Chapter XVIII. Of the National Directors, of the Areopagites, and of the General of Illuminism

Code of the Illuminati: Part III of Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, by A Barruel, tr. Robert Edward Clifford [1798], at sacred-texts.com

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CHAP. XVIII.

Of the National Directors, of the Areopagites, and of the General of Illuminism.

In the general plan of the Government of the Illuminees it is said, that every Brother shall receive particular instructions according to the rank he holds in the Hierarchy of the Order: Yet I have never been able to discover those intended for the use of the National Directors. This part of the Code is not to be found either in the two volumes so often quoted of the Original Writings, or in that of Philo and Spartacus which has thrown so much light on the mysteries. It does not appear, that any of the German writers who have been the best informed on, and the most strenuous opponents of, Illuminism have ever been able to discover them. For some time I even entertained doubts whether the Superiors called National Directors, and those styled Inspectors, were not of the same degree in the Hierarchy of the Sect.—They were certainly distinct employments in the year 1782; for Weishaupt's letters at that period mention Germany as divided into three inspections, each Inspector having several Provincials subordinate to him. ¹ But, on the other side, the general account which the Order puts into the hands of its Regents, and the last works of Philo printed in 1788, mention no intermediate office between the Provincials and the Nationals, which latter are sometimes described as National Superiors, at others as National Inspectors. Their correspondence and subordination is direct from the Supreme Council. ² It is therefore evident, that in the last digest of the Code the two offices of National Inspector and Director were united. But in vain would the Sect conceal the instructions which it has appropriated to the functions of these National Superiors. The denomination alone testifies the importance which attaches to their office; and if the precise nature of their duties be wanting, it is easy to supply the deficiency, by what has already escaped the vigilance of the Sect in the foregoing parts of the Code.

Let the reader recall to his mind what has been said in the Chapter on the Epopts, of the systems which they were to form in order to seize on the empire of the Sciences and direct them all toward the accomplishment of the plots of the Sect. In the same degree we have seen them annually assembling in each province, and compiling from their partial attacks every means that their inventions could furnish, insensibly to enslave the public opinion, and to

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eradicate from the minds of the people what the Sect is pleased to call religious prejudices. We have seen the class of Regents more particularly occupied in sapping the foundations of the throne, and in destroying that veneration in which nations held the persons and functions of their Sovereigns—Nay, there exists a particular law framed for the Epopts which has not yet been cited, and which must here be introduced. It is to be found in the Second Volume of the Original Writings, second Section, intitled—Articles agreed upon by the Areopagites in Ardameth 1151 (A.D. December 1781)—There under the article High Mysteries, I read, "If among our Epopts any speculative geniuses are to be found, they shall be admitted to the degree of Mage.—These adepts shall be employed in collecting and digesting all the grand philosophical systems, and will invent or compile for the people a system of religion which our Order means as soon as possible to give to the universe." ³

I do not forget that I am to treat of the National Directors; but am somewhat afraid that my readers may adduce this plan for giving a new religion to the whole universe, as invalidating their plot for the destruction of every religion. Let such readers, however, reflect on the religion which Weishaupt has himself laid down for his Mages. It is the rankest Spinosism, admitting of no God but the world itself; that is to say, absolute Atheism. Let them also remember, that one of the last secrets of the Grand Mysteries, is to reveal to the adepts that all religions are grounded on and are the invention of imposture. Nor is it by any means difficult to account for these two schemes of the Sect, the one for the creation of a new religion, the other for the destruction of all. These plans are to be successive in their operations. Sentiments of Religion are too deeply engraven in the minds of the people for Weishaupt to flatter himself with suddenly eradicating it, or at least without substituting some capricious and sophisticated faith, which in reality would no more constitute a religion than the Worship of Reason, of which the French Revolution has given us an impure essay. The religion, therefore, to be invented by the Mages of Illuminism is no more than a preparatory step that should destroy the religion of Christ throughout the universe. This advantage gained, it will remain no very difficult task to open the eyes of the whole world on the inanity and imposture of their own; and thus it will have served as a scaffolding which naturally disappears with the edifice that is to be pulled down. This religion to be invented may be considered as on a parallel with those new governments, those democracies, which are to amuse the people until the period shall come when their Illuminizing Equality and Liberty shall have taught them, that each one is essentially his own sovereign, that this sovereignty is an imprescriptible right inherent in each man, in direct opposition to democracy, and even to all property or social compact.

Such is the general tenour of the systems to be invented and prosecuted by the Sect, for attaining the grand object of these Conspirators. All the adepts which the Sect comprises under the denomination of speculative geniuses are perpetually labouring at these systems under the direction of the Provincials. But they are not the persons who complete the plans; they are only to present

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the first sketch, which each Provincial is obliged to transmit to the National Directory, there to undergo a further investigation and receive its final polish. ⁴ One of the first duties, therefore, of the National Director will be to collect all these anti-religious and anti-social systems, to pass judgment on them, and to declare how far they can contribute towards the universal disorganization. But even these could not alone suffice for so great a work; they are surrounded by the Elect of the nation as the Provincial is by the Chosen of the provinces. This council of the Elect, after mature deliberation, declare which are the systems that are worthy of being adopted by the Order; and they will make all the additions and corrections that they may conceive conducive to the success of the general plan. Thus corrected and digested, these systems of impiety and disorganization are deposited in the archives of the Director, which now become national. It is to these that the Provincials have recourse in all their doubts, and hence flow all those lights which are to expand themselves throughout the nation:—it is hence also that the National Director ⁵ will take all the new regulations which he may judge necessary for the better combination and concordance of the efforts of the National Brethren.—But the Sect does not confine its views to one nation. It has formed within itself a supreme tribunal, which has subjected all nations to its inquisition. Composed of twelve Peers or Fathers of the Order, ⁶ it is presided over by the General; and, under the name of Areopagites, it becomes the common centre of communication from the adepts of all nations, as the National is the centre of one particular nation, the Provincial of one province, the Local Superior of the lodges of his district, the Minerval Master of his academy, the Venerable of his Masonic Lodge; and, finally, as the Insinuator or Recruiter is of his novices or candidates. Thus, from the first step to the pinnacle of the Order, every thing is connected and gradually ascends by means of the Quibus Licets, Solis and Primos.—Every thing that happens in each nation gradually ascends to the National, and from these Directors all is transmitted to the centre of all nations, to the supreme council of the Areopagites, and the General in chief, the universal Director of the Conspiracy.

The grand point, therefore, to be observed in the code concerning the National Director is, his direct correspondence with the Areopagites. It is evident from the terms expressed in the general plan of the government which the Sect reveals to its Regents. "In every nation there shall be a National Director associated and in direct communication with our Fathers, the first of whom holds the helm of the Order." ⁷ This accounts for the injunction given to the Provincial, to make frequent and exact returns to the National Director of every thing that may take place in his province; to have recourse to him on all doubtful occasions, or in cases of especial importance; and never to take any step in politics without having first consulted him. ⁸ This explains why the choice of those adepts which are to be advanced to the political degree of Regent, or to the Prefectships of districts, ⁹ is left to the option of the National, or even the nomination of the Provincials. ¹⁰ This informs us why all the Quibus Licets of the Regents are reserved to the Director, that is to say,

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that all the secrets of their political discoveries may more certainly reach the hands of him who is to leave no secret hidden from the Fathers of the Order. ¹¹

Such then are the rights of, such the laws for the National Inspector of Illuminism; and so great is the importance which the Sect attaches to this office. To him are forwarded all the secrets of the brethren spread throughout the provinces, the Courts, or towns; to him are sent all the projects, all the reports on the successes gained by, or dangers impending over the Order; on the progress of its plots; on employments, dignities, and power to be acquired for the adepts; on the candidates to be rejected, the enemies to be crushed, the councils and state offices of princes to be seized. To him, in short, are reported all the means which can retard or accelerate the fall of the Altar and of empires, the disorganization of every church and state within his inspection.—It is by means of his direct correspondence, and that of his Co-nationals, that the discoveries of the Scrutators, the political plans of the Brethren, the speculations of the plodding geniuses of the Order, the plans proposed and debated in the councils of Princes, and every thing, in short, which can weaken or strengthen the opinion of the people; which is to be foreseen or hindered, to be anticipated or hastened in each town, court, or family, are concentrated, and subjected to the views of the supreme council of the Sect. Hence no sovereign, no minister of state, no father of a family, no man in the bonds of the most intimate friendship, can say, My secret is my own, it has not, it will not, come to the knowledge of the Areopagites. By means of these same National Directors too, we behold all the orders of the Illuminizing Peers gradually descending to the adepts of all nations, of all provinces, academies, and lodges, whether Minerval or Masonic; and immediately re-ascending through these same Nationals an exact statement to the Areopagites in what manner each command has been executed. It is by the Nationals too, that the supreme council is informed of the negligent Brethren who need to be stimulated, of the transgressors and stubborn adepts who deserve punishment, and stand in need of being reminded that they have sworn to submit both their lives and fortunes to the commands of the high Superiors (the unknown Fathers) of the Areopagites. In vain would the Sect strive to conceal the laws which the code lays down for these Inspectors. After what the reader has already seen of the laws of the Order, he must naturally conclude that such are evidently the mysteries comprehended in those words, There shall be in each empire a National Director associated or in direct correspondence with the Fathers of the Order.

With respect to the laws and interior economy of the councils, it is easy to be conceived, that the Sect has succeeded in encompassing them with impenetrable darkness. Some few rays of light, however, have been cast on it, and that by the Fathers themselves.

In the first place, we see Philo-Knigge, in his Apology, speaking as follows of these supreme magistrates of Illuminism: "Their labours, with regard to the parts purely speculative, were to have in view the knowledge and the

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tradition of all the important, holy, and sublime discoveries to be made in the religious mysteries and in the higher philosophy. Twelve Areopagites only are to compose this tribunal; and one of them is to be the chief. When any one of the members dies, or retires, his successor is chosen from among the Regents." ¹² This general idea given by Knigge of the Supreme Council is indeed mysterious;—but he could scarcely be expected to publish more, knowing as he did the fate which awaits those who betray the secrets of the Sect. He has, however, at least said enough to give us clearly to understand, that all the religious and philosophical or rather impious and sophisticated speculations of the Epopts, perpetually perverting the sciences and operating the extinction of all religious ideas, are concentrated within the council of the Areopagites; we have seen them combining, digesting, approving, or rejecting those plans of a new religion which the Mages are directed to invent, and which the Sect means incontinently to give to the world.

In his familiar correspondence, Spartacus speaks more openly and with greater latitude to his beloved Cato. Therein it appears, that anti-religious systems do not alone employ the meditations of the Fathers; for, soon after having mentioned the object of those Quibus Licets in which the young adepts were to give an account of the prejudices they might have discovered in themselves, which of them predominated, and how far they had succeeded in destroying them, he proceeds to say, "It is by these means that I discover such of our Order as have the proper dispositions for adopting certain special doctrines, and more elevated, on governments and religious opinions." ¹³ He then continues, "The maxims and politics of the Order are completely explained in the end. Here, in the Supreme Council, they project and examine the plans to be adopted for gradually enabling us to attack the enemy of reason and human nature personally (auf den leib). Here also the mode of introducing such plans into the Order is discussed, and it is decided to which brethren they are to be entrusted, and how far each one can be employed in their execution, in proportion to the insight given to him." ¹⁴

The reader is already too well acquainted with the maxims and policy of Illuminism, not to join with me in saying, Here then is the grand object of this Supreme Council of the Sect! It is in that dark recess that all those artifices are devised for rendering the disorganizing systems of Equality and Liberty familiar to the Illuminizing adepts: There is exactly ascertained the proportion which each class of the Brethren can bear in this universal destruction of religion, empire, society, and property; there again is the day anxiously sought and the means prepared, for hereafter throwing off the mask, and attacking personally the defenders of religion, laws, and property, as so many enemies to reason and humanity; there concentrate all the declarations, the reports, the plans of all the brethren dispersed throughout the universe, that the Sect may judge of its own strength, and compare it with that of the friends to the Altar and the Laws. To sum up all, it is there that the artifices and means are determined on, and the merits and powers of the higher adepts are investigated prior to their being entrusted with that part of the grand conspiracy to which

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their abilities are best adapted. Let the reader remember, that it is not a stranger to the Sect who has thus described the Areopage; it is the grand Legislator of Illuminism himself. Can we any longer stand in need of the regulations for this council? No; we well know what they must be; we know that impiety, and the most consummate arts in seduction and sedition, are to be their leading features; we further know, that its members must resemble Weishaupt himself, before they can be permitted to sit with him in council. What other bond of union do they need, beside the machination of the most hideous plots, the just or unjust means of forwarding the interests of the Sect as much as circumstances will permit, and the ensuring of success by the blackest and most profound artifices that depravity can invent? The fertile genius of the Legislator, however, would not commit the success of the least of his crimes to chance. He attempted to sketch a code of laws for his Areopagites, and for any future Spartacus that might succeed him. The code contains but a sketch of what he calls laws ad interim. It is to be found in the ninth section of the first volume of the Original Writings, and is addressed to the Areopagites. Many other passages of his letters relate to the same object.—I have transcribed the following articles:

"The Areopagites shall form the Supreme Council (literally, the Supreme College).—Their occupations shall relate to affairs of the greatest importance, and they shall pay little or no attention to such as are less essential.—They may recruit, it is true (können sie zwar recroutiren); that is to say, they may entice Candidates into the Order; but they must leave the care of their instruction to some intelligent adept. From time to time they will visit these Candidates, to inspire them with fresh ardour, to stimulate their zeal—They will be particularly careful in seeing that the progress and method of our Illuminées is every where uniform—They will more particularly watch over Athens (Munich, the principal Lodge after that of Ingolstadt, where Weishaupt resided at the time he wrote these instructions). They will make no reports concerning that Lodge to any body but Spartacus. They will send monthly a statement of all the principal events, a sort of Gazette (Ein art von Zeitung), to the Brethren (Conscii); that is to say, to those only who are initiated in the last secrets. But (continues Weishaupt) nota bene, this Gazette as yet has been no more than our common journal; the Conscii must compose one for the use of the Areopagites. These latter will labour at projects, ameliorations, and other objects of a similar nature, which are to be made known to the Conscii by circular letters. They are the people who are to bear a part of the weight of the general correspondence—They are not allowed to open the letters of complaint (die litteras gravatoriales); that is to say, those containing any complaints against them. These are to be transmitted to the general, to Spartacus, as a sure means of informing him that they fulfil their duty. This instruction being only provisional, and relating solely to the Areopage, shall not be circulated; but the council will take a copy and send back the Original to Spartacus. ¹⁵

"The assembling of the council is to be regulated according to the feasts marked in the calendar of the Order. (Nach dem calendario Illuminatorum an 

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[paragraph continues] Ordens festen)." But this was soon found to be insufficient, and Weishaupt exhorts his Areopagites to meet in their senate every post-day, and at the hour of the delivery of the letters.

Short as this sketch of a Code for the Areopagites may seem, it clearly denotes the essence of their functions, and shows how they are to act as a central point for the whole Sect. A grand question was still undecided when Spartacus gave these laws to the council; which was nothing less than, Whether Spartacus was to preserve a legislative and sovereign power over the Members of this Council, similar to that authority which they were to exercise over the rest of the Order?—Great Conspirators will seldom brook control even by their fellows. They will be equal among themselves and in their dens of conspiracy. Spartacus-Weishaupt was naturally of a despotic disposition. His Areopagites for a long time complained of it. ¹⁶ But he contended, that as founder, he had the indefeasible right of giving to the association those laws and regulations which he judged necesssary for its perpetuation. He soon, indeed, repented of the decision he had given against himself in favour of his Senate, "That the plurality of votes should dictate the eternal laws of the Sect" (Lex semper valitura) ¹⁷ Notwithstanding these complaints of the Areopagites, however, he speedily found means of re-instating himself in that authority, the privation of which only thwarted his artful conceptions, by subjecting them to the opinions of persons less consummate in the conspiring arts than their master. He sometimes submits to the justification of his conduct; but that is the very moment in which the reader should observe him artfully reclaiming all the rights and pretending to the exercise of unlimited despotism, though his cant appears to reject the very idea of it. Addressing his opponents in the shape of his pupils, he recalls to their minds the monstrous services he has rendered them in their youth, as so many benefactions of the most tender friendship, and asks them "of what they can in their consciences complain?" "When (says he) did you ever observe harshness or haughtiness in my conduct, with respect to you? When did I ever assume the tone of Master? Is it not rather with an excess of confidence, of goodness, of openess with my friends, that I may be reproached?"—When in this manner Weishaupt has captivated his Areopagites, he comes to the point: "Read then (he says) my letters over and over again. You will therein perceive that the grand object of our Society is not a thing of small consequence for me; that I know how to view it, and treat it also, in the most serious manner; that I have always aimed at the establishment of order, submission, discipline, and activity, as the sole means that can lead you to the grand object. In undertaking a work of such vast importance, was I not obliged by prayers, exhortations, and advice, to maintain and stimulate the ardour of my first, my dearest companions, on whom every thing depended?—If I wish to keep the supreme direction in my own hands, hear my reasons, which are most certainly of great weight:

"In the first place, I must necesssarily know with whom I have to deal, and must be ascertained of the fidelity of our people; and, to effectuate this, I am not to receive reports from a sixth hand, or perhaps one still more

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remote, on the execution of my plans, which have been approved of by the Elect of our Mysteries. . . In the next place, am I not the Constructor of this grand Edifice? Is there no respect due to me?. . . . When my system shall be completed, will it not be necessary for me to inspect the whole, and keep every man at his station? It is a great and radical defect in a society, where a Superior is dependent on the Inferiors, as it has been attempted to render me.

"But, to show you how much I value the friendship of my former friends, above all the authority I may exercise over others, I renounce all my rights, all my authority. Accept my warmest acknowledgements for all your past labours and patience. I flatter myself they have been hurtful to nobody, and that many have acquired from me lights on secret societies which they would not easily have found elsewhere. The purity of my intentions is my consolation and my recompense. From this instant I betake myself to obscurity and repose, where I shall not meet with zealous and envious opponents. There I shall be my own master, and my own subject." ¹⁸

The Illuminizing Despot thus artfully pleaded his cause. The Areopagites were impatient of his authority, but at the same time felt the want of so disorganizing a genius; and that they might not be deprived of its co-operation they reproached the Legislator with the extinction of his zeal.—The fire, however, was only hidden beneath the embers; they once more submit to the yoke of their former chief, who, inflamed with zeal, dictates the conditions on which alone he will deign to place himself once more at their head. Every thing is worthy of being remarked in them. The haughty spirit in which they are conceived, the nature, object, and extent of the power he assumes over the Supreme Council and Elect of the Order, are all worthy of our attentive notice.

"I begin (says he) by telling you before hand, that it may not any more be a subject of surprize, that I will be more severe than ever. I will not overlook a single fault, and shall in that respect be much more strict toward persons whom I know rather than toward those with whom I am not so familiar. My object and views require it. And to whom would you have me address myself, if not to the chiefs of the Order, since they alone are in direct correspondence with me? That things may succeed, it is necessary that we should be actuated but by one opinion, one sentiment, and be acquainted but with one language! And how can this be accomplished, if I cannot freely speak my mind to our people? I will then re-assume my post of General on the following conditions:

"I. That you will execute neither more nor less than what I shall command. I shall expect it in future; at least, should any change be thought necessary, I am to receive previous notice of it.

"II. I expect that every Saturday a proper report shall be sent to me of every thing that has taken place during the week, and that it shall be in the form of Minutes signed by all the Elect present.

"III. That I shall be informed of all the Members that have been recruited, or persons that are to be recruited, with an outline of their

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characters; and let some particulars concerning them be added when they are

admitted.

"IV. That the statutes of the class in which you labour be punctually observed, and that no dispensations be granted without previous investigation. For should each one take upon himself to make such changes as he pleased, where would be the unity of the Order.—What I exact from you, you shall exact from those that are subject to you. If there be no order and subordination in the higher ranks, there will be none in the lower." ¹⁹

It was on the 25th of May 1779, that Weishaupt dictated these laws to his Areopage. A fifth condition seems to have made them merely provisional, and to have entrusted the despotic power in Weishaupt's hand only until the order had acquired a proper consistency; but he took care not again to lose the newly-acquired supremacy; though the Areopagites still regretted the loss of their Aristocracy, and the being reduced to be the mere agents or prime ministers of the Spartacus of the Order. But let us attend to that Spartacus, who has always represented the most legitimate authority as an outrage on human nature. Let us hear him invoking Machiavel in support of that which he wishes to exercise over the Order. He pleads his own cause with Zwack, who is also jealous of his Master, by showing all the disorder it occasioned, by every body wishing to introduce his own ideas into the Order, and then quotes the following passages from Machiavel: "It must be laid down as a general rule, that it seldom or never happens that any Government is either well-founded at first, or thoroughly reformed afterwards, except the plan be laid and conducted by one man only, who has the sole power of giving all orders and making all laws that are necessary for its establishment. A prudent and virtuous Founder of a State, therefore, whose chief aim is to promote the welfare of many rather than to gratify his own ambition, to make provision for the good of his country, in preference to that of his heirs or successors, ought to endeavour by all means to get the supreme authority wholly into his hands: nor will a reasonable man ever condemn him for taking any measures (even the most extraordinary, if they are necessary) for that purpose: The means indeed may seem culpable, but the end will justify him if it be a good one;—for he only is blameable who uses violence to throw things into confusion and distraction; and not he who does it to establish peace and good Order." After this long quotation which Weishaupt has made from a French translation of Machiavel, Chap. IX. Discourses upon the first Decad of Livy, he continues in a sorrowful tone: "but I have not been able to obtain so favourable a decision. The Brethren have viewed that which is but a necessary law in the art of governing, in the light of ambition and a thirst of dominion." ²⁰ In the midst of this contention for power, he felt himself so superior in the art of governing conspiring associations at least, that he did not hesitate at writing to his Areopagites, As to politics and morality, Gentlemen, you must confess that you are as yet at a great distance behind me. ²¹ He at length succeeded in persuading them, that it was necessary that the General of the Order should also, as

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president of the Areopagites holding the helm of the Order, be the absolute director. ²²

Weishaupt, who left nothing relating to the disorganizing arts in an imperfect state, must, no doubt, have composed instructions to guide his successors in the exercise of their supremacy, and to teach them how to make the same use of it which he intended. But the reader will easily conceive, that these never could have escaped the vigilance of the Sect, nor pierced the dark cloud with which it had enveloped itself. It may even be possible that Weishaupt had not sufficient confidence in his Areopagites to entrust them with the entire plan. Throughout the whole hierarchy of Illuminism the lower degree is entirely ignorant of the particular instructions of the superior degrees; and why should not Weishaupt, who wished to perpetuate his disorganizing genius in all the succeeding Generals, have followed the same plan? He undoubtedly dictated laws and rules for their conduct, gave them rights which were to maintain both themselves and their Areopagites in their hierarchical superiority, and second them in the pursuit of their grand object; and these were entitled Instructions for the General of the Illuminees. No historian can flatter himself with the discovery of such a code of artifice and cunning; the most unrelenting wickedness and hypocrisy had invented it; and genius alone can pretend to dive into such secrets. The historian can only pretend to collect those articles which are to be found in Weishaupt's familiar correspondence, or in other parts of the code or writings of the Sect. Were we to throw this compilation into the form of instructions, the following might be nearly the result of our research.

I. The General shall be chosen by the twelve Peers of the Areopage, on the plurality of votes. ²³

II. The Areopagites can only elect one of the members of their senate for General; (ein aus ihrher mitte gewähltes oberhaupt); ²⁴ that is to say, a man who has sufficiently distinguished himself among the Regents to be admitted among the twelve supreme adepts of Illuminism, and who has afterwards made himself so eminent in their council, that he is judged to be the first Illuminee in the world.

III. The adept is supposed to possess qualities requisite for a General in consequence of those he may have evinced before he was called to the Supreme Council. As he is to preside over the whole Order, he must (more than any body else) be impressed with the principles of the founder, and be divested of all religious, political, or national prejudices. The grand object of the Order must be more particularly inculcated into him, namely, that of teaching the whole universe to set aside all government, laws, and altars; and he must perpetually attend to the grand interests of human nature. His zeal is to be stimulated at the sight of every man who is subjected to any authority. It is to reinstate the inhabitants of the earth in their original Equality and Liberty that he is constituted General of all the Illuminees that are or will be spread over the world during his reign, all labouring at the accomplishment of the grand revolution of the Man-King. ²⁵

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IV. The General shall have immediately under him the twelve Peers of the Supreme Council, and the various agents and secretaries which he shall judge necesssary to second him in the exercise of his functions. ²⁶

V. The better to secure himself from the notice of the civil and ecclesiastical powers, he may assume, after the example of the founder, some public office under the very Powers the annihilation of which is to be his sole object. But he will be only known to the Areopagites and to his agents and secretaries in his quality of General. ²⁷ The better to conceal the residence of the General, the town where he has fixed will have three names. The common name known to all; the geographical one peculiar to the Order; and a third known only to the Areopagites and the Conscii or Elect. ²⁸

VI. Our success greatly depending on the moral conduct of the Areopagites, the General will pay particular attention to prevent all public scandals which might hurt the reputation of the Order. He will represent to them in the strongest colours how much bad example will contribute to alienate from the Order the kinds of persons who might otherwise prove its most useful members. ²⁹

VII. The better to preserve that respect which virtue commands from inferiors, the General will assume the character of austere morals. That he may always have the grand object present to his mind, and be wholly occupied with the duties he has to fulfil; let him never lose sight of that great maxim so frequently inculcated in his letters by the founder, as the leading feature to which he owed all his successes. Multum sudavit et alsit, abstinuit venere et vino. He neither feared heat nor cold; he abstained from wine and women, that he might always be master of his secret, always be master of himself, and prepared for all exigencies where the interests of the Order might require it. ³⁰

VIII. The General shall be the central point for the Areopagites, as the latter are for the whole body of Illuminees. That is to say, each Areopagite holding correspondence with the National Inspectors is to make a report of all the Quibus Licets sent, and of all the secrets discovered by the corresponding Inspector; the secrets thus flowing from all parts will ultimately settle under the eye of the General. ³¹

IX. The functions of the General, and the success of his dispositions, greatly depending on the information he receives by means of this correspondence, he will distribute it among his Areopagites, assigning to each that of a particular nation whose Inspector is to transmit all his reports to him. ³²

X. The principal heads of this correspondence shall be—1st, The number of the brethren in general, that the force of the Sect may be ascertained in each nation.—2dly, Those brethren who distinguish themselves the most by their zeal and intelligence—3dly, Those adepts who hold important offices about the Court, in the Church, Armies, or Magistracy: also what kinds of services might be expected from or prescribed to them in the grand revolution which our Order was preparing for human nature.—4thly, The general progress which our maxims and our doctrine were making in the public opinion; how far nations were prepared for the grand revolution; what

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strength and means of defence still remained in the hands of the civil and ecclesiastical powers; what persons were to be placed or displaced; what engines were to be played off, to hasten and secure the success of our revolution; and the means necessary to bind the hands of those who might resist. ³³

XI. If from this correspondence he should judge it necesssary to dismiss any of the brethren from the Order, (and all the rights recognized by the adepts as inherent in the Order, particularly that of Life and Death being in the hands of the General) he will have to decide what further punishment is to follow the ejectment: whether the culprit is to be declared infamous throughout all the lodges of the Order, or whether the pain of death is to be pronounced against him. ³⁴

XII. The General, after having chastised the imprudent, cowardly, and treacherous adepts, will turn his attention toward the discovery of those brethren who may be best fitted for seconding his views in each empire. Without making himself known to them, he will establish a line of communication between them. He will himself prepare the links of this immense chain after the manner laid down by our founder as the grand means of governing, from his mysterious centre, all the diverging ramifications of the Sect to the extremities of the earth; as a means of vivifying invisible armies in an instant, of putting them in motion, of directing their course, and of irretrievably executing the most astonishing revolutions, even before the very Potentates whose thrones are overturned have had time to surmise their danger.

XIII. The use of the chain is obvious and easy. To touch the fist link is all that is required. A single stroke of a pen is the grand spring that imparts motion to the whole. But the success depends on the choice of the time. In his hidden abode the General shall meditate the means, and catch the propitious moment. The signal of universal revolution shall not be given till a time when the combined force and instantaneous efforts of the brethren shall be irresistible.

The illuminizing General who shall have managed this chain with the greatest art, who shall have spread it both far and near, who shall have imparted to it a sufficient power of action to bear away and overturn at a single effort every throne and every altar, all political and religious institutions, and shall strew the earth with the ruins of empires—He will be the creator of the Man-King, sole king, sole sovereign of his actions as of his thoughts. To that General is reserved the glory of consummating the grand revolution which has so long been the ultimate object of our mysteries.

Whatever proofs I may have adduced, that must naturally lead my readers to such a conclusion, it may nevertheless be an object of surprise to them to see that Weishaupt had really planned this long chain of subterraneous communications, by which himself and his successors were empowered invisibly to actuate thousand of legions, which instantaneously, on a day prescribed, might burst into existence armed with pikes and torches, and all the horrid implements of universal revolution. Let my readers then cast their eyes on this series of progression, which Weishaupt has with his own hand traced

p. 575

in his letters first to Cato-Zwack and afterwards to Celsus-Bader. The explanations are his own, and let them be particularly attended to.

"For the present, direct nobody to me but Cortez, that I may have some leisure to digest my speculations, and determine each one's place; for every thing depends on that. My operations with you shall be directed by the following table:

"Immediately under me I have two adepts, into whom I infuse my whole spirit; each of these corresponds with two others, and so on. By this method, and in the simplest way possible, I can inflame and put in motion thousands of men at once. It is by such means that orders are to be transmitted and political operations carried on." ³⁵

A few days after he writes to Celsus-Bader, and tells him, "I have sent to Cato a table (schema) showing how one may methodically and without much trouble arrange a great multitude of men in the finest order possible. He will probably have shown it to you; if he has not, ask for it. Here is the figure (then follows the figure).

"The spirit of the first, of the most ardent, of the most profound adept daily and incessantly communicates itself to the two A, A; by the one to B, B; by the other to C, C: B B and C C communicate it to the eight following; these to the next sixteen, from thence to the thirty-two and so downwards. I have written a long explanation of it all to Cato. In a word, every man has his Aide-Major, by whose means he immediately acts on all the others. The whole force first issues from the center and then flows back again to it. Each one subjects, as it were, to his own person, two men whom he searches to the bottom, whom he observes, disposes, inflames, and drills, as it were, like recruits, that they may hereafter exercise and fire with the whole regiment. The same plan may be followed throughout all the degrees." ³⁶

This is not a document which, like many others, flowed unintentionally from Weishaupt's pen, and which he left his disciples to collect, in order to form the political Code—Give me leisure to digest my speculations, and to determine each one's place—It is by such means that orders are to be transmitted, and political operations carried on. These words evidently demonstrate, that it is not a provisional law which he is about to pronounce, but a premeditated one, that is to last till that fatal period when whole legions, fired with his spirit, are to be led to that terrible exercise for which he had so long been drilling them;

p. 576

that time so expressly foretold by Weishaupt and his Hierophants, when they were to tie hands, to subjugate, fire on, and vandalize the whole universe.

When this fatal law shall be fulfilled, then will the last Spartacus sally forth from his baleful den, and triumphantly claim the sanguinary palm of murder and destruction from the Old Man of the Mountain, who would scarcely have been worthy of being his precursor. The earth loaded with the ruins of laws and empires; mortals blaspheming their God; nations lamenting over their conflagrating towns, their palaces, public monuments, and arts, and even their cottages, all overthrown; society weeping over its laws;-such shall be the sight which the last Spartacus will contemplate with joy, when he shall exultingly exclaim, "At length, my Brethren, the long-wished for day is come; let us celebrate the name, and dedicate this day as sacred to the memory of Weishaupt, our founder. We have consummated his grand mysteries; no laws shall exist, but those of his Order. Should nations be ever tempted to return to their wickedness, (to laws and society) this code, which has once destroyed their bonds, may do it again.

Will not hell vomit forth its legions to applaud this last Spartacus, to contemplate in amazement this work of the Illuminizing Code?—Will not Satan exclaim, "Here then are men as I wished them. I drove them from Eden; Weishaupt has driven them to the forests. I taught them to offend their God; he has made them reject their God entirely. I had left the earth to repay them for the sweat of their brow; he has stricken it with sterility; for it will be in vain for them to pretend to till and sow that which they shall not reap. I left them in their inequality of riches; but he has swept all away; he has destroyed the very idea of property; he has transformed mankind into brigands. Their virtues, happiness, and greatness under the protecting laws of society or of their country, was an object of jealousy to me; but he has cursed their laws and their country, and has reduced them to the stupid pride and ignorance of the roaming, savage, and vagabond clans. In tempting them to sin, I could not deprive them of repentance and the hope of pardon; but Weishaupt has taught them to scoff at crime and despise repentance. Villany without remorse, and hopeless misfortune, are all that he has left to the miserable inhabitants of the earth!

Meanwhile, before Satan shall exultingly enjoy this triumphant spectacle, which the Illuminizing Code is preparing, let us examine how far success has hitherto attended on its footsteps?—What share has it borne in that revolution which has already desolated so many countries and menaces so many others.—How it engendered that disastrous monster called Jacobin, raging uncontrouled, and almost unopposed, in these days of horror and devastation-In short, what effects this Code of the Illuminees has produced, and what effects it may produce.—This will be the object of the historical part of the Sect, and of the IVth and last volume of these Memoirs.

p. 577 p. 578

END OF THE THIRD PART

Footnotes

578:1 Original Writings, Vol. II. Let. 15, to Cato.

578:2 Directions System, No. 5, and Philo's Endliche erklärung, page 81. p. 577

578:3 So werden die selben Magi—Diese sammeln und bringen die höhere philosophische Systeme in ordnung, und bearbeiten ein volks-religion, welche der Orden demnächsten der welt geben will.—In the original, which is in Cato-Zwack's handwriting, the words volks-religion are in cypher, thus 20, 14, 2, 3, 18,—17, 8, 2, 4, 6, 4, 14, 13.

578:4 Instructions for the degree of Epopt, No. 12 and 14.

578:5 Deswegen kommen jährlich ein mal alle Presbyter einer provinz auf der grossen Synode zusammen, machen ein grosses verzeichniss der in diesem jahr gesammlten beylagen an die National Direction wo selbst es in die haupt-katalog eingetragen, und damit ein schatz von kenntnissen formirt wird, woraus jeder befridigt werden kann: denn daraus werden die regel abstrahirt, und was noch fehlt, weitere beobachtungs aufgaben, wie schon ervähnt worden, aufgeschrieben um feste sätze zu bekommen. Ibid. No. 15.

578:6 Philo's Endliche erklärung, Page 119.

578:7 Directions System, No. 4.

578:8 Ibid. No. 10 and 11.

578:9 Ibid. No. 15 and 23.

578:10 Ibid. No. 9.

578:11 Ibid. No. 22.

578:12 Last Observations of Philo, Page 115.

578:13 Aus diesen kann ich ersehen welche geneigt sind gewisse sonderbare staats lehren, weiters hinauf religions meynungen anzunehmen.

578:14 Und am end folgt die totale einsicht in die Politic und maximen des Ordens. In diesen obersten Conseil, werden die project entworfen, wie den feinden der vernunft und Menschlichkeit nach und nach auf den leib zu gehen seye: Wie die sache unter den Ordens mitgliedern einzuleiten, wen es anzuvertauen? Wie ein jeder a proportione seiner einsicht känne dazu gebraucht werden.—Original Writings, Letter to Cato-Zwack, 10th March, 1778.

578:15 Extracts from the Instruction to Cato, Marius, and Scipio, Original Writings, Vol. I. Sect. ix.

578:16 Letters of Philo to Cato and last Observations of Philo.

578:17 Letter of the 8th November, 1778.

578:18 Original Writings, Vol. I. Sect. 49.

578:19 Original Writings, Vol. II. Letters 49 and 50.

578:20 Original Writings, Vol. II. Let. 2, to Cato.

578:21 Ibid. Let. 10.

578:22 General Plan of the Order, No. 5.

578:23 Last Observations of Philo, Page. 119.

578:24 Ibid.

578:25 See the Mysteries.

578:26 See above.

578:27 Orig. Writ. Spartacus' Letters, passim, et supra.

578:28 Orig. Writ. Vol. I. Sect. 3.

578:29 Ib. Vol. II. Let 9 & 10.

578:30 Ibid. Vol. I. Let 16, &c

578:31 Vide supra.

578:32 Ibid. Vol. II. Let 6, 13, &c.

578:33 See the different degrees and the views with which the Quibus Licets and tablets, &c. &c. are written. p. 578

578:34 Orig. Writ. Vol. II. Let 8, et supra, Oath of the Novice.

578:35 I here feel it incumbent on me to insert the original text, to show that I do not exaggerate Weishaupt's meaning. The following are the terms in which he writes to Cato:—"An mich selbst aber verveisen sie dermalen noch keinen unmittelbar als den Cortez, bis ich schreibe, damit ich indessen speculiren, und die leute geschickt rangieren kann; den davon hängt alles ab. Ich werde in dieser figur mit ihnen operiren." (Here stands the figure already inserted above: The Letters A B C allude to the explanation given in the Letter to Celsus). "Ich habe zwey unmittelbar unter mir welchen ich meinen ganzen geist einhauche, und von diesen zweyen hat wieder jeder zwey andere, und so fort. Auf diese art kann ich auf die einfachste art tausend menschen in bewegung und flammen setzen. Auf eben diese art muss man die ordres erheilen, und im politischen opieren." Original Writings, Vol. II. Let 8, to Cato, of the 16th February 1782. It may be remarked that Weishaupt's style is none of the purest.

578:36 The original text of this letter is to be found in the Original Letters, Vol. II. Let 13, to Celsus without any date. It is as follows: "Ich habe an Cato ein schema geschickt, wie man planmässig eine grosse menge menschen in der schönsten ordnung. . . abrichten kann. . . Es ist diese forme."

"Der geist des ersten, wärmsten, und einsichtsvollesten communicirt sich unaufhörlich und täglich an A A—A an B B: und das andere an C C—B B, und C C communiciren sich auf die nämliche art an die unteren 8. Diese an die weitere 16, und 16 an 32, und so weiter. An Cato hab ich es weitläufiger geschrieben: Kurz! Jeder hat zwey flügel adjutanten, wodurch er mittelbar in all übrige wirkt. Im centro geht alle kraft aus, und vereignigt sich auch wieder darinn. Jeder sucht sich in gewisser subordination zwey männer aus, die er ganz studiert, beobachtet, abrichtet, anfeuert, und so zu sagen, wie recrouten abrichtet, damit sie dereinst mit dem ganzen regiment abfeuern und exerciren können. Das kann man durch alle grade so einrichten."

I do not find the long explanation mentioned as sent to Cato by Weishaupt, nor do I remember to have seen it. It would most certainly be curious, and we should see in a clearer light how he was to infuse his spirit into and fire the minds of thousands of men; but still these two letters are proofs more than sufficient for our purpose.