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The Illuminati
Grows
From Bavaria, the
Order of the Illuminati spread into the Upper and Lower Rhenish
provinces, Swabia, Franconia, Westphalia, Upper and Lower Saxony; and
outside Germany into Austria and Switzerland. Soon they had over 300
members from all walks of life, including students, merchants, doctors,
lawyers, judges, professors, civil officers, bankers, and ministers.
Some of their more notable members were: the Duke of Orleans, Duke Ernst
Augustus of Saxe-Weimar-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel,
Johann Gottfried von Herder (a philosopher), Count Klemens von
Metternich, Catherine II of Russia, Count Gabriel de Mirabeau, Marquis
of Constanza ("Diomedes"), Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick ("Aaron"), Duke
Karl August of Saxe-Weimar, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (a poet), Joseph
II of Russia, Christian VII of Denmark, Gustave III of Sweden, and King
Poniatowski of Poland.
By 1783, there were over 600 members; and by 1784, their membership
reached nearly 3,000. By 1786 they had numerous lodges across the
various German provinces, Austria, Hungary, England, Scotland, Poland,
France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Russia,
Ireland, Africa, and America.
By the time of the 3rd Masonic Congress in Frankfurt in 1786, the
Illuminati virtually controlled all the Masonic lodges, and at this
meeting their goals were stated as: "1) Pantheism for the higher
degrees, atheism for the lower degrees and the populace; 2) Communism of
goods, women, and general concerns; 3) The destruction of the Church,
and all forms of Christianity, and the removal of all existing human
governments to make way for a universal republic in which the utopian
ideas of complete liberty from existing social, moral, and religious
restraint, absolute equality, and social fraternity, should reign."
Students who were members of wealthy families, with international
leanings, were recommended for special training in internationalism.
Those selected by the Illuminati were given scholarships to attend
special schools. Weishaupt wrote: "I propose academies under the
direction of the Order. This will secure us the adherence of the
Literati. Science shall here be the lure." He also wrote: "We must
acquire the direction of education, of church, management of the
professorial chair, and of the pulpit." Today, there are many such
schools. Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, was educated at an
Illuminati school in Gordonstown, Scotland, at the insistence of Lord
Louis Mountbatten (whose uncle was a Rothschild relative and who became
an admiral after the end of World War II). Those trained at such schools
were placed behind the scenes as experts and advisors to perpetuate
Illuminati goals.
Weishaupt, worried that his control of the Order was diminishing, argued
repeatedly with Knigge. While he preferred to work in secrecy, Knigge
wanted to move on to more substantial things. In January, 1783, Knigge
wrote in a letter to Zwack: "It is the Jesuitry of Weishaupt that causes
all our divisions, it is the despotism that he exercises over men
perhaps less rich than himself in imagination, in ruses, in cunning...I
declare that nothing can put me on the same footing with Spartacus as
that on which I was a first." He also wrote: "I abhor treachery and
profligacy, and I leave him to blow himself and his Order into the air."
On April 20, 1784, Knigge quit, followed by Baron Bassus ("Hannibal"),
Count Torring, Prince Kreitmaier, and others. In July, Knigge signed an
agreement promising to return all documents in his possession, and to
keep quiet on what he knew about their plans and activities. Some
researchers believe that Knigge had also discovered that Weishaupt was a
Satanist. He resumed his work as a writer, later becoming an inspector
of schools at Bremen, where he died on May 6, 1796.
To insure that the activities of the Order would remain a secret, a
warning as to the consequences of betraying the Order was included in
the ceremony of initiation. They would point a sword at the initiate and
say: "If you are a traitor and a perjurer, learn that all our Brothers
are called upon to arm themselves against you. Do not hope to escape or
find a place of safety. Wherever you are, shame, remorse, and the rage
of our Brothers will pursue you, and torment you to the innermost
recesses of your entrails."
In October, 1783, Joseph Utzschneider, a lawyer, who had dropped out of
the Order in August, presented to the Duchess Maria Anna, a document
which detailed the activities of the Illuminati. He was upset because he
had been promoted too slow, and was constantly prodded to prove his
loyalty. The Duchess gave the information to the Duke. On June 22, 1784,
Duke Karl Theodore Dalberg, the Elector Palatinate of Bavaria, after
discovering from the information that the goals of the Illuminati were
to "in time rule the world," by overthrowing all civil government,
criticized all secret societies, and groups established without
government sanction. On March 2, 1785, he issued a proclamation
identifying the Illuminati as a branch of the Masons, and ordered that
their Lodges be shut down. The government began a war against the Order
by initiating judicial inquiries at Ingolstadt. In an attempt to
preserve the secrecy of their motives, the Areopagite burned many of
their documents, however, the government was able to seize many of their
papers when they raided the Lodges.
After being replaced at the University in February, Weishaupt fled
across the border into Regensburg, finally settling in Gotha, where he
found refuge with another Illuminati member, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha.
In April, 1785, Utzschneider was able to convince three other members to
come forward. They were fellow professors at the Marienburg (Marianen)
Academy who had doubts about the validity of the organization's
principles when they discovered that they would receive no mystical
powers. They were also disgruntled over Weishaupt's tyranny. Cossandey,
Grunberger, and Renner went before the Court of Inquiry on September 9,
1785, where they supplied valuable information, such as membership
lists, and revealed their aims and goals, which they consolidated into
the following six points:
1) Abolition of the Monarchy and all ordered government.
2) Abolition of private property.
3) Abolition of inheritance.
4) Abolition of patriotism.
5) Abolition of the family, through the abolition of marriage, all
morality, and the institution of communal education for children.
6) Abolition of all religion.
The purposes of these six points were to divide the people politically,
socially, and economically; to weaken countries and create a one-world
government. They testified that "all religion, all love of country and
loyalty to sovereigns, were to be annihilated..."
The government pardoned all public officials and military leaders who
publicly admitted membership. Those who didn't, and were discovered to
be members, lost their rank and standing, were removed from office, and
openly disgraced and humiliated.
Weishaupt was preparing to set his plans into motion for the French
Revolution, which was slated to begin in 1789. In July, 1785, he
instructed Zwack to put their plans in book form. This book contained a
history of the Illuminati, and many of their ideas for expansion and
future endeavors. A copy was sent by courier (identified as Jacob Lanze)
to Illuminati members in Paris and Silesia. However, after leaving
Frankfurt, as the courier rode through Regensburg (another source says
it was Ratisbon) on horseback, he was struck by lightning and killed.
The authorities found the document and turned it over to the government.
Another source indicates the possibility that he may have been murdered,
and the documents planted on him.
Xavier Zwack ("Cato"), a government lawyer, and one of the Order's most
prominent leaders, whose name was on Renner's list, had his house in
Landshut illegally searched by the police in October, 1785, and his
papers seized. He was dismissed from his position. Many books,
documents, papers and correspondence were discovered, including over 200
letters written between Weishaupt and the members of the Areopagite,
which dealt with matters of the highest secrecy. The following year,
more information was taken from the houses of Baron Bassus and Count
Massenhausen ("Ajar"). Among the confiscated documents, were tables
which contained their secret codes and symbols, secret calendar,
geographical locations, insignias, ceremonies of initiation, recruiting
instructions, statutes, a partial roster of members, and nearly 130
official seals from the government, which were used to counterfeit state
documents.
Needless to say, all of this information shed more light on the Order,
and the danger first realized by the government, had now become a
national emergency. In 1786, the government gathered all of the
confiscated documents, and published them in a book called Original
Writings of the Order and Sect of the Illuminati, which was circulated
to every government and crowned head in Europe, including France, to
warn them of the impending danger.
The leaders of the Order who appeared before the government's Court of
Inquiry, testified that the organization was dedicated to the overthrow
of church and state. However, these revelations, and the publication of
their documents did little to alert the public, because of their
unbelievable claims. New measures were taken by government officials.
The leaders of the Order were arrested and formally interrogated, then
forced to renounce the Illuminati. The final blow came on August 16,
1787, when Dalberg issued his final proclamation against the Illuminati.
Anyone found guilty of recruiting members was to be executed, while
those who were recruited, would have their property confiscated and then
be deported.
Zwack, who was banished, sought sanctuary in the Court of Zweibrucken,
where he was later appointed to an official position in the principality
of Salm-Kyburg. He contributed to the Illuminati movement in Holland. He
was later summoned by Dalberg, as the government tried to deal with the
problem of fugitives who might attempt to reorganize the Order. Zwack
fled to England.
On November 15, 1790, another Edict was announced against the members of
the organization. Anyone found to be an active member, was to be put to
death. The following year, a list of 91 names of alleged members was
compiled. They were hunted down, and banished. This harassment didn't
end until 1799, when Dalberg died.
The apparent demise of the Order was taken into stride by its highest
members, who continued to operate underground. Weishaupt wrote: "The
great care of the Illuminati after the publication of their secret
writings was to persuade the whole of Germany that their Order no longer
existed, that their adepts had all renounced, not only their mysteries,
but as members of a secret society." Weishaupt had a contingency plan
ready, and wrote: "By this plan we shall direct all mankind. In this
manner, and by the simplest means, we shall set in motion and in flames.
The occupations must be allotted and contrived, that we may in secret,
influence all political transactions...I have considered everything and
so prepared it, that if the Order should this day go to ruin, I shall in
a year re-establish it more brilliant than ever."
To hide their subversive activities, the highest members of the Order
began to masquerade as humanitarians and philanthropists. Weishaupt fled
to Switzerland, later returning to Germany, where the Duke of Saxe-Gotha
gave him sanctuary. The Order moved their headquarters to London, where
it began to grow again. Weishaupt told his followers to infiltrate the
lodges of Blue Masonry, and to form secret circles within them. Only
Masons who proved themselves as Internationalists, and were atheists,
were initiated into the Illuminati.
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