful Jewish youth of both sexes; carts containing treasure were reported to be perpetually brought in to him, chiefly from Poland--he went out daily in great state to perform his devotions in the open field--he rode in a chariot drawn by noble horses; ten or twelve Hulans in red or green uniform, glittering with gold, by his side, with pikes in their hands and crests on their caps, eagles, or stags, or the sun and moon.... His followers believed him immortal, but in 1791 he died; his burial was as splendid as his mode of living--800 persons followed him to the grave. [481]

Now, it is impossible to study the careers of these magicians in Polandand Germany without being reminded of their counterparts in France. Thefamily likeness between the "Baron von Offenbach, " the "Comte deSaint-Germain" and the "Comte de Cagliostro" is at once apparent. Allclaimed to perform miracles, all lived with extraordinary magnificenceon wealth derived from an unknown source, one was certainly a Jew, theother two were believed to be Jews, and all were known to be Cabalists. Moreover, all three spent many years in Germany, and it was whilst Frankwas living as Baron von Offenbach close to Frankfurt that Cagliostro wasreceived into the Order of the Stricte Observance in a subterraneanchamber a few miles from that city. Earlier in his career he was knownto have visited Poland, whence Frank derived. Are we to believe that allthese men, so strangely alike in their careers, living at the same timeand in the same places, were totally unconnected? It is a merecoincidence that this group of Jewish Cabalist miracle-workers shouldhave existed in Germany and Poland at the precise moment that theCabalist magicians sprang up in France? Is it again a coincidence thatMartines Pasqually founded his "Kabbalistic sect" of Illuminés in 1754and Jacob Frank his sect of Zoharites (or Illuminated) in 1755?

Moreover, when we know from purely Jewish sources that the Ba'al ShemHeilprin had many pupils "who formed a band of charlatans whoshamelessly exploited the credulity of their contemporaries, " that theBa'al Shem Tob and Jacob Frank both had large followings, it is surelyhere that we may find the origin of those mysterious magicians whospread themselves over Europe at this date. 

It will at once be asked: "But what proof is there that any one of theseBa'al Shems or Cabalists was connected with masonic or secretsocieties?" The answer is that the most important Ba'al Shem of the day, known as "the Chief of all the Jews, " is shown by documentary evidenceto have been an initiate of Freemasonry and in direct contact with theleaders of the secret societies. If then it is agreed that neitherSaint-Germain nor Cagliostro can be proved to have been Jews, here wehave a man concerned in the movement, more important than either, whosenationality admits of no doubt whatever. 

This extraordinary personage, known as the "Ba'al Shem of London, " was aCabalistic Jew named Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk, also called Dr. Falk, Falc, de Falk, or Falkon, born in 1708, probably in Podolia. The furtherfact that he was regarded by his fellow-Jews as an adherent of theMessiah Shabbethai Zebi clearly shows his connexion with the PodolianZoharites. Falk was thus not an isolated phenomenon, but a member of oneof the groups described in the foregoing pages. The following is asummary of the account given of the Ba'al Shem of London in the _JewishEncyclopedia_:

 Falk claimed to possess thaumaturgic powers and to be able to discover hidden treasure. Archenholz (_England und Italien_, I. 249) recounts certain marvels which he had seen performed by Falk in Brunswick and which he attributes to a special knowledge of chemistry. In Westphalia at one time Falk was sentenced to be burned as a sorcerer, but escaped to England. Here he was received with hospitality and rapidly gained fame as a Cabalist and worker of miracles. Many stories of his powers were current. He would cause a small taper to remain alight for weeks; an incantation would fill his cellar with coal; plate left with a pawnbroker would glide back into his house. When a fire threatened to destroy the Great Synagogue, he averted the disaster by writing four Hebrew letters on the pillars of the door. [482] [Obviously the Tetragrammaton. ]

On his arrival in London in 1742 Falk appeared to be without means, butsoon after he was seen to be in possession of considerable wealth, living in a comfortable house in Wellclose Square, where he had hisprivate synagogue, whilst gold and silver plate adorned his table. HisJournal, still preserved in the library of the United Synagogue, contains references to "mysterious journeyings" to and from EppingForest, to meetings, a meeting-chamber in the forest, and chests of goldthere buried. It was said that on one occasion when he was drivingthither along Whitechapel Road, a back wheel of his carriage came off, which alarmed the coachman, but Falk ordered him to drive on and thewheel followed the carriage all the way to the forest. 

The stories of Falk's miraculous powers are too numerous to relate here, but a letter written by an enthusiastic Jewish admirer, SussmanShesnowzi, to his son in Poland will serve to show the reputation heenjoyed:

 Hear, my beloved son, of the marvellous gifts entrusted to a son of man, who verily is not a man, a light of the captivity ... A holy light, a saintly man ... Who dwells at present in the great city of London. Albeit I could not fully understand him on account of his volubility and his speaking as an inhabitant of Jerusalem.... His chamber is lighted by silver candlesticks on the walls, with a central eight-branched lamp made of pure silver of beaten work. And albeit it contained oil to burn a day and a night it remained enkindled for three weeks. On one occasion he abode in seclusion in his house for six weeks without meat and drink. When at the conclusion of this period ten persons were summoned to enter, they found him seated on a sort of throne, his head covered with a golden turban, a golden chain round his neck with a pendant silver star on which sacred names were inscribed. Verily this man stands alone in his generation by reason of his knowledge of holy mysteries. I cannot recount to you all the wonders he accomplishes. I am grateful, in that I am found worthy to be received among those who dwell within the shadow of his wisdom.... I know that many will believe my words, but others, who do not occupy themselves with mysteries, will laugh thereat. Therefore, my son, be very circumspect, and show this only to wise and discreet men. For here in London this master has not been disclosed to anyone who does not belong to our Brotherhood. 

The esteem in which Falk was held by the Jewish community, including theChief Rabbi and the Rabbi of the new Synagogue, appears to have rousedthe resentment of his co-religionist Emden, who denounced him as afollower of the false Messiah and an exploiter of Christian credulity. 

 Falk [he wrote in a letter to Poland] had made his position by his pretence to be an adept in practical Cabala, by which means he professed to be able to discover hidden treasures; by his pretensions he had entrapped a wealthy captain whose fortune he had cheated him out of, so that he was reduced to depending on the Rabbi's charity, and yet, despite this, wealthy Christians spend their money on him, whilst Falk spends his bounty on the men of his Brotherhood so that they may spread his fame. 

In general Falk appears to have displayed extreme caution in hisrelations with Christian seekers after occult knowledge, for the _JewishEncyclopædia_ goes on to say: "Archenholz mentions a royal prince whoapplied to Falk in his quest for the philosopher's stone, but was deniedadmittance. " Nevertheless Hayyum Azulai mentions (Ma'gal Tob, p. 13_b_):

 That when in Paris in 1778 he was told by the Marchesa de Crona that the Ba'al Shem of London had taught her the Cabala. Falk seems also to have been on intimate terms with that strange adventurer Baron Theodor de Neuhoff.... Falk's principal friends were the London bankers Aaron Goldsmid and his son. [483] Pawnbroking and successful speculation enabled him to acquire a considerable fortune. He left large sums of money to charity, and the overseers of the United Synagogue in London still distribute annually certain payments left by him for the poor. 

Nothing of all this would lead one to suppose that Falk could beregarded in the light of a black magician; it is therefore surprising tofind Dr. Adler observing that a horrible account of a Jewish Cabalist in_The Gentleman's Magazine_ for September 1762 "obviously refers to Dr. Falk, though his name is not mentioned. "[484] This man is described as"a christened Jew and the biggest rogue and villain in all the world, "who "had been imprisoned everywhere and banished out of all countries inGermany, and also sometimes publicly whipped, so that his back lost allthe old skin, and became new again, and yet left never off from hisvillainies, but grew always worse. " The writer goes on to relate thatthe Cabalist offered to teach him certain mysteries, but explained thatbefore entering on any "experiments of the said godly mysteries, wemust first avoid all churches and places of worshipping as unclean"; hethen bound his initiate by a very strong oath and proceeded to tell himthat he must steal a Hebrew Bible from a Protestant and also procure"one pound of blood out of the veins of an honest Protestant. " Theinitiate thereupon robbed a Protestant of all his effects, but hadhimself bled of about three-quarters of a pound of blood, which he gaveto the magician. He thus describes the ceremony that took place:

 Then the next night about 11 o'clock, we both went into the garden of my own, and the cabalist put a cross, tainted with my blood, in each corner of the garden, and in the middle of the garden a threefold circle ... In the first circle were written all the names of God in Hebrew; in the second all the names of the angels; and in the third the first chapter of the holy Gospel of St. John, and it was all written with my blood. 

The cruelties then performed by the Cabalist on a he-goat are tooloathsome to transcribe. The whole story, indeed, appears a farrago ofnonsense and would not be worth quoting but for the fact that it appearsto be taken seriously by Dr. Adler as a description of the great Ba'alShem. 

The death of Falk took place on April 17, 1782, and the epitaph on hisgrave in the cemetery at Globe Road, Mile End, "bears witness to hisexcellencies and orthodoxy": "Here is interred ... The aged andhonourable man, a great personage who came from the East, anaccomplished sage, an adept in Cabbalah.... His name was known to theends of the earth and distant isles, " etc. 

This then is surely the portrait of a most remarkable personage, a manknown for his powers in England, France, and Germany, visited by a royalprince in search of the philosopher's stone, and acclaimed by one of hisown race as standing alone in his generation by reason of his knowledge, yet whilst Saint-Germain and Cagliostro figure in every account ofeighteenth-century magicians, it is only in exclusively Judaic ormasonic works, not intended for the general public, that we shall findany reference to Falk. Have we not here striking evidence of the truthof M. André Baron's dictum: "Remember that the constant rule of thesecret societies is that the real authors never show themselves"?

It will now be asked: what proof is there that Falk is connected withany masonic or secret societies? True, in the accounts given by the_Jewish Encyclopædia_, the word Freemasonry is not once mentioned. Butin the curious portrait of the great Ba'al Shem appended, we see himholding in his hand the pair of compasses, and before him, on the tableat which he is seated, the double triangle or Seal of Solomon knownamongst Jews as "the Shield of David, " which forms an important emblemin Masonry. 

Moreover, it is significant to find in the _Royal Masonic Encyclopædia_by the Rosicrucian Kenneth Mackenzie that a long and detailed article isdevoted to Falk, though again without any reference to his connexionwith Freemasonry. May we not conclude that in certain inner masoniccircles the importance of Falk is recognized but must not be revealed tothe uninitiated? Mr. Gordon Hills, in the above-quoted paper contributedto the _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, indulges in some innocent speculationas to the part Falk may have played in the masonic movement. "If, " heobserves, "Jewish Brethren did introduce Cabalistical learning into theso-called High Degrees, here we have one, who, if a Mason, would havebeen eminently qualified to do so. "

Falk inded was far more than a Mason, he was a high initiate--thesupreme oracle to which the secret societies applied for guidance. Allthis was disclosed a few years ago in the correspondence betweenSavalette de Langes and the Marquis de Chefdebien referred to in theprevious chapter. Thus in the _dossiers_ of the leading occultistssupplied by Savalette we find the following note on the Ba'al Shem ofLondon:

 This Doctor Falk is known to many Germans. He is a very extraordinary man from every point of view. Some people believe him to be the Chief of all the Jews and attribute to purely political schemes all that is marvellous and singular in his life and conduct. He is referred to in a very curious manner, and as a Rose-Croix in the _Memoirs of the Chevalier de Rampsow_ (i. E. Rentzov). He has had adventures with the Maréchal de Richelieu, great seeker of the Philosophers' Stone. He had a strange history with the Prince de Rohan Guéménée and the Chevalier de Luxembourg relating to Louis XV, whose death he foretold. He is almost inaccessible. In all the sects of savants in secret sciences he passes as a superior man. He is at present in England. The Baron de Gleichen can give good information about him. Try to get more at Frankfurt. [485]

Again, in notes on other personages the name of Falk recurs with thesame insistence on his importance as a high initiate:

 Leman, pupil of Falk.... 

 The Baron de Gleichen ... Intimately connected with Wecter [Waechter] and Wakenfeldt.... He knows Falk.... 

 The Baron de Waldenfels ... Is, according to what I know from the Baron de Gleichen, the princes of Daimstadt, ... And others, the most interesting man for you and me to know. If we made his acquaintance, he could give us the best information on all the most interesting objects of instiuction. He knows Falk and Wecter. 

Prince Louis d'Haimstadt ... Is also a member of the Amis Réunis, 12°and in charge of the Directories. He worked in his youth with a Jew whomhe believes to be taught by Falk.... [486]

Here, then, behind the organization of the Stricte Observance, of theAmis Réunis, and the Philalèthes, we catch a glimpse at last of one ofthose _real initiates_ whose identity has been so carefully kept dark. For Falk, as we see in these notes, was not an isolated sage; he hadpupils, and to be one of these was to be admitted to the innermysteries. Was Cagliostro one of these adepts? Is it here we may seekthe explanation of the "Egyptian Rite" devised by him in London, and ofhis chance discovery on a bookstall in that city of a Cabalisticdocument by the mysterious "George Cofton, " whose identity has neverbeen revealed? I would suggest that the whole story of the bookstall wasa fable and that it was not from any manuscript, but from Falk, thatCagliostro received his directions. Thus Cagliostro's rite was inreality concealed Cabalism. 

That Falk was only one of several Concealed Superiors is furthersuggested by the intriguing correspondence of Savalette de Langes. "Schroeder, " we read, "had for his master an old man of Suabia, " by whomthe Baron de Waechter was also said to have been instructed in Masonry, and to have become one of the most important initiates of Germany. Accordingly de Waechter was despatched by his Order to Florence in orderto make enquiries on further secrets and on certain famous treasuresabout which Schroepfer, the Baron de Hundt, and others, had heard thatAprosi, the secretary of the Pretender, could give them information. Waechter, however, wrote to say that all they had been told on thelatter point was fabulous, but that he had met in Florence certain"Brothers of the Holy Land, " who had initiated him into marvelloussecrets; one in particular who is described as "a man who is not aEuropean" had "perfectly instructed him. " Moreover, de Waechter, who hadset forth poor, returned loaded with riches attributed by hisfellow-masons to the "Asiatic Brethren" he had frequented in Florencewho possessed the art of making gold. [487] I would suggest then thatthese were the members of the "Italian Order" referred to by Mr. Tuckett, which, like Schroepfer and de Hundt, he imagined to have beenconnected with the Jacobites. 

But all these secret sources of instruction are wrapped in mystery. Whilst Saint-Germain and Cagliostro--who is referred to in thiscorrespondence in terms of light derision--emerge into the limelight, the real initiates remain concealed in the background. Falk "is almostinaccessible!" Yet one more almost forgotten document of the period maythrow some light on the important part he played behind the scenes inMasonry. 

It may be remembered that Archenholz had spoken of certain marvels hehad seen performed by Falk in Brunswick. Now, in 1770 the German poetGotthold Ephraim Lessing was made librarian to the Duke of Brunswick inthat city. The fame of Falk may then have reached his ears. At any ratein 1771 Lessing, after having mocked at Freemasonry, was initiated in amasonic lodge at Hamburg, and in 1778 he published not only his famousmasonic drama _Nathan der Weise_, in which the Jew of Jerusalem is shownin admirable contrast to the Christians and Mohammedans, but he alsowrote five dialogues on Freemasonry which he dedicated to the Duke ofBrunswick, Grand Master of all the German Lodges, and which he entitled"_Ernst und Falk: Gespräche fur Freimaurer_. "[488]

Lessing's friendship with Moses Mendelssohn has led to the populartheory, unsupported however by any real evidence, that the Jewishphilosopher of Berlin provided the inspiration for the character ofNathan, but might it not equally have been provided by themiracle-worker of Brunswick? However, in the case of the dialogues lessroom is left for doubt. Falk is mentioned by name and represented asinitiated into the highest mysteries of Freemasonry. This is of coursenot explained by Lessing's commentators, who give no clue to hisidentity. [489] It is evident that Lessing committed an enormous blunderin thus letting so important a cat out of the bag, for after thepublication of the first three dialogues and whilst the last two werecirculating privately in manuscript amongst the Freemasons, an orderfrom the Duke of Brunswick forbade their publication as dangerous. Inspite of this prohibition, the rest of the series was printed, howeverwithout Lessing's permission, in 1870 with a preface by an unknownperson describing himself as a non-mason. 

The dialogues between Ernst and Falk throw a curious light on theinfluences at work behind Freemasonry at this period and gain immenselyin interest when the identity of the two men in question is understood. Thus Ernst, by whom Lessing evidently represents himself, is at thebeginning not a Freemason, and, whilst sitting with Falk in a wood, questions the high initiate on the aims of the Order. Falk explains thatFreemasonry has always existed, but not under this name. Its realpurpose has never been revealed. On the surface it appears to be apurely philanthropic association, but in reality philanthropy forms nopart of its scheme, its object being to bring about a state of thingswhich will render philanthropy unnecessary. (_Was man gemeinlich guteThaten zu nennen pflegt entbehrlich zu machen_. ) As an illustration Falkpoints to an ant-heap at the foot of the tree beneath which the two menare seated. "Why, " he asks, "should not human beings exist withoutgovernment like the ants or bees?" Falk then goes on to describe hisidea of a Universal State, or rather a federation of States, in whichmen will no longer be divided by national, social, or religiousprejudices, and where greater equality will exist. 

At the end of the third dialogue an interval occurs during which Ernstgoes away and becomes a Freemason, but on his return expresses hisdisappointment to Falk at finding many Freemasons engaged in suchfutilities as alchemy or the evocation of spirits. Others again seek torevive the * * *. Falk replies that although the great secrets ofFreemasonry cannot be revealed by any man even if he wished it, onething, however, has been kept dark which should now be made public, andthis is the relationship between the Freemasons and the * * *. "The* * * were in fact the Freemasons of their time. " It seems probable fromthe context and from Falk's references to Sir Christopher Wren as thefounder of the modern Order, that the asterisks denote the Rosicrucians. 

The most interesting point of these dialogues is, however, the hintcontinually thrown out by Falk that there is something behindFreemasonry, something far older and far wider in its aims than theOrder now known by this name--the modern Freemasons are for the mostpart only "playing at it. " Thus, when Ernst complains that trueequality has not been attained in the lodges since Jews are notadmitted, Falk observes that he himself does not attend them, that trueFreemasonry does not exist in outward forms--"A lodge bears the samerelation to Freemasonry as a church to belief. " In other words, the realinitiates do not appear upon the scene. Here then we see the role of the"Concealed Superiors. " What wonder that Lessing's dialogues wereconsidered too dangerous for publication!

Moreover, in Falk's conception of the ideal social order and hisindictment of what he calls "bourgeois society" we find the clue tomovements of immense importance. Has not the system of the ant-heap orthe beehive proved, as I have pointed out elsewhere, the model on whichmodern Anarchists, from Proudhon onwards, have formed their schemes forthe reorganization of human life? Has not the idea of the "WorldState, " "The Universal Republic" become the war-cry of theInternationalist Socialists, the Grand Orient Masons, the Theosophists, and the world-revolutionaries of our own day?

Was Falk, then, a revolutionary? This again will be disputed. Falk mayhave been a Cabalist, a Freemason, a high initiate, but what proof isthere that he had any connexion with the leaders of the FrenchRevolution? Let us turn again to the _Jewish Encyclopædia_:

 Falk ... Is ... Believed to have given the Duc d'Orléans, to ensure his succession to the throne, a talisman consisting of a ring, which Philippe Egalité before mounting the scaffold is said to have sent to a Jewess, Juliet Goudchaux, who passed it on to his son, subsequently Louis Philippe. 

The Baron de Gleichen, who "knew Falc, " refers to a talisman oflapis-lazuli which the Due d'Orleans had received in England from "thecelebrated Falk Scheck, first Rabbi of the Jews, " and says that acertain occultist, Madame de la Croix, imagined she had destroyed it by"the power of prayer. " But the theory of its survival is furtherconfirmed by the information supplied from Jewish sources to Mr. GordonHills, who states that Falk was "in touch with the French Court in theperson of 'Prince Emanuel, '[490] whom he describes as a servant of theKing of France, " and adds that the talismanic ring which he gave to theDue d'Orleans "is still in the possession of the family, having passedto King Louis Philippe and thence to the Comte de Paris. "[491]

One fact, then, looms out of the darkness that envelops the secret powerbehind the Orléanist conspiracy, one fact of supreme importance, andbased moreover on purely Jewish evidence: the Duke was in touch withFalk when in London and Falk supported his scheme of usurpation. Thusbehind the arch-conspirator of the revolution stood "the Chief of allthe Jews. " Is it here perhaps, in Falk's "chests of gold, " that we mightfind the source of some of those loans raised in London by the Dued'Orléans to finance the riots of the Revolution, so absurdly describedas "l'or de Pitt"?

The direct connexion between the attack on the French monarchy andJewish circles in London is further shown by the curious sequel to theGordon Riots. In 1780 the half-witted Lord George Gordon (as a Jewishwriter describes him), the head of the so-called "Protestant" mob, marched on the House of Commons to protest against the bill for therelief of Roman Catholic disabilities and then proceeded to carry outhis plan of burning down London. During the five days' rioting thatensued, property to the amount of £180, 000 was destroyed. After this"the scion of the ducal house of Gordon proved the durability of hislove for Protestantism by professing the Hebrew faith, " and was receivedwith the highest honours into the Synagogue. The same Jewish writer, whohas described him earlier as half-witted, quotes this panegyric on hisorthodoxy: "He was very regular in his Jewish observances; every morninghe was seen with the philacteries between his eyes, and opposite hisheart.... His Saturday's bread was baked according to the manner of theJews, his wine was Jewish, his meat was Jewish, and he was the best Jewin the congregation of Israel. " And it was immediately after hisconversion to Judaism that he published in _The Public Advertiser_ thelibel against Marie Antoinette which brought about his imprisonment inNewgate. [492]

Now we know that Lord George Gordon met Cagliostro in London in1786. [493] Is it not probable that the author of the scurrilous pamphletand the magician concerned in the attack on the Queen's honour throughthe Affair of the Necklace--one a--Jew by profession, the other said tobe a Jew by race--may have had some connexion with Philippe Egalité'sJewish supporter, the miracle worker of Wellclose Square?

But already a vaster genius than Falk or Cagliostro, than Pasqually orSavalette de Langes, had arisen, who, gathering into his hands thethreads of all the conspiracies, was able to weave them together into agigantic scheme for the destruction of France and of the world. 

9

The Bavarian Illuminati

The question of the system to which I shall henceforth refer simply asIlluminism is of such immense importance to an understanding of themodern revolutionary movement that, although I have already described itin detail in _World Revolution_, it is necessary to devote a furtherchapter to it here in order to answer the objections made against myformer account of the Order and also to show its connexion with earliersecret societies. 

Now, the main contentions of those writers who, either consciously orunconsciously, attempt to mislead the public on the true nature and realexistence of Illuminism are:

Firstly, that the case against Illuminism rests solely on the works ofRobison, and of Barruel and later Catholic authorities. 

Secondly, that all these writers misinterpreted or misquoted theIlluminati, who should be judged only by their own works. 

Thirdly, that in reality the Illuminati were perfectly innocuous andeven praiseworthy. 

Fourthly, that they are of no importance, since they ceased to exist in1786. 

In the present chapter I propose therefore to answer all thesecontentions in turn and at the same time to make further examinationinto the origins of the Order. 

Origins of the Illuminati

That Weishaupt was not the originator of the system he named Illuminismwill be already apparent to every reader of the present work; it hasneeded, in fact, all the foregoing chapters to trace the source ofWeishaupt's doctrines throughout the history of the world. From these itwill be evident that men aiming at the overthrow of the existing socialorder and of all accepted religion had existed from the earliest times, and that in the Cainites, the Carpocratians, the Manichæns, theBatinis, the Fatimites, and the Karmathites many of Weishaupt's ideashad already been foreshadowed. To the Manichæans, in fact, the word"Illuminati" may be traced--"gloriantur Manichæi se de caeloilluminatos. "[494]

It is in the sect of Abdullah ibn Maymūn that we must seek the modelfor Weishaupt's system of organization. Thus de Sacy has described inthe following words the manner of enlisting proselytes by the Ismailis:

 They proceeded to the admission and initiation of new proselytes only by degrees and with great reserve; for, as the sect had at the same time a political object and ambitions, its interest was above all to have a great number of partisans in all places and in all classes of society. It was necessary therefore to suit themselves to the character, the temperament, and the prejudices of the greater number; what one revealed to some would have revolted others and alienated for ever spirits less bold and consciences more easily alarmed. [495]

This passage exactly describes the methods laid down by Weishaupt forhis "Insinuating Brothers"--the necessity of proceeding with caution inthe enlisting of adepts, of not revealing to the novice doctrines thatmight be likely to revolt him, of "speaking sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, so that one's real purpose should remainimpenetrable" to members of the inferior grades. 

How did these Oriental methods penetrate to the Bavarian professor?According to certain writers, through the Jesuits. The fact thatWeishaupt had been brought up by this Order has provided the enemies ofthe Jesuits with the argument that they were the secret inspirers of theIlluminati. Mr. Gould, indeed, has attributed most of the errors of thelatter to this source; Weishaupt, he writes, incurred "the implacableenmity of the Jesuits, to whose intrigues he was incessantly exposed. "[496]In reality precisely the opposite was the case, for, as we shallsee, it was Weishaupt who perpetually intrigued against the Jesuits. That Weishaupt did, however, draw to a certain extent on Jesuit methodsof training is recognized even by Barruel, himself a Jesuit, who, quoting Mirabeau, says that Weishaupt "admired above all those laws, that _régime_ of the Jesuits, which, under one head, made men dispersedover the universe tend towards the same goal; he felt that one couldimitate their methods whilst holding views diametrically opposed. "[497]And again, on the evidence of Mirabeau, de Luchet, and von Knigge, Barruel says elsewhere: "It is here that Weishaupt appears specially tohave wished to assimilate the régime of the sect to that of thereligious orders and, above all, that of the Jesuits, by the totalabandonment of their own will and judgement which he demands of hisadepts ... " But Barruel goes on to show "the enormous difference that isto be found between religious obedience and Illuminist obedience. " Inevery religious order men know that the voice of their conscience and oftheir God is even more to be obeyed than that of their superiors. 

 There is not a single one who, in the event that his superiors should order him to do things contrary to the duties of a Christian or of a good man, would not see an exception to be made to the obedience which he has sworn. This exception is often expressed and always clearly announced in all religious institutions; it is above all formal and positively repeated many times in that of the Jesuits. They are ordered to obey their superiors, but it is in the event that they see no sin in obeying, _ubi non cerneretur peccatum (Constitution des Jesuites_, part 3, chapter I, parag. 2, vol. I. , édition de Prague). [498]

Indeed, implicit obedience and the total surrender of one's own will andjudgement forms the foundation of all military discipline; "theirs notto reason why, theirs not to make reply" is everywhere recognized as theduty of soldiers. The Jesuits being in a sense a military Order, acknowledging a General at their head, are bound by the same obligation. Weishaupt's system was something totally different. For whilst allsoldiers and all Jesuits, when obeying their superiors, are well awareof the goal towards which they are tending, Weishaupt's followers wereenlisted by the most subtle methods of deception and led on towards agoal entirely unknown to them. It is this that, as we shall see later, constitutes the whole difference between honest and dishonest secretsocieties. The fact is that the accusation of Jesuit intrigue behindsecret societies has emanated principally from the secret societiesthemselves and would appear to have been a device adopted by them tocover their own tracks. No good evidence has ever been brought forwardin support of their contention. The Jesuits, unlike the Templars andthe Illuminati, were simply suppressed in 1773 without the formality ofa trial, and were therefore never given the opportunity to answer thecharges brought against them, nor, as in the case of these other Orders, were their secret statutes--if any such existed--brought to light. Theonly document ever produced in proof of these accusations was the"Monita Secreta, " long since shown to be a forgery. At any rate, thecorrespondence of the Illuminati provides their best exoneration. TheMarquis de Luchet, who was no friend of the Jesuits, shows the absurdityof confounding their aims with those of either the Freemasons or theIlluminati, and describes all three as animated by wholly differentpurposes. [499]

In all these questions it is necessary to seek a motive. I have nopersonal interest in defending the Jesuits, but I ask: what motive couldthe Jesuits have in forming or supporting a conspiracy directed againstall thrones and altars? It has been answered me that the Jesuits at thisperiod cared nothing for thrones and altars, but only for temporalpower; yet--even accepting this unwarrantable hypothesis--how was thispower to be exercised except through thrones and altars? Was it notthrough princes and the Church that the Jesuits had been able to bringtheir influence to bear on affairs of state? In an irreligious Republic, as events afterwards proved, the power of the whole clergy was bound tobe destroyed. The truth is then, that, far from abetting the Illuminati, the Jesuits were their most formidable opponents, the only body of mensufficiently learned, astute, and well organized to outwit the schemesof Weishaupt. In suppressing the Jesuits it is possible that the OldRégime removed the only barrier capable of resisting the tide ofrevolution. 

Weishaupt indeed, as we know, detested the Jesuits, [500] and took fromthem only certain methods of discipline, of ensuring obedience or ofacquiring influence over the minds of his disciples; his aims wereentirely different. 

Where, then, did Weishaupt find his immediate inspiration? It is herethat Barruel and Lecouteulx de Canteleu provide a clue not to bediscovered in other sources. In 1771, they relate, a certain Jutlandmerchant named Kölmer, who had spent many years in Egypt, returned toEurope in search of converts to a secret doctrine founded on Manichæismthat he had learnt in the East. On his way to France he stopped atMalta, where he met Cagliostro and nearly brought about an insurrectionamongst the people. Kölmer was therefore driven out of the island by theKnights of Malta and betook himself to Avignon and Lyons. Here he made afew disciples amongst the Illuminés and in the same year went on toGermany, where he encountered Weishaupt and initiated him into all themysteries of his secret doctrine. According to Barruel, Weishaupt thenspent five years thinking out his system, which he founded under thename of Illuminati on May 1, 1776, and assumed the "illuminated" name of"Spartacus. "

Kölmer remains the most mysterious of all the mystery men of his day; atfirst sight one is inclined to wonder whether he may not have beenanother of the Cabalistic Jews acting as the secret inspirers of themagicians who appeared in the limelight. The name Kölmer might easilyhave been a corruption of the well-known Jewish name Calmer. Lecouteulxde Canteleu, however, suggests that Kölmer was identical with Altolas, described by Figuier as "this universal genius, almost divine, of whomCagliostro has spoken to us with so much respect and admiration. ThisAltotas was not an imaginary personage. The Inquisition of Rome hascollected many proofs of his existence without having been able todiscover when it began or ended, for Altotas disappears, or rathervanishes like a meteor, which, according to the poetic fancy ofromancers, would authorize us in declaring him immortal. "[501] It iscurious to notice that modern occultists, whilst attributing so muchimportance to Saint-Germain and the legend of his immortality, make nomention of Altotas, who appears to have been a great deal moreremarkable. But, again, we must remember: "It is the unvarying rule ofsecret societies that the real authors never show themselves. " If, then, Kölmer was the same person as Altotas, he would appear not to have beena Jew or a Cabalist, but an initiate of some Near Eastern secretsociety--possibly an Ismaili. Lecouteulx de Canteleu describes Altotasas an Armenian, and says that his system was derived from those ofEgypt, Syria, and Persia. This would accord with Barruel's statementthat Kölmer came from Egypt, and that his ideas were founded onManichæism. 

It would be necessary to set these statements aside as only thetheories of Barruel or Lecouteulx, were it not that the writings of theIlluminati betray the influence of some sect akin to Manichæism. Thus"Spartacus" writes to "Cato" that he is thinking of "warming up the oldsystem of the Ghebers and Parsees, "[502] and it will be remembered thatthe Ghebers were one of the sects in which Dozy relates that Abdullahibn Maymūn found his true supporters. Later Weishaupt goes on toexplain that--

 The allegory in which the Mysteries and Higher Grades must be clothed is Fire Worship and the whole philosophy of Zoroaster or of the old Parsees who nowadays only remain in India; therefore in the further degrees the Order is called "Fire Worship" (Feuer-dienst), the "Fire Order, " or the "Persian Order"--that is, something magnificent beyond all expectation. [503]

At the same time the Persian calendar was adopted by theIlluminati. [504]

It is evident that this pretence of Zoroastrianism was as pure humbug asWeishaupt's later pretence of Christianity; of the true doctrines ofZoroaster he shows no conception--nor does he insist further on thepoint; but the above passage would certainly lend colour to the theorythat his system was partly founded on Manichæism, that is to say, onperverted Zoroastrianism, imparted to him by a man from the East, andthat the methods of the Batinis and Fatimites may have been communicatedto him through the same channel. Hence the extraordinary resemblancebetween his plan of organization and that of Abdullah ibn Maymūn, which consisted in political intriguing rather than in esotericspeculation. Thus in Weishaupt's system the phraseology of Judaism, theCabalistic legends of Freemasonry, the mystical imaginings of theMartinistes, play at first no part at all. For all forms of "theosophy, "occultism, spiritualism, and magic Weishaupt expresses nothing butcontempt, and the Rose-Croix masons are bracketed with the Jesuits bythe Illuminati as enemies it is necessary to outwit at every turn. [505]Consequently no degree of Rose-Croix finds a place in Weishaupt'ssystem, as in all the other masonic orders of the day which drew theirinfluence from Eastern or Cabalistic sources. 

It is true that "Mysteries" play a great part in the phraseology of theOrder--"Greater and Lesser Mysteries, " borrowed from ancientEgypt--whilst the higher initiates are decorated with such titles as"Epopte" and "Hierophant, " taken from the Eleusinian Mysteries. YetWeishaupt's own theories appear to bear no relation whatever to theseancient cults. On the contrary, the more we penetrate into his system, the more apparent it becomes that all the formulas he employs whichderive from any religious source--whether Persian, Egyptian, orChristian--merely serve to disguise a purely material purpose, a planfor destroying the existing order of society. Thus all that was reallyancient in Illuminism was the destructive spirit that animated it andalso the method of organization it had imported from the East. Illuminism therefore marks an entirely new departure in the history ofEuropean secret societies. Weishaupt himself indicates this as one ofthe great secrets of the Order. "Above all, " he writes to "Cato" (aliasZwack), "guard the origin and the novelty of ⊙ in the most carefulway. "[506] "The greatest mystery, " he says again, "must be that thething is new; the fewer who know this the better.... Not one of theEichstadters knows this but would live or die for it that the thing isas old as Methuselah. "[507]

This pretence of having discovered some fund of ancient wisdom is theinvariable ruse of secret society adepts; the one thing never admittedis the identity of the individuals from whom one is receiving direction. Weishaupt himself declares that he has got it all out of books by meansof arduous and unremitting labour. "What it costs me to read, study, think, write, cross out, and re-write!" he complains to Marius andCato. [508] Thus, according to Weishaupt the whole system is the work ofhis own unaided genius, and the supreme direction remains in his handsalone. Again and again he insists on this point in his correspondence. 

If this were indeed the case, Weishaupt--in view of the efficiencyachieved by the Order--must have been a genius of the first water, andit is difficult to understand why so remarkable a man should not havedistinguished himself on other lines, but have remained almost unknownto posterity. It would therefore appear possible that Weishaupt, although undoubtedly a man of immense organizing capacity and endowedwith extraofdinary subtlety, was not in reality the sole author ofIlluminism, but one of a group, which, recognizing his talents and thevalue of his untiring activity, placed the direction in his hands. Letus examine this hypothesis in the light of a document which was unknownto me when I wrote my former account of the Illuminati. 

Barruel has pointed out that the great error of Robison was to describeIlluminism as arising out of Freemasonry, since Weishaupt did not becomea Freemason until after he had founded his Order. It is true thatWeishaupt was not officially received into Freemasonry until 1777, whenhe was initiated into the first degree at the Lodge "Theodore de BonConseil, " at Munich. From this time we find him continually occupied intrying to discover more about the secrets of Freemasonry, whilst himselfclaiming superior knowledge. 

But at the same time it is by no means certain that an inner circle ofthe Lodge Theodore may not have been first in the field and Weishauptall the while an unconscious agent. A very curious light is thrown onthis question by the _Mémoires_ of Mirabeau. 

Now, in _The French Revolution_ and again in _World Revolution_ I quotedthe generally received opinion that Mirabeau, who was already aFreemason, was received into the Order of the Illuminati during hisvisit to Berlin in 1786. To this Mr. Waite replied: "All that is saidabout Mirabeau, his visit to Berlin, and his plot to 'illuminize' FrenchFreemasonry, may be disposed of in one sentence: there is no evidence toshow that Mirabeau ever became a Mason. The province of Barruel was tocolour everything.... "[509] Mr. Waite's statement may also be disposedof in one sentence: it is a pure invention. The province of Mr. Waite isto deny everything inconvenient to him. The evidence that Mirabeau was aFreemason does not rest on Barruel alone. M. Barthou, in his Life ofMirabeau, refers to it as a matter of common knowledge, and relates thata paper was found at Mirabeau's house describing a new Order to begrafted on Freemasonry. This document will be found in its entirety inthe _Mémoires_ of Mirabeau, where it is stated that:

 Mirabeau had early entered an association of Freemasonry. This affiliation had accredited him to a Dutch lodge, and it seems that, either spontaneously or in response to a request, he thought of proposing an organization of which we possess the plan, written not by his hand.... But by the hand of a copyist whom Mirabeau had attached to himself.... This work appears to have been that of Mirabeau; all his opinions, his principles, and his style will be found here. [510]

The same work goes on to print the document in full, which is headed:"Memoir concerning an intimate association to be established in theOrder of Freemasonry so as to bring it back to its true principles andto make it really tend to the good of humanity, drawn up by the F. Mi----, at present named Arcesilas, in 1776. "

As this Memoir is too long to reproduce in full here, M. Barthou's_résumé_ will serve to give an idea of its contents[511]:

 He [Mirabeau] was a Freemason from his youth. There was found amongst his papers, written by the hand of a copyist, an international organization of Freemasonry, which no doubt he dictated in Amsterdam. This project contains on the solidarity of men, on the benefits of instruction, and on the "correction of the system of governments and of legislations" views very superior to those of "The Essay on Despotism" (1772). The mind of Mirabeau had ripened. The duties he traces out for the "brothers of the higher grade" constitute even a whole plan of reforms which resemble very much in certain parts the work accomplished later by the Constituent [Assembly]: suppression of servitudes on the land and the rights of main morte, abolition of the corvées, of working guilds and of maîtrises [freedom of companies], of customs and excise duties, the diminution of taxation, liberty of religious opinions and of the press, the disappearance of special jurisdiction. In order to organize, to develop and arrive at his end, Mirabeau invokes the example of the Jesuits: "We have quite contrary views, " he says, "that of enlightening men, of making them free and happy, but we must and we can do this by the same means, and who should prevent us doing for good what the Jesuits have done for evil?"[512]

Now in this Memoir Mirabeau makes no mention of Weishaupt, but in his_Histoire de la Monarchic Prussienne_ he gives a eulogistic account ofthe Bavarian Illuminati, referring to Weishaupt by name, and showing theOrder to have arisen out of Freemasonry. It will be seen that thisaccount corresponds point by point with the Memoir he had himself madeout in 1776, that is to say, in the very year that Illuminism wasfounded:

 The Lodge Theodore de Bon Conseil at Munich, where there were a few men with brains and hearts, was tired of being tossed about by the vain promises and quarrels of Masonry. The heads resolved to graft on to their branch another secret association to which they gave the name of the Order of the Illuminés. They modelled it on the Society of Jesus, whilst proposing to themselves views diametrically opposed. 

Mirabeau then goes on to say that the great object of the Order was theamelioration of the present system of government and legislation, thatone of its fundamental rules was to admit "no prince whatever hisvirtues, "[513] that it proposed to abolish--

 The slavery of the peasants, the servitude of men to the soil, the rights of main morte and all the customs and privileges which abase humanity, the corvées under the condition of an equitable equivalent, all the corporations, all the maîtrises, all the burdens imposed on industry and commerce by customs, excise duties, and taxes ... To procure a universal toleration for all religious opinions ... To take away all the arms of superstition, to favour the liberty of the press, etc. [514]

From all this we see then that Mirabeau did not become an Illuminatus in1786 as I had supposed before this document was known to me, but hadbeen in the Order from the beginning apparently as one of its founders, first under the "Illuminated" name of Arcesilas and later under that ofLeonidas. The Memoir found at his house was thus no other than theprogramme of the Illuminati evolved by him in collaboration with aninner ring of Freemasons belonging to the Lodge Theodore. Thecorrespondence of the Illuminati in fact contains several references toan inner ring under the name of "the secret chapter of the Lodge of St. Theodore, " which, after his initiation into Masonry, Weishaupt indicatesthe necessity of bringing entirely under the control of Illuminism. Itis probable that Weishaupt was in touch with this secret chapter beforehis formal admission to the lodge. 

Whether, then, the ideas of Illuminism arose in this secret, chapter ofthe Lodge Theodore independently of Weishaupt, or whether they wereimparted by Weishaupt to the Lodge Theodore after the directions hadbeen given him by Kölmer, it is impossible to know; but in either casethere would be some justification for Robison's assertion thatIlluminism arose out of Freemasonry, or rather that it took birthamongst a group of Freemasons whose aims were not those of the Order ingeneral. 

What were these aims? A plan of social and political "reform" which, asM. Barthou points out, much resembled the work accomplished later by theConstituent Assembly in France. This admission is of great importance;in other words, the programme carried out by the Constituent Assembly in1789 had been largely formulated in a lodge of German Freemasons whoformed the nucleus of the Illuminati, in 1776. And yet we are told thatIlluminism had no influence on the French Revolution!

It will be objected that the reforms here indicated were whollyadmirable. True, the abolition of the _corvée_, of _main morte_, and ofservitudes were measures that met with the approval of all right-mindedmen, including the King of France himself. But what of the abolition ofthe "working guilds" and "all the corporations, " that is to say, the"trade unions" of the period, which was carried out by the infamous LoiChapelier in 1791, a decree that is now generally recognized as one ofthe strangest anomalies of the Revolution? Again, to whose interest wasit to do away with the customs and excise duties of France? To establishthe absolute and unfettered liberty of the press and religious opinions?The benefits these measures might be expected to confer on the Frenchpeople were certainly problematical, but there could be no doubt oftheir utility to men who, like Frederick the Great, wished to ruinFrance and to break the Franco-Austrian alliance by the unrestrictedcirculation of libels against Marie Antoinette, who, like Mirabeau, hoped to bring about a revolution, or who, like Voltaire, wished toremove all obstacles to the spread of an anti-Christian propaganda. 

It is therefore by no means impossible that Weishaupt was at first theagent of more experienced conspirators, whose purely political aims weredisguised under a plan of social reform, and who saw in the Bavarianprofessor a clever organizer to be employed in carrying out theirdesigns. 

Whether this was so or not, the fact remains that from the timeWeishaupt assumed control of the Order the plan of "social reform"described by Mirabeau vanishes entirely, for not a word do we find inthe writings of the Illuminati about any pretended scheme forameliorating the lot of the people, and Illuminism becomes simply ascheme of anarchic philosophy. The French historian Henri Martin hasthus admirably summed up the system elaborated by "Spartacus":

 Weishaupt had made into an absolute theory the misanthropic gibes _[boutades]_ of Rousseau at the invention of property and society, and without taking into account the statement so distinctly formulated by Rousseau on the impossibility of suppressing property and society once they had been established, he proposed as the end of Illuminism the abolition of property, social authority, of nationality, and the return of the human race to the happy state in which it formed only a single family without artificial needs, without useless sciences, every father being priest and magistrate. Priest of we know not what religion, for in spite of their frequent invocations of the God of Nature, many indications lead us to conclude that Weishaupt had, like Diderot and d'Holbach, no other God than Nature herself. From his doctrine would naturally follow the German ultra-Hegelianism and the system of anarchy recently developed in France, of which the physiognomy suggests a foreign origin. [515]

This summary of the aims of the Illuminati, which absolutelycorroborates the view of Barruel and Robison, is confirmed in detail bythe Socialist Freethinker of the nineteenth century Louis Blanc, who inhis remarkable chapter on the "Révolutionnaires Mystiques" refers toWeishaupt as "One of the profoundest conspirators who have everexisted. "[516] George Sand also, Socialist and _intime_ of theFreemasons, wrote of "the European conspiracy of Illuminism" and theimmense influence exercised by the secret societies of "mystic Germany. "To say, then, that Barruel and Robison were alone in proclaiming thedanger of Illuminism is simply a deliberate perversion of the truth, andit is difficult to understand why English Freemasons should have allowedthemselves to be misled on this question. 

Thus the _Masonic Cyclopædia_ observes that the Illuminati "were, as arule, men of the strictest morality and humanity, and the ideas theysought to instil were those which have found universal acceptance in ourown times. " Preston, in his _Illustrations of Masonry_, also does hisbest to gloss over the faults of the Order, and even "the historian ofFreemasonry" devotes to its founder this astounding apology. Afterdescribing Weishaupt as the victim of Jesuit intrigue, Mr. Gould goes onto say:

 He conceived the idea of combating his foes with their own weapons, and forming a society of young men, enthusiastic in the cause of humanity, who should gradually be trained to work as one man to one end--the destruction of evil and the enhancement of good in this world. Unfortunately he had unconsciously imbibed that most pernicious doctrine that the end justifies the means, and his whole plan reveals the effects of his youthful teaching.... The man himself was without guile, ignorant of men, knowing them only by books, a learned professor, an enthusiast who took a wrong course in all innocence, and the faults of his head have been heavily visited upon his memory in spite of the rare qualities of his heart. [517]

One can only conclude that these extraordinary exonerations of an Orderbitterly hostile to the true aims of Masonry proceed from ignorance ofthe real nature of Illuminism. In order to judge of this it is onlynecessary to consult the writings of the Illuminati themselves, whichare contained in the following works:

1. _Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens_ (Munich, 1787). 

2. _Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften, etc. _ (Munich, 1787). 

3. _Die neuesten Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo in demIlluminaten-Orden_ (Munich, 1794). 

All these consist in the correspondence and papers of the Order whichwere seized by the Bavarian Government at the houses of two of themembers, Zwack and Bassus, and published by order of the Elector. Theauthenticity of these documents has never been denied even by theIlluminati themselves; Weishaupt, in his published defence, endeavouredonly to explain away the most incriminating passages. The publishers, moreover, were careful to state at the beginning of the first volume:"Those who might have any doubts on the authenticity of this collectionmay present themselves at the Secret Archives here, where, on request, the original documents will be laid before them. " This precautionrendered all dispute impossible. 

Setting Barruel and Robison entirely aside, we shall now see from theevidence of their own writings, how far the Illuminati can be regardedas a praiseworthy and cruelly maligned Order. Let us begin with theirattitude towards Freemasonry. 

Illuminism and Freemasonry

From the moment of Weishaupt's admission into Freemasonry his wholeconduct was a violation of the Masonic code. Instead of proceeding afterthe recognized manner by successive stages of initiation, he set himselfto find out further secrets by underhand methods and then to turn themto the advantage of his own system. Thus about a year after hisinitiation he writes to Cato (alias Zwack): "I have succeeded inobtaining a profound glimpse into the secret of the Freemasons. I knowtheir whole aim and shall impart it all at the right time in one of thehigher degrees. "[518]

Cato is then deputed to make further discoveries through an ItalianFreemason, the Abbé Marotti, which he records triumphantly in his diary:

 Interview with the Abbé Marotti on the question of Masonry, when he explained to me the whole secret, which is founded on old religion and Church history, and imparted to me all the higher degrees up to the Scottish. Informed Spartacus of this. [519]

Spartacus, however, unimpressed by this communication, replied drily:

 Whether you know the aim of Masonry I doubt. I have myself included an insight into this structure in my plan, but reserved it for later degrees. [520]

Weishaupt then decides that all illuminated "Areopagites" shall take thefirst three degrees of Freemasonry[521]; but further:

 That we shall have a masonic lodge of our own. That we shall regard this as our nursery garden. That to some of these Masons we shall not at once reveal that we have something more than the Masons have. That at every opportunity we shall cover ourselves with this [Masonry].... All those who are not suited to the work shall remain in the masonic Lodge and advance in that without knowing anything of the further system. [522]

We shall find this plan of an inner secret circle concealed withinFreemasonry persisting up to our own day. 

Weishaupt, however, admits himself puzzled with regard to the past ofMasonry, and urges "Porcius" to find out more on this question from theAbbé 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. [523]

But it is in "Philo, " the Baron von Knigge, a Freemason and member ofthe Stride Observance, in which he was known as the Eques a Cygno, thatWeishaupt 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_]. [524]

No wonder that Weishaupt thereupon exclaims joyfully: "Philo does morethan we all expected, and he is the man who alone will carry it allthrough. "[525] Weishaupt then occupies himself in trying to get a"Constitution" from London, evidently without success, and also inwresting the Lodge Theodore in Munich from the control of Berlin inorder to substitute his own domination, so that "the whole secretchapter will be subjected to our ⊙, leave everything to it, and awaitfurther degrees from it alone. "[526]

In all this Weishaupt shows himself not only an intriguer but acharlatan, inventing mysteries and degrees to impose on the credulity ofhis followers. "The mysteries, or so-called secret truths, are thefinest of all, " he writes to "Philipo Strozzi, " "and give me muchtrouble. "[527] So whilst heartily despising Freemasonry, theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and mysticism of every kind, his association with Philoleads him to perceive the utility of all these as a bait, and he allowsPhilo to draw up plans for a degree of Scottish Knight. But the resultis pitiable, Philo's composition, a "semi-theosophical discourse andexplanation of hieroglyphics" is characterized by Weishaupt as gibberish(_kauderwelsche_). [528]

 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.... [529]

The perfidy of the Illuminati with regard to the Freemasons is thereforeapparent. Even Mounier, who set out to refute Barruel on the strength ofthe information supplied to him by the Illuminatus Bode, admits theirduplicity 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 saysagain, show that "the Illuminati employed the forms of Freemasonry, butthat they considered it in itself, apart from their own degrees, as apuerile absurdity and that they detested the Rose-Croix. " Mounier, as agood disciple of Bode, takes much the same view and pities the _naïveté_of the Freemasons, who, "like so many children, spend a great part ofthe time in their lodges playing at chapel. "

Why in the face of all this should any British Masons take up thecudgels for the Illuminati and vilify Robison and Barruel for exposingthem? The American Mackey, as a consistent Freemason, shows scantsympathy for this traitor in the masonic camp. "Weishaupt, " he writes, "was a radical in politics and an infidel in religion, and he organizedthis association, not more for the purpose of aggrandizing himself, thanof overturning Christianity and the institutions of society. " And in afootnote he adds that Robison's _Proofs of a Conspiracy_ "contain a veryexcellent exposition of the nature of this pseudo-masonicinstitution. "[530]

The truth is that Weishaupt was one of the greatest enemies of BritishFreemasonry who ever lived, and genuine Freemasons will do themselves nogood by defending him or his abominable system. 

Let us now see how far, apart from their rôle in Masonry, the Illuminatican be regarded as noble idealists striving for the welfare of the humanrace. 

Idealism of the Illuminati

The line of defence adopted by the apologists of the Illuminati isalways to quote the admirable principles professed by the Order, the"beautiful ideas" that run through their writings, and to show whatexcellent people were to be found amongst them. 

Of course on their face value the Illuminati appear wholly admirable, ofcourse there is nothing easier than to find innumerable passages intheir writings breathing a spirit of the loftiest aspiration, and ofcourse many excellent men figured amongst the patrons of the Order. Allthis is the mere stock-in-trade of the secret society leader as of thefraudulent company promoter, to whom the first essentials are a glowingprospectus and a long list of highly respectable patrons who knownothing whatever about the inner workings of the concern. These methods, pursued as early as the ninth century by Abdullah ibn Maymūn, enterlargely into the policy of Frederick the Great, Voltaire, and his"brothers" in philosophy--or in Freemasonry. 

The resemblances between Weishaupt's correspondence and that of Voltaireand of Frederick the Great are certainly very striking. All at momentsprofess respect for Christianity whilst working to destroy it. Thus justas Voltaire in one letter to d'Alembert expresses his horror at thepublication of an anti-Christian pamphlet, _Le Testament de JeanMeslier, [531]_ and in another urges him to have it circulated inthousands all over France, [532] so Weishaupt is careful in general toexhibit the face of a benign philosopher and even of a Christianevangelist; it is only at moments that he drops the mask and reveals thegrinning satyr behind it. 

Accordingly in the published statutes of the Illuminati no hint ofsubversive intentions will be found; indeed the "Obligation" expresslystates that "nothing against the State, religion, or morals isundertaken. "

Yet what is Weishaupt's real political theory? No other than that ofmodern Anarchy, that man should govern himself and rulers should begradually done away with. But he is careful to deprecate all ideas ofviolent revolution--the process is to be accomplished by the mostpeaceful methods. Let us see how gently he leads up to the finalconclusion:

 The first stage in the life of the whole human race is savagery, rough nature, in which the family is the only society, and hunger and thirst are easily satisfied, ... In which man enjoys the two most excellent goods, Equality and Liberty, to their fullest extent.... In these circumstances ... Health was his usual condition.... Happy men, who were not yet enough enlightened to lose their peace of mind and to be conscious of the unhappy mainsprings and causes of our misery, love of power ... Envy ... Illnesses and all the results of imagination. 

The manner in which man fell from this primitive state of felicity isthen described:

 As families increased, means of subsistence began to lack, the nomadic life ceased, property was instituted, men established themselves firmly, and through agriculture families drew near each other, thereby language developed and through living together men began to measure themselves against each other, etc.... But here was the cause of the downfall of freedom; equality vanished. Man felt new unknown needs.... [533]

Thus men became dependent like minors under the guardianship of kings;the human must attain its majority and become self-governing:

 Why should it be impossible that the human race should attain to its highest perfection, the capacity to guide itself? Why should anyone be eternally led who understands how to lead himself?[534]

Further, men must learn not only to be independent of kings but of eachother:

 Who has need of another depends on him and has resigned his rights. So to need little is the first step to freedom; therefore savages and the most highly enlightened are perhaps the only free men. The art of more and more limiting one's needs is at the same time the art of attaining freedom.... [535]

Weishaupt then goes on to show how the further evil of Patriotism arose:

 With the origin of nations and peoples the world ceased to be a great family, a single kingdom: the great tie of nature was torn.... Nationalism took the place of human love.... Now it became a virtue to magnify one's fatherland at the expense of whoever was not enclosed within its limits, now as a means to this narrow end it was allowed to despise and outwit foreigners or indeed even to insult them. This virtue was called Patriotism.... [536]

And so by narrowing down affection to one's fellow-citizens, the membersof one's family, and even to oneself:

 There arose out of Patriotism, Localism, the family spirit, and finally Egoism.... Diminish Patriotism, then men will learn to know each other again as such, their dependence on each other will be lost, the bond of union will widen out.... [537]

It will be seen that the whole of Weishaupt's theory was in reality anew rendering of the ancient secret tradition relating to the fall ofman and the loss of his primitive felicity; but whilst the ancientreligions taught the hope of a Redeemer who should restore man to hisformer state, Weishaupt looks to man alone for his restoration. "Men, "he observes, "no longer loved men but only such and such men. The wordwas quite lost.... "[538] Thus in Weishaupt's masonic system the "lostword" is "Man, " and its recovery is interpreted by the idea that Manshould find himself again. Further on Weishaupt goes on to show how "theredemption of the human race is to be brought about". 

 These means are secret schools of wisdom, these were from all time the archives of Nature and of human rights, through them will Man be saved from his Fall, princes and nations will disappear without violence from the earth, the human race will become one family and the world the abode of reasonable men. Morality alone will bring about this change imperceptibly. Every father of a family will be, as formerly Abraham and the patriarchs, the priest and unfettered lord of his family, and Reason will be the only code of Man. This is one of our greatest secrets.... [539]

But whilst completely eliminating any idea of divine power outside Manand framing his system on purely political lines, Weishaupt is carefulnot to shock the susceptibilities of his followers by any openrepudiation of Christian doctrines; on the contrary, he invokes Christat every turn and sometimes even in language so apparently earnest andeven beautiful that one is almost tempted to believe in his sincerity. Thus he writes:

 This our great and unforgettable Master, Jesus of Nazareth, appeared at a time in the world when it was sunk in depravity.... The first followers of His teaching are not wise men but simple, chosen from the lowest class of the people, so as to show that His teaching should be possible and comprehensible to all classes and conditions of men.... He carries out this teaching by means of the most blameless life in conformity with it, and seals and confirms this with His blood and death. These laws which He shows as the way to salvation are only two: love of God and love of one's neighbour; more He asks of no one. [540]

So far no Lutheran pastor could have expressed himself better. But onemust study Weishaupt's writings as a whole to apprehend the true measureof his belief in Christ's teaching. 

 * * * * *

Now, as we have already seen, his first idea was to make Fire Worshipthe religion of Illuminism; the profession of Christianity thereforeappears to have been an after-thought. Evidently Weishaupt discovered, as others have done, that Christianity lends itself more readily tosubversive ideas than any other religion. And in the passages whichfollow we find him adopting the old ruse of representing Christ as aCommunist and as a secret-society adept. Thus he goes on to explain that"if Jesus preaches contempt of riches, He wishes to teach us thereasonable use of them and prepare for the community of goods introducedby Him, "[541] and in which, Weishaupt adds later, He lived with Hisdisciples. [542] But this secret doctrine is only to be apprehended byinitiates:

 No one ... Has so cleverly concealed the high meaning of His teaching, and no one finally has so surely and easily directed men on to the path of freedom as our great master Jesus of Nazareth. This secret meaning and natural consequence of His teaching He hid completely, for Jesus had a secret doctrine, as we see in more than one place of the Scriptures. [543]

Weishaupt thus contrives to give a purely political interpretation toChrist's teaching:

 The secret preserved through the Disciplinam Arcani, and the aim appearing through all His words and deeds, is to give back to men their original liberty and equality.... Now one can understand how far Jesus was the Redeemer and Saviour of the world. [544]

The mission of Christ was therefore by means of Reason to make mencapable of freedom[545]: "When at last reason becomes the religion ofman, so will the problem be solved. "[546]

Weishaupt goes on to show that Freemasonry can be interpreted in thesame manner. The secret doctrine concealed in the teaching of Christ washanded down by initiates who "hid themselves and their doctrine underthe cover of Freemasonry, "[547] and in a long explanation of Masonichieroglyphics he indicates the analogies between the Hiramic legend andthe story of Christ. "I say then Hiram is Christ, " and after giving oneof his reasons for this assertion, adds: "Here then is much groundgained, although I myself cannot help laughing at this explanation[_obwohl ich selbst über diese Explication im Grund lachen muss_]. "[548]Weishaupt then proceeds to give further interpretations of his owndevising to the masonic ritual, including an imaginary translation ofcertain words supposed to be derived from Hebrew, and ends up by saying:"One will be able to show several more resemblances between Hiram andthe life and death of Christ, or drag them in by the hair. "[549] So muchfor Weishaupt's respect for the Grand Legend of Freemasonry!

In this manner Weishaupt demonstrates that "Freemasonry is hiddenChristianity, at least my explanations of the hieroglyphics fit thisperfectly; and in the way in which I explain Christianity no one need beashamed to be a Christian, for I leave the name and substitute for itReason. "[550]

But this is of course only the secret of what Weishaupt calls "realFreemasonry"[551] in contradistinction to the official kind, which heregards as totally unenlightened: "Had not the noble and elect remainedin the background ... New depravity would have broken out in the humanrace, and through Regents, Priests, and Freemasons Reason would havebeen banished from the earth. "[552]

In Weishaupt's masonic system, therefore, the designs of the Order withregard to religion are not confided to the mere Freemasons, but only tothe Illuminati. Under the heading of "Higher Mysteries" Weishauptwrites:

 The man who is good for nothing better remains a Scottish Knight. If he is, however, a particularly industrious co-ordinator [_Sammler_], observer, worker, he becomes a Priest.... If there are amongst these [Priests] high speculative intellects, they become Magi. These collect and put in order the higher philosophical system and work at the People's Religion, which the Order will next give to the world. Should these high geniuses also be fit to rule the world, they become Regents. This is the last degree. [553]

Philo (the Baron von Knigge) also throws an interesting light on thereligious designs of the Illuminati. In a letter to Cato he explains thenecessity of devising a system that will satisfy fanatics andfreethinkers alike: "So as to work on both these classes of men andunite them, we must find an explanation to the Christian religion ... Make this the secret of Freemasonry and turn it to our purpose. "[554]Philo continues:

 We say then: Jesus wished to introduce no new religion, but only to restore natural religion and reason to their old rights. Thereby he wished to unite men in a great universal association, and through the spread of a wiser morality, enlightenment, and the combating of all prejudices to make them capable of governing themselves; so the secret meaning of his teaching was to lead men without revolution to universal liberty and equality. There are many passages in the Bible which can be made use of and explained, and so all quarrelling between the sects ceases if one can find a reasonable meaning in the teaching of Jesus--be it true or not. As, however, this simple religion was afterwards distorted, so were these teachings imparted to us through Disciplinam Arcani and finally through Freemasonry, and all masonic hieroglyphics can be explained with this object. Spartacus has collected very good data for this and I have myself added to them, ... And so I have got both degrees ready.... 

 Now therefore that people see that we are the only real and true Christians, we can say a word more against priests and princes, but I have so managed that after previous tests I can receive pontiffs and kings in this degree. In the higher Mysteries we must then (_a_) disclose the pious fraud and (_b_) reveal from all writings the origin of all religious lies and their connexion.... [555]

So admirably did this ruse succeed that we find Spartacus writingtriumphantly:

 You cannot imagine what consideration and sensation our Priest's degree is arousing. The most wonderful thing is that great Protestant and reformed theologians who belong to ⊙ [Illuminism] still believe that the religious teaching imparted in it contains the true and genuine spirit of the Christian religion. Oh! men, of what cannot you be persuaded? I never thought that I should become the founder of a new religion. [556]

It is on the "illuminized" clergy and professors that Weishaupt countsprincipally for the work of the Order. 

 Through the influence of the Brothers [he writes], the Jesuits have been removed from all professorships, and the University of Ingoldstadt has been quite cleansed of them.... [557]

Thus the way is cleared for Weishaupt's adepts. 

The Institute of Cadets also comes under the control of the Order:

 All the professors are members of the Illuminati, ... So will all the pupils become disciples of Illuminism. [558]

Further:

 We have provided our clerical members with good benefices, parishes, posts at Court. 

 Through our influence Arminius and Cortez have been made professors at Ephesus. 

 * * * * *

 The German schools are quite under [the influence of] ⊙ and now only members have charge of them. 

 The charitable association is also directed by ⊙. 

 * * * * *

 Soon we shall draw over to us the whole Bartholomew Institute for young clergymen; the preparations have already been made and the prospects are very good, by this means we shall be able to provide the whole of Bavaria with proper priests. [559]

But religion and Freemasonry are not the only means by which Illuminismcan be spread. 

 We must consider [says Weishaupt], how we can begin to work under another form. If only the aim is achieved, it does not matter under what cover it takes place, and a cover is always necessary. For in concealment lies a great part of our strength. For this reason we must always cover ourselves with the name of another society. The lodges that are under Freemasonry are in the meantime the most suitable cloak for our high purpose, because the world is already accustomed to expect nothing great from them which merits attention.... As in the spiritual Orders of the Roman Church, religion was, alas! only a pretence, so must our Order also in a nobler way try to conceal itself behind a learned society or something of the kind.... A society concealed in this manner cannot be worked against. In case of a prosecution or of treason the superiors cannot be discovered.... We shall be shrouded in impenetrable darkness from spies and emissaries of other societies. [560]

In order to give a good appearance to the Order, Weishaupt particularlyindicates the necessity for enlisting esteemed and "respectable"persons, [561] but above all young men whom he regards as the most likelysubjects. "I cannot use men as they are, " he observes, "but I must firstform them. "[562] Youth naturally lends itself best to this process. "Seek the society of young people, " Weishaupt writes to Ajax, "watchthem, and if one of them pleases you, lay your hand on him. "[563] "Seekout young and already skilful people.... Our people must be engaging, enterprising, intriguing, and adroit. Above all the first. "[564]

If possible they should also be good-looking--"beautiful people, _cæteris paribus_.... "

 Such people have generally gentle manners, a tender heart, and are, when well practised in other things, of the greatest use in undertakings, for their first glance attracts; but their spirit _n'a pas la profondeur des physiognomies sombres_. They are, however, also less disposed to riots and disturbances than the darker physiognomies. That is why one must know how to use one's people. Above all, the high, soulful eye pleases me and the free, open brow. [565]

With these novices the adept of Illuminism is to proceed slowly, talkingbackwards and forwards:

 One must speak, first in one way, then in another, so as not to commit oneself and to make one's real way of thinking impenetrable to one's inferiors. [566]

Weishaupt also insists on the importance of exciting the candidate'scuriosity and then drawing back again, after the manner of the Fatimite_dais_:

 I have no fault to find with your [methods of] reception ["Spartacus" writes to "Cato"], except that they are too quick.... You should proceed gradually in a roundabout way by means of suspense and expectations, so as first to arouse indefinite, vague curiosity, and then when the candidate declares himself, present the object, which he will then seize with both hands. [567]

By this means his vanity will also be flattered, because one will arousethe pleasure of "knowing something which everyone does not know, andabout which the greater part of the world is groping in darkness. "[568]

For the same reason the candidate must be impressed with the importanceof secret societies and the part they have played in the destinies ofthe world:

 One illustrates this by the Order of the Jesuits, of the Freemasons, by the secret associations of the ancients, one asserts that all events in the world occur from a hundred secret springs and causes, to which secret associations above all belong; one arouses the pleasure of quiet, hidden power and of insight into hidden secrets. [569]

At this point one is to begin to "show glimpses and to let fall here andthere remarks that may be interpreted in two ways, " so as to bring thecandidate to the point of saying: "If I had the chance to enter such anassociation, I would go into it at once. " "These discourses, " saysWeishaupt, "are to be often repeated. "[570]

In the discourse of reception to the "Illuminatus Dirigens, " the appealto love of power plays the most important part:

 Do you realize sufficiently what it means to rule--to rule in a secret Society? Not only over the lesser or more important of the populace, but over the best men, over men of all ranks, nations, and religions, to rule without external force, to unite them indissolubly, to breathe one spirit and soul into them, men distributed over all parts of the world?... [571]

 And finally, do you know what secret societies are? what a place they occupy in the great kingdom of the world's events? Do you really think they are unimportant, transitory appearances?[572] etc. 

But the admission of political aims is reserved only for the highergrades of the Order. "With the beginner, " says Weishaupt, "we must becareful about books on religion and the State. I have reserved these inmy plan for the higher degrees. "[573] Accordingly the discourse to the"Minerval" is expressly designed to put him off the track. Thus theinitiator is to say to him:

 After two years' reflection, experience, intercourse, reading of the graduated writings and information, you will necessarily have formed the idea that the final aim of our Society is nothing less than to win power and riches, to undermine secular or religious government, and to obtain the mastery of the world, and so on. If you have represented our Society to yourself from this point of view or have entered it in this expectation, you have mightily deceived yourself.... [574]

The initiator, without informing the Minerval of the real aim of theSociety, then goes on to say that he is now free to leave it if hewishes. By this means the leaders were able to eliminate ambitiouspeople who might become their rivals to power and to form their ranksout of men who would submit to be led blindly onward by unseendirectors. "My circumstances necessitate, " Spartacus writes to Cato, "that I should remain hidden from most of the members as long as I live. I am obliged to do everything through five or six persons. "[575] Socarefully was this secret guarded that until the papers of theIlluminati were seized in 1786 no one outside this inner circle knewthat Weishaupt was the head of the Order. Yet if we are to believe hisown assertions, he had been throughout in supreme control. Again andagain he impresses on his _intimes_ the necessity for unity of commandin the Order: "One must show how easy it would be for one clever head todirect hundreds and thousands of men, "[576] and he illustrates thissystem by the table reproduced on the next page, to which he appends thefollowing explanation:

 I have two immediately below me into whom I breathe my whole spirit, and each of these two has again two others, and so on. In this way I can set a thousand men in motion and on fire in the simplest manner, and in this way one must impart orders and operate on politics. [577]

Thus, as in the case of Abdullah ibn Maymūn's society, "theextraordinary result was brought about that a multitude of men of diversbeliefs were all working together for an object known only to a few ofthem. "

Enough has now been quoted from the correspondence of the Illuminati toshow their aims and methods according to their own admissions. We shallnow see how far their apologists are justified in describing them as"men of the strictest morality and humanity. "[578] Doubtless there weremany excellent people in the outer ranks of the Order, but this is notthe contention of Mr. Gould, who expressly states that "all theprominent members of this association were estimable men both in publicand in private life. " These further extracts from their correspondencemay be left to speak for themselves. 

Character of the Illuminati

In June 1782 Weishaupt writes to "Cato" as follows:

 Oh, in politics and morality you are far behind, my gentlemen. Judge further if such a man as Marcus Aurelius[579] finds out how wretched it [Illuminism] appears in Athens [Munich]; what a collection of immoral men, of whoremongers, liars, debtors, boasters, and vain fools they have amongst them. If he saw all that, what do you suppose the man would think? Would he not be ashamed to find himself in such an association, in which the leaders arouse the greatest expectations and carry out the best plan in such a miserable manner? And all this out of caprice, expediency, etc. Judge whether I am not right. [580]

 [Illustration: Diagram of Weishapt's System. From _Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften der Illuminatensekte_, p. 32. München, 1787. ]

 From Thebes [Freysing] I hear fatal news; they have received into the lodge the scandal of the whole town, the dissolute debtor Propertius, who is trumpeted abroad by the whole "personnel" of Athens [Munich], Thebes and Erzerum [Eichstadt]; D. Also appears to be a bad man. Socrates who would be a capital man [_ein Capital Mann_] is continually drunk, Augustus in the worst repute, and Alcibiades sits the whole day with the innkeeper's wife sighing and pining: Tiberius tried in Corinth to rape the sister of Democedes and the husband came in. In Heaven's name, what are these for Areopagites! We upper ones, write, read and work ourselves to death, offer to ⊙ our health, fame and fortune, whilst these gentlemen indulge their weaknesses, go a whoring, cause scandals and yet are Areopagites and want to know about everything. [581]

 Concerning Arminius there are great complaints.... He is an unbearable, obstinate, arrogant, vain fool![582]

 Let Celsus, Marius, Scipio, and Ajax do what they will ... No one does us so much harm as Celsus, no one is less to be reasoned with than Celsus, and perhaps few could have been so much use to us as Celsus.... Marius is obstinate and can see no great plan, Scipio is negligent, and of Ajax I will not speak at all.... Confucius is worth very little: he is too inquisitive and a terrible chatterer [_ein grausamer Schwatzer_]. [583]

 Agrippa must be quite struck off our list, for the rumour goes round ... That he has stolen a gold and silver watch together with a ring from our best fellow-worker Sulla. [584]

It will doubtless be suggested at this point that all these lettersmerely portray the lofty idealist sorrowing over the frailties of hiserring disciples, but let us hear what Weishaupt has to say abouthimself. In a letter to Marius (Hertel) he writes:

 And now in the strictest confidence, a matter near my heart, which robs me of all rest, makes me incapable of anything and drives me to despair. I stand in danger of losing my honour and my reputation which gave me so much power over our people. Think, my sister-in-law is expecting a child. [585] I have for this purpose sent to Euriphon in Athens to solicit the marriage licence and Promotorial from Rome, you see how much depends on this and that no time must be lost; every minute is precious. But if the dispensation does not arrive, what shall I do? How shall I make amends to the person since I alone am to blame? We have already tried several ways to get rid of the child; she herself was resolved for anything. But Euriphon is too timid and yet I see no other expedient, if I could ensure the silence of Celsus he could help me and indeed he already promised me this three years ago.... [586] If you can help me out of this dilemma, you will give me back life, honour, peace and power to work.... I do not know what devil led me astray, I who always in these circumstances took extreme precautions. [587]

A little later Weishaupt writes again:

 All fatalities happen to me at the same time. Now there is my mother dead! Corpse, wedding, christening all in a short time, one on the top of the other. What a wonderful mix-up [_mischmasch_]![588]

So much for what Mr. Gould calls the "rare qualities" of Weishaupt'sheart. Let us now listen to the testimony of Weishaupt's principalcoadjutor, Philo (the Baron von Knigge), to whom the "historian ofFreemasonry" refers as "a lovable enthusiast. " In all subversiveassociations, whether open or secret, directed by men who aim at power, a moment is certain to arrive when the ambitions of the leaders comeinto conflict. This is the history of every revolutionary organizationduring the last 150 years. It was when the inevitable climax had beenreached between Weishaupt and Knigge that "Philo" wrote to "the mostloving 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. [589]

In a further letter Philo goes on to enumerate the services he hasrendered 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 dock 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.... [590]

We have now seen enough of the aims and methods of the Illuminati andthe true characters of their leaders from their own admissions. To makethe case complete it would be necessary also to give a résumé of theconfessions made by the ex-Illuminati, the four professors Cosandey, Grünberger, Utzschneider, and Renner, as also of the further publishedworks of the Illuminati--but space and time forbid. What is needed is acomplete book on the subject, consisting of translations of the mostimportant passages in all the contemporary German publications. 

From the extracts given above, can it, however, be seriously contendedthat Barruel or Robison exaggerated the guilt of the Order? Do myliteral translations differ materially in sense from the translationsand occasional paraphrases given by the much-abused couple?

Even those contemporaries, Mounier and the member of the Illuminati[591]who set out to refute Barruel and Lombard de Langres, merely providefurther confirmation of their views. Thus Mounier is obliged to confessthat the real design of Illuminism was "to undermine all civil order, "[592]and "Ancien Illuminé" asserts in language no less forcible thanBarruel's own that Weishaupt "made a code of Machiavellism, " that hismethod was "a profound perversity, flattering everything that was baseand rancorous in human nature in order to arrive at his ends, " that hewas not inspired by "a wise spirit of reform" but by a "fanatical enmityinimical to all authority on earth. " The only essential points on whichthe opposing parties differ is that whilst Mounier and "Ancien Illuminé"deny the influence of the Illuminati on the French Revolution andmaintain that they ceased to exist in 1786, Barruel and Lombard deLangres present them as the inspirers of the Jacobins and declare themto 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 ofthe Illuminati is: what was the motive power behind the Order? If weadmit the possibility that Frederick the Great and the StricteObservance, working through an inner circle of Freemasons at the LodgeSt. Theodore, may have provided the first impetus and that Kölmerinitiated Weishaupt into Oriental methods of organization, the source ofinspiration from which Weishaupt subsequently drew his anarchicphilosophy still remains obscure. It has frequently been suggested thathis real inspirers were Jews, and the Jewish writer Bernard Lazaredefinitely states that "there were Jews, Cabalistic Jews, aroundWeishaupt. "[593] A writer in _La Vieille France_ went so far as todesignate these Jews as Moses Mendelssohn, Wessely, and the bankersItzig, Friedlander, and Meyer. But no documentary evidence has ever beenproduced in support of these statements. It is therefore necessary toexamine them in the light of probability. 

Now, as I have already shown, the theosophical ideas of the Cabala playno part in the system of Illuminism; the only trace of Cabalism to befound amongst the papers of the Order is a list of recipes for procuringabortion, for making aphrodisiacs, Aqua Toffana, pestilential vapours, etc. , headed "Cabala Major. "[594] It is possible, then, that theIlluminati may have learnt something of "venefic magic" and the use ofcertain natural substances from Jewish Cabalists; at the same time Jewsappear to have been only in rare cases admitted to the Order. Everythingindeed tends to prove that Weishaupt and his first coadjutors, Zwack andMassenhausen, were pure Germans. Nevertheless there is between theideas of Weishaupt and of Lessing's "Falk" a distinct resemblance; bothin the writings of the Illuminati and in Lessing's _Dialogues_ we findthe same vein of irony with regard to Freemasonry, the same design thatit should be replaced by a more effectual system, [595]the samedenunciations of the existing social order and of bourgeois society, thesame theory that "men should be self-governing, " the same plan ofobliterating all distinctions between nations, even the same simile ofthe bee-hive as applied to human life[596] which, as I have shownelsewhere, was later on adopted by the anarchist Proudhon. It may, however, legitimately be urged that these ideas were those of the innermasonic circle to which both Lessing and Weishaupt belonged, and that, though placed in the mouth of Falk, they were in no sense Judaic. 

But Lessing was also the friend and admirer of Moses Mendelssohn, whohas been suggested as one of Weishaupt's inspirers. Now, at first sightnothing seems more improbable than that an orthodox Jew such asMendelssohn should have accorded any sympathy to the anarchic scheme ofWeishaupt. Nevertheless, certain of Weishaupt's doctrines are notincompatible with the principles of orthodox Judaism. Thus, for example, Weishaupt's theory--so strangely at variance with his denunciations ofthe family system--that as a result of Illuminism "the head of everyfamily will be what Abraham was, the patriarch, the priest, and theunfettered lord of his family, and Reason will be the only code ofMan, "[597] is essentially a Jewish conception. 

It will be objected that the patriarchal system as conceived by orthodoxJews could by no means include the religion of Reason as advocated byWeishaupt. It must not, however, be forgotten that to the Jewish mindthe human race presents a dual aspect, being divided into two distinctcategories--the privileged race to whom the promises of God were made, and the great mass of humanity which remains outside the pale. Whilststrict adherence to the commands of the Talmud and the laws of Moses isexpected of the former, the most indefinite of religious creeds sufficesfor the nations excluded from the privileges that Jewish birth confers. It was thus that Moses Mendelssohn wrote to the pastor Lavater, who hadsought to win him over to Christianity:

 Pursuant to the principles of my religion, I am not to seek to convert anyone who is not born according to our laws. This proneness to conversion, the origin of which some would fain tack on to the Jewish religion, is, nevertheless, diametrically opposed to it. Our rabbis unanimously teach that the written and oral laws which form conjointly our revealed religion are obligatory on our nation only. "Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. " We believe that all other nations of the earth have been directed by God to adhere to the laws of nature, and to the religion of the patriarchs. Those who regulate their lives according to the precepts of this _religion of nature and of reason_[598] are called virtuous men of other nations and are the children of eternal salvation. [599] Our rabbis are so remote from Proselytomania, that they enjoin us to dissuade, by forcible remonstrances, everyone who comes forward to be converted. (The Talmud says ... "proselytes are annoying to Israel like a scab. ")[600]

But was not this "religion of nature and of reason" the preciseconception of Weishaupt?

Whether, then, Weishaupt was directly inspired by Mendelssohn or anyother Jew must remain for the present an open question. But the Jewishconnexions of certain other Illuminati cannot be disputed. The mostimportant of these was Mirabeau, who arrived in Berlin just after thedeath of Mendelssohn and was welcomed by his disciples in the Jewishsalon of Henrietta Herz. It was these Jews, "ardent supporters of theFrench Revolution"[601] at its outset, who prevailed on Mirabeau towrite his great apology for their race under the form of a panegyric ofMendelssohn. 

To sum up, I do not so far see in Illuminism a Jewish conspiracy todestroy Christianity, but rather a movement finding its principaldynamic force in the ancient spirit of revolt against the existingsocial and moral order, aided and abetted perhaps by Jews who saw in ita system that might be turned to their own advantage. Meanwhile, Illuminism made use of every other movement that could serve itspurpose. As the contemporary de Luchet has expressed it:

 The system of the Illuminés is not to embrace the dogmas of a sect, but to turn all errors to its advantage, to concentrate in itself everything that men have invented in the way of duplicity and imposture. 

More than this, Illuminism was not only the assemblage of all errors, ofall ruses, of all subtleties of a theoretic kind, it was also anassemblage of all practical methods for rousing men to action. For inthe words of von Hammer on the Assassins, that cannot be too oftenrepeated:

 Opinions are powerless so long as they only confuse the brain without arming the hand. Scepticism and free-thinking as long as they occupied only the minds of the indolent and philosophical have caused the ruin of no throne.... It is nothing to the ambitious man what people believe, but it is everything to know how he may turn them for the execution of his projects. 

This was what Weishaupt so admirably understood; he knew how to takefrom every association, past and present, the portions he required andto weld them all into a working system of terrible efficiency--thedisintegrating doctrines of the Gnostics and Manicheans, of the modernphilosophers and Encyclopædists, the methods of the Ismailis and theAssassins, the discipline of the Jesuits and Templars, the organizationand secrecy of the Freemasons, the philosophy of Machiavelli, themystery of the Rosicrucians--he knew moreover, how to enlist the rightelements in all existing associations as well as isolated individualsand turn them to his purpose. So in the army of the Illuminati we findmen of every shade of thought, from the poet Goethe[602] to the meanestintriguer--lofty idealists, social reformers, visionaries, and at thesame time the ambitious, the rancorous, and the disgruntled, men swayedby lust or embittered by grievances, all these differing in their aimsyet by Weishaupt's admirable system of watertight compartments precludedfrom a knowledge of these differences and all marching, unconsciously ornot, towards the same goal. 

Although this was not the invention of Weishaupt but had beenforeshadowed many centuries earlier in the East, it was Weishaupt, sofar as we know, who reduced it to a working system for the West--asystem which has been adhered to by succeeding groups ofworld-revolutionaries up to the present day. It is for this reason thatI have quoted at length the writings of the Illuminati--all the ruses, all the hypocrisy, all the subtle methods of camouflage whichcharacterized the Order will be found again in the insidious propagandaboth of the modern secret societies and the open revolutionaryorganizations whose object is to subvert all order, all morality, andall religion. 

I maintain, therefore, with greater conviction than ever the importanceof Illuminism in the history of world-revolution. But for thisco-ordination of methods the philosophers and Encyclopædists might havegone on for ever inveighing against thrones and altars, the Martinistesevoking spirits, the magicians weaving spells, the Freemasons declaimingon universal brotherhood--none of these would have "armed the hand" anddriven the infuriated mobs into the streets of Paris; it was not untilthe emissaries of Weishaupt formed an alliance with the Orléanisteleaders that vague subversive theory became active revolution. 

10

THE CLIMAX

The first Masonic body with which the Illuminati formed an alliance wasthe Stricte Observance, to which the Illuminati Knigge and Bode bothbelonged. Cagliostro had also been initiated into the Stricte Observancenear Frankfurt and was now employed as agent of the combined order. According to his own confession his mission "was to work so as to turnFreemasonry in the direction of Weishaupt's projects"; and the funds hedrew upon were those of the Illuminati. [603] Cagliostro also formed alink with the Martinistes, whose doctrines, though derided by Weishaupt, were useful to his plan in attracting by their mystical character thosewho would have been repelled by the cynicism of the Illuminati. According to Barruel, it was the Martinistes who--following in thefootsteps of the Rosicrucians--had suggested to Weishaupt the device ofpresenting Christ as an "Illuminatus" which had led to such triumphantresults amongst the Protestant clergy. 

But if Weishaupt made use of the various masonic associations, they ontheir account found in him a valuable ally. The fact is that by thistime both French and German Freemasons were very much at sea with regardto the whole subject of Masonry and needed someone to give a point totheir deliberations. Thus at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad convened onJuly 16, 1782, and attended by representatives of masonic bodies fromall over the world, the first question propounded by the Grand Master ofthe Templars (i. E. The Stricte Observance) was: "_What is the realobject of the Order and its true origin_?" So, says Mirabeau in relatingthis incident, "this same Grand Master and all his assistants had workedfor more than twenty years with incredible ardour at a thing of whichthey knew neither the real object nor the origin. "[604]

Two years later the Freemasons of France do not appear to have been anyless in the dark on this matter, for we find them writing to GeneralRainsford, one of the English Masons who had been present at theCongress of Wilhelmsbad, as follows:

 Since you say that Masonry has never experienced any variation in its aim, do you then know with certainty what this unique object is? Is it useful for the happiness of mankind?... Tell us if it is of an historical, political, hermetical, or scientific nature?... Moral, social, or religious?... Are the traditions oral or written?[605]

But Weishaupt had a very definite object in view, which was to gaincontrol of all Freemasonry, and though he himself was not present at theCongress, his coadjutor Knigge, who had been travelling about Germanyproclaiming himself the reformer of Freemasonry, presented himself atWilhelmsbad, armed with full authority from Weishaupt, and succeeded inenrolling a number of magistrates, savants, ecclesiastics, and ministersof state as Illuminati and in allying himself with the deputies ofSaint-Martin and Willermoz. Vanquished by this powerful rival, theStricte Observance ceased temporarily to exist and Illuminism was leftin possession of the field. 

On February 15, 1785, a further congress took place in Paris, convenedthis time by the Philalèthes, at which the Illuminati Bode (aliasAmelius) and the Baron de Busche (alias Bayard) were present, also--ithas been stated--the "magician" Cagliostro, the magnetiser Mesmer, theCabalist Duchanteau, and of course the leaders of the Philalèthes, Savalette de Langes, who was elected President, the Marquis deChefdebien, and a number of German members of the same Order. Thiscongress led to no very practical results, and a further and more secretone was convened in the following year at Frankfurt, where a Grand Lodgehad been established in 1783. It was here that the deaths of Louis XVIand Gustavus III of Sweden are said to have been decreed. 

But already in this same year of 1785 the first act of the revolutionarydrama had been played out. The famous "Affair of the Necklace" can neverbe understood in the pages of official history; only an examination ofthe mechanism provided by the secret societies can explain thatextraordinary episode, which, in the opinion of Napoleon, contributedmore than any other cause to the explosion of 1789. In its double attackon Church and Monarchy the Affair of the Necklace fulfilled the purposeof both Frederick the Great and of the Illuminati. Cagliostro, we know, received both money and instructions from the Order for carrying out theplot, and after it had ended in his own and the Cardinal de Rohan'sexoneration and exile, we find him embarking on fresh secret-societywork in London, where he arrived in November of the same year. Announcing himself as the Count Sutkowski, member of a society atAvignon, he "visited the Swedenborgians at their Theosophical Societymeeting in rooms in the Middle Temple and displayed minute acquaintancewith their doctrines, whilst claiming a superior knowledge. "[606]According to a generally received opinion, Cagliostro was the author ofa mysterious proclamation which appeared at this moment in the _MorningHerald_ in the cypher of the Rose-Croix. [607]

But in the year before these events an extraordinary thing had happened. An evangelist preacher and Illuminatus named Lanze had been sent in July1785 as an emissary of the Illuminati to Silesia, but on his journey hewas struck down by lightning. The instructions of the Order were foundon him, and as a result its intrigues were conclusively revealed to theGovernment of Bavaria. [608] A searching enquiry followed, the houses ofZwack and Bassus were raided, and it was then that the documents andother incriminating evidence referred to in the preceding chapter ofthis book were seized and made public under the name of _The OriginalWritings of the Order of the Illuminati_ (1787). But before this theevidence of four ex-Illuminati, professors of Munich, was published intwo separate volumes. [609]

The diabolical nature of Illuminism now remained no longer a matter ofdoubt, and the Order was officially suppressed. The opponents of Barrueland Robison therefore declare that Illuminism came finally to an end. Weshall see later by documentary evidence that it never ceased to exist, and that twenty-five years later not only the Illuminati but Weishaupthimself were still as active as ever behind the scenes in Freemasonry. 

But for the present we must follow its course from the moment of itsapparent extinction in 1786. This course can be traced not only throughthe "German Union, " which is believed to have been a reorganization ofthe original Illuminati, but through the secret societies of France. Illuminism in reality is less an Order than a principle, and a principlewhich can work better under cover of something else. Weishaupt himselfhad laid down the precept that the work of Illuminism could best beconducted "under other names and other occupations, " and henceforth weshall always find it carried on by this skilful system of camouflage. 

The first cover adopted was the lodge of the "Amis Réunis" in Paris, with which, as we have already seen, the Illuminati had establishedrelations. But now in 1787 a definite alliance was effected by theaforementioned Illuminati, Bode and Busche, who in response to aninvitation from the secret committee of the lodge arrived in Paris inFebruary of this year. Here they found the old Illuminatus Mirabeau--whowith Talleyrand had been largely instrumental in summoning these GermanBrothers--and, according to Gustave Bord, [610] two important members ofthe Stricte Observance, the Marquis de Chefdebien d'Armisson (_Eques aCapite Galeato_) and an Austrian, the Comte Leopold deKollowrath-Krakowski (_Eques ab Aquila Fulgente_) who also belonged toWeishaupt's Order of Illuminati in which he bore the pseudonym ofNumenius. 

It is important here to recognize the peculiar part played by the Lodgeof the _Amis Réunis_. Whilst the _Loge des Neuf Soeurs_ was largelycomposed of middle-class revolutionaries such as Brissot, Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Champfort, and the _Loge de la Candeur_ ofaristocratic revolutionaries--Lafayette as well as the Orléanistes, theMarquis de Sillery, the Duc d'Aiguillon, the Marquis de Custine, and theLameths--_the Loge du Contrat Social_ was mainly composed of honestvisionaries who entertained no revolutionary projects but, according toBarruel, were strongly Royalist. The rôle of the "Amis Réunis" was tocollect together the subversives from all other lodges--Philalèthes, Rose-Croix, members of the _Loge des Neuf Sours_ and of the _Loge de laCandeur_ and of the most secret committees of the Grand Orient, as wellas deputies from the _Illuminés_ in the provinces. Here, then, at thelodge in the Rue de la Sordière, under the direction of Savalette deLanges, were to be found the disciples of Weishaupt, of Swedenborg, andof Saint-Martin, as well as the practical makers of revolution--theagitators and demagogues of 1789. 

The influence of German Illuminism on all these heterogeneous elementswas enormous. From this moment, says a further Bavarian report of thematter, a complete change took place in the Order of the "Amis Réunis. "Hitherto only vaguely subversive, the Chevaliers Bienfaisants became theChevaliers Malfaisants, the Amis Réunis became the Ennemis Réunis. Thearrival of the two Germans, Bode and Busche, gave the finishing touch tothe conspiracy. "The avowed object of their journey was to obtaininformation about magnetism, which was just then making a great stir, "but in reality, "taken up with the gigantic plan of their Order, " theirreal aim was to make proselytes. It will be seen that the followingpassage exactly confirms the account given by Barruel:

 As the Lodge of the _Amis Réunis_ collected together everything that could be found out from all other masonic systems in the world, so the way was soon paved there for Illuminism. It was also not long before this lodge together with all those that depended on it was impregnated with Illuminism. The former system of all these was as if wiped out, so that from this time onwards the framework of the Philalèthes quite disappeared and in the place of the former Cabalistic-magical extravagance [_Schwärmerei_] came in the philosophical-political. [611]

It was therefore not Martinism, Cabalism, or Freemasonry that inthemselves provided the real revolutionary force. Many non-illuminizedFreemasons, as Barruel himself declares, remained loyal to the throneand altar, and as soon as the monarchy was seen to be in danger theRoyalist Brothers of the _Contrat Social_ boldly summoned the lodges tocoalesce in defence of King and Constitution; even some of the upperMasons, who in the degree of Knight Kadosch had sworn hatred to the Popeand Bourbon monarchy, rallied likewise to the royal cause. "The Frenchspirit triumphed over the masonic spirit in the greater number of theBrothers. Opinions as well as hearts were still for the King. " Itneeded the devastating doctrines of Weishaupt to undermine this spiritand to turn the "degrees of vengeance" from vain ceremonial intoterrible fact. 

If, then, it is said that the Revolution was prepared in the lodges ofFreemasons--and many French Masons have boasted of the fact--let italways be added that it was _Illuminized Freemasonry_ that made theRevolution, and that the Masons who acclaim it are illuminized Masons, inheritors of the same tradition introduced into the lodges of France in1787 by the disciples of Weishaupt, "patriarch of the Jacobins. "

Many of the Freemasons of France in 1787 were thus not conscious alliesof the Illuminati. According to Cadet de Gassicourt, there were in allthe lodges only twenty-seven real initiates; the rest were largely dupeswho knew little or nothing of the source whence the fresh influenceamong them derived. The amazing feature of the whole situation is thatthe most enthusiastic supporters of the movement were men belonging tothe upper classes and even to the royal families of Europe. Acontemporary relates that no less than thirty princes--reigning andnon-reigning--had taken under their protection a confederation fromwhich they stood to lose everything and had become so imbued by itsprinciples that they were inaccessible to reason. [612] Intoxicated bythe flattery lavished on them by the priests of Illuminism, they adopteda religion of which they understood nothing. Weishaupt, of course, hadtaken care that none of these royal dupes should be initiated into thereal aims of the Order, and at first adhered to the original plan ofexcluding them altogether; but the value of their co-operation soonbecame apparent and by a supreme irony it was with a Grand Duke that hehimself took refuge. 

But if the great majority of princes and nobles were stricken withblindness at this crisis, a few far-seeing spirits recognized the dangerand warned the world of the impending disaster. In 1787 CardinalCaprara, Apostolic Nuncio at Vienna, addressed a confidential memoir tothe Pope, in which he pointed out that the activities carried on inGermany by the different sects of Illuminés, of Perfectibilists, ofFreemasons, etc. , were increasing. 

 The danger is approaching, for from all these senseless dreams of Illuminism, of Swedenborgianism, or of Freemasonry a frightful reality will emerge. Visionaries have their time; the revolution they forebode will have its time also. [613]

A more amazing prophecy, however, was the _Essai sur la Secte desIlluminés_, by the Marquis de Luchet, [614] a Liberal noble who playedsome part in the revolutionary movement, yet who nevertheless realizedthe dangers of Illuminism. Thus, as early as 1789, before the Revolutionhad really developed, de Luchet uttered these words of warning:

 Deluded people ... Learn that there exists a conspiracy in favour of despotism against liberty, of incapacity against talent, of vice against virtue, of ignorance against enlightenment.... This society aims at governing the world.... Its object is universal domination. This plan may seem extraordinary, incredible--yes, but not chimerical ... No such calamity has ever yet afflicted the world. 

De Luchet then goes on to foretell precisely the events that were totake place three and four years later; he describes the position of aking who has to recognize masters above himself and to authorize their"abominable régime, " to become the plaything of an ambitious andfanatical horde which has taken possession of his will. 

 See him condemned to serve the passions of all that surround him ... To raise degraded men to power, to prostitute his judgement by choices that dishonour his prudence.... 

All this was exactly fulfilled during the reign of the Girondin ministryof 1792. The campaign of destruction carried out in the summer of 1793is thus foretold:

 We do not mean to say that the country where the Illuminés reign will cease to exist, but it will fall into such a degree of humiliation that it will no longer count in politics, that the population will diminish, that the inhabitants who resist the inclination to pass into a foreign land will no longer enjoy the happiness of consideration, nor the charms of society, nor the gifts of commerce. 

And de Luchet ends with this despairing appeal to the powers of Europe:

 Masters of the world, cast your eyes on a desolated multitude, listen to their cries, their tears, their hopes. A mother asks you to restore her son, a wife her husband, your cities for the fine arts that have fled from them, the country for citizens, the fields for cultivators, religion for forms of worship, and Nature for beings of which she is worthy. 

Five years after these words were written the countryside of France wasdesolate, art and commerce were destroyed, and women following thetumbril that carried Fouquier-Tinville to the guillotine cried out:"Give me back my brother, my son, my husband!" So was this amazingprophecy fulfilled. Yet not one word has history to say on the subject!The warning of de Luchet has fallen on deaf ears amongst posterity asamongst the men of his own day. 

De Luchet himself recognizes the obstacle to his obtaining a hearing:there are too many "passions interested in supporting the system of theIlluminés, " too many deluded rulers imagining themselves enlightenedready to precipitate their people into the abyss, whilst "the heads ofthe Order will never relinquish the authority they have acquired nor thetreasure at their disposal. " In vain de Luchet appeals to the Freemasonsto save their Order from the invading sect. "Would it not be possible, "he asks, "to direct the Freemasons themselves against the Illuminés byshowing them that whilst they are working to maintain harmony insociety, those others are everywhere sowing seeds of discord" andpreparing the ultimate destruction of their Order? So far it is not toolate; if only men will believe in the danger it may be averted: "fromthe moment they are convinced, the necessary blow is dealt to the sect. "Otherwise de Luchet prophesies "a series of calamities of which the endis lost in the darkness of time, ... A subterranean fire smoulderingeternally and breaking forth periodically in violent and devastatingexplosions. " What words could better describe the history of the last150 years?

The _Essai sur la Sects des Illuminés_ is one of the most extraordinarydocuments of history and at the same time one of the most mysterious. Why it should have been written by the Marquis de Luchet, who is said tohave collaborated with Mirabeau in the _Galerie de Portraits_ publishedin the following year, why it should have been appended to Mirabeau's_Histoire Secrète de la Cour de Berlin_, and accordingly attributed toMirabeau himself, why Barruel should have denounced it as dust thrown inthe eyes of the public, although it entirely corroborated his own pointof view, are questions to which I can find no reply. That is was writtenseriously and in all good faith it is impossible to doubt; whilst thefact that it appeared before, instead of after, the events described, renders it even more valuable evidence of the reality of the conspiracythan Barruel's own admirable work. What Barruel saw, de Luchet foresawwith equal clearness. As to the rôle of Mirabeau at this crisis, we canonly hazard an explanation on the score of his habitual inconsistency. At one moment he was seeking interviews with the King's ministers inorder to warn them of the coming danger, at the next he wasenergetically stirring up insurrection. It is therefore not impossiblethat he may have encouraged de Luchet's exposure of the conspiracy, although meanwhile he himself had entered into the scheme ofdestruction. Indeed, according to a pamphlet published in 1791 entitled_Mystères de la Conspiration_, [615] the whole plan of revolution wasfound amongst his papers. The editor of this _brochure_ explains thatthe document here made public, called _Croquis ou Projet de Révolutionde Monsieur de Mirabeau_, was seized at the house of Madame Lejai, thewife of Mirabeau's publisher, on October 6, 1789. Beginning with adiatribe against the French monarchy, the document goes on to say that"in order to triumph over this hydra-headed monster these are my ideas":

 We must overthrow all order, suppress all laws, annul all power, and leave the people in anarchy. The laws we establish will not perhaps be in force at once, but at any rate, having given back the power to the people, they will resist for the sake of their liberty which they will believe they are preserving. We must caress their vanity, flatter their hopes, promise them happiness after our work has been in operation; we must elude their caprices and their systems at will, for the people as legislators are very dangerous, they only establish laws which coincide with their passions, their want of knowledge would besides only give birth to abuses. But as the people are a lever which legislators can move at their will, we must necessarily use them as a support, and render hateful to them everything we wish to destroy and sow illusions in their path; we must also buy all the mercenary pens which propagate our methods and which will instruct the people concerning their enemies whom we attack. The clergy, being the most powerful through public opinion, can only be destroyed by ridiculing religion, rendering its ministers odious, and only representing them as hypocritical monsters, for Mahomet in order to establish his religion first defamed the paganism which the Arabs, the Sarmathes, and the Scythians professed. Libels must at every moment show fresh traces of hatred against the clergy. To exaggerate their riches, to make the sins of an individual appear to be common to all, to attribute to them all vices; calumny, murder, irreligion, sacrilege, all is permitted in times of revolution. 

 We must degrade the _noblesse_ and attribute it to an odious origin, establish a germ of equality which can never exist but which will flatter the people; [we must] immolate the most obstinate, burn and destroy their property in order to intimidate the rest, so that if we cannot entirely destroy this prejudice we can weaken it and the people will avenge their vanity and their jealousy by all the excesses which will bring them to submission. 

After describing how the soldiers are to be seduced from theirallegiance, and the magistrates represented to the people as despots, "since the people, brutal and ignorant, only see the evil and never thegood of things, " the writer explains they must be given only limitedpower in the municipalities. 

 Let us beware above all of giving them too much force; their despotism is too dangerous, we must flatter the people by gratuitous justice, promise them a great diminution in taxes and a more equal division, more extension in fortunes, and less humiliation. These phantasies [_vertiges_] will fanaticise the people, who will flatten out all resistance. What matter the victims and their numbers? spoliations, destructions, burnings, and all the necessary effects of a revolution? nothing must be sacred and we can say with Machiavelli: "What matter the means as long as one arrives at the end?"

Were all these the ideas of Mirabeau, or were they, like the otherdocument of the Illuminati found amongst his papers, the programme of aconspiracy? I incline to the latter theory. The plan of campaign was, atany rate, the one followed out by the conspirators, as Chamfort, thefriend and confidant of Mirabeau, admitted in his conversation withMarmontel:

 The nation is a great herd that only thinks of browsing, and with good sheepdogs the shepherds can lead it as they please.... Money and the hope of plunder are all-powerful with the people.... Mirabeau cheerfully asserts that with 100 louis one can make quite a good riot. [616]

Another contemporary thus describes the methods of the leaders:

 Mirabeau, in the exuberance of an orgy, cried one day: "That _canaille_ well deserves to have us for legislators!" These professions of faith, as we see, are not at all democratic; the sect uses the populace as revolution fodder [_chair à révolution_], as prime material for brigandage, after which it seizes the gold and abandons generations to torture. It is veritably the code of hell. [617]

It is this "code of hell" set forth in the "Projet de Révolution" thatwe shall find repeated in succeeding documents throughout the lasthundred years--in the correspondence of the "Alta Vendita, " in the_Dialogues aux Enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu_ by Maurice Joly, in the Revolutionary Catechism of Bakunin, in the Protocols of theElders of Zion, and in the writings of the Russian Bolsheviks to-day. 

Whatever doubts may be cast on the authenticity of any of thesedocuments, the indisputable fact thus remains that as early as 1789 thisMachiavellian plan of engineering revolution and using the people as alever for raising a tyrannical minority to power, had been formulated;further, that the methods described in this earliest "Protocol" havebeen carried out according to plan from that day to this. And in everyoutbreak of the social revolution the authors of the movement have beenknown to be connected with secret societies. 

It was Adrien Duport, author of the "Great Fear" that spread over Franceon July 22, 1789, Duport, the inner initiate of the secret societies, "holding in his hands all the threads of the masonic conspiracy, " who onMay 21, 1790, set forth before the Committee of Propaganda the vastscheme of destruction. 

 M. De Mirabeau has well established the fact that the fortunate revolution which has taken place in France must and will be for all the peoples of Europe the awakening of liberty and for Kings the sleep of death. 

But Duport goes on to explain that whilst Mirabeau thinks it advisableat present not to concern themselves with anything outside France, hehimself believes that the triumph of the French Revolution must leadinevitably to "the ruin of all thrones ... Therefore we must hastenamong our neighbours the same revolution that is going on in France. "[618]

The plan of illuminized Freemasonry was thus nothing less thanworld-revolution. 

It is necessary here to reply to a critic who suggested that inemphasizing the rôle of the secret societies in _World Revolution_ I hadabandoned my former thesis of the Orléaniste conspiracy. I wishtherefore to state that I do not retract one word I wrote in _The FrenchRevolution_ on the Orléaniste conspiracy, I merely supply a furtherexplanation of its efficiency by enlarging on the aid it received fromthe party I referred to as the Subversives--outcome of the masoniclodges. It was because the Orléanistes held the whole masonicorganization at their disposal that they were able to carry out theirplans with such extraordinary skill and thoroughness, and because theyhad at their back men bent solely on destruction that they could enlista following which would not have rallied to a mere scheme of usurpation. Even Montjoie, who saw in the Revolution principally the work of the Ducd'Orléans, indicates in a very curious passage of a later work theexistence of the still darker intrigue behind the conspiracy he hadspent his energies in unveiling:

 I will not examine whether this wicked prince, thinking he was acting in his personal interests, was not moved by that invisible hand which seems to have created all the events of our revolution in order to lead us towards a goal that we do not see at present, but which I think we shall see before long. [619]

Unfortunately, after this mysterious utterance Montjoie never againreturns to the subject. 

At the beginning of the Revolution, Orléanism and Freemasonry thusformed a united body. According to Lombard de Langres:

 France in 1789 counted more than 2, 000 lodges affiliated to the Grand Orient; the number of adepts was more than 100, 000. The first events of 1789 were only Masonry in action. All the revolutionaries of the Constituent Assembly were initiated into the third degree. We place in this class the Duc d'Orléans, Valence, Syllery, Laclos, Sièyes, Pétion, Menou, Biron, Montesquieu, Fauchet, Condorcet, Lafayette, Mirabeau, Garat, Rabaud, Dubois-Crancé, Thiébaud, Larochefoucauld, and others. [620]

Amongst these others were not only the Brissotins, who formed thenucleus of the Girondin party, but the men of the Terror--Marat, Robespierre, Danton, and Desmoulins. 

It was these fiercer elements, true disciples of the Illuminati, whowere to sweep away the visionary Masons dreaming of equality andbrotherhood. Following the precedent set by Weishaupt, classicalpseudonyms were adopted by these leaders of the Jacobins, thus Chaumettewas known as Anaxagoras, Clootz as Anacharsis, Danton as Horace, Lacroixas Publicola, and Ronsin as Scaevola[621]; again, after the manner ofthe Illuminati, the names of towns were changed and a revolutionarycalendar was adopted. The red cap and loose hair affected by theJacobins appear also to have been foreshadowed in the lodges of theIlluminati. [622]

Yet faithfully as the Terrorists carried out the plan of the Illuminati, it would seem that they themselves were not initiated into the innermostsecrets of the conspiracy. Behind the Convention, behind the clubs, behind the Revolutionary Tribunal, there existed, says Lombard deLangres, that "most secret convention [_convention sécrétissime_] whichdirected everything after May 31, an occult and terrible power of whichthe other Convention became the slave and which was composed of theprime initiates of Illuminism. This power was above Robespierre and thecommittees of the government, ... It was this occult power whichappropriated to itself the treasures of the nation and distributed themto the brothers and friends who had helped on the great work. "[623]

What was the aim of this occult power? Was it merely the plan ofdestruction that had originated in the brain of a Bavarian professortwenty years earlier, or was it something far older, a live and terribleforce that had lain dormant through the centuries, that Weishaupt andhis allies had not created but only loosed upon the world? The Reign ofTerror, like the outbreak of Satanism in the Middle Ages, can beexplained by no material causes--the orgy of hatred, lust, and crueltydirected not only against the rich but still more against the poor anddefenceless, the destruction of science, art, and beauty, thedesecration of the churches, the organized campaign against all that wasnoble, all that was sacred, all that humanity holds dear, what was thisbut Satanism?

In desecrating the churches and stamping on the crucifixes the Jacobinshad in fact followed the precise formula of black magic: "For thepurpose of infernal evocation ... It is requisite ... To profane theceremonies of the religion to which one belongs and to trample itsholiest symbols under foot. "[624] It was this that formed the preludeto the "Great Terror, " when, to those who lived through it, it seemedthat France lay under the sway of the powers of darkness. 

So in the "great shipwreck of civilization, " as a contemporary hasdescribed it, the projects of the Cabalists, the Gnostics, and thesecret societies which for nearly eighteen centuries had sapped thefoundations of Christianity found their fulfilment. Do we not detect anecho of the Toledot Yeshu in the blasphemies of the Marquis de Sadeconcerning "the Jewish slave" and "the adulterous woman, the courtesanof Galilee?" And in the imprecations of Marat's worshippers, "Christ wasa false prophet!" a repetition of the secret doctrine attributed to theTemplars: "Jesus is not the true God; He is a false prophet; He was notcrucified for the salvation of humanity, but for His own misdeeds"? Arethese resemblances accidental, or are they the outcome of a continuousplot against the Christian faith?

What, then, was the rôle of Jews in the Revolution? In this connexion itis necessary to understand the situation of the Jews in France at thisperiod. 

After the decree of banishment issued by Charles VI in 1394, Jewry, as abody, had ceased to exist; but towards the end of the fifteenth centurya certain number of Jews, driven out of Spain and Portugal, were allowedto settle in Bordeaux. These Spanish and Portuguese Jews, known as_Sephardim_, appeared to acquiesce in the Christian religion and werenot officially regarded as Jews, but enjoyed considerable privilegesconferred on them by Henri II. It was not until the beginning of theeighteenth century, during the Regency, that Jews began to reappear inParis. Meanwhile, the annexation of Alsace at the end of the previouscentury had added to the population of France the German Jews of thatprovince known as the _Ashkenazim_. 

It is important to distinguish between these two races of Jews indiscussing the question of Jewish emancipation at the time of theRevolution. For whilst the Sephardim had shown themselves good citizensand were therefore subject to no persecutions, the Ashkenazim by theirextortionate usury and oppressions had made themselves detested by thepeople, so that rigorous laws were enforced to restrain their rapacity. The discussions that raged in the National Assembly on the subject ofthe Jewish question related therefore mainly to the Jews of Alsace. Already, in 1784, the Jews of Bordeaux had been accorded furtherconcessions by Louis XVI; in 1776 all Portuguese Jews had been givenreligious liberty and the permission to inhabit all parts of thekingdom. The decree of January 28, 1790, conferring on the Jews ofBordeaux the rights of French citizens, put the finishing touch to thisscheme of liberation. But the proposal to extend this privilege to theJews of Alsace evoked a storm of controversy in the Assembly and alsoviolent insurrections amongst the Alsatian peasants. It was thus onbehalf of the people that several deputies protested against the decree. "The Jews, " said the Abbé Maury, "have traversed seventeen centurieswithout mingling with other nations. They have never done anything buttrade with money, they have been the scourge of agricultural provinces, not one of them has known how to ennoble his hands by guiding theplough. " And he went on to point out that the Jews "must not bepersecuted, they must be protected as individuals and not as Frenchmen, since they cannot be citizens.... Whatever you do, they will alwaysremain foreigners in our midst. "

Monseigneur de la Fare, Bishop of Nancy, adopted the same line ofargument:

 They must be accorded protection, safety, liberty; but should we admit into the family a tribe that is foreign to it, that turns its eyes unceasingly towards a common country, that aspires to abandon the land that bears it?... My _cahier_ orders me to protest against the motion that has been made to you. The interest of the Jews themselves necessitates this protest. The people have a horror of them; they are often in Alsace the victims of popular risings. [625]

In all this, as will be seen, there is no question of persecution, butof precautions against a race that wilfully isolates itself from therest of the community in order to pursue its own interests andadvantages. The Jews of Bordeaux indeed recognized the odium that theGerman Jews were calculated to bring on the Jewish cause, and in anaddress to the Assembly on January 22, 1790, dissociated themselves fromthe aggressive claims of the Ashkenazim:

 We dare to believe that our condition in France would not to-day be open to discussion if certain demands of the Jews of Alsace, Lorraine, and the Trois Evêchés [i. E. Metz, Toul, and Verdun] had not caused a confusion of ideas which appears to reflect on us. We do not yet know exactly what these demands are, but to judge by the public papers they appear to be rather extraordinary since these Jews aspire to live in France under a special régime, to have laws peculiar to themselves, and to constitute a class of citizens separated from all the others. 

 As for us, our condition in France has long since been settled. We have been naturalized French since 1550; we possess all kinds of properties, and we enjoy the unlimited right to acquire estates. We have neither laws, tribunals, nor officers of our own[626]

In adopting this attitude the Sephardim created a precedent which, if ithad been followed henceforth consistently by their co-religionists, might have gone far to allay prejudice against the Jewish race. It wasthe solidarity generally presented by the Jews towards the rest of thecommunity which excited alarm in the minds of French citizens. Thirtyyears earlier the merchants of Paris, in a petition against theadmission of the Jews to their corporations, indicated by an admirablesimile the danger this solidarity offered to free commerce. 

 The French merchant carries on his commerce alone; each commercial house is in a way isolated, whilst the Jews are particles of quicksilver, which at the least slant run together into a block. [627]

But in spite of all protests, the decree emancipating the Jews of Alsacewas passed in September 1791, and hymns of praise were sung in thesynagogues. 

What part was actually played by the Jews in the tumults of theRevolution it is impossible to determine, for the reason that they areseldom designated as such in the writings of contemporaries. On thispoint Jewish writers appear to be better informed than the rest of theworld, for Monsieur Léon Kahn in his panegyric on the part played by hisco-religionists in the Revolution[628] finds Jews where even Drumontfailed to detect them. Thus we read that it was a Jew, Rosenthal, whoheaded the legion known by his name, which was sent against La Vendéebut took to flight, [629] and which was the subject of complaint whenemployed to guard the Royal Family at the Temple[630]; that amongstthose who worked most energetically to deprive the clergy of their goodswas a Jewish ex-old-clothes seller, Zalkind Hourwitz; that it was a Jewnamed Lang who murdered three out of the five Swiss guards at the footof the staircase in the Tuileries on August 10[631]; that Jews wereimplicated in the theft of the crown jewels on September 16, 1792, andone named Lyre was executed in consequence; that it was Clootz and theJew Pereyra, and not, as I had stated, Hébert, Chaumette, and Momoro, who went to the Archbishop Gobel in November 1793 and induced him bymeans of threats to abjure the Christian faith. [632]

All these facts were unknown to me when I wrote my account of theseevents; it will be seen then that, far from exaggerating the rôle of theJews in _The French Revolution_, I very much underrated it. Indeed thequestion of their complicity had not occurred to me at all when I wrotethis book, and the only Jew to whom I referred was Ephraïm--sent toFrance by the Illuminati Frederick William II and Bischoffswerder--whomM. Kahn indicates as playing an even more important part than I hadassigned to him. 

But illuminating as these incidents may be, it is yet open to questionwhether they prove any concerted attempt on the part of the Jews tobring about the overthrow of the French monarchy and the Catholicreligion. It is true, nevertheless, that they themselves boasted oftheir revolutionary ardour. In an address presenting their claims beforethe National Assembly in 1789, they declare:

 Regenerators of the French Empire, you would not wish that we should cease to be citizens, since for already six months we have assiduously performed all duties as such, and the recompense for the zeal we have shown in accelerating the revolution will not be to condemn us to participate in none of its advantages now that it has been consummated.... Nosseigneurs, we are all very good citizens, and in this memorable revolution we dare to say that there is not one of us who has not proved himself. [633]

In all these activities, however, religious feeling appears to haveplayed an entirely subordinate part; the Jews, as has been said, werefree before the Revolution to carry on the rites of their faith. Andwhen the great anti-religious campaign began, many of them enteredwhole-heartedly into the attack on all religious faiths, their ownincluded. Thus on the 21st Brumaire, whilst the Feasts of Reason weretaking place in the churches of Paris, we find "a deputation ofIsraelites" presenting themselves at the National Assembly and"depositing on the bosom of the Mountain the ornaments of which they hadstripped a little temple they had in the Faubourg Saint-Germain. " At thesame moment--

 A revolutionary committee of the Réunion brings to the general council crosses, suns, chalices, copes, and quantities of other ornaments of worship, and a member of this committee observes that several of these effects belong to individuals of the Jewish race. A minister of the religion of Moses, Abraham, and Jacob asks in the name of his co-religionists that the said effects should not be regarded as belonging to such and such a sect, ... This citizen is named Benjamin Jacob.... Another member of the same committee pays homage to the patriotic zeal of the citizens heretofore Jews, ... Almost all have forestalled the wish of the revolutionary committee by themselves bringing their reliquaries and ornaments, amongst others the famous cope said to have belonged to Moses. [634]

On the 20th Frimaire at "the Temple of Liberty, " formerly the church ofthe Benedictines, "the citizen Alexandre Lambert _fils_, a Jew broughtup in the prejudices of the Jewish religion, " uttered a violent harangueagainst all religions:

 I will prove to you, citizens, that all forms of worship are impostures equally degrading to man and to divinities; I will not prove it by philosophy, I do not know it, but only by the light of reason. 

After denouncing the iniquities of both the Catholic and Protestantfaiths, Lambert demonstrates "the absurdities of the Jewish religion, of this domineering religion"; he thunders against Moses "governing asimple and agrarian people like all clever impostors, " against "theservile respect of the Jews for their kings ... The ablutions of women, "etc. Finally he declares:

 The bad faith, citizens, of which the Jewish nation is accused does not come from themselves but from their priests. Their religion, which would allow them only to lend to those of their nation at 5 per cent. , tells them to take all they can from Catholics; it is even hallowed as a custom in our morning prayers to solicit God's help in catching out a Christian. There is more, citizens, and it is the climax of abomination: if any mistake is made in commerce between Jews, they are ordered to make reparation; but if on 100 louis a Christian should have paid 25 too much, one is not bound to return them to him. What an abomination! What a horror! And where does that all come from but from the Rabbis? Who have excited proscriptions against us? Our priests! Ah, citizens, more than anything in the world we must abjure a religion which, ... By subjecting us to irksome and servile practices, makes it impossible for us to be good citizens. [635]

The encouragement accorded by the Jews to the French Revolution appearsthus to have been prompted not by religious fanaticism but by a desirefor national advantage. That they gained immensely by the overthrow ofthe Old Order is undeniable, for apart from the legislation passed ontheir behalf in the National Assembly, the disorder of the finances in1796 was such that, as M. Leon Kahn tells us, a contemporary journalenquired: "Has the Revolution then been only a financial scheme? aspeculation of bankers?"[636] We know from Prudhomme to what race thefinanciers who principally profited by this disorder belonged. [637]

But if the rôle of the Jews in the Revolution remains obscure there canbe no doubt of the part played by the secret societies in the revoltagainst all religion, all moral laws, and social order, which had beenreduced to a system in the councils of the Illuminati. 

It was this conspiracy that reasserted itself in the Babouviste risingof 1796 which was directly inspired by the secret societies. After thedeath of Babeuf, his friend and inspirer Buonarotti with the aid ofMarat's brother founded a masonic lodge, the _Amis Sincères_, which wasaffiliated to the _Philadelphes_, at Geneva, and as "Diacre Mobile" ofthe "Order of Sublime and Perfect Masons" created three new secretdegrees, in which the device of the Rose-Croix I. N. R. I. Was interpretedas signifying "Justum necare reges injustos. "[638]

The part to be assigned to each intrigue in preparing the world-movementof which the French Revolution was the first expression is a question onwhich no one can speak with certainty. But, as at the present moment, the composite nature of this movement must never be lost to sight. Largely perhaps the work of Frederick the Great, it is probable that butfor the Orléanistes the plot against the French monarchy might have cometo nought; whilst again, but for his position at the head of illuminizedFreemasonry it is doubtful whether the Duc d'Orléans could havecommanded the forces of revolution. Further, how far the movement, which, like the modern Bolshevist conspiracy, appears to have hadunlimited funds at its disposal, was financed by the Jews yet remains tobe discovered. Hitherto only the first steps have been taken towardselucidating the truth about the French Revolution. 

In the opinion of an early nineteenth-century writer the sect whichengineered the French Revolution was absolutely international:

 The authors of the Revolution are not more French than German, Italian, English, etc. They form a particular nation which took birth and has grown in the darkness, in the midst of all civilized nations, with the object of subjecting them to its domination. [639]

It is curious to find almost precisely the same idea expressed by theDuke of Brunswick, formerly the "Eques a Victoria" of the StricteObservance, "Aaron" of the Illuminati, and Grand Master of GermanFreemasonry, who, whether because the Revolution had done its work indestroying the French monarchy and now threatened the security ofGermany, or whether because he was genuinely disillusioned in the Ordersto which he had belonged, issued a Manifesto to all the lodges in 1794, declaring that in view of the way in which Masonry had been penetratedby this great sect the whole Order must be temporarily suppressed. It isessential to quote a part of this important document verbatim:

 Amidst the universal storm produced by the present revolutions in the political and moral world, at this period of supreme illumination and of profound blindness, it would be a crime against truth and humanity to leave any longer shrouded in a veil things that can provide the only key to past and future events, things that should show to thousands of men whether the path they have been made to follow is the path of folly or of wisdom. It has to do with you, VV. FF. Of all degrees and of all secret systems. The curtain must at last be drawn aside, so that your blinded eyes may see that light you have ever sought in vain, but of which you have only caught a few deceptive rays.... 

 We have raised our building under the wings of darkness; ... The darkness is dispelled, and a light more terrifying than darkness itself strikes suddenly on our sight. We see our edifice crumbling and covering the ground with ruins; we see destruction that our hands can no longer arrest. And that is why we send away the builders from their workshops. With a last blow of the hammer we overthrow the columns of salaries. We leave the temple deserted, and we bequeath it as a great work to posterity which shall raise it again on its ruins and bring it to completion. 

Brunswick then goes on to explain what has brought about the ruin of theOrder, namely, the infiltration of Freemasonry by secret conspirators:

 A great sect arose which, taking for its motto the good and the happiness of man, worked in the darkness of the conspiracy to make the happiness of humanity a prey for itself. This sect is known to everyone: its brothers are known no less than its name. It is they who have undermined the foundations of the Order to the point of complete overthrow; it is by them that all humanity has been poisoned and led astray for several generations. The ferment that reigns amongst the peoples is their work. They founded the plans of their insatiable ambition on the political pride of nations. Their founders arranged to introduce this pride into the heads of the peoples. They began by casting odium on religion.... They invented the rights of man which it is impossible to discover even in the book of Nature, and they urged the people to wrest from their princes the recognition of these supposed rights. The plan they had formed for breaking all social ties and of destroying all order was revealed in all their speeches and acts. They deluged the world with a multitude of publications; they recruited apprentices of every rank and in every position; they deluded the most perspicacious men by falsely alleging different intentions. They sowed in the hearts of youth the seed of covetousness, and they excited it with the bait of the most insatiable passions. Indomitable pride, thirst of power, such were the only motives of this sect: their masters had nothing less in view than the thrones of the earth, and the government of the nations was to be directed by their nocturnal clubs. 

 This is what has been done and is still being done. But we notice that princes and people are unaware how and by what means this is being accomplished. That is why we say to them in all frankness: The misuse of our Order, the misunderstanding of our secret, has produced all the political and moral troubles with which the world is filled to-day. You who have been initiated, you must join yourselves with us in raising your voices, so as to teach peoples and princes that the sectarians, the apostates of our Order, have alone been and will be the authors of present and future revolutions. We must assure princes and peoples, on our honour and our duty, that our association is in no way guilty of these evils. But in order that our attestations should have force and merit belief, we must make for princes and people a complete sacrifice; so as to cut out to the roots the abuse and error, we must from this moment dissolve the whole Order. This is why we destroy and annihilate it completely for the time; we will preserve the foundations for posterity, which will clear them when humanity, in better times, can derive some benefit from our holy alliance. [640]

Thus, in the opinion of the Grand Master of German Freemasonry, a secretsect working within Freemasonry had brought about the French Revolutionand would be the cause of all future revolutions. We shall now pursuethe course of this sect after the first upheaval had ended. 

Three years after the Duke of Brunswick issued his Manifesto to thelodges, the books of Barruel, Robison, and others appeared, laying barethe whole conspiracy. It has been said that all these books "fellflat. "[641] This is directly contrary to the truth. Barruel's book wentinto no less than eight editions, and I have described elsewhere thealarm that his work and Robison's excited in America. In England theyled to the very tangible result that a law was passed by the EnglishParliament in 1799 prohibiting all secret societies with the exceptionof Freemasonry. 

It is evident, then, that the British Government recognized thecontinued existence of these associations and the danger they presentedto the world. This fact should be borne in mind when we are assured thatBarruel and Robison had conjured up a bogey which met with no seriousattention from responsible men. For the main purpose of Barruel's bookis to show that not only had Illuminism and Grand Orient Masonrycontributed largely to the French Revolution, but that three years afterthat first explosion they were still as active as ever. This is thegreat point which the champions of the "bogey" theory are most anxiousto refute. "The Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, " wrote Mr. Waite, "wasfounded by Adam Weishaupt in 1776, and it was suppressed by the Electorof Bavaria in 1789.... Those who say that 'it was continued in moresecret forms' have never produced one item of real evidence. "[642] Now, as we have seen, the Illuminati were not suppressed by the Elector ofBavaria in 1789, but in 1786--first error of Mr. Waite. But moreextraordinary confusion of mind is displayed in his _Encyclopædia ofFreemasonry_, where, in a Masonic Chronology, he gives, this time underthe date of 1784, "Suppression of the Illuminati, " but under 1793:"J. J. C. Bode joined the Illuminati under Weishaupt. " At a matter offact, this was the year Bode died. These examples will serve to show thereliance that can be placed on Mr. Waite's statement concerning theIlluminati. 

We shall now see that not only the Illuminati but Weishaupt himselfstill continued to intrigue long after the French Revolution had ended. 

Directly the Reign of Terror was over, the masonic lodges, which duringthe Revolution had been replaced by the clubs, began to reopen, and bythe beginning of the nineteenth century were in a more flourishingcondition than ever before. "It was the most brilliant epoch ofMasonry, " wrote the Freemason Bazot in his History of Freemasonry. Nearly 1, 200 lodges existed in France under the Empire; generals, magistrates, artists, savants, and notabilities in every line wereinitiated into the Order. [643] The most eminent of these was PrinceCambacérès, pro Grand Master of the Grand Orient. 

It is in the midst of this period that we find Weishaupt once more atwork behind the scenes of Freemasonry. Thus in the remarkable masoniccorrespondence published by M. Benjamin Fabre in his _Eques a CapiteGaleato_--of which, as has already been pointed out, the authenticity isadmitted by eminent British Freemasons--a letter is reproduced fromPyron, representative in Paris of the Grand Orient of Italy, to theMarquis de Chefdebien, dated September 9, 1808, in which it is statedthat "a member of the sect of Bav. " has asked for information on acertain point of ritual. 

On December 29, 1808, Pyron writes again: "By the words 'sect of B.... 'I meant W.... "; and on December 3, 1809, puts the matter quite plainly:"The other word remaining at the end of my pen refers enigmatically toWeis=pt. "

So, as M. Fabre points out:

 There is no longer any doubt that it is a question here of Weishaupt, and yet one observes that his name is not yet written in all its letters. It must be admitted here that Pyron took great precautions when it was a matter of Weishaupt! And one is led to ask what could be the extraordinary importance of the rôle played at this moment in the Freemasonry of the First Empire by this Weishaupt, who was supposed to have been outside the masonic movement since Illuminism was brought to trial in 1786![644]

But the Marquis de Chefdebien entertained no illusions about Weishaupt, whose intrigues he had always opposed, and in a letter dated May 12, 1806, to the Freemason Roettiers, who had referred to the danger ofisolated masonic lodges, he asks:

 In good faith, very reverend brother, is it in isolated lodges that the atrocious conspiracy of Philippe [the Duc d'Orléans] and Robespierre was formed? Is it from isolated lodges that those prominent men came forth, who, assembled at the Hôtel de Ville, stirred up revolt, devastation, assassination? And is it not in the lodges bound together, co-and sub-ordinated, that the monster Weishaupt established his tests and had his horrible principles prepared?[645]

If, then, as M. Gustave Bord asserts, the Marquis de Chefdebien hadhimself belonged to the Illuminati before the Revolution, here is indeedIlluminist evidence in support of Barruel! Yet disillusioned as the"Eques a Capite Galeato" appears to have been with regard to Illuminism, he still retained his allegiance to Freemasonry. This would tend toprove that, however subversive the doctrines of the Grand Orient mayhave been--and indeed undoubtedly were--it was not Freemasonry itselfbut Illuminism which organized the movement of which the FrenchRevolution was the first manifestation. As Monsignor Dillon hasexpressed it:

 Had Weishaupt not lived, Masonry might have ceased to be a power after the reaction consequent on the French Revolution. He gave it a form and character which caused it to outlive that reaction, to energize to the present day, and which will cause it to advance until its final conflict with Christianity must determine whether Christ or Satan shall reign on this earth to the end. [646]

If to the word Masonry we add Grand Orient--that is to say, the Masonrynot of Great Britain, but of the Continent--we shall be still nearer tothe truth. 

In the early part of the nineteenth century Illuminism was thus as muchalive as ever. Joseph de Maistre, writing at this period, constantlyrefers to the danger it presents to Europe. Is it not also to Illuminismthat a mysterious passage in a recent work of M. Lenôtre refers? In thecourse of conversation with the friends of the false Dauphin Hervagault. Monsignor de Savine is said to have "made allusions in prudent andalmost terrified terms to some international sect ... A power superiorto all others ... Which has arms and eyes everywhere and which governsEurope to-day. "[647]

When in _World Revolution_ I asserted that during the period thatNapoleon held the reins of power the devastating fire of Illuminism wastemporarily extinguished, I wrote without knowledge of some importantdocuments which prove that Illuminism continued without break from thedate of its foundation all through the period of the Empire. So far, then, from overstating the case by saying that Illuminism did not ceasein 1786, I understated it by suggesting that it ceased even for thisbrief interval. The documents in which this evidence is to be found arereferred to by Lombard de Langres, who, writing in 1820, observes thatthe Jacobins were invisible from the 18th Brumaire until 1813, and goeson to say:

 Here the sect disappears; we find to guide us during this period only uncertain notions, scattered fragments; the plots of Illuminism lie buried in the boxes of the Imperial police. 

But the contents of these boxes no longer lie buried; transported to theArchives Nationales, the documents in which the intrigues of Illuminismare laid bare have at last been given to the public. Here there can beno question of imaginative abbés, Scotch professors, or American divinesconjuring up a bogey to alarm the world; these dry official reportsprepared for the vigilant eye of the Emperor, never intended and neverused for publication, relate calmly and dispassionately what the writershave themselves heard and observed concerning the danger that Illuminismpresents to all forms of settled government. 

The author of the most detailed report[648] is one François Charles deBerckheim, special commissioner of police at Mayence towards the end ofthe Empire, who as a Freemason is naturally not disposed to prejudiceagainst secret societies. In October 1810 he writes, however, that hisattention has been drawn to the Illuminati by a pamphlet which has justfallen into his hands, namely the _Essai sur la Secte des Illuminés_, which, like many contemporaries, he attributes originally to Mirabeau. He then goes on to ask whether the sect still exists, and if so whetherit is indeed "an association of frightful scoundrels who aim, asMirabeau assures us, at the overthrow of all law and all morality, atreplacing virtue by crime in every act of human life. " Further, he askswhether both sects of _Illuminés_ have now combined in one and what aretheir present projects. Conversations with other Freemasons furtherincrease Berckheim's anxiety on the subject; one of the best informedobserves to him: "I know a great deal, enough at any rate to beconvinced that the _Illuminés_ have vowed the overthrow of monarchicgovernments and of all authority on the same basis. "

Berckheim thereupon sets out to make enquiries, with the result that heis able to state that the _Illuminés_ have initiates all over Europe, that they have spared no efforts to introduce their principles into thelodges, and "to spread a doctrine subversive of all settled government... Under the pretext of the regeneration of social morality and theamelioration of the lot and condition of men by means of laws founded onprinciples and sentiments unknown hitherto and contained only in theheads of the leaders. " "Illuminism, " he declares, "is becoming a greatand formidable power, and I fear, in my conscience, that kings andpeoples will have much to suffer from it unless foresight and prudencebreak its frightful mechanism [_ses affreux restorts_]. "

Two years later, on January 16, 1813, Berckheim writes again to theMinister of Police:

 Monseigneur, they write to me from Heidelberg ... That a great number of initiates into the mysteries of Illuminism are to be found there. 

 These gentlemen wear as a sign of recognition a gold ring on the third finger of the left hand; on the back of this ring there is a little rose, in the middle of this rose is an almost imperceptible dint; by pressing this with the point of a pin one touches a spring, by this means the two gold circles are detached. On the inside of the first of these circles is the device: "Be German as you ought to be"; on the inside of the second of these circles are engraved the words "Pro Patria. "

Subversive as the ideas of the Illuminati might be, they were thereforenot subversive of German patriotism. We shall find this apparent paradoxrunning all through the Illuminist movement to the present day. 

In 1814 Berckheim drew up his great report on the secret societies ofGermany, which is of so much importance in throwing a light on theworkings of the modern revolutionary movement, that extracts must begiven here at length. [649] His testimony gains greater weight from thevagueness he displays on the origins of Illuminism and the role it hadplayed before the French Revolution; it is evident, therefore, that hehad not taken his ideas from Robison or Barruel--to whom he never oncerefers--but from information gleaned on the spot in Germany. The openingparagraphs finally refute the fallacy concerning the extinction of thesect in 1786. 

 The oldest and most dangerous association is that which is generally known under the denomination of the _Illuminés_ and of which the foundation goes back towards the middle of the last century. 

 Bavaria was its cradle; it is said that it had for founders several chiefs of the Order of the Jesuits; but this opinion, advanced perhaps at random, is founded only on uncertain premises; in any case, in a short time it made rapid progress, and the Bavarian Government recognized the necessity of employing methods of repression against it and even of driving away several of the principal sectaries. 

 But it could not eradicate the germ of the evil. The _Illuminés_ who remained in Bavaria, obliged to wrap themselves in darkness so as to escape the eye of authority, became only the more formidable: the rigorous measures of which they were the object, adorned by the title of persecution, gained them new proselytes, whilst the banished members went to carry the principles of the Association into other States. 

 Thus in a few years Illuminism multiplied its hotbeds all through the south of Germany, and as a consequence in Saxony, in Prussia, in Sweden, and even in Russia. 

 The reveries of the Pietists have long been confounded with those of the Illuminés. This error may arise from the denomination of the sect, which at first suggests the idea of a purely religious fanaticism and of mystic forms which it was obliged to take at its birth in order to conceal its principles and projects; but the Association always had a political tendency. If it still retains some mystic traits, it is in order to support itself at need by the power of religious fanaticism, and we shall see in what follows how well it knows to turn this to account. 

 The doctrine of Illuminism is subversive of every kind of monarchy; unlimited liberty, absolute levelling down, such is the fundamental dogma of the sect; to break the ties that bind the Sovereign to the citizen of a state, that is the object of all its efforts. 

 No doubt some of the principal chiefs, amongst whom are numbered men distinguished for their fortune, their birth, and the dignities with which they are invested, are not the dupes of these demagogic dreams: they hope to find in the popular emotions they stir up the means of seizing the reigns of power, or at any rate of increasing their wealth and their credit; but the crowd of adepts believe in it religiously, and, in order to reach the goal shown to them, they maintain incessantly a hostile attitude towards sovereigns. 

 Thus the _Illuminés_ hailed with enthusiasm the ideas that prevailed in France from 1789 to 1804. Perhaps they were not foreign to the intrigues which prepared the explosions of 1789 and the following years; but if they did not take an active part in these manoeuvres, it is at least beyond doubt that they openly applauded the systems which resulted from them; that the Republican armies when they penetrated into Germany found in these sectarians auxiliaries the more dangerous for the sovereigns of the invaded states in that they inspired no distrust, and we can say with assurance that more than one general of the Republic owed a part of its success to his understanding with the _Illuminés_. 

 It would be a mistake if one confounded Illuminism with Freemasonry. These two associations, in spite of the points of resemblance they may possess in the mystery with which they surround themselves, in the tests that precede initiation, and in other matters of form, are absolutely distinct and have no kind of connexion with each other. The lodges of the Scottish Rite number, it is true, a few _Illuminés_ amongst the Masons of the higher degrees, but these adepts are very careful not to be known as such to their brothers in Masonry or to manifest ideas that would betray their secret. 

Berckheim then goes on to describe the subtle methods by which theIlluminati now maintain their existence; learning wisdom from the eventsof 1786, their organization is carried on invisibly, so as to defy theeye of authority:

 It was thought for a long while that the association had a Grand Mastership, that is to say, a centre point from which radiated all the impulsions given to this great body, and this primary motive power was sought for successively in all the capitals of the North, in Paris and even in Rome. This error gave birth to another opinion no less fallacious: it was supposed that there existed in the principal towns lodges where initiations were made and which received directly the instructions emanating from the headquarters of the Society. 

 If such had been the organization of Illuminism, it would not so long have escaped the investigations of which it was the object: these meetings, necessarily thronged and frequent, requiring besides, like masonic lodges, appropriate premises, would have aroused the attention of magistrates: it would not have been difficult to introduce false brothers, who, directed and protected by authority, would soon have penetrated the secrets of the sect. 

 This is what I have gathered most definitely on the Association of the _Illuminés_:

 First I would point out that by the word hotbeds [foyers] I did not mean to designate points of meeting for the adepts, places where they hold assemblies, but only localities where the Association counts a great number of partisans, who, whilst living isolated in appearance, exchange ideas, have an understanding with each other, and advance together towards the same goal. 

 The Association had, it is true, assemblies at its birth where receptions [i. E. Initiations] took place, but the dangers which resulted from these made them feel the necessity of abandoning them. It was settled that each initiated adept should have the right without the help of anyone else to initiate all those who, after the usual tests, seemed to him worthy. 

 The catechism of the sect is composed of a very small number of articles which might even be reduced to this single principle:

 "To arm the opinion of the peoples against sovereigns and to work by every method for the fall of monarchic governments in order to found in their place systems of absolute independence. " Everything that can tend towards this object is in the spirit of the Association.... 

 Initiations are not accompanied, as in Masonry, by phantasmagoric trials, ... But they are preceded by long moral tests which guarantee in the safest way the fidelity of the catechumen; oaths, a mixture of all that is most sacred in religion, threats and imprecations against traitors, nothing that can stagger the imagination is spared; but the only engagement into which the recipient enters is to propagate the principles with which he has been imbued, to maintain inviolable secrecy on all that pertains to the association, and to work with all his might to increase the number of proselytes. 

 It will no doubt seem astonishing that there can be the least accord in the association, and that men bound together by no physical tie and who live at great distances from each other can communicate their ideas to each other, make plans of conduct, and give grounds of fear to Governments; but there exists an invisible chain which binds together all the scattered members of the association. Here are a few links:

 All the adepts living in the same town usually know each other, unless the population of the town or the number of the adepts is too considerable. In this last case they are divided into several groups, who are all in touch with each other by means of members of the association whom personal relations bind to two or several groups at a time. 

 These groups are again subdivided into so many private coteries which the difference of rank, of fortune, of character, tastes, etc. , may necessitate: they are always small, sometimes composed of five or six individuals, who meet frequently under various pretexts, sometimes at the house of one member, sometimes at that of another; literature, art, amusements of all kinds are the apparent object of these meetings, and it is nevertheless in these confabulations [_conciliabules_] that the adepts communicate their private views to each other, agree on methods, receive the directions that the intermediaries bring them, and communicate their own ideas to these same intermediaries, who then go on to propagate them in other coteries. It will be understood that there may be uniformity in the march of all these separated groups, and that one day may suffice to communicate the same impulse to all the quarters of a large town.... 

 These are the methods by which the _Illuminés_, without any apparent organization, without settled leaders, agree together from the banks of the Rhine to those of the Neva, from the Baltic to the Dardanelles, and advance continually towards the same goal, without leaving any trace that might compromise the interests of the association or even bring suspicion on any of its members; the most active police would fail before such a combination.... 

 As the principal force of the _Illuminés_ lies in the power of opinions, they have set themselves out from the beginning to make proselytes amongst the men who through their profession exercise a direct influence on minds, such as _littérateurs_, savants, and above all professors. The latter in their chairs, the former in their writings, propagate the principles of the sect by disguising the poison that they circulate under a thousand different forms. These germs, often imperceptible to the eyes of the vulgar, are afterwards developed by the adepts of the Societies they frequent, and the most obscure wording is thus brought to the understanding of the least discerning. It is above all in the Universities that Illuminism has always found and always will find numerous recruits. Those professors who belong to the Association set out from the first to study the character of their pupils. If a student gives evidence of a vigorous mind, an ardent imagination, the sectaries at once get hold of him, they sound in his ears the words Despotism--Tyranny--Rights of the People, etc. , etc. Before he can even attach any meaning to these words, as he advances in age, reading chosen for him, conversations skilfully arranged, develop the germs deposited in his youthful brain; soon his imagination ferments, history, traditions of fabulous times, all are made use of to carry his exaltation to the highest point, and before even he has been told of a secret Association, to contribute to the fall of a sovereign appears to his eyes the noblest and most meritorious act.... 

 At last, when he has been completely captivated, when several years of testing guarantee to the society inviolable secrecy and absolute devotion, it is made known to him that millions of individuals distributed in all the States of Europe share his sentiments and his hopes, that a secret link binds firmly all the scattered members of this immense family, and that the reforms he desires so ardently must sooner or later come about. 

 This propaganda is rendered the easier by the existing associations of students who meet together for the study of literature, for fencing, gaming, or even mere debauchery. The Illuminés insinuate themselves into all these circles and turn them into hot-beds for the propagation of their principles. 

 Such, then, is the Association's continual mode of progression from its origins until the present moment; it is by conveying from childhood the germ of poison into the highest classes of society, in feeding the minds of students on ideas diametrically opposed to that order of things under which they have to live, in breaking the ties that bind them to sovereigns, that Illuminism has recruited the largest number of adepts, called by the state to which they were born to be the mainstays of the Throne and of a system which would ensure them honours and privileges. 

 Amongst the proselytes of this last class there are some no doubt whom political events, the favour of the prince or other circumstances, detach from the Association; but the number of these deserters is necessarily very limited: and even then they dare not speak openly against their old associates, whether because they are in dread of private vengeances or whether because, knowing the real power of the sect, they want to keep paths of reconciliation open to themselves; often indeed they are so fettered by the pledges they have personally given that they find it necessary not only to consider the interests of the sect, but to serve it indirectly, although their new circumstances demand the contrary.... 

Berckheim then proceeds to show that those writers on Illuminism weremistaken who declared that political assassinations were definitelycommanded by the Order:

 There is more than exaggeration in this accusation; those who put it forward, more zealous in striking an effect than in seeking the truth, may have concluded, not without probability, that men who surrounded themselves with profound mystery, who propagated a doctrine absolutely subversive of any kind of monarchy, dreamt only of the assassination of sovereigns; but experience has shown (and all the documents derived from the least suspect sources confirm this) that the _Illuminés_ count a great deal more on the power of opinion than on assassination; the regicide committed on Gustavus III is perhaps the only crime of this kind that Illuminism has dared to attempt, if indeed it is really proved that this crime was its work; moreover, if assassination had been, as it is said, the fundamental point in its doctrine, might we not suppose that other regicides would have been attempted in Germany during the course of the French Revolution, especially when the Republican armies occupied the country?

 The sect would be much less formidable if this were its doctrine, on the one hand because it would inspire in most of the _Illuminés_ a feeling of horror which would triumph even over the fear of vengeance, on the other hand because plots and conspiracies always leave some traces which guide the authorities to the footsteps of the prime instigators; and besides, it is the nature of things that out of twenty plots directed against sovereigns, nineteen come to light before they have reached the point of maturity necessary to their execution. 

 The _Illuminés'_ line of march is more prudent, more skilful, and consequently more dangerous; instead of revolting the imagination by ideas of regicide, they affect the most generous sentiments: declamations on the unhappy state of the people, on the selfishness of courtiers, on measures of administration, on all acts of authority that may offer a pretext to declamations as a contrast to the seductive pictures of the felicity that awaits the nations under the systems they wish to establish, such is their manner of procedure, particularly in private. More circumspect in their writings, they usually disguise the poison they dare not proffer openly under obscure metaphysics or more or less ingenious allegories. Often indeed texts from Holy Writ serve as an envelope and vehicle for these baneful insinuations.... 

By this continuous and insidious form of propaganda the imagination ofthe adepts is so worked on that if a crisis arises, they are ready to, carry out the most daring projects. 

Another Association closely resembling the _Illuminés_, Berckheimreports, is known as the _Idealists_, whose system is founded on thedoctrine of perfectibility; these kindred sects "agree in seeing in thewords of Holy Scripture the pledge of universal regeneration, of anabsolute levelling down, and it is in this spirit that the sectariansinterpret the sacred books. "

Berckheim further confirms the assertion I made in _WorldRevolution_--contested, as usual, by a reviewer without a shred ofevidence to the contrary--that the Tugendbund derived from theIlluminati. "The League of Virtue, " he writes, "was directed by thesecondary chiefs of the _Illuminés_.... In 1810 the Friends of Virtuewere so identified with the _Illuminés_ in the North of Germany that noline of demarcation was seen between them. "

But it is time to turn to the testimony of another witness on theactivities of the secret societies which is likewise to be found at theArchives Nationales. [650] This consists of a document transmitted by theCourt of Vienna to the Government of France after the Restoration, andcontains the interrogatory of a certain Witt Doehring, a nephew of theBaron d'Eckstein, who, after taking part in secret society intrigues, was summoned before the judge Abel at Bayreuth in February, 1824. Amongst secret associations recently existing in Germany, the witnessasserted, were the "Independents" and the "Absolutes"; the latter"adored in Robespierre their most perfect ideal, so that the crimescommitted during the French Revolution by this monster and theMontagnards of the Convention were in their eyes, in accordance withtheir moral system, heroic actions ennobled and sanctified by theiraim. " The same document goes on to explain why so many combustibleelements had failed to produce an explosion in Germany:

 The thing that seemed the great obstacle to the plans of the Independents... Was what they called the servile character and the dog-like fidelity [_Hundestreue_] of the German people, that is to say, that attachment--innate and firmly impressed on their minds without even the aid of reason--which that excellent people everywhere bears towards its princes. 

A traveller in Germany during the year 1795 admirably summed up thematter in these words:

 The Germans are in this respect [of democracy] the most curious people in the world ... The cold and sober temperament of the Germans and their tranquil imagination enable them to combine the most daring opinions with the most servile conduct. That will explain to you ... Why so much combustible material accumulating for so many years beneath the political edifice of Germany has not yet damaged it. Most of the princes, accustomed to see their men of letters so constantly free in their writings and so constantly slavish in their hearts, have not thought it necessary to use severity against this sheeplike herd of modern Gracchi and Brutuses. Some of them [the princes] have even without difficulty adopted part of their opinions, and Illuminism having doubtless been presented to them as perfection, the complement of philosophy, they were easily persuaded to be initiated into it. But great care was taken not to let them know more than the interests of the sect demanded. [651]

It was thus that Illuminism, unable to provoke a blaze in the home ofits birth, spread, as before the French Revolution, to a moreinflammable Latin race--this time the Italians. Six years after hisinterrogatory at Beyreuth, Witt Doehring published his book on thesecret societies of France and Italy, in which he now realized he hadplayed the part of dupe, and incidentally confirms the statement I havepreviously quoted, that the Alta Vendita was a further development ofthe Illuminati. 

This infamous association, with which I have dealt at lengthelsewhere, [652] constituted the Supreme Directory of the Carbonari andwas led by a group of Italian noblemen, amongst whom a prince, "theprofoundest of initiates, was charged as Inspector-General of the Order"to propagate its principles throughout the North of Europe. "He hadreceived from the hands of Kingge [i. E. Knigge, the ally of Weishaupt?]the cahiers of the last three degrees. " But these were of course unknownto the great majority of Carbonari, who entered the association in allgood faith. Witt Doehring then shows how faithfully the system ofWeishaupt was carried out by the Alta Vendita. In the three firstdegrees, he explains--

 It is still a question of the morality of Christianity and even of the Church, for which those who wish to be received must promise to sacrifice themselves. The initiates imagine, according to this formula, that the object of the association is something high and noble, that it is the Order of those who desire a purer morality and a stronger piety, the independence and the unity of their country. One cannot therefore judge the Carbonari _en masse_; there are excellent men amongst them.... But everything changes after one has taken the three degrees. Already in the fourth, in that of the _Apostoli_, one promises to overthrow all monarchies, and especially the kings of the race of the Bourbons. But it is only in the seventh and last degree, reached by few, that revelations go further. At last the veil is torn completely for the Principi Summo Patriarcho. Then one learns that the aim of the Carbonari is just the same as that of the _Illuminés_. This degree, in which a man is at the same time prince and bishop, coincides with the Homo Rex of the latter. The initiate vows the ruin of all religion and of all positive government, whether despotic or democratic; murder, poison, perjury, are all at their disposal. Who does not remember that on the suppression of the _Illuminés_ was found, amongst other poisons, a _tinctura ad abortum faciendum_. The _summo maestro_ laughs at the zeal of the mass of Carbonari who have sacrificed themselves for the liberty and independence of Italy, neither one nor the other being for him a goal but a method. [653]

Witt Doehring, who had himself reached the degree of P. S. P. , thereupondeclares that, having taken his vows under a misapprehension, he holdshimself to be released from his obligations and conceives it his duty towarn society. "The fears that assail governments are only too wellfounded. The soil of Europe is volcanic. "[654]

It is unnecessary to go over the ground already traversed in _WorldRevolution_ by relating the history of the successive eruptions whichproved the truth of Witt Doehring's warning. The point to emphasizeagain is that every one of these eruptions can be traced to the work ofthe secret societies, and that, as in the eighteenth century, most ofthe prominent revolutionaries were known to be connected with somesecret association. According to the plan laid down by Weishaupt, Freemasonry was habitually adopted as a cover. Thus Louis _Amis de laVérité_, numbering Bazard and Buchez amongst Blanc, himself a Freemason, speaks of a lodge named the its founders, "in which the solemnpuerilities of the Grand Orient only served to mask political action. "[655]Bakunin, companion of the Freemason Proudhon, [656] "the father ofAnarchy, " makes use of precisely the same expression. Freemasonry, heexplains, is not to be taken seriously, but "may serve as a mask" and"as a means of preparing something quite different. "[657]

I have quoted elsewhere the statement of the Socialist Malon that"Bakunin was a disciple of Weishaupt, " and that of the AnarchistKropotkine that between Bakunin's secret society--the _Alliance SocialeDémocratique_--and the secret societies of 1795 there was a directaffiliation; I have quoted the assertion of Malon that "Communism washanded down in the dark through the secret societies" of the nineteenthcentury; I have quoted also the congratulations addressed by Lamartineand the Freemason Crémieux to the Freemasons of France in 1848 on theirshare in this revolution as in that of 1789; I have shown that theorganization of this later outbreak by the secret societies is not amatter of surmise, but a fact admitted by all well-informed historiansand by the members of the secret societies themselves. 

So, too, in the events of the Commune, and in the founding of the FirstInternationale, the role of Freemasonry and the secret societies is noless apparent. The Freemasons of France have indeed always boasted oftheir share in political and social upheavals. Thus in 1874, Malapert, orator of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, went so far as to say: "In the eighteenth century Freemasonry was sowidespread throughout the world that one can say that since that epochnothing has been done without its consent. "

The secret history of Europe during the last two hundred years yetremains to be written. Until viewed in the light of the _dessous descartes_, many events that have taken place during this period mustremain for ever incomprehensible. 

But it is time to leave the past and consider the secret forces at workin the world to-day. 

PART II

_THE PRESENT_

11

MODERN FREEMASONRY

In the foregoing portion of this book we have followed the history ofFreemasonry in the past and the various interpretations that have beenplaced on its rites and ceremonies. The question now arises: what is therole of Freemasonry to-day?

The fundamental error of most writers on this question, whether Masonicor anti-Masonic, is to represent all Freemasons as holding a commonbelief and animated by a common purpose. Thus on one hand the panegyricsby Freemasons on their Order as a whole, and on the other hand thesweeping condemnations of the Order by the Catholic Church, are equallyat fault. 

The truth is that Freemasonry in a generic sense is simply a system ofbinding men together for any given purpose, since it is obvious thatallegories and symbols, like the _x_ and _y_ of algebra, can beinterpreted in a hundred different manners. Two pillars may be said torepresent strength and stability, or man and woman, or light anddarkness, or any other two things we please. A triangle may signify theTrinity, or Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, or any other triad. Tosay that any of these symbols have an absolute meaning is absurd. 

The allegories of Freemasonry are equally capable of variousinterpretations. The building of the Temple of Solomon may signify theprogress of any undertaking and Hiram the victim of its opponents. Soalso with regard to the "secret tradition" of Freemasonry concerning "aloss which has befallen humanity"[658] and its ultimate recovery. Anybody of people working for an object may be said to have experienced aloss and to aim at its recovery. 

In the same way the whole organization of Freemasonry, the plan ofadmitting candidates to successive degrees of initiation, of bindingthem to secrecy by fearful oaths, is one that can be employed for anypurpose, social, political, philanthropic, or religious, for promotingthat which is good or for disseminating that which is evil. It may beused to defend a throne or to overthrow it, to protect religion or todestroy it, to maintain law and order or to create anarchy. 

Now, there was, as we have seen, from the beginning, besides the writtencharges, an _oral tradition_ in Masonry, after the manner of the Cabala, on which the guidance of the society depended. The true character of anyform of Freemasonry is thus not to be judged only by its printed ritual, but by the oral instruction of the initiates and the interpretationsplaced on the symbols and ritual. Naturally these interpretations varyin different countries and at different periods. Freemasonry isdescribed in its Ritual as "a peculiar system of morality, veiled inallegory and illustrated by symbols. " But what code of morality? Instudying the history of the Order we shall find that the same code wasby no means common to all masonic bodies, nor is it to-day. Somemaintain a very high standard of morals; others appear to possess nostandard at all. Mr. Waite observes that "the two doctrines of the unityof God and the immortality of the soul constitute 'the philosophy ofFreemasonry. '"[659] But these doctrines are by no means essential tothe existence of Freemasonry; the Grand Orient has renounced both, butit still ranks as Freemasonry. 

M. Paul Nourrisson is therefore perfectly right in saying: "There are asmany Masonries as countries; there is no such thing as universalMasonry. "[660] Broadly, however, modern Freemasonry may be divided intotwo kinds: the variety worked in the British Empire, in America, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, etc. , and Grand Orient Masonry, which prevailsin Catholic countries and of which the most important centre is theGrand Orient of Paris. 

Continental Masonry

The fact that Masonry in Protestant countries is neither revolutionarynor anti-religious is frequently used by Catholic writers to show thatProtestantism identifies itself with the aims of Masonry, and byFreemasons to prove that the tyranny of the Church of Rome has drivenMasonry into an attitude hostile to Church and State. The pointoverlooked in both these contentions is the essential difference in thecharacter of the two kinds of Masonry. If the Grand Orient had adheredto the fundamental principle of British Masonry not to concern itselfwith religion or politics, there is no reason why it should have comeinto conflict with the Church. But its duplicity on this point isapparent. Thus in one of its earlier manuals it declares, like BritishMasonry, that it "never interferes with questions of government or ofcivil and religious legislation, and that whilst making its membersparticipate in the perfecting of all sciences, it positively excepts inthe lodges two of the most beautiful, _politics_ and _theology_, becausethese two sciences divide men and nations which Masonry constantly tendsto unite. "[661] But on a further page of the same manual from whichthis quotation is taken we find it stated that Masonry is simply "thepolitical application of Christianity. "[662] Indeed, during the lastfifty years the Grand Orient has thrown off the mask and openly declareditself to be political in its aims. In October 1887 the Venerable Bro∴Blanc said in a discourse which was printed for the lodges:

 You recognise with me, my brothers, the necessity for Freemasonry to become a vast and powerful political and social society having a decisive influence on the resolutions of the Republican government. [663]

And in 1890 the Freemason Fernand Maurice declared "that nothing shouldhappen in France without the hidden action of Freemasonry, " and "if theMasons choose to organize, in ten years' time no one in France will beable to move outside us (_personne ne bougera plus en France en dehorsde nous_). "[664]

This is the despotic power which the Grand Orient has established inopposition to both Church and Government. 

Moreover, Grand Orient masonry is not only political but subversive inits political aims. Instead of the peaceful trilogy of British masonry, "Brotherly love, relief, and truth, " it has throughout adhered to theformula which originated in the Masonic lodges of France and became thewar-cry of the Revolution: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. " "It is thelaw of equality, " says Ragon, "that has always endeared Masonry to theFrench, " and "as long as equality really exists only in the lodges, Masonry will be preserved in France. "[665] The aim of Grand OrientMasonry is thus to bring about universal equality as formulated byRobespierre and Babeuf. In the matter of liberty we read further that asmen are all by nature free--the old fallacy of Rousseau and of theDeclaration of the Rights of Man--therefore "no one is necessarilysubjected to another nor has the right to rule him. "[666] Therevolutionary expresses the same idea in the phrase that "no man shouldhave a master. " Finally, by fraternity Grand Orient Masonry denotes theabolition of all national feeling. 

 It is to Masonry [Ragon says again] that we owe the affiliation of all classes of society, it alone could bring about this fusion which from its midst has passed into the life of the peoples. It alone could promulgate that humanitarian law of which the rising activity, tending to a great social uniformity, leads to the fusion of races, of different classes, of morals, codes, customs, languages, fashions, money, and measures. Its virtuous propaganda will become the humanitarian law of all consciences. [667]

The policy of the Grand Orient is thus avowedly International Socialism. Indeed in a further passage Ragon plainly indicates this fact:

 Every generous reform, every social benefit derives from it, and if these survive it is because Masonry lends them its support. This phenomenon is due only to the power of its organization. The past belongs to it and the future cannot escape from it. By its immense lever of association it alone is able to realize by a productive communion (_communion génératrice_) that great and beautiful social unity conceived by Jaurez, Saint-Simon, Owen, Fourier. If Masons wish it, the generous conceptions of these philanthropic thinkers will cease to be vain Utopias. [668]

Who are the philanthropic thinkers enumerated here but the menderisively described by Karl Marx as the "Utopian Socialists" of thenineteenth century? Utopian Socialism is thus simply the open andvisible expression of Grand Orient Freemasonry. Moreover, these UtopianSocialists were almost without exception Freemasons or members of othersecret societies. 

The Freemason Clavel confirms the foregoing account by Ragon. Thus, likeRagon, he quotes, the principle expressed in a ritual for the initiationof a Master Mason:

 It is expressly forbidden to Masons to discuss amongst themselves, either in the lodge or outside it, religious and political matters, these discussions having usually the effect of creating discord where formerly peace, union, and fraternity reigned. This masonic law admits of no exceptions. [669]

But Clavel also goes on to say:

 To efface amongst men the distinctions of colour, rank, creed, opinions, country; to annihilate fanaticism, and ... The scourge of war; in a word, to make of the whole human race one and the same family united by affection, by devotion, by work and knowledge: that, my brother, is the great work which Freemasonry has undertaken, etc. [670]

Up to a point many a British Freemason reading these passages willdeclare himself completely in accord with the sentiments expressed. Humanitarianism, the obliteration of class distinctions, fraternizationbetween men of all races, conditions, and religious creeds, enter ofcourse largely into the spirit of British Masonry, but form simply thebasis on which Masons meet together in the lodges and not a politicalsystem to be imposed on the world in general. 

British Masonry thus makes no attempt to interfere with the existingsocial system or form of Government; the essence of its teaching is thateach member of the Fraternity should seek to reform himself and notsociety. In a word, individual regeneration takes the place of thesocial reorganization advocated by the Grand Orient under the influenceof Illuminism. The formula of the "United States of Europe" and of the"Universal Republic" first proclaimed by the Illuminatus, AnacharsisClootz, [671] has long been the slogan of the French lodges. [672]

In the matter of religion, Grand Orient Masonry has entirely departedfrom the principle laid down by the British lodges. If the CatholicChurch has shown itself hostile to Masonry, it must be remembered thatin Catholic countries Masonry has shown itself militantly anti-Catholic. "Freemasonry, " one of its modern orators declared, "is the anti-Church, the anti-Catholicism, the Church of Heresy (_la contre Eglise, le contreCatholicisme, l'Eglise de l'Hérésie_). "[673] The _Bulletin_ of theGrand Orient in 1885 officially declared: "We Freemasons must pursue thedefinite demolition of Catholicism. "

But the Grand Orient goes further than this and attacks all forms ofreligion. Thus, as has been said, those "ancient landmarks" of BritishMasonry, belief in the Great Architect of the Universe and in theimmortality of the soul, had never formed an integral part of itssystem, and it was only in 1849 that for the first time "it wasdistinctly formulated that the basis of Freemasonry is a belief in Godand in the immortality of the soul, and the solidarity of Humanity. " Butin September 1877 the first part of this formula was deleted, allallusions to the Great Architect were omitted, and the statute nowreads: "Its basis is absolute liberty of conscience and the solidarityof Humanity. "[674] British Freemasonry, which does not admit liberty ofconscience in the sense of Atheism, but demands that every Mason shouldprofess belief in some form of religion and which insists that theVolume of the Sacred Law--in England the Bible, in Mohammedan countriesthe Koran, and so on--should be placed on the table in its lodges, thereupon broke off all relations with the Grand Orient. In March 1878the following resolution was passed unanimously:

 That the Grand Lodge, whilst always anxious to receive in the most fraternal spirit the Brethren of any foreign Grand Lodge whose proceedings are conducted according to the Ancient Landmarks of the Order, of which a belief in T. G. A. O. T. U. Is the first and most important, cannot recognize as "true and genuine" Brethren any who have been initiated in lodges which either deny or ignore that belief. [675]

The Grand Orient, says M. Copin Albancelli, not content with renouncingthe Great Architect whose glory it had celebrated on every possibleoccasion and whose praises had been incessantly sung in its lodges, demanded of its initiates that they should declare themselves to beabsolutely convinced that the Great Architect was nothing but amyth. [676] More than this, violent anti-religious tirades have beenpermitted and even applauded in the lodges. Thus in 1902 the FreemasonDelpech in his discourse at a masonic banquet uttered these words:

 The triumph of the Galilean has lasted twenty centuries; he is dying in his turn. The mysterious voice which once on the mountains of Epirus announced the death of Pan, to-day announces the death of the deceiver God who had promised an era of justice and peace to those who should believe in him. The illusion has lasted very long; the lying God in his turn disappears; he goes to rejoin in the dust of ages the other divinities of India, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, who saw so many deluded creatures throw themselves at the food of their altars. Freemasons, we are pleased to state that we are not unconcerned with this ruin of false prophets. The Roman Church, founded on the Galilean myth, began to decline rapidly on the day when the masonic association was constituted. From the political point of view Freemasons have often varied. But in all times Freemasonry has stood firm on this principle: war on all superstitions, war on all fanaticism. [677]

How is it possible to reconcile this attitude towards religion ingeneral and Christianity in particular with the fact that the GrandOrient still works the Rose-Croix degree? This degree--which, as we haveseen, was first devised (whether in Scotland or in France) to give aChristian meaning to Masonry--was only incorporated into BritishFreemasonry in 1846 and in our country has retained its originalcharacter. Its ritual, centring around a lost word, signifies that theOld Testament dispensation has come to an end with the Crucifixion, andis so strongly Christian that no Jew, Mohammedan, or other non-Christiancan be admitted to it. Moreover, since this degree, known as theeighteenth degree, forms in reality the first degree of the Ancient andAccepted Rite, as worked in this country, non-Christians are excludedfrom the whole of this Rite and can only take the degrees of Royal Arch, Mark Mason, Royal Ark Mariner, and finally Royal Select andSuper-Excellent Master. Consequently the thirty-three Masons of thethirty-third degree who compose the Supreme Council which directs theAncient and Accepted Rite are necessarily professing Christians. Exactlythe opposite is the case in France; the Rose-Croix, worked by professingatheists and Jews, can only be parody of Christian mysteries. 

Now, it is essential to realize that in France the anti-masonic camp isdivided into two parties. Whilst the majority of Catholic writers regardFreemasonry itself as the source of all evil--"the Synagogue ofSatan"--more impartial investigators have pronounced the opinion that itis not Freemasonry even of the Grand Orient variety but somethingconcealed behind Freemasonry which constitutes the principal danger. This view is expressed by M. Copin Albancelli, whose book _Le Pouvoirocculte contre la France_ is of the utmost importance to anunderstanding of the masonic danger, for here there can be no questionof Catholic prejudice or of imaginary accusations made by a stranger toMasonry. M. Copin Albancelli entered the Grand Orient as an agnostic andhas never returned to the bosom of the Church; yet as a Frenchman, apatriot, and a believer in law, morality, and Christian ethics he foundhimself obliged, after six years' experience in the lodges and afterattaining the degree of Rose-Croix, to leave Freemasonry and, further, to denounce it. From what he himself heard and observed M. CopinAlbancelli declares the Grand Orient to be anti-patriotic, subversive ofall morality and religious belief, and an immense danger to France. 

But further than this, M. Copin Albancelli declares the Grand Orient tobe a system of deception by which members are enlisted in a causeunknown to themselves; even the initiates of the upper degrees are notall aware of the real aim of the Order or of the power behind it. M. Copin Albancelli thus arrives at the conclusion that there are threeFreemasonries one above the other: (i) Blue Masonry (i. E. The threeCraft Degrees), in which none of the real secrets are revealed to themembers and which serves merely as a sorting-ground for selecting likelysubjects; (2) the Upper Degrees, in which most of the members, whilstimagining themselves to have been initiated into the whole secret of theOrder and "bursting with importance" over their imaginary rôle ofleaders, are only admitted to a partial knowledge of the goal to whichthey are tending; and (3) the inner circle, "the true masters, " thosewho conceal themselves behind high-grade Masonry. Admission to thisinner circle may be, moreover, not a matter of degrees. "Whilst in thelower Masonries the adepts are obliged to pass through all the degreesof the established hierarchy, the upper and invisible Freemasonry iscertainly recruited not only amongst the thirty-three degrees but in allthe groups of upper-degree Masonry, and perhaps even in certainexceptional cases outside these. "[678] This inner and invisibleFreemasonry is to a large extent _international_. 

The most illuminating passage in the whole of M. Copin Albancelli's bookis where he describes an experience that befell him after he had takenthe degree of Rose-Croix. It was then that one of his superiors took himaside and addressed him in the following terms:

 "You realize the power which Freemasonry has at its disposal. We can say that we hold France. It is not because of our numbers, since there are only 25, 000 Freemasons in this country [this was in 1889]. Nor is it because we are the brains, for you have been able to judge of the intellectual mediocrity of the greater number of these 25, 000 Freemasons. We hold France because we are organized and the only people who are organized. But above all, we hold France because we have an aim, this aim is unknown; as it is unknown, no obstacle can be put in its way; and finally, as no obstacle is put up, the way is wide open before us. This is logical, is it not?"

 "Absolutely. "

 "Good. But what would you say of an association which instead of consisting of 25, 000 nonentities as in Freemasonry, were composed of, say, only a thousand individuals, but a thousand individuals recruited in the manner that I will tell you. "

And the Freemason went on to explain the way in which such individualswere selected, the months and years of observation, of supervision, towhich they were subjected, so as to form a body of picked men insideFreemasonry capable of directing its operations. 

 "You can imagine the power at the command of such an association?"

 "An association thus selected would do anything it chose. It could possess the world if it pleased. "

Thereupon the higher adept, after asking for a further promise ofsecrecy, declared:

 "Well, in exchange for this promise, Brother Copin, I am authorized to let you know that this association exists and that, further, I am authorized to introduce you into it. "[679]

It was then that Monsieur Copin Albancelli understood that the point towhich the conversation was leading up was not, as he had at firstsupposed, an invitation to take the next step in Freemasonry--thethirtieth degree of Knight Kadosch--but to enter through a side-doorinto an association concealed within Freemasonry and for which thevisible organization of the latter served merely as a cover. A verycurious resemblance will here be noticed between the method of soundingM. Copin Albancelli and that of the Illuminatus Cato in the matter ofSavioli, described in a passage already quoted:

 Now that he is a Mason I have ... Taken up the general plan of our ⊙, and as this pleased him I said that such a thing really existed, whereat he gave me his word that he would enter it. 

M. Copin Albancelli, however, did not give his word that he would enterit, but, on the contrary, checked further revelations by declaring thathe would leave Freemasonry. 

This experience had afforded him a glimpse of "a world existing behindthe masonic world, more secret than it, unsuspected by it as by theoutside world. "[680] Freemasonry, then, "can only be the half-litantechamber of the real secret society. That is the truth. "[681] "Thereexists then necessarily a permanent directing Power. We cannot see thatPower, therefore it is occult. "[682]

For some time M. Copin Albancelli concluded this Power to be "the Jewishpower, " and elaborated the idea in a further work[683]; but the war hasled him to develop his theories in yet another book, which will shortlyappear. 

That the lodges of the Grand Orient are largely controlled by Jews is, however, certain, and that they are centres of political propaganda isequally undeniable. We have only to glance at the followingextracts--some of which are reproduced on the opposite page--from theprogramme of debates in the _Bulletin_ of the Grand Orient for June 5, 1922, to recognize that the ideas they propagate are simply those ofInternational Socialism:

 Loge "Union et France": Lecture du Rapport de notre T∴ C∴ F∴ Chardard sur "L'Exploitation des richesses nationales au profit de la collectivité. "

 Loge "Les Rénovateurs": "Exploitation des Richesses nationales et des grosses Entreprises an profit de la collectivité. " Conférence de notre F∴ Goldschmidt, Orat∴ adjoint sur la même question. 

[Illustration: News paper clippings]

 Loge "Les Zélés Philanthropes": "La Transformation de la Société Actuelle s'impose-t-elle?" Conférence par le T∴ C∴ F∴ Edmond Cottin. 

 Loge "Paix-Travail-Solidarité": "Rôle de la Franc-Maçonnerie dans la politique actuelle" par le F∴ F∴

 Loge "Les Trinitaires": "Le Socialisme Français" par le T∴ Ill. F∴ Elie May. 

 Ten∴ Collective des L∴ "Emmanuel Arago" & "les Coeurs Unis indivisibles": "Comment propager notre Idéal Maçonnique dans le Monde profane. " Conférence par le F∴ Jahia, de la R∴ L∴ Isis Monthyon. 

 Loge "Isis Monthyon et Conscience et Volonté": "La Terreur et le Péril Fasciste en Italie, le Fascisme et la F∴-Maç∴ Italienne, " impressions de notre F∴ Mazzini, de retour, après un séjour prolongé en Italie. 

It will be seen by the last of these extracts that Grand Orient Masonryis the enemy of Fascismo, which saved Italy in her hour of peril. Indeed, the Italian Masons passed a resolution which was directlyopposed to Fascist views, especially with regard to the religious policyof Mussolini, who has restored the crucifix to the schools and religiousteaching to the curriculum. The Fascist _Giornale di Roma_ declared thatthe principles announced by the Masons in this resolution were thosewhich threatened to submerge the State and nation. ConsequentlyMussolini declared that Fascisti must either leave their lodges or leaveFascismo. [684]

In Belgium Freemasonry has taken the same political and anti-religiouscourse. In 1856 the directing committee of the Belgian Grand Orientdeclared: "Not only is it the right but the duty of the lodges tosupervise the actions in public life of those amongst its members whomit has placed in political posts, the right to demandexplanations.... "[685] When in 1866 at a funeral ceremony in honour ofthe deceased King Leopold I the Grand Orient of Belgium displayed themaxim, "The soul which has emanated from God is immortal, " theFreemasons of Louvain entered a violent protest on the ground that"Free-thinking had been admitted by the Belgian lodges in 1864 as itsfundamental principle, " and that the Grand Orient had therefore violatedthe convictions of its members. [686]

In Spain and Portugal Freemasonry has played not merely a subversivebut an actively revolutionary and sanguinary rôle. The anarchist Ferrer, intimately concerned with a plot to murder the King of Spain, was at thesame moment entrusted with negotiations between the Grand Orient ofFrance and the Grand Lodge of Catalonia. [687] These murderous schemes, frustrated in Spain, met, however, in Portugal with complete success. The Portuguese revolutions from 1910 to 1921 were organized under thedirection of Freemasonry and the secret society of Carbonarios. Theassassination of King Carlos and his elder son had been prepared by thesame secret organizations. In 1908 a pamphlet modelled on the libelspublished against Marie Antoinette was directed against Queen Amélie andher husband. A month later the assassination took place. Amongst theleaders of the new Republic was Magalhaes Lima, Grand Master of theGrand Orient of Portugal. [688]

The authorship of these disorders was, in fact, so clearly recognizedthat honest Freemasons forsook the lodges. An English Mason, unaware ofthe true character of Portuguese Freemasonry, when in Lisbon in August1919, made himself known to several moderate Portuguese Masons, who, while glad to welcome him as a brother, refused to take him to a lodge, declaring that they had severed all connection with Masonry since it hadpassed under the control of assassins. They also added that theassassination of Señor Paes, the President in December 1918, was thework of certain Portuguese lodges. A special meeting had previously beenheld in Paris in conjunction with the Grand Orient of France, at whichit had been decided that Paes was to be removed. This decision reached, the earliest opportunity of putting it into force was sought--with fatalresults. The assassin was imprisoned in the Penitentiary but liberatedby the revolution of 1921, and no attempt has been made to recapturehim. The murder of Dr. Antonio Granjo in October 1921 was traced to thesame agency. In the pocket of the murdered man was found a document fromthe "Lodge of Liberty and Justice"(!) warning him of the decision takenagainst him for having ordered the police to protect the British tramwaycompany. [689]

The present Portuguese Government, indeed, makes no secret of itsmasonic character and prints the square and compass on its bank-notes. 

But whilst in Spain and Portugal Freemasonry manifested itself inAnarchist outrages, in the east of Europe the lodges, largely under thecontrol of Jews, followed the line of Marxian Socialism. After the fallof the Bela Kun régime in Hungary a raid on the lodges brought to lightdocuments clearly revealing the fact that the ideas of Socialism hadbeen disseminated by the Freemasons. Thus in the minutes of meetings itwas recorded that on November 16, 1906, Dr. Kallos had addressed theGyor Lodge on Socialist ideals. "The ideal world which we call themasonic world, " he declared, "will be also a Socialist world and thereligion of Freemasonry is that of Socialism as well. " Dr. Kallos thenproceeded to acquaint the members with the theories of Marx and Engels, showing that no help was to be found in Utopias, as the interests of theproletarians were in absolute conflict with those of other classes, andthese differences could only be settled by international class warfare. Nevertheless with that fear of the proletariat which has alwayscharacterized the democrats of revolutionary Freemasonry, Dr. Kallosdeclared later that "the social revolution must take place withoutbloodshed. "[690] The Karolyi régime was the direct outcome of theseillusions, and as in all revolutions paved the way for the more violentelements. 

Still further east in Europe the lodges, though revolutionary, insteadof following the International Socialist line of Hungarian Freemasonry, exhibited a political and nationalist character. The Young Turk movementoriginated in the masonic lodges of Salonica under the direction of theGrand Orient of Italy, which later contributed to the success ofMustapha Kemal. Moreover, as we approach the Near East, cradle of themasonic system, we find the Semitic influence not only of the Jews butof other Semite races directing the lodges. In Turkey, in Egypt, inSyria now, as a thousand years ago, the same secret societies whichinspired the Templars have never ceased to exist, and in this minglingof the East and West it is possible that the Grand Orient may drawreinforcement from those sources whence it drew its system and its name. 

Amongst the strange survivals of early Eastern sects are the Druses ofLebanon, who might indeed be described as the Freemasons of the East;their outer organization closely resembles that of the Craft Degrees inWestern Masonry, yet such is their power of secrecy that few if anyEuropeans have ever succeeded in discovering the secret doctrines. Thattheir tendency is largely political admits of little doubt; in fact menintimately acquainted with the Near East have declared that theinfluence they exercise over the politics of that region is asfar-reaching as that of the Grand Orient over the affairs of Europe andthat they form the breeding-ground of all political ideas and changes. Though small in numbers this mysterious society is composed of pastmasters in the game of intrigue, who, whilst playing apparently a minorpart at political meetings, secret or otherwise, or even remainingcompletely silent, contrive to influence decisions with startlingresults. 

British Masonry

We shall now consider the further ways in which British Masonry differsfrom the Grand Orient. 

In the first place, whilst working the same degrees, its rituals, formulas, and ceremonies, as also the interpretation it places on wordsand symbols, are different in many essential points. 

Secondly, British Masonry is essentially an honest institution. Whereasin the Grand Orient the initiate is led through a maze of ceremoniestowards a goal unknown to him which he may discover too late to be otherthan he supposed, the British initiate, although admitted by gradualstages to the mysteries of the Craft, knows nevertheless from thebeginning the general aim of the Order. 

Thirdly, British Masonry is primarily philanthropic and the sums itdevotes to charitable purposes are immense. Since the war the threeprincipal masonic charities have collected annually over £300, 000. 

But the point to be emphasized here is that British Masonry is strictlynon-political, not merely in theory but in practice, and that itenforces this principle on every occasion. Thus before the recentGeneral Election, the Report of the Board of General Purposes, drawn upby Grand Lodge on December 5, 1923, recalled to the notice of the Craftthat "'all subjects of a political nature are strictly excluded fromdiscussion in masonic meetings, ' this being in accordance withlong-established masonic tradition ... It follows from this that Masonrymust not be used for any personal or party purpose in connexion with anelection. " It further emphasized the distinct caution "that any attemptto bring the Craft into the electioneering arena would be treated as aserious masonic offence. "

At the same time a fresh injunction was made with regard to the GrandOrient of France:

 As recognition was withdrawn from that body by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1878, ... It is considered necessary to warn all members of our lodges that they cannot visit any lodge under the obedience of a jurisdiction unrecognized by the United Grand Lodge of England; and further that under Rule 150 of the Book of Constitutions, they cannot admit visitors therefrom. 

For the reasons given at the beginning of this section British Masonrystands rigidly aloof from all attempts to create an international systemof Masonry. The idea was first suggested at the Masonic Congress ofParis in 1889, convened to celebrate the centenary of the first FrenchRevolution, but led to nothing very definite until the Congress ofGeneva in September 1902, at which the delegates of thirty-four lodges, Grand Lodges, Grand Orients, and Supreme Councils were present, and aproposal was unanimously adopted "tending towards the creation of anInternational Bureau for Masonic Affairs, " to which twenty Powers, mostly Europeans, gave their adherence. Brother Desmons, of the GrandOrient of France, in an after-dinner speech declared it to have beenalways "the dream of his life" that "all democracies should meet andunderstand one another in such a way as one day to form the UniversalRepublic. "[691]

According to the official report of the proceedings, "therepresentatives of Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, England, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland greeted with much feeling the dawn of this newera. " The same Report goes on to observe that--

 It is altogether a mistake ... To believe that Freemasonry does not attack the defects of such and such a State, and that consequently it remains a stranger to party-strife and the tendencies of the times. 

And again:

 Freemasonry has imposed upon itself a task--a mission. It is a question of nothing less than the rebuilding of society on an entirely new basis, which shall be more in accordance with the present conditions of the means of communication, of situation, and production, as well as of a reform of right, of a complete renewal of the principle of existence, especially of the principle of community and of the relations of men among one another. 

The Report here quoted is, however, inaccurate in one importantparticular. No English delegates were present at the Geneva Congress oron any other occasion of the kind. There was a delegate from Adelaidewho spoke a good deal, but the Chairman specifically mentioned Englandas taking no part in the movement. Later on, in a Report of the Board ofGeneral Purposes to Grand Lodge on March 2, 1921, a letter from LordAmpthill, pro Grand Master, appears, declining an invitation from theSwiss Grand Lodge Alpina to British Freemasons to attend anInternational Masonic Congress in Geneva and quoting the followingletter from the Grand Secretary as an earlier precedent for thisrefusal:

 I am directed to state, in reply to the invitation to attend an International Masonic Conference in Switzerland during the coming autumn, that the United Grand Lodge of England will be unable to send representatives on the occasion. It never participates in a Masonic gathering in which are treated as an open question what it has always held to be ancient and essential Landmarks of the Craft, these being an express belief in the Great Architect of the Universe, and an obligatory recognition of the Volume of the Sacred Law. Its refusal to remain in fraternal association with such Sovereign Jurisdictions as have repudiated or made light of these Landmarks has long been upon record, and its resolve in this regard remains unshaken. 

Lord Ampthill then went on to say:

 A further consequence of certain happenings of the war is to make more firm our resolve to keep, as far as in us lies, Freemasonry strictly away from participation in politics, either national or international. This attitude of aloofness from necessarily controversial affairs of State, on which Brethren can legitimately and most properly differ, has ever been maintained by our Grand Lodge since it was first convened in 1717. Because of this, it held aloof from such international conferences as were summoned during the war; and never more than now has the necessity for the maintenance of this attitude been felt by British Freemasons.... For these reasons, the invitation to participate in the proposed International Conference of Freemasons at Geneva cannot be accepted. Such an assembly might be termed informal, but inevitably it would be regarded as opening a door to compromise on those things which this Grand Lodge has always held to be essentials. Such a compromise English Freemasonry will never contemplate. On these essentials we take the firm stand we have always done; we cannot detract from full recognition of the Great Architect of the Universe, and we shall continue to forbid the introduction of political discussion into our Lodges. 

British Masonry has thus taken a firm stand against the Grand Orient. But it is regrettable that views so admirably expressed should beconfined to masonic correspondence and not made more apparent to theworld in general. On the Continent, outside masonic circles, thedifference between British Masonry and the Grand Orient variety is _not_sufficiently known, and the reticence of leading British Masons on thissubject has not only played into the hands of the intractableanti-Masons, who declare all Masonry to be harmful, but has strengthenedthe position of the revolutionaries who use Masonry for a subversivepurpose. Thus in the Portuguese revolution of 1920 the Masons of thatcountry who were directing the movement sheltered themselves behind thegood name of England. "How can you accuse the lodges of being murderclubs, " they said to the people, "when Masonry is directed by Englandand had King Edward for its Grand Master?"

However ludicrous all this may seem to the British public, yet for thehonour of our country such accusations should not remain unrefuted. Awitness of the disorders that took place in Portugal declared to thepresent writer that if only Grand Lodge of England would have publisheda notice in the Continental press disassociating itself from the GrandOrient in general and from Portuguese Freemasonry in particular, thepower of the revolutionaries would have been immensely weakened and theanti-British and pro-German propaganda then circulating in the countrydefeated. But British Freemasonry preferred to maintain an attitude ofaloofness, contenting itself with issuing periodical warnings againstthe Grand Orient privately to the lodges. 

This policy has done much to damage not only the good name of Englandbut of British Masonry in the eyes of the outside world, andparticularly in those of Roman Catholics, which is the more regrettablesince Freemasonry and the Roman Catholic Church are the only twoorganized bodies in this country which really exercise discipline overtheir members and forbid them to belong to subversive secret societies;hence they provide the two strongest bulwarks against the occult forcesof revolution. For this reason, as we shall see later, they are the twobodies which are the most feared by the recruiting agents of thesesocieties. 

But in the case of Freemasonry the fact is unfortunately too littleknown to the world in general. As a singularly broad-minded Jesuit hasrecently expressed it:

 The anti-clerical and revolutionary activities of Continental Freemasonry did not begin when the Grand Orient finally abolished God. During a century and more these evil forces had been at work. Nevertheless English Masons only shrugged their shoulders and looked another way, though the true character of foreign Masonry was brought to their notice in such books as that of John Robison, _Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe_.... 

 No doubt [the same writer says again] there has been at times a deplorable amount of exaggeration among Continental Catholics in attributing all the moral and social evils of the world to the insidious workings of Freemasonry.... But so long as English Freemasons resolutely avert their gaze from the anti-religious and anti-social activities of their Continental brethren there can be no hope of any better understanding. [692]

It is impossible to deny the truth of these strictures. As has alreadybeen pointed out in the course of this book, British Freemasons havefrequently not only ignored Robison's warning but vilified him as theenemy of Masonry, although he never attacked their Order but only theperverted systems of the Continent; too often also they have exoneratedthe most dangerous secret societies, notably the Illuminati, because, apparently from a mistaken sense of loyalty, they conceive it their dutyto defend any association of a masonic character. This is simplysuicidal. British Masonry has no bitterer enemies than the secretsocieties working for subversion, which, from the Illuminati onwards, have always regarded honest Masonry with contempt and used its doctrinesfor an ulterior purpose. 

It is easy to see how these doctrines may be perverted to an enddirectly opposed to that which British Masons have in view. Thus, forexample, the idea of the brotherhood of man in the sense of love for allhumanity is the essence of Christianity--"Be kindly affectioned one toanother with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another. " Inadopting "brotherly love" as a part of their sacred trilogy BritishMasons adopt an entirely Christian standpoint. But if by the brotherhoodof man is meant that men of every race are equally related and thattherefore one owes the same duty to foreigners as to one'sfellow-countrymen it is obvious that all national feeling must vanish. The British Freemason does not, of course, interpret the theory in thismanner; he cannot seriously regard himself as the brother of the Bambutepygmy or the Polynesian cannibal, thus he uses the term merely in avague and theoretical sense. 

What indeed does the word "brother" literally mean? If we consult thedictionary we shall see it defined as "a male born of the same parents;anyone closely united with or resembling one another; associated incommon interests, occupation, " etc. It is therefore obviously absurd tosay that men of such different races as those referred to are brothers;they are not born of the same kind of parents, they are not united intheir aims, they do not remotely resemble one another, and they are notassociated in common interests and occupations. Though these happen tobe extreme cases, there are nevertheless essential differences betweenmen of the same zone and climate. The Englishman and the Frenchman arenot brothers because they do not see life from the same point of view, but that is no reason why they should not be close allies. 

The brotherhood of man, if taken literally, is therefore a misleadingterm, nor is such a relationship necessary to the peace of the world. Cain and Abel were not better friends, for being brothers. David andJonathan, on the other hand, were not brothers but devoted friends. Instriving after universal brotherhood in a literal sense, Freemasons aretherefore pursuing a chimera. 

The most dangerous fallacy to which democracy, under the influence ofIlluminized Freemasonry, has succumbed is that peace between nations canbe brought about by means of Internationalism, that is to say, by thedestruction of national feeling. Yet a man is not more likely to live atpeace with his neighbours because he is devoid of natural affection; onthe contrary, the good brother, the devoted father, is most likely tobecome the faithful friend. Permanent peace between nations willprobably never be ensured, but the only basis on which such a situationcan conceivably be established is the basis of sane Nationalism--anunderstanding between the patriotic and virile elements in everycountry which, because they value their own liberties and revere theirown traditions, are able to respect those of other nations. Internationalism is an understanding between the decadent elements ineach country--the conscientious objectors, the drawing-room Socialists, the visionaries--who shirk the realities of life and, as the SocialistKarl Kautsky in a description of Idealists has admirably expressed it, "see only differences of opinion and misapprehension where there areactually irreconcilable antagonisms. " This is why at times of crisisIdealists are of all men the most dangerous and Pacifists the greatpromoters of wars. Understanding between nations is wholly desirable, but the destruction of the national spirit everywhere can only lead tothe weakening of all countries where this process takes place and thetriumph of the nations who refuse to accept the same principle. 

It will perhaps be answered that Freemasons do not believe in thedoctrine of brotherhood between all men, but only between Masons of allraces. But this may lead no less to national disintegration if itcreates a nation within each nation, an international fraternityindependent of the countries to which its members belong. The logicaloutcome of this may be that a man will refuse to fight for his countryagainst his brother Masons--it is what has happened in France. The GrandOrient was before the recent war the great breeding-ground ofanti-patriotism, where all schemes for national defence werediscouraged. Before 1870 the same thing took place, and it was in themasonic lodges that Germany found her most valuable allies. 

In the same way the doctrine of the perfectibility of human nature lendsitself to perversion. Nothing could be more desirable than that manshould strive after perfection. Did not Christ enjoin His disciples: "Beye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven isperfect"? Man is therefore acting in accordance with Christianprinciples in seeking after divine perfection. But when he comes tobelieve that he has already attained it he makes of himself a god. "If Ijustify myself, " said Job, "mine own mouth shall condemn me; if I say Iam perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. " And St. John: "If we saywe have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. " Morethan this, if we seek perfection in others we deceive ourselves equallyand make gods of men. This is precisely the conclusion at whichperverted Freemasonry and the forms of Socialism deriving from itarrive. Human nature, they say, is itself divine; what need then forother divinities? The Catholic Church is consequently quite right indeclaring that the doctrine of the perfectibility of human nature leadsto the deification of humanity in that it puts humanity in the place ofGod. The Grand Orient, which definitely accepts this doctrine, hastherefore logically erased the name of the Great Architect of theUniverse from its ritual and has become an association of Freethinkersand Atheists. 

Is it necessary to point out the folly as well as the crime of thisdelusion--the ludicrous inconsequence of men who divinize humanity yetrevile what they call "society"? All the evils of the world, theydeclare, are not to be found in nature but in "man-made laws, " in theinstitutions of "society. " Yet what is society but the outcome of humanwills, of human aspirations? Society may be, and no doubt is, in need ofreformation, but are not its imperfections the creation of imperfectbeings? It is true that to-day the world is in a state of chaos, industrial chaos, political chaos, social chaos, religious chaos. Everywhere men are losing faith in the causes they are supposed torepresent; authority questions its own right to govern, democracy isrent with divisions, the ruling classes are abdicating in favour ofunscrupulous demagogues, the ministers of religion barter their faithfor popularity. 

And what has brought the world to this pass? Humanity! Humanity, thatall-wise, all-virtuous abstraction that needs no light from Heaven. Humanity that was to take the place of God! If ever there was a momentin the history of the world when the futility of this pretension shouldbe apparent it is the present moment. All the ills, all the confusion, what are they but the outcome of human error and of human passions? Itis not Capitalism that has failed, nor yet Democracy, nor yet evenSocialism as a principle, it is not monarchy that has broken down, norRepublicanism, nor again religion; _it is humanity that has brokendown_. The ills of Capitalism arise from the egoism of individualcapitalists; Socialism has failed because, as Robert Owen discovered, the idle, the quarrelsome, the selfish have prevented its success. Ifmen were perfect, Socialism might succeed, but so might any othersystem. A perfect capitalist would love his employee as himself, just asa perfect Socialist would be willing to work for the common good. It isthe imperfections of human nature that prevent, and will always prevent, any system from being perfect. There will never be a Millennium of man'smaking. Only the application of Christian principles to human conductcan bring about a better order of things. 

Grand Orient Masonry, in deifying human nature, thus not only buildsupon the sand, but by its rejection of all religion takes away the solehope of human progress. Meanwhile, by the support it lends to Socialismit encourages the class war instead of the brotherhood between men ofall ranks and conditions which it professes to advocate. BritishFreemasonry, on the other hand, whilst not interpreting brotherhood in apolitical sense, nevertheless contributes to social peace. At the annualconference of the Labour Party in 1923 a proposal was made by theextreme section that "any person who is a Free mason should be excludedfrom any kind of office, " it being suggested that "in cases where anunderstanding has been reached between Trade Union leaders andemployers, thus preventing or limiting industrial trouble, the secrethas been the bond of Freemasonry. "[693] Whether this was the case ornot, British Masonry, by taking its stand on patriotism and respect forreligion, necessarily tends to unite men of all classes and thereforeoffers a formidable bulwark against the forces of revolution. Anyattacks on British Masonry as at present constituted and directed aretherefore absolutely opposed to the interests of the country. But at thesame time it behoves Masons to beware of the insidious attempts that arebeing made by irregular secret societies to infiltrate the Craft andpervert its true principles. The present satisfactory condition ofFreemasonry in England is owing not only to its established statutes, but to the character of the men who control it--men who are not, as ineighteenth-century France, mere figureheads, but the real directors ofthe Order. Should the control ever pass into the wrong hands and theagents of secret societies succeed in capturing a number of the lodges, this great stabilizing force might become a gigantic engine ofdestruction. How insidiously these efforts are being made we shall seein the next chapter. 

12

SECRET SOCIETIES IN ENGLAND

We have seen that from the Illuminati onwards subversive societies havealways sought recruits amongst orthodox Freemasons. The reason for thisis obvious: not only do the doctrines of Freemasonry lend themselves toperversion, but the training provided in the Lodges makes an admirablepreparation for initiation into other secret systems. The man who haslearnt to maintain silence even on what may appear to him astrivialities, who is willing to submit to mystification, to ask noquestions, and to recognize the authority of superiors whom he is in noway legally obliged to obey, who has, moreover, become imbued with the_esprit de corps_ which binds him to his fellow-members in a commoncause, is naturally a better subject for the secret society adept thanthe free lance who is liable to assert his independence at any moment. Perhaps the most important factor, however, is the nature of the masonicoaths. These terrible penalties, which many Freemasons themselves regretas a survival of barbarism and which have in fact been abolished in thehigher degrees, have done much to create prejudice against Freemasonry, whilst at the same time they provide an additional incentive to outsideintriguers. In the opinion of M. Copin Albancelli, the abolition of theoath would go far to prevent penetration of British Masonry by thesecret societies. 

Now, by their obligations British Freemasons are forbidden to join theseirregular societies, not only because their principles are in conflictwith those of orthodox Masonry, but because in most cases they admitwomen. According to the ruling of Grand Lodge, "any member working underthe English Jurisdiction ... Violates his Obligation by being present ator assisting in assemblies professing to be Masonic which are attendedby women. " Warnings to this effect have been frequently given in theLodges; on September 3, 1919, the Board of General Purposes issued thefollowing report:

 The Board's attention is being increasingly drawn to sedulous endeavours which are being made by certain bodies unrecognized as Masonic by the United Grand Lodge of England, to induce Freemasons to join in their assemblies. As all such bodies which admit women to membership are clandestine and irregular, it is necessary to caution Brethren against being inadvertently led to violate their Obligation by becoming members of them or attending their meetings. Grand Lodge, nine years since, approved the action of the Board in suspending from all Masonic rights and privileges two Brethren who had contumaciously failed to explain the grave Masonic irregularity to which attention is now again called; and it is earnestly hoped that no occasion will arise for having again to institute disciplinary proceedings of a like kind. 

The idea of women Masons is, of course, not a new one. As early as 1730lodges for women are said to have existed in France, and towards the endof the century several excellent women, such as the Duchesse de Bourbonand the Princesse de Lamballe, played a leading part in the Order. Butthis _Maçonnerie d'Adoption_, as it was called, retained a purelyconvivial character; a sham ceremonial, with symbols, pass words, and aritual, was devised as a consolation to the members for their exclusionfrom the real lodges. These mummeries were, as Ragon observes, "only thepretexts for assemblies; the real objects were the banquet and the ball, which were their inevitable accompaniments. "[694]

But this precedent, inaugurated as a society pastime and accompanied byall the frivolity of the age, paved the way for Weishaupt's two classesof women members, who, although never initiated into the secrets of theOrder, were to act as useful tools "directed by men without knowing it. "For this purpose they were to be divided into two classes, the"virtuous" to play the part of figureheads or decoys, and the"freer-hearted, " who were to carry out the real designs of the Order. 

The same plan was adopted nearly a hundred years later by Weishaupt'sdisciple Bakunin, who, however, did admit women as actual initiates intohis secret society, the Alliance Sociale Démocratique, but, likeWeishaupt, divided them into classes. The sixth category of people to beemployed in the work of social revolution is thus described in hisprogramme:

 The sixth category is very important. They are the women, who must be divided into three classes: the first, frivolous women, without mind or heart, which we must use in the same manner as the third and fourth categories of men [i. E. By "getting hold of their dirty secrets and making them our slaves"]; the second, the ardent, devoted and capable women, but who are not ours because they have not reached a practical revolutionary understanding, without phrase--we must make use of these like the men of the fifth category [i. E. By "drawing them incessantly into practical and perilous manifestations, which will result in making the majority of them disappear while making some of them genuine revolutionaries"]; finally, the women who are entirely with us, that is to say completely initiated and having accepted our programme in its entirety. We ought to consider them as the most precious of our treasures, without whose help we can do nothing. [695]

The first and only woman to be admitted into real Masonry, if such aterm can be applied to so heterogeneous a system, was Maria Deraismes, an ardent French Feminist celebrated for her political speeches andelectioneering campaigns in the district of Pontoise and for twenty-fiveyears the acknowledged leader of the anti-clerical and Feministparty. [696] In 1882 Maria Deraismes was initiated into Freemasonry bythe members of the Lodge _Les Libres Penseurs_, deriving from the GrandeLoge Symbolique Écossaise and situated at Pecq in the Department ofSeine-et-Oise. The proceeding being, however, entirely unconstitutional, Maria Deraismes's initiation was declared by the Grande Loge to be nulland void and the Lodge _Les Libres Penseurs_ was disgraced. [697] Butsome years afterwards Dr. George Martin, an enthusiastic advocate ofvotes for women, collaborated with Maria Deraismes in founding the_Maçonnerie Mixte_ at the first lodge of the Order named "Le DroitHumain. " The _Suprême Conseil Universel Mixte_ was founded in 1899. 

The Maçonnerie Mixte was political and in no way theosophical or occult, and its programme, like that of the Grand Orient, was Utopian Socialism, whilst by its insistence on the supremacy of reason it definitelyproclaimed its antagonism to all revealed religion. Thus in the involvedlanguage of Dr. George Martin himself:

 The Ordre Maçonnique Mixte Internationale is the first mixed, philosophic, progressive, and philanthropic Masonic Power to be organized and constituted in the world, placed above all the prooccupations of the philosophical or religious ideas which may be professed by those who ask to become members.... The Order wishes to interest itself principally in the vital interests of the human being on earth; it wishes above all to study in its Temples the means for realizing Peace between all nations and social Justice which will enable all human beings to enjoy during their lives the greatest possible sum of moral felicity and of material well-being.... Claiming no divine revelation and loudly affirming that it is only an emanation of human reason, this fraternal institution is not dogmatic, it is rationalist. [698]

Into this materialist and political club, erected under the guise ofFreemasonry, entered Annie Besant with all the strange conglomeration ofEastern doctrines now known as Theosophy. 

Theosophy

Before entering on this question it is necessary to make my own positionclear. Although I should much prefer not to introduce a personal noteinto the discussion, I feel that nothing I say will carry any weight ifit appears to be an expression of opinion by one who has neverconsidered religious doctrines from anything but the orthodox Christianpoint of view. I should explain, then, that I have known Theosophistsfrom my early youth, that I have travelled in India, Ceylon, Burma, andJapan and seen much to admire in the great religions of the East. I donot believe that God has revealed Himself to one portion of mankindalone and that during only the last 1, 900 years of the world's history;I do not accept the doctrine that all the millions of human beings whohave never heard of Christ are plunged in spiritual darkness; I believethat behind all religions founded on a law of righteousness there lies adivine and central truth, that Ikhnaton, Moses and Isaiah, Socrates andEpictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Buddha, Zoroaster, and Mohammed were allteachers who interpreted to men the aspect of the divine as it had beenvouchsafed to them and which in harmony with the supreme revelationgiven to man by Jesus Christ. 

This conception of an affinity between all great religious faiths wasbeautifully expressed by an old Mohammedan to a friend of the presentwriter with whom he stood watching a Hindu procession pass through anIndian village. In answer to the Englishman's enquiry, "What do youthink of this?" the Mohammedan replied:

 "Ah, sahib, we cannot tell. We know of three roads up the hill of endeavour to the gates of Paradise--the way of Mousa [Moses], the way of Issa [Jesus], and the way of Mahmoud, and there may be other roads of which you and I know nothing. I was born in the way of Mahmoud, and I believe it to be the best and the easiest to follow, and you were born in the way of Issa. And of this I am very sure: that if you will follow your guide on your road and I follow my guide on my road, when we have climbed the hill of endeavour, we shall salute one another again at the gates of Paradise. "

If, then, in the following pages I attempt to show the errors ofTheosophy, it is not because I do not recognize that there is much thatis good and beautiful in the ancient religions from which it professesto derive. 

But what is Theosophy? The word, as we have already seen, was used inthe eighteenth century to denote the theory of the Martinists; it wasknown two centuries earlier when Haselmeyer in 1612 wrote of "thelaudable Fraternity of the Theosophists of the Rosy Cross. " According toColonel Olcott, who with Madame Blavatsky founded the modernTheosophical Society in New York in 1875, the word was discovered by oneof the members "in turning over the leaves of a Dictionary" andforthwith unanimously adopted. [699] Madame Blavatsky had arrived inAmerica two years earlier, before which date she professed to have beeninitiated into certain esoteric doctrines in Thibet. Monsieur Guénon, who writes with inside knowledge of the movement, indicates, however, the existence of concealed superiors on the Continent of Europe by whomshe was in reality directed. 

 What is very significant ... Is that Madame Blavatsky in 1875 wrote this: "I have been sent from Paris to America in order to verify phenomena and their reality and to show the deception of the Spiritualist theory. " Sent by whom? Later she will say: by the "Mahatmas"; but then there was no question of them, and besides it was in Paris that she received her mission, and not in India or in Thibet. [700]

Elsewhere Monsieur Guénon observes that it is very doubtful whetherMadame Blavatsky was ever in Thibet at all. These obvious attempts atconcealment lead Monsieur Guénon therefore to the conclusion that in thebackground of Theosophy there existed a mysterious centre of direction, that Madame Blavatsky was simply "an instrument in the hands ofindividuals or occult groups sheltering behind her personality, " andthat "those who believe she invented everything, that she did everythingby herself and on her own initiative, are as much mistaken as those who, on the contrary, believe her affirmations concerning her relations withthe pretended Mahatmas. "[701]

There is some reason to believe that the people under whom MadameBlavatsky was working at this date in Paris were Serapis Bey and TuitiBey, who belonged to "the Egyptian Brothers. " This might answer M. Guénon's question: "By whom was she sent to America?" But anotherpassage from Madame Blavatsky's writings, on the person of Christ, thatM. Guénon quotes later, indicates a further source of inspiration: "Forme, Jesus Christ, that is to say the Man-God of the Christians, copy ofthe Avatars of all countries, of the Hindu Chrishna as of the EgyptianHorus, was never a _historical_ personage. " Hence the story of His lifewas merely an allegory founded on the existence of "a personage namedJehoshua born at Lud. " But elsewhere she asserted that Jesus may havelived during the Christian era or a century earlier "_as the SepherToldoth Jehoshua indicates_" (my italics). And Madame Blavatsky went onto say of the savants who deny the historical value of this legend, thatthey--

 either lie or talk nonsense. _It is our Masters who affirm it_ [my italics]. If the history of Jehoshua or Jesus Ben Pandera is false, then the whole of the Talmud, the whole of the Jewish canon law, is false. It was the disciple of Jehoshua Ben Parachia, the fifth President of the Sanhedrim since Ezra, who re-wrote the Bible.... This story is much truer than that of the New Testament, of which history does not say a word. [702]

Who were the Masters whose authority Madame Blavatsky here invokes?Clearly not the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood to whom she habituallyrefers by this term, and who can certainly not be suspected of affirmingthe authenticity of the Toldoth Yeshu. It is evident, then, that therewere other "Masters" from whom Madame Blavatsky received this teaching, and that those other masters were Cabalists. 

The same Judaic influence appears more strongly in a book published bythe Theosophical Society in 1903, where the Talmud and the Toledot Yeshuare quoted at great length and the Christians are derided for resentingthe attacks on their faith contained in these books, whilst the Jews arerepresented as innocent, persecuted victims. One passage will suffice togive an idea of the author's point of view:

 The Christ [said the mystics] was born "of a virgin"; the unwitting believer in Jesus as _the_ historical Messiah in the exclusive Jewish sense, and in his being _the_ Son of God, nay God Himself, in course of time asserted that Mary was that virgin; whereupon Rabbinical logic, which in this case was simple and common logic, met this extravagance by the natural retort that, seeing that his paternity was unacknowledged, Jesus was therefore illegitimate, a bastard [_mamzer_]. [703]

It is obviously, then, less from Thibetan Mahatmas, Hindu Swamis, SikhGurus, or Egyptian Brothers than from Jewish Cabalists that theseleaders of Theosophy have borrowed their ideas on Jesus Christ. As theJewish writer Adolphe Franck has truly observed: "Dès qu'il est questionde théosophie, on est sûr de voir apparaître la Kabbale. "[704] And hegoes on to show the direct influence of Cabalism on the modernTheosophical Society. 

Mrs. Besant, without endorsing the worst blasphemies of the ToledotYeshu, nevertheless reflected this and other Judaic traditions in herbook _Esoteric Christianity_, where she related that Jesus was broughtup amongst the Essenes, and that later He went to Egypt, where He becamean initiate of the great esoteric lodge--that is to say, the Great WhiteLodge--from which all great religions derive. It will be seen that thisis only a version of the old story of the Talmudists and Cabalists, perpetuated by the Gnostics, the Rosicrucians, and thenineteenth-century _Ordre du Temple_. [705] But according to one of Mrs. Besant's Theosophical antagonists, her doctrine "rests on a perpetualequivocation, " and whilst allowing the English public to believe thatwhen she spoke of the coming Christ she referred to the Christ of theGospels, she stated to her intimates what Mr. Leadbeater taught in hisbook _The Inner Life_, namely, that the Christ of the Gospels neverexisted, but was an invention of the monks of the second century. [706]It should be understood, however, that in the language of theTheosophists, led by Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater, Jesus and "theChrist" are two separate and distinct individualities, and that whenthey now speak of "the Christ" they refer to someone living in abungalow in the Himalayas with whom Mr. Leadbeater has interviews toarrange about his approaching advent. [707] Portraits of this person havebeen distributed amongst the members of "The Star in the East, " an Orderfounded at Benares in 1911 by Mr. Leadbeater and J. Krishnamurti for thepurpose of preparing the world for the coming of the Great Teacher. 

But it is time to return to the alliance between Theosophy and theMaçonnerie Mixte. Whether Mrs. Besant, who had begun her career as aFreethinker, retained some lingering belief in her earlier creed at thetime she entered into relations with the Order, or whether she saw inthis materialistic society a valuable concrete organization for thedissemination of her new esoteric theories, it is impossible to know. Atany rate, she rose rapidly through the succeeding degrees and becamebefore long Vice President of the _Suprême Conseil_, which appointed herits national delegate to Great Britain. It was in this capacity that shefounded the English branch of the Order under the name of Co-Masonry(that is, admitting both sexes) at the Lodge "Human Duty" in London, which was consecrated on September 26, 1902, and later founded anotherlodge at Adyar in India, named "The Rising Sun. " The number of lodges onthe Grand Roll of Co-Masonry, including those abroad, is now said to beno less than 442. 

Co-Masonry thus receives a two-fold direction, for whilst remaining inconstant correspondence with the _Suprême Conseil Universel Mixte_, situated at 5 Rue Jules-Breton in Paris and presided over by the GrandMaster Piron, with Madame Amélie Gédalje, thirty-third degree, as GrandSecretary-General, it receives further instructions from "the V∴ Ill∴Bro∴ Annie Besant 33°" at Adyar. In order not to shock thesusceptibilities of English adepts who might be repelled by therationalist tendencies of the Maçonnerie Mixte, Mrs. Besant has, however, borrowed the formulas of British Masonry together with itscustom of placing the V. S. L. On the table in the lodges. Theseconflicting doctrines are blended in an amusing manner on thecertificates of the Order, where at the top we find the French motto andinitials:

 Liberté Égalité Fraternité À∴ L∴ G∴ D∴ L'H∴ (i. E. à la gloire de l'Humanité)

and below, for the benefit of English members, the initials of theBritish masonic device, that does not of course appear on the diplomasof the French Order, which, like the Grand Orient, has rejected theGreat Architect:

 T∴ T∴ G∴ O∴ T∴ G∴ A∴ O∴ T∴ U∴ (To the glory of the Great Architect of the Universe). 

Our Co-Masons therefore enjoy the advantage of being able to choosewhether they shall render glory to God or to Humanity. That the twodevices are somewhat incompatible does not appear to strike the Englishinitiates, nor do they probably realize the imposture practised on themby the further wording of the certificate, which, after announcing inimposing capitals "To all Masons dispersed over both Hemispheres, Greeting, " goes on to say "We therefore recommend him (_or_ her) as suchto all Freemasons of the Globe, requesting them to recognize him (_or_her) in all the rights and privileges attached to this Degree, as wewill do to all presenting themselves under similar circumstances. "

Now, any British Mason will see at a glance that all this is a falsepretension. No order of Masonry can recommend its members for rights andprivileges to "all the Freemasons of the world, " for the simple reasonthat, as has been said, there is no such thing as "Universal Masonry, "so that even Grand Lodge of England--the most important Lodge in theworld--could not, if it would, accord the right of entry for its membersinto Continental lodges. As an English Mason recently expressed it:

 The impression among non-Masons generally appears to be that a British or Irish member of the Craft is able to enter a masonic lodge in any part of the world and take part in its deliberations and proceedings. To this belief an unqualified denial may at once be given. Nor may a member of a lodge under any Jurisdiction not in communion with the Grand Lodges of the United Kingdom be received as a visitor or as a Joining Member in any subsidiary lodge of the Grand Lodges of England, Ireland, or Scotland. [708]

But for Co-Masonry to make this claim is even more ridiculous, since atthe time when the above quoted diploma was drawn up Co-Masonry and itsparent, the Maçonnerie Mixte, were not recognized by any other order ofMasonry except the "Droit Humain, " and it is not only unrecognized bututterly repudiated by Grand Lodge of England. The British Mason, infact, does not recognize the Co-Mason as a Mason at all, and wouldviolate his obligations by discussing masonic secrets with him or her, so that there is no manner in which the Co-Mason could be accordedmasonic rights and privileges by British Masons. In order, further, tokeep up the illusion in the minds of its members that they are genuineMasons, Co-Masonry, in its quarterly organ, _The Co-Mason_, is carefulto include masonic news relating to British Masonry as if it formed oneand the same order. 

With regard to the Grand Orient, an equally tortuous policy was pursued. As we have already seen, the Grande Loge disgraced the lodge that hadadmitted Maria Deraismes and did not officially recognize the MaçonnerieMixte. The ritual adopted by the latter Order was, however, not that ofBritish Masonry, and in most Co-Masonic Lodges the ritual employedcontains variations derived from the Grand Orient[709]; indeed the GrandOrient character of Co-Masonry has always been generally recognized inmasonic circles. This being so, I pointed out in _World Revolution_ thatCo-Masonry derives from the Grand Orient, but I received the followingprotest from a woman Co-Mason:

 Are you aware that for twenty years the Grand Orient has refused to recognize it [Co-Masonry] as a legitimate body, just as the English Orthodox Masons do now? Also, we are distinctly told before joining that we shall not be recognized by that body. Also, we have nothing to do with Illuminati, or with Germany. As the Grand Orient have eliminated the Deity, it is rather a dreadful thing to a Mason to be connected in any way with that Order, and I cannot imagine a worse thing could be said about us. 

This letter was dated March 6, 1922, and on the 19th of the precedingmonth of February an alliance between the Grand Orient and Co-Masonryhad been finally celebrated at the Grand Temple of the Droit Humain inParis! We find a report of this ceremony in the _Co-Mason_ for thefollowing April. It is evident, therefore, that members who were likelyto be repelled by the idea of connexion with the Grand Orient wereassured that no such connexion existed. But when this covert _liaison_developed into official recognition--although this did not include theright of entry to the lodges of the Grand Orient for women members--thetriumphant manner in which the great event was announced in the_Co-Mason_ suggests that the majority of members were likely to feelnothing but satisfaction at association with the Order that "hadeliminated the Deity. " It is true that a few members protested, and bythis time Co-Masonry was too completely under the control of Mrs. Besantfor any faction to question her dictates. Moreover, the opposition hadbeen weakened by a schism which took place in the Order in 1908, when anumber of members who objected to the introduction of Eastern occultisminto Masonry and likewise disapproved of the Grand Orient, formedthemselves into a separate body under Mrs. Halsey and Dr. Geikie Cobb, working only the Craft Degrees according to the Grand Lodge of England. 

It has been shown by this brief résumé that Co-Masonry is a hybridsystem deriving from two conflicting sources--the political andrationalist doctrines of the _Maçonnerie Mixte_ and the Easternoccultism of Madame Blavatsky and Mrs. Besant. 

As a professing Buddhist, Madame Blavatsky consistently dissociatedherself from any schemes of material welfare. Thus in the earlyConstitution of the Theosophical Society it is stated:

 "The Society repudiates all interference on its behalf with the Governmental relations of any nation or community, confining its attention exclusively to the matters set forth in the present document. "[710]

These matters relate to the study of Occult Sciences. Again MadameBlavatsky herself wrote in the _Theosophist_:

 Unconcerned about politics: hostile to the insane dreams of Socialism and Communism, which it abhors--as both are but disguised conspiracies of brutal force and selfishness against honest labour; the Society cares but little about the outward human management of the material world. The whole of its aspirations are directed towards the occult truths of the visible and invisible worlds. [711]

It will be seen that this declaration is diametrically opposed to thatof the Maçonnerie Mixte. Nevertheless, Madame Blavatsky so far departedfrom her purely occult programme after her arrival in India in 1879 asto reconstruct the society on the basis of "Universal Brotherhood. " Thisidea was completely absent from her first scheme; "the Brotherhood plankin the Society's future platform, " wrote her coadjutor Colonel Olcott, "was not thought of. "[712] It was over this plank, however, that Mrs. Besant was able to walk to the Supreme Council of the Maçonnerie Mixte, and adding Liberty and Equality to the principle of Fraternity toestablish Co-Masonry on a definitely political basis as a preparationfor the Socialist doctrines her teacher had "abhorred. "

In the matter of esoteric doctrines Mrs. Besant again departed from thepath laid down by Madame Blavatsky, whose aim had been to rehabilitateBuddhism in India, representing the teachings of Gautama Buddha as anadvance on Hinduism. [713] Mrs. Besant, however, came to regard thedoctrines of the Brahmins as the purer faith. Yet it was neitherBuddhism nor Hinduism in a pure form that she introduced to theCo-Masons of the West, but an occult system of her own devising, whereinMahatmas, Swamis, and Gurus were incongruously mingled with thecharlatans of eighteenth-century France. Thus in the Co-Masonic lodgeswe find "the King" inscribed over the Grand Master's chair in the East, in the North the empty chair of "the Master"--to which, until recently, all members were required to bow in passing--and over it a picture, veiled in some lodges, of the same mysterious personage. Should theneophyte enquire, "Who is the King?" he may be told that he is the Kingwho is to come from India--whether he is identical with the young HinduKrishnamurti adopted by Mrs. Besant in 1909 is not clear--whilst thequestion "Who is the Master?" will probably be met with the reply thathe is "the Master of all true Freemasons throughout the world, " whichthe enquirer takes to mean the head of the religion to which he happensto belong--Christ, Mohammed, or another. But in the third degree theastonishing information is confided with an appearance of great secrecythat he is no other than the famous Comte de Saint-Germain, who did notreally die in 1784, but is still alive to-day in Hungary under the nameof Ragocsky. In yet a higher degree, however, the initiate may be toldthat the Master is in reality Prince Eugene of Austria. 

It would be superfluous to describe in detail the wild nonsense thatcomposes the creed of Co-Masonry, since a long series of articles wasrecently devoted to the subject in _The Patriot_ and can be consulted byanyone who desires information concerning its ceremonies and thepersonnel directing it. [714] Suffice it to say here that its course, like that of most secret societies, has been marked by violentdissensions amongst the members--the Blavatsky-ites passionatelydenouncing the Besantites and the Besantites proclaiming the divineinfallibility of their leader--whilst at the same time scandals of apeculiarly unsavoury kind have been brought to light. This fact hasindeed created a serious schism in the ranks of the Theosophists, whichshows that a number of perfectly harmless people are to be found amongstthem. Yet the peculiar recurrence of such scandals in the history ofsecret societies leads one inevitably to wonder how far these are to beregarded as merely deplorable accidents or as the results ofsecret-society methods and of occult teaching. That the men against whomcharges of sexual perversion were brought were not isolated examples ofthese tendencies is shown by a curious admission on the part of one ofMadame Blavatsky's "chelas, " or disciples, who relates:

 I was a pupil of H. P. B. Before Mrs. Besant joined the T. S. And saw her expel one of her most gifted and valued workers from the Esoteric Section for offences against the occult and moral law, similar to those with which Mr. Leadbeater's name has now been associated for nearly twenty years. H. P. B. Was always extremely strict on this particular point, and _many_ [my itals. ] would-be aspirants for chelaship were refused on this one ground alone, while others who had been accepted "on probation" failed almost immediately afterwards. [715]

It would appear, then, that these deplorable proclivities are peculiarlyprevalent amongst aspirants to Theosophical knowledge. 

It is unnecessary to enlarge at length on Mrs. Besant's connexion withthe seditious elements in this country and in India, since these havefrequently been referred to in the press. It is true that theTheosophical Society, like the Grand Orient, disavows all politicalintentions and professes to work only for spiritual development, but theleaders appear to consider that a radical change must take place in theexisting social system before true spiritual development can beattained. That this change would lie in the direction of Socialism issuggested by the fact that a group of leading Theosophists, includingMrs. Besant, were discovered in 1919 to be holding a large number ofshares in the Victoria House Printing Company, which was financing the_Daily Herald_ at that date[716]; indeed, Mrs. Besant in her lectures onLiberty, Equality, Fraternity, at the Queen's Hall in October of thesame year, clearly indicated Socialism as the system of the coming NewEra. [717] Since then the "Action Lodge" has been founded with the objectof carrying "Theosophical ideals and conceptions into all fields ofhuman activity"[718]--from which the political field appears not to beexcluded, since this lodge has been known to co-operate with thepromoters of a political meeting on the Indian question. [719] It isinteresting to notice that a leading member of the "Action Lodge, " andalso of the "Order of the Star in the East, " was recently reported inthe press to have been long connected with the Labour Party and to havenotified her intention of standing for it in Parliament. 

This is, of course, not to say that all Theosophists are Socialists. TheTheosophical Society of America, in an admirable series of articles[720]discussing the theory of world-revolution set forth in my books, pointedout that:

 The pupils of the powers of evil work ... Untiringly to thwart every real advance of the human race, to pull down whatever civilization painfully builds, that makes for light and true development and spiritual growth.... It would not be difficult to suggest reasons why these pupils and co-workers of the powers of darkness choose the chief clauses of their creed: Internationalism, Communism, the destruction of the higher class through the despotic rule of the lowest class, the corruption of family life. The attack on religion hardly needs comment. 

It will be seen, then, that Socialism and Internationalism are not anessential part of Theosophical teaching, and that the more enlightenedTheosophists recognize the danger of these destructive doctrines. At aSpecial Convention in England on April 6 of this year, seven Lodgesentered a protest against recent departures from the original policy ofthe Society. Amongst the resolutions put forward was one urging thePresident (Mrs. Besant) to establish a tribunal "to investigate mattersaffecting the good name of the Society, and the conduct of certainmembers"; this was lost by "an overwhelming majority. " Anotherresolution regretted that "the Administration, the Magazine, and theinfluence of the Society have been used for controversial political endsand sectarian religious propaganda. " Unhappily these resolutions werenot met in the fraternal spirit that might be expected from a Societysetting out to establish Universal Brotherhood and were stigmatized in aproposed amendment as "destructive motions ... At variance with theobjects for which the Society stands. " This clause in the amendment waslost by a small majority, but a very large majority supported thefurther clauses in which the Special Convention affirmed "its completeconfidence in the administration of the Society and its beloved andrevered President Dr. Annie Besant, the chosen leader of whom it isjustly proud, " and sent "its cordial greetings to Bishop Leadbeater, F. T. S. , " thanking him "for his invaluable work and his unswervingdevotion to the cause of Theosophy and the service of the TheosophicalSociety. "

There are, then, a certain number of Theosophists in this country whohave the courage and public spirit to protest against the use of theSociety for political ends and against infractions of the moral codewhich they believe certain members to have committed. But this partyunfortunately constitutes only a small minority; the rest are preparedto render blind and unquestioning obedience to the dictates of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater. In this respect the Theosophical Societyfollows the usual plan of secret societies. For although not nominally asecret society it is one in effect, being composed of outer and innercircles and absolutely controlled by supreme directors. The innercircle, known as the Esoteric Section, or rather the Eastern School ofTheosophy--usually referred to as the E. S. --is in reality a secretsociety, consisting in its turn of three further circles, the innermostcomposed of the Mahatmas or Masters of the White Lodge, the second ofthe Accepted Pupils or Initiates, and the third of the Learners orordinary members. The E. S. And Co-Masonry thus compose two secretsocieties within the open order controlled by people who are frequentlymembers of both. Whether even these higher initiates are really in thesecret is another question. Dr. Weller van Hook who is said to have beenalso a Rosicrucian and an important member of the Grand Orient oncecryptically observed that "Theosophy is not the hierarchy, " implyingthat it was only part of a world-organization, and darkly hinting thatif it did not carry out the work allotted to it, the Rosicrucians wouldtake control. That this is more than probable we shall see later. 

The outer ranks of the Theosophical Society seem to be largely composedof harmless enthusiasts who imagine that they are receiving genuineinstruction in the religions and occult doctrines of the East. That theteaching of the E. S. Would not be taken seriously by any realOrientalist and that they could learn far more by studying the works ofrecognized authorities on these subjects at a University or at theBritish Museum does not occur to them for a moment. Nor would thisfulfil the purpose of the leaders. For the Theosophical Society is not astudy group, but essentially a propagandist society which aims atsubstituting for the pure and simple teaching of Christianity theamazing compound of Eastern superstition, Cabalism, andeighteenth-century charlatanism which Mrs. Besant and her coadjutorshave devised. Yet even were the doctrines of Mrs. Besant those of trueBuddhism or of Brahmanism, to what extent are they likely to benefitWestern civilization? Setting the question of Christianity aside, experience shows that the attempt to orientalize Occidentals may proveno less disastrous than the attempt to occidentalize Orientals, and thatto transport Eastern mysticism to the West is to vulgarize it and toproduce a debased form of occultism that frequently ends in moraldeterioration or mental derangement. [721] I attribute the scandals thathave taken place amongst Theosophists directly to this cause. 

But it is time to turn to another society in which this debasedoccultism plays a still more important part. 

Rosicrucianism

At the present time, as in the eighteenth century, the term"Rosicrucianism" is used to cover a number of associations differing intheir aims and doctrines. 

The first of these societies to be founded in England was the _SocietasRosicruciana in Anglia_, founded in 1867 by Robert Wentworth Little oninstructions received from abroad. Only Master Masons are admitted--aprocedure not condemned by Grand Lodge of England, which regards theS. R. I. A. As a perfectly innocuous body. Although neither polical noranti-Christian, but, on the contrary, containing distinctly Christianelements and claiming to descend from Christian Rosenkreutz--a claimwhich must be dismissed as an absurdity--the S. R. I. A. Is neverthelesslargely Cabalistic, [722] dealing with the forces of Nature, alchemy, etc. If its progenitors are really to be traced further back than theRosicrucians of the nineteenth century--Ragon, Eliphas Lévi, and KennethMackenzie--they must be sought amongst certain esoteric Masons inHungary and also amongst the French Martinistes, whose rituals doubtlessderived from a kindred source. It will be remembered that MarlinesPasqually bequeathed to his disciples a large number of Jewishmanuscripts which were presumably preserved in the archives of theMartiniste Lodge at Lyons. The Order of Martinistes has never ceased toexist, and the President of the Suprême Conseil, Dr. Gérard Encausse, well known as "Papus, " an avowed Cabalist, only died in 1916. To thesearchives another famous Cabalist, the renegade Abbé, Alphonse LouisConstant, who assumed the name of Eliphas Lévi, may well have hadaccess. It is said that one of Eliphas Lévi's most distinguisheddisciples, the occultist Baron Spedalieri of Marseilles, was a member ofthe "Grand Lodge of Solitary Brethren of the Mountain, " an "IlluminedBrother of the Ancient Restored Order of Manicheans, " a high member ofthe Grand Orient, and also a "High Illuminate of the Martinistes. "Before his death in 1875 Eliphas Lévi announced that in 1879 a newpolitical and religious "universal Kingdom" would be established, andthat it would be possessed by "him who would have the keys of the East. "The manuscript containing this prophecy was passed on by BaronSpedalieri to Edward Maitland, who in his turn gave it to a leadingmember of S. R. I. A. , by whom it was published in English. [723]

But, as we have already seen, the principal centre of Cabalism was inEastern Europe, whilst Germany was the principal home of Rosicrucianism, and it was from these directions that, a few years later, a newRosicrucian Order in England derived its inspiration. It is curious tonotice that the eighties of the last century were marked by asimultaneous recrudescence of secret societies and of Socialistorganizations. In 1880 Leopold Engel reorganized Weishaupt's Order ofIlluminati, which, according to M. Guénon, played thenceforth "anextremely suspect political rôle, " and soon after this in 1884 it issaid that a strange incident took place in London. The Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, a F∴ M∴, happened to be turning over the contents of asecond-hand bookstall in Farringdon Street when he came upon some cypherMSS. , attached to which was a letter in German saying that if the finderwere to communicate with Sapiens Dominabatur Astris, c/o Fraulein AnnaSprengel, in Germany, he would receive further interesting information. 

This, at any rate, is the story told to initiates of the Order whichcame to be founded according to the instructions given in the cypher. But when we remember that precisely the same story was told byCagliostro concerning his discovery of a MS. In London by the mysteriousGeorge Cofton on which he had founded his Egyptian rite, we begin towonder whether the placing of a MS. In a spot where it is certain to bediscovered by precisely the people qualified to decipher it forms one ofthe traditional methods of secret-society adepts for extending theirsphere of influence without betraying their identity or revealing thecentre of direction. 

In this case it certainly succeeded admirably, for by a fortunatecoincidence the clergyman who found the cypher MSS. Was acquainted withtwo prominent members of the S. I. R. A. , Dr. Wynn Westcott and Dr. Woodman, to whom he took the documents, and by a further fortunatecoincidence one of them happened to be the very person to whom EliphasLévi's prophecy had been given; These two men who now assumed thepseudonyms of S. A. (Sapere Aude) and M. E. V. (Magnus est Veritas), wereable partially to decipher the manuscript; S. A. , with the assistance ofa German, then wrote to S. D. A. C/o Fraulein Anna Sprengel, saying thathe and a friend had finished the deciphering and that they desiredfurther information. In reply they were told to elaborate the notes, andthat if diligent they would be allowed to form an elementary branch ofthe Rosicrucian Order in England. Finally S. D. A. Wrote to S. A. Authorising him to sign her (or his?) name to any warrant or documentnecessary for the constitution of an Order, and promising later onfurther rituals and advanced teachings if the preliminary Order provedsuccessful. S. A. And M. E. V. Now called in the aid of a third member ofthe S. I. R. A. , Macgregor Mathers, henceforth known as D. D. C. F. (Deo DuceComite Ferro), who, having more time at his disposal, was able, by meansof long and arduous labour, to elaborate the rituals in Masonic style. On March 8, 1888, a warrant was then drawn up according to the designgiven in the cypher MSS. And was signed by S. A. For S. D. A. , by M. E. V. And D. D. C. F. , all three having received the honorary grade of 7-4 fromS. D. A. So as to enable them to act as Chief of the New Temple. It isinteresting to note that whilst the instructions in the cypher MSS. Werein English and German, the name now given to the new Order "The GoldenDawn, " was accompanied by its equivalent in Hebrew "Chebreth Zerech aurBokher" that is to say "The Companions of the Rising Light of theMorning. " Amongst the instructions we find: "Avoid Roman Catholics butwith pity"; also these directions concerning the Obligation:

 The candidate asking for Light is taken to the Altar and forced to take an Obligation to secrecy under penalty of expulsion and death or palsy from hostile current of will. 

From the subsequent correspondence of the Order it is seen that thisso-called "punitive current" was actually directed by the Chiefs againstthose who rebelled. 

Although the members of the Golden Dawn later became linked up with the"Esoteric Masons" in Germany, neither the organization nor the ritual ofthe Order are masonic, but rather Martiniste and Cabalistic. For amidstall the confused phraseology of the Order, the phrases and symbolsborrowed from Egyptian, Greek, or Hindu mythology, one detects the realbasis of the whole system--the Jewish Cabala, in which all the threeChiefs were, or became, experts. Mathers in fact translated the famousbook of Abraham the Jew from French into English with explanatory notes, and Wynn Westcott translated the Sepher Yetzirah from Hebrew. Lectureswere given to the society on such subjects as the Tarot Cards, GeomanticTalismans, and the Schemhamphorasch or Tetragrammaton. 

The Order was at first absolutely governed by the three Chiefs, butafter a time--owing to the death of Woodman and the resignation of WynnWestcott--Mathers became the Sole Chief and professed to have obtainedfurther instructions from the Hidden Chiefs through his wife--a sisterof Bergson--by means of clairvoyance and clairaudience. But the realdirectors of the Order were in Germany and known as the "Hidden andSecret Chiefs of the Third Order. " A curious resemblance will here benoted with the "Concealed Superiors" by whom members of the _StricteObservance_ in the eighteenth century declared themselves to becontrolled. 

Who these men were at the time the Order was founded remains a mysterynot only to the outside world but even to the English initiatesthemselves. The identity of Sapiens Dominabatur Astris appears never tohave been established, nor was anything more heard about the still moremysterious Anna Sprengel until her death in an obscure German villagewas reported in 1893. Indeed, one of the most active members of theOrder, Dr. Robert Felkin, M. D. , known as F. R. (Finem Respice), laterdeclared that, although he had visited five temples of the Order inGermany and Austria, he had been unable to get into touch with theHidden Chiefs, or to discover how the original MSS. Came into the handsof the clergyman who handed them to Wynn Westcott and Woodman. Accordingto Felkin's statement, all that he had been able to find out was thatthe MSS. Were the notes of ceremonies made by a man who had beeninitiated into a Lodge in Germany, and that the temple from which theyoriginated was "a special temple" working on the Cabala tree like theEnglish branch of the Order. Further, he was told that none of the "bigThree" who founded the Golden Dawn in England were real Rosicrucians atall. 

The confusion of ideas which must inevitably result when, as in secretsocieties or revolutionary organizations, a number of people are beingblindly led by hidden directors, naturally brought about dissensionsamongst the members, who mutually accused each other of ignorance of thereal aims of the Order. Thus the London Lodge ended by breaking withMathers, who was in Paris, on account of his arrogance in claimingsupreme power through the mystery of the Hidden Chiefs, and after twoyears of unsettled government, in 1902 elected three new chiefs--Dr. Felkin (F. R. = Finem Respice), Bullock, a solicitor (L. O. = LevaviOculos) who resigned at the end of the year, and Brodie Innes (S. S. --SubSpe). But although Mathers had been repudiated, his teachings wereretained as emanating from the Hidden Chiefs. 

Two years earlier a dramatic incident had occurred. In a very sinisterpersonage, Aleister Crowley, had been introduced into the Order onthe recommendation of A. E. Waite (S. R. = Sacramentum Regis) thewell-known mystical writer. A man of many aliases, Crowley followed theprecedent of the "Comte de Saint-Germain, " the "Comte de Cagliostro, "and the "Baron von Offenbach" by ennobling himself and masqueradingunder various titles in turn, such as "Count Svareff, " "Lord Boleskine, ""Baron Rosenkreutz, " but usually known in the Order as "P" for"Perdurabo. "

Crowley, who was a Cabalist, had written a book on Goetic Magic and soonafter becoming a member of the "Golden Dawn" set to work with another"Frater" on magical experiments, including evocations, the consecrationand use of talismans, divination, alchemy, etc. In 1900 Crowley hadjoined Mathers in Paris where the latter and his wife were living underthe assumed names of the "Comte and Comtesse of Glenstrae" and engagedin reviving the mysteries of Isis at the Bodinière Theatre. In this taskthey were joined by an extraordinary lady, the notorious Madame Horos(alias the Swami) who claimed to be the real and authentic SapiensDominabatur Astris. Crowley described her as "a very stout woman andvery fair" and "a vampire of remarkable power;" Mathers declared her tobe "probably the most powerful medium living, " but later, in a letter toanother member of the "Golden Dawn" observed: "I believe her and heraccomplices to be emissaries of a very powerful _secret occult order_who have been trying for years to break up other Orders and especiallymy work. " Incidentally this lady, who proved to be a false S. D. A. , endedby starting an Order in collaboration with her husband, in which it wassaid that certain rituals of the Golden Dawn were adapted to an immoralpurpose, with the result that the couple were brought to trial andfinally condemned to penal servitude. 

Whether owing to this disturbing experience, or because, as Crowleydeclared, he had "imprudently attracted to himself forces of evil toogreat and terrible for him to withstand, presumably Abramelin demons, "Mathers' reason began to totter. This then was the situation at the timeof his rupture with the Order, and the dramatic incident referred to wasthe sudden appearance of Crowley in London, who, whether acting asMathers' envoy or on his own initiative, broke into the premises of theOrder, with a black mask over his face, a plaid shawl thrown over hisshoulders, an enormous gold (or gilt) cross on his breast, and a daggerat his side, for the purpose of taking over possession. This attempt wasbaffled with the prosaic aid of the police and Crowley was expelled fromthe Order. Eventually, however, he succeeded in obtaining possession ofsome of the rituals and other documents of the Golden Dawn, which heproceeded to publish in the organ of a new Order of his own. Thismagazine, containing a mixture of debased Cabalism and vulgarblasphemies, interspersed with panegyrics on haschish--for Crowleycombined with sexual perversion an addiction to drugs--which mightappear to express only the ravings of a maniac. But eccentricity hasoften provided the best cloak for dark designs, and the outbreak of warproved that there was a method in the madness of the man whom theauthorities persisted in regarding merely as an irresponsible degenerateof a non-political kind. To quote the press report of his exploits afterthis date:

 In November 1914 Crowley went to the United States, where he entered into close relations with the pro-German propagandists. He edited the New York _International_, a German propagandist paper run by the notorious George Silvester Viereck, and published, among other things, an obscene attack on the King and a glorification of the Kaiser. Crowley ran occultism as a side-line, and seems to have been known as the "Purple Priest. " Later on he publicly destroyed his British passport before the Statute of Liberty, declared in favour of the Irish Republican cause, and made a theatrical declaration of "war" on England.... During his stay in America Crowley was associated with a body known as the "Secret Revolutionary Committee" which was working for the establishment of an Irish Republic. He is known also as the writer of a defeatest manifesto circulated in France in 1915. 

But to return to the Golden Dawn. In 1903 a split occurred in the Order. A. E. Waite, an early member of it, seceded from it with a number ofother members and carried off with him the name of "Golden Dawn, " alsothe vault and other property of the Order. The original Order then tookthe name of "Stella Matutina, " with Dr. Felkin as Chief. 

In the preceding year the members of the London Lodge had again believedthat they were in touch with the _Hidden Third Order_ and revived theirefforts to communicate with the Secret Chiefs in Germany. This state ofuncertainty continued till about 1910, when Felkin and Meakin set forthfor Germany, where they succeeded in meeting several members of theThird Order, who professed to be "true and genuine Rosicrucians" and toknow of Anna Sprengel and the starting of the Order in England. Theywere not, it was believed, the Secret and Hidden Chiefs, but moreprobably Esoteric Masons of the Grand Orient. These Fratres, however, told them that in order to form a definite etheric link betweenthemselves and the Order in Great Britain, it would be necessary for aBritish Frater to be under their instruction for a year. AccordinglyMeakin remained in Germany for special training, so that he might act asthe "etheric link" between the two countries. After a pilgrimage to theNear East, closely following the itinerary of Christian Rosenkreutz, Meakin returned to Germany, and it appears to have been now that he wasable to get into touch with a certain high adept of occult science. 

This remarkable personage, Rudolf Steiner, had earlier belonged to theTheosophical Society, and it has been suggested that at some period hemay have been connected with the revived Illuminati of Leopold Engel. There is certainly some reason to believe that at one point in hiscareer he came into touch with men who were carrying on the teachings ofWeishaupt, the chief of whom was the President of a group of Pan-Germansecret societies, and it seems not improbable that the mysteriousS. D. A. , under whose directions the Golden Dawn was founded, might belocated in this circle. 

A few years before the war, Steiner, whilst still a Theosophist, starteda society of his own, the Anthroposophical Society, a name borrowed fromthe work of the XVIIth century Rosicrucian, Thomas Vaughan, "Anthroposophica Magica. " The ostensible leader of Rosicrucianism inGermany was Dr. Franz Hartmann, founder of the "Order of the EsotericRose Croix. " Although in some way connected with Engel's Illuminati andmore definitely with the Theosophical Society, Hartmann was believed tobe a genuine Christian mystic. Steiner also made the same profession, and it seems probable that he formed one of the group of mysteriouspersonages, including besides Grand Orient Masons, Baron von Knigge, great grandson of Weishaupt's coadjutor "Philo, " who met together insecret conference at Ingoldstadt where the first Lodge of the Illuminatihad been founded in 1776, and decided to revive Illuminism on Christianmystic lines used in a very elastic sense amongst occultists. At thesame time Steiner introduces into his teaching a strong vein ofGnosticism, Luciferianism, Johannism, and Grand Orient Masonry, whilstreserving Rosicrucianism for his higher initiates. On this last point heis extremely reticent, preferring to call his teaching "occult science, "since he recognizes that "real Rosicrucians never proclaim themselves assuch"; it is therefore only in the inner circle of his society, on whichno information is given to the public and into which members areadmitted by much the same forms of initiation as those used by the GrandOrient, that Rosicrucianism is mentioned. Some of Steiner's imitators inThe Rosicrucian Fellowship at Oceanside, California, however, openlyprofess what they call Rosicrucianism and at the same time claimsuperior knowledge on the subject of Masonry. Thus in a book by theleader of this group we find it solemnly stated that according to MaxHeindl, Eve cohabited with serpents in the garden of Eden, that Cain wasthe offspring of her union with "the Lucifer Spirit Samael, " and thatfrom this "divine progenitor" the most virile portion of the human racedescended, the rest being merely the "progeny of human parents. " Readersof the present work will recognize this as not the legend of Masonry butof the Jewish Cabala which has been already quoted in this context. [724]Whether this also forms part of Steiner's teaching it is impossible tosay, since his real doctrines are known only to his inner circle; evensome of his admirers amongst the Steiner Matutina, whilst consulting himas an oracle, are not admitted to the secrets of his grades ofinitiation and have been unable to succeed in obtaining from him acharter. Meanwhile they themselves do not disclose to the neophytes whomthey seek to win over that they are members of any secret association. This is quite in accordance with the methods of Weishaupt's "InsinuatingBrothers. "

The result of what Steiner calls "occult science" is thus described in astriking passage of one of his own works:

"This is the change which the occult student observes coming overhimself--that there is no longer a connection between a thought and afeeling or a feeling and a volition, except when he creates theconnection himself. No impulse drives him from thought to action if hedoes not voluntarily harbour it. He can now stand completely withoutfeeling before an object which, before his training, would have filledhim with glowing love or violent hatred; he can likewise remainactionless before a thought which heretofore would have spurred him toaction as if by itself, " etc. 

I can imagine no clearer exposé of the dangers of occultism than this. Weishaupt had said: "I cannot use men as I find them; I must form them. "Dr. Steiner shows how this transformation can be accomplished. Under theinfluence of so-called occult training, which is in reality simplypowerful suggestion, all a man's native impulses and inhibitive springsof action may be broken; the pupil of the occultist will no longer reactto the conceptions of beauty or ugliness, of right or wrong, which, unknown to himself, formed the law of his being. Thus not only hisconscious deeds but his sub-conscious processes pass under the controlof another. If this is indeed the method employed by Dr. Steiner and hisadepts there would certainly seem to be some justification for theverdict of M. Robert Kuentz that "Steiner has devised occult exerciseswhich render the mind incapable (rendent l'esprit anéanti), that heattacks the individual by deranging his faculties (il détraque lesfacultés). "[725]

What is the real motive power behind such societies as the StellaMatutina and again behind Steiner? This remains a mystery, not only tothe outside world but to the "initiates" themselves. The quest of theHidden Chiefs, undertaken by one intrepid pilgrim after another, seemsto have ended only in further meetings with Steiner. Yet hope springseternal in the breast of the aspirant after occult knowledge, and astralmessages spurred the Fratres to further efforts. One of these containedthe exhortation: "Go on with Steiner, which is not the ultimate end ofsearch, and we will come into contact with many serious students whowill lead us to the real master of the Order, who will be sooverpoweringly impressive as to leave no room for doubt. "

A curious analogy with Co-Masonry will here be observed. For whilst theveiled picture of the Co-Masonic lodges is said to represent "theMaster" in the person of Ragocsky or some other personage in Austria orHungary, so it is likewise in Austria and Germany that the members ofStella Matutina seek their Hidden Chiefs and the "real Master" of theirOrder. Moreover, whilst the Co-Masons await the coming of the great"World Teacher, " King, or Messiah in 1926, it is also in 1926 that theStella Matutina expect Christian Rosenkreutz to appear again. [726] Thereare many other points of resemblance between the phraseology of the twoOrders, as, for example, the idea of the "Astral Light, " "the GreatWhite Lodge, " and also "the GREAT WORK" by which both Orders denote thesupreme object of their aspirations--"the union of the East and theWest. " It is therefore impossible not to suspect that, although themembers of Co-Masonry and of the Stella Matutina imagine theirrespective Orders to be entirely unconnected and indeed appear to behardly aware of each other's existence, there may be nevertheless somepoint of junction in the background and even a common centre ofdirection. 

In this connexion it is interesting to notice the political tendenciesof the societies in question. Although the outcome of the _MaçonnerieMixte_, and nominally under the jurisdiction of headquarters in Paris, Co-Masonry does not appear to be pro-French in its sympathies. On thecontrary, the Co-masonic lodges in this country, as also the head lodgein the Rue Jules-Breton, seem to have adopted that form of universalbrotherhood which principally redounds to the benefit of Germany. 

The Stella Matutina, whilst professing to be solely concerned in occultscience and warning its members against Co-Masonry on account of thepolitical tendencies of the latter, is nevertheless still more imbuedwith German influence, since, as we have seen, it has ever since itfirst came into existence been secretly under Germany direction. Indeed, during the war this influence became so apparent that certain patrioticmembers, who had entered the society in all good faith with the idea ofstudying occult science, raised an energetic protest and a schism tookplace. Thus, just as in the case of Co-Masonry, the more clear-sightedrecognized the imprudence of placing themselves under foreign control. That this was no imaginary danger is shown by a correspondence which hadtaken place some years earlier and has recently been brought to light. It will be remembered that the great aim of Weishaupt and the Illuminatiof the eighteenth century was to obtain control over all existingmasonic and occult Orders, This also became the dream of Rudolf Steinerand his allies in other countries, whose plan was to form what theycalled an "International Bund. " The idea of an International Bureau forMasonic Affairs had already, as we have seen, been started inSwitzerland; this was the same idea applied to occult groups, so thatall such societies as Rosicrucianism, Theosophy with its variousramifications of Co-Masonry, etc. , Hermetic Orders, isolated occultists, and so on, were to be placed under German control. The audacity of theproposal seems to have been too much even for some of the mostinternationally minded members of the Stella Matutina, and in thediscussion that took place it was pointed out that admirable as thescheme might be, there was nevertheless some British spirit amongstthese Orders to be reckoned with. Even Mrs. Besant's followers, headedby the Co-Masons, described as a group which "attracts a large number ofidle women who have leisure to take a little occultism with theirafternoon tea, " might be liable to ask, "Who are these Germans tointerfere?" But the real obstacle to success was held to be BritishFreemasonry, to which a certain number of students of occult science, including all the members of the S. R. I. A. , belonged. "English Masonry, "it was remarked, "boasts the Grand Lodge of 1717, the Mother Lodge ofthe World. They are a proud, jealous, autocratic body. Co-Masonryderives from the Grand Orient of France, an illegitimate body accordingto English ruling. No English Mason can work with Co-Masons.... If theEnglish Grand Lodge hears of anything called 'Esoteric Masonry' derivedfrom such sources, under chiefs once T. S. [Theosophical Society]members, under a head in Berlin, it will not enquire who Dr. Steiner isor what is the nature of his work, it will simply say, 'No EnglishMasons of the Free and Accepted Masons may join any Society workingpseudo-Masonic rites, i. E. No one of ordinary accepted Freemasonry canattend any meetings or attend any grades in this illegitimate body. 'Finis!... If a lodge of the Continental Order is to be established inEngland, Dr. Steiner will be faced with the Masonic difficulty. This isreally serious.... "[727]

Here then is one of the finest tributes ever paid to British Masonry, for it shows that as at present constituted and controlled it providesthe most formidable barrier against the infiltration of this country byalien or subversive secret societies. Thus the Freemasons and the RomanCatholics are recognized as the principal obstacles to success. TheFreemasons, however, would do well to realize the attempts that are madeto break down this resistance by traitors in the Masonic camp, who, after violating their obligations by belonging to an irregular secretsociety, act as recruiting agents in the lodges. For the author of theseremarks was a British Freemason who, in collusion with a foreign adept, proposed to penetrate Freemasonry by the process known in revolutionarylanguage as "boring from within. " To quote his own words, "_They must begot at from within, not from without_. " This was to be accomplished invarious ways--by adepts of the Continental Order getting themselvesinitiated into orthodox Masonry and then spreading their own doctrinesin the lodges, or by enlisting recruits amongst orthodox Masons andusing them as propagandists among their brother-Masons. It was alsosuggested that in order not to rouse suspicion it would be better toavoid the name "Esoteric Masonry, " to adopt one of the rituals used inEngland, and to employ as "officers" a "mixed group" drawn from varioussecret societies. This plan has been carried out with considerablesuccess, and at a recent conference held by a high Continental adeptunder the most distinguished patronage, it was interesting to notice thevarious secret societies represented by certain of the promoters, who ofcourse to the general public appeared to be merely isolated individualsinterested in philosophical speculation. But it is time to pass on tothe question of yet another secret association, for amongst thosepresent at the Conference referred to were members of the group Clarté. 

This society, of which the name as well as its avowed aims aresingularly reminiscent of Illuminism, was first heard of in France andwas led by men who carried on active anti-patriotic propagandathroughout the war. Amongst these was Henri Barbusse, author of _LeFeu_, a defeatest novel which was received with acclamations from"illuminated" reviewers in the press of this country. Yet althoughoutwardly a French organization, the real inspiration and teaching of_Clarté_ is essentially German-Jewish and a great number of Jews are tobe found amongst its members, particularly in Central Europe. At theinaugural meeting of the Austrian group it was stated that 80 per cent. Of those present were of the Jewish race. The keynote of _Clarté_ isInternationalism--abolition of nationality, destruction of frontiers, and pacifism or rather the substitution of class warfare for warbetween nations. For this purpose it is willing to make use of allsubversive doctrines, to whatever school of thought they may belong. Hence, although the creed of the leaders is professedly Socialism, theyreadily co-operate with Syndicalists, Anarchists, or revolutionaries ofany brand, carrying on propaganda in Trade Unions and various workers'organizations; some are secretly in the ranks of the Communists. In factmembers of _Charté_ have succeeded in penetrating into almost everysubversive group, even as far afield as New Zealand, where the societyhas an agency in Wellington and disseminates the most violentrevolutionary teaching and literature. 

But whilst thus making use of the "proletariat" to further its ends, thepoint of view of _Clarté_ is fundamentally undemocratic--for the realgrievances of the workers it has no use at all. The plan of thisgroup--who were recently described in the French press as "the finestspecimens of cannibals smeared with humanitarianism (les plus beauxspécimens de cannibales barbouillés d'humanitairerie)"--is to constitutea sort of International Hierarchy of Intellectual Socialists, whoseinfluence is to make itself invisibly felt in literary, educational, andartistic circles all over the world. For the members of _Clarté_ are ascareful as were the adepts of Weishaupt to preserve their incognito andnot to be known as "Illuminati. " Thus the public in our own country andelsewhere, reading the diatribes of certain well-known authors againstthe existing order of society, may vaguely wonder why men living amidstall the amenities of civilization should desire its destruction, but donot dream that all this is not the outcome of an individual brain butpropaganda put out by a company which, having largely primed suchwriters with ideas, is able, owing to the high position of many of itsleading members and its influence with the literary world, to ensure thesuccess of any publication that will further its ends. 

The organization of _Clarté_ thus approximates more nearly, to thesystem of Weishaupt than that of the other societies described in thischapter. Although in the strictest sense a secret society, it is in nosense occult and therefore possesses no ritual of its own, but, like theearlier Illuminati, recognizes the utility of working throughFreemasonry. _Clarté_, in fact, forms an adjunct of the Grand Orient andowns a lodge under its jurisdiction in Paris. It would be interesting, however, to know whether the idea of the alliance with the Grand Orientoccurred as an afterthought to the _Clarté_ group or whether theoriginal inspiration of _Clarté_ emanated from an inner circle of theGrand Orient. We shall return to the question of this inner circle in alater chapter. 

Such, then, are the principal secret societies at work in Great Britain, but amongst minor secret or semi-secret movements may be mentioned thestrange sect the Faithists, said to have some affinity with the Druses, inhabiting a singularly unromantic London suburb, whose "AncientFounder" is the author of a series of tracts urging man not to be misledby false Gods, but to worship "Jehovih the Creator only, " and at thesame time advocating nationalization as a cure for all social ills; oragain The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man atFontainebleau, led by Gurdjieff and Uspenski which combines esotericmeditation with an extremely meagre diet and strenuous manual labour. Itis interesting, by the way, to notice that the art of movement known asEurhythmy--not to be confounded with the system of M. Dalcroze which isknown in England only as Eurhythmics--forms an important part of thecurriculum of the last society, as also of Herr Steiner's Order, of theStella Matutina, and of the Russian Bolsheviks. [728]

The one question that presents itself to the judicial mind afterexamining all these movements, is inevitably: Are they of any realimportance? Can a few hundreds, or even thousands, of men and women, drawn largely by curiosity or want of occupation into societies of whichthe very names are hardly known to the general public, exercise anyinfluence on the world at large? It would certainly be an error tooverestimate the power that each of these societies individually canwield; to do so would be, in fact, to play into the hands of theleaders, whose plan, from Weishaupt onwards, has always been torepresent themselves as directing the destinies of the universe. Thisclaim to power is the bait laid for neophytes, who are made to believethat "the Order will one day rule the world. " But, whilst recognizingthe folly of this pretension, we should be mistaken in underrating theirimportance, for the reason that they provide evidence of a largerorganization in the background. The Stella Matutina may be only anobscure Fraternity, even the Theosophical Society with all itsramifications[729] may not be of great importance in itself, but willanyone with a knowledge of European affairs seriously maintain that theGrand Orient is a small or unimportant organization? And have we notseen that investigations into the smaller secret societies frequentlylead back to this greater masonic power? Secret societies are ofimportance, because they are, moreover, symptomatic, and also because, although the work actually carried out in their lodges or councils maybe of a trivial character, they are able by the power of association andthe collective force they generate to influence public opinion and tofloat ideas in the outside world which may have far-reachingconsequences. 

At any rate, the fact that they exist finally disposes of the contentionthat secret societies of a subversive and even of an abominable kind arethings of the past. These amazing cults, these strange perverted riteswhich we associate with the dark ages, are going on around us to-day. Illuminism, Cabalism, and even Satanism are still realities. In 1908Monsieur Copin Albancelli stated that circumstances had afforded him theproof that--

 certain Masonic societies exist which are Satanic, not in the sense that the devil comes to preside at their meetings, as that romancer of a Leo Taxil pretended, but in that their initiates profess the cult of Lucifer. They adore him as the true God, and they are animated by an implacable hatred against the Christian God, whom they declare to be an impostor. They have a formula which sums up their state of mind; it is no longer: "To the glory of the Great Architect of the Universe, " as in the two lower Masonries; it is G∴ E∴ A∴ A∴ L∴ H∴ H∴ H∴ A∴ D∴ M∴ M∴ M∴, which means "Gloire et Amour à Lucifer! Haine! haine! haine! an Dieu maudit! maudit! maudit!" (Glory and Love for Lucifer! Hatred! hatred! hatred! to God, accursed, accursed, accursed!)

 It is professed in these societies that all that the Christian God commands is disagreeable to Lucifer; that all that He forbids is, on the contrary, agreeable to Lucifer; that in consequence one must do all that the Christian God forbids and that one must shun like fire all that He commands. I repeat that with regard to all that, I have the proofs under my hand. I have read and studied hundreds of documents relating to one of these societies, documents that I have not permission to publish and which emanate from the members, men and women, of the group in question. [730]

I do not say that any society in England consciously practices this cultof Satan, but I too have seen dozens of documents relating to occultgroups in this country which practise rites and evocations that lead toillness, moral perversion, mental derangement, and even in some cases todeath. I have heard from the lips of initiates themselves accounts ofthe terrible experiences through which they have passed; some have evenurged me to bring the matter before the attention of the authorities. But unfortunately no department exists for the investigation ofsubversive movements. Yet since all these movements are intimatelyconnected with revolutionary agitation they are well worth the attentionof Governments that desire to protect law, order, and public morality. The fact is that the very extravagance of their doctrines and practicesseems to ensure their immunity. Nevertheless, whether the power at workbehind them is of the kind we are accustomed to call "supernatural, " orwhether it is merely the outcome of the human mind, there can be nodoubt of its potency for evil and of its very definite effects in theobliteration of all sense of truth and in sexual perversion. 

In the opinion of an initiate who belonged for years to the StellaMatutina, the dynamic force employed known as "Kundalini" is simply anelectro-magnetic force, of which the sex-force is a part, on which theadepts know how to play, and "the unseen hand behind all the seemingSpiritism of these Orders is a system of very subtle and cunninghypnotism and suggestion. " Further, the aim of this group like that ofall subversive Esoteric Orders, is, by means of such processes aseurhythmics, meditations, symbols, ceremonies, and formulas, to awakenthis force and produce false "Illumination" for the purpose of obtaining"Spiritual Seership, " which is at most clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc. The ceremonies of the Order are hypnotic, and by suggestion create thenecessary mental and astral atmosphere, hypnotize and prepare themembers to be the willing tools in the hands of the controlling adepts. The same initiate has communicated to me the following conclusionsconcerning the group in question, with the permission to quote themverbatim:

 I have been convinced that we, as an Order, have come under the power of some very evil occult Order, profoundly versed in science both occult and otherwise, though not infallible, their methods being Black Magic, that is to say, electro-magnetic power, hypnotism, and powerful suggestion. 

 We are convinced that the Order is being controlled by some SUN Order after the nature of the Illuminati, if not by that Order itself. 

 The reason why they (the leaders of all such Orders) insisted so much upon the Church and Sacrament, especially before the initiation, is, I think, for the same reason as the use of the consecrated Host in Black Magic. The Christian consecration and the use of the sacraments renders the building or person more powerful as a material basis for black magic even as in white magic--"for the Great Good or the Great Evil. " When the initiation is accomplished and the domination of the person complete, there is no further need for Church or Sacrament. 

 We are told at the Initiation: "There is nothing incompatible with your civil, moral, or religious duties in this obligation. " We now are convinced that this Order is contrary absolutely to our civil, moral, and religious duties; which being so, our obligations are null and void. 

 We are told that all that has taken place in Russia and elsewhere is due to these International Occult Forces set in motion by Subversive Esoteric Lodges. Yet it is known that we have several branches of these same Esoteric Masonic Lodges carrying on their deadly work in our midst. England, as well as Europe, seems to be drifting along in a hypnotic sleep, and even our soundest politicians seem paralysed and all that they attempt is turned to foolishness. Is there no one in authority who understands these things and realizes the danger both to the country and to individuals from these forces working for disruption and world revolution?

How in the face of these declarations, coming from those inside themovement, can anyone maintain that Illuminism is dead and that secretsocieties present no danger to Christian civilization?

13

OPEN SUBVERSIVE MOVEMENTS

Although the sceptical reader who has reached this stage of the presentwork will perhaps be willing to admit that some connexion may be tracedbetween hidden forces and open subversive movements, the objection hewill still raise against the general thesis here set forth will probablybe expressed somewhat in the following manner:

"It is quite possible that secret societies and other unseen agenciesmay have played a part in revolutions, but to attribute the continuedrevolt against the existing social order to these causes is absurd. Poverty, unemployment, inadequate housing, and above all theinequalities of human life are quite sufficient to produce arevolutionary spirit without the aid of secret instigators. Socialrevolution is simply a rising of the 'have-nots' against the 'haves, 'and requires no further cause to explain it. "

Let it be at once admitted that the injustices here enumerated are real. The working classes throughout the nineteenth century had very genuinereasons for complaints. Wages were far too low, the rich sometimesshowed themselves indifferent to the sufferings of the poor, employersof labour often made profits out of all proportion to the remunerationpaid to the workers. Nor, in spite of the immense reforms introducedduring the last hundred years, have all these grievances been redressed. The slums of our great cities still constitute a blot upon ourcivilization. Profiteering since the beginning of the war has been moreflagrant than ever. "Rings" and combines provide fabulous wealth forindividuals or groups at the expense of vast numbers of consumers. Andin all classes of the community, just as before the French Revolution, people feast and dance whilst others live on the border-line ofstarvation. 

But let us see how far the Socialist movement can be regarded as thespontaneous revolt of the "people" against this condition of things. Dividing the people after the manner of Marx into the non-revolutionaryand the "revolutionary proletariat, " we shall find that the formercategory, by far the larger, combines with a strong respect fortradition a perfectly reasonable desire for social reform. Briefly itasks for adequate wages, decent housing, and a fair share of the goodthings of life. For State interference in the affairs of everyday lifeit feels nothing but abhorrence. The ideal of Communism as formulated byLenin, wherein "the getting of food and clothing shall be no longer aprivate affair, "[731] would meet with stronger opposition from workingmen--and still more from working women, to whom "shopping" is as thebreath of life--than from any other section of the population. Even suchapparently benign Socialist schemes as "communal dining-rooms" or"communal kitchens" appeal less to the working-class mentality than tothe upper-class mind that devises them. 

Turning to the "revolutionary proletariat, " we shall find thisindividualistic instinct quite as strongly developed. It is not theSocialist idea of placing all wealth and property in the hands of theState, but the Anarchist plan of "expropriation, " of plunder on agigantic scale for the benefit of the revolutionary masses, which reallyappeals to the disgruntled portion of the proletariat. The Socialistintellectual may write of the beauties of nationalization, of the joy ofworking for the common good without hope of personal gain; therevolutinary working man sees nothing to attract him in all this. Question him on his ideas of social transformation, and he willgenerally express himself in favour of some method by which he willacquire something he has not got; he does not want to see the rich man'smotor-car socialized by the State--he wants to drive about in ithimself. The revolutionary working man is thus in reality not aSocialist but an Anarchist at heart. Nor in some cases is thisunnatural. That the man who enjoys none of the good things of lifeshould wish to snatch his share must at least appear comprehensible. What is not comprehensible is that he should wish to renounce all hopeof ever possessing anything. Modern Socialist propagandists are verywell aware of this attitude of the working classes towards theirschemes, and therefore that as long as they explain the real programmethey mean to put into operation, which is nothing but the workhousesystem on a gigantic scale, they can meet with no success. As alife-long Socialist has frequently observed to me, "Socialism has neverbeen a working-class movement; it was always we of the middle or upperclasses who sought to instil the principles of Socialism into the mindsof working men. " Mr. Hyndman's candid confessions of the failures toenlist the sympathies even of slum-dwellers in his schemes of socialregeneration bear out this testimony. 

Less honest Socialist orators as the result of long experience havetherefore adopted the more effectual policy of appealing to thepredatory instincts of the crowd. From Babeuf onwards, Socialism hasonly been able to make headway by borrowing the language of Anarchy inorder to blast its way to power. 

Socialism is thus essentially a system of deception devised bymiddle-class theorists and in no sense a popular creed. Had therevolutionary movement of the past 150 years really proceeded from thepeople, it would inevitably have followed the line laid down by one ofthe two sections of the proletariat indicated above, that is to say, itwould either have taken the form of a continuous and increasingagitation for social reforms which would have enlisted the sympathy ofall right-thinking men and must therefore in the end have provedirresistible, or it would have followed the line of Anarchy, organizingbrigandage on a larger and yet larger scale, until, all owners of wealthhaving been exterminated and their expropriators in their turnexterminated by their fellows, the world would have been reduced to adepopulated desert. 

But the world revolution has followed neither of these lines. Always theopponent of sane social reforms which Socialists deride as "melioration"or as futile attempts to shore up an obsolete system, it hasconsistently disassociated itself from such men as Lord Shaftesbury, whodid more to better the conditions of the working classes than anyone whohas ever lived. Anarchy, on the other hand, has been used by them merelyas a means to an end; for genuine revolutionary sentiment they have nouse at all. In Russia the Anarchists became the first objects of Sovietvengeance. The cynical attitude of Socialists towards the revolutionaryproletariat was illustrated by Mr. Bernard Shaw, who in December 1919openly boasted that he had helped to organize the railway strike, [732]and two years later wrote about the miners' strike in the followingterms:

 A Socialist State would not tolerate such an attack on the community as a strike for a moment. If a Trade Union attempted such a thing, the old Capitalist law against Trade Unions as conspiracies would be re-enacted within twenty-four hours and put ruthlessly into execution. Such a monstrosity as the recent coal strike, during which the coal-miners spent all their savings in damaging their neighbours and wrecking the national industries, would be impossible under Socialism. It was miserably defeated, as it deserved to be. [733]

Now, if this had been written by the Duke of Northumberland in the_National Review_ instead of by Mr. Bernard Shaw in the _LabourMonthly_, one can imagine the outcry there would have been in theSocialist press. But the leaders of what is called democracy may alwaysuse what language they please in speaking of the people. "Our peasants, "Maxim Gorky openly declared, "are brutal and debased, hardly human. Ihate them. "[734] It will be noticed that in descriptions of the FrenchRevolution references to the savageries of the people are never resentedby the Liberal or Socialist press; the persons of the leaders alone aresacred. It is clearly not the cause of democracy but of demagogy thatthese champions of "liberty" are out to defend. 

The world-revolution is therefore not a popular movement but aconspiracy to impose on the people a system directly opposed to theirreal demands and aspirations, a system which, moreover, has proveddisastrous every time an attempt has been made to put it into practice. 

Russia has provided a further example of its futility. The fact that themore responsible leaders in this country do not advocate violence, doesnot affect the ultimate issue. Whilst Bolshevism sets out to destroyCapitalism at a blow, Socialism prefers a more gradual process. It isthe difference between clubbing a man on the head and bleeding him todeath--that is all. 

The fact is that all Socialism leads to Communism in the long run[735]and therefore to disaster. The Bolshevist régime brought ruin and miseryto Russia not because of the brutality of its methods, but because itwas founded on the gigantic economic fallacy that industry can becarried on without private enterprise and personal initiative. The sametheory applied by constitutional methods would produce precisely thesame results. If the Socialists are ever allowed to carry out their fullprogramme, England may be reduced to the state of Russia without theshedding of a drop of blood. 

But how are we to explain the fact that in spite of the failure ofSocialism in the past, in spite of the gigantic fiasco presented byRussia, in spite, moreover, of the declaration by the Bolsheviksthemselves that Communism had failed and must be replaced by "a neweconomic policy, " that is to say by a return to "Capitalism, "[736]there should still be a large and increasing body of people to proclaimthe efficacy of Socialism as the remedy for all social ills? In anyother field of human experiment, in medicine or mechanical invention, failure spells oblivion; the prophylactic that does not cure, themachine that cannot be made to work, is speedily relegated to thescrap-heap. What indeed should we say of the bacteriologist, who, afterkilling innumerable patients with a particular serum, were to advertiseit as an unqualified success? Should we not brand such a man as anunscrupulous charlatan or at best as a dangerous visionary? If, moreover, we were to find that large bands of agents backed by unlimitedfunds, were engaged in pressing his remedy upon the public and carefullyavoiding all reference to the fatalities it had caused, should we notfurther conclude that there was "something behind all this"--somepowerful company "running" the concern with a view to advancing its ownprivate interests?

Why should not the same reasoning be applied to Socialism? For not onlyhas Socialism never been known to succeed, but all its past failures arecarefully kept dark by its exponents. Who, then, stands to gain byadvocating it? And further, who provides the vast sums spent onpropaganda? If in reality Socialism is a rising of the "have-nots"against the "haves, " how is it that most of the money seems to be onthe side of the "have-nots"? For whilst organizations working for lawand order are hampered at every turn for funds, no financialconsiderations ever seem to interfere with the activities of theso-called "Labour movement. " Socialism, in fact, appears to be athoroughly "paying concern, " into which a young man enters as he mightgo into the City, with the reasonable expectation of "doing well. " It isonly necessary to glance at the history of the past hundred years torealize that "agitation" has provided a pleasant and remunerative careerfor hundreds of middle-class authors, journalists, speakers, organizers, and dilettantes of all kinds who would otherwise have been condemned topass their lives on office-stools or at schoolmasters' desks. And whenwe read the accounts of the delightful treats provided for these"devoted workers" in the cause of the proletariat as given in therecords of the First Internationale or the pages of Mrs. Snowden, webegin to understand the attractions of Socialism as a profession. [737]

But again I repeat: _Who provides the funds for this vast campaign_? Dothey come out of the pockets of the workers or from some othermysterious reservoir of wealth? We shall return to this point in a laterchapter. 

How is it possible at any rate to believe in the sincerity of theexponents of equality who themselves adopt a style of living sodifferent from that of the proletariat whose cause they profess torepresent? If the doctrinaires of Socialism formed a band of asceticswho had voluntarily renounced luxury and amusement in order to leadlives of poverty and self-sacrifice--as countless really devoted men andwomen _not_ calling themselves Socialists have done--we should stilldoubt the soundness of their economic theories as applied to society ingeneral, but we should respect their disinterestedness. But with veryfew exceptions Socialist Intellectuals dine and sup, feast and amusethemselves with as few scruples of conscience as any unregenerateTories. 

With people such as these it is obviously as futile to reason, as itwould be to attempt to convince the agent of a quack medicine companythat the nostrums he presses on the public will not effect a cure. He isvery well aware of that already. Hence the efforts of well-meaningpeople to set forth in long, well-reasoned arguments the "fallacies ofSocialism" produce little or no result. All these so-called "fallacies"have been exposed repeatedly by able writers and disproved by allexperience, so that if based merely on ignorance or error they wouldlong since have ceased to obtain credence. The truth is that they arenot fallacies but lies, deliberately devised and circulated by men whodo not believe in them for a moment and who can therefore only bedescribed as unscrupulous charlatans exploiting the credulity of thepublic. 

But if this description may be legitimately applied to the brains behindSocialism and to certain of its leading doctrinaires, there aredoubtless thousands of honest visionaries to be found in the movement. Asystem that professes to cure all the ills of life inevitably appeals togenerous minds that feel but do not reason. In reality many of thesepeople, did they but know it, are simply social reformers at heart andnot Socialists at all, and their ignorance of what Socialism reallymeans leads them to range themselves under the banner of a party thatclaims a monopoly of ideals. Others again, particularly amongst theyoung intelligentsia, take up Socialism in the same spirit as they wouldadopt a fashion in ties or waistcoats, for fear of being regarded as"reactionaries. " That in reality, far from being "advanced, " theprofession of Socialism is as retrogressive as would be a return to theside-whiskers and plaid trousers of the last century, does not occur tothem. The great triumph of Mussolini was to make the youth of Italyrealize that to be a Communist was to be a "back number, " and thatprogress consisted in marching forward to new ideas and aspirations. Theyoung men of Cabet's settlement discovered this sixty years ago whenthey formed themselves into a band of "Progressives" in opposition tothe old men who still clung to the obsolete doctrine of Communism. 

Socialism at the present moment is in reality less a creed than a cult, founded not on practical experience but on unreal theory. It is here wefind a connexion with secret societies. M. Augustin Cochin in hisbrilliant essays on the French Revolution[738] has described that "Worldof the Clouds" of which the Grand Orient was the capital, peopled by theprecursors of the French Revolution. "Whilst in the real world thecriterion of all thought lies in putting it to the test, " there in theWorld of the Clouds the criterion is opinion. "They are there to talk, not to do; all this intellectual agitation, this immense traffic inspeeches, writings, correspondence, leads not to the slightest beginningof work, of real effort. " We should be wrong to judge them harshly;their theories on the perfectibility of human nature, on the advantagesof savagery, which appear to us "dangerous chimeras, " were neverintended to apply to real life, only to the World of the Clouds, wherethey present no danger but become, on the contrary, "the most fecundtruths. "

The revolutionary explosion might well have finally shattered theseillusions but for the Grand Orient. We have already seen the identity oftheory between French Masonry and French Socialism in the nineteenthcentury. It was thus that, although in France one experiment afteranother demonstrated the unreality of Socialist Utopias, the lodges werealways there to reconstruct the mirage and lead humanity on again acrossthe burning desert sands towards the same phantom palm-trees andillusory pools of water. 

Whatever the manner in which these ideas penetrated to thiscountry--whether through the Radicals of the last century, adorers ofthe Encyclopædist Masons of France, or through the British disciples ofGerman Social Democrats from the time of the First Internationaleonwards--it is impossible to ignore the resemblance between the theoriesnot only of French but of modern British Socialism and the doctrines ofilluminized Freemasonry. Thus the idea running through Freemasonry of aGolden Age before the Fall, when man was free and happy, and whichthrough the application of masonic principles is to return once more, finds an exact counterpart in the Socialist conception of a past halcyonera of Liberty and Equality, which is to return not merely in the formof a regenerated social order, but as a complete Millennium from whichall the ills of human life have been eliminated. This idea has alwayshaunted the imagination of Socialist writers from Rousseau to WilliamMorris, and leads directly up to the further theory--the necessity fordestroying civilization. 

I cannot find in Mr. Lothrop Stoddart's conception of the revolutionarymovement as the revolt of the "Under Man" against civilization, theorigin of this campaign. In reality the leaders of world-revolution havenot been "Under Men, " victims of oppression or of adverse fate, norcould they be ranged in this category on account of physical or mentalinferiority. It is true that most revolutionary agitators have been insome way abnormal and that the revolutionary army has largely beenrecruited from the unfit, but the real inspirers of the movement havefrequently been men in prosperous circumstances and of brilliantintellect who might have distinguished themselves on other lines hadthey not chosen to devote their talents to subversion. To callWeishaupt, for example, an "Under Man" would be absurd. But let us seewhat is the idea on which the plan of destroying civilization isostensibly founded. 

It will be remembered that Rousseau like Weishaupt held that the GoldenAge of felicity did not end in the garden of Eden, as is popularlysupposed, but was prolonged into tribal and nomadic life. Up to thismoment Communism was the happy disposition under which the human raceexisted and which vanished with the introduction of civilization. Civilization is therefore the _fons et origo mali_ and should be doneaway with. Let no one exclaim that this theory died out either withRousseau or with Weishaupt; the idea that "civilization is all wrong"runs all through the writings and speeches of our IntellectualSocialists to-day. I have referred elsewhere to Mr. H. G. Wells'sprediction that mankind will more and more revert to the nomadic life, and Mr. Snowden has recently referred in tones of evident nostalgia tothat productive era when man "lived under a system of tribalCommunism. "[739] The children who attend the Socialist Schools are alsotaught in the "Red Catechism" the advantages of savagery, thus:

Question. Do savages starve in the midst of plenty?

Answer. No; when there is plenty of food they all rejoice, feast, andmake merry. [740]

That when there is not plenty of food they occasionally eat each otheris not mentioned. 

Here, then, is the theory on which this yearning for a return to natureis based. For it is quite probable that if a Golden Age ever existed itwas Communistic; it is also true that certain primitive tribes havefound it possible to continue the same system, for the simple reasonthat when and where the earth was very thinly populated it broughtforth, without the artificial aid of agriculture, more than enough tosupply each man's needs. There was therefore no need for laws to protectproperty, since every man could help himself freely to all that herequired. If at the present time a dozen people were shipwrecked on afertile island some miles in area, the institution of property would beequally superfluous; if, however, several hundred were to share the samefate, it would at once become necessary to institute some system ofcultivation which in its turn would necessitate either the institutionof property, by which each man would depend on his own plot of land forhis existence, or a communal system, by which all would be obliged towork for the common good and force applied to those who refused to dotheir allotted share. 

Peaceful Communism is thus simply a matter of population; the conditionsunder which men can sit in the sun and enjoy the fruits of the earthwith little effort must be transformed with the multiplication of thehuman species into a system which recognizes private property, or acommunal State which enforces compulsory labour by means of overseerswith whips. It was perhaps an appreciation of this truth that impelledthe practical exponents of Rousseau's doctrines, the Terrorists of 1793, to embark on their "plan of depopulation" by way of establishingCommunism on a peaceful basis. 

But our Intellectual Socialists deny this necessity on the ground thatunder the benign régime of Socialism all men would be good and happy andwould work joyfully for the welfare of the community. The fact that thishas not proved the case even in voluntary Communist settlements does notdaunt them, because, as has been said, their creed is founded not onpractical experiment, but on theory, and it is here that we again findthe inspiration of Grand Orient Freemasonry. The assumption that underan ideal social order all human failings would vanish derives directlyfrom the two masonic doctrines which the Grand Orient, under theinfluence of Illuminism, has brought to a _reductio ad absurdum_--theperfectibility of human nature and universal brotherhood. The wholephilosophy of Socialism is built upon these false premises. 

Indeed the actual phraseology of illuminized Freemasonry has now passedinto the language of Socialism; thus the old formulæ of "the UnitedStates of Europe" and "the Universal Republic" have been adopted notonly by Mrs. Besant and her followers[741] as the last word in modernthought, but have also reappeared as a brilliant inspiration under thepen of Mr. H. G. Wells in the slightly varied form of the "World State. "It would be amusing, for anyone who had the time, to discover how manyof the ideas of our so-called advanced thinkers might be found almostverbatim in the writings of Weishaupt, the _République Universelle_ ofAnacharsis Clootz, and in the speeches of Grand Orient orators duringthe last century. 

Moreover, the world-revolution is not only founded on the doctrines ofilluminized Freemasonry, but has adopted the same method oforganization. Thus, after the plan of the secret societies, from theBatinis onward, we shall find the forces of revolution divided intosuccessive grades--the lowest consisting of the revolutionaryproletariat, the _chair a révolution_ as Marx expressed it, knowingnothing of the theory of Socialism, still less of the real aims of theleaders; above this the semi-initiates, the doctrinaires of Socialism, comprising doubtless many sincere enthusiasts; but above these againfurther grades leading up to the real initiates, who alone know whitherthe whole movement is tending. 

For the final goal of world-revolution is not Socialism or evenCommunism, it is not a change in the existing economic system, it is notthe destruction of civilization in a material sense; the revolutiondesired by the leaders is a moral and spiritual revolution, an anarchyof ideas by which all standards set up throughout nineteen centuriesshall be reversed, all honoured traditions trampled under foot, andabove all the Christian ideal finally obliterated. 

It is true that a certain section of the Socialist movement proclaimsitself Christian. The Illuminati made the same profession, so have themodern Theosophists and Rosicrucians. But, as in the case of thesesecret societies, we should ask of so-called Christian Socialists: Whatdo they means by Christ? What do they mean by Christianity? Onexamination it will be found that their Christ is a being of their owninventing, that their Christianity is a perversion of Christ's realteaching. 

The Christ of Socialism invoked in the interests of Pacifism as theopponent of force and in the interests of class warfare as a Socialist, a revolutionary, or even an "agitator, " bears no resemblance to the realChrist. Christ was not a Pacifist when He told His disciples to armthemselves with swords, when He made a scourge of cords and drove themoney-changers from the Temple. He did not tell men to forgive theenemies of their country or of their religion, but only their privateenemies. Christ was not a Socialist when He declared that "a man's lifeconsisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth. "Socialism teaches that a man must never rest content as long as anotherman possesses that which he has not. Christ did not believe in equalityof payment when He told the parable of the ten talents and theunprofitable servant. Socialism would reduce all labour to the pace ofthe slowest. Above all, Christ was not a Socialist when He bade theyoung man who had great possessions sell all that he had and give it tothe poor. _What School of Socialism has ever issued such a command?_ Onthe contrary, Socialists are enjoined by their leaders not to give theirmoney away in charity lest they should help by this means to prolong theexistence of the present social system. The truth is that, as I showedin connexion with the fallacy of representing Christ as an Essene, thereis no evidence to show that He or His disciples practised even thepurest form of Communism. Christ did not advocate any economic orpolitical system; He preached a spirit which if applied to any systemwould lead to peace among men. It is true that He enjoined His disciplesto despise riches and that He denounced many of the rich men with whomHe came into contact, but it must not be forgotten that His immediatemission was to a race that had always glorified riches, that hadworshipped the golden calf, and by which wealth was regarded as thenatural reward of godliness. [742] Christ came to teach men not to lookfor present reward in the form of increased material welfare, but to dogood out of love to God and one's neighbour. 

I do not doubt that in the past such men as Kingsley and J. F. D. Mauricesincerely imagined that they were following in the footsteps of theMaster by describing themselves as Christian Socialists, but that thepresent leaders of Socialism in England are Christians at heart isimpossible to believe in view of their attitude towards the campaignagainst Christianity in Russia. Never once have they or their allies, the Quakers, officially denounced the persecution not only of thepriests but of all who profess the Christian faith in Russia. [743] Listento this voice from the abyss of Russia:

 We very much ask for prayer for the Church of Russia; it is passing through great tribulation and it is a question whether spiritual or earthly power will triumph. Many are being executed for not denying God.... Those placed by God at the helm need all the prayer and help of Christians all over the earth, because their fate is partly theirs too, for it is a question of faith triumphing over atheism, and it is a tug-of-war between those two principles. [744]

And again:

 I look upon the persecution of the Russian Church as an effort to overthrow Christianity in general, for we are governed just now by the power of darkness, and all that we consider sinful seems to get the upper hand and to prosper. [744]

Yet it is for this power that the Socialist Party of Great Britain havefor years been demanding recognition. Even the appeals for help fromtheir fellow-Socialists in Russia have left them cold. "We wouldsuggest, " ran one such appeal--

 1. That the British Labour Party issue an official protest against the Soviet Government's inhuman treatment of its political opponents in general and the political prisoners in particular. 

 2. That meetings of protest should be organized in the industrial towns of Great Britain. 

 3. That the British Labour Party make an official representation to the Soviet Government directly, urging the latter to put a stop to the persecutions of the Socialists in Russia. [745]

And it was of this régime that Mr. Lansbury wrote:

 Whatever their faults, the Communist leaders of Russia have hitched their wagon to a star--the star of love, brotherhood, comradeship. [746]

The callous indifference displayed by British Socialists, with thehonourable exception of the Social Democratic Federation, [747] towardsthe crimes of the Bolsheviks offers indeed a painful contrast to theattitude of the other Socialists of Europe. At the conference of theLabour and Socialist International at Hamburg in May 1923, a resolutionwas passed condemning the persecution by the Soviet Government. When theresolution was put to the congress, 196 voted for, 2 against it, and 39, including the 30 British delegates, abstained. 

I ask, then: Why should the Socialists of Great Britain bedifferentiated from the Bolsheviks of Russia? In every question ofimportance they have always lent them their support. In the great war onChristianity they have acted as the advance guard by the institution ofSocialist Sunday-schools, from which all religious teaching is excluded. Socialists are very anxious to disassociate these from the "Proletarian"Sunday-schools which teach atheism. But from ignoring the existence ofGod to denying it is but a step; moreover, it will be noticed that theSocialists have never issued any protests against the blasphemies of theProletarian schools. The real attitude of the Socialist Party towardsreligion may perhaps be gauged by the notice, reproduced on page 341, which once appeared in its official organ the _Daily Herald_, of whichMr. Lansbury, widely advertised as a fervent Christian, was once editorand is now managing director. 

It was to the party controlling this organ that 700 clergymen of theChurch of England and the Episcopal Church of Scotland saw fit to offertheir congratulations by means of a memorial presented to Mr. RamsayMacDonald in March 1923. Shall we yet see the scene of Brumaire 1793repeated and a procession of prelates presenting themselves atWestminster to lay down their rings and crosses and declare that"henceforth there shall be no other worship than that of liberty andholy equality"?

Already the desecration of the churches has begun. The red flag wasrecently carried into the City Temple by a band of unemployed, althoughseveral of their number objected to its presence in the church. Anattempt to sing "The Red Flag" was also suppressed by a section of theunemployed

[Illustration:

<b>Books We All Pretend to have Read</b>

The Bible is a real book, although during the whole of the nineteenthcentury the Churches turned a blind eye to the fact that it was a freetranslation by Jacobean clergymen of a Greek text of doubtfulauthenticity and of multiple authorship. The Bible is as divinelyinspired as Shakespeare, or Milton, or Anatole France. But it is not as"pure" as the texts of these authors, for it is:--

(1) A miscellaneous collection of folk and traditional history bound toand described as the "Old Testament, " and

(2) "The New Testament, " a collection of Eastern theological doctrinescentralized in the figure of a great Syrian mystic religious teacher, Jesus. 

Those who will go to the Bible with an unprejudiced mind will discoverthat it is one of the great books of the world, full of beauty, humour, and aspiration, and disfigured, as great books often are, by occasionalbrutalities and crudities. --_Daily Herald_, February 7. 1923. 

]

themselves, who had apparently retained some sense ot decency. [748]

Weishaupt's design of enlisting the clergy in the work ofworld-revolution has been carried out according to plan. Those Catholicpriests in Ireland who inflamed popular passions acted as the tools ofthe International Atheist conspiracy and found at last the movementturning against themselves. The Protestant clergymen who profess"Christian Socialism" are playing the same part. Doubtless withoutknowing it, they act as the agents of the Continental Illuminati andpave the way, as did the emissaries of Weishaupt, for the open attack onall forms of religion. It is not a mere accident that the blasphemousmasquerades of the French Revolution have recently been repeated inRussia. The horrible incidents described in the press[749] were simplythe outward manifestation of a continuous conspiracy of which evidencewas seen some years ago in Portugal under the influence of theCarbonarios, led by Alfonso Costa, whose utterances at times bore astriking resemblance to those of Anacharsis Clootz. The late Duchess ofBedford thus described the war on religion which inaugurated the newRepublic:

One of the most zealous enterprises of this great society [theCarbonarios] is, in their own words, to exterminate "the Christian myth"in the minds of the nation of Portugal. The little children in theschools have badges pinned into their clothes with the words "No God! Noreligion!" and a British tourist who made a journey throughout thecountry of Portugal met bands of innocent babes carrying banners, onwhich the inscription was "We have no need of God. "[750]

Is it only a coincidence that last year a Socialist and Communistmeeting in Trafalgar Square displayed a red banner bearing the motto:"No King, no God, no Law"?[751]

I repeat: It is not an economic revolution which forms the plan of thereal directors of the movement, it is neither the "dictatorship of theproletariat" nor the reorganization of society by the Intelligentsia of"Labour"; it is the destruction of the Christian idea. Socialist oratorsmay inveigh against corrupt aristocracy or "bloated Capitalists, " butthese are not in reality the people who will suffer most if the aim ofthe conspiracy is achieved. The world-revolution has always shown itselfindulgent towards selfish and corrupt aristocrats, from the Marquis deSade and the Duc d'Orléans onwards; it is the gentle, the upright, thebenevolent, who have fallen victims to revolutionary fury. 

Socialism with its hatred of all superiority, of noble virtues--loyaltyand patriotism--with its passion for dragging down instead of buildingup, serves the purpose of the deeper conspiracy. If the ChristianIntelligentsia can be destroyed or won over and the nation deprived ofall its natural leaders, the world-revolutionaries reckon that they willbe able to mould the proletariat according to their desires. This beingso, the thing we now call Bolshevism forms only one phase of themovement which is carried on by countless different methods, apparentlydisconnected but all tending towards the same end. We have only to lookaround us in the world to-day to see everywhere the same disintegratingpower at work--in art, literature, the drama, the daily press--in everysphere that can influence the mind of the public. Just as in the FrenchRevolution a play on the massacre of St. Bartholomew was staged in orderto rouse the passions of the people against the monarchy, so our moderncinemas perpetually endeavour to stir up class hatred by scenes andphrases showing "the injustice of kings, " "the sufferings of thepeople, " the selfishness of "aristocrats, " regardles of whether theseenter into the theme of the narrative or not. [752] And in the realms ofliterature, not merely in works of fiction but in manuals for schools, in histories and books professing to be of serious educative value andreceiving a skilfully organized boom throughout the press, everything isdone to weaken patriotism, to shake belief in all existing institutionsby the systematic perversion of both contemporary and historical facts, whilst novels and plays calculated to undermine all ideas of moralityare pressed upon the public as works of genius which, in order tomaintain a reputation for intellect, it is essential to admire. I do notbelieve that all this is accidental; I do not believe that the publicasks for the anti-patriotic or demoralizing books and plays placedbefore it; on the contrary, it invariably responds to an appeal topatriotism and simple healthy emotions. The heart of the people is stillsound, but ceaseless efforts are made to corrupt it. 

This conspiracy has long been apparent to Continental observers. Someyears before the war, Monsieur de Lannoy, a member of an anti-masonicassociation in France, at a conference on "the influence ofjudaeo-masonic sects in the theatre, in literature, in the fashions, "showed how "orders of things which appear to have no connexion witheach other are skilfully bound up together and directed by a singlemethodical movement towards a common end. This common end is thepaganization of the universe, the destruction of all Christianity, thereturn to the loosest morals of antiquity. "[753] Robison saw in theindecent dress of the period of the Directory the result of Weishaupt'steaching, and traces to the same cause the ceremony which took place inNotre Dame when a woman of loose morals was held up to the admiration ofthe public. [754] The same glorification of vice has found exponentsamongst the modern Illuminati in this country. In _The Equinox--theJournal of Scientific Illuminism_, it is proposed that prostitutesshould be placed on the same level as soldiers who have served theircountry and be honoured and pensioned by the State. [755] The communityof women was not an idea that originated with the Russian Bolsheviks, but one that has run through all the revolutionary movements of thepast. 

The attempt to pervert all conceptions of beauty in the sphere of artserves to pave the way for moral perversion. In the _New York Herald_two years ago there appeared a circular protesting against the so-calledModernistic cult in art as "world-wide Bolshevist propaganda. " Thecircular went on to declare:

This aims to overthrow and destroy all existing social systems, including that of the arts. This modernistic degenerate cult is simplythe Bolshevist philosophy applied in art. The triumph of Bolshevismtherefore means the destruction of the present æsthetic system, thetransportation of all æsthetic values, and the deification of ugliness. 

The whole propaganda of the movement was said to be organized by "acoterie of European art-dealers"--elsewhere described as German--who hadflooded the market with the works of artists who began as "a small groupof neurotic egomaniacs in Paris styling themselves worshippers of Satan, the God of Ugliness. " Some of these men were suffering from the "visualderangement" of the insane, whilst "many of the pictures exhibitedanother form of mania. The system of this is an incontrollable desire tomutilate the human body. " Sadism, as we know, played a prominent part inboth the French and Russian revolutions. The most important point inall this is not that degenerates should be found to perpetrate theseabominations, but what the circular describes as the "Machiavelliancampaign organized for the unloading of these works. Editions de luxe... Were published and sold by the picture dealers; ... Every craftydevice known to the picture trade was resorted to in order to discreditand destroy the heretofore universally accepted standards ofaesthetics. "[756]

This process of reversing all accepted standards may also be broughtabout by subtler methods. We have already seen that occult practices maylead to the obliteration of all sense of truth and of normal sexualinstincts. Under the influence of so-called occult science, which is, inreality, simply powerful suggestion or self-hypnotism, all a man'snatural impulses and inhibitive springs of action may be broken; he willno longer react to the conceptions of beauty or ugliness, or right orwrong, which, unknown to himself, formed the law of his being. Thus notonly his conscious deeds but his subconscious mental processes may passunder the control of another, or become entirely deranged. 

Much the same consequences may result from the Freud system ofPsycho-Analysis, which, particularly by its insistence on sex, tends tosubordinate the will to impulses of a harmful kind. An eminent Americanneuro-psychiatrist of New York has expressed his opinion on this subjectin the following words:

The Freud theory is anti-Christian and subversive of organized society. Christianity teaches that the individual can resist temptation andFreudism teaches that the matter of yielding to or resisting temptationis one for which the individual is not wilfully responsible. Freudismmakes of the individual a machine, absolutely controlled by subconsciousreflexes.... It would of course be difficult to prove thatpsycho-analysis has been evolved as a destructive propaganda measure, but in one sense the point is immaterial. Whether conscious orunconscious, it makes for destructive effect. [757]

In general, the art of the conspiracy is not so much to create movementsas to capture existing movements, often innocuous and even admirable inthemselves, and turn them to a subversive purpose. Thus birth control, which--if combined with the restriction of alien immigration and carriedout under proper direction--would provide a solution to the frightfulproblem of over-population, can without these provisos become a sourceof national weakness and demoralization. It is easy to see how alimitation of the native population would serve the cause of England'senemies by reducing her fighting forces and by making room forundesirable aliens. That the birth-control campaign may also be used forevil purposes is suggested by the fact that it has not been confined toour own overcrowded island, but has been carried on in France, whereunder-population has long constituted a tragedy. In 1903 and 1904 the"Ligue de la Régéneration Humaine, " founded by Monsieur Paul Robin, inits organ _L'Émancipateur_ issued not only instructions on "the meanshow to avoid large families, " but also pamphlets on "free love and freematernity. "[758] The campaign of race-suicide was thus combined withthe undermining of morality; legal families were to be limited andillegal births encouraged. This was quite in accord with the doctrinesof the Grand Orient, in whose Temples, Monsieur Copin Albancelli pointsout, the principle of "la libre maternité"--known in this country as"the right to motherhood"--was advocated. 

It is curious to notice that the apparently innocent invention ofEsperanto receives support from the same quarter. This is not surprisingsince we know that the idea of a universal language has long haunted theminds of Freemasons. I have myself seen a document emanating from a bodyof French Masons stating that Esperanto is directly under the control ofthe three masonic powers of France--the Grand Orient, the Grande LogeNationale, and the Droit Humain. 

That it is largely used for promoting Bolshevism has been frequentlystated. In July 1922, M. Bérard, Minister of Education, issued acircular "to the heads of all French Universities, academies, andcolleges, calling on them not to help in any way in the teaching ofEsperanto on the ground that Bolsheviks use it as one of their dangerousforms of propaganda. "[759] A correspondent points out to me thatanother universal language, Ido, is used for propaganda by theAnarchists, and that several journals distributed by revolutionarysocieties, written in Ido, are "frankly and baldly Anarchical. " Thewriter adds:

Last week I received a copy of _Libereso_ (Liberty), monthly organ ofthe Anarchist Section of the "Emancipating Star"--"Cosmopolitan Union ofLabour-class Idists. " It commands carrying out Anarchistic principlesto their extreme limits; commends "La Ruzo" (ruse); is sarcasticregarding Socialism and Democracy.... It contains an appeal for help (inmoney) for the Anarchists imprisoned in Russia ... Written by AlexanderBerkmann and signed by him with Emma Goldmann and A. Schapiro. 

Here, then, we have a revolutionary movement which is anti-Socialist andeven anti-Bolshevist, which tends to prove the opinion I have alreadyexpressed, that Bolshevism is only one phase of the world-conspiracy. But if we explain this by the old antagonism between the opposingrevolutionary camps of Anarchy and Socialism, how are we to account forthe fact that the same destructive purpose animates people who areneither Anarchist nor Socialist, but can only be ranged in the categoryof extreme reaction? Of this phase of the movement Nietzsche providesthe supreme example. In his imprecations against "the Crucified, " theadvocate of autocracy and militarism rivals the most infuriated ofrevolutionary Socialists. The whole spirit of perversion is contained inthe description of Nietzsche by his friend Georges Brandes: "Histhoughts stole inquisitively along forbidden paths: 'This thing passesfor a value. Can we not turn it upside-down? This is regarded as good. Is it not rather evil?'" What is this but Satanism? The case ofNietzsche is not to be explained away by the fact that he died ravingmad, since a number of apparently sane people still profess for himunbounded admiration, and whilst deriding Socialism and even attackingBolshevism join in the war against Christian civilization. Theconspiracy therefore exists apart from so-called democratic circles. 

Not long ago I picked up an Italian novel by an anti-Socialistcontaining precisely the same diatribes against "Christian-bourgeoissociety" that are to be found in Anarchist and Bolshevist literature. "The family, " says the author, "is the kernel of contemporary societyand its base. Whoever would really reform or subvert must begin byreforming and subverting the family.... The family ... Is the principalpath of all unhappiness, of all vice, of all hypocrisy, of all moralugliness, ... " and he goes on to show that the two countries which haveproved themselves the sanest and the strongest are Germany and America, because they have advanced by long strides towards free love. [760]

The writer of these words may be of no importance, but they should benoted because they are symptomatic and help us to locate certain centresof infection. 

It is impossible to observe all these miscellaneous movements going onall around us without being struck by the similarity of aim betweenthem; each seems to form part of a common plan, which, like the separatepieces of a jig-saw puzzle, convey no meaning, but when fitted togethermake up a perfectly clear design. That there is somewhere in thebackground a point of contact is suggested by the fact that we findmembers of the different groups playing a double and a treble rôle, thesame name occurring in the list of patrons in a Birth Control paper andin a revolutionary secret society, amongst the exponents ofPsycho-Analysis and the members of an Irish Republican Committee. 

With the open as with the secret forces the great method of warfare isthe capture of public opinion. A hidden influence behind the presscontributes powerfully to this end. Some of the subtlest disintegratingpropaganda during the last seven years has emanated from the so-called"Capitalist press. " The _Daily Herald_ is only the brass band of theRevolution. It is to the journals inspired and patronized by theIntelligentsia that we must turn to find the doctrines of Illuminism setforth with the most persuasive eloquence. [761]

More than eighty years ago a Frenchman endowed with extraordinaryprophetic instinct foretold not only the danger that would one day comefrom Russia, but that the press would facilitate the destruction ofcivilization:

 When our cosmopolitan democracy, bearing its last fruits, shall have made of war a thing odious to whole populations, when the nations calling themselves the most civilized on earth shall have finished enervating themselves in their political debaucheries, ... The floodgates of the North will open on us once again, then we shall undergo a last invasion not of ignorant barbarians but of cunning and enlightened masters, more enlightened than ourselves, for they will have learnt from our own excesses how we can and must be governed. 

 It is not for nothing that Providence piles up so many inactive forces in the East of Europe. One day the sleeping giant will arise and force will put an end to the reign of words. In vain, then, distracted equality will call the old aristocracy to the help of liberty; the weapon grasped again too late and wielded by hands too long inactive will have become powerless. Society will perish for having trusted to words void of sense or contradictory; then the deceitful echoes of public opinion, the newspapers, wishing at all costs to keep their readers, will push [the world] to ruin if only to have something to relate for a month longer. They will kill society to live upon its corpse. [762]

To-day the newspapers, no longer the echoes of public opinion but itssupreme directors, throw open their columns to every form ofdisintegrating doctrine and close them to arguments that couldeffectually arrest the forces of destruction. 

What is the hidden influence behind the press, behind all the subversivemovements going on around us? Are there several Powers at work? Or isthere one Power, one invisible group directing all the rest--the circleof the _real Initiates_?

14

PAN-GERMANISM

We have seen in the course of this book that the idea of a secret powerworking for world-revolution through both open movements and secretsocieties, is not a new one, but dates from the eighteenth century. Inorder to appreciate the continuity of this idea, let us recapitulate thetestimonies of contemporaries, some of which have been already quoted intheir context, but which when collected together and placed inchronological order make up a very remarkable chain of evidence. 

In 1789 the Marquis de Luchet warned France of the danger of theIlluminati, whose object was world-domination. [763] In consequence ofthis "gigantic project" de Luchet foresees "a series of calamities ofwhich the end is lost in the darkness of time, like unto thosesubterranean fires of which the insatiable activity devours the bowelsof the earth and which escape into the air by violent and devastatingexplosions. "[764]

In 1794 the Duke of Brunswick in his manifesto to the German lodgessaid:

 A great sect arose, which, taking for its motto "the good and happiness of man, " worked in the darkness of the conspiracy to make the happiness of humanity a prey for itself. This sect is known to everyone: its brothers are known no less than its name.... The plan they had formed for breaking all social ties and of destroying all order was revealed in their speeches and acts.... Indomitable pride, thirst of power, such were the only motives of this sect: their masters had nothing less in view than the thrones of the earth, and the government of the nations was to be directed by their nocturnal clubs. [765]

In 1797 Montjoie, writing of the Orléaniste conspiracy, to which in anearlier work he had attributed the whole organization of the FrenchRevolution in its first stages, observed:

 I will not examine whether this wicked prince, thinking he was acting in his personal interests, was not moved by that _invisible hand_[766] which seems to have created all the events of our revolution in order to lead us towards a goal that we do not see at present, but which I think we shall see before long. [767]

In 1801 Monsignor de Savine "made allusions in prudent and almostterrified terms to some international sect ... A power superior to allothers ... Which has arms and eyes everywhere and which governs Europeto-day. "[768]

In 1817 the Chevalier de Malet declared that "the authors of theRevolution are not more French than German, Italian, English, etc. Theyform a particular nation which took birth and has increased in the darkamidst all civilized nations with the object of subjecting them all toits domination. "[769]

In 1835 the Carbonaro, Malegari, wrote to another member of theCarbonari:

 We form an association of brothers in all points of the globe, we have desires and interests in common, we aim at the emancipation of humanity, we wish to break every kind of yoke, yet there is one that is unseen, that can hardly be felt, yet that weighs on us. Whence comes it? Where is it? No one knows, or at least no one tells. The association is secret, even for us, the veterans of secret societies. [770]

In 1852 Disraeli wrote:

 It was neither parliaments nor populations, nor the course of nature, nor the course of events, that overthrew the throne of Louis Philippe ... The throne was surprised by the Secret Societies, ever prepared to ravage Europe.... Acting in unison with a great popular movement they may destroy society, as they did at the end of the last century. [771]

In 1874 Père Deschamps, after his exhaustive study of secret societies, thus propounded the question:

 We have now to ask ourselves whether there is anything but an identity of doctrines and personal communications between the members of the different sects, whether there is really a unity of direction which binds together all the secret societies, including Free Masonry. Here we touch on the most mysterious point of the action of secret societies, on that which these national Grand Orients who declare themselves independent of each other and sometimes even excommunicate each other conceal most carefully beneath a veil. [772]

Finally Deschamps is led to the conclusion that there is "a secretcouncil which directs all masonic societies, "[773] that there aresecret lairs where the chiefs of the sects agree together on their workof destruction. [774]

It would be easy to multiply quotations of this kind taken from manydifferent sources. Whether the men who expressed these opinions were, aswe are frequently told, suffering from delusions or not, the factremains that the idea of a hidden hand behind world-revolution hasexisted for at least 135 years. And when we compare these utteranceswith Monsieur Copin Albancelli's description of an inner circle secretlydirecting the activities of the Grand Orient, and with the conclusionsreached by members of other secret societies, that such a circle existsbehind all occult and masonic societies of a subversive kind, we arenecessarily led to enquire: is there one circle or rather one Powerbehind both open and secret organizations working for the overthrow ofthe existing social order and Christian civilization? If so, what isthis power?

Now, to leave speculation for the moment and come to known facts, everyone who has seriously studied these matters is aware that there areat the present moment five principal organized movements at work in theworld with which ordered government has to contend, that may besummarized as follows:

 1. Grand Orient Freemasonry. 2. Theosophy with its innumerable ramifications. 3. Nationalism of an aggressive kind, now represented by Pan-Germanism. 4. International Finance. 5. Social Revolution. 

It will be seen that, with the exception of the fourth, these movementsare those of which I have endeavoured to trace the course throughout theearlier part of this book. It is a highly significant fact that it wasonly when I had reached this stage of my work I discovered there wereindependent investigators who had arrived at precisely the sameconclusions as myself. 

The problem that now confronts us is therefore this: if there is indeedone power directing all subversive movements, is it one of the fivemovements here enumerated or is it yet another power more potent andmore invisible? In order to discover this, it is necessary to considerwhether these movements, although apparently divergent in their ultimatepurpose, have nevertheless any ideas or any aims in common. Onefundamental point of similarity will certainly be found between them. All desire to dominate the world and to direct it along lines andaccording to rules of their own devising; more than this, each desiresto direct it solely for the benefit of one class of people--social, intellectual, or national as the case may be--to the entire exclusion ofevery human being outside that class. Thus in reality each aspires tothe dictatorship of the world. 

Besides this, it will be noticed that not only these principalmovements, but also the minor subversive movements described in the lastchapter, have in the main (1) a pro-German tendency--none, at any rate, are pro-French nor do they encourage British patriotism, (2) all containa Jewish element--none, at least, are "anti-Semite, " and (3) all have amore or less decided antagonism to Christianity. If then, there is asingle power behind them, is it the Pan-Germanic Power? Is it the JewishPower? Or is it the Anti-Christian Power? Let us examine each of thesepossibilities in turn. 

Viewed under the aspect of exaggerated Nationalism, the spirit ofPan-Germanism is nothing new. The dream of world-domination has hauntedthe imagination of many races from the time of Alexander the Great toNapoleon I, but nowhere has the plan been carried out by theMachiavellian methods which have characterized Prussian foreign policyand diplomacy from the days of Frederick the Great onwards. It is notPrussian militarism that constitutes the crime of modern Germany. Militarism in the sense of courage, patriotism, discipline, and devotionto duty is a splendid thing. But the spirit of Pan-Germanism differsfrom the British conception of patriotism in that it overrides therights of all other peoples and seeks to establish its domination overthe whole world. Under German domination every German would be free andevery other human being a slave. England, whilst seeking conquests, has, on the other hand, always allowed the inhabitants of conqueredterritories to develop along their own lines and has made use oflegislation largely to protect them from each other. The preference ofthe native of India for an English judge to one of his own race isevidence of this fact. But it is further the abandonment of allprinciple, the acceptance of the doctrine that everything isallowable--lying, treachery, calumny, and bad faith--in order to achieveits end, that has placed Germany outside the comity of nations. Robisondescribes the system of the Illuminati as leading to the conclusion that"nothing would be scrupled at, if it could be made appear that the Orderwould derive advantage from it, because the great object of the Orderwas held as superior to every consideration. "[775] Change the wordOrder to State, and one has the whole principle of modern GermanImperialism. 

Now, it is interesting to notice that the founders of German Illuminismand of German Imperialism drew certain of their ideas from the samesource. Both Weishaupt and Frederick the Great were earnest students ofMachiavelli--and both out-did their master. This form of Machiavellism, carried to a point probably never dreamt of by the Italian philosopher, has run through the whole struggle of Prussia for supremacy and at thesame time through each outbreak of world revolution in which Prussianinfluence has played a part. Thus the Ems telegram in 1870, the falsereport that tricked Russia into mobilization in 1914, [776] the violationof treaties and of all the laws of civilised warfare during the recentwar, were the direct outcome of doctrines that may be found in embryo in_The Prince_. So also the most striking characteristic of the FrenchRevolution under the inspiration of Weishaupt's emissaries and theagents of Prussia, and of the present revolutionary movement inauguratedby Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is not so much its violence as itsMachiavellian cunning. The art popularly known to-day as_camouflage_--of dressing-up one design under the guise of somethingquite different, of making black appear white by glorifying the mostignoble actions, of making white appear black by holding up allhonourable traditions to contempt and ridicule, in a word_perversion_--has been reduced to a system by the secret directors ofworld revolution. It is here that we can detect the non-proletariancharacter of the movement. The working-man of all countries is the leastMachiavellian of beings; his weakness lies in the fact that he is tooinarticulate, that he does not know how to put his case even when he hasa good one, still less to make a bad one appear plausible. It was notuntil world revolution was taken over by the faction described byBakunin as "the German-Jew Company" that it reassumed its Machiavelliancharacter and gradually became the formidable organization it is to-day. 

A few extracts from _The Prince_ will show how closely both thePrussians and the Terrorists of France and Russia have followedMachiavelli's manual for despots:

"He who usurps the government of any State is to execute and put inpractice all the cruelties which he thinks material at once, that he mayhave no occasion to renew them often, " etc. [777] (Vide the Germanprinciple of "frightfulness" to be exercised against the inhabitants ofinvaded territory and the plan of the French and Russian Terrorists insuppressing "counter-revolutionaries. ")

"It is of such importance to a prince to take upon him the nature anddisposition of a beast; of all the whole flock he ought to imitate thelion and the fox. "[778](Vide Frederick the Great and the demagogues ofFrance and Russia. )

"A prince ... Who is wise and prudent, cannot or ought not to keep hisparole, when the keeping of it is to his prejudice, and the causes forwhich he promised removed. "[779] (Vide Germany's doctrine of the scrapof paper and the promises of the Bolshevist Trade Delegation in Londonto refrain from propaganda. )

"Because the whole multitude which submits to your government is notcapable of being armed, if you be beneficial and obliging to those youdo arm, you may make the bolder with the rest, for the difference ofyour behaviour to the soldier binds him more firmly to your service, "etc. [780](Vide the insolent behaviour permitted to officers of theGerman Imperial Army and the feeding of the Red Army in Russia at theexpense of the rest of the population. )

"The prince ... Is obliged ... At convenient times in the year toentertain the people by feastings and plays and spectacles of recreation... And give them some instance of his humanity and magnificence. "[781](Vide the important part played by "spectacles" in the French Revolutionand by the theatre and opera in Soviet Russia. Always the same plan of"_panem ei circenses_!")

Just after the fall of Napoleon I a French writer published a bookdescribing the "methodic perversity" of the revolutionary leaders andthe Revolution as the beginning of a Machiavellian régime. [782] How didthis system come to be established in France unless under the guidanceof Weishaupt's emissaries and the agents of Frederick the Great and ofthe Illuminatus Frederick William II?

Germany was well able, however, to defend herself against thedevastating doctrines of Illuminism. Always the home of secretsocieties, she became by the end of the nineteenth century the spiritualhome of Socialism. Yet although this might appear to present a danger toGerman Imperialism, no country has remained so free as Germany fromserious agitation. It has been well said that the Germans aretheoretically more Socialistic than other nations, but they are far lessrevolutionary. 

The truth is that the rulers of Germany have always known that theycould count not merely on the servility of the people but on theirardent national spirit. A strong vein of patriotism ran through all thesecret societies even of the most subversive variety, and it was theGerman Student Orders, whence the Illuminati drew their disciples, thatbecame also the recruiting-ground for the German Imperialist idea. Instead of combating subversive forces, German Imperialism adopted thefar more skilful expedient of enlisting them in its service. 

It was thus that in Germany Freemasonry became a powerful aid toPrussian aggrandizement. From 1840 onwards the word of command to allthe lodges went out from Berlin, [783] and in the revolution of 1848 theFreemasons of Germany showed themselves the most ardent supporters ofGerman unity under the ægis of Prussia. Later, Bismarck with superbingenuity enlisted not only Freemasons and members of secret societiesbut Socialists and democrats in the same cause. Lassalle and Marxcontributed powerfully to the cause of pan-Germanism. Dammer, whosucceeded Lassalle as head of the Socialist party, instructed hissuccessor Fritsche that "in the meetings which took place in Saxony, whilst putting forward Socialist claims, they must not fail to demandthe unity of Germany under the domination of Prussia. Fritsche waspersonally to render an account to Bismarck of the results obtained atthese meetings. "[784]

Even as far afield as Italy, Bismarck succeeded in imposing the policyof German autocracy on men who were ostensibly marching in the vanguardof "liberty. " "I believe in the unity of Germany, " Mazzini wrote toBismarck in 1867, "and I desire it as I desire that of my own country. Iabhor the empire and supremacy that France arrogates to herself overEurope. "[785]

Before 1870 Freemasonry everywhere on the Continent helped the cause ofGermany. "The Occult Power preached pacifism and humanitarianism inFrance by means of French Freemasonry whilst it preached patriotism inGermany by means of German Freemasonry. "[786] So although throughoutthe nineteenth century the rulers of Germany permitted the disseminationof ideas antagonistic to religion, until by the dawn of the followingcentury the very idea of God was rooted out of the minds of many Germanchildren, the Imperial Government was careful that nothing should beallowed to weaken patriotism. Indeed, the Pan-German obsession intowhich German patriotism became transformed under the influence of suchmen as Treitschke and Bernhardi was, no less than revolutionarySocialism, fortified by irreligion because founded on the law of forceand the absence of all moral scruple. It is thus not "militarism" in theaccepted sense that has rendered Germany a menace to the world, but theMachiavellian plan of using for export doctrines sternly repressedwithin her own borders. 

I shall not enlarge here on the crime of the German Imperial Staff insending Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks to Russia, because I havealready dealt at length with this question in a controversy thatappeared in the _Morning Post_ two years ago. [787] But whilstacknowledging the fair and courteous line of argument adopted by myGerman opponent, with which on certain points I found myself completelyin agreement. I was obliged to recognize that the bar to any realunderstanding between us lay in the impossibility of persuading him torecognize the principle that all means are not justifiable in order toobtain one's ends. This is how he expresses himself on the subject:

If Mrs. Webster ... Reproaches Germany for having employed seditiouspropaganda in the countries of the Allies, it may simply be brought tomind that all is fair in love and war. In a war, in a fight concerninglife and death, one does not look at the weapons which one takes, nor atthe values which are destroyed by using the arms. The only adviser [sic]is, first of all, the success of the fight, the salvation of one'sindependence. [788]

Until Germany abandons this Machiavellian doctrine it will be impossibleto treat her as a civilized Power. 

But Herr Kerlen accuses England of pursuing the same Machiavellianpolicy of encouraging sedition abroad. Undoubtedly England did propagatePacifism in Germany and other enemy countries and hoped to bring about apolitical revolution, that is to say, a rising of the German peopleagainst the rulers who had led them into war. (It should be rememberedthat all the friends of Germany in this country always declared that theGerman people did not want the war and were dragged into it unwillinglyby the military caste. ) But is there any evidence to show that Englandever attempted to engineer a social revolution, to undermine moralityand all belief in ordered government, in a word to promote Bolshevism inGermany or elsewhere? Herr Kerlen cites the sympathy accorded in thiscountry to the Kerensky revolution. But England, largely through theinfluence of the Liberals, had always entertained an exaggerated idea of"Tzarist tyranny, " and honestly sympathized with all efforts, howevermisguided, to "liberate" the Russian people. Further, throughout the warthe Tzar and Tzarina had been ceaselessly represented as faithless tothe Allies--a story that we now know to have been an infamous calumnycirculated doubtless by enemy agents. This idea even obtained credencein Conservative circles, misled by false information on the situation inRussia. One must have lived through the spring of 1917 in London torealize how completely not only the public but the authorities weredeluded. What else could be expected when the opinion of Socialists wasaccepted on the matter? I know from personal experience that two of themost important Government departments were completely mistaken even onthe subject of Bolshevism, with the result that measures were not takenwhich might have checked its spread into this country. 

In a word, then, the essential difference between the attitude ofGermany and England to Russia was that whilst England imagined that theKerensky revolution would be for the good of Russia as well as for theadvantage of the Allies, Germany deliberately introduced into Russiawhat she knew to be a poison. 

Always faithful to the maxim of _divide et impera_, Germany, afterbringing Russia to ruin, has at last succeeded in causing dissensionsbetween the Allies. This policy she pursued unremittingly throughout thewar. Thus whilst on one hand she was assuring the French that "theEnglish would fight to the last breath of the last Frenchman, " GeneralLudendorff was instructing the Imperial Chancellor that: "We must againand again rub in the sentence in Kuhlmann's speech to the effect thatthe question of Alsace-Lorraine is the only one which stands in the wayof peace. And we must lay special emphasis on the fact that the Englishpeople are shedding their blood for an Imperialistic war-aim. "[789]

So skilfully was this propaganda carried on after the war had ended thatwhilst English officers returning to England from the occupied areaswere declaring that the friendliness of the Germans convinced them thatGermany was really our friend and that we should have an "entente" withher rather than with France, French officers returning to France saidthat the Germans had assured them that they were their best friends, that England was the real enemy, and that it would be better to breakthe Entente and form an alliance with Germany. At the same time no lessthan three lines of propaganda concerning the causes of the war weregoing out from Germany, one laying all the blame on the English, one onthe French, and one on the Jews, and pamphlets embodying theseconflicting theories were despatched broadcast to likely subjects in thecountries of the Allies. [790]

The greatest triumph for Imperial Germany lay in her success inenlisting the very elements amongst the Allies which might most beexpected to oppose her. Although there was no country in the world wheremonarchy was so adored, militarism so universally admired, where rankand birth played so important a part, and the working classes, thoughcared for, so rigidly kept in subjection, Germany from the time ofBismarck onwards has always been the "spiritual home" of BritishSocialists, democrats, and pacifists, just as in France she has alwaysfound her principal allies in the masonic lodges. And this although theGerman Socialists and Freemasons have never attempted to use theirinfluence in favour of the masonic and Socialist ideal of universalbrotherhood and world-peace, but, on the contrary, at every crisis havethrown in their lot with the military party. Thus before theFranco-Prussian War, whilst French Freemasons of the Loge Concordia andthe Socialists of the First Internationale were urging their brothers torely on German Socialism to avert a conflict, the Prussian lodges wereshouting Hoch! to the national colours and chanting the praises of KingWilliam and "the Prussian sword, " and the German Social Democrats wereapplauding the cause of German unity. [791]

Exactly the same thing happened before the recent war, when Jaurèsassured his fellow-Socialists that at the first sign of conflict he hadonly to communicate with Berlin in order to enlist German Socialism inthe interests of peace; yet on the declaration of war the GermanSocialists voted solidly for war credits, whilst the British Socialistsopposed participation in the war and even in some instances expressedsympathy with Germany. And let it never be forgotten, it was notSocialist Germany but Imperial Germany that won the allegiance of ourso-called democrats. 

In spite of this betrayal by the Socialists of Germany, in spite of thefact that they have contributed nothing to the cause of InternationalSocialism or of world-peace, the British "Labour" Party never until itsaccession to office wavered in its policy of publicly advocating thecause of Germany. With the exception of the Social DemocraticFederation, every Socialist body in this country has proclaimedpro-German sentiments, and _Justice_ alone, of all Socialist organs, hasexpressed its sympathy for the sufferings of France. In fact, anySocialist who dared to champion the cause of France immediately lost hisinfluence and position in Socialist circles. As to the _Daily Herald_, had it been edited in Berlin it could not more faithfully have supportedGerman interests. When Alsace Lorraine was restored to France, itpublished an article showing how deeply the inhabitants of this provinceresented being transferred from the German Empire to the FrenchRepublic[792]; when a general strike threatened this country, it seizedthe opportunity to come out with an appeal in enormous capitals torevise the Versailles Treaty; in the matter of reparations its effortsto let Germany off altogether have been, as it itself observed, "unceasing. " "The plain fact is, " it declared on December 17, 1921, "that these fantastic reparation demands cannot be met; and that everypayment by which Germany attempts to meet them will only work furtherhavoc to our own commerce and our own industry. We have urged thatceaselessly for three years. To-day even the Premier begins to see thatwe were right, that the interests of this country demand the scrappingof _the whole bad business of 'making Germany pay_. '"[793]

Indeed, when the interests of Germany were concerned, this paper, whichLenin has described as "our own organ, " but which might still more trulybe claimed by Ludendorff and Stinnes, was quite ready to throw Socialismto the winds and plead the cause of capital. At the very moment that itwas advocating the Labour policy of a capital levy on all fortunesexceeding £5, 000 in this country, the _Daily Herald_ waxed almosttearful over the iniquity of France in attempting to touch the pocketsof German multi-millionaires whose profits, it went on to explainelaborately, were not nearly as huge as might appear in view of thedecline in the purchasing power of the mark. The decline in thepurchasing power of the pound had, however, never been taken intoaccount when assessing the profits of British employers of labour. [794]

We have only to follow point by point the policy of the British LabourParty since the war to recognize that whilst the measures it advocatedmight be of doubtful benefit to the workers, there could be no doubtwhatever of the benefit they would confer on Germany. With a million anda quarter unemployed and large numbers of the working classes unable tofind homes, the professed representatives of Labour have persistentlyclamoured for the removal of restrictions on alien immigration and alienimports. So although through the Trade Unions the British worker was tobe rigorously protected against competition from his fellow-Briton, noobstacles were to be placed in the way of competition by foreign, andfrequently underpaid, labour. That this glaring betrayal of theirinterests should not have raised a storm of resentment amongst theworking classes is surely evidence that the Marxian doctrine "theemancipation of the working classes must be brought about by the workingclasses themselves"[795] has so far led to no great results. Emersontruly observed: "So far as a man thinks, he is free. " The workingclasses can never be free until they learn to think for themselvesinstead of allowing their thinking to be done for them by themiddle-class exploiters of Labour. 

The hand of Germany behind Socialism must be apparent to all those whodo not deliberately shut their eyes to the fact, and it is significantto notice that the nearer Socialism approaches to Bolshevism the moremarked this influence becomes. Thus although certain Socialist groups, such as the Social Democratic Federation in England and the SocialistParty in France, have not become Germanized, the avowed Communists inall the Allied countries are strongly pro-German. This is the case evenin France, where the Bolsheviks find fervent supporters in the group ledby Marcel Cachin, Froissart, and Longuet, grandson of Karl Marx. 

The organization of the Bolshevist movement has indeed throughout owed agreat deal of its efficiency to German co-operation, provided not only bythe Socialist but by the Monarchist elements in Germany. It is necessaryin this connexion to understand the dual character of the GermanMonarchist party since the ending of the war. The great majority of itsadherents, animated by nothing more reprehensible than the spirit ofmilitarism and an aggressive form of patriotism that clings to the oldformula of _Deutschland über alles_, are probably strangers to anyintrigues, but behind this mass of honest Imperialists, and doubtlessunknown to a great number, there lurk those sinister organizations thePan-German secret societies. 

Many of these, as for example the _Ostmarkenverein_, ostensiblyinstituted for the defence of German interests on the Russian frontier, existed before the war; indeed, there is little doubt that they havecontinued without a break since the days of the Tugendbund and havealways preserved their masonic and "illuminized" character. But sincethe beginning of the Great War, and still more since the Armistice, their numbers have increased until in 1921 they were estimated to runinto three figures. Moreover, as in the time of Weishaupt, Bavaria isstill a centre for secret-society intrigue, and it was here thatEscherich founded the _Einwohnerwehr_ sometimes known as the _Orgesch_or Organization Escherich, with Munich as its headquarters. The Orgeschwas followed by the formidable murder club known to all the world as theOrganization C or "Consul, " named after its founder, the famous CaptainEhrhardt, whose nickname was "_der Herr Consul_. " During the year 1921no less than 400 political assassinations were reported in Germany andsaid to be the work of secret societies. Amongst the crimes attributedto the initiative of Organization C were the murders of Herr Erzbergerand the attempt on the life of Herr Scheidemann. Eighty persons arrestedfor complicity in the murder of Herr Rathenau were also said to bemembers of the same society. [796]

But as in the case of all secret societies, the visible leaders were notthe real hierarchy; behind this active body there existed an innercircle organised on masonic lines, the Druidenorden, a name unknown tothe public, and behind this again another and still more secret circlewhich appears to be nameless. It is these inner rings which, whilstremaining Monarchist in Germany, work for other ends abroad, and areconnected with the world-revolutionary movement. 

This alliance between the two extremes of ardent Monarchism andrevolutionary Socialism existed at the beginning of the war or evenearlier, and, as is now well known, it was the Jewish Social Democrat, Israel Lazarewitch, alias Helphandt alias Parvus, who arranged with theGerman General Staff for the passage of Lenin from Switzerland toRussia, accompanied by Karl Radek, the Austrian Jew deserter, and anumber of other Jews. 

Now, Switzerland has been for hundreds of years a centre ofrevolutionary and secret-society intrigue. As early as the sixteenthcentury the Pope, writing to the Kings of France and Spain, warned themthat Geneva was "un foyer éternel de révolution, " and Joseph de Maistre, quoting this letter in 1817, declared Geneva to be the metropolis of therevolutionaries, whose art of deception he describes as "the greatEuropean secret. "[797] Elsewhere, a year earlier, he had referred toIlluminism as the root of all the evil at work. It is now known that atthe moment de Maistre wrote these words an inner ring ofrevolutionaries, claiming direct descent from Weishaupt and even from anearlier sect existing at the end of the fifteenth century, profited bythe fall of Napoleon I to reconstruct its organization and took up itsheadquarters in Switzerland with branch offices in London and Paris. Thesame secret ring of Illuminati is believed to have been intimatelyconnected with the organization of the Bolshevist revolution, althoughnone of the leading Bolsheviks are said to have been members of theinnermost circle, which is understood to consist of men belonging to thehighest intellectual and financial classes whose names remainedabsolutely unknown. Outside this absolutely secret ring there existed, however, a semi-secret circle of high initiates of subversive societiesdrawn from all over the world and belonging to variousnationalities--German, Jewish, French, Russian, and even Japanese. Thisgroup, which might be described as the active ring of the inner circle, appears to have been in touch with, if not in control of, a committeewhich met in Switzerland to carry out the programme of the ThirdInternationale. 

It was thus in Switzerland that at the same time high initiates ofPan-German secret societies foregathered and that an active centre ofpro-German, anti-Entente, and even Bolshevist propaganda wasestablished. These Germans, although Monarchists themselves, co-operatedwith the secret revolutionary forces in stirring up trouble in thecountries of the Allies. At the same time the conferences of the SecondInternationale, attended by members of the British I. L. P. Took place inSwitzerland, and at one of these--the Berne Conference of 1919--thedelegates were entertained by a mysterious "American" millionaire, Johnde Kay, living himself in great style, paying for press service at therate of 2, 000 francs a day, lavishing money on the conference, and atthe same time subsidizing a Pacifist and Defeatest paper named _LaFeuille_. 

It is impossible, then, to ignore the role of Germany in the presentoutbreak of world revolution. In the British White Paper on Bolshevismin Russia we find it stated by an Englishman who had been through thewhole of the Revolution in that country that:

 The Germans initiated disturbances in order to reduce Russia to chaos. They printed masses of paper money to finance their schemes; the notes, of which I possess specimens, can be easily recognized by a special mark. [798]

What has Germany to say to all this? Simply that the promotion ofBolshevism was a military "necessity" in order to bring about thedownfall of her opponents, but that the propaganda utilized by her wasin reality of Jewish origin, and that Jewry, not Germany, was the realauthor of world revolution. 

It is easy to see how such a theory can be made to serve the cause ofPan-Germanism. For if Germany can persuade us that the Jews alone wereresponsible for the war and were also the sole authors of Bolshevism, weshall naturally be led to the conclusion that Germany is, after all, innocent of the crimes attributed to her, and that our only safety liesin forgoing reparations, restoring her to her former power, andcoalescing with her against a common enemy. We shall therefore do wellto accept with extreme caution advice on the Jewish question emanatingfrom German sources, and to test the sincerity of the spirit in which itis offered by considering the relations which have hitherto existedbetween the Germans and the Jews. 

Now, Germany has long been the home of modern "anti-Semitism. " Althoughin every country and at every period, but more particularly in the Eastof Europe during the last century, the Jews have suffered fromunpopularity, it was Germany that organized this aversion into adefinite plan of campaign. If in Russia, Galicia, and Poland the Jewshave met with sporadic violence at the hands of the peasants, in Germanythey have been systematically held up by the authorities to hatred andcontempt. Luther, Kant, Fichte, Schopenhauer, Treitschke, successivelyinveighed against the Jewish race. Jews were denied admission to masoniclodges and to the rank of officers in the army, whilst society excludedthem up to the outbreak of war. 

Yet the extraordinary fact remains that of all nations the Germans havealways been the favourites of the Jews. Throughout the whole movementfor the unification of Germany under the ægis of Prussia, Jews played aleading part, and in the recent war Germany found in them some of hermost valuable allies. As Maximilian Harden recently pointed out: "Theservices of the Jews to Germany during the war were enormous. Thepatriotism of the Jews was beyond reproach, in many cases even ludicrousand offensive in its intensity. " And in spite of "anti-Semitism, " Hardendeclares: "There is a strong affinity between the German and the Jew. "[799]To the Ashkenazim Germany even more than Palestine has appearedthe Land of Promise. Thus some years before the war Professor LudwigGeiger, leader of the Liberal Jews of Berlin, denounced "Zionistsophisms" in the words: "The German Jew who has a voice in Germanliterature must, as he has been accustomed to for the last century and ahalf, look upon Germany alone as his fatherland, upon the Germanlanguage as his mother-tongue, and the future of that nation must remainthe only one upon which he bases his hopes. "[800]

How are we to explain this unrequited devotion? Simply by the Germanpolicy of enlisting every dynamic force in her service. She has knownhow to use the Jews just as she has known how to use the Freemasons, theIlluminati, and the Socialists for the purpose of Pan-Germanism. FromFrederick the Great, who employed the Jew Ephraim to coin false money, to William II, who kept in touch with Rathenau by means of a privatetelephone wire, the rulers of Germany have always allowed them toco-operate in their schemes of world-domination. As the allies ofBismarck, who used them freely to fill his war-chests, the Jews directedthe power of the secret societies in the interests of Germany; in 1871the Jew Bloechreider acted as adviser to the new German Empire as to thebest method of wresting indemnities from France. And Germany, whilstheaping insults on the Jews, nevertheless fulfils certain conditionsessential to Jewish enterprise. Unlike England and France, she has neverallowed herself to be seriously weakened by democratic ideas, andtherefore to the Jews--as to British believers in autocracy--sherepresents the principle of stability. 

Moreover, Germany as the home of militarism offers a wide field forJewish speculation. We have only to couple together an aphorism ofMirabeau's with one of Werner Sombart's to perceive the bond of unionbetween the two races, thus: "War is the national industry of Prussia"and "Wars are the Jews' harvests. " As long ago as 1793 AnacharsisClootz, the apostle of universal brotherhood and defender of the Jewishrace, declared that if Germany were to be prevented from going to warthe Jews must be persuaded to withdraw their support from her militaryadventures:

 War could not begin or last in Germany without the activity, the intelligence, and the money of the Jews. Magazines and munitions of all kinds are provided by Hebrew capitalists and all the subaltern agents of military provisionment are of the same nation. We have only to come to an understanding with our brothers, the Rabbis, to produce astonishing, miraculous results. [801]

Mr. Ford, the American motor-car manufacturer, appears to have arrivedat much the same conclusion expressed in the words recently attributedto him: "We don't need the League of Nations to end war. Put undercontrol the fifty most wealthy Jewish financiers, who produce wars fortheir own profit, and wars will cease. "[802]

On another occasion Mr. Ford is reported to have said that the Jews whovoyaged with him in the Peace ship in 1915 "went out of their way toconvince" him of "the direct relations between the International Jew andthe war": they "went into details to tell me the means by which the Jewscontrolled the war--how they had the money, how they had cornered allthe basic materials needed to fight the war, " etc. [803]

Without in any way absolving Germany from the crime of the war, it isnecessary to take this secondary factor into consideration if peacebetween the nations is to be established. For as long as the lust of warlingers in the hearts of the Germans and the lust of gain at the priceof human suffering lingers in the hearts of the Jews, both races willremain necessary to each other and the hideous nightmare of war willcontinue to brood over the world. 

There is then a great deal of truth in the Socialist phrase"Capitalists' Wars, " although not in the sense they attribute to it. Forit will be noticed that the Capitalists who are most instrumental inmaking wars are precisely those whom the Socialists are always carefulto shield from blame. The following incident will illustrate this point. 

At a meeting of the Social Democratic Federation Mr. Adolphe Smith moveda resolution appealing to the organized workers of Great Britain--

 Not to permit themselves in the supposed interests of their fellow-workers in other countries, to be used by sinister financial and militarist influences merely to weaken the Entente nations in the present critical situation, and urging them to keep careful watch against such manoeuvres on the part of pro-German international financiers, who were able to exercise considerable reactionary influence among the wealthy and official classes in this country. [804]

Mr. Hyndman added that "the most serious danger by which we werethreatened was from the most powerful group of capitalists in Europeheaded by Hugo Stinnes and backed by Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and themilitarist party in Germany. " This resolution was opposed by a member ofthe Parliamentary Labour Party and eventually withdrawn. 

The connexion between German Imperialism, International Finance, Illuminism, Bolshevism, and certain sections of British Socialism isthus apparent. Is Germany then the secret power behind the thing we callBolshevism? Are Illuminism and Pan-Germanism one and the same thing? Tothis hypothesis two objections present themselves: firstly, that thespirit of Illuminism and Bolshevism existed, as we have seen in earlierchapters of this book, long before modern Germany came into existence;and secondly, that Germany herself is not entirely free from thecontagion. For although the danger of Bolshevism in Germany has beendoubtless greatly exaggerated in order to prevent the Allies frompressing their demands for disarmament and reparations, neverthelessBolshevism under its illuminated name of Spartacism cannot be regardedas a movement entirely staged for the deception of Europe. Moreover, just as in the countries of the Allies it has shown itself, under theguise of Pacifism, savagely anti-national and pro-German, so in Germany, as also in Hungary, it turned Pacifism to the opposite purpose byprofessing sympathy at moments with the Allies. 

It is clear, then, that besides Pan-Germanism there is another power atwork, a power far older, that seeks to destroy all national spirit, allordered government in every country, Germany included. What is thispower? A large body of opinion replies: the Jewish power. 

15

THE REAL JEWISH PERIL

In considering the immense problem of the Jewish Power, perhaps the mostimportant problem with which the modern world is confronted, it isnecessary to divest oneself of all prejudices and to enquire in a spiritof scientific detachment whether any definite proof exists that aconcerted attempt is being made by Jewry to achieve world-domination andto obliterate the Christian faith. 

That such a purpose has existed amongst the Jews in the past has beenshown throughout the earlier chapters of this book. The conception ofthe Jews as the Chosen People who must eventually rule the world formsindeed the basis of Rabbinical Judaism. 

It is customary in this country to say that we should respect the Jewishreligion, and this would certainly be our duty were the Jewish religionfounded, as is popularly supposed, solely on the Old Testament. Foralthough we do not consider ourselves bound to observe the ritual of thePentateuch, we find no fault with the Jews for carrying out what theyconceive to be their religious duties. Moreover, although the OldTestament depicts the Jews as a favoured race--a conception which webelieve to have been superseded by the Christian dispensation, wherebyall men are declared equal in the sight of God--nevertheless it doescontain a very lofty law of righteousness applicable to all mankind. Itis because of their universality that the books of Job and Ecclesiastes, as also many passages in the Psalms, in Isaiah, and the minor prophets, have made an undying appeal to the human race. But the Jewish religionnow takes its stand on the Talmud rather than on the Bible. "The modernJew, " one of its latest Jewish translators observes, "is the product ofthe Talmud. "[805] The Talmud itself accords to the Bible only asecondary place. Thus the Talmudic treatise Soferim says: "The Bible islike water, the Mischna is like wine, and the Gemara is like spicedwine. "

Now, the Talmud is not a law of righteousness for all mankind, but ameticulous code applying to the Jew alone. No human being outside theJewish race could possibly go to the Talmud for help or comfort. Onemight look through its pages in vain for any such splendid rule of lifeas that given by the prophet Micah: "He hath shewed thee, O man, what isgood; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and tolove mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" In the Talmud, on thecontrary, as Drach points out, "the precepts of justice, of equity, ofcharity towards one's neighbour, are not only not applicable with regardto the Christian, but constitute a crime in anyone who would actdifferently.... The Talmud expressly forbids one to save a non-Jew fromdeath, ... To restore lost goods, etc. , to him, to have pity on him. "[806]

How far the Talmud has contributed to the anti-social tendencies ofmodern Judaism is shown by the fact that the Karaites living in thesouth of Russia, the only body of Jews which takes its stand on theBible, and not on the Talmud, --of which it only accepts such portions asare in accordance with Bible teaching--have always shown themselves goodsubjects of the Russian Empire, and have therefore enjoyed equal rightswith the Russian people around them. Catherine the Great particularlyfavoured the Karaites. 

Thus even the Jews are not unanimous in supporting the Talmud; indeed, as we have already seen, many Jews have protested against it as abarrier between themselves and the rest of the human race. 

But it is in the Cabala, still more than in the Talmud, that the Judaicdream of world-domination recurs with the greatest persistence. TheZohar indeed refers to this as a _fait accompli_, explaining that "theFeast of Tabernacles is the period when Israel triumphs over the otherpeople of the world; that is why during this feast we seize the Loulab[branches of trees tied together] and carry it as a trophy to show thatwe have conquered all the other peoples known as 'populace' and that wedominate them. "[807] God is, however, asked to accord these otherpeoples a certain share of blessings, "so that occupied with this sharethey shall not participate nor mingle with the joy of Israel when hecalls down blessings from on high. " The situation may thus be comparedwith that of a king who, wishing to give a feast to his special friends, finds his house invaded by importunate governors demanding admittance. "What then does the king do? He orders the governors to be served withbeef and vegetables, which are common food, and then sits down to tablewith his friends and has the most delicious dishes served. "[808]

But this is nothing to the feasting that is to take place when theMessianic era arrives. After the return of the Jews from all nations andparts of the world to Palestine, the Messiah, we are told in the Talmud, will entertain them at a gorgeous banquet, where they will be seated atgolden tables and regaled with wine from Adam's wine-cellar. The firstcourse is to consist of a roasted ox named Behemoth, so immense thatevery day it eats up the grass upon a thousand hills; the second of amonstrous fish Leviathan; the third of a female Leviathan boiled andpickled; the fourth of a gigantic roast fowl known as Barjuchne, ofwhich the egg alone was so enormous that when it fell out of the nest itcrushed three hundred tall cedars and the white overflowed threescorevillages. This course is to be followed up by "the most splendid andpompous Dessert" that can be procured, including fruit from the Tree ofLife and "the Pomegranates of Eden which are preserved for the Just. "

At the end of the banquet "God will entertain the company at a ball"; HeHimself will sit in the midst of them, and everyone will point Him outwith his finger, saying: "Behold, this is our God: we have waited forHim, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. "[809]

The eighteenth-century commentator, whose summary of these passages wequote, goes on to observe:

 But let us see a little after what manner the Jews are to live in their ancient Country under the Administration of the Messiah. In the First Place, the strange Nations, which they shall suffer to live, shall build them Houses and Cities, till them Ground, and plant them Vineyards; and all this, without so much as looking for any Reward of their Labour. These surviving Nations will likewise voluntarily offer them all their Wealth and Furniture: And Princes and Nobles shall attend them; and be ready at their Nod to pay them all Manner of Obedience; while they themselves shall be surrounded with Grandeur and Pleasure, appearing abroad in Apparel glittering with Jewels like Priests of the Unction, consecrated to God.... 

 In a word, the felicity of this Holy Nation, in the Times of the Messiah, will be such, that the exalted Condition of it cannot enter into the Conception of Man; much less can it be couched in human Expression. This is what the Rabbis say of it. But the intelligent reader will doubtless pronounce it the Paradise of Fools. [810]

It is interesting to notice that this conception of the manner in whichthe return to Palestine is to be carried out has descended to certain ofthe modern colonists. Sir George Adam Smith, after watching Zionism atwork in 1918, wrote:

 On visiting a recently established Jewish colony in the north-east of the land, round which a high wall had been built by the munificent patron, I found the colonists sitting in its shade gambling away the morning, while groups of _fellahin_ at a poor wage did the cultivation for them. I said that this was surely not the intention of their patron in helping them to settle on land of their own. A Jew replied to me in German: "Is it not written: The sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen and vinedressers?" I know that such delinquencies have become the exception in Jewish colonization of Palestine, but they are symptomatic of dangers which will have to be guarded against. [811]

The fellahin may, however, consider themselves lucky to be allowed tolive at all, for, according to several passages in the Cabala, all the_goyim_ are to be swept off the face of the earth when Israel comes intoits own. Thus the Zohar relates that the Messiah will declare war on thewhole world and all the kings of the world will end by declaring war onthe Messiah. But "the Holy One, blessed be He, will display His forceand exterminate them from the world. "[812] Then:

 Happy will be the lot of Israel, whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has chosen from amongst the _goyim_ of whom the Scriptures say: "Their work is but vanity, it is an illusion at which we must laugh; they will all perish when God visits them in His wrath. " At the moment when the Holy One, blessed be He, will exterminate all the _goyim_ of the world, Israel alone will subsist, even as it is written: "The Lord alone will appear great on that day. "[813]

The hope of world-domination is therefore not an idea attributed to theJews by "anti-Semites, " but a very real and essential part of theirtraditions. What then of their attitude to Christianity in the past? Wehave already seen that hatred of the person and teaching of Christ didnot end at Golgotha, but was kept alive by the Rabbis and perpetuated inthe Talmud and the Toledot Yeshu. The Cabala also contains passagesreferring both to Christ and to Mohammed so unspeakably foul that itwould be impossible to quote them here. 

But it will be urged: the Jews of Western Europe to-day know nothing ofthe Cabala. This may be so, yet imperceptibly the Cabala has moulded themind of the Jew. As a modern Jewish writer has declared:

 [Kabbalism] has contributed to the formation of modern Judaism, for, without the influence of the Kabbala, Judaism to-day might have been one-sided, lacking in warmth and imagination. Indeed, so deeply has it penetrated into the body of the faith that many ideas and prayers are now immovably rooted in the general body of orthodox doctrine and practice. This element has not only become incorporated, but it has fixed its hold on the affections of the Jews and cannot be eradicated. [814]

It is thus not in the law of Moses thundered from Sinai, not in the dryritual of the Talmud, but in the stupendous imaginings of the Cabala, that the real dreams and aspirations of Jewry have been transmittedthrough the ages. Belief in the coming Messiah may burn low, but faithin the final triumph of Israel over the other nations of the world stillglows in the hearts of a race nurtured on this hope from timeimmemorial. Even the free-thinking Jew must unconsciously react to thepromptings of this vast and ancient ambition. As a modern French writerhas expressed it:

 Assuredly sectarian Freethinkers swarm, who flatter themselves on having borrowed nothing from the synagogue and on hating equally Jehovah and Jesus. But the modern Jewish world is itself also detached from any supernatural belief, and the Messianic tradition, of which it preserves the cult, reduces itself to considering the Jewish race as the veritable Messiah[815]. 

Some colour is lent to this statement by an article which recentlyappeared in the Jewish press, in which it is explained that, accordingto the teaching of the "Liberal Jewish Synagogue, " the beautifulpassages in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah concerning "the Man ofSorrows acquainted with grief, " usually supposed by Christians to relateto the promised Messiah, are interpreted to modern Jewish youth asrelating to Israel and signifying that Israel's "sufferings were causedby the sins of other nations, " who thus "escaped the suffering theydeserved. " Consequently "Israel has suffered for the sake of the wholeworld[816]. " How this amazing pretension can be maintained in view ofthe perpetual denunciations of the Israelites throughout the whole ofthe Old Testament is difficult to imagine. On their entry into Canaanthey were distinctly told by Moses that the Lord their God had not giventhem "this good land" on account of their righteousness or theuprightness of their hearts[817]; long afterwards Daniel declared thatall Israel had transgressed the law of God[818]; Nehemiah showed that onaccount of their rebellion and disobedience they had been delivered intothe hands of their enemies[819]. Isaiah spoke of the iniquities of Judahin burning words:

 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors!... Wash your, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well, etc. [820]

Thus even the Word of God itself is powerless to mitigate the immensemegalomania of the Jewish race. It is doubtful indeed whether by themajority of Jews the Bible is now regarded as divinely inspired. "Theten commandments which _we_ gave to mankind[821]" is a phrase typical ofthe manner in which Israel now arrogates to itself the sole authorshipof the Scriptures. The deification of humanity by the Freemasons of theGrand Orient finds its counterpart in the deification of Israel by themodern Jew. 

It is here that we must surely see the cause of much of the sufferingthe Jews have endured in the past. No one of course would justify thecruelty with which they have frequently been treated; nevertheless tomaintain there was no provocation on the part of the Jews would beabsurd. A race that has always considered itself entitled to occupy aprivileged position amongst the nations of the world must inevitablymeet with resentment, and in a primitive age or population resentment isapt to find a vent in violence shocking to the civilized mind. Moreover, to represent the Jews as a gentle long-suffering people, always thevictims but never the perpetrators of violence, is absolutely contraryto historic fact. In the dark ages of the past the Jews showedthemselves perfectly capable of cruelties not only towards other racesbut towards each other. One of the first pogroms recorded in theChristian era was carried out by the Jews themselves. The Jewishhistorian Josephus describes the reign of "lawlessness and barbarity"that was inaugurated about the middle of the first century A. D. By theband of assassins known as the Sicarii, who infested the country roundJerusalem and, by means of little daggers that they wore concealedbeneath their garments, "slew men in the daytime and in the midst of thecity, especially at the festivals when they mixed with the multitude. "During one night raid on the small town of Engaddi they massacred morethan seven hundred women and children. [822] And Josephus goes on to say:

 Somehow, indeed, that was a time most fertile in all manner of wicked practices among the Jews, insomuch that no kind of villainy was then left undone; nor could anyone so much as devise any bad thing that was new if he wished. So deeply were they all infected, both privately and publicly, and vied with one another who should run the greatest lengths in impiety towards God, and in unjust actions towards their neighbours, men in power oppressing the multitude, and the multitude earnestly endeavouring to destroy men in power. [823]

It is futile then to maintain as do the Jews and their friends--for thepro-Jew is frequently _plus royaliste que le roi_--that all the faultsof the modern Jew are to be attributed to bitterness engendered bypersecution. Judaism has always contained an element of cruelty[824]which finds expression in the Talmud. It is from the Talmud, not fromthe Mosaic law, that the inhuman methods of Jewish slaughtering arederived. [825] The Talmud likewise gives the most horrible directions forcarrying out capital punishment, particularly with regard to women, bythe methods of stoning, burning, choking, or slaying with the sword. Thevictim condemned to be burnt is to have a scarf wound round his neck, the two ends pulled tightly by the executioners whilst his mouth isforced open with pincers and a lighted string thrust into it "so that itflows down through his inwards and shrinks his entrails. "[826]

It will be said that all this belongs to the past. True, the practicehere described may be considered obsolete, but the spirit of cruelty andintolerance that dictated it is still alive. One has only to study themodern Jewish press to realize the persecution to which Jews aresubjected from members of their own race should they infringe onefraction of the Jewish code. 

If, then, "the modern Jew is the product of the Talmud, " it is here thatwe must see the principal obstacle to Jewish progress. It is said thatIsaac Disraeli, the father of Lord Beaconsfield, gave as his reason forwithdrawing from the Synagogue that Rabbinical Judaism with itsunyielding laws and fettering customs "cuts off the Jews from the greatfamily of mankind. "[827] Such a system is indeed absolutelyincompatible not only with Christian teaching but with the secular ideasof Western civilization. The attitude it adopts towards women would bein itself sufficient to justify this assertion. The Jewish daily prayer, "Blessed be Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, that Thou hasnot made me a woman!"[828] is a ludicrous anachronism in the presentage. According to the Talmud a service can take place in the Synagogueonly if ten persons are present, which number ensures the presence ofGod in the assembly. Drach explains however that these persons must allbe men. "If then there were nine men and a million women there could beno assembly, for the reason that women are nothing. But there arrives[on the scene] only one small boy of thirteen years and a day, at oncethere can be a holy assembly and, according to our Doctors, it ispermitted to God to be present[829]. "

When therefore we say that we must respect the Jewish religion wecannot, if we know anything about it, mean that we respect that portionof it which is founded on the Rabbinical traditions of the Talmud andthe Cabala, but only that ethical law set forth in the Old Testament, towhich right-living Jews have faithfully adhered and which is largely inaccord with Christian teaching. 

Let us not forget that Rabbinical Judaism is the declared and implacableenemy of Christianity. Hatred of Christianity and of the person ofChrist is not a matter of remote history, nor can it be regarded as theresult of persecution; it forms an integral part of Rabbinical traditionwhich originated before any persecution of the Jews by Christians hadtaken place, and has continued in our country long after all suchpersecution has ended. 

It is here that we cannot fail to detect the origin of much of thatvirulent anti-Christian teaching that is being disseminated in our midstto-day. This teaching will be observed to follow three lines, of whichthe course has been traced throughout this book. These consist indesecrating the Christian tradition by declaring that Christ was either(_a_) a myth, (_b_) a purely human teacher endowed with superior virtueand knowledge of natural laws, (_c_) a crazy fanatic[830] or amalefactor. The first two theories are, as we have seen, those held bysecret societies; the last is essentially Jewish. It is true that thereis now a movement amongst the more enlightened Jews to recognize Jesusas a great teacher; so far, unfortunately, this is met by bitterhostility from the rest, and in the current Jewish press contemptuousand even blasphemous references to Christ and the Christian faithfrequently occur. The fact that here in England, for nearly threehundred years, the Jews have been allowed to dwell in peace and carryout their religious rites unmolested, that they have been admitted tosociety, to masonic lodges, and to all offices of State and have metwith increasing tolerance and favour, has done nothing to moderate thathatred of Christianity inculcated throughout nineteen centuries ofRabbinical teaching. Thus, for example, under the heading of "WhatChristianity has Meant, " we read in a modern Jewish periodical:

 We are thinking of what Christianity as an institution has meant to us Jews. The twenty centuries of its existence have been coeval with the long-drawn tragedy of the Jew's dispersal among the nations.... What kindliness and consideration we have received at the hands of Christianity has for the most part been tendered with the lure of the baptismal font. To the extent to which Christianity's embodiment, the Church, has been puissant has the Jewish tragedy deepened. Only when and where the Church has been weak has life been tolerable for the Jew.... Hatred of the Jew, anti-Jewish outbursts and anti-Semitic campaigns, are traceable to nothing so surely as to antipathy to the Jew which has been inbred by Christianity.... There is thus precious little about which the Jew has for rejoicing and gladness in the institution of Christianity, etc. [831]

The most cursory study of history would reveal the falseness of thiscontention. Antipathy to the Jew began long before the Christian era; inEgypt, Persia, and Rome he became, whether just or not, the object ofsuspicion to rulers. The reason given by Pharaoh for oppressing theIsraelites was that if they were allowed to grow too powerful they mightjoin themselves to the enemy in time of war[832]; the Emperors of Romeregarded them as a turbulent element; Mohammed declared: "Their aim willbe to abet disorder on the earth, but God loveth not the abettors ofdisorder. "[833] Meanwhile, the antipathy shown by the "people" in everycountry was mainly based on economic grounds. It was not simply thepossession of wealth--which according to the Socialist creed shouldjustify any amount of hatred--but the manner in which it was acquiredand the arrogance with which it was displayed that roused popularfeeling against the Jews. An Arab Fakih, Abu Ishak of Elvira, thuswarned his master of the growing power of the Jews in Spain in themiddle of the eleventh century A. D. :

 The Jews, contemptible outcasts, have become great lords, and their pride and arrogance know no bounds.... Take not such men for thy ministers, but abandon them to curses, for the whole earth crieth out against them--ere long it will quake and we shall all perish. Turn thine eyes to other lands and behold how the Jews are treated as dogs, and kept apart.... 

 I came to Granada, and there I beheld the Jews reigning. They had parcelled out the provinces and the capital between them: everywhere one of these accursed ruled. They collected the taxes, they made good cheer, they were sumptuously clad, while your garments, O Moslems, were old and worn-out. All the secrets of state were known to them; yet is it folly to put trust in traitors! While believers ate the bread of poverty, they dined delicately in the palace.... How can we thrive if we live in the shade and the Jews dazzle us with the glory of their pride?[834]

In mediæval France the chief cause for complaint against the Jews isthat of not working with their hands but of enriching themselves by"excessive usury. " In the fifteenth century the Strasbourg preacherGeyler asks: "Are the Jews above the Christians? Why will they not workwith their hands?... Practising usury is not working. It is exploitingothers whilst remaining idle. "[835] Such quotations as these might bemultiplied _ad infinitum_. 

To attribute the persecution of the Jews to Christianity is thereforeludicrous. That in a less enlightened age the Church should have adoptedrigorous measures--although no more rigorous than their own lawsdemanded--against those Jews who practised magic and witchcraft mustappear deplorable to the modern mind, but so must many other phases ofmediæval life. Why then hark back perpetually to the past? If the Jewswere persecuted in a less enlightened age, so were many other sectionsof the community. Catholics were persecuted, Protestants werepersecuted, men were placed in the stocks for minor offences, scoldingwomen were ducked in the village pond. But if all these cruelties of thedark ages are to be remembered and perpetuated on the plan of a tribalblood-feud, what peace can there be for the world? The disastrousresults of this tendency were seen in the Irish Intellectuals, nourishedfrom infancy on the story of Ireland's wrongs, who, instead of sanelyfacing present problems, unhinged their minds by brooding on historicgrievances, thereby sealing their own doom and plunging their countryinto ruin. So, too, the enraged Feminists, harking back to injusticesthat had long ceased to exist, embittered their lives by proclaimingthemselves the eternal enemies of Man. Emerson, the prophet of sanity, declared: "The only ballast I know is a respect to the present hour. "It is for lack of this ballast that the Jews have become victims of afanaticism in which Christians from a mistaken idea of kindness havefrequently encouraged them. In reality nothing is more cruel than toencourage in the minds of a nervous race the idea of persecution; truekindness to the Jews would consist in urging them to throw off memoriesof past martyrdom and to enter healthfully into the enjoyment of theirpresent blessings, which are the direct outcome of Christiancivilization. 

Let us consider what Christianity has in reality done for the Jews. Ifso much is to be said about the persecutions they have endured, what ofthe extraordinary indulgence shown them as the result of Christianrespect for the Bible? For hundreds of years Christian school childrenhave been brought up on Old Testament history and Christiancongregations have listened sympathetically to the story of Israel'ssufferings and hopes of final restoration. All the support lent toZionism arose from this tradition. Christianity, then, so reviled by theJews, has been their greatest protection. If Christianity goes, thewhole theory that the Jews were once the Chosen People goes with it asfar as Gentiles are concerned, and the Jewish race, divested of its haloof divine favour, will have to be judged on its own merits. 

In our own country, the Chosen People theory has in fact been carried tothe point of superstition--a superstition immensely advantageous to theJews--which consists in interpreting the passage of Scripture containingthe promise made to Abraham, "I will bless them that bless thee, andcurse them that curseth thee, " as meaning that favour shown to theJews--who form merely a fraction of the seed of Abraham--brings with itpeculiar blessings. In reality it would be easier to show by historythat countries and rulers who have protected the Jews have frequentlymet with disaster. France banished the Jews in 1394 and again in 1615, and did not readmit them in large numbers till 1715-19, so that theywere absent throughout the most glorious period in French history--the_Grand Siècle_ of Louis XIV--whilst their return coincided with theRegency, from which moment the monarchy of France may be said to havedeclined. England likewise banished the Jews in 1290, and it was duringthe three and a half centuries they remained in exile that she was knownas "Merrie England. " The fact that their return in force in 1664 wasfollowed the next year by the Great Plague and the year after by theGreat Fire of London would not appear to indicate that the Jewsnecessarily bring good fortune to the land that protects them. The truthis, of course, that kindness to any portion of the human race brings itsown reward in the form of moral improvement in the individual or nationthat performs it, but no more benefit attaches to philanthropy whenexercised towards the Jew than towards the Chinaman. 

I would urge, then, that the Jewish problem should be approached neitherin the spirit of superstitious pro-Semitism nor in the bitter spirit of"anti-Semitism, " but with a sanity worthy of an enlightened age. Toquote again the words of Bernard Lazare, let us enquire what part "theJew, considering his spirit, his character, the nature of his philosophyand his religion, " may now be taking "in revolutionary processes andmovements. " Is there, then, any evidence that there exists amongst Jewryto-day an organized conspiracy having for its objects world-dominationand the destruction of Christianity such as the famous _Protocols of theElders of Zion_ suggest?[836]

The theory of a Jewish world-conspiracy does not, of course, rest on theevidence of Protocols. To judge by the pæans of joy that rang throughthe press after the publication of the _Times_ articles, one wouldimagine that with the so-called "refutation" of this one document thewhole case against the Jews had collapsed and that the "anti-Semites"must be for ever silenced. But the arguments of the Jews and theirfriends go further than this; not only do they claim that there is noJewish conspiracy, but no world-plot of any kind. This contention theyhad indeed maintained from the beginning, and Mr. Lucien Wolf, in hisearliest "refutation" of the Protocols, derided the exponents of thesecret-society danger as vehemently as he derided the perfidious authorof the Jewish Peril. It will in fact always be noticed that referencesto the Illuminati meet with almost as much resentment from the Jewishpress as allusions of a directly "anti-Semitic" character. Barruel, whorefused to incriminate the Jews, and de Malet, who never referred tothem at all, are denounced by Mr. Lucien Wolf no less as scaremongersthan Gougenot des Mousseaux or Chabauty. To suggest that any Hidden Handhas ever been at work in the world is to raise immediately a storm ofJewish protest. 

Yet intelligent Jews must be well aware that, whether secret societieshave contributed as much to past revolutions as these writers believed, their existence and their very real influence is not a matter of surmisebut of historical fact. No one ever warned the British public moredistinctly of the danger they presented or of the role the Jews wereplaying in them than Disraeli, whose famous words have been quoted sofrequently in this connexion: "The world is governed by very differentpersonages from what is imagined by those who are not behind thescenes. " What is this but a clear recognition of the Hidden Hand? Why, then, is Disraeli not included with Barruel, Robison, de Malet, and DesMousseaux in Mr. Wolf's list of scaremongers? Is it because Disraelipointed the moral that, Jews being so dangerous, they should beemployed?

 * * * * *

If, then, leading Jews persist in villifying everyone who reiterates thewarnings uttered by so eminent a member of their race, it is inevitablethat they should come to be suspected of having some interest insuppressing further revelations. 

Setting all such evidence as the Protocols completely aside, let usexamine the reasons for believing in the exisence of a Jewishworld-conspiracy. Now, we know for certain that the five powers beforereferred to--Grand Orient Masonry, Theosophy, Pan-Germanism, International Finance, and Social Revolution--have a very real existenceand exercise a very definite influence on the affairs of the world. Herewe are not dealing with hypothesis but with facts based on documentaryevidence. We know in each case the names of many of the leaders, theirmethods of organization, their centres of direction, and the aims theyare pursuing. But with regard to the Jewish power we cannot proceed withthe same certainty. We cannot cite the names of the leaders or thecentres of direction, we cannot produce documentary evidence as to theirmethods of organization or their final aims. The very existence of sucha power, in the sense of a united and organized body of Jews working forthe destruction of Christianity and the existing social system, is stilla matter of speculation and not of known fact. Investigations into theactivities of such groups as the B'nai B'rith, Poale Zion, the JewishBund, and the Weltverband (or Jewish International Union of Socialists), might however throw much light on this question. The custom of printingtheir pidgin German, known as Yiddish, in Hebrew characters provides theJews with a more or less secret code by means of which their ideas andaspirations are concealed from the great mass of the Gentiles. 

Whether then the Jewish power is unified or not, Jews are to be foundco-operating with, if not directing, all the five powers of which theexistence is known. Thus Jews have long played a leading part in GrandOrient Masonry[837] and predominate in the upper degrees. As we havealready seen, Freemasonry is always said to be subversive in RomanCatholic countries. It will also be noticed that in countries whereFreemasonry is subversive, Jews are usually less conspicuous in therevolutionary movement than in countries where Freemasonry is eithernon-existent or constitutional. Thus in France the masonic peril is muchmore generally recognized than the Jewish peril; in Italy the Freemasonshave been banned by Mussolini, but the Jews are not regarded by him as aparticular danger; in Portugal it was the Freemasons rather than theJews who made the recent revolutions. In Hungary, however, therevolutionaries were principally both Jews and Freemasons. On the otherhand, in England, Germany, and America, where Freemasonry is notsubversive, the Jewish question is more apparent. All this would suggestthat either Freemasonry is the cover under which the Jews, like theIlluminati, prefer to work, so that where the cover is not availablethey are obliged to come out more into the open, or that Grand OrientMasonry is the directing power which employs Jews as agents in thosecountries where it cannot work on its own account. 

The preponderance of Jews in the ranks of "Aurora" has already beenindicated, as also the influence of the Jewish Cabala in the teaching ofTheosophy and Rosicrucianism. But it is important that the latter pointshould be further emphasized in connexion with the craze for occultismthat is spreading through society. Ragon has said: "The Cabala is thekey of all occult sciences"; therefore in this field of experiment theGentile must always be at a disadvantage with the Jew. Indeed Mr. Waite, who certainly cannot be suspected of "anti-Semitism, " goes so far as tosuggest that the gift of ceremonial magic was "the answer of Jewry toChristendom as a counter-blast" to "centuries of persecution. "[838] Itwould be well if every Gentile who has been tempted to dabble inoccultism were to realize this source of inspiration. 

The rôle of Jews in social revolution and particularly in Bolshevismhardly needs comment. Yet since the Jewish press has chosen to deny thislast and very obvious fact and still persists in setting down toprejudice or "anti-Semitism" a mere statement of facts, it may be wellto quote here a few official statements on the subject which admit of nodenial. 

First of all, it must be remembered that the founder and patron saint ofBolshevism was the Jew Karl Marx, and that it was the Anarchist Bakunin, not the Duke of Northumberland, who described him and his following inthe Internationale as "the German-Jew Company" and the "redbureaucracy. " It was therefore not surprising that when the "redbureaucracy, " avowedly founded on the doctrines of Marx, came to be setup in Russia, it should have been largely led by Jews. This is what theofficial British White Paper has to say on the matter:

_Extract from Report from the Netherlands Minister at Petrograd on the6th of September_, 1918, _forwarded by Sir M. Findlay, at Christiania, to Mr. Balfour_:

 I consider that the immediate suppression of Bolshevism is the greatest issue now before the world, not even excluding the war which is still raging, and unless, as above stated, Bolshevism is nipped in the bud immediately, it is bound to spread in one form or another over Europe and the whole world, as it is organized and worked by Jews who have no nationality, and whose one object is to destroy for their own ends the existing order of things. *[839]

Mr. Alston to Lord Curzon, quoting statement from British Consul atEkaterinburg, January 23, 1919:

 The Bolsheviks can no longer be described as a political party holding extreme communistic views. They form a relatively small privileged class which is able to terrorize the rest of the population because it has a monopoly both of arms and of food supplies. This class consists chiefly of workmen and soldiers, and includes a large non-Russian element, such as Letts and Esthonians and Jews; the latter are specially numerous in higher posts. 

Lord Kilmarnock to Lord Curzon, quoting information given by Frenchmanfrom Petrograd, February 3, 1919:

 The Bolsheviks comprised chiefly Jews and Germans, who were exceedingly active and enterprising. The Russians were largely anti-Bolshevik, but were for the most part dreamers, incapable of any sustained action, who now, more than ever before, were unable to throw off the yoke of their oppressors. *[839]

Mr. Alston to Lord Curzon, forwarding Report from Consul at Ekaterinburgof February 6, 1919:

 From examination of several labourer and peasant witnesses, I have evidence to the effect that very smallest percentage of this district were pro-Bolshevik, majority of labourers sympathizing with summoning of Constituent Assembly. Witnesses further stated that Bolshevik leaders did not represent Russian working classes, most of them being Jews. 

The Rev. B. S. Lombard to Lord Curzon, March 23, 1919:

 I have been for ten years in Russia, and have been in Petrograd through the whole of the revolution.... [I] had ample opportunity of studying Bolshevik methods. It originated in German propaganda, and was, and is being, carried out by international Jews. The Germans initiated disturbances in order to reduce Russia to chaos. They printed masses of paper money to finance their schemes, the notes, of which I possess specimens, can be easily recognized by a special mark. 

As one of the results, the writer adds:

 All business became paralysed, shops were closed, Jews became possessors of most of the business houses, and horrible scenes of starvation became common in the country districts. 

In Hungary (where, as has been said, Socialism had been propagated byJews in the masonic lodges[840]) the outbreak of Bolshevism wasconducted under the auspices of the same race. To quote again anofficial document on this question, the Report on RevolutionaryActivities issued by a Committee of the New York Legislature, headed bySenator Lusk[841]:

 There was no organized opposition to Bela Kun. Like Lenin, he surrounded himself with commissars, having absolute authority. Of the thirty-two principal commissars, twenty-five were Jews, which was about the same proportion as in Russia. The most prominent of these formed a directorate of five: Bela Kun, Bela Varga, Joseph Pogany, Sigmund Kunfi, and one other. Other leaders were Alpari and Samuely, who had charge of the Red Terror, and carried out the torturing and executing of the bourgeoisie, especially the groups held as hostages, the so-called counter-revolutionists and peasants. [842]

The same Report publishes a list of seventy-six men prosecuted by theCommittee on the charge of criminal anarchy in America at the beginningof 1920, of which the overwhelming majority are seen by their names tobe Jewish. [843]

These names speak for themselves and are published without comment onthe obvious nationality of the majority of the persons concerned. So farindeed does the Lusk Committee appear to have been removed from"anti-Semitism, " that nowhere in its vast Report, running to 2008 pages, is attention drawn to the preponderance of Jews concerned in therevolutionary movement, except in the one passage on Hungary quotedabove. The Lusk Report must therefore be regarded as an absolutelyimpartial statement of facts. 

In view of these official data, how is it possible for the Jewish pressto pretend that a connexion between Jews and Bolshevism is a maliciousinvention of the "anti-Semites"? That all Jews are not Bolsheviks andthat all Bolsheviks are not Jews is of course obvious; but that Jews areplaying a preponderating part in Bolshevism it is absurd to deny. 

An attempt has been made to show that Jews have suffered as much as therest of the population in Russia under Bolshevism and that the Jewishreligion has met with the same hostility as the Christian faith. Doubtless many Jews have suffered in Russia, since human violence, onceallowed to go unchecked, is liable to express itself in variousunexpected ways, and the resentment of the Russian "proletariat" towardsthe Jews was bound to break out under Lenin as under the Tzar. Again, acampaign against Christianity inevitably led in Russia, as in France, toa campaign against all forms of religion, and the Jewish Bolsheviks, being atheists themselves, were doubtless as ready as Lambert of theFrench Revolution to turn against the believers in the faith they hadabandoned. 

Yet that the Jewish religion suffered to the same extent asChristianity, or that any organized campaign was conducted against it bythe Government, is effectually disproved by the lamentations ofprofessing Jews on the death of Lenin. [844] Indeed, as is generallyrecognized, the fall of the Soviet Government must mean the downfall ofthe Jews from the position of privilege they now occupy. 

That in our own country Jews are playing a part in the background ofBolshevism is again evident. The _Patriot_ recently published a seriesof articles giving inside information on the organization of therevolutionary movement in Great Britain, where it was stated the wholeplot was directed by a group of twelve men. This group in turn wascontrolled by three of its members. These three men, as the keyrevealed, were all Jews, so also was "the fiend in human form whosepsychological perversion produced this plot, "[845] and who was one of agroup in America consisting of four Jews and a Jewess which controlledan outer revolutionary group of eighteen. [846] The Irish RepublicanBrotherhood also maintained close relations with a ring of revolutionaryJews in America. Incidentally, it is curious to notice that the languageemployed in some of the correspondence that has passed between membersof an inner group bears a strong resemblance to that of Weishaupt andhis fellow-Illuminati. 

Jewish influence in the less extreme forms of Socialism in this countryis no less apparent. If the Labour Party is solidly pro-German, it isalso solidly pro-Jewish. Whilst loudly proclaiming pacifism and pressingfor the reduction of armaments, it has never uttered a word of protestagainst the employment of British troops to defend Jewish interestsagainst the Arabs in Palestine. The blessed word Mesopotamia may befreely mentioned in connexion with the withdrawal of troops frommilitary adventures, but never the word Palestine. Again, the freeadmission of aliens and particularly of Jews into this country hasalways been one of the principal planks in the Labour platform. Even theJewish capitalist meets with indulgence at the hands of our SocialistIntellectuals, who whilst inveighing against British owners of property, never include Jewish millionaires in their diatribes. 

This may perhaps throw some light on the question frequently propounded:How can one believe that Jews advocate Socialism since they stand tolose everything by it? The fact remains that many Jews do advocate it. After the recent accession of the Labour Party to office the _JewishWorld_ observed:

 The result of the General Election in England is regarded as very gratifying by the Hebrew and Yiddish press. The Hebrew journals in Palestine, as well as the Hebrew and Yiddish organs in Europe and America, express satisfaction at the return to Parliament of men who have repeatedly assured the public of their intention to adhere to the Balfour declaration. [847]

A further reason is advanced by the _Jewish Courier_ for rejoicing atthe downfall of the Conservative Government, namely, that "the electionresults have wiped out anti-Semitic remnants in England, " for "theConservative Government does include several members who are far fromfavourably disposed towards Jews. "[848] The indulgence shown to the Jewsand the honours piled on them by Conservative statesmen thereforeavailed nothing to the Conservative cause, and the welfare of the wholecountry was subordinated to the interests of the Jews alone. 

It is difficult at first to understand how the programme of the "Labour"Party, even when combined with ardent pro-Semitism, could however be inaccord with the interests of the Jews, who have never displayed anyhostility towards the Capitalist system which Socialism sets out todestroy. Indeed, we find the same Jewish paper which rejoiced at theadvent of the present Government to office offering birthdaycongratulations to the richest Jew in this country, whose wealth, itgoes on to observe with some complacency, "amounts to no less than£12, 000, 000 sterling, and is constantly increasing, apart from theinterest that it brings, by the huge profits of the concerns in which heis interested. "[849]

It would seem, then, that in the eyes of Jewry all capitalists are notto be regarded as monsters who should be mercilessly expropriated. 

But in considering the war on Capitalism it is essential to bear in mindthat capitalists are of two kinds: national industrialcapitalists--largely Gentiles and usually men of brains and energy whohave built up flourishing businesses--and international loan-mongeringcapitalists, principally, though not exclusively, Jews, who live byspeculation. Whilst to the former, social unrest may prove fatal, to thelatter any disturbances may provide opportunities for profit. As M. Georges Batault has well expressed it:

 From the strictly financial point of view, the most disastrous events of history, wars or revolutions, never represent catastrophes; the manipulators of money and the wary business men can make profit out of everything, provided they know beforehand and are well-informed.... It is certain that the Jews dispersed over all the surface of the earth ... Are particularly favourably situated in this respect. [850]

It is significant to notice that the capitalists most attacked by theSocialists and Pacifists are not those who make profit out of wars andrevolutions, but those who contribute to the prosperity of the countryand provide work for millions of people. Here, then, the Jews and theSocialists seem to find a point of agreement. It is evident, at anyrate, that many rich Jews consider that they have nothing to fear fromthe threatened Capital Levy and other features of expropriation. Are wenot irresistibly reminded of the passage in the Protocols--whereincidentally the Capital Levy is specifically mentioned--"Ours they willnot touch, because the moment of attack will be known to us and we shalltake measures to protect our own"?

But let us consider further how the Socialist plan for "thenationalization of all the means of production, distribution, andexchange" might be reconciled even with the interests of JewishIndustrial Capitalists. The more we examine this magic formula which isto transform the world into a Paradise for the workers, the more weshall see that it approximates to the system of Super Capitalism, ofwhich, as Werner Sombart has shown, the Jews were the principalinaugurators. Socialists are fond of explaining that "Capitalism" beganwith the introduction of steam; in reality, of course, Capitalism, inthe sense of wealth accumulated in private hands, has always existedsince the first savage made his store of winter food. What Socialistsreally mean by Capitalism is the modern system of Industrialism, whichtends to concentrate all the means of production and distribution in thehands of individuals or groups, who, if they happen to be unscrupulous, are able by systematic sweating of the worker and bleeding of theconsumer to conduct operations on so large a scale as to crush allcompetition by the home worker or the small tradesman. 

Obviously, however, with the growing demand of the workers for betterconditions of life and the increasing support lent to them byenlightened public opinion this possibility cannot continueindefinitely, and unless a violent convulsion takes place the time willcome when great industrial magnates will have to content themselves withmoderate profits on their outlay. Thus although at first sight it mightappear that the Super-Capitalist must desire to maintain the existingorder of things, if he is far-seeing he must realize that profiteeringunder present conditions must soon cease. 

It is therefore conceivable that even the Jewish Industrial Capitalistmay see in the nationalization of industry a preferable alternative tothe limitation of profits under private enterprise. The same financialacumen and skill in management which has enabled him to control ringsand trusts in the past would ensure him a place at the head ofnationalized industries, which in effect would be nothing but gigantictrusts nominally under State control but really, like all Stateenterprises, in the hands of a few men. Under Socialism the position ofthese trusts would be rendered impregnable. For whilst under the presentsystem any individual or group may set out to break a trust, no suchcompetition would be possible in a State where private enterprise hadbeen made illegal. The men in control of nationalized industries wouldtherefore be able to exercise absolute authority both over the workerand the consumer. Further, if the worker can be persuaded to accept theultimate scheme of Communism, which is compulsory labour in return forno monetary remuneration, but merely a daily ration of food and theother necessaries of life whenever State officials decide that herequires them, the directors of Labour, like the overseers in a slaveplantation, will be able, as in Russia, to impose any conditions theyplease. 

The Jews may well hope to occupy these posts, not only because of theiraptitude for organization on so large a scale, but because theirinternational relations would facilitate the sale or barter of goodsbetween countries. The cohesion which exists amongst them would speedilylead to the monopolization of all the higher posts by members of theirrace. 

It is idle to dismiss such a possibility as a chimera. This is whathappened in Russia and is happening in Germany to-day. Here, then, wemay find perhaps the inner meaning of a remark attributed to aprominent member of the Labour Party, that under Socialism a certainwell-known Jewish capitalist might well be worth £10, 000 a year. Leninexpressed much the same idea when he said that the Russian SovietRepublic might require a thousand first-class specialists "to direct thework of the people, " and that "these greatest 'stars' must be paid25, 000 roubles each, " or even four times that sum, supposing it werenecessary to employ foreign specialists for the purpose. [851]

But the Jewish capitalists doubtless see further that in England, as inRussia, this condition of things would be merely a temporary phase, andthat the institution of Socialism by dispossessing the present Gentileowners of wealth and property would pave the way for a Jewish and Germanplutocracy. In Russia wealth has not been altogether destroyed; it hassimply changed hands, and a class of new rich has sprung up which meetswith no hostility from the professed advocates of equality. Those Jewswho see in the Christian Intelligentsia the main obstacle to their dreamof world-power, therefore naturally find in the promoters ofclass-warfare their most valuable allies. For the ChristianIntelligentsia is the sole bare to the enslavement of the proletariat;most of the movements to redress the wrongs of the workers, from LordShaftesbury's onwards, have arisen not amongst the workers themselves, but amongst the upper or middle classes[852]; once these were swept awayan iron bureaucracy would have the workers at their mercy. I do not saythis is the plan, but I do say that such a hypothesis provides a reasonfor the otherwise unaccountable indulgence displayed by Socialistseverywhere towards wealthy Jews and at the same time for the huge fundsthe Socialists appear to have at their disposal. 

If big financiers are not at their back, I repeat: where does all themoney come from? It seems unlikely that it can be derived from theBritish owners of wealth and property whom the Socialists are openly outto dispossess; the only body of financiers which can therefore besuspected of contributing towards this end is the body known as"International Finance, " which is mainly, though not exclusively, Jewish. 

The influence of the Jews in all the five great powers at work in theworld--Grand Orient Masonry, Theosophy, Pan-Germanism, InternationalFinance, and Social Revolution--is not a matter of surmise but of fact. Let us now examine what part they are playing in the minor subversivemovements enumerated in an earlier chapter. 

Freud, the inventor of the most dangerous form of Psycho-Analysis, is aJew. In this connexion the eminent American neuro-psychiatrist beforequoted writes:

 Not only the Freud theory of psycho-analysis but a considerable quantity of pseudo-scientific propaganda of that type has for years been emanating from a group of German Jews who live and have their headquarters in Vienna. From its inception, psycho-analysis has been in Jewish hands. There are not half a dozen physicians in the whole world, recognized as authorities in this field, whose names are identified with this movement who are not Jews. This may have been an accident, but nevertheless it is a fact. [853]

I have already referred in an earlier chapter to the question ofdegenerate art defined in a circular to the _New York Herald_ as "thedeification of ugliness. "[854] The originators of this cult are heredescribed as a group of Satan worshippers in Paris, and the dealers bywhom the movement was propagated as "Germans, " but we note amongst thelenders to the exhibition at which these "works of art" were displayedseveral Jewish names. Of one well-known Jewish artist a critic haswritten:

 Were these works the product of a man who had imperfect control over his material, who, in stumbling towards the light, dwelt inevitably upon much darkness, who sought for beauty and found ugliness, who looked for purity and found filth--even then one might be silent and hope for better things to come. But here, apparently, unless my whole reading is ludicrously wrong, he delights in deformity and glories in degradation.... He brings to the world of art a new gospel, a black gospel, a gospel in which everything is to be inverted and distorted. Whatsoever things are hideous, whatsoever things are of evil report, whatsoever things are sordid: if there be any unhealthiness or any degradation: think on these things. 

What better résumé could be given of that tendency to perversiondenounced by the prophet Isaiah in the words: "Woe unto them that callevil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light fordarkness"? An organ of the Jewish press, with that sense of solidaritywhich always rallies Jews to the defence of their compatriots howeverculpable, immediately detects in the critic's expression of opinion theinsidious work of "anti-Semitism. " A more enlightened Jew, Mr. Frank L. Emanuel, however, having come to the support of the Gentile critic, theJewish journal is obliged to admit the justice of his contention that"it is lamentable to think of the undue proportion of young Jews" who"have joined the Revolutionary or sham 'Modern Art' movement in thiscountry. "

The same influence will be noticed in the cinema world, where, as hasalready been pointed out, history is systematically falsified in theinterests of class hatred, and everything that can tend, whilst keepingwithin the present law, to undermine patriotism or morality is pressedupon the public. And the cinema trade is almost entirely in the hands ofthe Jews. 

In the drug traffic Jews are playing a prominent part both here and inAmerica. An eminent New York doctor writes to me as follows:

 Members of the Federal narcotic squad attached to the Treasury Department and having the function of enforcing the provisions of the Harrison Act have long been convinced that there is a direct relationship between Radicalism and narcotism. From seven to ten years ago this was thought to be a manifestation of pan-German propaganda. Activity was and still is greater on the part of the distributors and pedlars than is to be accounted for by the large profits, according to their story. Curiously enough, the traffic largely stopped for several weeks following the signing of the Armistice. 

 In one instance, seven regularly licensed physicians of the "East Side, " all Jews, were arrested in succession during the summer of 1920 for illegitimate use of narcotic prescriptions, and every office raided had large quantities of Radical literature. Such associations are not uncommon. 

 As to the distribution, a recent investigation by _Hearst's Magazine_ definitely revealed the fact that the illegitimate distributors were almost invariably of the Jewish race, and that the pedlars were exclusively Jewish and Italian. 

Enough, then, has been said to show that, whether as agents or asprincipals, Jews are playing a part in all subversive movements. AChristian Jew, no renegade to his race but deeply concerned for theirfuture development, said recently to the present writer: "The growingmaterialism amongst Jews has made them the most destructive force in theworld. The only hope for them is to accept Christianity. At presentthey are the greatest danger that Christian civilization has to face. "

The recognition of all these facts does not of course imply the beliefthat all Jews are destructive. Undoubtedly there are good and loyalJews--particularly in France, where the Sephardim predominate--who haveabsolutely identified themselves with the country of their adoption, andare sincerely opposed to Bolshevism. But these isolated individualscarry little weight compared to the massed forces of subversive Jewry. The same thing was observed in America, where a report privatelycommunicated to the present writer in 1923 stated:

 It appears not without significance that Radical literature is never anti-Semitic, but, on the contrary, manifestoes issued by the Executive Committee of the Communist Party are often emphatically pro-Jewish. So far as I know, there is not one exclusively Jewish organization in the United States which is openly and consistently fighting Radicalism. Conservative Judaism loyal to the United States and its institutions as conceived by its founders is unorganized and inarticulate. 

When, therefore, the Jewish press protests at the injustice ofassociating Jews with Bolshevism it may be legitimately answered: Whathas Jewry done collectively to disassociate itself from Bolshevism?[855]What official protests has the Jewish press uttered against anysubversive movement except when Jewish interests were threatened?[856]Has it not, on the contrary, denounced all patriotic efforts to opposethe forces of destruction whenever such efforts necessitated theexposure of the corrupt elements in Jewry?

But these tactics have not been confined to the Jewish press alone. Thegeneral press of this country, over which the Jews exercise anincreasing control, has followed the same policy. This process ofpenetration began long ago on the Continent. As early as 1846 an Englishmissionary to the Jews in Berlin wrote:

 Independently of the fifteen exclusively Jewish journals of Germany, four of which have made their appearance since the beginning of the present year, the daily political press of Europe is very much under the dominion of the Jews; as literary contributors, they influence almost every leading Continental newspaper, and as controversy seems to be their native air, and they bring into the field mental energies of no ordinary stamp, they find no lack of employment, and if any literary opponent ventures to endeavour to arrest the progress of Judaism to political power, he finds himself held up to public notice, and exposed to attack after attack in most of the leading journals of Europe. Such ... Was the lot of a Roman Catholic priest of Prague, who lately wrote a pamphlet entitled _Guter Rath für Zeit der Noth_, directed against the advancing power of Judaism. And such is my conviction of the extent of the participation the Jews take in the everyday literature of Germany, that I never pass by a crowded reading-room, but what I think I see standing behind the scenes a Jew, causing new ideas to rise and stir, and develop themselves in the unsuspecting mind of the Gentile. [857]

Do we not see the same methods being pursued with still greater vigourto-day? It would not be an exaggeration to say that there is hardly aperiodical in this country with the exception of _The Patriot_ thatdares to speak out freely on questions in which the interests of Jewsare involved. 

The fact is that the whole educational as well as the whole politicaland social world is permeated with Jewish influence. Every man in publiclife, every modern politician, to whatever party he belongs, seems tofind it _de rigueur_ to have his confidential Jewish adviser at hiselbow, just as in the Middle Ages a prince had his Jewish doctor alwaysat hand to mix his potions and ensure him long life. This appears to beowing not only to the utility of the Jew in financing projects, but tothe almost universal belief in the superior intelligence of the Jewishrace which the Jew has succeeded in implanting in the Gentile mind. 

But the time has come to ask: Is the Jew really the super-man we havebeen taught to consider him? On examination we shall find that in thepresent as in the past his talents are displayed principally along twolines--financial and occult. Usurers in the Middle Ages, financiersto-day, the Jews have always excelled in the making and manipulating ofwealth. And just as at the former period they were the great masters ofmagic, so at the present time they are the masters of the almostmagical art of gaining control over the mind both of the individual andof the public. 

Yet in the realms of literature, philosophy, painting, sculpture, politics, and even science, Jews will be found frequently occupying thesecond or third ranks, and only very seldom the first. Heine may becited as a poet of the first order, Spinoza as a philosopher, Disraelias a statesman, but it would be difficult to prolong the list. On thestage and in music alone can the Jews be said to have proved absolutelythe equals of their Gentile competitors. The fact is that the Jew is notusually a man of vast conceptions, nor is he endowed with greatoriginality of mind; his skill consists rather in elaborating or inadapting other men's ideas and rendering them more effectual. Thus themost important inventions of modern times have not been made by Jews, but have been frequently improved by them. Neither James Watt, Stephenson, Marconi, Edison, Pasteur, nor Madame Curie were of theJewish race, and the same might be said of nearly all the greatest menwho have lived since the dawn of our civilization. Napoleon was not aJew, nor was Shakespeare, nor Bacon, nor Sir Isaac Newton, nor MichaelAngelo, nor Leonardo da Vinci, nor Galileo, nor Dante, nor Descartes, nor Molière, nor Emerson, nor Abraham Lincoln, nor Goethe, nor Kant, noreven Machiavelli. Thrown on their own resources, what civilization werethe Jews able to create? Whilst Egypt, Greece, and Rome have leftimmortal monuments, what monuments has Palestine bequeathed to theworld?[858]

The Jews, then, provide a high average of cleverness, but have they everduring the last two thousand years produced one mighty genius? Moreover, against this high average of intelligence must be set an equally highaverage of mental derangement. On this point we have the evidence of the_Jewish Encyclopædia_:

 The Jews are more subject to diseases of the nervous system than the other races and peoples among which they dwell. Hysteria and neurasthenia appear to be most frequent. Some physicians of large experience among Jews have even gone so far as to state that most of them are neurasthenic and hysterical. Tobler claims that all the Jewish women in Palestine are hysterical; and Raymond says that in Warsaw, Poland, hysteria is very frequently met with among both Jewish men and Jewish women. The Jewish population of that city alone is almost exclusively the inexhaustible source for the supply of hysterical males for the clinics of the whole Continent (_L'Etude des Maladies du Système Nerveux en Russie_). As regards Austria and Germany, the same neurotic taint of the Jews has been emphasized by Krafft, Ebbing, etc.... In New York it has been shown by Collins that among 333 cases of neurasthenia which came under his observation, more than 40 per cent, were of Jewish extraction, etc. [859]

The same American neuro-psychiatrist already quoted attributes thepredominance of Jews in the revolutionary movement in America largely tothis cause:

 Anarchists have been developed largely from the criminal classes, and a belief in anarchy, _per se_, is a psychopathic manifestation. A student of anarchy, therefore, would not only be obliged to cover the field of criminology, but its more significant and important background, psycho-pathology. Some anarchists are actually insane, while others show marked psychological deficiencies. Under our laws as they are now framed, they cannot be restrained unless they commit acts of violence. 

 As it is, our asylums are filled with this class, and that introduces another phase of the matter. Our asylum insane are largely recruited from the Jewish race, at least recruited in tremendous disproportion to their number in the population. The fact that the revolutionary movement is so largely made up of Jewish elements furnishes an interesting confirmation of what I have said. 

The _Jewish World_, recently commenting on the "generally admitted" factthat "the percentage of mental disorders among Jews is much greater thanamong non-Jews, " asks: "Is the cause inherent, that is to say, is therea racial disposition towards degeneracy, or is it the result of theexternal conditions and causes?" The writer goes on to refer to anarticle in the _Zukunft_ which supports the view that the terribleexperiences of the Jews in the Middle Ages have affected their nervoussystem, and therefore that the cause of mental derangement amongst them"is not due to racial disposition, is not an ethnic principle, but is theresult of the tragic lot of the Jewish people. "[860] It might perhapsbe traced more surely to the habit of brooding on that tragic lot. Atany rate, it is curious to notice that the two symptoms recognized inthe first stages of "general paralysis of the insane, " the mania thatone is the object of persecution and "exalted ideas" (known in France asthe _folie des grandeurs_), are the two obsessions that the Talmud andthe Cabala with their dreams of world-domination under an avengingMessiah have inculcated in the mind of the Jew. 

But whatever are the causes of this neurosis, it is surely undesirablethat a race which exhibits it should be allowed to control the destiniesof the British Empire or indeed of any country. If "all the Jewish womenin Palestine are hysterical, " presumably many of their menkind sufferfrom the same disability, which certainly does not promise well for theluckless Arab who is to live beneath their sway. How much of the troublethat has occurred already in Palestine may be attributed to this causeit is impossible to know. The increasing number of Jews in positions ofauthority in England presents, however, a far greater subject for alarm. Jews and Arabs are at any rate both Semites and may be expected to havecertain ideas in common, but to place a highly civilized Aryan raceunder Semitic control is another matter. The time has come for everyBriton to ask himself whether he seriously desires to see the traditionsof his country, those great traditions of honour, integrity, and justicewhich have made the name of England great, replaced by Orientalstandards. I do not say that there are no honourable and upright Jews, but I do maintain that the spirit of fair play which is the essence ofthe British character is not the characteristic of the Jewish race ingeneral. The complete absence of this spirit shown in the attempts ofagitators to suppress free speech during elections cannot be attributedto English working-men--whose "sporting" instinct is highlydeveloped--and testifies to the alien character of the so-called Labourmovement. If England loses the spirit of fair play, she will have losther most priceless national heritage. 

Conservatism, which has always stood for these great traditions, allowsitself to be hypnotized by the memory of Disraeli and accepts his dictumthat "the natural tendency of the Jews is to Conservatism"--hence theadvisability of placing Jews in control of its interests. The late Mr. Hyndman saw further when he warned us that "those who are accustomed tolook upon all Jews as essentially practical and conservative, ascertain, too, to enlist on the side of the prevailing social system, will be obliged to reconsider their conclusions. "[861] The causes ofthe recent _débâcle_ of the Conservative Government are still obscure, but the fact remains that it was precisely at a moment when Conservativeorganization had passed largely into Jewish hands that Conservatism metwith the most astounding disaster in the whole of its history. If themanner in which Conservative propaganda was conducted at this moment wasan example of Jewish efficiency, it might be well to consider whether ona future occasion the task should not be confided into the hands ofsimple Britons. 

_The only effectual way of combating Socialism is to show up the alieninfluences behind it_. As long as the working man believes it to be theoutcome of a genuine British labour movement, he will turn a deaf ear toall warnings and anti-Socialist propaganda will merely serve to drivemore recruits into the Socialist camp. But let him once suspect that heis being made the tool of foreign intrigue, and all his national feelingwill assert itself. We have only to ask him whether he wants his worktaken from him by the import of alien goods, his housing accommodationappropriated by alien immigrants, finally to make him understand who arethe people behind the scenes advocating a policy so disastrous to histrue interests, in order to gain his support. The Secret Service hasoverwhelming evidence on this last point, which under a ConservativeGovernment might have been made public, but unseen influences in highplaces have ordained its suppression. The slogan "Britain for theBritons, " that would form the strongest counterblast to the falseslogans of Socialism, has been barred from Conservative platforms andthe very word "alien" avoided lest it should offend Jewishsusceptibilities. Thus out of deference to the Jews, Conservatism allowsits most powerful weapon to rust in its armoury. 

In reality these tactics avail nothing to the Conservative cause. Thegreat weight of Jewry will never be thrown into the scale of trueConservatism; only in so far as Conservatism abandons its patriotictraditions and compromises with the forces of Internationalism will itwin any considerable Jewish support. We have but to follow thecommitments on current politics in the Jewish press in order to realizethat the only standard by which the Jews judge of any political party isthe measure in which it will confer exclusive advantages on their ownrace. The Jewish question, therefore, does not turn on whether the Jewsshall be accorded everywhere equal rights with the rest of mankind, butwhether they shall be placed above the law, whether they shall beallowed to occupy everywhere a privileged position. [862] Nothing lesswill satisfy them, and any attempt to oppose this claim will always bemet by them with the cry of "persecution. " Further, this position ofprivilege represents to a section of Jewry merely a stage on the road toworld-domination. For if, as we have seen by documentary evidence, thisplan has always existed in the past, is it likely that it has beenabandoned at the very moment which seems most propitious for itsrealization? The trend of present events and the tone of the Jewishpress certainly do not warrant any such conclusion. 

To sum up, then, I do not think that the Jews can be proved to providethe sole cause of world-unrest. In order to establish this contention weshould be obliged to show the Jews to have been the authors of everypast social convulsion in the history of modern civilization, todiscover their influence behind the heretical sects of Islam, as behindthe Bavarian Illuminati and the Anarchists of Russia. In the absence ofany such conclusive evidence we must therefore recognize the existenceof other destructive forces at work in the world. 

But this is not to underrate the importance of the Jewish peril. Although the existence of an inner circle of Masonic "Elders" remainsproblematical, Jewry in itself constitutes the most effectualFreemasonry in the world. What need of initiations, or oaths, or signs, or passwords amongst people who perfectly understand each other and areeverywhere working for the same end? Far more potent than the sign ofdistress that summons Freemasons to each other's aid at moments of perilis the call of the blood that rallies the most divergent elements inJewry to the defence of the Jewish cause. 

The old complaint of the French merchants already quoted would thusappear to be justified, that "the Jews are particles of quicksilver, which at the least slant run together into a block. " One must thereforenot be deceived by the fact that they often appear disunited. There maybe, and indeed is, very little unity amongst Jews, but there is immensesolidarity. A Jew named Morel, referring to the persecution of theconverted Rabbi Drach by the Jews, observes:

 What can the wisest measures of the authorities of all countries do against _the vast and permanent conspiracy of a people_ which, like a network as vast as it is strong, stretched over the whole globe, brings its force to bear wherever an event occurs that interests the name of Israelite?[863]

It is this solidarity that constitutes the real Jewish Peril and at thesame time provides the real cause of "anti-Semitism. " If in a worldwhere all patriotism, all national traditions, and all Christian virtuesare being systematically destroyed by the doctrines of InternationalSocialism one race alone, a race that since time immemorial hascherished the dream of world-power, is not only allowed but encouragedto consolidate itself, to maintain all its national traditions, and tofulfil all its national aspirations at the expense of other races, it isevident that Christian civilization must be eventually obliterated. Thewave of anti-Jewish feeling that during the last few years has beenpassing over this country has nothing in common with the racial hatredthat inspires the "anti-Semitism" of Germany; it is simply the answer toa pretension that liberty-loving Britons will not admit. Those of uswho, sacrificing popularity and monetary gain, dare to speak out on thisquestion have no hatred in our hearts, but only love for our country. Webelieve that not only our national security but our great nationaltraditions are at stake, and that unless England awakens in time shewill pass under alien domination and her influence as the stronghold ofChristian civilization will be lost to the world. 

CONCLUSION

We have now followed the course of associations working throughoutnineteen centuries to undermine social and moral order and above allChristian civilization. We have also seen that although on the one handthe unholy spirit of destruction and on the other the natural spirit ofrevolt against oppression have always existed independently of anyorganization, it is to secret societies using and organizing theseforces that the revolutionary movement has owed its success. Further, wehave considered the possibility that behind both open and secretsubversive societies there may exist a hidden centre of direction, andfinally we have observed that at the present time many lines ofinvestigation reveal a connexion between these groups and the GrandOrient, or rather with an invisible circle concealed behind that greatmasonic power. At the same time this circle is clearly not French incharacter since everywhere the activities of World Revolution aredirected against France and England but seldom against Germany and neveragainst the Jews. It would not be an exaggeration to say that nosubversive movement in the world to-day is either pro-French, pro-British, or "anti-Semitic. " We must conclude then that if one Powercontrols the rest it is either the Pan-German Power, the Jewish Power orwhat we can only call Illuminism. 

This last hypothesis is one that deserves serious consideration. In thelight of our present knowledge it does not appear impossible that if aninner circle of World Revolution exists it consists of a purelyInternational group of men whose aim is that of Weishaupt--thedestruction of the present system of society. That such an aim can beseriously entertained is shown by the fact that it is openly proclaimedby a whole school of writers and thinkers ranging from gentle Idealiststo ferocious Anarchists who, whilst widely differing as to methods andthe ultimate ends to be attained, are agreed on the common purposeexpressed by Rabaud de Saint-Étienne in the words: "Everything, yes, everything must be destroyed, since everything must be re-made. "

It is idle to say that so insane a project can present no danger to theworld; the fact remains that an increasing number of people regard itwith perfect equanimity. The phrase: "All civilizations have passedaway; ours will doubtless pass away likewise, " is continually to beheard on the lips of apparently sane men and women who, whether theyadvocate such an eventuality or not, seem prepared to accept it in aspirit of complete fatalism and to put up no resistance. The point theyignore is that when civilization existed only in isolated spots on theearth's surface it might pass away in one spot only to spring to life inanother, but now that civilization is world-wide the dream of a return tonature and the joys of savagery conjured up by Rousseau and Weishauptcan never be realized. Yet if civilization in a material sense cannot bedestroyed, it is none the less possible to take the soul out of it, toreduce it to a dead and heartless machine without human feelings ordivine aspirations. The Bolsheviks continue to exist amidst telephones, electric light, and other amenities of modern life, but they have almostkilled the soul of Russia. In this sense then civilization may passaway, not as the civilizations of the ancient world passed away, leavingonly desert sands and crumbling ruins behind them, but vanishingimperceptibly from beneath the outward structure of our existinginstitutions. Here is the final goal of world revolution. 

If, then, one inner circle exists, composed of Illuminati animated by apurely destructive purpose it is conceivable that they might findsupport in those Germans who desire to disintegrate the countries of theAllies with a view to future conquests, and in those Jews who hope toestablish their empire on the ruins of Christian civilization--hence thesuperb organization and the immense financial resources at the disposalof the world revolutionaries. On the other hand it may be that thehidden centre of direction consists in a circle of Jews located in thebackground of the Grand Orient, or perhaps, like the earlynineteenth-century Illuminati, located nowhere but working in accord andusing both Pan-Germans and Gentile Illuminati as their tools. 

On this point I think it would be dangerous at present to dogmatize. Butthat the problem is capable of elucidation I have no doubt whatever. Ifthe Secret Services of the world had chosen to co-ordinate and makepublic the facts in their possession the whole plot might long sincehave been laid bare. A "Department for the Investigation of SubversiveMovements" should have had a place in every ordered government. Thismight have been created by the recent Conservative Government inEngland, but the same mysterious influence that protected the enemyduring the Great War has throughout prevented disclosures that wouldhave enlightened the country on the real nature of the peril confrontingit. In the present state of European politics the only course open tothose who would save civilization is to act independently ofgovernments, and form a counter-organization in each country withunofficial bureaux of information maintaining relations with each other, yet each retaining its national character. 

As far as this country is concerned I am convinced that only a greatnational movement can save us from destruction--a movement in which menof all classes and above all of the working-class will take part. Fascismo triumphed in Italy, because it was not, as it has been absurdlyrepresented, a reactionary movement, but because it was essentiallydemocratic and progressive, because by appealing to the noblestinstincts in human nature, to patriotism and self-sacrifice, it ralliedall elements in a disorganized and disunited nation around the standardof a common cause. 

One cannot bring about any great movement without first kindling asacred fire in the hearts of men; one cannot move masses of peoplemerely by appealing to self-interest; they must have a cause to fightfor, a cause that is not entirely their own. Socialism, whilst enlistinga large proportion of its following by appealing to their baserinstincts, has nevertheless, by its false ideals and promises, been ableto kindle a fire in many generous hearts, and to persuade deludedenthusiasts that they are working for the welfare of humanity. The onlyway to combat Socialism is to create counter enthusiasm for a trueideal. 

Yet even Mussolini found that a purely secular ideal was not enough, andthat the spirit of religious fervour was necessary to defeat the spiritof materialism and destruction. For behind the concrete forces ofrevolution--whether Pan-German, Judaic, or Illuminist--beyond thatinvisible secret circle which perhaps directs them all, is there not yetanother force, still more potent, that must be taken into account? Inlooking back over the centuries at the dark episodes that have markedthe history of the human race from its earliest origins--strange andhorrible cults, waves of witchcraft, blasphemies, and desecrations--howis it possible to ignore the existence of an Occult Power at work in theworld? Individuals, sects, or races fired with the desire ofworld-domination, have provided the fighting forces of destruction, butbehind them are the veritable powers of darkness in eternal conflictwith the powers of light. 

APPENDIX

I

JEWISH EVIDENCE ON THE TALMUD

The denunciation of the Talmud by the Jew Pfefferkorn in 1509 and theex-Rabbi Drach in 1844 have been quoted in the course of this book. Graetz however, in his _History of the Jews_, quotes an earlier incidentof this kind. [864] In the thirteenth century a converted Jew and formerTalmudist Donin who, on his baptism, assumed the name of Nicholas, presented himself before the Pope, Gregory IX, "and brought chargesagainst the Talmud, saying that it distorted the words of Holy Writ, andin the Agadic portions of it there were to be found disgracefulrepresentations of God, " that it contained many gross errors andabsurdities, further that "it was filled with abuse against the founderof the Christian religion and the Virgin. Donin demonstrated that it wasthe Talmud which prevented the Jews from accepting Christianity, andthat without it they would certainly have abandoned their state ofunbelief. " Again "he stated that the Talmudical writings taught it was ameritorious action to kill the best man among the Christians[865] ... That it was lawful to deceive a Christian without any scruple; that itwas permitted to Jews to break a promise made on oath. " These Graetzdescribes as lying charges. 

The Jews were accordingly ordered by the Pope to hand over all theircopies of the Talmud to the Dominicans and Franciscans for examination, and if their judgment should corroborate the charges of Nicholas Donin, they were to burn the volumes of the Talmud (June 9, 1239). 

In France Graetz goes on to relate that "the priest-ridden andweak-minded Louis IX"--that is to say, Saint Louis--pursued the samecourse. "The Talmud was put on its trial. Four distinguished Rabbis ofNorth France were commanded by the King to hold a public disputationwith Nicholas, either to refute the imputations levelled against theTalmud, or to make confession of the abuse against Christianity and theblasphemies against God that it contained. "

It is impossible to imagine a fairer decision, and the queen-mother, Blanche de Castille, was careful to assure the first witness summonedthat if the lives of the Rabbis were in danger she would protect themand that he was only required to answer the questions that would beasked of him. Now, there would have been nothing simpler than for theRabbis to admit honestly that these offensive passages existed, thatthey had been written perhaps in moments of passion in a lessenlightened age, that they recognized the indelicacy of insulting thereligion of the country in which they lived, and that therefore suchpassages should henceforth be deleted. But instead of adopting thisstraightforward course, which might have put an end for ever to attackson the book they held sacred, the Rabbis proceeded to deny the existenceof the "alleged blasphemous and immoral expressions" and to declare that"the odious facts related in the Talmud concerning a Jesus, the son ofPantheras, had no reference to Jesus of Nazareth, but to one of asimilar name who had lived long before him. " Graetz, who admits thatthis was an error and that the passages in question did relate to theJesus of the Christians, represents the Rabbis as being merely "misled"on the question. But the King, who was not misled by the Rabbis, orderedall copies of the Talmud to be burnt, and in June 1242 these werecommitted to the flames. [866]

The Talmud, however, continued to exist, and it was not until 1640 that, as we have already seen, the offending passages against Christ wereexpunged by the Rabbis as a measure of expediency. Now that they havebeen replaced, no further attempt is made to deny that they refer to thefounder of Christianity. As far as I am aware they are not included inany English translation of the Talmud, but may be found in an Englishversion of Dr. Gustav H. Dalman's book, _Jesus Christus im Talmud_(1891). 

II

THE "PROTOCOLS" OF THE ELDERS OF ZION

Contrary to the assertions of certain writers, I have never affirmed mybelief in the authenticity of the Protocols, but have always treated itas an entirely open question. [867] The only opinion to which I havecommitted myself is that, whether genuine or not, the Protocols dorepresent the programme of world revolution, and that in view of theirprophetic nature and of their extraordinary resemblance to the protocolsof certain secret societies in the past, they were either the work ofsome such society or of someone profoundly versed in the lore of secretsocieties who was able to reproduce their ideas and phraseology. 

The so-called refutation of the Protocols which appeared in the _Times_of August 1922, tends to confirm this opinion. According to thesearticles the Protocols were largely copied from the book of MauriceJoly, _Dialogues aux Enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu_, publishedin 1864. Let it be said at once that the resemblance between the twoworks could not be accidental, not only are whole paragraphs almostidentical, but the various points in the programme follow each other inprecisely the same order. But whether Nilus copied from Joly or _fromthe same source whence Joly derived his ideas_ is another question. Itwill be noticed that Joly in his preface never claimed to haveoriginated the scheme described in his book; on the contrary hedistinctly states that it "personifies in particular a political systemwhich has not varied for a single day in its application since thedisastrous and alas! too far-off date of its enthronement. " Could thisrefer only to the government of Napoleon III, established twelve yearsearlier? Or might it not be taken to signify a Machiavellian system ofgovernment of which Napoleon III was suspected by Joly at this moment ofbeing the exponent? We have already seen that this system is said by M. De Mazères, in his book _De Machiavel et de l'influence de sa doctrinesur les opinions, les moeurs et la politique de la France pendant laRévolution_, published in 1816, to have been inaugurated by the FrenchRevolution, and to have been carried on by Napoleon I against whom hebrings precisely the same accusations of Machiavellism that Joly bringsagainst Napoleon III. "The author of _The Prince_, " he writes, "wasalways his guide, " and he goes on to describe the "parrot cries placedin the mouths of the people, " the "hired writers, salaried newspapers, mercenary poets and corrupt ministers employed to mislead our vanitymethodically"--all this being carried on by "the scholars of Machiavelliunder the orders of his cleverest disciple. " We have already traced thecourse of these methods from the Illuminati onwards. 

Now precisely at the moment when Joly published his _Dialogues auxEnfers_ the secret societies were particularly active, and since by thisdate a number of Jews had penetrated into their ranks a whole crop ofliterary efforts directed against Jews and secret societies marked thedecade. Eckert with his work on Freemasonry in 1852 had given theincentive; Crétineau Joly followed in 1859 with _L'Eglise Romaine enface de la Révolution_, reproducing the documents of the Haute VenteRomaine; in 1868 came the book of the German anti-Semite Goedsche, andin the following year on a higher plane the work of Gougenot DesMousseaux, _Le Juif, le Judaïsme, et la Judaïsation des PeuplesChrétiens_. Meanwhile in 1860 the _Alliance Israëlite Universelle_ hadarisen, having for its ultimate object "the great work of humanity, theannihilation of error and fanaticism, the union of human society in afaithful and solid fraternity"--a formula singularly reminiscent ofGrand Orient philosophy; in 1864 Karl Marx obtained control of thetwo-year-old "International Working Men's Association, " by which anumber of secret societies became absorbed, and in the same year Bakuninfounded his _Alliance Sociale Démocratique_ on the exact lines ofWeishaupt's Illuminism, and in 1869 wrote his _Polémique contre lesJuifs_ (or _Etude sur les Juifs allemands_) mainly directed against theJews of the _Internationale_. The sixties of the last century thereforemark an important era in the history of the secret societies, and it wasright in the middle of this period that Maurice Joly published his book. 

Now it will be remembered that amongst the sets of parallels to theProtocols quoted by me in _World Revolution_, two were taken from thesources above quoted--the documents of the Haute Vente Romaine and theprogramme of Bakunin's secret society, the _Alliance SocialeDémocratique_. Meanwhile Mr. Lucien Wolf had found another parallel tothe Protocols in Goedsche's book. "The Protocols, " Mr. Wolf had nohesitation in asserting, "are, in short, an amplified imitation ofGoedsche's handiwork"[868] and he went on to show that "Nilus followedthis pamphlet very closely. " The Protocols were then declared by Mr. Wolf and his friends to have been completely and finally refuted. 

But alas for Mr. Wolfe's discernment! The _Times_ articles came andabolished the whole of his carefully constructed theory. They did not, however, demolish mine; on the contrary, they supplied another and avery curious link in the chain of evidence. For is it not remarkablethat one of the sets of parallels quoted by me appeared in the same yearas Joly's book, and that within the space of nine years no less thanfour parallels to the Protocols should have been discovered? Let usrecapitulate the events of this decade in the form of a table and theproximity of dates will then be more apparent:

 1859. Crétineau Joly's book published containing documents of Haute Vente Romaine (parallels quoted by me). 

 1860. _Alliance Israëlite Universelle_ founded. 

 1864. _1st Internationale_ taken over by Karl Marx. 

 " _Alliance Sociale Démocratique_ of Bakunin founded (parallels quoted by me). " Maurice Joly's _Dialogue aux Enfers_ published (parallels quoted by _Times_). 

 1866. 1st Congress of Internationale at Geneva. 

 1868. Goedsche's _Biarritz_ (parallels quoted by Mr. Lucien Wolf). 

 1869. Gougenot Des Mousseaux's _Le Juif_, etc. 

 " Bakunin's _Polémique contre les Juifs_. 

It will be seen, then, that at the moment when Maurice Joly wrote his_Dialogues_, the ideas they embodied were current in many differentcircles. It is interesting, moreover, to notice that the authors of thelast two works referred to above, the Catholic and Royalist DesMousseaux and the Anarchist Bakunin, between whom it is impossible toimagine any connexion, both in the same year denounced the growing powerof the Jews whom Bakunin described as "the most formidable sect" inEurope, and again asserted that a leakage of information had taken placein the secret societies. Thus in 1870 Bakunin explains that his secretsociety has been broken up because its secrets have been givenaway, [869] and that his colleague Netchaïeff has arrived at theconclusion that "in order to found a serious and indestructible societyone must take for a basis the policy of Machiavelli. "[870] MeanwhileGougenot Des Mousseaux had related in _Le Juif_, that in December 1865he had received a letter from a German statesman saying:

 Since the revolutionary recrudescence of 1848, I have had relations with a Jew who, from vanity, betrayed the secret of the secret societies with which he had been associated, and who warned me eight or ten days beforehand of all the revolutions which were about to break out at any point of Europe. I owe to him the unshakeable conviction that all these movements of "oppressed peoples, " etc. , etc. , are devised by half a dozen individuals, who give their orders to the secret societies of all Europe. The ground is absolutely mined beneath our feet, and the Jews provide a large contingent of these miners.... [871]

These words were written in the year after the _Dialogues aux Enfers_were published. 

It is further important to notice that Joly's work is dated from Geneva, the meeting-place for all the revolutionaries of Europe, includingBakunin, who was there in the same year, and where the first Congress ofthe _Internationale_ led by Karl Marx was held two years later. Alreadythe revolutionary camp was divided into warring factions, and therivalry between Marx and Mazzini had been superseded by the strugglebetween Marx and Bakunin. And all these men were members of secretsocieties. It is by no means improbable then that Joly, himself arevolutionary, should during his stay in Geneva have come into touchwith the members of some secret organization, who may have betrayed tohim their own secret or those of a rival organization they had reasonto suspect of working under the cover of revolutionary doctrines for anulterior end. Thus the protocols of a secret society modelled on thelines of the Illuminati or the Haute Vente Romaine may have passed intohis hands and been utilized by him as an attack on Napoleon who, owingto his known connexion with the Carbonari, might have appeared to Jolyas the chief exponent of the Machiavellian art of duping the people andusing them as the lever to power which the secret societies had reducedto a system. 

This would explain Maurice Joly's mysterious reference to the "politicalsystem which has not varied for a single day in its application sincethe disastrous and alas! too far-off date of its enthronement. "Moreover, it would explain the resemblance between all the parallels tothe Protocols from the writings of the Illuminati and Mirabeau's _Projetde Révolution_ of 1789 onwards. For if the system had never varied, thecode on which it was founded must have remained substantially the same. Further, if it had never varied up to the time when Joly wrote, whyshould it have varied since that date? The rules of lawn tennis drawn upin 1880 would probably bear a strong resemblance to those of 1920, andwould also probably follow each other in the same sequence. Thedifferences would occur where modern improvements had been added. 

Might not the same process of evolution have taken place between thedates at which the works of Joly and Nilus were published? I do notagree with the opinion of the _Morning Post_ that "the author of theProtocols must have had the _Dialogues_ of Joly before him. " It ispossible, but not proven. Indeed, I find it difficult to imagine thatanyone embarking on such an elaborate imposture should not havepossessed the wit to avoid quoting passages verbatim--without eventroubling to arrange them in a different sequence--from a book whichmight at any moment be produced as evidence against him. For contrary tothe assertions of the _Times_ the _Dialogues_ of Joly is by no means arare book, not only was it to be found at the British Museum but at theLondon Library and recently I was able to buy a copy for the modest sumof 15 francs. There was therefore every possibility of Nilus beingsuddenly confronted with the source of his plagiarism. Further, is itconceivable that a plagiarist so unskilful and so unimaginative wouldhave been capable of improving on the original? For the Protocols are avast improvement on the _Dialogues_ of Joly. The most striking passagesthey contain are not to be found in the earlier work, nor, which is moreremarkable, are several of the amazing prophecies concerning the futurewhich time has realized. It is this latter fact which presents the mostinsuperable obstacle to the _Times_ solution of the problem. 

To sum up then, the Protocols are either a mere plagiarism of MauriceJoly's work, in which case the prophetic passages added by Nilus oranother remain unexplained, or they are a revised edition of the plancommunicated to Joly in 1864, brought up to date and supplemented so asto suit modern conditions by the continuers of the plot. 

Whether in this case the authors of the Protocols were Jews or whetherthe Jewish portions have been interpolated by the people into whosehands they fell is another question. Here we must admit the absence ofany direct evidence. An International circle of world revolutionariesworking on the lines of the Illuminati, of which the existence hasalready been indicated, offers a perfectly possible alternative to the"Learned Elders of Zion. " It would be easier, however to absolve theJews from all suspicion of complicity if they and their friends hadadopted a more straightforward course from the time the Protocolsappeared. When some years ago a work of the same kind was directedagainst the Jesuits, containing what purported to be a "Secret Plan" ofrevolution closely resembling the Protocols, [872] the Jesuits indulgedin no invectives, made no appeal that the book should be burnt by thecommon hangman, resorted to no fantastic explanations, but quietlypronounced the charge to be a fabrication. Thus the matter ended. 

But from the moment the Protocols were published the Jews and theirfriends had recourse to every tortuous method of defence, broughtpressure to bear on the publishers--succeeded, in fact, in temporarilystopping the sales--appealed to the Home Secretary to order theirsuppression, concocted one clinching refutation after another, allmutually exclusive of each other, so that by the time the solution nowpronounced to be the correct one appeared, we had already been assuredhalf a dozen times that the Protocols had been completely and finallyrefuted. And when at last a really plausible explanation had beendiscovered, why was it not presented in a convincing manner? All thatwas necessary was to state that the origin of the Protocols had beenfound in the work of Maurice Joly, giving parallels in support of thisassertion. What need to envelop a good case in a web of obvious romance?Why all this parade of confidential sources of information, the pretencethat Joly's book was so rare as to be almost unfindable when a search inthe libraries would have proved the contrary? Why these allusions toConstantinople as the place "to find the key to dark secrets, " to themysterious Mr. X. Who does not wish his real name to be known, and tothe anonymous ex-officer of the Okhrana from whom by mere chance hebought the very copy of the _Dialogues_ used for the fabrication of theProtocols by the Okhrana itself, although this fact was unknown to theofficer in question? Why, further, should Mr. X. , if he were a Russianlandowner, Orthodox by religion and a Constitutional Monarchist, be soanxious to discredit his fellow Monarchists by making the outrageousassertion that "the only occult Masonic organization such as theProtocols speak of"--that is to say, a Machiavellian system of anabominable kind--which he had been able to discover in Southern Russia"was a Monarchist one"?

It is evident then that the complete story of the Protocols has not yetbeen told, and that much yet remains to be discovered concerning thismysterious affair. 

INDEX

Abdullah ibn Maymūn, 37, 197

Abraham, Book of, 8

"Abraham the Jew, " 85

"Absolutes, " the, 265

Adam, Book of (see _Codex Nasaræus_)

Adamites, the, 31

Additional Degrees, the 132-148

Akhnaton (see Ikh-naton)

Albigenses, the, 74-76

Alemanus (or Datylus), 85

_Aliance Sociale Démocratique_, 268, 295

Alsace, Jews of, 247

Alta Vendita (or Haute Vente Romaine), 266

Altotas, 174, 200

Amaury, King of Jerusalem, 50

Amèlie, Queen of Portugal, 283

_Amis Réunis_ (Loge des), 165, 170, 236

Ampthill, Lord, 287

Anabaptists, 180

Ancient Masonry, 304

Anderson's Constitutions, 129, 148

Anna of Courland, 165

Anthroposophical Society, 316

Antin, Duc d', 137 note, 145, 148, 155, 162

Antitacts, 31

Architecture, Gothic, 111

Aristobulos, 28

Athanasius, Kircher, 86

Ashkenazim, 247

Ashmole, Elias, 102, 122

Asiatic Brethren, 169

Assassins, the 44-48, 113

Ba'al Shems, 181, _et seq_. 

Babeuf, 252

Bacon, Francis, 97, 119

Bacon, Roger, 143

Bakunin, Michel, 268, 384

Baldwin II, 49

Balsamo, Joseph (see Cagliostro)

Baphomet, 64, 72

Barbusse, H. , 321

Baron, André, 188

Barruel, Abbé, vi, ix, 121, 147, 254, 382

Barthou, Monsieur, 203, 204

Bavaria, Duke of, 86

Bela Kun, 386

Belgium, Freemasonry in, 282

Belle-Isle, Maréchal de, 173

Bérage, Chevalier de, 139

Berckheim, François Charles de, 258, _et seq. _

Besant, Mrs. Annie, 297, _et seq. _

Bielfeld, Baron de, 152

Bismarck, Prince von, 356, 357, 366

Blanc, Louis, 268

Blavatsky, Madame, 298, _et seq. _

Bode, Christian, 211, 233-234, 236, 255

Bogomils, 63, _et seq. _

Bolshevism, 357, _et seq. _, 384, _et seq. _

Bordeaux Jews of, 246, 247

Bourbon, Duc de, 136, 137

Bourbon, Duchesse de, 295

Brinvilliers, Marquise de, 93

Bruce, Robert, 111, 112, 142

Brunswick, Duke of, 154, 191, 252, _et seq. _, 350

Bullock, 314

Buonarotti, 252

Bussell, Dr. F. W. , 50, 128

Cabala, the ancient, 111-- the Jewish, 6, _et seq. _; origins of, 7 _et seq. _; 71, 78, 81, 85, 86, 106, 107, 109, 110, 119, 124, 166, 181, 228, 318, 371, _et seq. _

Cabalists, the Christian, 15, 85-- the Jewish, ch. Viii. 

Cagliostro, 174, 191, 233, 235

Cainites, 30, 76

Cambacérès, Prince, 255

Carbonari, 266, 342, 351

Carlos, King of Portugal, 283

Carpocratians, the, 30, 31

Carvajal, 178

Catherine de Medicis, 79

Chambers, Ephraim, _Cyclopædia_, 161

Charles VI, King of France, 246

Charles Edward, Prince, 153, 154

Charter of Larmenius, 66, 135, 157

Chefdebien d'Armisson, Marquis de, 171, 234, 236, 256

Choiseul, Duc de, 172

"Christians of St. John" (see Mandæans)

Clarté, 321, 322

_Clavicules de Solomon_, 166

Clement V, 51, 53, 54, 59

Clement XII, 138

Coat-of-Anns of Grand Lodge, 123

_Codex Nasaræus_, 71

Co-Masonry, 301, _et seq. _, 319

Compagnonnages, 108

Condorcet, Marquis de, 162, 171

_Confessia Fraternitatis_, 87

Copin Albancelli, Monsieur, 278, _et seq_. 

Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, 86

Cossé Brissac, Duc de, 150

"Council of the Emperors of the East, " 149

Court de Gebelin, 171

Crémieux, Adolphe, 268

Croix, Madame de la, 194

Cromwell, Oliver, 125, 126, 179

Crowley, Aleister, 314, 315

Crypto-Jews, 178

D'Alembert, 161

Danton, 245

Darazi, Ismail, 43

Dar ul Hikmat, 40, 113

D'Aumont, Pierre, 111

Deraismes, Maria, 296

Derwentwater, Lord, 134

Dasmoulins, Camille, 245

Diderot, 160, 161

Disraeli, Benjamin, (Earl of Beaconsfield), 383

Drach, P. L. B. , 11, 12, 14, 15, 402

Druses, 43, 44, 284

Duchanteau, 234

Eckhoffen, Baron von, 169

Edward II, 55, 111

Egyptian Rite, 174

_Einwohnerwehr_, 362

Eliphas Lévi, 60, 62, 65, 68, 77, 79, 83, 310

Elymas the sorcerer, 29

Emden, 186

Encausse, Dr. Gérard (see Papus)

_Encyclopédie_, 160-165

Engel, Leopold, 311

Ephrain, 249

_Ernst und Folk_, 191-195

Esperanto, 346

_Essai sur la Secte des Illuminés_, 240, _et seq_. , 258

Essenes, the, 23-27, 110

Euchites, 76

Fabré Palaprat, 67, 68, 135

Falk, Hayyim Samuel Jacob, 185, _et. Seq. _

_Fama Fraternitatis_, 86

Fare, Monseigneur de la, 247

Fascismo, 282

Fatimites, 40

Felkin, Dr. R. , 313-316

Fénélon, 144

Flamel, Nicholas, 85

Fleury, Cardinal, 137, 138

Florence, Secret Society at, 190, 191

Fludd, Robert, 84, 97, 121

Frank, Jacob (alias Baron von Offenbach), 182

Frankists, 182

Frederick the Great, 152, 156, 163-165, 206, 213, 366-- and Freemasonry, 152, 156, 159, 160-- and Voltaire, 157, 158

Freemasonry, origins of, ch. V-- Grand Lodge Era of, ch. Vi-- Modern, ch. Xi-- British, 103, 126-131, 285-293-- Grand Orient, 149, 273-285-- -- and the Cabala, 105-110, 123-- -- and the Essenes, 110-- -- and the Roman Colelgia, 101, 108-- -- and the _compagnonnages_, 110-- in Belgium, 282-- in Spain, 283-- in Portugal, 283-- in Hungary, 284-- in Turkey, 284-- and Templarism, 110-117, 138-142-- and Rosicrucianism, 98, 119-122-- and the Catholic Church, 272, 288-- and women, 294-296-- in Germany, 356-- in France, 273-285

Galcerandus de Teus, 68

Gassner, 175

"German Union, " 236

Gilles de Rais, 77-79

Ginsburg, Dr. Christian, 23-26

Gleichen, Baron de, 165, 189, 190

Gnostics, 27-32

Gobel, Archbishop, 249

Godefroi de Bouillon, 49, 139

Goldsmid, Aaron, 187

"Goose and Gridiron, " 127, 128

Gordon, Lord George, 194

Goudchaux, Juliet, 193

Gougenot des Mousseaux, 10, 11, 381

Grand Chapitre Général de France, 150

Grand Orient, 149, 160, 171, 273, _et seq_. , 303, 304, 323, 352, 384

Grand Orient of Italy, 284

Granjo, Dr. Antonio, 283

Great Rebellion, 178

Grégoire, Abbé, 69

Hakim, 43

Hamburg, Grand Lodge of, 133-152

"Harnouester, " Lord, 145

Hartmann, Franz, 316

Hasan and Husein, 35

Hasan Saba (The Old Man of the Mountain), 44-48

Hashishyin (see Assassins)

Hasidim, 182, _et. Seq. _

Heguerty, Squire, 134

Heilprin (Joel ben Uri), 182

Heindl, Max, 317

Helvétius, 162

Heredom, 112

Hertz, David Moses, 169

Herz, Henrietta, 230

Hesse, Prince Charles of, 125, 129, 154, 171

Heydon, John, 97

Hiram Abiff, 106-108, 110, 164

Hiram, King of Tyre, 106

_Hiram or the Grand Master Key_, 130

Hiramic legend, 106, 107, 110, 217

Holbach, Baron d', 162

Horos, Mme, 314

Hugues de Pavens, 49, 66, 67

Hundt, Baron von, 153, 154, 157

"Idealists, " 265

Ikhnaton (or Akhnaton), 6, 297

Illuminati, Bavarian, ch. Ix and x, 350-- Modern Order of, 311

_Illuminés d'Avignon_, 166

_Illuminés, French_ (_Martinistes_), 165-176, 233, 310

_Illuminés Théosophes_, 166

_In Eminenti_, Papal Bull, 138

Innes, B. , 314

Institute for Harmonius Development of Man, 323

International Bureau for Masonic Affairs, 320

Israel of Podolia (Ba'al Shem Job), 182

"Italian Order, " 133, 191

Jachin and Boaz, 107, 111; pamphlet so-called, 130, 131

Jacques du Molay, 51, 52, 56, 110, 147, 164

James II, 126

Jeanne d'Arc, 77

Jechiel, Rabbi, 85

Jesuits, 125, 197, 414

Jesus Christ, Birth of, 17-- and Rabbis, 17, 18

Jews, the, xi, xii; ch. Xv-- as Cabalists, 6-16, 78-82, 85, 86, 166-168, ch. Viii-- and magic, 29, 78-82, 175, 178, 181, 182, 184-188, 384-- and medicine, 81, 82-- and Jesus Christ, 17-23, 68, 86, 374-- and Christianity, 374, 378-380-- and Freemasonry, 108-110, 122-124, 130, 169, 277, 280, 284, 384-- in France, 246, _et seq. _, 365, _et seq. _-- and Germany, 365-368

Johannism, 68-71, 157

Johnson (alias Leucht or Becker), 155, 158

Karmath (Hamdan), 38

Karmathites, 38-40

Kay, John de, 365

Kilmarnock, Lord, 153

Kilwinning, Lodge of, 112

Knigge, Baron von, alias Philo, 210-211, 234, 266

Knight Kadosch, 147, 159, 164, 280

Knights of the East, 149

Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, 59, 116

Knights Templar (see Templars)

<g>Knorr</g>, Baron von Rosenroth, 86

Kollowrath-Krakowski, Comte Leopold de, 236

Kölmer, 199

Koran, 22

Krishnamurti, 301, 305

<g>Kropotkine</g>, Peter, Prince, 268

Kuentz, R. , 318

"Kundalini, " 325

Labour Party, the, 360, 362, 368, 389

Lacorne, 149, 163

Lafayette, 162, 236

Lamballe, Princesse de, 295

Lambert, Alexandre, 250, 251

Lanze, the Illuminatus, 235

Larménie, Jacques de (see Charter of Larmenius)

Lazare, Bernard, 122, 177

Leadbeater, Mr. , 301, 308

"Leon, the Jew, " 175

_Le Secret des Francs-Maçons_, 131

_Les Francis-Maçons écrasés_, 131, 169

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, 191, 229

Levellers, the, 180

_Libres Penseurs_, Lodge of the, 296

Lippe-Bückeburg, Graf von, 152

Little, Robert Wentworth, 310

Lima, Magalhaes, 283

Lodge "Theodore de Bon Conseil, " 205, 228

Loge des Neuf Lœurs, 236, _et seq. _

_Loi Chapelier_, 206

_L'Ordre des Francs-Maçons trahi_, 131

Luchet, Marquis de, 169, 239, _et seq. _, 350

Luciferians, the, 63, 64, 76

Lulli, Raymond, 85

Luria, Isaac, 78

Luther, Martin, and the Jews, 21

Machiavelli, 354, 355

Mackenzie, Kenneth, 90, 189

_Maçonnerie d'Adoption_, 295

_Maçonnique Mixte Internationale, Ordre_, 296, 301, _et seq. _

Magic, branches of, 84

Magicians, 172-176

Maitland, Edward, 310

Manasseh ben Israel, 123, 179

Mandaites (see Mandæans)

Mandæans, 70, 71

Manes (Cubricus), 33, 107

Manicheism, 32, _et seq. _, 74, 75

Marat, 245

Marcosians, 31

Maria Theresa, 183

Marie Antoinette, 164, 195, 283

Marotti, Abbé, 209

Marschall, Baron von, 153, 156

Martin, Dr. George, 296

Martines de Pasqually, 165, 166, 310

_Martinistes_ (see _Illuminés, French_)

Mary, Mother of Jesus, 22

Marx[D], Karl, 385

Maskeline, Chevalier, 134

Mathers, M. , 312-314

Mauvillon, 210

Mayas, 4, 119

Meakin, 316

Melchisedeck Lodges, 169

Mendelssohn, Moses, 191, 229

"Mercaba, The, " 123

Mesmer, 175

Mirabeau, Honoré Gabriel Riquetti, Comte de, 89, 90, 155, 203-205, 230, 236, 241-243; his _Histoire de la Monarchie Prussienne_, 205

Momoro, 249

Monotheism, 5

Morley, Lord, 160

Moses de Leon, 9, 28

Mounier, vii, 227

Mount Moriah, 106

Mussolini, 405

Mysteries, Eleusinian, 5, 32

_Nathan der Weise_, 191

Nazarenes, 71

Nazarites, 71

Nazoreans, 70

Necklace, Affair of, 234

_New Atlantis_, 119

"New Saints, The, " 182

_Nishmat Hayim_, 81, 179

Nizam ul Mulk, 45

Nizzachon (see Sepher Nizzachon)

Olcott, Colonel, 298

Omar Khayyam, 45

Ophites, the, 30

_<g>Ordre</g> du Temple_ (modern), 65, 116, 135, 136, 150, 156, 300

Ordre de Saint-Lazare, 136

Orléans, Phillippe, Duc d' (the Regent), 135, 136

Orléans, Louis Phillippe Joseph (Duc de Chartres), 149, 150, 159, 160, 193, 194, 244

Osiris, 16, 107

_Ostmarkenverein_, 362

Pan-Germanism, 353, _et seq. _

_Pantheisticon_, Toland's, 129

Papus (Dr. Gérard Encausse), 162, 310

Paracelsus, 85, 86

Paris, Comte de, 194

"Parvus, " alias Helphandlt (Israel Lazarewitch), 363

Paulicians, the, 63

Pepys, Samuel, 181

Pernetti, Dom, 166

Pfefferkorn, 86

_Philalèthes_, 171, 234

Phillippe le Bel, 51, 57, 59, 147

Philo (of Alexandria), 28

"Philo" (see Knigge)

Pico della Mirandola, 85, 93

Pike, Albert, 160

Poale Zion, 383

Pompadour, Marquise de, 173

Portugal, Freemasonry in, 283, 384-- Carbonarios of, 342

Pott, Mrs. , 96, 119

Prelati, 77

Prie, Marquise de, 136

_Protocols of the Elders of Zion_, 381, and Appendix II

Proudhon, 268

Psycho-analysis, 345, 393

Pythagoras, 6

Ragon (François), 65, 122, 310

Rainsford, General, 168, 234

Ramsay, Andrew M. , Chevalier, 136, 137, 161, 163

Ranking, Dr. , 73

Raymond, Comte de Tripoli, 50, 75

Reuchlin, 86

Richelieu, Cardinal, 85

Richter, Samuel, alias Sincerus Renatus, 169

_Rit Primitif_, 171, 175

Rite of Perfection, 145, 159, 167

Rite of Swedenborg, 166

Robison, 212, 254, see also Preface vi-viii

Roman Catholic Church, 288

Rosenkreutz, Christian, 87, 88, 91, 316, 319

Rose-Croix, degree of, 112, 142-145, 157, 164, 166-169, 202, 235, 277

Rosicrucians, 84-98, 119-122, 168; Brothers of the Golden and Rosy Cross, 169; modern Rosicrucians, 310, _et seq. _

Rosy Cross, Brothers of (see Rosicrucians)

Royal Arch Degree, 132, 133, 277

Sabians (see Mandæans)

Sade, Marquis de, 78, 246

St. Bernard, 49

"Saint-Germaine, Comte de, " 172-175, 234, 306

St. John the Baptist, 70

St. John, the Evangelist, 72, 73-- Gospel of, 31, 69, 73, 74, 188-- Knights and Brethren of, 169

Saladin, 49

Salisbury Cathedral, 111

Salonica, lodges of, 284

Sand, George, 207

Satanael, 72

Satanism, 63, 76-84, 324-326

Savalette de Lange, 170, 171, 190, 234, 237

Savine, Monsignor de, 257, 351

Schem Hamphorasch(see _Tetragrammaton_)

Schroeder, 190

Schroepfer, 172

Scottish Rite (or Ancient and Accepted Rite), 132, 142, 145, 159, 277

Seal of Solomon, 189

Sephardim, 246-247

Sepher Nizzachon, 86

Sepher Toldoth Jeschu (see _Toledot Yeshu_)

_Sepher Yetzirah_, 7, 313

Shabbethai, Zebi, 181, 183

Shiahs, 36, 37

Simon ben Jochai, 8

Simon Magus, 29

Sixtus IV, 85

Socialism, ch. Xiii-- and Freemasonry, 273-275

Solomon, 106, 109

Solomon, Temple of, 49, 106-108, 110, 113, 271

Spedalieri, Baron, 310

Sprengel, Anna, 311-313

Star, five-pointed, 111

Star in the East, Order of, 301, 307

Steiner, Rudolf, 316-318

Stella Matutina, 316, 319, 325

"Stricte Observance, " Order of the, 135, 154, 233

Sunnis, 36

Swedenborg Emmanuel, 166

Switzerland, Masonic Congress in, 287-- a centre of revolution, 364

Syed Ameer Ali, 35, 113, 309

Talmud, the, 6, 71, 80, 183, 369, _et seq. _

Taxil, Léo, 76, 324

Templars (see Knights Templar)

Templar tradition in Freemasonry, 110, _et seq. _

Temple of Solomon (see Solomon)

Templo, Rabbi Jacob Jehuda Leon, 123

_Tetragrammaton_, 21, 27, 167, 176, 181, 185, 313, 352

Theosophy, 297, _et seq. _

Theosophical Society, 300, 307, _et seq. _

_Toledot Yeshu_ (or Sepher Toldoth Jeschu), 20, 68, 71, 86, 299, 300

Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood, 299

Tschoudy, Baron, 139, 140

Tugendbund, 265

"United States of Europe, " 275, 336

"Universal Republic, " 275, 336

Valentinians, the, 31, 32

Vaughan, Thos. , 316

Vehmgerichts, 117

Voltaire, 79, 152, 153, 156, 162, 213

Vulliaud, Monsieur Paul, 7, 8

Waechter, Baron de, 190

Waite, Mr. A. E. , 91, 96, 113, 133, 315

Westminster Abbey, 111

Weishaupt, Adam, ch. Ix, 255-257, 311

Wilhelmsbad, Congress of, 233

Willermoz, 166, 171

William of Orange, 180

Winstanley, Gerard, 180

Witches, 81

Witt Doehring, 265

Wolf, Lucien, 123, 381

Women Masons, 295 (see also "Co-Masonry" and "_Maçonnerie Mixte_")

Woodford, Rev. A. F. A. , 311

Young Turk Movement, 284

Zaddikim, 181

Zerdascht, 14

_Zohar, The_, 8, 9, 81, 182, 183, 371, 373

Zoharites, 182

Zoroastrians, 14, 201

FOOTNOTES

[1] _Moniteur_ for the 14th Fructidor, An II. 

[2] Seth Payson, _Proofs of the Real Existence and Dangerous Tendency ofIlluminism_ (Charleston, 1802), pp. 5-7. 

[3] Ibid. , p. 5 note. 

[4] Quoted in the Life of John Robison (1739-1805) by George Stronach inthe _Dictionary of National Biography_, Vol. XLIX. P. 58. 

[5] _Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, Vol. VII, pp. 538, 539 (1815). 

[6] _Freemasonry, its Pretensions Exposed_ ... By a Master Mason, p. 275(New York. 1828). 

[7] _Mémoires sur le Jacobinisme_, II. 195 (1818 edition). 

[8] Barruel, op. Cit. , II. 208. 

[9] Ibid. , II. 311. 

[10] I use the word "anti-Semitism" here in the sense in which it hascome to be used--that is to say, anti-Jewry, but place it in invertedcommas because it is in reality a misnomer coined by the Jews in orderto create a false impression. The word anti-Semite literally signifies aperson who adopts a hostile attitude towards all the descendants ofShem--the Arabs, and the entire twelve tribes of Israel. To apply theterm to a person who is merely antagonistic to that fraction of theSemitic race known as the Jews is therefore absurd, and leads to theridiculous situation that one may be described as "anti-Semitic andpro-Arabian. " This expression actually occurred in _The New Palestine_(New York), March 23, 1923. One might as well speak of being"anti-British and pro-English. "

[11] Augustus le Plongeon, _Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas and theQuiches_, p. 53 (1909)

[12] Ibid. , pp. 56, 58. 

[13] Adolf Erman, _Life in Ancient Egypt_, p. 45 (1894). 

[14] J. H. Breasted, _Ancient Times: a History of the Early World_, p. 92(1916). 

[15] This word is spelt variously by different writers thus: Cabala, Cabbala, Kabbala, Kabbalah, Kabalah. I adopt the first spelling as beingthe one employed in the _Jewish Encyclopædia_. 

[16] Fabre d'Olivet, _La Langue Hébraïque_, p. 28 (1815). 

[17] "According to the Jewish view God had given Moses on Mount Sinaialike the oral and the written Law, that is, the Law with all itsinterpretations and applications. "--Alfred Edersheim, _The Life andTimes of Jesus the Messiah_, I. 99 (1883), quoting other Jewishauthorities. 

[18] _Solomon Maimon: an Autobiography_, translated from the German byJ. Clark Murray, p. 28 (1888). The original appeared in 1792. 

[19] Alfred Edersheim, _The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah_, II. 689 (1883). 

[20] "There exists in Jewish literature no book more difficult tounderstand than the Sepher Yetzirah. "--Phineas Mordell in the _JewishQuarterly Review_, New Series, Vol. II. P. 557. 

[21] Paul Vulliaud, _La Kabbale Juive: histotre et doctrine_, 2 vols. (Émile Nourry, 62 Rue des Écoles, Paris, 1923). This book, neither thework of a Jew nor of an "anti-Semite, " but of a perfectly impartialstudent, is invaluable for a study of the Cabala rather as a vastcompendium of opinions than as an expression of original thought. 

[22] "Rab Hanina and Rab Oschaya were seated on the eve of every Sabbathstudying the Sepher Ietsirah; they created a three-year-old heifer andate it. "--Talmud treatise Sanhedrim, folio 65. 

[23] Koran, Sura LXXXVII. 10. 

[24] Zohar, section Bereschith, folio 55, and section Lekh-Lekha, folio76 (De Pauly's translation, Vol. I. Pp. 431, 446). 

[25] Adolphe Franck, _La Kabbale_, p. 39; J. P. Stehelin, _TheTraditions of the Jews_, I. 145 (1748). 

[26] Adolphe Franck, op. Cit. , p. 68, quoting Talmud treatise Sabbath, folio 34, Dr. Christian Ginsburg, _The Kabbalah_, p. 85; Drach, _Del'Harmonie entre l'Église et la Synagogue_, I. 457. 

[27] Adolphe Franck, op. Cit. , p. 69. 

[28] Dr. Christian Ginsburg (1920), _The Kabbalah_, pp. 172, 173. 

[29] Vulliaud, op. Cit. , I. 253. 

[30] Ibid. , p. 20, quoting Theodore Reinach, _Historie des Israelites_, p. 221, and Salomon Reinach, _Orpheus_, p. 299. 

[31] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Cabala. 

[32] Adolphe Franck, op. Cit. , p. 288. 

[33] Vulliaud, op. Cit. , I. 256, quoting Greenstone, _The Messiah Idea_, p. 229. 

[34] H. Loewe, in an article on the Kabbala in Hastings' _Encyclopædiaof Religion and Ethics_, says: "This secret mysticism was no lategrowth. Difficult though it is to prove the date and origin of thissystem of philosophy and the influences and causes which produced it, wecan be fairly certain that its roots stretch back very far and that themediæval and Geonic Kabbala was the culmination and not the inception ofJewish esoteric mysticism. From the time of Graetz it has been thefashion to decry the Kabbala and to regard it as a later incrustation, as something of which Judaism had reason to be ashamed. " The writer goeson to express the opinion that "the recent tendency requires adjustment. The Kabbala, though later in form than is claimed by its adherents, isfar older in material than is allowed by its detractors. "

[35] Vulliaud, op. Cit. , I. 22. 

[36] Ibid. , I. 13, 14, quoting Edersheim, _La Société Juive an temps deJésus-Christ_ (French translation), pp. 363-4

[37] See chapters on this question by Gougenot des Mousseaux in _LeJuif, le Judaïsme et la Judaïsation des Peisples Chrétiens_, pp. 499 andfollowing (2nd edition, 1886). The first edition of this book, publishedin 1869, is said to have been bought up and destroyed by the Jews, andthe author died a sudden death before the second edition could bepublished. 

[38] Eliphas Lévi, _Histoire de la Magie_, pp. 46, 105. (Eliphas Léviwas the pseudonym of the celebrated nineteenth-century occultist theAbbé Constant. )

[39] _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 323. 

[40] Ginsburg op. Cit. P. 105; _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Cabala. 

[41] Gougenot des Mousseaux, _Le Juif, le Judaïsms el la Judaïsation desPeuples Chrétiens_, p. 503 (1886). 

[42] P. L. B. Drach _De l'Harmonie entre l'Église et la Synagogue_, Vol. I. P. Xiii (1844). M. Vulliaud (op. Cit. , II. 245) points out that, asfar as he can discover Drach's work has never met with any refutationfrom the Jews, by whom it was received in complete silence. The _JewishEncyclopædia_ has an article on Drach in which it says he was brought upin a Talmudic school and afterwards became converted to Christianity, but makes no attempt to challenge his statements. 

[43] Drach, op. Cit. , Vol. II. P. Xix

[44] Franck, op. Cit. , p. 127. 

[45] De Pauly's translation. Vol. V. Pp. 336-8, 343-6. 

[46] Zohar, treatise Beschalah, folio 59_b_ (De Pauly, III. 265). 

[47] Zohar, Toldoth Noah, folio 69_a_ (De Pauly, I. 408). 

[48] Zohar, treatise Beschalah, folio 48_a_ (De Pauly, III. 219). 

[49] Ibid. , folio 44a (De Pauly, III. 200). 

[50] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Cabala. 

[51] Adolf Erman, _Life in Ancient Egypt_, p. 32. 

[52] Zohar, treatise Toldoth Noah, folio 59b (De Pauly, I. 347). 

[53] Zohar, treatise Lekh-Lekha, folio 94a (De Pauly, I. 535). 

[54] Zohar, treatise Bereschith, folio 26a (De Pauly, I. 161). 

[55] The _Emek ha Melek_ is the work of the Cabalist Napthali, adisciple of Luria. 

[56] Drach, _De l'Harmonie entre l'Église et la Synagogue_, I. 272. 

[57] Ibid. , p. 273. 

[58] D'Herbelot, _Bibliothèque Orientale_ (1778), article on Zerdascht. 

[59] Ibid. , I. 18. 

[60] Rom. Iii. 2. 

[61] Drach, _De l'Harmonie entre l'Eglise et la Synagogue_, II. 19. 

[62] Ibid. , I. 280. 

[63] Vulliaud, op. Cit. , II. 255, 256. 

[64] Ibid. , p. 257, quoting Karppe, _Études sur les Origines du Zohar_, p. 494. 

[65] Ibid. , I. 13, 14. In Vol. II. P. 411, M. Vulliaud quotes IsaacMeyer's assertion that "the triad of the ancient Cabala is Kether, theFather; Binah, the Holy Spirit or the Mother; and Hochmah, the Word orthe Son. " But in order to avoid the sequence of the Christian Trinitythis arrangement has been altered in the modern Cabala of Luria andMoses of Cordovero, etc. 

[66] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Cabala, p. 478. 

[67] "... All that Israel hoped for, was national restoration andglory. Everything else was but means to these ends; the Messiah Himselfonly the grand instrument in attaining them. Thus viewed, the picturepresented would be of Israel's exaltation, rather than of the salvationof the world.... The Rabbinic ideal of the Messiah was not that of 'alight to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel'--thesatisfaction of the wants of humanity, and the completion of Israel'smission--but quite different, even to contrariety. "--Edersheim, _TheLife and Times of Jesus the Messiah_, I. 164 (1883). 

[68] Zohar, section Schemoth, folio 8; cf. Ibid. , folio 9b: "The periodwhen the King Messiah will declare war on the whole world. " (De Pauly, III. 32, 36). 

[69] A blasphemous address entitled _The God Man_, given by TomAnderson, the founder of the Socialist Sunday Schools, on Glasgow Greento an audience of over 1, 000 workers in 1922 and printed in pamphletform, was founded entirely on this theory. 

[70] J. G. Frazer, _The Golden Bough_, Part VI. "The Scapegoat, " p. 412(1914 edition); E. R. Bevan endorses this view. 

[71] _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 69. 

[72] The Magi or Wise Men are generally believed to have come fromPersia; this would accord with the Zoroastrian prophecy quoted above. 

[73] Drach, op. Cit. , II. P. 32. 

[74] Ibid. , II. P. Xxiii. 

[75] Joseph Barclay, _The Talmud_, pp 38, 39; cf. Drach, op. Cit. , I 167

[76] _The Talmud_, by Michael Rodkinson (alias Michael LevyRodkinssohn). 

[77] _Le Talmud de Babylone_ (1900). 

[78] Le Zohar, translation in 8 vols by Jean de Pauly, published in 1909by Emile Lafuma-Giraud. Wherever possible in quoting the Talmud or theCabala I shall give a reference to one of the translations herementioned. 

[79] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article Talmud. 

[80] Drach, op. Cit. , I. 168, 169. The text of this encyclical is givenby Drach in Hebrew and also in translation, thus: "This is why we enjoinyou, under pain of excommunication major, to print nothing in futureeditions, whether of the Mischna or of the Gemara, which relates whetherfor good or evil to the acts of Jesus the Nazarene, and to substituteinstead a circle like this O, which will warn the Rabbis andschoolmasters to teach the young these passages only viva voce. By meansof this precaution the savants amongst the Nazarenes will have nofurther pretext to attack us on this subject. " Cf. Abbé Chiarini, _LeTalmud de Babylone_, p. 45 (1831). 

[81] On this point see Appendix I. 

[82] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on "Jesus. "

[83] Eliphas Lévi, _La Science des Esprits_, p. 40. 

[84] Origen, _Contra Celsum_. 

[85] S. Baring-Gould, _The Counter-Gospels_, p. 69 (1874). 

[86] Cf. Baring-Gould, op. Cit. , quoting Talmud, treatise Sabbath, folio104. 

[87] Ibid. , p. 55, quoting Talmud, treatise Sanhedrim, folio 107, andSota, folio 47; Eliphas Lévi, _La Science des Esprits_, pp. 32, 33. 

[88] According to the Koran, it was the Jews who said, "'Verily we haveslain the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, an apostle of God. ' Yet theyslew him not, and they crucified him not, but they had only hislikeness.... No sure knowledge had they about him, but followed anopinion, and they did not really slay him, but God took him up toHimself. "--Sura iv. 150. See also Sura iii. 40. The Rev. J. M. Rodwell, in his translation of the Koran, observes in a footnote to the latterpassage: "Muhammad probably believed that God took the dead body ofJesus to Heaven--for three hours, according to some--while the Jewscrucified a man who resembled him. "

[89] Sura iii. 30, 40. 

[90] Sura xxi. 90. 

[91] Sura iv. 150. 

[92] Sura ii. 89, 250; v. 100. 

[93] Sura v. 50. 

[94] In the masonic periodical _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, Vol. XXIV, aFreemason (Bro. Sydney T. Klein) observes: "It is not generally knownthat one of the reasons why the Mohammedans removed their Kiblah fromJerusalem to Mecca was that they quarrelled with the Jews over JesusChrist, and the proof of this may still be seen in the Golden Gateleading into the sacred area of the Temple, which was bricked up by theMohammedans, and is bricked up to this day, because they declared thatnobody should enter through that portal until Jesus Christ comes tojudge the world, and this is stated in the Koran. " I cannot trace thispassage in the Koran, but much the same idea is conveyed by the Rev. J. M. Rodwell, who in the note above quoted adds: "The Muhammadansbelieve that Jesus on His return to earth at the end of the world willslay the Antichrist, die, and be raised again. A vacant place isreserved for His body in the Prophet's tomb at Medina. "

[95] Graetz, _Geschichte der Juden_, III. 216-52. 

[96] _The Essenes: their History and Doctrines_, an essay by ChristianD. Ginsburg, LL. D. (Longmans, Green & Co. , 1864). 

[97] Ibid. , p. 24. 

[98] Edersheim (op. Cit. , I. 325) ably refutes both Graetz and Ginsburgon this point, and shows that "the teaching of Christianity was in adirection the opposite from that of Essenism. " M. Vulliaud (op. Cit. , I. 71) dismisses the Essene origin of Christianity as unworthy of seriousattention. "To maintain the Essenism of Jesus is a proof of frivolity orof invincible ignorance. "

[99] Luke xvii. 7-9. 

[100] Ginsburg, op. Cit. , pp. 15, 22, 55. 

[101] Ginsburg, op. Cit. , p. 12. 

[102] Fabre d'Olivet thinks this tradition had descended to the Essenesfrom Moses: "If it is true, as everything attests, that Moses left anoral law, it is amongst the Essenes that it was preserved. ThePharisees, who flattered themselves so highly on possessing it, only hadits outward forms (_apparences_), as Jesus reproaches them at everymoment. It is from these latter that the modern Jews descend, with theexception of a few real _savants_ whose secret tradition goes back tothe Essenes. "--_La Langue Hebraïque_, p. 27 (1815). 

[103] Matter, _Histoire du Gnosticisme_, I. 44 (1844). 

[104] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Cabala. 

[105] Matter, op. Cit. , II. 58. 

[106] Ragon, _Maçonnerie Occulte_, p. 78. 

[107] "The Cabala is anterior to the Gnosis, an opinion which Christianwriters little understand, but which the erudites of Judaism professwith a legitimate assurance. "--Matter, op. Cit.. Vol. I. P. 12. 

[108] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Cabala. 

[109] John Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, p. 167; Matter, op. Cit. , II. 365, quoting Irenæus. 

[110] Eliphas Lévi, _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 189. 

[111] Eliphas Lévi, op. Cit. , p. 218. 

[112] Dean Milman, _History of the Jews_ (Everyman's Library edition), II. 491. 

[113] Matter, II. 171; E. De Faye, _Gnostiques et Gnosticisme_, p. 349(1913). 

[114] De Luchet, _Essai sur la Secte des Illuminés_, p. 6. 

[115] _Manuel d'Histoire Ecclésiastique_, par R. P. Albers, S. J. , adaptépar René Hedde, O. P. , p. 125 (1908); Matter, op. Citt. , II. 197. 

[116] Matter, op. Cit. , II. 188. 

[117] Matter, op. Cit. , II. 199, 215. 

[118] Eliphas Lévi, _Histoire de la Magie_, pp. 217, 218. 

[119] Matter, op. Cit. , II. 115, III. 14; S. Baring-Gould, _The Lost andHostile Gospels_ (1874). 

[120] Matter, op. Cit. , II 364. 

[121] Ibid. , p. 365. 

[122] Ibid. , p. 369. 

[123] _Some Notes on Various Gnostic Sects and their Possible Influenceon Freemasonry_, by D. F. Ranking, republished from _Ars QuatuorCoronatorum_ (Vol. XXIV, p. 202, 1911) in pamphlet form, p. 7. 

[124] Hastings, _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, article onManicheism. 

[125] Zohar, treatise Bereschith, folio 54 (De Pauly's translation, I. 315). 

[126] The Yalkut Shimoni is a sixteenth-century compilation of HaggadicMidrashim. 

[127] Principal authorities consulted for this chapter: Joseph vonHammer, _The History of the Assassins_ (Eng. Trans. , 1835); Silvestre deSacy, _Exposé de le Religion des Druses (1838) and Mémoires sur laDynastie des Assassins_ in _Mémoires de l'Institut Royal de France_, Vol. IV. (1818); Hastings _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_; SyedAmeer Ali, _The Spirit of Islam_ (1922); Dr. F. W. Bussell, _ReligiousThought and Heresy in the Middle Ages_ (1918). 

[128] Reinhart Dozy, _Spanish Islam_ (Eng. Trans. ), pp. 403-5. 

[129] Claudio Jannet, _Les Précurseurs de la Franc-Moçonnerie_, p. 58(1887). 

[130] The following account is given by de Sacy in connexion withAbdullah ibn Maymūn (op. Cit. , I. Ixxiv), and Dr. Bussell (_ReligiousThought and Heresy in the Middle Ages_, p. 353) includes it in hischapter on the Karmathites. Von Hammer, however, gives it as theprogramme of the Dar ul Hikmat, and this seems more probable since theinitiation consists of nine degrees and Abdullah's society of Batinis, into which Karmath had been initiated, included only seven. Yarker (_TheArcane Schools_, p. 185) says the two additional degrees were added bythe Dar ul Hikmat. It would appear then that de Sacy, in placing thisaccount before his description of the Karmathites, was anticipating. Thepoint is immaterial, the fact being that the same system was common toall these ramifications of Ismailis, and that of the Dar ul Hikmatvaried but little from that of Abdullah and Karmath. 

[131] Von Hammer, op. Cit. (Eng. Trans. ), pp. 36, 37. 

[132] Von Hammer, _The History of the Assassins_, pp. 45, 46. 

[133] Dr. F. W. Bussell, _Religious Thought and Heresy in the MiddleAges_, p. 368. 

[134] Von Hammer, op. Cit. , p. 55. 

[135] Von Hammer, op. Cit. , pp. 83, 89. 

[136] Ibid. , p. 164. 

[137] _Développement des abus introduits dans la Franc-maçonnerie_, p. 56 (1780). 

[138] Jules Loiseleur, _La doctrine secrète des Templiers_, p. 89. 

[139] Dr. F W. Bussell, D. D. , _Religions Thought and Heresy in theMiddle Ages_, pp. 796, 797 note. 

[140] G. Mollat, _Les Popes d'Avignon_, p. 233 (1912). 

[141] Michelet, _Procès des Templiers_, I. 2 (1841). This work largelyconsists of the publication in Latin of the Papal _bulls_ and trials ofthe Templars before the Papal Commission in Paris contained in theoriginal document once preserved at _Notre Dame_. Michelet says thatanother copy was sent to the Pope and kept under the triple key of theVatican. Mr. E. J. Castle, K. C. , however, says that he has enquired aboutthe whereabouts of this copy and it is no longer in the Vatican(_Proceedings against the Templars in France and in England for Heresy_, republished from _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, Vol. XX. Part III. P. 1). 

[142] M. Raynouard, _Monuments historiques relatifs à la condemnationdes Chevaliers du Temple et de l'abolition de leur Ordre_, p. 17 (1813). 

[143] Michelet, op. Cit. I. 2 (1841). 

[144] Michelet, _Procès des Templiers_, II. 333. 

[145] Ibid. , pp. 295, 333. 

[146] Ibid. , pp. 290, 299, 300. 

[147] "Dixit per juramentum suum quod ita est terribilis figure etaspectus quod videbatur sibi quod esset figura cujusdam demonis, dicendogallice _d'un maufé_, et quod quocienscumque videbat ipsum tantus timoreum invadebat, quod vix poterat illud respicere nisi cum maximo timoreet tremore. "--Ibid. , p. 364. 

[148] Ibid. , pp. 284, 338. "Ipse minabatur sibi quod nisi faceret, ipseponereteum in carcere perpetuo. "--Ibid. , p. 307. 

[149] "Et fuit territus plus quam unquam fuit in vita sua: et statimunus eorum accepit eum per gutur, dicens quod oportebat quod hocfaceret, vel moreretur. "--Ibid. , p. 296. 

[150] Mollat, op. Cit. , p. 241. 

[151] _Procès des Templiers_, I. 3: Mr. E. J. Castle, op. Cit. Part III. P. 3. (It should be noted that Mr. Castle's paper is strongly in favourof the Templars. )

[152] Ibid. , I. 4. 

[153] _Procès des Templiers_, I. 5. 

[154] Michelet in Preface to Vol. I. Of _Procès des Templiers_. 

[155] Jules Loiseleur, _La Doctrine Secrète des Templiers_, p. 40(1872). 

[156] Ibid. , p. 16. 

[157] _Proceedings against the Templars in France and England forHeresy_, by E. J. Castle, Part I. P. 16, quoting Rymer, Vol. III. P. 37

[158] Ibid. , Part II. P. 1. 

[159] Ibid. , Part II. Pp. 25-7. 

[160] Ibid. , Part II. P. 30. 

[161] "Another witness of the Minor Friars told the Commissioners he hadheard from Brother Robert of Tukenham that a Templar had a son who sawthrough a partition that they asked one professing if he believed in theCrucified, showing him the figure, whom they killed upon his refusing todeny Him, but the boy, some time after, being asked if he wished to be aTemplar said no, because he had seen this thing done. Saying this, hewas killed by his father.... The twenty-third witness, a Knight, saidthat his uncle entered the Order healthy and joyfully, with his birdsand dogs, and the third day following he was dead, and he suspected itwas on account of the crimes he had heard of them, and that the cause ofhis death was he would not consent to the evil deeds perpetrated byother brethren. "--Ibid. , Part II. P. 13. 

[162] F. Funck-Brentano, _Le Moyen Age_, p. 396 (1922). 

[163] Ibid. , p. 384. 

[164] F. Funck Brentano, op. Cit. , p. 396. 

[165] Ibid. , p. 387. 

[166] Dean Milman, _History of Latin Christianity_, VII. 213. 

[167] E. J. Castle, op. Cit. , Part I. P. 22. 

[168] Thus even M. Mollat admits: "En tout cas leurs dépositions, défavorables à l'Ordre, l'impressionnèrent si vivement que, par unesérie de graves mesures, il abandonna une à une toutes sesoppositions. "--_Les Papes d'Avignon_, p. 242. 

[169] F. Funck-Brentano, op. Cit. , p. 392. 

[170] E. J. Castle, _Proceedings against the Templars, A. Q. C. _, Vol. XX. Part III, p. 3. 

[171] Even Raynouard, the apologist of the Templars (op. Cit. , p. 19), admits that, if less unjust and violent measures had been adopted, theinterest of the State and the safety of the throne might have justifiedthe abolition of the Order. 

[172] Funck-Brentano, op. Cit. , p. 386. 

[173] "The bourgeoisie, whenever it has conquered power, has destroyedall feudal, patriarchal, and idyllic relations. It has pitilessly tornasunder all the many-coloured feudal bonds which united men to their'natural superiors, ' and has left no tie twixt man and man but nakedself-interest and callous cash payment. "--_The Communist Manifesto_. 

[174] Eliphas Lévi, _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 273. 

[175] E. J. Castle, op. Cit. , _A. Q. C. _, Vol. XX. Part I. P. 11. 

[176] Ibid. , Part II. P. 24. 

[177] Loiseleur, op. Cit. , pp. 20, 21. 

[178] _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 277. 

[179] Dr. F. W. Bussell, _Religious Thought and Heresy in the MiddleAges_, p. 803. 

[180] _Les Sectes et Sociétés Secrètes_, p. 85. 

[181] _History of the Assassins_, p. 80. 

[182] F. T. B. Clevel, _Histoire Pittoresque de la Franc-Maçonnerie_, p. 356 (1843). 

[183] Loiseleur, op. Cit. , p. 66

[184] Ibid. , p. 143. 

[185] Ibid. , p. 141. 

[186] "Dixit sibi quod non crederet in eum, quia nichil erat, et quoderat quidam falsus propheta, et nichil valebat; immo crederet in DeumCeli superiorem, qui poterat salvare. "--Michelet, _Procès desTempliers_, II. 404. Cf. Ibid. , p. 384: "Quidem falsus propheta est;credas solummodo in Deum Celi, et non in istum. "

[187] Loiseleur, op. Cit. , p. 37. 

[188] Raynouard, op. Cit. , p. 301. 

[189] Wilhelm Ferdinand Wilcke, _Geschichte des Tempelherrenordens_, II, 302-12, (1827). 

[190] Eliphas Lévi, _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 273. 

[191] J. M. Ragon, _Cours Philosophique et Interprétatif des Initiationsanciennes et modernes_, édition sacrée à l'usage des Loges et des MaçonsSEULEMENT (5, 842), p. 37. In a footnote on the same page Ragon, however, refers to John the Baptist in this connexion. 

[192] J. B. Fabré Palaprat, _Recherches historiques sur les Templiers_, p. 31 (1835). 

[193] Ibid. , p. 37. 

[194] Eliphas Lévi, _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 277. 

[195] Eliphas Lévi, _La Science des Esprits_, pp. 26-9, 40, 41. 

[196] Raynouard, op. Cit. , p. 281. 

[197] Matter, _Histoire du Gnosticisme_, III. 330. 

[198] Eliphas Lévi, _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 275. 

[199] M. Grégoire, _Histoire des Sectes religieuses_. II. 407 (1828). 

[200] Matter, _Histoire du Gnosticisme_, III. 323. 

[201] Ibid. , III. P. 120. 

[202] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Mandæans. 

[203] Grégoire, op. Cit. , IV. 241. 

[204] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, and Hastings' _Encyclopædia of Religion andEthics_, article on Mandæans. 

[205] _Codex Nasaræus_, Liber Adam appellatus, trans. From the Syriacinto Latin by Matth. Norberg (1815), Vol. I. 109: "Sed, Johanne haeætate Hierosolymæ nato, Jordanumque deinceps legente, et baptismumperagente, veniet Jeschu Messias, summisse se gerens, ut baptismoJohannis baptizetur, et Johannis per sapientiam sapiat. Pervertet verodoctrinam Johannis, et mutato Jordani baptismo, perversisque justitiædictis, iniquitatem et perfidiam per mundum disseminabit. "

[206] Article on the _Codex Nasaræus_ by Silvestre de Sacy in the_Journal des Savants_ for November 1819, p. 651; cf. Passage in theZohar, section Bereschith, folio 55. 

[207] Matter, op. Cit. , III. 119, 120. De Sacy (op. Cit. , p. 654) alsoattributes the _Codex Nasaræus_ to the eighth century. 

[208] Matter, op. Cit. , III. 118. 

[209] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Mandæans. 

[210] Loiseleur, op. Cit. , p. 52. 

[211] Ibid. , p. 51; Matter, op. Cit. , III. 305. 

[212] Hastings' _Encyclopædia_, article on Bogomils. 

[213] The Sabbatic goat is clearly of Jewish origin. Thus the Zoharrelates that "Tradition teaches us that when the Israelites evoked evilspirits, these appeared to them under the form of he-goats and madeknown to them all that they wished to learn. "--Section Ahre Moth, folio70a (de Pauly, V. 191). 

[214] Eliphas Lévi, _Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie_, II. 209. 

[215] _Some Notes on various Gnostic Sects and their Possible Influenceon Free-masonry_, by D. F. Ranking, reprinted from _A. Q. C. _, Vol. XXIV. Pp. 27, 28

[216] "Their meetings were held in the most convenient spot, often onmountains or in valleys; the only essentials were a table, a whitecloth, and a copy of the Gospel of St. John, that is, their own versionof it. "--Dr. Ranking, op. Cit. , p. 15 (_A. Q. C. _, Vol. XXIV. ). Cf. Gabriele Rossetti, _The Anti-Papal Spirit_, I. 230, where it is said"the sacred books, and especially that of St. John, were wrested by thissect into strange and perverted meanings. "

[217] Michelet, _Histoire de France_, III. 18, 19 (1879 edition). 

[218] Michelet, op. Cit. , p. 10. "L'élément sémitique, juif et arabe, était fort en Languedoc. " Cf. A. E. Waite, _The Secret Tradition inFreemasonry_, I. 118: "The South of France was a centre from which wentforth much of the base occultism of Jewry as well as its theosophicaldreams. "

[219] Michelet, op. Cit. , p. 12. 

[220] Ibid. , p. 15. 

[221] Graetz, _History of the Jews_, III. 517. 

[222] Thus Hastings' _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_ omits allreference to Satanism before 1880 and observes: "The evidence of theexistence of either Satanists or Palladists consists entirely of thewritings of a group of men in Paris. " It then proceeds to devote fivecolumns out of the six and a half which compose the article todescribing the works of two notorious romancers, Léo Taxil and Bataille. There is not a word of real information to be found here. 

[223] Précis of Eliphas Lévi's writings by Arthur E. Waite, _TheMysteries of Magic_, p. 215. 

[224] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Cabala. 

[225] _Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie_, II. 220 (1861). It is curiousto notice that Sir James Frazer, in his vast compendium on magic, _TheGolden Bough_, never once refers to any of the higher adepts--Jews, Rosicrucians, Satanists, etc. , or to the Cabala as a source ofinspiration. The whole subject is treated as if the cult of magic werethe spontaneous outcome of primitive or peasant mentality. 

[226] _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 289. 

[227] Talmud, treatise Berakhoth, folio 6. The Talmud also givesdirections on the manner of guarding against occult powers and theonslaught of disease. The tract Pesachim declares that he who standsnaked before a candle is liable to be seized with epilepsy. The sametract also states that "a man should not go out alone on the nightfollowing the fourth day or on the night following the Sabbath, becausean evil spirit, called Agrath, the daughter of Ma'hlath, together withone hundred and eighty thousand other evil spirits, go forth into theworld and have the right to injure anyone they should chance to meet. "

[228] Talmud, treatise Hullin, folios 143, 144. 

[229] Hastings' _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, article on JewishMagic by M. Caster. 

[230] Margaret Alice Murray, _The Witch Cult in Western Europe_, andJules Garinet, _Histoire de la Magie en France_, p. 163 (1818). 

[231] Hastings' _Encyclopædia_, article on Jewish Magic by M. Gaster. See the Zohar, treatise Bereschith, folio 54_b_, where it is said thatall men are visited in their sleep by female devils. "These demons neverappear under any other form but that of human beings, but they have nohair on their heads.... In the same way as to men, male devils appear indreams to women, with whom they have intercourse. "

[232] The Rev. Moses Margoliouth, _The History of the Jews in GreatBritain_, I. 82. The same author relates further on (p. 304) that QueenElizabeth's Hebrew physician Rodrigo Lopez was accused of trying topoison her and died a victim of persecution. 

[233] The Rev. Moses Margoliouth, _The History of the Jews in GreatBritain_, I. 83. 

[234] Hastings' _Encyclopædia_, article on Teutonic Magic by F. Hälsig. 

[235] Talmud, tract Sabbath. 

[236] Hermann L. Strack, _The Jews and Human Sacrifice_, Eng. Trans. , pp. 140, 141 (1900). 

[237] See pages 215 and 216 of _The Mysteries of Magic_, by A. E. Waite. 

[238] See also A. S. Turberville, _Mediæval Heresy and the Inquisition_, pp. 111-12 (1920), ending with the words: "The voluminous records of theholy tribunal, the learned treatises of its members, are the greatrepositories of the true and indisputable facts concerning theabominable heresies of sorcery and witchcraft. "

[239] _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 15. 

[240] _The Mysteries of Magic_, p. 221. 

[241] A. E. Waite, _The Real History of the Rosicrucians_, p. 293. 

[242] _Histoire de la Magie_, p. 266. 

[243] John Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, p. 205. 

[244] Drach (_De l'Harmonie entre l'Église et la Synagogue_, II. P. 30)says that Pico della Mirandola paid a Jew 7, 000 ducats for theCabalistic MSS. From which he drew his thesis. 

[245] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, articles on Cabala and Reuchlin. 

[246] Ibid. , article on Cabala. 

[247] The following résumé is taken from the recent reprint of the_Fama_ and _Confessio_ brought out by the "Societas Rosicruciana inAnglia, " and printed by W. J. Parrett (Margate, 1923). The story, which, owing to the extraordinary confusion of the text, is difficult to resumeas a coherent narrative is given in the _Fama_; the dates are given inthe _Confessio_. 

[248] Incidentally Paracelsus was not born until 1493, that is to saynine years after Christian Rosenkreutz is supposed to have died. 

[249] _Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens_Part II p. 148 (Munich, 1787). 

[250] Mackey, _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 265. 

[251] Ibid. , p. 150. 

[252] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Shabbethai Horowitz. 

[253] Mirabeau, _Histoire de la Monarchie Prussienne_, V. 76. 

[254] Lecouteulx de Canteleu, _Les Sectes et Sociétés Secrètes_, p. 97. 

[255] Eckert, _La Franc-Maçonnerie dans sa véritable signification_, II. 48. 

[256] A. E. Waite, _The Real History of the Rosicrucians_, p. 216. 

[257] "_Traicté des Athéistes, Déistes, Illuminez d'Espagne et NouveauxPrétendus Invisibles, dits de la Confrairie de la Croix-Rosaire, élevezdepuis quelques années dans le Christianisme_, " forming the second partof the "_Histoire Générale de Progrès et Décadence de l'HéréieModerne_--_A la suite du Premier_" de M. Florimond de Raemond, Conseiller du Roy, etc. 

[258] See G. M. Trevelyan, _England under the Stuarts_, pp. 32, 33, andJames Howell, _Familiar Letters_ (edition of 1753), pp. 49, 435. JamesHolwell was clerk to the Privy Council of Charles I. 

[259] Th. -Louis Latour, _Princesses, Dames el Adventurières du Règne deLouis XIV_, p. 278 (Eugène Figutère, Paris, 1923). 

[260] Ibid. , p. 297. 

[261] Ibid. , p. 306. 

[262] _Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire_, Vol. XXI. P. 129 (1785 edition);_Biographie Michaud_, article on Glaser. 

[263] This assertion finds confirmation in the _EncyclopædiaBritannica_, article on the Rosicrucians, which states: "In no sense aremodern Rosicrucians derived from the Fraternity of the seventeenthcentury. "

[264] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on the Cabala. 

[265] _A Free Mason's Answer to the Suspected Author of a Pamphletentitled "Jachin and Boaz, " or an Authentic Key to Freemasonry_, p. 10(1762). 

[266] Quoted by R. F. Gould, _History of Freemasonry_, I. 5, 6. 

[267] _Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man_, p. 1 (1910). 

[268] _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, XXXII. Part I. P. 47. 

[269] Preston's _Illustrations of Masonry_, pp. 143, 147, 153 (1804). 

[270] John Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, pp. 269, 327, 329. 

[271] Published in the _Essai sur la Secte des Illuminés_ by the Marquisde Luchet, p. 236 (1792 edition). 

[272] Brother Chalmers Paton, _The Origin of Freemasonry: the 1717Theory Exploded_, quoting ancient charges preserved in a MS. Inpossession of the Lodge of Antiquity in London, written in the reign ofJames II, but "supposed to be really of much more ancient date. "

[273] _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, XXV. P. 240, paper by J. E. S. Tuckett on_Dr. Rawlinson and the Masonic Entries in Elias Ashmole's Diary_, withfacsimile of entry in Diary which is preserved in the Bodleian Library(Ashmole MS. 1136, fol. 19). 

[274] Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, p. 383. 

[275] Preston's _Illustrations of Masonry_, p. 208 (1804). 

[276] _The Origins of Freemasonry: the 1717 Theory Exploded_. 

[277] The Rev. G. Oliver, _The Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry_, pp. 55, 57, 62, 318 (1845). 

[278] _Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man_, p. 185 (1910). 

[279] _Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man_, p. 8 (1910). 

[280] Ibid. , p. 7. The German Freemason Findel disagrees with both theRoman Collegia and the Egypt theory, and, like the Abbé Grandidier, indicates the _Steinmetzen_ of the fifteenth century as the realprogenitors of the Order: "All attempts to trace the history ofFreemasonry farther back than the Middle Ages have been ... Failures, and placing the origin of the Fraternity in the mysteries of Egypt ... Must be rejected as a wild and untenable hypothesis. "--_History ofFreemasonry_ (Eng. Trans. ), p. 25. 

[281] Dr. Oliver and Dr. Mackey thus refer to true and spurious Masonry, the former descending from Noah, through Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses to Solomon--hence the appellation of Noachites sometimesapplied to Freemasons--the latter from Cain and the Gymnosophists ofIndia to Egypt and Greece. They add that a union between the two tookplace at the time of the building of the Temple of Solomon through HiramAbiff, who was a member of both, being by birth a Jew and artificer ofTyre, and from this union Freemasonry descends. According to Mackey, therefore, Jewish Masonry is the true form. --_A Lexicon of Freemasonry_, pp. 323-5; Oliver's _Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry_, I. 60. 

[282] Rev. G. Oliver, _The Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry_, pp. 55, 57 (1845). 

[283] _The Jewish Encyclopaædia_ (article on Freemasonry) characterizesthe name Hiram Abifi as a misunderstanding of 2 Chron. Ii. 13

[284] Clavel, _Histoire pittoresque de la Franc-Maçonnerie_, p. 340;Matter, _Histoire du Gnosticisme_, I. 145. 

[285] _Quoted_ in _A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. P. 36. 

[286] Article on Freemasonry, giving reference to Pesik, R. V. _25a_ (ed. Friedmann). 

[287] Clavel, op. Cit. , 364, 365; Lecouteulx de Canteleu, _Les Sectes etSociétés Secrétes_, p. 120. 

[288] Clavel, op. Cit. , p. 82. 

[289] Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, p. 257. 

[290] Ibid. , p. 242. 

[291] "According to Prof. Marks and Prof. Hayter Lewis, the story ofHiram Abiff is at least as old as the fourteenth century. "--J. E. S. Tuckett in _The Origin of Additional Degrees, A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. P. 14. It should be noted that no Mason who took part in the discussionbrought evidence to show that it dated from before this period. Cf. _Freemasonry Before the Existence of Grand Lodges_ (1923), by Wor. Bro. Lionel Vibert, I. C. S. , p. 135, where it is suggested that the Hiramiclegend dates from an incident in one of the French building guilds in1401. 

[292] Yarker, op. Cit. , p. 348; Eckert, op. Cit. , II. 36. 

[293] Eckert, op. Cit. , II. 28. 

[294] "The Essenes, in common with other Syrian sects, possessed andadhered to the 'true principles' of Freemasonry. "--Bernard H. Springett, _Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon_, p. 91. 

[295] "The esoteric doctrine of the Judeo-Christian mysteries evidentlypenetrated into the masonic guilds (ateliers) only with the entry of theTemplars after the destruction of their Order. "--Eckert, op. Cit. , II. 28. 

[296] _La Comtesse de Rudolstadt_, II. 185. 

[297] Ragon, _Cours philosophique des Initiations_, p. 34. 

[298] Mr. Sidney Klein in _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, XXXII. Part I. Pp. 42, 43. 

[299] John Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, pp. 195, 318, 341, 342, 361. 

[300] Ibid. , p. 196. 

[301] Official history of the Order of Scotland quoted by Bro. Fred. H. Buckmaster in _The Royal Order of Scotland_, published at the offices of_The Freemason_, pp. 3, 5, 7; A. E. Waite, _Encyclopædia of Freemasonry_, II. 219; Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, p. 330; Mackey, _Lexicon ofFreemasonry_, p. 267. 

[302] Baron Westerode in the _Acta Latomorum_ (1784), quoted by Mackey, op. Cit. , p. 265. Mr. Bernard H. Springett also asserts that this degreeoriginated in the East (_Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon_, p. 294). 

[303] Chevalier de Bérage, _Les Plus Secrets Mystères des Hauts Gradesde la Maçonnerie dévoilés, ou le vrai Rose Croix_ (1768); Waite, _TheSecret Tradition in Freemasonry_, I. 3. 

[304] In 1784 some French Freemasons wrote to their English brethrensaying: "It concerns us to know if there really exists in the island ofMull, formerly Melrose ... In the North of Scotland, a Mount Heredom, orif it does not exist. " In reply a leading Freemason, General Rainsford, referred them to the word [Hebrew: **] (Har Adonai), i. E. Mount of God(_Notes on the Rainsford Papers in A. Q. C. _, XXVI. 99). A more probableexplanation appears, however, to be that Heredom is a corruption of theHebrew word "Harodim, " signifying princes or rulers. 

[305] F. H. Buckmaster, _The Royal Order of Scotland_, p. 5. Lecouteulxde Canteleu says, however, that Kilwinning had been the greatmeeting-place of Masonry since 1150 (_Les Sectes et Sociétés Secrètes_, p. 104). Eckert, op. Cit. , II. 33. 

[306] Mackey, _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 267. 

[307] Clavel, op. Cit. , p. 90; Eckert, op. Cit. , II. 27. 

[308] A. E. Waite, _The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry_, I. 8. 

[309] "Our names of E. A. , F. C. , and M. M. Were derived fromScotland. "--_A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. P. 40. Clavel, however, says thatthese existed in the Roman Collegia (_Histoire pittoresque_, p. 82). 

[310] _Religious Thought and Heresy in the Middle Ages_, p. 372. 

[311] _The Spirit of Islam_, p. 337. 

[312] _Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon_, p. 181 (1922). 

[313] See, for example, Bouillet's _Dictionnaire Universel d'Histoire etde Géographie_ (1860), article or Templars: "Les Francs-Maçonsprétendent se rattacher à cette secte. "

[314] _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 185. 

[315] _Findel, Geschichte der Freimaurerei_, II. 156, 157 (1892edition). Dr. Bussell (op. Cit. , p. 804), referring to Dupuy's work, also observes: "An editor of a later edition (Brussels, 1751)undoubtedly was a Freemason who tried to clear the indictment andaffiliate to the condemned Order the new and rapidly increasingbrotherhood of speculative deism. "

[316] The Royal Order of Scotland. 

[317] _Manuel des Chevaliers de l'Ordre du Temple_, p. 10 (1825edition). 

[318] Oration of Chevalier Ramsay (1737); Baron Tschoudy, _L'ÉtoileFlamboyante_, I. 20 (1766). 

[319] The description of the Vehmic Tribunals that follows here islargely taken from Lombard de Langres, _Les Sociétés Secrètes enAllemagne_ (1819), quoting original documents preserved at Dortmund. 

[320] Clavel derides this early origin and says it was the_Francs-juges_ themselves who claimed Charlemagne as their founder(_Histoire pittoresque_, p. 357). 

[321] Lecouteulx de Canteleu, _Les Sectes et Sociétés Secrètes_, p. 100. 

[322] According to Walter Scott's account of the Vehmgerichts in _Anneof Geierstein_, the initiate was warned that the secrets confided to himwere "neither to be spoken aloud nor whispered, to be told in words orwritten in characters, to be carved or to be painted, or to be otherwisecommunicated, either directly or by parable and emblem. " This formula, if accurate, would establish a further point of resemblance. 

[323] Lombard de Langres, _Les Sociétés Secrètes en Allemagne_, p. 341(1819); Lecouteulx de Canteleu, _Les Sectes et Sociétès Secrètes_, p. 99. 

[324] A. Le Plongeon, _Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas and the Quichas_(1886). 

[325] Findel, _History of Freemasonry_ (Eng. Trans. , 1866), pp. 131, 132. 

[326] John Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, p. 216, 431. 

[327] _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 298. 

[328] Waite, _The Real History of the Rosicrucians_, p. 403. 

[329] Ibid. , p. 283. 

[330] Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, p. 430. 

[331] "Yarker pronounces Elias Ashmole to have been circa 1686 'theleading spirit, both in Craft Masonry and in Rosicrucianism, ' and is ofopinion that his diary establishes the fact 'that both societies fellinto decay together in 1682. ' He adds: 'It is evident therefore that theRosicrucians ... Found the operative Guild conveniently ready to theirhand, and grafted upon it their own mysteries ... Also, from this timeRosicrucianism disappears and Freemasonry springs into life with all thepossessions of the former. ' "--_Speculative Freemasonry, an HistoricalLecture_, delivered March 31, 1883, p. 9; quoted by Gould, _History ofFreemasonry_, II. 138. 

[332] _L'Antisémitisme_, p. 339. 

[333] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, articles on Leon and Manasseh ben Israel. 

[334] Article on "Anglo-Jewish Coats-of-arms" by Lucien Wolf in_Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society_, Vol. II. P. 157. 

[335] _Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England_, Vol. II. P. 156. A picture of Templo forms the frontispiece of this volume, and a reproduction of the coat-of-arms of Grand Lodge is given oppositeto p. 156. 

[336] Zohar, section Jethro, folio 70_b_ (de Pauly's trans. , Vol. III. 311). 

[337] The Cabalistic interpretation of the Mercaba will be found in theZohar, section Bereschith, folio 18_b_ (de Pauly's trans. , Vol. I. P. 115). 

[338] "By figure of a man is always meant that of the male and femaletogether. "--Ibid. , p. 116. 

[339] _Histoire de la Monarchie Prussienne_, VI. 76. 

[340] Lecouteulx de Canteleu, op. Cit. , p. 105. 

[341] Ibid. , p. 106; Lombard de Langres, _Les Sociétés Secrètes enAllemagne_, p. 67. 

[342] Monsignor George F. Dillon, _The War of Anti-Christ with theChurch and Christian Civilization_, p. 24 (1885). 

[343] Brother Chalmers I. Paton, _The Origin of Freemasonry: the 1717Theory Exploded_, p. 34. 

[344] Lecouteulx de Canteleu, op. Cit. , p. 107; Robison's _Proofs of aConspiracy_, p. 27; Dillon, op. Cit, p. 24; Mackey, _Lexicon ofFreemasonry_, p. 148. 

[345] Preston's _Illustrations of Masonry_, p. 209 (1804); Anderson's_New Book of Constitutions_ (1738). 

[346] _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, XXV. P. 31. See account of some ofthese convivial masonic societies in this paper entitled "An ApollinaricSummons. "

[347] _Religious Thought and Heresy in the Middle Ages_, p. 373. A "PastGrand Master, " in an article entitled "The Crisis in Freemasonry, " inthe _English Review_ for August 1922, takes the same view. "It is true... That the Craft Lodges in England were originally Hanoverian clubs, as the Scottish lodges were Jacobite clubs. "

[348] Dr. Anderson, a native of Aberdeen and at this period minister ofthe Presbyterian Church in Swallow Street, and Dr. Desaguliers, ofFrench Protestant descent, who had taken holy orders in England and inthis same year of 1717 lectured before George I, who rewarded him with abenefice in Norfolk (_Dictionary of National Biography_, articles onJames Anderson and John Theophilus Desaguliers). 

[349] _The Free Mason's Vindication, being an answer to a scandalouslibel entitled (sic) The Grand Mystery of the Free Masons discover'd_, etc. (Dublin, 1725). It is curious that this reply is to be found in theBritish Museum (Press mark 8145, h. I. 44), but not the book itself. YetMr. Waite thinks it sufficiently important to include in a "Chronologyof the Order, " in his _Encyclopædia of Freemasonry_, I. 335. 

[350] _Gentleman's Magazine_ for April 1737. 

[351] Dates given in _A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. Pp. 11, 12, and Deschamps, _Les Sociétés Secrétes et la Société_, III. 29. The writer of the paperin _A. Q. C. _ appears not to recognize the authorship of the second work_L'Ordre des Francs-Maçons trahi_; but on p. Xxix of this book thesignature of Abbé Pérau appears in the masonic cypher of the periodderived from the masonic word LUX. This cypher is, of course, now wellknown. It will be found on p. 73 of Clavel's _Histoire pittoresque_. 

[352] The British Museum possesses no earlier edition of this work thanthat of 1797, but the first edition must have appeared at leastthirty-five years earlier, as _A Free Mason's Answer to the suspectedAuthor of ... Jachin and Boaz_, of which a copy may be found in theBritish Museum (Press mark 112, d. 41), is dated 1762. This book bearson the title-page the following quotation from Shakespeare:

 "Oh, that Heaven would put in every honest Hand a Whip to lash the Rascal naked through the World. "

[353] The author of _Jachin and Boaz_ says in the 1797 edition that inreply to this work he has received "several anonymous Letters, containing the lowest Abuse and scurrilous Invectives; nay some haveproceeded so far as to threaten his Person. He requests the Favour ofall enraged Brethren, who shall chuse to display their Talents for thefuture, that they will be so kind as to pay the Postage of their Lettersfor there can be no Reason why he should put up with their ill Treatmentand pay the Piper into the Bargain. Surely there must be something inthis Book very extraordinary; a something they cannot digest, thus toexcite the Wrath and Ire of these hot-brained Mason-bit Gentry. " Oneletter he has received calls him "a Scandalous Stinking Pow Catt (sic). "

[354] _A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. P. 34. 

[355] Ibid. 

[356] Ibid. , p. 15. Mackey also thinks that R. A. Was introduced in 1740, but that before that date it formed part of the Master's degree(_Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 299). 

[357] Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, p. 437. 

[358] Review by Yarker of Mr. A. E. Waite's book _The Secret Traditionin Freemasonry_ in _The Equinox_, Vol. I. No. 7, p. 414. 

[359] _Encyclopædia of Freemasonry_, II. 56. 

[360] _A. Q. C. _, Vol. XXXII, Part I. P. 23. 

[361] Correspondence on Lord Derwentwater in _Morning Post_ forSeptember 15, 1922. Mr. Waite (_The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry_, I. 113) wrongly gives the name of Lord Derwentwater as John Radcliffe andin his _Encyclopædia of Freemasonry_ as James Radcliffe. But James wasthe name of the third Earl, beheaded in 1716. 

[362] Gould, op. Cit. III. 138. "The founders were all of themBritons. "--_A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. P. 6. 

[363] "If we turn to our English engraved lists we find that whateverLodge (or Lodges) may have existed in Paris in 1725 must have beenunchartered, for the first French Lodge on our roll is on the list for1730-32.... It would appear probable ... That Derwentwater's Lodge ... Was an informal Lodge and did not petition for a warrant till1732. "--Gould, _History of Freemasonry_, III. 138. 

[364] John Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, p. 462. 

[365] Gautier de Sibert, _Histoire des Ordres Royaux, Hospitaliers-Militaires de Notre-Dame du Carmel et de Saint-Lazare deJérusalem_, Vol. II. P. 193 (Paris, 1772). 

[366] This oration has been published several times and has beenvariously attributed to Ramsay and the Duc d'Antin. The author of apaper in _A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. , says on p. 7: "Whether Ramsaydelivered his speech or not is doubtful, but it is certain that he wroteit. It was printed in an obscure and obscene Paris paper called the_Almanach des Cocus_ for 1741 and is there said to have been'pronounced' by 'Monsieur de R--Grand Orateur de l'Ordre. ' It was againprinted in 1742 by Bro. De la Tierce in his _Histoire, Obligations etStatuts, etc. , ... _ and De la Tierce says that it was 'prononcé par leGrand Maître des Francs-Maçons de France' in the year 1740.... A. G. Jouast (_Histoire du G. O. _, 1865) says the Oration was delivered at theInstallation of the Duc d'Antin as G. M. On 24th June, 1738, and the sameauthority states that it was first printed at the Hague in 1738, boundup with some poems attributed to Voltaire, and some licentious tales byPiron.... Bro. Gould remarks: 'If such a work really existed at thatdate, it was probably the original of the "_Lettre philosophique par M. De V---- _, _avec plusieurs piéces galantes_, " London, 1757. '" Mr. Gouldhas, however, provided very good evidence that Ramsay was the author ofthe oration by Daruty's discovery of the letter to Cardinal Fleury, which together with the oration itself (translated from De la Tierce'sversion) he reproduces in his _History of Freemasonry_, Vol. III. P. 84. 

[367] _A. Q. C. , XXII_. Part I. P. 10. 

[368] _Les plus secrets mystères des Hants Grades de la Maçonneriedévoilés, ou le vrai Rose-Croix. _ A Jerusalem. M. DCC. LXVII. (_A. Q. C. _, Vol. XXXII. Part I. P. 13, refers, however, to an edition of 1747). 

[369] As Godefroi de Bouillon died in 1100, I conclude his name to havebeen introduced here in error by de Bérage or the date of 1330 to havebeen a misprint. 

[370] Dr. Mackey confirms this assertion, _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 304. 

[371] _Étoile Flamboyante_, I. Pp. 18-20. 

[372] The same theory that Freemasonry originated in Palestine as asystem of protection for the Christian faith is given almost verbatim inthe instructions to the candidate for initiation into the degree of"Prince of the Royal Secret" published in _Monitor of Freemasonry_(Chicago, 1860), where it is added that "the brethren assembled roundthe tomb of Hiram, is a representation of the disciples lamenting thedeath of Christ on the Cross. " Weishaupt, founder of theeighteenth-century Illuminati, also showed--although in a spirit ofmockery--how easily the legend of Hiram could be interpreted in thismanner, and suggested that at the periods when the Christians werepersecuted they enveloped their doctrines in secrecy and symbolism. "That was necessary in times and places where the Christians livedamongst the heathens, for example in the East at the time of theCrusades. "--_Nachtrag zur Originalschriften_, Part II. P. 123. 

[373] _Étoile Flamboyante_, pp. 24-9. 

[374] Gould, _History of Freemasonry_, III. 92. 

[375] Mackey's _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 267. 

[376] Oliver's _Landmarks of Freemasonry_, II. 81, note 35. 

[377] _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 270. 

[378] Clavel, _Histoire pittoresque de la Franc-Maçonnerie_, p. 166. 

[379] _A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part 1. P. 17. 

[380] _The Royal Order of Scotland_, by Bro. Fred. H. Buckmaster, p. 3

[381] _Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de Messire François deSalignac de la Mothe-Fenélon, archevêque de Cambrai_, pp. 105, 149(1727). 

[382] J. M. Ragon, _Ordre Chapitral, Nouveau Grade de Rose-Croix_, p. 35. 

[383] The identity of Lord Harnouester has remained a mystery. It hasbeen suggested that Harnouester is only a French attempt to spellDerwentwater, and therefore that the two Grand Masters referred to wereone and the same person. 

[384] In 1786 the seventh and eighth degrees were transposed, theeleventh became Sublime Knight Elect, the twentieth Grand Master of allSymbolic, the twenty-first Noachite or Prussian Knight, the twenty-thirdChief of the Tabernacle, the twenty-fourth Prince of the Tabernacle, thetwenty-fifth Knight of the Brazen Serpent. The thirteenth is now knownas the Royal Arch of Enoch and must not be confounded with the RoyalArch, which is the complement of the third degree. The fourteenth is nowthe Scotch Knight of Perfection, the fifteenth Knight of the Sword or ofthe East, and the twentieth is Venerable Grand Master. 

[385] _History of Freemasonry_, III. 93. Thory gives the date of theKadosch degree as 1743, which seems correct. 

[386] Zohar, section Bereschith, folio 18b. 

[387] _A. Q. C. _, XXVI: "Templar Legends in Freemasonry. "

[388] "This degree is intimately connected with the ancient order of theKnights Templars, a history of whose destruction, by the united efiortsof Philip, King of France, and Pope Clement V, forms a part of theinstructions given to the candidate. The dress of the Knights is black, as an emblem of mourning for the extinction of the Knights Templars, andthe death of Jacques du Molay, their last Grand Master.... "--Mackey, _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 172. 

[389] Mr. J. E. S. Tuckett, in the paper before mentioned, quotes theArticles of Union of 1813, in which it is said that "pure ancientMasonry consists of three degrees and no more, " and goes on to observethat: "According to this view those other Degrees (which for conveniencemay be called Additional Degrees) are not real Masonry at all, but anextraneous and spontaneous growth springing up around the 'Craft'proper, later in date, and mostly foreign, i. E. Non-British in origin, and the existence of _any_ such degrees is by some writers condemned asa contamination of the 'pure Ancient Freemasonry' of ourforefathers. "--_A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. P. 5. 

[390] J. J. Mounier, _De l'Influence attribuée aux Philosophes, auxFrancs-Maçons et aux Illuminés sur la Révolution Française_, p. 148(1822). See also letter from the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick toGeneral Rainsford dated January 19, 1799, defending Barruel from thecharge of attacking Masonry and pointing out that he only indicated theupper degrees, _A. Q. C. _, XXVI, p. 112. 

[391] Em. Rebold, _Histoire des Trots Grandes Loges de Francs-Maçons enFrance_, pp. 9, 10 (1864). 

[392] _A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. 21. 

[393] _A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. 22. It is curious that in this discussionby members of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge the influence of the Templars, which provides the only key to the situation, is almost entirelyignored. 

[394] Yarker, _The Arcane Schools_, pp. 479-82. 

[395] Mackey, _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 119. 

[396] _Martines de Pasqually_, par Papus, président du Suprême Conseilde l'Ordre Martiniste, p. 144 (1895). Papus is the pseudonym of Dr. Gérard Encausse. 

[397] Gould, _History of Freemasonry_, III. 241. 

[398] See the very important article on this question that appeared in_The National Review_ for February 1923, showing that Carlyle wasassisted gratuitously throughout his work by a German Jew named JosephNeuberg and was supplied with information and finally decorated by thePrussian Government. 

[399] Executed in 1746 as a partisan of the Stuarts. 

[400] Gould, op. Cit. , Vol. III. Pp. 101, 110; _A. Q. C. _, Vol. XXXII. Part I. P. 31. 

[401] A. E. Waite, _The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry_, I. 296, 370, 415. 

[402] Clavel (_Histoire pittoresque de la Franc-Maçonnerie_, p. 185)says it was afterwards discovered that "the Pretender, far from havingmade de Hundt a Templar, on the contrary was made a Templar by him. " Butother authorities deny that Prince Charles Edward was initiated eveninto Freemasonry. 

[403] Lecouteulx de Canteleu, _Les Sectes et Societes Secrètes_, p. 242;Clavel, op. Cit. , p. 184. 

[404] Gould, op. Cit. , III. 100. 

[405] Ibid. , III. 99, 103; Waite, _Secret Tradition in Freemasonry_, I. 289: "The Rite of the Stricte Observance was the first masonic systemwhich claimed to derive its authority from Unknown Superiors, irresponsible themselves but claiming absolute jurisdiction andobedience without question. "

[406] _Histoire de la Monarchie Prussienne_, V. 61 (1788). 

[407] _Les Sectes et Sociétés Secrètes_, p. 246. 

[408] Gould, op. Cit. , III. 102. Waite (_Encyclopædia of Freemasonry_, II. 23) says Johnson was "in reality named Leucht, an Englishman by hisclaim--who did not know English and is believed to have been a Jew. "

[409] Mackey, op. Cit. , p. 331. 

[410] Gould, _History of Freemasonry_, III. 93; _A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. P. 24. 

[411] _Lévitikon_, p. 8 (1831); Fabré Palaprat, _Recherches historiquessur les Templiers_, p. 28 (1835)

[412] M. Grégoire, _Histoire des Sectes Religieuses_, II. 401. Findelsays that very soon after Frederick's return home from Brunswick "alodge was secretly organized in the castle of Rheinsberg" (_History ofFreemasonry_, Eng. Trans. , p. 252). This lodge would appear then to havebeen a Templar, not a Masonic Lodge. 

[413] Oliver, _Historical Landmarks in Freemasonry_, II. 110

[414] Findel, _History of Freemasonry_ (Eng. Trans. ), p. 290. 

[415] On this point see _inter alia_ Mackey, _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, pp. 91, 328. In England and in the Grand Orient of France most of theupper degrees have fallen into disuse, and this rite, known in Englandas the Ancient and Accepted Rite and in France as the Scottish Rite, consists of five degrees only in addition to the three Craft degrees(known as Blue Masonry), which form the basis of all masonic rites. These five degrees are the eighteenth Rose-Croix, the thirtieth KniqhtKadosch, and the thirty-first to the thirty-third. The EnglishFreemason, on being admitted to the upper degrees, therefore advances atone bound from the third degree of Master Mason to the eighteenth degreeof Rose-Croix, which thus forms the first of the upper degrees. Theintermediate degrees are, however, still worked in America. 

[416] _Scottish Rite of Freemasonry: the Constitutions and Regulationsof_ 1762, by Albert Pike, Sovereign Grand Commander of the SupremeCouncil of the Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of theUnited States, p. 138 (A. M. 5632). 

[417] RO. State Papers, Foreign, France, Vol. 243, Jan. 2 and Feb. 19, 1752. 

[418] John Morley, _Diderot and the Encyclopædists_, Vol. I. Pp. 123-47(1886). 

[419] Gould, op. Cit. , III. 87. Mr. Gould naïvely adds in a footnote tothis passage: "The proposed Dictionary is a curious crux--- is itpossible that the Royal Society may have formed some such idea?" Thebeginning already made in London was of course the _Cyclopædia_ ofChambers, published in 1728, and Chambers, who in the following year wasmade a Fellow of the Royal Society, if not himself a Mason numbered manyprominent Masons amongst his friends, including the globe-maker Senex towhom he had been apprenticed and who published Anderson's_Constitutions_ in 1723. (See _A. Q. C. _, XXXII. Part I. P. 18. )

[420] Papus, _Martines de Pasqually_, p. 146 (1895). 

[421] Evidently a reference to the seven liberal arts and sciencesenumerated in the Fellow Craft's degree--Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. 

[422] In 1767 Voltaire writes to Frederick asking him to have certainbooks printed in Berlin and circulated in Europe "at a low price whichwill facilitate the sales. " To this Frederick replies: "You can make useof my printers according to your desires, " etc. (letter of May 5, 1767). I have referred elsewhere to the libels against Marie Antoinettecirculated by Frederick's agents in France. See my _French Revolution_, pp. 27, 183. 

[423] Eliphas Lévi, _Histoire de la Magie, p_ 407. The rôle ofFreemasonry in preparing the Revolution habitually denied by theconspiracy of history is nevertheless clearly recognized in masoniccircles--applauded by those of France, deplored by those of England andAmerica. An American manual in my possession contains the followingpassage: "The Masons ... (it is now well settled by history) _originatedthe Revolution_ with the infamous Duke of Orleans at their head. "--_ARitual and Illustrations of Freemasonry_, p. 31 note. 

[424] Papus, _Martines de Pasqually, p_. 150. 

[425] Benjamin Fabre, _Eques a Capite Galeato_, p. 88. 

[426] _Souvenirs du Baron de Gleichen_, p. 151. 

[427] Henri Martin, _Histoire de France_, XVI. 529. 

[428] Heckethorn, _Secret Societies_, I. 218; Waite, _Secret Tradition_, II. 155, 156. 

[429] "The ceremonial magic of Pasqually followed that type which Iconnect with the debased Kabbalism of Jewry. "--A. E. Waite, _The SecretTradition in Freemasonry_, II. 175. 

[430] An eighteenth-century manuscript of _Les vrais clavicules du roiSalomon_, translated from the Hebrew, was sold in Paris in 1921. 

[431] Mackev, _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 156

[432] A. E. Waite, _The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabbalah_, p. 369. Ragon elsewhere gives an account of the philosophical degree of theRose-Croix, in which the sacred formula I. N. R. I. , which plays animportant part in the Christian form of this degree, is interpreted tomean Igne Natura Renovatur Integra--Nature is renewed by fire. --_NovueauGrade de Rose Croix_, p 69. Mackev gives this as an alternativeinterpretation of the Rosicrucians. --_Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 150. 

[433] Ragon, _Mafonnerie Occulte_, p. 91. 

[434] Gustave Bord, _La Franc-Maçonnerie en Francs, des Origines à_1815, p. 212 (1908). 

[435] Letter from General Rainsford of October 1782, quoted in_Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society_, Vol. VIII. P. 125. 

[436] De Luchet (_Essai sur la Sects des Illuminés_, p. 212) refers tothe following works in connexion with the Order:

 1. _Nouvelles authentiques des Chevaliers et Frères Initiés d'Asie_. 

 2. _Reçoit-on, peut-on recevoir les Juifs parmi les Franc-Maçons_?

 3. _Nouvelles authentiques de l'Asie_, by Frederick de Bascamp, nommé Lazapolski (1787). 

Wolfstieg, in his _Bibliograpkie der Freimaurischer Literatur_, Vol. II. P. 283, gives Friedrich Münter as the author of the first of the above, and also mentions amongst others a work by Gustave Brabée, _DieAsiatischen Brüder in Berlin und Wien_. But none of these are to befound in the British Museum, nor is the book of Rolling (published in1787), which gives away the secrets of the sect. 

[437] Books in Wolfstieg's list refer to the Order as "the only true andgenuine Freemasonry" (die einzige wahre und echte Freimaurerei). 

[438] Clavel, _Histoire pittoresque_, etc. , p. 167. 

[439] The Baron de Gleichen, in describing the "Convulsionists, " saysthat young women allowed themselves to be crucified, sometimes headdownwards, at these meetings of the fanatics. He himself saw one nailedto the floor and her tongue cut with a razor. (_Souvenirs da Baron deGleichen_, p. 185. )

[440] Barruel, _Mémoires sur le Jacobinisme_, IV. 263. 

[441] _Franciscus, Eques a Capite Galeato_, published by Benjamin Fabrewith preface by Copin Albancelli. A paper on this book appears in _ArsQuatuor Coronatorum_, Vol. XXX. Part II. The author, Mr. J. E. S. Tuckett, describes it as a book of extraordinary interest to Freemasons. Without sharing Mr. Tuckett's admiration for the members of the RitPrimitif, I agree with him that M. Fabre attributes to them too muchguile and fails to substantiate his charge of revolutionary designs. They appear to have been the perfectly honourable dupes of subtlerbrains. Incidentally Mr. Tuckett erroneously gives the real name of"Eques a Capite Galeato" as Chefdebien d'Armand; it should bed'Armisson. 

[442] De Luchet, _Essai sur la Secte des Illuminés_, p. 208. Gould, op. Cit. , III. 116. 

[443] It is amusing to note that Mr. Waite confuses him with therightful bearer of the name, Claude Louis, Comte de Saint-Germain, Minister of War under Louis XVI, for in _The Secret Tradition inFreemasonry_, Vol. II. , a picture of the real Count is appended to adescription of the adventurer. 

[444] _Biographic Michaud_, article on Saint-Germain. 

[445] _Souvenirs de la Marquise de Créquy_, III. 65. Francois Bournand(_Histoire de la Franc-Maçonnerie_, p. 106) confirms this story: "Theman who called himself the Comte de Saint-Germain was in reality onlythe son of an Alsatian Jew named Wolf. "

[446] _Nouvelle Biographie Générale_, article on Saint-Germain. 

[447] Frederick Búlau, _Geheime Geschichten und ràthselhafte Menschen_, I. 311 (1850); Eckert, _La Franc-Maçonnene dans sa véritablesignification_, II. 80, quoting Lening's _Encyclopédie desFranc-Mafons_. 

[448] Lecouteulx de Canteleu, op. Cit. , pp. 171, 172. 

[449] Clavel, _Histoire pittoresque_, p. 175. 

[450] Ibid. , p. 175. 

[451] Figuier, _Histoire du Merveilleux_, IV. 9-11 (1860). 

[452] Mounier, _De l'influence attribuée_, etc. , p. 140. 

[453] Benjamin Fabre, _Franciscus eques a Capite Galeato_, p. 24. 

[454] De Luchet, _Essai sur la Secte des Illuminés_ (1792 edition), p. 234. 

[455] _L'Antisémitisme_, p. 335. 

[456] Ibid. , p. 328. 

[457] Article by Mr. Lucien Wolf, "The First English Jew, " in_Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England_, Vol. II. P. 18. On this question see also the pamphlets by Mr. Lucien Wolf:_Crypto-Jews under the Commonwealth_ (1894), Cromwell's _JewishIntelligencers_ (1891), and _Manasseh ben Israel's Mission to OliverCromwell_ (1901), also articles on Cromwell, Carvajal, and Manasseh benIsrael in the _Jewish Encyclopædia_. 

[458] Lucien Wolf, "The First English Jew, " in _Transactions of theJewish Historical Society of England_, II. 20. 

[459] Tovey, _Anglia Judaica_, p. 275. 

[460] The _Jewish Encyclopædia_, in its article on Manasseh ben Israel, says: "He was full of cabalistic opinions, though he was careful not toexpound them in those of his works that were written in modern languagesand intended to be read by Gentiles. " In its article on "Magic" the_Jewish Encyclopædia_ refers to the "Nishmat Hayyim, " a work by Manassehben Israel which "is filled with superstition and magic" and adds that"many Christian scholars were deluded. "

[461] Tovey, _Anglia Judaica_, p. 259; Margoliouth, _History of the Jewsin England_, II. 3. 

[462] Mirabeau (_Sur la Réforme politique des Juifs_, 1787) thinks theymay not have been allowed to return unconditionally until 1664. It wascertainly at this date that they were formally granted free permissionto live in England and practice their religion (Margoliouth, op. Cit. , II. 26). 

[463] Margohouth, op cit. , II 43. 

[464] _The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth_, by Lewis H. Berens, pp. 36, 74, 76, 98, 141 (1906). 

[465] Claudio Jannet, _Les Précurseurs de la Franc-Maçonnerie_, p. 47(1187). 

[466] _Harmsworth Encyclopædia_, article on Jews. 

[467] _Diary of Samuel Pepys_, date of February 19, 1666

[468] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Shabbethai Zebi B. Mordecai. 

[469] Henry Hart Milman, _History of the Jews_ (Everyman's Library), Vol. II. P. 445. 

[470] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Ba'al Shem Tob. 

[471] Milman, op. Cit, II. 446. 

[472] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Heilprin, Joel Ben Uri. 

[473] Heckethorn, _Secret Societies_, I. 87. 

[474] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Jacob Frank. 

[475] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Jacob Frank. 

[476] Ibid. 

[477] Milraan, op. Cit. , II. 447. 

[478] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Jacob Frank. 

[479] Ibid. 

[480] Ibid. : Heckethorn. _Secret Societies_, I. 87. 

[481] Milman, op. Cit. , II. 448. Cf. Description of pomp displayed byanother member of the oppressed race named Fränkel, who appeared at aparade of Jewry at Prague in 1741 in a carriage drawn by six horses andsurrounded by footmen and horseguards. --_Jewish Encyclopædia_, articleon Fränkel, Simon Wolf. 

[482] _Jewish Encyclopedia_, article on Falk, of whom a good portrait byCopley is given. On Falk see also _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, Vol. XXVI. Part I. Pp. 98-105, and Vol. XXX. Part II; _Transactions of the JewishHistorical Society_, Vol. V. P. 148, article on "The Ba'al Shem ofLondon, " by the Rev. Dr. H. Adler, Chief Rabbi, and Vol. VIII, "Notes onsome Contemporary References to Dr. Falk, the Ba'al Shem of London, inthe Rainsford MSS. At the British Museum, " by Gordon P. G. Hills. Thefollowing pages are taken entirely from these sources. 

[483] Falk does not appear to have brought good fortune to the Goldsmidfamily, for Margoliouth in a passage which evidently relates to Falksays that, according to Jewish legend, the suicide of Abraham Goldsmidand his brother was attributed to the following cause: "A Ba'al Shem, anoperative Cabalist, in other words a thaumaturgos and prophet, used tolive with the father of the Goldsmids. On his death-bed he summoned thepatriarch Goldsmid, and delivered into his hands a box, which hestrictly enjoined should not be opened till a tertain period which theBa'al Shem specified, and in case of disobedience a torrent of fearfulcalamities would overwhelm the Goldsmids. The patriarch's curiosity wasnot aroused for some time; but in a few years after the Ba'al Shem'sdeath, Goldsmid, the aged, half sceptic, half curious, forced open thefatal box, and then the Goldsmids began to learn what it was todisbelieve the words of a Ba'al Shem. "--Margoliouth, _History of theJews_, II. 144. 

[484] _Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society_, V. 162. 

[485] Benjamin Fabre, _Eques a Capite Galeato_, p. 84. 

[486] Benjamin Fabre, op cit. , pp. 88, 90, 98, 110. 

[487] Clavel, _Histoire pittoresque_, pp. 188, 390; Robison's _Proofs ofa Conspiracy_, p. 77. 

[488] _The Royal Masonic Cyclopædia_ describes both _Nathan der Weise_and _Ernst und Falk_ as prominent works on Masonry. 

[489] There is, however, the possibility that Lessing may have had inmind another Falk living at the same period; this was "John FrederickFalk, born at Hamburg of Jewish parents, reported to have been head of aCabalistic College in London and to have died about 1824" (_Tranactionsof the Jewish Historical Society_, VIII. 128). But in view of the partwhich the correspondence of Savalette de Langes shows the Ba'al Shem ofLondon to have played in the background of Freemasonry, it seems moreprobable that he was the Falk in question. At any rate, both were Jewsand Cabalists. 

[490] Who can this have been?

[491] The Duchesse de Gontaut relates in her _Mémoires_ that the Dued'Orléans was one day driving through the forest of Fontainebleau when aman, half clothed and with a demented air, sprang towards the carriage, grimacing horribly. The Duke's suite, taking him for a madman, wouldhave kept him at bay, but the Duke, at that moment awaking from sleep, unbuttoned his shirt and showed his assailant an iron ring suspendedround his neck. At this sight the man took to his heels and disappearedinto the wood. The mystery of this incident was never elucidated, andthe Duke, when questioned on the matter, would offer no explanation. Could this ring have been Falk's talisman?

[492] Margoliouth, op. Cit. , II. 121-4. See also _Life of Lord GeorgeGordon_ by Robert Watson (1795), pp. 71, 72. 

[493] Friedrich Bülau, _Geheime Geschichten und räthselhafte Menschen_, I. 325 (1850). _The Public Advertiser_, Aug. 22, 24, 1786. 

[494] Barruel, Vol. III. P. Xi. , quoting Gaultier. 

[495] Silvestre de Sacy, "Mémoires sur la Dynastie des Assassins, " in_Mémoires de l'Institut Royal de France_, Vol. IV. (1818). 

[496] _History of Freemasonry_, III. 121. 

[497] _Mémoires sur le Jacobinisme_ (edition of 1819), Vol. III. P. 9. 

[498] Ibid. , III. 55, 56. 

[499] _Essat sur la Secte des llluminés_, pp. 28-39. 

[500] "Our worst enemies the Jesuits. "--Letter from Spartacus, _Originalschriften_, p. 306. 

[501] Figuier, _Histoire de Merveilleux_, IV. 77. 

[502] _Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens_, p. 230. 

[503] Ibid. , p. 331. 

[504] In _World Revolution_ I suggested a resemblance between the Jewishcalendar and that of the Illuminati. This was an error; the Jewishcalendar was adopted by the Scottish Rite, which, as we have seen, derived partly from Judaic sources. 

[505] Thus Zwack (alias Cato) writes: "We have not only hindered theenlistings of the Rose-Croix but rendered their very namecontemptible. "--_Originalschriften_, p. 8. 

[506] _Originalschriften_, p. 363. The word Illuminism is alwaysrepresented by this symbol in the correspondence of the Illuminati. 

[507] Ibid. , p. 202. 

[508] Ibid. , p. 331. 

[509] A. E. Waite, "Freemasonry and the Jewish Peril, " in _The OccultReview_ for September 1920, p. 152. 

[510] _Mémoires de Mirabeau écrats par lui-même, par son père, son oncleet son fils adoptif, et prècédés d'une étude sur Mirabeau par VictorHugo_, Vol. III. P. 47 (1834). 

[511] I have expressly made use of M. Barthou's résumé instead of makingone of my own, lest I should be said to have made judicious selectionsin order to suit the purpose of showing the resemblance between thisMemoir and the passage from Mirabeau's other writings which follows. ButM. Barthou's impartiality cannot be impugned, for he appears to knownothing about the Illuminati or Mirabeau's connexion with them, andregards the Memoir in question as solely the outcome of Mirabeau's mindwhich had "ripened" since 1772. 

[512] F. Barthou, _Mirabeau_, p. 57. 

[513] In the Memoir drawn up by Mirabeau quoted above we find thispassage: "It must be a fundamental rule never to allow any prince toenter the association were he a god for virtue. "--_Mémoires deMirabeau_, III. 60. 

[514] _Histoire de la Monarchie Prussienne_, V. 99. 

[515] Henry Martin, _Histoire de France_, XVI. 533. 

[516] Louis Blanc, _Histoire de la Révolution Française_, II. 84. 

[517] _History of Freemasonry_, III. 121. 

[518] _Originalschriften_, p. 258. 

[519] Ibid. , p. 297. 

[520] Ibid. , p. 285. 

[521] Ibid. , p. 286. 

[522] _Originalschriften_, p. 300. It seems that when a Freemasonappeared likely to fall in with the scheme of Illuminism, he was soonallowed to know of the further system. Thus in the case of "Savioli""Cato" writes: "Now that he is a Mason I have put all about this ⊙before him, shown him what is unimportant and at this opportunity takenup the general plan of our ⊙, and as this pleased him I said that such athing really existed, whereat he gave me his word that he would enterit. "--_Originalschriften_, p. 289. 

[523] Ibid. , p. 303. 

[524] Ibid. , p. 361. 

[525] Ibid. , p. 363. 

[526] Ibid. , p. 360. 

[527] _Originalschriften_, p. 200. 

[528] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, I. 67. 

[529] _Ibid. _, p. 95. 

[530] _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p. 142. See also Oliver's _HistoricalLandmarks of Freemasonry_, I. 26, where the Illuminati are rightlyincluded amongst the enemies of Masonry. Nevertheless, both Mackey andOliver proceed to revile Barruel and Robison as enemies of Masonry, andin order to substantiate this accusation Oliver descends to the mostflagrant misquotation. For if we look up in the original the passages hequotes on page 382 from Robison and on page 573 from Barruel as evidenceof their calumnies on Masonry, we shall find that they referrespectively to the Rose-Croix Cabalists and the Illuminati and not tothe Freemasons at all! See Robison's _Proofs of a Conspiracy_, p. 93, and Barruel's _Mémoires sur le Jacobinisme_ (1818 edition), II. 244. 

[531] _Oeuvres Complètes de Voltaire_ (1818 edition). Vol. XLI. P. 153. 

[532] Ibid. , pp. 165, 168. 

[533] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_. II. 54-57. 

[534] Ibid. , p. 82. 

[535] Ibid. , p. 59. 

[536] Ibid. , p. 63. 

[537] Ibid. , p. 65. 

[538] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, II. 67. 

[539] Ibid. , pp. 80, 81. 

[540] Ibid. , pp. 98, 99. 

[541] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, II. 100-101. 

[542] Ibid. , p. 105: "He Himself lived with His disciples in communityof goods. "

[543] Ibid, p. 101. This was one of the earliest heresies of theChristian era refuted by Origen: "Moreover, he [Celsus] frequently callsthe Christian doctrine a secret system, we must refute him on this point... To speak of the Christian doctrine as a secret system is altogetherabsurd. "--Origen, _Contra Celsum_, in _The Ante-Nicene ChristianLibrary_, p. 403 (1869). 

[544] Ibid. , p. 106. 

[545] Ibid. , p. 113. 

[546] Ibid. , p. 96. 

[547] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, II. 111. 

[548] Ibid. , II. 123. 

[549] Ibid. , II. 124. 

[550] Ibid. , I. 68. 

[551] Ibid. , II. 113. 

[552] Ibid. , II. 115. 

[553] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, II. 13, 14. 

[554] Ibid. , I. 104. 

[555] Ibid. , I. 104-106. 

[556] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, I. 76. 

[557] _Originalschriften_, p. 8. 

[558] Ibid. , p. 9. 

[559] Ibid. , p. 10

[560] _Neuesten Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo_, pp. 143, 163. 

[561] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, I. 3. 

[562] _Originalschriften_, p. 215. 

[563] Ibid. , p. 173. 

[564] Ibid. , p. 175. 

[565] Ibid. , pp. 237-8. 

[566] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, I. 12. 

[567] _Originalschriften_, p. 231. 

[568] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, II. 2. 

[569] _Originalschriften_, p. 51. 

[570] Ibid. , p. 52. 

[571] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, II. 45. 

[572] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, II. 51. 

[573] _Originalschriften_, p. 210. 

[574] Ibid. , p. 72. 

[575] Ibid. , p. 271. 

[576] Ibid. , p. 50. 

[577] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, I. 32. 

[578] _Royal Masonic Cyclopædia_, article on Illuminati. 

[579] Feder, a preacher at the Court who had joined the Illuminati. 

[580] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, I. 42. 

[581] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, I. 39, 40. 

[582] Ibid. , I. 47. 

[583] _Originalschriften_, pp. 370, 371. 

[584] Ibid. , pp. 257, 258. 

[585] Given in the cypher of the Illuminati: "Denken sie, meine 18. 10. 5. 21. 12. 6. 8. 17. 4. 13. Ist 18. 10. 5. 21. 12. 13. 6. 8. 17. (meineSchwägerin ist schwanger). " See cypher on p. 1 of _Originalschnften_. 

[586] Note, then, that this was no sudden lapse on the part ofWeishaupt. 

[587] _Nachtrag von ... Onginalschrtften_, I. 14-16. 

[588] Ibid. , I. 21. 

[589] Ibid. , I. 99. 

[590] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, I. 112. 

[591] Author of the very interesting work _La Vérité sur les SociétésSecrétes en Allemagne_, par un Ancien Illuminé (Paris, 1819). 

[592] _De l'Influence attribuée aux Philosophes, aux Francs-Maçons etaux Illuminés sur la, Révolution de France_, par J. J. Mounier (1822), p. 181. 

[593] It has several times been stated that Weishaupt was himself a Jew. I cannot find the slightest evidence to this effect. 

[594] _Originalschriften_, pp. 107-10. 

[595] "Foresight indicates, " says Falk, "that an end must be made to thewhole of the present scheme of Freemasonry [_dem ganzen jetzigen Schemader Freimaurerei ein Ende zu machen_], " and he goes on to show that thismust be done by picked men in the secret societies who know the truesecrets of Masonry. This is precisely Weishaupt's idea. 

[596] In 1779 Spartacus writes to Marius and Cato suggesting thatinstead of Illuminati the Order should be called the "Order of Bees[Bienenorden oder Bienengesellschaft], " and that all the statutes shouldbe clothed in this allegory--_Originalschriften_, p. 320. 

[597] _Nachtrag von ... Originalschriften_, II. 81. 

[598] My italics. 

[599] Where are they called this? The Cabala distinctly states thatIsrael alone is to possess the future world (Zohar, section Vayschlah, folio 177b), whilst the Talmud even excludes the lost tribes: "the tentribes have no share in the world to come" (Tract Sanhedrim, Rodkinson'stranslation, p. 363). 

[600] _Memoirs of Moses Mendelssohn_, by M. Samuels, pp. 56, 57 (1827). 

[601] Letter to the _Jewish Chronicle_, September 1, 1922, quotingHenrietta Herz. 

[602] Goethe was initiated into Freemasonry on St. John's Eve, 1780. _The Royal Masonic Cyclopædia_ observes: "There exist two greatclassical Masonic writers, Lessing and Goethe. " Dr. Stauffer, in _NewEngland and the Bavarian Illuminati_ (p. 172), points out further thatGoethe's connexion with the Illuminati is fully established by bothEngel (_Geschichte des Illuminatenordens_, pp. 355 and following) and byLe Forestier (_Les Illuminés de Baviére_, pp. 396 and following). It ispossible that _Faust_ may be the history of an initiation by adisillusioned Illuminatus. 

[603] Henri Martin, _Histoire de France_, Vol. XVI. P. 531. 

[604] _Historie de la Monarchie prussienne_, V. 73. 

[605] _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, Vol. XXVI. P. 98. 

[606] "Notes on the Rainsford Papers" in _A. Q. C. _, Vol. XXVI. P. 111. 

[607] _Morning Herald_ for November 2, 1786. 

[608] Eckert, _La Franc-Maçonnerie dans sa véritable signification_, Vol. II. P. 92. 

[609] _Drei merkwürdige Aussagen_, etc. , evidence of Grünberger, Cosandey, and Renner (Munich, 1786); _Grosse Absichten des Ordens derIlluminaten_, etc. , Ditto, with Utzschneider (Munich, 1786). 

[610] Gustave Bord, _La Franc-Maçonnerie en France_, etc. , p. 351(1908). This Australian Count is referred to in the correspondence ofthe Illuminati more as an agent than as an adept. Thus Weishaupt writes:"I must attempt to cure him of theosophy and bring him round to ourviews" (_Nachtrag von ... Originalschnften_, I. 71); and Philo, beforethe Congress of Wilhelmsbad, observes: "Numenius is not yet of much use. I am only taking him up so as to stop his mouth at the Congress [_um ihnauj dem Convente das Meul zu stopfen_]; still, if he is well led we canmake something out of him. " (ibid. , p. 109). 

[611] _Die Neuesten Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo in demIlluminaten-Orden. _ p. Viii (1794). 

[612] De Luchet, _Essai sur la Secte des Illuminés_, p. Vii. 

[613] Crétineau Joly, _L'Église Romaine en face de la Révolution_, I. P. 93. 

[614] In my _World Revolution_ I accepted erroneously the opinion ofseveral well-known writers who attribute this pamphlet to Mirabeau. Thefact that it was printed at the end of Mirabeau's _Histoire Secrète dela Cour de Berlin_ and that a further edition revised by Mirabeau waspublished in 1792 no doubt gave rise to this supposition. But apart fromthe fact that Mirabeau as an Illuminatus was unlikely himself todenounce the Order, the proof that he was not the author may be found atthe British Museum, where the copy of the 1792 edition bears on thetitle-page the words in ink "Donné par l'auteur, " and Mirabeau died inthe spring of the preceding year. 

[615] British Museum press-mark F. 259 (14). 

[616] _Oeuvres posthumes de Marmontel_, IV. 77. 

[617] Lombard de Langres, _Histoire des Jacobins_, p. 31 (1820). 

[618] Deschamps, _Les Sociétés Secrètes et la Société_, II. 151, quotingdocument amongst the papers of Cardinal Bernis entitled: _Discoursprononcé au comité de la Propagande par M. Duport, un de ses mémoires, le 21 mai 1790. _

[619] Galart de Montjoie, _Histoire de Marie Antoinette de Lorraine_, p. 156 (1797). 

[620] Lombard de Langres, _Histoire des Jacobins_, p. 117 (1820). 

[621] Ibid. , p. 236. 

[622] See _Die Neuesten Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo_, p. 71, wherethe Illuminati are described as wearing "fliegende Haare und kleinevierekte rothe samtne Hute. " An alternative theory is, however, that the"cap of liberty" was copied from that of the galley-slaves. 

[623] _Histoire des Jacobins_, p. 117. 

[624] A. E. Waite, _The Mysteries of Magic_, p. 215. 

[625] _Moniteur_, Vol. II. , séance du 23 décembre, 1789. 

[626] Théophile Malvezin, _Histoire des Juifs à Bordeaux_, p. 262(1875). 

[627] _Requête des six corps de marchands et négociants de Paris contrel'admission des Juifs_ in Archives Nationales, quoted by Henri Delassus, _La Question Juive_, p. 60 (1911). 

[628] Leon Kahn, _Les Juifs de Paris pendant la Révolution_ (1898). 

[629] Ibid. , p. 167. Cf. Arthur Chuquet, _La Légion Germanique_, p. 139(1904). 

[630] Archives Nationales, F*. 2486. 

[631] My _French Revolution_, p. 274. 

[632] Kahn, op. Cit. , pp. 140, 141, 170, 201, 241. 

[633] _Nouvelle Adresse des Juifs à l'Assemblée Nationale_, le 24décembre, 1789. 

[634] _Moniteur_, Vol. XVIII. , séances of 21st and 22nd Brumaire, An 2(November, 1793). 

[635] _Discours de morale, prononcé le 2ième décadi, 20 frimaire, l'an2ième de la république ... An temple de la Vérité, ci-devant l'églisedes bénédictins à Angely Boutonne ... Fait par le citoyen AlexandreLambert, fils, juif et élevé dans les préjugés du culte judaïque_(1794), British Museum press-mark F. 1058 (4). 

[636] Kahn, op. Cit. , p. 311. 

[637] _Crimes de la Révolution_, III. 44. 

[638] Archives Nationales, _Pièce remise par le Cabinet de Vienne_(1824), F* 7566. 

[639] Chevalier de Malet, _Recherches politiques et historiques_, p. 2(1817). 

[640] Eckert, _La Franc-Maçonnerie dans sa véritable signification_, II. 125. 

[641] Mr. Lucien Wolf, "The Jewish Peril, " article in the _Spectator_for June 12, 1920. 

[642] A. E. Waite, "Occult Freemasonry and the Jewish Peril, " in _TheOccult Review_ for September, 1920. 

[643] Deschamps, op. Cit. , II. 197, quoting _Tableau historique de laMaçonnerie_, p. 38. 

[644] _Eques a Capite Galeato_, pp. 362, 364, 366. 

[645] Ibid. , p. 423. 

[646] _The War of Anti-Christ with the Church and ChristianCivilization_, p. 30 (1885). 

[647] G. Lenôtre, _Le Dauphin_ (Eng. Trans. ), p. 307. 

[648] Archives Nationales, F* 6563. 

[649] Archives Nationales F* 6563 No. 2449, Série 2. No. 49. 

[650] _Pièce remise par le Cabinet de Vienne_, F* 7566. 

[651] _Lettres d'un Voyageur à l'Abbé Barruel_, p. 30 (1800). 

[652] _World Revolution_, pp. 86 and following, where extracts from thecorrespondence of the Alta Vendita (or Haute Vente Romaine) were given. This correspondence will be found in _L'Église Romaine en face de laRévolution_, by Crétineau Joly, who published it from the documentsseized by the Pontifical Government at the death of one of the members. The documents were communicated to Crétineau Joly by the Pope GrégoireXVI, and published with the approval of Pius IX. Their authenticity hasnever been questioned. They are still in the secret archives of theVatican, or at any rate were there at the beginning of the present year. 

[653] Jan Witt, dit Buloz, _Les Sociétés Secrètes de France etd'ltalie_, pp. 20, 21 (1830). 

[654] Ibid. , p. 6. 

[655] Louis Blanc, _Histoire de Dix Ans_, I. 88, 89. 

[656] Deschamps, _Les Sociétés Secrètes et la Société_, II. 534, quotingthe _Monde Maçonmque_ for July, 1867. 

[657] _Correspondence de Michel Bakounine_, published by MichaelDragomanov, pp. 73, 209 (1896). 

[658] A. E. Waite, _The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry_, Vol. I. P. Ix. 

[659] _The Real History of the Rosicrucians_, p. 403. 

[660] Paul Nourrisson, _Les Jacobins an Pouvoir_, pp. 202, 215 (1904). 

[661] J. M. Ragon, _Cours philosophique ... Des Initiations_, etc. , édition sacrée (5, 842), p. 19. 

[662] Ibid. , p. 38. 

[663] Copin Albancelli, _Le Pouvoir occulte contre la France_, p. 124(1908). 

[664] Ibid. , p. 125. 

[665] Ragon, op. Cit. , p. 38, note 2. 

[666] Ibid. , p. 39. 

[667] Ibid. , p. 52. 

[668] Ibid. , p. 53. 

[669] Clavel, _Histoire pittoresque de la Franc-Maçonnerie_, p. 21. 

[670] Ibid. , p. 23. 

[671] In _La République universelle_, published in 1793. 

[672] Georges Goyau, _L'Idée de Patrie et l'Humanitarisme_, p. 242(1913), quoting speech of F. Troubat in 1886. A periodical called _LesÉtats Unis de l'Europe_ was published by Ferdinand Buisson in 1868. Ibid. , p. 113. 

[673] Copin Albancelli, _Le Pouvoir occults contre la France_, p. 89. 

[674] Gould, _History of Freemasonry_, III. 191, 192. 

[675] Ibid. , III. 26. 

[676] Copin Albancelli, _Le Pouvoir occulte contre la France_, p. 97. 

[677] Ibid. , p. 90. 

[678] _Le Pouvoir occulte contre la France_, pp. 274-7. 

[679] Ibid. , pp. 284-6. 

[680] _Le Pouvoir occulte contre la France_, p. 44. 

[681] Ibid. , p. 263. 

[682] Ibid. , p. 294. 

[683] _La Conjuration juive contre le Monde Chrétien_ (1909). 

[684] _Morning Post_ for February 1 and February 26, 1923. 

[685] Copin Albancelli, _Le Pouvoir occulte contre la France_, p. 132. 

[686] Gautrelet, _La Franc-Maçonnerie et la Révolution_, p. 87 (1872). 

[687] Copin Albancelli, _Le Pouvoir occulte contre la France_, p. 85. 

[688] Louis Dasté, _Marie Antinette et le Complot Maçonnique_, pp. 49-51(1910). 

[689] _Times_ for December 30, 1921; _A Epoca_, November 28, 1921. 

[690] These documents were published in a book entitled _ASzabadkömivesseg Bünei_ by Adorjan Barcsay. 

[691] _Two Centuries of Freemasonry_, p. 79. Published by theInternational Bureau for Masonic Affairs, of Neuchatel, 1917. 

[692] Article on "The Popes and Freemasonry, " by the Rev. HerbertThurston, S. J. , in _The Tablet_ for January 27, 1923. 

[693] _Evening Standard_, June 26, 1923. 

[694] Ragon, _Cours des Initiations_, p. 33. 

[695] Alliance de la Démocratic Socialiste, etc. , publié par l'ordre duCongrès International de la Haye, p. 93 (1873). 

[696] _Histoire des Clubs de Femmes_, by the Baron Marc de Villiers, p. 380. 

[697] René Guénon, _Le Théosophisme_, p. 245 (1921). 

[698] Guénon, op. Cit. , p. 248, quoting _La Lumière Maçonnique_, Nov. --Dec. 1912, p. 522. 

[699] Alice Leighton Cleather, _H. P. Blavatsky: her Life and Work forHumanity_ p. 17 (Thacker, Spink & Co. , Calcutta, 1922). 

[700] René Guénon, op. Cit. , p. 17. 

[701] René Guénon, op. Cit. , p. 30. 

[702] Guénon, op cit. , p. 193, quoting _Le Lotus_ for December, 1887. 

[703] I refrain from giving the name of this book as the author has nowleft the Theosophical Society and may regret having written these words. 

[704] Adolphe Franck, _La Kabbale_, pp. Ii-iv. 

[705] See _ante_, pp. 21, 66, 92. 

[706] Alice Leighton Cleather, _A Great Betrayal_, p. 13 (1922). 

[707] See on this subject the ravings contained in the book _Christ andthe New Age_ (1922), edited by G. Leopold, under the auspices of "TheStar in the East. "

[708] Dudley Wright, _Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry_, p. 221 (1922). 

[709] In a few lodges the purely British ritual has been adopted underthe name of the Verulam working, whilst recently a third ritual has beenintroduced by "Bishop Wedgwood, " which in the opinion of a high BritishMason "upsets the whole working of the Craft degrees and reduces it allto an absurdity. "

[710] Alice Leighton Cleather, _H. P. Blavatsky: her Life and Work forHumanity_, p. 24 (Thacker. Spink & Co. , Calcutta, 1922). 

[711] Alice Leighton Cleather, _H. P. Blavatsky: her Life and Work forHumanity_, p. 24. (Thacker, Spink & Co. , Calcutta, 1922). 

[712] Ibid. , p. 14. 

[713] Ibid. , pp. 20, 311. 

[714] Nos. Of January 11 to March 22, 1923. 

[715] A. L. Cleather, _H. P. Blavatsky' a Great Betrayal_, p. 69 (Thacker, Spink & Co. , Calcutta, 1922). 

[716] _John Bull_, June 7, 1919; _The Patriot_, February 15, 1923. 

[717] _The War and the Builders of the Commonwealth_, a lecture given atthe Queen's Hall by Annie Besant on October 5, 1919, pp. 15, 18 (printedby the Theosophical Publishing Co. ). 

[718] Diary of the Theosophical Society for April-July, 1924, p. 43. 

[719] On June 26, 1923

[720] _The Theosophical Quarterly_ for October 1920, April 1921, andApril 1922 (published by the Theosophical Society, New York). 

[721] Syed Ameer Ali expresses the opinion that even to Eastern mindsesoteric speculation presents a danger: "Sufism in the Moslem world, like to its counterpart in Christendom, has, in its practical effect, been productive of many mischievous results. In perfectly well-attunedminds mysticism takes the form of a noble type of idealistic philosophy;but the generality of mankind are more likely to unhinge their brains bybusying themselves with the mysteries of the Divine Essence and ourrelations thereto. Every ignorant and idle specimen of humanity, who, despising real knowledge, abandoned the fields of true philosophy andbetook himself to the domains of mysticism, would thus set himself up asone of the Ahl-i-Ma 'rifat. "--_The Spirit of Islam_, p. 477. 

[722] Confirmed by A. Q. C. 1. 54. 

[723] Guénon, op. Cit. , p. 296. It would appear to be this MS. Or a copywhich was recently offered for sale by a Paris bookseller under thefollowing description: "Manuscrit de Kabbale. --Spedalieri (Baron de. LeSceau de Salomon). Traité sur les Séphiroth, en un in-f. De 16 pp.... Le baron Spedalieri fut le disciple le plus instruit et le plus intimed'Eliphas Lévi. --Son traté kabalistique 'Le Sceau de Salomon' est fondésur la tradition hébraïque et hindoue et nous révèle le sens occulte dugrand pantacle mystique. Dans une étude sur les séphiroth, Eliphas Léviannonçait que le temps venu il révèlerait à ses disciples ce grandmystère jusqu'ici caché. --Spedalieri entreprend cette révélation. " LeBibliophile ès Sciences Psychiques, No. 16 (1922). Librairie EmileNourry, 62 ru des Ecoles, Paris, Ve. 

[724] See ante, p. 34. 

[725] Robert Kuentz, _Le Dr Steiner et la Théosophie actuelle_, seriesof articles in the review _Le Feu_ for October, November and December1913 and reprinted in pamphlet form. 

[726] The year of the General Strike. 

[727] Letter from Meakin to Baron Walleen, a Dane and member of the S. M. 

[728] Bertrand Russell, _The practice and Theory of Bolshevism_, p. 65(1920). 

[729] Amongst ths "subsidiary activities" of the Theosophical Societymay be mentioned the Liberal Catholic Church, the Guild of the Citizensof Tomorrow, the Order of the Brothers of Service, the Golden Chain, theOrder of the Round Table, the Bureau of Social Reconstruction, theBraille League, the Theosophical Educational Trust, etc. 

[730] _Le Pouvoir Occulte contre la France_, p. 291. 

[731] "The struggle to instil into the masses the idea of the SovietState control, and accounting, that this idea may be realised and abreak be made with the accursed past, which accustomed the people tolook upon the work of getting food and clothing as a 'private' affairand on purchase and sale as something that 'concerns only myself'--thisis a most momentous struggle, of universal historical significance, astruggle for Socialist consciousness against bourgeois-anarchistic'freedom. '"--Lenin, _The Soviets at Work_, p. 22 (The SocialistInformation and Research Bureau, 196 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, 1919). 

[732] Mr. Bernard Shaw on "Railway Strike Secrets, " reported in _MorningPost_ for December 3, 1919. 

[733] Mr. Bernard Shaw in the _Labour Monthly_ for October 1921. 

[734] Report of interview with Maxim Gorky in _Daily News_ for October3, 1921. 

[735] Opinion expressed to me in conversation with a Socialist. Cf. KeirHardie, "Communism, the final goal of Socialism" (_Serfdom toSocialism_, p. 36). 

[736] "By the decree of May 22 1922, the right of private ownership ofmeans of production and for production itself was re-established. " Seearticle by Krassin on "The New Economic Policy of the Soviet Government"in _Reconstruction_ (the monthly review edited by Parvus) for September1922. 

[737] See Guillaume's _Documents de l'Internationale_ and Mrs. Snowden's_A Political Pilgrim in Europe_. 

[738] _Les Sociétés de Pensée et la Démocratie_ (1921). M. AugustinCochin collaborated with M. Charles Charpentier in throwing new light onthe French Revolution, and triumphantly refuted M. Aulard in 1908. Unhappily his work was cut short by the war and he was killed at thefront in July 1916, leaving his great history of the Revolutionunfinished. 

[739] Mr. Philip Snowden in debate on Socialism in the House of Commonson March 20, 1923: "By far the greatest time that man has been upon thisglobe he has lived not under a system of private enterprise, not undercapitalism, but under a system of tribal communism, and it is well worthwhile to remember that most of the great inventions that have been thebasis of our machinery and our modern discoveries were invented by menwho lived together in tribes. "

[740] _The Red Catechism_, by Tom Anderson, p. 3. 

[741] E. G. The following extract from an address by Miss Esther Brightto the Esoteric School of Theosophy quoted in _The Patriot_ for March22, 1923: "The hearty and understanding co-operation between E. S. T. Members of many nations will form a nucleus upon which the nations maybuild the big brotherhood which we hope may become the United States ofEurope. United States! What a fine sound it has when one looks at theEurope of to-day!" A review named _Les États-Unis d'Europe_ existed asearly as 1868, and M. Goyau shows that this formula and also that of the"République Universelle" were slogans current amongst the pacifistsbefore and during the war of 1870 which they signally failed toavert. --_L'Idée de Patrie et l'Humanitarisme_, pp. 113, 115. 

[742] How bitterly this attitude is still resented by the Jews is shownin the article on Jesus in the _Jewish Encyclopædia_, which observesthat: "In almost all of his public utterances he was harsh, severe, anddistinctly unjust ... Toward the ruling and well-to-do classes. Afterreading his diatribes against the Pharisees, the Scribes, and the rich, it is scarcely to be wondered at that these were concerned in helping tosilence him" (vol. Vii, p. 164). 

[743] The execution of Monseigneur Butkievitch, the Roman CatholicArchbishop of Petrograd, was condoned by the _Daily Herald_, the _NewStatesman_, and the _Nation_. See the _Daily Herald_ for April 7, 1923. 

[744] Letters from a friend of the present writer in Russia, dates ofAugust 1922 and February 1923. 

[745] _Daily Herald_ for February 21, 1922. 

[746] Ibid. , March 18, 1920. 

[747] See Report of Annual Conference of the Social DemocraticFederation in _Morning Post_ for August 6, 1923, where it is said that"Whole-hearted denunciation of Sovietism was the chief feature of theday's discussion, " etc. 

[748] _Evening Standard_ for January 15, 1924. 

[749] _Daily Telegraph_ for January 8, 1923; _Daily Mail_ for January24, 1923. 

[750] Report of speech by Adeline, Duchess of Bedford, at a publicmeeting to protest against the treatment of political prisoners inPortugal, April 22, 1913, quoted in _Portuguese Political Prisoners_, p. 89 (published by Upcott Gill & Son). 

[751] _Evening Standard_, May 14, 1923. 

[752] That this use of the cinema for revolutionary propaganda isdeliberate was proved to me by personal experience. A man who had beenstruck with the dramatic possibilities of something I had written wroteto ask if he might place it before a certain well-known film producer inAmerica. I gave my consent, and some time later he informed me that theproducer in question regretted he could not film my work as it mightappear to be anti-Bolshevist propaganda. Soon after this the sameproducer brought out a film on the same subject with the moral turnedround the other way, so as to make the whole thing subtly revolutionary, and brought this over to England, where he advertised it asanti-Bolshevist propaganda! This is typical of the duplicity displayedby these propagandists. 

[753] Quoted in _Le Problème de la Mode_, by the Baronne de Montenach, p. 30(1913). 

[754] Robison, _Proofs of a Conspiracy_, pp. 251, 252 (1798). 

[755] Article by A. Quiller in _The Equinox_ for September 1910, p. 338. 

[756] _New York Herald_ for September 6 and 7, 1921. 

[757] Private communication to the author. 

[758] Paul Bureau, _La Crise morale des Temps nouveaux_, p. 108 (1907). 

[759] _Daily Mail_, July 14, 1922. 

[760] _Le Smorfie dell' Anima_, by Mario Mariani (1919). 

[761] A leader writer in one of the most important literaryConstitutional journals in this country observed to me in conversationthat "all such nonsense as patriotism ought to be done away with";another writer for the same paper told me he would not in the leastregret to see the British Empire broken up. 

[762] Astolphe de Custine, _La Russie en_ 1839, I. 149 (1843). 

[763] _Essai sur la Secte des Illuminés_ (1792 edition), p. 48. On p. 46de Luchet expresses his idea in a curious passaqe which I find difficultto render in English: "Il s'est formé au sein des plus épaissesténèbres, une société d'êtres nouveaux qui se connaissent sans s'êtrevus, qui s'entendent sans s'être expliqués, qui se servent sans amitié. Cette société a le but de gouverner le monde.... "

[764] Ibid. , p. 171. 

[765] Eckert, _La Franc-Maçonnerie dans sa véritable signification_, translated by the Abbé Gyr (1854), II. 133, 134. 

[766] My italics. 

[767] Galart de Montjoie, _Histoire de Marie Antoinette_, p. 156 (1797). 

[768] G. Lenôtre, _The Dauphin_, Eng. Trans. , p. 307. 

[769] _Recherches politiques et historiques sur l'existence d'une secterévolutionnaire_, p. 2 (1817). 

[770] J. Crétineau-Joly, _L'Église Romaine en face de la Revolution_, II. 143 (1859). 

[771] _Lord George Bentinck, A Political Biography_, pp. 552-4 (1852). 

[772] _Les Sociétés Secrètes et la Société_, I. 91

[773] Ibid. , II. 243. 

[774] Ibid. , II. 521. 

[775] Robison's _Proofs of a Conspiracy_, p. 107. 

[776] A good account of this was contained in a letter to _The Times_ ofJanuary 23, 1924. 

[777] _The Prince_, Eng. Trans, by Henry Morley, p. 61. 

[778] Ibid. , p. 110. 

[779] Ibid. , p. 110. 

[780] Ibid. , p. 131. 

[781] _The Prince_, Eng. Trans, by Henry Morley, pp. 143, 144. 

[782] M. Mazères, _De Machiavel et de l'influence de sa doctrine sur lesopinions, les mæurs et la politique de la France pendant la Rèvolution_(1816). 

[783] Deschamps, _Les Sociètès Secrètes, etc. _, I. P. Xcii. , quoting"Discours du F. Malapert a la Loge Alsace-Lorraine" in _La Chainsd'Umon_, pp. 88, 89 (1874); ct. Eckert, _La Franc-Maçonnerie dans savéritable signification_, II. 293. 

[784] Deschamps, op. Cit. , II. 681. 

[785] _Politica Segreta Italiana_, by Diamilla Muller, p. 346 (1891). 

[786] Copin Albancelli, _Le Pouvotr occulte contre la France_, p. 388. 

[787] Series of article entitled "Boche and Bolshevik" by Nesta H. Webster and Herr Kurt Kerlen, which appeared in the _Morning Post_ forApril 26, 27, June 10, 11, 15, 16, 1922. Reprinted in book form by theBeckwith Company of New York. 

[788] _Boche and Bolshevik_, p 39. 

[789] _The General Staff and its Problems_, II. 556

[790] One of the pamphlets emanating from the first of these lines andentitled "England's War Guilt" reached the present writer. Its purportis to show that "England alone was the chief agent of the war, " and thatLord Haldane and Sir Edward Grey, by encouraging Germany to believe thatEngland would not intervene, led her into a trap. 

[791] Georges Goyau, _L'Idée de Patrie et l'Humanitarisme_, p. In(1913). 

[792] August 19, 1919. 

[793] My italics. 

[794] _Daily Herald_ for January 26, 1923. So tender a regard did the_Daily Herald_ entertain for the feelings of German magnates that itssusceptibilities were deeply shocked at the correspondent of anotherpaper, who, after lunching with Herr Thyssen, was so "ungentlemanly" asto comment afterwards on the display of wealth he had witnessed (_DailyHerald_ for February 2, 1923). Yet the _Daily Herald_ reporter had seennothing ungentlemanly in attending a garden party at Buckingham Palaceand publishing a sneering account of it afterwards under the heading of"Pomp and Farce in the Palace" (date of July 21, 1921). 

[795] Karl Marx in his _Preamble of the Provisional Rules of theInternationale_ (1864). 

[796] _The Times_, June 30, 1922; the _Morning Post_, June 26 and 30, 1922. A very curious and well-informed article, from which some of thesedetails are taken, appeared in the _West Coast Leader_, Lima, Peru, ofDecember 14, 1921. 

[797] _Lettres inédites de Joseph de Maistre_, p. 415 (1851). 

[798] Letter from the Rev. B. S. Lombard to Lord Curzon, March 23, 1919. 

[799] _Jewish Guardian_ for January 18, 1924. 

[800] _Jewish Encyclopædia_, article on Zionism. 

[801]_La République universelle_, p. 186 note (1793). 

[802] _Daily Mail_, September 21, 1923. 

[803] Reported in the _Jewish World_, January 5, 1922. 

[804] _Morning Post_ for August 1, 1921. 

[805] Michael Rodkinson (i. E. Rodkinssohn), in Preface to translation ofthe Talmud, Vol. I. P. X. 

[806] Drach, _De l'Harmomie entre l'Église[C] et la Synagogue_, I. 167, quoting the treatise Aboda-Zara, folio 13 verso, and folio 20 recto;also treatise Baba Kamma, folio 29 verso. Drach adds: "We could multiplythese quotations almost to infinity. "

[807] Zohar, section Toldoth Noah, folio 63_b_ (de Pauly's trans. , I373). 

[808] Zohar, section Toldoth Noah, folio 646 (de Pauly's trans. , I. 376). 

[809] J. P. Stehelin, _The Traditions of the Jews_, II. 215-20, quotingTalmud treatises Baba Bathra folio 74_b_, Pesachim folio 32, Bekhorothfolio 57, Massektoth Ta'anith folio 31. The Zohar also refers to thefemale Leviathan (section Bô, de Pauly's trans. , III. 167). Drach showsthat amongst the delights promised by the Talmud after the return toPalestine will be the permission to eat pork and bacon. --_De l'Harmonieentre l'Église et la Synagogue_, I. 265, 276, quoting treatise Hullin, folio 17, 82. 

[810] Stehelin, op. Cit. , II. 221-4. 

[811] The Very Rev. Sir George Adam Smith, _Syria and the Holy Land_, p. 49 (1918). 

[812] Zohar, section Schemoth, folio 7 and 9_b_; section Beschalah, folio 58b (de Pauly's trans. , III. 32, 36, 41, 260). 

[813] Ibid. , section Vayschlah, folio 177_b_ (de Pauly's trans. , II. P. 298). 

[814] Hastings' _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_, article on theKabbala by H. Loewe. 

[815] Eugène Tavernier, _La Religion Nouvelle_, p. 265 (1905). 

[816] _Jewish Guardian_ for January 25, 1924. 

[817] Deuter. Ix. 5. 

[818] Dan. Ix. 11. 

[819] Neh. Ix. 26. 

[820] Isa. I. 1-17. See also Ezek. Xx. 13. 

[821] _Jewish Guardian_ for October 1, 1920. 

[822] Josephus, _The Jewish War_ (Eng. Trans. ), IV. 170, 334. 

[823] Ibid. , V. 152. 

[824] See, for example, the descriptions of the horrible crueltypractised in the Jewish schools of Poland in the eighteenth century, given in _The Autobiography of Solomon Maimon_ (Eng. Trans. , 1888), p. 32. 

[825] Treatise Hullin, folio 27_a_. 

[826] Talmud, treatise Sanhedrim (Rodkinson's trans, p. 156). 

[827] _Encyclopædia Britannica_ (1911 edition), article on LordBeaconsfield. 

[828] Drach, _De l'Harmonie entre l'Église et la Synagogue_, II. 336. This custom is still in force; see the very legitimate complaint of aJewess in the _Jewish World_ for December 21, 1923, that women are stillrelegated to the gallery "to be hidden behind the grille, whence theymay hear their menfolk bless the Almighty in strident tones that 'Thouhast not made me a woman. '"

[829] Drach, op. Cit. , II. 335, 336, quoting Talmud, treatise Meghillafolio 23 verso, treatise Berachoth folio 21 verso, treatise Sanhedrimfolio 2 recto, Maimonides chap. Viii. Art 6; Schulchan Arukh, etc. 

[830] In this connexion see article on "Jesus" in the _JewishEncyclopædia_, where the reader is referred to the work of O. Holtzmann(_War Jesus Ekstattker_?), who "agrees that there must have beenabnormal mental processes involved in the utterances and behaviour ofJesus. "

[831] _Jewish World_ for December 22. 1920. 

[832] Exod. I 10. 

[833] Sura v. 60 (Everyman's Library edition, p. 493). 

[834] Reinhardt Dozy, _Spanish Islam_ (Eng. Trans. ), p. 651. 

[835] J. Denais-Darnays, _Les Juifs en France_, p. 17 (1907). 

[836] On the question of the Protocols, see Appendix II. 

[837] "Jews have been most conspicuous in connexion with Freemasonry inFrance since the Revolution. "--_Jewish Encyclopædia_, article onFreemasonry. 

[838] A. E. Waite, _The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry_, II. 115. 

[839] It is significant to notice that in the second and abridgededition of the white Paper issued by the Foreign Office these two mostimportant passages marked with an asterisk were omitted and the firstedition was said to be unobtainable. 

[840] On this point see also a very interesting pamphlet _From Behindthe Vail_, published by Victor Hornyanszky (Budapest, 1920), also MadameCécile Tormay, _The Diary of an Outlaw_ (1923). 

[841] _Revolutionary Radicalism, its History, Purpose, and Tactics, withan Exposition and Discussion of the Steps being taken and required tocurb it, being the Report of the Joint Legislative Committeeinvestigating Seditious Activities, filed April_ 24, 1920. _in theSenate of the State of New York_ (Albany, J. B. Lyon Company, Printers, 1920). 

[842] _Revolutionary Radicalism_, Vol. I. P. 374. 

[843] Ibid. , p. 24. 

[844] Among those who prominently showed their profound grief at thedeath of Lenin were Jews, and not merely Jews by origin but conformingJews. Children from Jewish schools, we learn, joined in the procession, while the Hebrew Art Theatre (Habima) sent a banner with the inscriptionin Hebrew: "You freed the nations; you will be remembered for ever. ' Inaddition Rabbi Jacob Mase, of Moscow, the Jewish Relief Committee ofthat city and other Jewish bodies, sent telegrams of condolence; whilethe Association of Jewish Authors issued a special memorial magazine inYiddish dedicated to the memory of Lenin. "--_Jewish World_ for January21, 1924. 

[845] _Patriot_, for April 26, 1923. 

[846] Ibid. , May 3, 1923. 

[847] _Jewish World_ for January 10, 1924. 

[848] Quoted in the _Jewish World_ for January 10, 1924, [849] _Jewish World_ for November 9, 1922. 

[850] _Le Probléme Juif_. Pp. 41, 43. 

[851] Lenin, _The Soviets at Work_, p. 18. 

[852] I do not here ignore the work of the Trade Unions; but the TradeUnions would have been powerless to better conditions without thesupport of upper and middle-class men in Parliament. 

[853] Private communication to author. 

[854] See _ante_, p. 343. 

[855]Madame Cécile Tormay, in her description of the Jewish Bolshevistrégime in Hungary, eloquently observes: "It is said that only amisguided fraction of the Jews is active in the destruction of Hungary. If that be so, why do not the Jews who represent Jewry in London, in NewYork, and at the Paris Peace Conference disown and brand their tyrantco-religionists in Hungary? Why do they not repudiate all community withthem? Why do they not protest against the assaults committed by men oftheir race?" (_An Outlaw's Diary_, p. 110, 1923). 

[856] For example, when religious persecution in Russia was said to haveturned against the Jews in the spring of 1923. 

[857] _Jewish Intelligence, and Monthly Account of the Proceedings ofthe London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews_, April1846, pp. 111, 112: Letter from the Rev. B. W. Wright. 

[858] Gustave Le Bon goes so far as to say that "the Jews have neverpossessed either arts, sciences, or industries, or anything thatconstitutes a civilization.... At the time of their greatest power underthe reign of Solomon it was from abroad that they were obliged to bringthe architects, workmen, and artists, of which no rival then existed inIsrael. "--_Les Premières Civilisations_, p. 613 (1889). It should beremembered, however, that Hiram, the master-builder, was half, if notwholly, an Israelite. 

[859] _Jewish Encyclopedia_, article on Nervous Diseases. 

[860] _Jewish World_ for November 9, 1922. 

[861] H. M. Hyndman, "The Dawn of a Revolutionary Epoch, " in _TheNineteenth Century_ for January 1881. 

[862] A committee has recently been formed by the Jewish Board ofGuardians to sit on all "anti-Semitic" movements in this country. At ameeting of this body it was complacently announced that "the Committeehad obtained the removal of the posters of an anti-Semitic paper fromthe walls of an important establishment, and steps had been taken to getothers removed. "--_Jewish Guardian_, February 22, 1924. We wonderwhether the Welsh would be able to obtain the removal of postersadvertising literature of an anti-Celtic nature. This comes perilouslynear to a fulfilment of the Protocols. 

[863] Drach, _De l'Harmonie entre l'Église et la Synagogue. _ I. 79(1844). It is curious to notice that the Jewish writer Margoliouth makesuse of the same expression where he says, "It was well remarked that thehouse [of Rothschild] 'was spread like a network over thenations. '"--_History of the Jews in Great Britain_, II. 161 (1851). 

[864] Eng. Trans. , Vol. III. P. 591 ff. 

[865] Confirmed by Werner Sombart, _The Jews and Modern Capitalism_(Eng. Trans. ), p. 203: "The Talmud says: 'Kill even the best of theGentiles. '" The Zohar also says: "Tradition tells us that the best ofthe Gentiles deserves death. "--Section Vaïqra, folio 14_b_ (de Pauly'strans. , Vol. V. P. 42). 

[866] Professor H. Graetz, _The History of the Jews_ (Eng. Trans. ), III. 591-6. 

[867] See my _World Revolution_, pp. 296-307. The misapprehensionreferred to above may have arisen from the resemblance between the titleof my book and the series of articles which appeared in the _MorningPost_ under the name of _The Cause of World Unrest_. In view of the factthat these articles were on some points at variance with my owntheories, it seems hardly necessary to state that they were not my work. As a matter of fact, I did not know of their existence until they werein print, and later I contributed four supplementary articles signed bymy name. 

[868] _Spectator_ for June 12, 1920. 

[869] James Guillaume, _Documents de l'Internationale_, I. 131. 

[870] _Correspondance de Bakounine_, published by Michael Dragomanov, p. 325. 

[871] _Le Juif_, etc. , pp. 367, 368. 

[872] _Revolution and War or Britain's Peril and her Secret Foes_, byVigilant (1913). A great portion of this book exposing the subtlepropaganda of Socialism and Pacifism is admirable; it is only where theauthor attempts to lay all this to the charge of the Jesuits that heentirely fails to substantiate his case. 

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

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Where obvious, typos have been corrected in the text and marked with analphabetic footnote. Details of each change are listed below. 

[A] Changed "centry" to "century". 

[B] Changed "Pavly" to "Pauly". 

[C] Changed "l'Élise" to "l'Église". 

[D] Changed "Mara" to "Marx".