De Luchet's Revelations

1 De Luchets Revelations
Introduction
In 1785 and 1789, the attach to Prussian Prince Henry and the librarian at Hesse-Cassell Jean-Pierre De Luchet published two exposures of the Illuminati as planning a revolution in France. The first book was about Cagliostro specifically. The second was entitled Essai sur la secte des Illumins. In the latter, De Luchet mentions the Wilhemsbad Congress one time as a source of the problem. This is what years later his employer the Landgrave Karl von Hesse would similarly reveal. Likely, De Luchet learned that secret from Karl von Hesse. To protect the Landgrave and perhaps himself, both the 1785 and 1789 exposures by De Luchet were published anonymously. Previously, De Luchet was a reputable Enlightenment writer known for his close friendship with Voltaire. De Luchet proved to be Voltaires most important follower. For example, De Luchet in 1780 preserved all of Voltaires works by publishing them in a six volume set. To contain the exposures, Mirabeau took advantage of the fact that both the 1785 and 1789 exposures were anonymous. He sought to revise and republish each work in republications soon thereafter the 1785 one during 1786 and the 1789 version was published during 1792, shortly after Mirabeaus death. By doing so, many people at the time commonly assumed that Mirabeau wrote the original anonymous 1785 and 1788-89 works. The purpose of Mirabeaus augmentations and republications was to make the Illuminati appear to be quacks, and really another name for the harmless Rosicrucian Order.
Illuminati of Bavaria 1
De Luchets Revelations
Mirabeaus trickery fooled two right-wing critics of the Illuminati. Robison in his Proof of a Conspiracy in 1798 condemned De Luchets Essay on the Illuminati as filled with nonsense and absurdities. Barruel in his Memoires on Jacobinism of 1798 similarly thought the Essai was worthless, and a misdirecion from a true exposure of the Illuminati. Mirabeaus deception also has fooled a few modern scholars such as Billington who have not taken the time to tease out the publication sequence, and what was actually said by whom and in what order. However, fortunately, with the aid of modern computer-based research tools (e.g., books.google.com), what was inaccessible to our ancestors is now accessible to us. We can find the original writings by De Luchet at google books. Then we can separate out the fiction Mirabeau created from what De Luchet truly wrote. De Luchets revelations thus also have a very important secondary way of validating themselves other than their uncanny prophetic nature and their link to Landgrave Karl von Hesse. The fact Mirabeau and other Illuminati such as Bode vigorously sought to undermine the Essai by deception and trickery itself is a way of knowing the Essai was valid. In the criminal law, when an accused assassinates a witness against him to cover up his own responsibility, then the jury can infer from such behavior alone (with no other evidence) that the accused is guilty of the charges. Here, we will find Illuminati members attacking De Luchets revelations by either (a) creating false suggestions to discourage investigation or (b) publishing fraudulent revisions of the book so that the original book would look like it was frivolous and silly. Such behavior by the Illuminati bespeaks a consciousness that the allegation that they were plotting revolution in France was indeed true. First, lets turn to a biography of De Luchet to undestand the motives and goals of the true author of these exposures from 1785 and 1789.
Illuminati of Bavaria
De Luchets Biography
De Luchets Biography
In 1785, Jean-Pierre-Louis de La Roche du Maine, the Marquis De Luchet (1739-1792),1 was a prominent Frenchman born at Saintes. He was a calvary officer but resigned.2 In 1776, De Luchet had run a magazine at Laussanne, but when it soon failed thereafter, he moved to Berlin. This is where Frederick the Great ruled. Frederick had made Berlin one of the centers of the Enlightenment by inviting French Enlightenment writers like Voltaire to be courtisans. While living in Berlin, De Luchet by 1788 had written over sixty books. He was a religious critic (1765),3 a cogent analyst of economics (1776),4 a science-writer (1779),5 an historian of mining in the new world (1789),6 a liberal novelist of a work regarded as ingenious,7 and a frequent journalist.8 The Erfurt Encyclopedia says he was one of the most informed writers of his time.9 De Luchet was a prolific author and protg of Voltaire, was a truly international
1. His fully legal name by the time he died was Jean-Pierre-Louis de La Roche du Maine de Luchet. 2. Antoine Lilti, Sociabilit et mondanit: Les hommes de lettres dans les salons parisiens au XVIIIe sicle, French Historical Studies (2005) Vol. 28 No. 3 at 415-445. 3. His first work was Considrations politiques et historiques sur ltablissement de la religion prtendue reforme en Angleterre (Paris, 1765). 4. Du Luchet in 1776 wrote Histoire de Messieurs (Paris), an analysis of two financiers in which he provided a history of the Regency finances from 1716 to 1726. 5. He wrote Essais sur la minralogie et la mtallurgie (Paris, 1779). 6. In the July-September 1789 edition of Allgemeine Literatur-zeitung, it includes on page 88 a notice of a new work from July 1789 in German written by Marquis de Luchet. It was entitled Werk vom Bergbau. Eine Vertheidigung des amerikanifchen Bergbaues in Mexico und Peru. This translates roughly as Work on Mining. A Review of Americans Mining in Mexico and Peru. Illuminati of Bavaria 3
figure, [and] member of the academies of Marseille and Bologna.10 In 1788, he was put in the national biography of the great men of France, and was described as follows:
Luchet (Marquis, formerly marquis de La Roche du Maine). Sixty books of verse and prose characterize this illustrious writer. He has resisted nothing: poems, dramas, novels, operas, songs, history, all [forms of] literature....Tired of applause from his homeland, he brought her glory in Germany.11
However, some who disliked him called De Luchet a philosopher proper, or Voltairian infidel.12
7. In 1784, he wrote the novel Le vicomte de Barjac,ou memoires pour servir a l'histoire de ce siecle (Dublin & Paris, 1784). In a review, it spoke of the ingenious author of Victomte de Barjac, de M. le Marquis de Luchet. (Correspondance littraire, philosophique et critique par Grimm, Diderot, etc. (Paris: Garnier, 1881) Vol. 15 at 120.) 8. His works reprinted/summarized in liberal journals included Une seule Faute : ou les mmoires d'une Demoiselle de qualit (London/Paris 1788), synopsized/given notice in Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung Vol. 4 No. 338 (1788). 9. Luchet, Jean Pierre Louis de, Erfurt-web.de (the Erfurt encyclopedia) http://www.erfurt-web.de/Jahr1778 (accessed 12/11/08). 10.Susanne Schulz-Falste, Rare Books, http://www.schulz-falster.com/ fairs/fair19.pdf (accessed 12/11/08). 11.Antoine Rivarol, Le Petit almanach de nos grands hommes (1788), quoted in Correspondance littraire, philosophique et critique par Grimm, Diderot, etc. (Paris: Garnier, 1881) Vol. 15 at 216. 12.The British Magazine (ed. Hugh James Ross) Vol. XIX (March 1841) at 321 (the author of the Essai sur la secte des Illumins was a philisophe proper, or Voltairian infidel.) Illuminati of Bavaria 4
De Luchets Government Position in Prussia & Mirabeaus Betrayal
De Luchets Government Position in Prussia & Mirabeaus Betrayal

De Luchet also circulated often in the halls of Prussian government at Berlin. His friends included Prince Henry of Prussia, Mauvillon, and the foremost Berlin publisher of Enlightenment writers Friedrich Nicolai (1733-1811). (Nicolai later wrote a book in 1788 defending his membership in the Bavarian Illuminati since January 1782.)13 It was in this Berlin period that De Luchet said he joined the Illuminati. Importantly, in late 1786 Mirabeau (1749-1791) went from France to Berlin. This is the same Mirabeau who led the opening scenes of the French Revolution of 1789. Walter Scott called Mirabeau the volcano of the revolution. Through his oratory he rapidly became one of the most influential leaders of the [French] Revolution [of 1789]....14 Had more propitious
13.F. Nicolai, ffentliche Erklrung ber seine geheime Verbindung mit dem Illuminatenorden (Berlin: Stettin, 1788)(available at books.google.com.) Nicolai opens with a certificate from Weishaupt dated January 25, 1782 in Latin: Nicolai, is one of the Illuminati Order, and we are contented in this. (Id., at 3.) Nicolai then defends the Original Writings of the Illuminati seized by the Bavarian government. Nicolai is now recognized once again as one of the main representatives of the German Enlightenment, but for a long time his reputation was besmirched due to a feud he had with Goethe and Schiller. Nicolai opposed their Romanticism movement on the ground it was anti-rationalistic. Nicolai both opposed emotionalism in fiction, and stressed total objectivity in non-fiction the latter being an innovation ahead of its time. During his long life, he held to the firm belief in progress through the power of reason. To which Goethe, Schiller and others responded by claiming Nicolai represented soulless rationalism. (See Sheila Dicksons article in Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 17601850 (ed. Christopher John Murray)(N.Y.: 2004) Vol. 2 at 805-806.) 14.Clare A. Simmons, Eyes Across the Channel (The Netherlands: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000) at 72. Illuminati of Bavaria 5
moments followed, the crowds outside the Hotel de Ville in October 1789 were shouting for Mirabeau to be successor to the king.15 But it was not yet the time. Yet, back in 1786, Mirabeau, the journalist, was on a secret mission assigned to him by a French Minister in the foreign affairs office Talleyrand. The mission was urged upon Talleyrand by wealthy bankers. However, in 1788, Mirabeau transgressed many boundaries. He had published a book disclosing private diplomatic correspondence. It also simultaneously painted Prince Henry of Prussia as a fool. De Luchet was tasked to go to Paris and dress down Mirabeau in front of the persons who sent him on this mission to Berlin. In 1788, De Luchet was the official attach of the same Prince Henry who Mirabeau made look ridiculous. On his behalf, De Luchet went to Paris in February 1789. In French ministry papers only revealed in 1900, we learn De Luchet in February met at Paris with Mirabeau and others associated with the French minister (Talleyrand). At this February 1789 meeting, De Luchet had a six hour discussion with Mirabeau and these other influential parties in Talleyrands circle. They reviewed Mirabeaus mission at Berlin. The focus was on the embarassment caused by Mirabeaus recent indiscreet publication of diplomatic correspondence with Prussia.16
15.Gouverneur Morris, A Diary of the French Revolution (1939) at 242 (entry October 4, 1789). 16.Henri Welschinger, La Mission Secrete de Mirabeau A Berlin, 17861787; dapres les documents originaux des Archives des Affaires detrangeres, avec introduction et notes (Paris: Plon, Nourrit et Cie. 1900) at 66, 74, 80. He relates: Mirabeau...arrived at Paris the 21st of February [1789]. He was seen in secret by Panchaud, Lauzun, le marquis de Luchet, and Dupont de Nemours. Id., at 66. The Marquis de Luchet [was] then the attach to that prince [i.e., Henry of Prussia].... Id., at 74. Illuminati of Bavaria 6
De Luchets Link to Landgrave Karl von Hesse
This embarassment caused by Mirabeaus low ethics may have been what soured De Luchet on the Illuminati. Welschinger, a specialist on this period of Mirabeaus mission to Berlin, tells us of the likelihood that Mirabeau had joined the Illuminati at Berlin:
It appears that during his stay in Prussia, Mirabeau had been initiated into the mysteries of the sect of the Illumati directed by Weisliaupt and that upon his return to France, he was introduced within a lodge that belonged to those who practiced these mysteries....Later, Amelius Bode, successor to Weishaupt, and the Baron Busch worked a union between German Illuminism and French Freemasonry.17
Thus, what seems to have transpired is De Luchet in 1789 knew Mirabeau was an Illuminatus. And he disliked the profiteering nature of Mirabeaus betrayal of his friend Prince Henry. At the same time, De Luchet already had a poor view of the Illuminati due to Cagliostro. Hence, in early 1789, while De Luchet is back in Paris dealing with Mirabeau, it was obviously the perfect time for De Luchet to complete his manuscript of 127 pages on the Illuminati. This became the first version of the Essai of 1789.

Prior to joining the Illuminati, in 1775 De Luchet went to work for the Landgrave Karl von Hesse (a fact whose significance will appear later) as librarian in Hesse-Cassell.
17.Welschinger, id., at 40 fn. 1. Illuminati of Bavaria 7
De Luchets job included acting as head of the city-statess theater and orchestra.18 He received this job on the recommendation of Voltaire.19 What is helpful to understand De Luchets purpose in exposing the Illuminati is to recognize De Luchets connection to his good friend Voltaire. In Europe of that era, there was no greater skeptic, atheist and ocassional deist of literary fame than Voltaire. De Luchet turned out to be Voltaires greatest pupil as well as the person most responsible for preserving all of the works of Voltaire by publishing them in one multi-volume set. Illustrative of their closeness, in 1778, upon the death of Voltaire, De Luchet wrote a pamphlet containing a eulogy of Voltaire. It was published in De Luchets capacity as the Perpetual Secretary of the Alterthurmer Society of Cassell in the landgrave of Hesse-Cassell.20 Similarly, in 1780, De Luchet released in six volumes at Cassell the entire literary history of Voltaire. See Jean Pierre Louis La Roche du Maine, Histoire litteraire de M. de Voltaire. (6 vols. Cassel, 1780.)21 Thus, due to De Luchets efforts, the writings of the most renown skeptic and influential atheist thinker perhaps to have ever lived was preserved. It is hard to believe De Luchet would devote so much of his life to Voltaires cause without sharing his religious and political sentiments.
18.Luchet, Jean Pierre Louis de, Erfurt-web.de (the Erfurt encyclopedia) http://www.erfurt-web.de/Jahr1778 (accessed 12/11/08). 19.Luchet, Jean Pierre Louis de, Erfurt-web.de (the Erfurt encyclopedia) http://www.erfurt-web.de/Jahr1778 (accessed 12/11/08). 20.Eloge de Mr Arrouet de Voltaire,etc par Mr le Mis de Luchet,...secrtaire perptuel de la Socit des antiquaires de Cassel, lu la sance publique du 15 aot 1778. 21.William Raleigh Price, The Symbolism of Voltaires Novels (N.Y.: 1911) at 266 (citation). Prices full text is accessible at http:// www.archive.org/stream/symbolismofvolta00pricrich/ symbolismofvolta00pricrich_djvu.txt (accessed 12/11/08). Illuminati of Bavaria 8
As a consequence of De Luchets literary efforts, Prince Henry of Prussia in 1788 awarded him a life pension of 2,000 crowns.22 This background summarized above gives us an important insight into De Luchets political and religious outlooks. De Luchets writings on the Illuminati confirm this, especially his Essai from 1789. In none of them does he ever express his motive is to attack atheism or liberalism or to defend Christianity. He does say at one point that Christ is out here, but in the Illuminati the devil is at work. This was more hyperbole than any expression of faith. In fact, the Essai appears to be written by a sincere liberal atheist or tepid deist. He might admire Jesus, but no defense of Christianity or the church ever appears. Despite this outlook, De Luchet was still appalled at what he learned as a member of the Illuminati. De Luchet even balanced his attack on the Illuminati by making extensive attacks on the Jesuit Order within the Catholic Church in his famous Essai sur la Secte des Illumins. Also, we can deduce the spirit of De Luchets exposure by recognizing his likely source for many details about the Illuminati in the Essai. In the 1780s, De Luchet was still working for Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse Kassell as his State Librarian and Theater Director. The papers of the Illuminati from the period of the Wilhemsbad Congress in 1782 confirm that Karl von Hesse joined at that time.23 In 1821, Karl von Hesse claimed he was an Illuminatus who from 1783 onward operated as a secret double-agent inside the Illuminati, as we mentioned in the chapter on Wilhemsbad. Karl von Hesse thus likely encouraged De Luchet to publish the exposures on the Illuminati discussed in this chapter.
22.Luchet, Jean Pierre Louis de, Erfurt-web.de (the Erfurt encyclopedia) http://www.erfurt-web.de/Jahr1778 (accessed 12/11/08). 23.See De Luchets Revelations on page 1 et seq. Illuminati of Bavaria 9
The First Exposure By De Luchet 1785

In 1785, De Luchet published his first exposure on the Illuminati. It was an anonymous book entitled Mmoire authentique pour servir lhistoire due comte de Cagliostro (Berlin: 1785).24 It was so favorably received that a second edition was issued in January 1786 and a third edition at Strasbourg.25 De Luchet revealed to the world something he thought would explain the Affair of the Necklace Trial at Paris Cagliostro was an Illuminatus. (This was something Cagliostro would later admit in 1790.)26 De Luchet added that the Illuminati at Berlin were dangerous. Under anonymity, De Luchet said in this 1785 revelation that the Berlin Illuminati were from the Freemasons and made part and from its [the Bavarian Illuminatis] principles. He also said the Illuminati he encountered at Berlin are more dangerous for
24.This is the title cited under De Luchets name by the Library of Congress in its National Union CataloguePre-1956 Imprints (Mansell: 1974) Vol. 344 at 330. Antiquarians identify De Luchet as the author in brackets, indicating it was originally written anonymously: [Luchet (Marquis de]. Mmoires authentiques pour servir l'Histoire du Comte de Cagliostro. Seconde dition. Sans lieu,1785. (http://www.liberlibri.com/ catalogue90_28.htm (accessed 12/9/08). Also, it was identified as De Luchets work in 1785 by the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung Vol. 4 No. 290 (1785). (See http://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/ receive/jportal_jparticle_00055180?XSL.view.objectmetadata.SESSION=false (accessed 12/9/08). This is a well-respected journal that references many articles about or by De Luchet. Neval mentions it too as De Luchets work. See Gerard de Neval, Les Illumins, ou Les Precurseurs du Socialisme (Paris: Novelle Libraire de France, 1958) at 325 n. 1. 25.Constantin Photiades, Count Cagliostro (n.d.) at 212. 26.See Cagliostros Exposure on page 1. Illuminati of Bavaria 10
The First Exposure By De Luchet 1785
Kings for they are by nature [seeking] to seduce the people and to excite rebellion, and are willing to use force to institute their ideas.27 This 1785 book by De Luchet warned that Cagliostro was planning revolution in France. A synopsis by the Library of the Rhne Alps explains De Luchets remarkable prediction of the revolution four years in advance:
This is a pamphlet directed against Cagliostro and his wife, in reference to the Affair of the Necklace case. While a strong and licentious libel, it was full of very curious revelations where you can find a prediction of all the fury of the revolution predicted four years beforehand.28
27.Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Bavire, supra, at 708 [emphasis added]. Le Forestier says he is quoting from Mirabeaus work on Cagliostro which is a reply to De Luchets work. Mirabeau is apparently summarizing De Luchet. Mirabeaus explanation will be, as discussed below, that these Illuminati are not the Bavarian Illuminati but Rosicrucians who are using that same name. This was simply disinformation because Mirabeau himself was secretly then an Illuminatus within the Bavarian system. 28.The site Lectura described as la portail des bibliotque des villes centre de Rhne Alps provides this synopsis: Pamphlet dirig contre Cagliostro et sa femme, o il est question de lAffaire du Collier. Libelle fort licencieux, dune grande curiosit, plein de rvlations trs curieuses o lon trouve toutes les fureurs de la Rvolution prdites quatre ans de distance. (http://www.lectura.fr/fr/catalogues/resultats.cfm?reb=1&mode=cat&aut=La%20Roche%20%20Jean%20de (accessed 12/9/08). Antiquarian sources have the same synopsis about a prophecy of revolution, and cite several scholarly sources: Chateaubriand, Edition originale des Notes sur la Grce. (Talvart III-11, 30A) Caillet-6136; Fesch 871 ; Chomarat-232. See http://www.livre-rare-book.com/Matieres/jd/ 4976w.html (accessed 12/9/08). Illuminati of Bavaria 11
By The Way: A Note About Cagliostros Isis Lodge Branch for Women
Weishaupt was the first to propose lodges should admit women into the secret society world. However, the first known lodge system to do this was operated by Cagliostro. De Luchet reported in 1785 that Cagliostros wife, Madame Cagliostro, at Lodge Isis on Rue de Sourdire in Paris initiated female members into a separate branch of Egyptian Freemasonry.29 This helps corroborate, whether De Luchet knew it or not, that Cagliostro learned from Weishaupts Order this rare idea of admitting women into a fraternal order. Incidentally, but not without importance later, the influence of Cagliostro on the French Revolution is evident in the open use of Isis at the government-sponsored Festival of Reunion on August 10, 1793. (This was the one year anniversary of the August 10, 1792 revolution.) The ancient Egyptian festival worship of Isis, the main goddess of Egypt30 was similarly known as the Festival of Reunion. Hence there was no veil put over the fact this was a re-enactment of a pagan Isis worship from Egypt. In this ceremony in 1793, a statue of Isis was displayed as the centerpiece of this government-sponsored first year celebration of the revolution.31
29.Camille Aubaude, LEgypte de Grard de Nerval (2004) at 73, citing Mmoire authentique pour servir lhistoire due comte de Cagliostro. See also Laurent Bricault, De Memphis Rome (Poitiers 2000) at 154, 157. 30.Isis was a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs.... http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis (accessed 12/27/08). 31.In this engraving of the Festival of Reunion or Unity of 10 August 1793, a female statue of Nature in the form of the Egyptian goddess Isis represents the regeneration of the French people. It sits on the site of the Bastille prison, whose fall signaled the beginning of the Revolution. The engraving depicts the statue as made of stone, but in fact it was hastily constructed of papier mache. This engraving was printed in 1797 as part of a series of commemorative prints of events of the revolution. http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/searchfr.php?function=find&keyword=engraving# Illuminati of Bavaria 12
Mirabeaus 1785 Defense of Cagliostro
David planned out this event. Thus, Cagliostros impact is seen on the revolution of 1792 in that Egyptian-Isis worship was openly played out in a public event of 1793. For more discussion, see Robespierres Intervention August 1793 Festival of Reunion (Paganism Of Cagliostro Revived) on page 18 et seq.
Mirabeaus 1785 Defense of Cagliostro

Mirabeau, apparently a Bavarian Illuminatus even as of 1786, tried to deflect this attack on Cagliostro in his work on Cagliostro. Mirabeaus work was released first at Berlin32 and then at Paris during 1786. The French edition was entitled Lettre du Comte de Mirabeau sur M.M de Cagliostro et Lavater.33 In Mirabeaus account, he says that Cagliostro had claimed to have discovered the philosphers stone, and how to prolong life. However, due to the trial, public sympathy embraces his defense.34 Cagliostro is a prodigious man, a benefactor of humanity, a philosopher, a wise mn....35 Mirabeau says that the trial which acquitted Cagliostro was conducted fairly, and all forms of regularity were honored.36 Then why should we reproach the judges for their verdict? he asks.37
32.Mirabeau. SCHREIBEN DES GRAFEN VON MIRABEAU AN *** DIE HERREN VON CAGLIOSTRO UND LAVATER BETREFFEND. (Berlin & Libau: Lagarde & Friedrich, 1786). 33.This is reprinted in Mirabeau Les crits (Eugene Fasquelle, Editor)(Paris: 1911) VI at 363 et seq. (Available through books.google.) 34. Mirabeau Les crits (Eugene Fasquelle, Editor)(Paris: 1911) VI at 365. 35.Id. 36.Id. at 366. 37.Id. at 366. Illuminati of Bavaria 13
After the verdict, Mirabeau said some made claims against Cagliostro such as Professor Meiners of Gottingen who said Cagliostro was the agent of the Jesuits.38 But this is an absurd vision. This is the gist of his letter. Significantly, because other sources think otherwise, Mirabeau never mentions De Luchets discussion of the Illuminati in connection with Calgiostro. Next, in this same small book, Mirabeau publishes a letter written about Lavater to Dr. Marcard of Hanover (a doctor who certified the effects of animal magnetism). Mirabeau places Lavater among the charlatans who distract public leaders from more important matters.39 Mirabeau never says Lavater was an Illuminatus. Rather, Mirabeau moves on to then denounce the monstrous folly of theists persecuting those who believe in tolerance, and then says by contrast:
The Rosicrucians, the cabalists, les Illumins, the alchemists found above protection and favor at Berlin under the reign of the wise Frederick the Great, the wise one and philosopher, where the Socinians even obtained a legal right to exits. 40
Thus, there is no foundation that Mirabeau spoke about the Illuminati in relation to Lavater, and there was utterly no mention of the Illuminati in relation to Cagliostro.
38.Id. at 367. 39.Id. at 369. 40.Id. at 370. Illuminati of Bavaria 14
The Essay on the Illumins of 1789
The Essay on the Illumins of 1789

In early 1789, De Luchet published anonymously the Essai sur la secte des Illumins.41 There was just one small hint originally that De Luchet wrote it.42 Several other editions appeared in 1789. A German translation by the professional translator J.M. Tschoppe appeared in 1790.43 To defelect this Tschoppes edition, Bode, the Illuminatus, provided in 1790 his own translation with his comments designed to suggest De Luchet was not talking of the Bavarian Illuminati but the Avignon Illuminati.44 Then in 1792, two illegitimate French editions appeared under Mirabeaus name which we shall later dicuss. Within the Essai, De Luchet mentions starting on his book in 1782-1783. De Luchet also accidentally left a date in one passage which shows it was actually begun/partly written in 1786.45
41.However, Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Baviere, supra, at 621 says a first edition was released at Berlin in 1788. However, I have never found such an edition in any bibliography. 42.De Luchet left some hint of his own identity. The very last Note in the book is an excerpt of an article that attacked the Spiritualism movement, an article that he cited as appearing in Mlanges Littraires by M. De Luchet. See Essai sur la Secte des Illumins (London: 1789) at 176. 43.J.M. Tschoppe used the pseudonym of J.M. Heinrich. The books title was Versuch ber die Sekte der Illuminaten (Freiberg; Annaberg 1790). This translation and its true translator as J.M. Tschoppe is mentioned in Allgemeine Literaturzeitur (Jan. 1791) Vol. 2 No. 164 at 501 (excerpted online at http://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/receive/ jportal_jparticle_00006482.) Copies of this are still maintained at the Berlin State Library and Goettingen University Library. Tschoppe was a professional translator. He was the German translator in 1795-96 of the French work entitled Complete Works of Jacques Henri Bernardin St. Pierre a botanist and poet in 2 volumes. 44.See Cagliostros Exposure on page 1 et seq. Illuminati of Bavaria 15
This book was meant primarily for the French people. In 1789, De Luchet reprinted the book four more times. The first two revisions of that year were published at Paris. Then one revision was made in London and then two more versions were published at Paris. Each successive version had more pages.46 The quotes below are primarily taken from the second printing outside Berlin, namely at London, a copy of which I retrieved from the University of Illinois Library. This London edition reputedly was printed in January 1789. Its publishing history and its internal statements point to a publication date of no later than April 1789.47 This date is based partly on the fact De Luchet is unaware in the London edition of any developments of post-April 1789 (e.g., the attack on Reveillons house at Paris, etc.). No mention is made of any of the revolutionary disturbances of 1789. Had they already occurred, De Luchet would surely have cited them as proof of his points. The second version to which we will refer is available through books.google.come for free. It is the first edition at Paris in 1789, identified as the first by the fact the numbered pages are the fewest, extending only through page 117. This matches what the Library of Congress catalogue identifies as
45.Anon. [De Luchet], Essai sur la Secte des Illumins (London 1789) at 55 (I have re-read all I have written after six years on the Illuminati). He refers to a Mr. W . . . assisting at Wilhemsbad four years ago. Essai sur la Secte des Illumins, supra, at 2 n. 1. (This W was apparently Willermoz.) Since Wilhemsbad took place in 1782, this passage was written in 1786. 46.According to the catalogue of books in the Library of Congress system, De Luchets name appears for the following copies of Essai sur la Secte des Illumins. [1] Paris 1789, 127 pp. [2] Paris 1789, 147 pp. [3] London 1789, 176 pp. [4] Paris 1789, 192 pp. [5.] Paris 1789, 256 pp. See National Union Catalogue Pre-1956 Imprints Vol. 344 (Mansell: 1974) at 329-330. 47.Anon. [Jean-Pierre Louis De La Roche du Main, Marquis de Luchet], Essai sur la secte des Illumins (London: 1789). Illuminati of Bavaria 16
Credibility of De Luchet
the first Paris edition if you include the preface in the page count.48 When citing to this, we will refer to as Paris #1 1789 or the Paris first edition. There is a another version which we will refer to. It too is also available from books.google.com for free. This is the 1789 edition at Paris with 192 pages. This matches the fourth version published at Paris. For those who are curious, books.google.com also has the last edition at Paris with 256 pages. Thus, of the five versions, we have obtained four of the five versions in print. But, here, we will primarily refer to three versions [1] the very first Paris printing of 1789; [2] the London 1789 edition and [3] the 192 page Paris edition of 1789.
In judging whether De Luchet was credible in the Essai, it deserves note that De Luchet never mentions a member of the Illuminati by name in the 1789 London edition. (This is the version I have read cover-to-cover.) I also see such similar discretion exercised in all the editions published at books.google.com. De Luchet does mention Pernetti, one of the leaders of the Illuminati of France, but he does not actually say that Pernetti is an Illuminatus.49 For example, in one passage, he refers to a Mr. W . . . an honest man, who De Luchet knew to have great zeal for the House of the Illuminati. De Luchet reveals then that W . . . assisted at the Convent of Wilhemsbad.50 This tells us, based on historical knowledge that is
48.See Footnote 46 on page 16. 49.Essai, London edition, at 136. On the Illuminati of France under Pernetti, see Appendix A in book five. 50.Essai, London edition, at 2 n. 1. Illuminati of Bavaria 17
only available from masonic historians, that this man must be J.B. Willermoz (1730-1824). He indeed was a zealot of the Illuminati.51 Yet, De Luchet referred to him only as Mr. W . . . The question is why? Apparently, De Luchet chose to avoid creating public embarrassment for members that he knew. De Luchet honored a noble tradition of those days. He assumed that if an enterprise could be proven dubious to its members, the best way to lead them away was a discreet exposure. They would less likely dig in their heels and stay with the supposedly dubious group. The opposite approach would be a mean-spirited exposure of all their names. De Luchet appears to have approached his task of launching a warning with good judgment and perspicacity, rather than allowing himself to become an unprincipled scandalizer of friends and honorable men. De Luchet also claims direct personal knowledge of the Illuminati. He says that after several years in the Illuminati Order, I was presented in the arena of an Academy amongst the most profound discussions, and it was then revealed to me the most strange secrets.52 De Luchet never purports to be relying on secondary source books for his knowledge of the Illuminati. He never mentions the Bavarian government investigation of the Illuminati.53 De Luchets primary purpose is to reveal the secrets that he personally learned while in an Illuminati Academy (obviously at Berlin) or those secrets he learned from reliable brethren.
51.On Willermoz and the Bavarian Illuminati, see The Wilhemsbad Conference of 1782 on page 1 et seq., and Secret Societies in France As of 1782 The Level of Illuminati Penetration Prior to Wilhemsbad on page 1 et seq. 52.Essai, London edition, at xvi. Illuminati of Bavaria 18
Evidence Karl von Hesse Provided De Luchet Information
Also, several pieces of information that he mentions are so peculiarly available to his employer, the Landgrave Karl von Hesee that we can deduce Charles was one of his sources. And a very reliable source indeed! Karl von Hesse was the Illuminatis National of the North. For example, Karl von Hesse is the only likely source of a passage in De Luchets work that exposes how all Illuminati northern lodges were interlocked and connected.54 Also, De Luchet reveals a familiarity with what transpired at Wilhemsbad which again was known only to a small circle which included his employer, Karl von Hesse. De Luchet writes: For them [the Illuminati], the seances of the... Convent of Wilhemsbad, the night meetings at Berlin, are equally proper, to give courage to those called to execute the most dangerous projects.55
53.We do know De Luchet is talking about the Bavarian Illuminati for several reasons. First, he refers to the Illuminatis spread to Poland, Russia, and Germany, as well as France. Essai (London: 1789), supra, at xi, 48. He describes teachings, methods (cipher), and systems that we know from the Illuminati papers belonged to Weishaupts group. And, importantly, we can deduce his source of many secrets of the Illuminati was Charles of Hesse the Illuminati nephew of De Luchets employer. Charles in his memoirs said he worked inside the Illuminati of Weishaupt as a double-agent since 1783 to defeat its ambitions. For this, see further in text. 54.De Luchet tells us how the structure of the Illuminati was set up in northern Germany. He says: This invisible chain [operates so] Frankfurt am Main instructs Mainz, Darmstadt, Neuweid, Cologne and Weimar. Weimar enlightens Kassel, Gottingen, Wetzlar, Brunswick, Gotha. Gotha brings the light to Erfort, Leipzig, Halle, Dresden and Desau. Desau takes charge of Torgau, Wittemberg, Melklenbourg, Berlin. Berlin communicates with Stettin, Breslau, Frankfort on the Oder. Frankfort takes control of Konigsberg, and all the towns of Prussia... [then leagues] with Mayence and Poland. (Essai, London edition, suprai, at 48. 55.Essai, London edition, at 34 (emphasis added). Illuminati of Bavaria 19
From whom did De Luchet learn such dangerous schemes were unleashed at Wilhemsbad? Obviously Karl von Hesse, the Vice-Chairman of the Convent, and self-appointed secret agent within the Illuminati. And Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassell, paid De Luchets paycheck for his work as the Librarian of Hesse. Another important key to knowing Karl von Hesse helped De Luchet is that De Luchet says the Illuminati had an alliance with the Initiated Brothers of Asia (Frres Inities dAsia) known in English as the Asiatic Brethren.56 Karl von Hesse was very active in the Asiatic Brethren. (Duke Ferdinand, a dedicated Illuminati member, headed the Asiatic Brethren through at least 1792). Thus, this secret about the Asiatic Brethren would be known to Karl von Hesse and he could pass it on to De Luchet.57 Consequently, a likely source for much of what we see in De Luchets book was from Karl von Hesse. Karls credibility is elsewhere established.58 Thus, De Luchets sources included one from the very upper hierarchy of the Illuminati its National of the North.
De Luchet Solely Approaches This As A Liberal Atheist

De Luchets sole bias in this book is in favor of Voltaire-liberalism. De Luchet in the Essai, severely attacked the Jesuits for creating a system of secrecy in their self-government which, he said, aimed at a universal monarchy. The
56.Essai, London edition, at 43, 147-49. 57. For a discussion of the Asiatic Brethren, see Secret Societies in France As of 1782 The Level of Illuminati Penetration Prior to Wilhemsbad on page 1 et seq. 58.See the chapter entitled The Wilhemsbad Conference of 1782 on page 1 et seq. Illuminati of Bavaria 20
De Luchet Solely Approaches This As A Liberal Atheist
Jesuits had been the target of Enlightenment liberals like Voltaire for decades. De Luchet was the very close friend of Voltaire, and here shares Voltaires similar concern about Jesuits. De Luchet then concludes that the Jesuits misuse of their priestly bonds provided a model for an even more dangerous organization, the Illuminati.59 Furthermore, De Luchet never mentions any particular concern for Christianity or any religion. He cites no Biblical passages. He appeals to us as an agnostic liberal, apparently even as an atheist. Such ideals explain why he sought to publish his 1778 eulogy of Voltaire. Instead of supporting religion per se, De Luchet is concerned about the Illuminati plan to create intentionally a false religion based on bad principles. What that means for traditional religions De Luchet does not dwell upon. De Luchet explained a very simple personal agenda. He says, we must denounce to the nations the unhappiness which menaces them.60 Elsewhere, he explains his purpose is to unmask their [i.e., the Illuminatis] artifices.61 His book is solely devoted to that end. Thus, De Luchets reputation as a French enlightenment liberal journalist at Berlin is consistent with his approach and values expressed in the Essai sur la Secte des Illumins. Despite De Luchets excellent reputation and his fairminded approach, masonic historians still attack De Luchets Essai as odious, and his personage too.62 Yet, they cite no reason for this opinion. With that background on the author of the Essai, let us now examine De Luchets statements in depth.
59.Essai, London edition ,at 21-22, 27. 60.Essai, London edition, at 32. 61.Essai, London edition, at 41. 62.Dictionnaire de la Franc-Maonnerie (ed. Daniel Ligou) (Presses Universitaires de France, 1987) at 181. Illuminati of Bavaria 21
De Luchet Opens the Door From the Inside

De Luchet begins:
Oh my citizen! Listen . . . to these alarms! We write you with very great courage; . . . why? because these men [of whom we speak] are truly the most violent. They prepare for danger and they will destroy the calm . . . . They will ridicule men who [uphold] social order.63
This explains why he chose anonymity. The Order would use violence or ridicule against those who betray its secrets. De Luchet then warned the French nation that the danger from the Illuminati is imminent and elsewhere says that an imminent danger menaces us.64 He claimed he learned the Illuminati aimed to overthrow the Monarchy and the entire social system: You ought to believe that the sect of Illuminati will necessarily destroy Royalty . . . , and it will not respect society either . . . [T]hey want to knock the feet right out from under Kings.65 The Illuminati feel that the most efficacious remedy is one grand convulsion that will give birth to a chain of events, which Kings will have no power to avoid.66 It will be a sudden revolution in favor of ignorance and incompetency.67 De Luchet then warned that this plan for revolution in France would burst forth at any moment from Illuminati-controlled Freemason lodges. He revealed the Illuminati had forged a dark association with Freemasonry. This bond, he warned, will become the forge of fire for kings, and the dis63.Essai, London edition, at vi. 64.Essai, London edition, at vii, xix. 65.Essai, London edition, at xviii. 66.Essai, London edition, at xx. 67.Essai, London edition, at 36. Illuminati of Bavaria 22
tillation of poison for humans.68 De Luchet explained that this control was by artifice and fraud, so that Freemasons in general did not know who was pulling their strings. He describes that two of his Illumin friends within a Freemason lodge of four to five hundred members under Illuminati supervision gave him this report. They said the lodge brothers were ignorant of the goal of the Illuminati. He concluded that rank-and-file masons were dupes of the chiefs.69 In effect, De Luchet was warning the Freemason brethren of France that they were imminently going to be manipulated to subvert their own land.
De Luchet Says Illuminati Reject Reason & Science
De Luchet next discloses what he regards as the true moral danger of the Illuminati. He states that the Illuminati explain that the Bible supports their system, to found their own religion, and thus to fill their temples. While Jesus Christ plays a role out here, there [in their temple] the Devil. For [inside the Illuminati] reason is nullified, science is deemed useless, and experience is just a chimera.70 Indeed, De Luchet was a man of science. It was a tough pill to swallow that scientists do not belong in a world of equality. Knigge in his Peter Clausen (1793) said men who work as scientists are banned in the ideal Tahiti-like world he describes. Marechal in 1793 in his Manifest des Egaux said that all arts must end if they interfere with equality. Furthermore, if we recall the evidence from the Bavarian Court of Inquiry on the Illuminati, we know the Illumins ridiculed science. Clearly, this was a key irritation point for De Luchet: the world could no longer progress in order to achieve equality, making ignorance a virtue. The Illuminati thought sci68.Essai, London edition, at xvii. 69.Essai, London edition, at 35. 70.Essai, London edition, at ix and x. Illuminati of Bavaria 23
ence, as even Rousseau had taught, was a useless endeavor. Idealizing basic subsistance to keep all equally moderately happy supposedly required humanity to cease any creative endeavor that could create inequality. Also, De Luchet said Pernetti (whom we independently know was an Illuminati leader of France), spread articles that demand of us Theosophy the eclectic combination of all religions.71 De Luchet described the Illuminatis purpose for creating this new religion was really to replace the prevailing faiths:
The system of the Illuminati is not to embrace the dogmas of one sect, but to bring together all errors, and to concentrate within itself all that man has invented which are cheats and imposture, so as to serve their thoughts and their interests, and to give to the spirit the cure of its passions.72
What De Luchet meant was that the Illuminati went back to ancient religions, such as those from Greece, Rome, Egypt, and India, and sought to reintroduce them evidently to undermine the prevailing Judeo-Christian faiths. They would revive these pagan ideas and inject them like a knock-out drug into modern culture. De Luchet explained the Illuminati plan in France [was that] Theosophy will become with difficulty a complete religion. [This doctrine] is itself very sad, very insignificant, [and hard] to make active in a people [i.e., the French] who retain still their habit of gaiety, and who resist such sad quarrels. . . .73
71.[Marquis de Luchet], Essai sur la secte des Illumins (London: 1789) (third reprint of 1789 with 176 pages), supra, at 135. 72.Essai, London edition, at 28. 73.Essai, London edition, at xxi. Illuminati of Bavaria 24
This concern mirrors De Luchets concerns expressed in his 1785 work on Cagliostro and the Illuminati. There De Luchet sought to alarm the public about a revived Isis worship that Cagliostro, as an agent of the Illuminati, promoted at Paris. Cagliostro, whether at Weishaupts urging or not, was pushing a revived paganism as a means evidently to destroy contemporary religion. To a man such as De Luchet, just as it would be true for Voltaire, any revival of superstitious paganism was a repulsive idea.
De Luchet Condemns Deceptive Tactics of Illuminati
De Luchet then describes the Illuminatis teachings in general as imposture and the plan of imposture. They play upon the cause of the People, by talking of virtue, of wisdom, etc.74 He cites many examples. One involves a strategy regarding women that similarly appears in Weishaupts seized papers. De Luchet says the Illuminati dupe women and make them imagine that somehow they will recover the days of their lost innocence by joining the Order.75 The Illuminati papers seized in Bavaria similarly show the Order intended to manipulate women with promises of emancipation. This way women could be used by the Order to control and influence men.
Why The Illuminati Were Succeeding
De Luchet attributed the success of the Illuminati to several factors. First, the members are stoked by chimera [at once] extraordinary, incredible and unique. In the hands of the leaders, the visionary ideals become real by the little appreciated idea of the force of a coalition of men. Second, the Illuminati had the good fortune of having speakers who had an eloquence that creates an irresistible persuasion
74.Essai, London edition, at xx, xxvii, 3. 75.Essai, London edition, at xi. Illuminati of Bavaria 25
among the members.76 The Illuminati made inroads by having speakers who knew how to use a combination of wit and good naturedness, and [thus] they make a good many dupes.77
Administrative Structure of the Illuminati
De Luchet also described the administrative structure of the Illuminati. The Illuminati were organized in circles, which, as we shall see, is an important trait by which to identify later Illuminist societies. They divided Europe into provinces, which were ruled over by councils of nine persons. The membership list was known only to proven members. Also members corresponded with one another in hieroglyphics unknown to the rest of the world.78
How The Illuminati Avoid Detection
De Luchet alerted the public that the backgrounds of these men did not generally arouse suspicion. They were men of simple exterior, and often are men of letters, such as professors.79 As a result, their acts pass in the darkness, while their grand priests are scandalously lost in the multitude.80 De Luchet observed that the Illuminati avoided detection by acting not within a single town or province, but in the entire Realm.81 Their scope of operations were thus so fantastic that it made people dubious of the Illuminatis abil-
76.Essai, London edition, at 37-38. 77.[Marquis de Luchet], Essai sur la secte des Illumins (Paris: 1789) (last reprint of 1789 with 256 pages) at x. 78.Essai, London edition, at 39. 79.Essai, London edition, at 39. 80.Essai, London edition, at 37-38. 81.Essai, London edition, at 40. Illuminati of Bavaria 26
ity to concert their activity. Yet, the Illuminati pushed their movement forward, believing that with fanaticism and treasures, they can change the face of the globe.82
Illuminati Deflect Criticisms by Libels of Opponents
The Illuminatis tactics, De Luchet explained, made way for their doctrines by exercising upon [public] opinion by hypocritical denunciations of others for the most detestable vices.83 That is, the Illuminati libeled individuals whom they wanted to neutralize. De Luchet continues, saying the Illuminati maintained a network for secret espionage, which is constant, vigilant, and invincible.84 They vigorously collected information about their enemies. And the Illuminati were learning of moves against them before such efforts could materialize. The Illuminati struck back at them from the dark. Opponents who were unaware of the Orders existence could not defend themselves.
Illuminati Concentrate Social Power In Themelves
The Illuminati made a priority to seize power at every level of society, both in the private and public sectors. De Luchet said: The Illuminati devours all jobs, honor, fortune, government . . . .85 De Luchet adds their goal is to surrounded the king with their members.86
82.Essai, London edition,at 41. 83.Essai, London edition, at 42. 84.Essai, London edition, at 43. 85.[Marquis de Luchet], Essai sur la secte des Illumins (Paris: 1789) (last reprint of 1789 with 256 pages) at 37. 86.Essai, London edition, at 43. Illuminati of Bavaria 27
The Illuminati Create A New Man
Ultimately, De Luchet said the Orders success depended upon the transformation of members into servile instruments of the Illuminati leaders. When we in a later volume examine the Death Head Society (SS) of Germany, we find an uncanny similarity. The Illuminati strategy, De Luchet revealed, was to
by degrees, build up the human spirit by fanaticism . . . [Then] the man it is destined to form . . . has an impenetrable character, little sensible to public censure . . . [with] a heart of ice for his pleasures . . . an indifferent heart to sentiments of friendship . . . [A]bove all, he must abjure, in the hands of the Chiefs of the Illuminati, all principles that he received in his youth.87
The Illuminati would therefore produce the New Man, totally indifferent to traditional morality, totally immune from human feeling, and fixated on one mission. De Luchet, with far-sighted wisdom, then comments:
This man . . . is not the man of society, nor of nature; he is composed of the least estimable but rare things, and behold, when he comes into existence, he will be dangerous.88
De Luchet opines that these new men, who, for what else can we say, have abjured humanity,. . . have become strangers to all that bonds and unites humanity.89 De Luchet elaborated more on the long-term value of this indoctrination system. He explained that the Illuminati aimed at a thorough revolution of not just the political state, but also of the heart
87.Essai, London edition, at 46-47. 88.Essai, London edition, at 46-47. 89.Essai, London edition, at 54. Illuminati of Bavaria 28
of man. De Luchet said the Illuminati using the highest degree of imposture . . . has conceived the project of reigning over opinions, and to conquer not only realms and provinces, but also the human spirit.90 The effect of an Illuminati revolution would be, on the human spirit, a total transformation.
De Luchets Most Famous Quote
The most famous passage of the Essai, and the one most often quoted, is a synopsis of many of De Luchets main points. He said in the Spring of 1789:
[P]assions interested in supporting the systems of the Illuminati . . . will never relinquish the authority they have acquired nor the treasure at their disposal . . . Deluded people . . . understand that there exists a conspiracy in favor of despotism and against liberty, of incompetency against talent, of vice against virtue, of ignorance against light! It was formed in the deepest darkness, a society of new beings, who know one another though they have never seen one another, who understand one another without explanation, who serve one another without friendship. This society aims at governing the world, to appropriate the authority of sovereigns, to usurp their place, and leave it a sterile honor to wear a crown. It adopts the Jesuit regime, [to require] the blind obedience to regicidal principles of the seventeenth century; from the freemasons it takes the rituals and the exterior ceremonies; from the Templars, the subterranean evocations and incredible audacity. They employ discoveries of the physical sciences to impose on the multitudes little instruction, the fables that evoke curiosity and inspire callings. . . . All this error that
90.Essai, London edition, at 35. Illuminati of Bavaria 29
afflicts the world, all its invention, serve the views of the Illuminati. Also the Banquets of [Animal] Magnetism, . . . sleepwalkers, the mysticism of the Dr. of Zurich [Lavater], . . . all equally serve their view; all suit its cause and become their instrument; they [even] reject nothing that they have in common with men who are outlaws. Its object is universal domination [through] a series of calamities of which the end is lost in the darkness of time... a subterranean fire smoldering eternally and breaking forth periodically in violent and devastating explosions.91
De Luchet in this remark says the Illuminati strategy was to use a series of calamities and violent explosions to build bit-by-bit their dominion of the world. Each advance in liberty will be met by reactions of repression. Each repression will lead to responding revolution which in turn leads to the next advance in favor of liberty. The theory was that this perpetual provocation back-and-forth eventually must lead to liberty throughout the world.92 Had De Luchet agreed that the Illuminati cause was just, he would likely have found no fault with this theory of a dialetical back-and-forth series of progressive calamities. In this point of view, then any battle in this revolutionary crusade, even if lost, is truly not lost as long as some advance is made. Some soldies fall and die. But the cause is never truly lost.
91.De Luchet, Essai sur la secte des Illumins (London: 1789), supra, at 33-34 (emphasis added). This same text appears at 43 et seq. of the last reprint of 1789 that has 256 pages. 92.Compare Robespierres words uttered on November 17, 1793 in the National Convention: Les crimes de la tyrannie acclernt les progrs de la libert, et les progrs de le libert muliplierent les crimes de la tyrannie . . . une raction continuelle dont la violence progressive a oprr en peu darmes lourvrage de plusiers sicles. (Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (N.Y.: The Viking Press, 1965) at 42, quoting Oeuvres ed laponneraye (1840), Vol. III at 446). Illuminati of Bavaria 30
Deflection of De Luchets Warning
De Luchets book was a devastating exposure of the Illuminati had it been taken seriously. Why wasnt it? Did the Illuminati have anything to do with the fact its warnings were ignored?

As Weishaupt once said, the indiscretion [and] impudence of a single man can overthrow the best built building.93 De Luchet revealed all the dark secrets of the Order. The Illuminati scrambled to deflect it. These actions become a significant means today to confirm the truth of De Luchets statements. For only a guilty person worries about assassinating a witness against him. An innocent person has no need to do so. In other words, the fact various old Illuminati aggressively sought to destroy this book by highly dishonest means proves that they were very concerned anyone would take De Luchet seriously. It hit too close to home.
Knigges Two-fold Deflection
The Illuminati first deflected this book with two immediate strokes. First, Knigge, the Illuminati leader, wrote in a popular journal that Mirabeau wrote the Essai. Le Forestier says:
[A]n article of the Journal de Schleswig [ca. 1789], attributed to Philo Knigge [i.e., an Illuminati leader], pretended Mirabeau has made a frightful description of the Order of Illuminati [in the Essai], which was a fabricated
93.Abb Barruel, Mmoires pour servir l'histoire du Jacobinisme (London: 1797) and (Hambourg: 1798-99) (reprint Diffusion de la Pense Franaise, 1973), II, at 31. Illuminati of Bavaria 31
error and a ruse [by Knigge] to deter suspicion.94
The Illuminati anticipated that by attributing De Luchets book to Mirabeau they would immediately hurt the books reception. Mirabeaus reputation was that of a scoundrel and yellow journalist. Knigges claim appeared plausible to the public because Mirabeau mentioned the Illuminati at length in 1788 in his book On the Prussian Monarchy. Mirabeau also had been in Berlin at the same time as the author of the Essai. By this ruse of Knigge, some soon believed the anonymous Essai was written by Mirabeau.95 Second and lastly, the Illuminati deflected this book by claiming that the anonymous author of the Essai sur . . . Les Illumins was talking about a different order the Rosicrucians. Knigge wrote an article claiming that the Illuminati of the Essai were not a branch of the Illuminati of Bavaria, but were a Rosicrucian order.96 This deflection has deceived some historians even of our era.97 Thus, Knigge and the Illuminati spread misleading information to control the damage caused by De Luchets work.
Phony Scandalized 1792 Editions Under Mirabeaus Name
Finally, wishing to make the attribution to Mirabeau stick, the Illuminati fraudulently had De Luchets work reprinted under Mirabeaus name after De Luchets and Mirabeaus death. These fraudulent editions are known as the third and fourth editions of the Essai.98
94.Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Bavire, supra, at 663-64. 95.This confusion still appears in the Biblioteque Nationale Catalogue. It shows under Mirabeaus name a list of some of the 1789 editions of the Essai which it simultaneouly lists elsewhere under De Luchets name. This means that the librarians of the Biblioteque are themselves not 100% sure who wrote the anonymous 1789 editions of the Essai. 96.Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Bavire, supra, at 663-64. Illuminati of Bavaria 32
First, in 1792, De Luchets Essai was printed under the title page of Mirabeaus Histoire Secrte de la Cour de Berlin. (This Histoire Secrte was a book which the French king ordered burned in 1789. After the revolution, it could now be safely released in France.) More precisely, De Luchets Essai the earliest version from 1789 which was 147 pages in length was printed in 1792 as part-and-parcel of the third edition of Mirabeaus third volume of his famous Histoire Secrte de la Cour de Berlin (orig. 1789).99 Because of Mirabeaus death, the title page acknowledged this 1792 Essai was posthumous. The actual title of the 1792 edition of volume three was: Histoire Secrete de la Cour de Berlin...Ouvrage Posthume. Tome troisieme. [et] Essai sur la Secte des Illumins.100 Google-books likewise identifies that Vol. 3 has also a special title: Essai sur la secte des Illumins [Jean Pierre Louis de la Roche du Maine, marquis de Luchet].101 However, the bracketed text was not in Mirabeaus title page. Rather, it represents googles amendment to correctly identify the author of the Essai. De Luchets work was anonymous.
97.Vallentin is an example of an historian who was misled by this. When she discusses Esternos letter of 1790 to Vergennes, the prime minister of France, and where he mentions Masonic Illuminati at Berlin having power over the King of Prussia, she erroneously supposes that this is an order of Rosicrucians. See Vallentin, Mirabeau (1948), supra, at 246-47. As another example of error derived from Knigges ploy, the Freemason historian Firminger says regarding Luchets Essai sur la Secte des Illumins, that: the sect which Luchet and Mirabeau attacked was, not the German rationalists who are more conveniently designated the Illuminati, but the pietist Rose-Crois companions, the Christian Transcendentalists known as Martinists, and the occultists who had reposed a confidence in Cagliostro. Firminger, The Romances of Robison and Barruel, Ars Quator Coranatum, supra, at 41. 98.Albert Gallatin Mackey, An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences (1912) at 454. Illuminati of Bavaria 33
Thus, we can appreciate that the impression anyone reading the title page would walk away with in 1792 was that Mirabeau was the author of the Essai as well. This has continued to fool many. To this day, booksellers describe this 1792 work as follows: Mirabeau dcrivait la Secte des Illumins de la Cour de Berlin...un ouvrage qui sentait trop le souffre ne pouvait qu'tre brl !102 This meant: Mirabeau described the Sect of the Illuminati at the Court of Berlin...a book that was felt would not suffer too much by being burned. Yet, this 1792 edition was a fraud. Even Mackey the most renown Freemason historian acknowledges the unauthorized editions of the Essai were printed after De Luchets death under Mirabeaus name. As a consequence, Mackey notes that the public came to incorrectly believe the anonymous Essai was [correctly] attributed to Mirabeau. However, Mackey likewise agrees that the so-called third
99.Georg Franz Burkhard Kloss, M.D., Bibliographie der Freimaurerei und der mit ihr in Verbindung gesetzten (Frankfort am Maim, 1844) at 200 (Essai sur la secte des Illumins by Marquis de Luchet, librarian of Cassell. Paris 1789 256 [pp], 1789 192 [pp] 1789 147 [pp]. The last appeared under the title page of Histoire Secrte de la Cour de Berlin. Third volume. Third edition, 1792. Paris, 1822.) (My translation.) Non-masonic sources concur. A French catalog of books likewise notes De Luchets Essai on the Illuminati was connected to Mirabeaus Histoire Secrete de la Cour de Berlin. See Comte de Nadaillac, Catalogue dune collection importante sur la rvolution franaise (Paris 1885) at 175. A German bookseller catalog states within the third volume of the Histoire Secrete by Mirabeau appears Essai sur la secte des Illumins by Marquis de Luchet. It says this version is rare. (Joseph Baer, LagerCatalog BUCHHNDLER UND ANTIQUARE [Booksellers catalogues] (Frankfort am Maim, 1884) at 20.) 100. Friedrich Mossdorf, Encyclopdie der Freimaurerei (Leipzig 1824) Vol. II at 239. 101.This is under books.google.com about section regarding volume 1 which it scanned of Mirabeaus Histoire Secrete. 102.nouvellelibrairiebellanger.fr/catalogue_p/catalogue.asp. Illuminati of Bavaria 34
edition of the Essai the one printed with the outer title of Histoire secrete de la Cour de Berlin (par Mirabeau) certainly was published without [De Luchets] consent.103 The reasons are obvious. De Luchet was dead. He certainly would not wish his first and shortest edition of only 147 pages would be circulated in 1792 rather than his much larger expansions later in 1789. Next, at this juncture, the truth that De Luchet, not Mirabeau, wrote Essai obviously became well known enough that this fraud would not entirely work. Thus, a revised version was published but which with the evident purpose to confuse the public by making Mirabeau a co-author with De Luchet. Thus, in the same year of 1792, the so-called fourth edition of the Essai appeared under its own separate title Essai sur la Secte des Illumins par M. de Lucheti, 3d edition, faite sur la seconde, revue et augmente par M. de Mirabeau laine (Paris: Santus, 1792). I personally copied this title from the library listing in the catalog from the Biblioteque Nationale of Paris.104 This was reprinted in German in a translation by Hopp.105 The title itself reveals several interesting facts. It says that the Essai is by De Lucheti [sic] with augmentations by Mirabeau. Were these augmentations helpful? Literary critics from that era say this augmented version had anectotes which were curious but had little credibility.106
103.Mackey, id., at 454. 104.See Mirabeau, Gabriel Honor, Biblioteque National Catalogue (Paris). However, other bibliographical sources leave out the Luchetti portion in the title. See, Antoine-Vincent Arnault, Antoine Jay, Etienne de Jouy, Biographie nouvelle des contemporains (Paris, 1823) Vol. 12 at 173 (it lists as works of Mirabeau Essai sur la secte des Illumins, 1789-1790, 3d edition, revue et augmente par le comte de Mirabeau, 1792; ouvrage curieux, traduit en Allemand par Hopp;) 105.See preceding Footnote 104 on page 35. Illuminati of Bavaria 35
Thus, this augmented version of the Essai was dismissed as incredible by thinking people of the time. This is evidence of why such a republication was even attempted. Such a reaction was precisely the goal of Mirabeau (or his posthumous friends) as a true Illuminatus. He poisoned the text by false anectotes to make the Illuminati subject appear silly and nonsensical. Moreover, this title reveals several errors which bespeak unauthorized duplication, just as Mackey conceded that the third edition published with the Secret History of Mirabeau was fraudulent. First, the title misstates the name of its main author as Lucheti. Because de Luchet the true author is a French name, this error cannot be explained as a conversion to French spelling. Thus, the publisher of the Mirabeau-augmented version knowingly failed to reprint the original authors correct name. This was likely to avoid a lawsuit. Second, Mirabeau died in April 1791 and De Luchet in 1792. It is puzzling how to explain in 1792 Mirabeau could have been writing this augmentation with De Luchets consent. Other scholars note these incongruities.107
106.In the work by Joseph Michaud and Louis Gabriel Michaud entitled Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne (Paris 1820) Vol. 25 at 356, we read about Essai sur la secte des Illumins, 1789, 1790, 3d edition, revue et augmente par le comte de Mirabeau, 1792. They note: it is a very interesting work that brings to the attention of sovereigns the existence of a sect that appears to seek to annihilate civilization. However, it has curious anectodes, but they are hardly credible. 107.Firminger, despite always being anxious to cover the Illuminatis tracks, concedes the historians dilemma here. He points out the irony, it was not until after Mirabeaus death that his name appeared on the title-page of a third edition [of the Essay]. Firminger, The Romances of Robison and Barruel, supra, at 64 n. 1. Illuminati of Bavaria 36
Analysis of the Mirabeau-based Deflection Efforts
Apparently, Mirabeau in 1789 agreed to undermine the De Luchet version printed in 1789 by printing a second edition with debaucheries and ludicrous revelations. When Mirabeau died suddenly in 1791 and the work was not yet complete, Mirabeaus allies evidently continued the book and finished it for him posthumously. Mirabeaus augmentations became identified as part of the Essai, including evidently debaucheries and inserts to make De Luchet appear a kook. This caused independent literary reviewers to pour ridicule on Luchets credibility. Mirabeaus death simply did not deter the Illuminati. Only the Illuminati had any motive or capacity to use a members name in this manner. Of course, as we could predict, there is something terribly wrong with the text of Mirabeaus versions of the Essai sur la secte des Illumins. Mirabeaus version so changed the original that it discredited and undermined the previous editions of De Luchet. Many then assumed the earlier anonymous versions belonged to Mirabeau and ignored the 1789 true editions.
Deflection Fools Robison & Other Illuminati Critics
As pointed out by R.M. Johnston, a famous and reputable historian, Luchet wrote the Essai sur la secte des Illumins that has been wrongly ascribed to Mirabeau.108 However, the effort at deflection by attributing the Essai to Mirabeau, was successful in its era. Both of the most prominent voices on the right who criticized the Illuminati in 1798 were misled John Robison and Barruel. First, John Robison, in his book Proofs of A Conspiracy published in 1798, when he mentions the Essai, castigates it has a thoroughly ridiculous book by Mirabeau. He said this despite the fact Robison was looking for evidence to
108.R.M. Johnston, Mirabeaus Secret Mission to Berlin, The American Historical Review (Oct. 1900-July 1901) Vol. VI at 241. Illuminati of Bavaria 37
prove the Illuminati were dangerous. Robisons words demonstrate he was completely unaware that there was a version of the Essai not written by Mirabeau. Robison wrote in 1798:
[T]he Count Mirabeau . . . published an Essai sur la Secte des Illumins, one of the strangest and most impudent performances that ever appeared. He there describes a sect existing in Germany, called the Illuminated, and says, that they are the most absurd and gross fanatics imaginable, waging war with every appearance of Reason, and maintaining the most ridiculous superstitions. He gives some account of these, and of their rituals, ceremonies, etc., as if he had seen them all. His sect is a confused mixture of Christian superstitions, Rosicrucian nonsense, and every thing that can raise contempt and hatred. But no such Society existed, and Mirabeau confided in his own powers of deception, in order to screen from observations those who were known to be Illuminati, and to hinder the rulers from attending to their real machinations, by means of this Ignis fatuus of his own brain. He knew perfectly that the Illuminati were of a stamp diametrically opposite; for he was Illuminated by Mauvillon long before.109
109.John Robison, A.M., Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the secret meetings, of Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies. (Fourth Edition) (Edinburgh: Cadell, Davies & Creech, 1798) at 370-71. Illuminati of Bavaria 38
These 1792 fraudulent editions of the Essai likewise fooled Barruel. He attributed the Essai solely to Mirabeau.110 As Webster notes, Barruel denounced it, and said it was dust thrown in the eyes of the public.111 In the 1920s, Webster, unaware of the fraud by Mirabeau, examined the true editions of 1789. She could not fathom why Barruel dismissed De Luchets Essai. She says it corroborated his [i.e., Barruels] own point of view, but simultaneously she confessed it was impossible to explain why Mirabeau would have ... appended [a copy of the Essai] to Mirabeaus Histoire Secrte de la Cour de Berlin....112 Websters mistake was assuming the Essai of Mirabeau was the same as the one written by De Luchet.
Example of Debauched Sections of Essai & How It Continues To Fool Modern Scholars
Mirabeaus deliberate effort to substitute a different Essai for the first anonymous Essai worked very effectively. The nature of the debauched sections are mentioned in various historical works. For example, Moronis Encyclopedia in 1847 summarized the Essai sur la secte des Illumins, attributing authorship to Mirabeau. Moroni reported the Essai said that the Illuminati used human blood in their meetings as well as spoke to the spirits of the dead.113 These revelations
110.Essai sur la Secte des Illumins, Bibliophilie Occultiste et Maconnique (accessed 12/11/08)(Souvent attribu Mirabeau ou Barruel....) 111.Nesta H. Webster, Secret Societies and Subversive Movements (1924) at 241. 112.Nesta H. Webster, Secret Societies and Subversive Movements (1924) at 240-41 113.Muratori or Liberi Muratori, Francs-Maons, Frammassoni, Massoni, Illuminati, Dizionario Di Erudizione: Storico-Ecclesiastico (Compiled by Caviere Gaetano Moroni) (Venice: Dalla Tipografia Emiliana, 1847), Vol. XLVII, at 63. Illuminati of Bavaria 39
nowhere appear in De Luchets true Essai. They must come from one or both of the fraudulent editions of the Essai put under Mirabeaus name in 1792. One specific passage of the original Essai can be proven to have been changed to make De Luchet appear ridiculous. Unaware of the false alterations of the Essai, Billington, an excellent and serious historian, relied apparently on a secondary source to conclude one passage in the Essai shows De Luchet had an erotic imagination about the Illuminati's initiation ritual. He summarizes it:
Marks were made with blood on the prostrate nude body of the candidate. His testicles were bound by a pink and poppy-colored cordon; and he renounced all other human allegiances before five white-hooded phantoms with bloody banners after a colossal figure appeared through a fire. Finally, the bands and marks were removed, and he was accepted into the higher order by drinking blood before seven black candles.114
Not surprisingly, Billington says this passage proves De Luchet is not worthy of being considered further. By contrast, De Luchets real version of a similar initiation (which we review below) does not mention the drinking of blood, or men appearing through a fire, or the specific references to a pink and poppy-colored ribbon used in the ceremony. These are obvious Mirabeau-inserts to make De Luchet look perverse and ridiculous. Nevertheless, this does not mean the ceremony De Luchet describes in his true text lacks abnormal features. They are simply not so extreme as in the Mirabeau version. Yet, whose fault is it for some level of abnormal activity to have to be described? The fault for the strange nature of an initiation might belong to the group that he was examining. We will in a moment look at the true passage which Mirabeau obviously altered to exaggerate and make look silly. HowIlluminati of Bavaria 40
ever, the point is that the true passage while having strange features was not so impossible that we would question the good sense of De Luchet. The real passage of De Luchets appears in a chapter entitled Of Proofs used to make an Illuminati Member of a Circle. De Luchet says I have received details from two masons of good character. He says that these men became dumb with a just horror at the aspect of the rules that the Order tried to impose upon them.115 And one of these two men said to him that he was very zealous, and very gullible, passing each degree, going from one illusion to the next illusion, from promises to promises, believing all along their maxims were real things....116 This man then described to De Luchet a ceremony that appears quite odd.
114.Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 96. He cites J.P. De Luchet, Essai sur la Secte des Illumins, 1789, 2d ed., 73-76. However, Billington apparently borrowed this synopsis from another source, and thus did not read this original source himself. There are three reasons to say so. First, De Luchet never puts the words second edition on any version. This is evident to every reader by retrieving from books.google.com each available edition, including, as I checked myself, the 256 page version, and the editions ending on page 192 and 127 as well as the London edition I personally retrieved. Second, there is no ceremony at all described on pages 73-76 of any version which incidentally is identical from the shorted 1789 copy of 127 main pages to the last version which had 256 pages. Hence, the Essai is essentially augmented four times by De Luchet in 1789, but pages 73-76 never change. However, in none of them is there any mention on pages 73-76 of any initiation, contrary to the citation that Billington made. Hence, outside of Mirabeaus corrupted version, nowhere do we find De Luchets true editions describing a similar ceremony where a candidate drinks human blood, a colossal figure appears through fire, or the other fantastic details which Billington quoted as if coming from the Essai. Billingtons citation is apparently second-hand, which was likely taken from Pierre Chevalier, Histoire de la franc-maonnerie franaise 1725-1799 (d. Fayard, 1974) I, at 317. Illuminati of Bavaria 41
However, contrast this with the wild, bizarre and impossible ceremony set forth in the Mirabeau version of the Essai, summarized by our Librarian of Congress, Billington:
[The] initiation is conducted in a large room, the floor and walls are covered in a black drape, strewn with [what appears as] a red flame, and a menacing snake. Three funeral lamps throw out light from time to time with a dying glimmer, and they let scarcely enough light to distinguish things within a dismal enclosure, [of what are supposedly] the debris of the dead . . . a heap of skeletal shapes . . . He receives a crucifix of copper of the length of two inches . . . [He is laid out on a table]. [First he is prepared by drinking] liquors which have already commenced a fatigue in him, and finally extinguish his senses . . . At least two men talk to him as Ministers of Death. Suspended on its neck [of the cross] are a kind of emulette, dressed in violet. [The candidate] is stripped of his clothes, and two brother servants . . . trace upon his naked body a cross in blood, and a spirit is dressed in white, who then ties their testicles with a red string. In this state of suffering and humiliation, he sees approaching him . . . five phantoms armed with a sword, covered with sheets dripping in blood. [Then they lay him face down on the floor and they do likewise]. An hour passes . . . After this tiring test, . . . a large figure appears who puts a stake to his breast. At this scene, the five prostrate men enter into unbearable convulsions... Then a trembling voice pierces from the roof, and makes a detestable sermon; but my pen
115.De Luchet, Essai sur la Secte des Illumins (London: 1789), at 49. 116.Id. at 50. Illuminati of Bavaria 42
hesitates, and I believe scarcely capable of tracing them.117
De Luchets true depiction has reason and plausibility, while Mirabeaus depiction is an impossible phantasm. Thus, clearly Mirabeaus role as Illuminatus was to discredit De Luchet by rewriting the original passage while adding such phantastic stories. This worked, as Mirabeaus version was taken then as it is today often as the true edition to evaluate De Luchets credibility if not his sanity. Next, in the true Essai, De Luchets source told De Luchet the following oath was taken in this degree:
I here break all ties of the flesh that bind me to father, mother, brother, sisters, wife, relations, friends, mistresses, kings, chiefs, benefactors; in short, to every person to whom I have promised faith, obedience, gratitude or service. I swear to reveal to the new chief whom I acknowledge everything that I shall have seen, done, read, heard, learned or discovered; and even to seek after and spy into things that might otherwise escape my notice. I swear to revere the Aqua Tofana [a subtle poison] as a certain, prompt, and necessary means of ridding the earth, by death or stupefaction, of those who revile the truth, or seek to wrest it from my hands.118
This oath is taken in front of seven black candles on a candelabra. After the oath, the candidates testicles are untied. The candidate then eats raisins. The ceremony is over. No figure emerges from a fire. No one drinks blood. There is no pink and poppy-colored cordon on the mans testicles. The
117.Id. at 49-52. This passage is identical, word-for-word, in the last version of the Essai for 1789, i.e., the 256 page version. The same text appears at pages 73-76. 118.De Luchet, Essai (176 pp.), supra, at 53-54. Illuminati of Bavaria 43
five brothers are not described as hooded; rather, they wore sheets to look like spirits. The embellishments mentioned by Billington thus are not in De Luchets account, proving they must come from the Mirabeau disinformation version. These additions by Mirabeau to De Luchets story clearly were made to depict De Luchet as unbalanced and demented. As the situation really stands, the original story of this ceremony which is indeed in De Luchets account, while strange, is not so strange as Mirabeaus version of which Billington provided a summary. De Luchets true version would never have caused anyone to categorically dismiss his report from his Masonic brothers. De Luchet showed superb judgment about what he did reveal. He anticipated our objection to the strangeness of what he in fact said. De Luchet explained why he believed these two brothers: I attest to the honor, by Truth and Heaven, that what consists of these terrible sermons have been revealed by persons who were misled into the darkness of the Illuminati.119 Nothing suggests that De Luchet was foolish in considering these reports. In fact, the ceremony he described is not so different from traditional masonic initiations which at the earliest degrees involve:
Partially stripping the candidate (opening the shirt to expose the breast and lifting up one pant leg). Faint candlelight to illuminate the lodge room. Ceremonial wine to drink. Supervising brethren, sometimes called the Brothers of Truth, leading the candidate through tests, trials, and ending with an oath. Telling the candidate to kill a brother who is bound and gagged for allegedly violating the oath of the order. Blindfolded, the candidate must thrust the knife into the struggling gagged brother. Once done, the initiate finds that he has stabbed a lamb
119.[De Luchet], Essai sur la Secte des Illumins (London: 1789), supra, at 53-54. Illuminati of Bavaria 44
So Is De Luchet Reliable?
which was suddenly substituted for the oath-violator. To those who pass through this ritual, they refer to it as being hoodwinked. Finally, putting the cold, hard tip of the sword to the candidates breast whereupon oaths of secrecy are taken, swearing to tear the entrails out of any brother who violates this oath.
These steps can be validated by reading Leo Tolstoys faithful re-enactment of a Masonic initiation in War and Peace. It combines most of these elements.120
Thus, if occult groups do strange things as was earlier reported by De Luchet (quoting others) about the Illuminati, why should we say De Luchet must be a discreditable lunatic for even reporting his brother Masons comparable revelation? De Luchets acceptance of what a brother Mason told him about such ceremonies, given the context and what we now know about such societies, does not make him crazy or to be distrusted. Rather, it should call into question the sensibility of those involved in such secret societies. We should not too readily discount the validity of the poor soul who feels compelled to tell us about something that he even recognizes is difficult to believe. If we accept De Luchets report as true, then we can actually begin asking why the Illuminati used such rituals. Was it only a crazy eroticism that could be involved or something else? Why did the Illuminati twist masonic initiations in
120.Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (orig. 1869) (Penguin: 1978) at 424 et seq. The fifth element (promise to kill a brother who betrays the Order) comes from a book written by Latocnaye somewhere between 1792 and 1798, and quoted by Robison, Proofs of a Conspiracy (1798), supra, at 223-24. For discussion of masonic initiations that Robison was familiar with in France prior to 1798, see id. at 2-3. Illuminati of Bavaria 45
their higher degrees in this manner? The answer seems obvious: the Illuminati were making the rituals more humiliating (tying of testicles). This is a serious explanation that fits the Illuminatis scheme as revealed in their private papers. We need not find any erotic imagination in De Luchet. Nevertheless, what Mirabeau added to De Luchet men coming out of walls of fire, drinking blood, etc. would seem crazy to a sane man. Mirabeau as an Illuminatus made these additions as an intentional ruse to make De Luchet appear totally gullible and ridiculous. Thus, Mirabeau and his Illuminati sought to discredit De Luchets work, not merely by attaching Mirabeaus scandalous name to it, but also by reprinting it in a distorted fashion. Hence, the later version of the Essai with editorial additions under Mirabeaus name was certainly a desperate and intentional fabrication by the Illuminati. When an accused concocts a wild and implausible alibi to defeat a charge or assassinates a potential witness, juries are instructed that an inference is proper to find a consciousness of guilt by the accused. It is common sense too. In fact, the cover-up and fraudulent republication of De Luchets book is perhaps the most convincing proof of the plan by the Illuminati to cause a revolution in France. Had De Luchets story been false and the Illuminati were truly a defunct organization, then the Illuminati would have maintained their supposedly defunct status and never sought to counter De Luchet. The truth is totally to the contrary, thereby pointing certainly to the Illuminatis own self-conscious realization that they had been exposed and it was imperative to respond.
Other Fabrications
In another false insert, Mirabeaus Essai made it appear that the Illuminati in De Luchets work were really the Rosicrucian Order. Le Forestier correctly perceived the situa-
Illuminati of Bavaria
46
tion: It is true that Mirabeau had said very bad things about the Illuminati, but this was intended to refer to the Rosicrucians, and this confusion was intentional.121 Mirabeau added numerous elements that a reader would think the spooky and more mysterious Rosicrucians were involved. One writer, confusing Mirabeaus augmentation with De Luchets original wrote that De Luchets memoir is actually a hoax by Jean-Pierre-Louis de Luchet [where he] described the eerie initiation in a roccoco grotto.122 This is entirely based upon Mirabeaus discrediting effort. Mirabeau depicted the Illuminati of Berlin as the Rosicrucian Order whose Grand Master was the All-Wise Aristhrata. Mirabeau described their lodge hall at Berlin as having a candelabra with seven red tapers that shone under the Milky Way painted on the Temple ceiling. All around the lodge were wine vases, silver goblets, and incense burners. These symbols were often found in the harmless Order of Rosicrucians. Manceron, a respected historian expert on the French Revolution, concludes that Mirabeaus Essay on the Illuminati led one to believe that the Illuminati were inoffensive screwballs.123 Mirabeau, however, did not disclose that he was part of the Illuminati of Bavaria. And thus his effort at confusing the public was designed so no one would look at De Luchets true work with any credence.
121.Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Baviere, supra, at 663. 122.See http://www.forteantimes.com/features/profiles/499/ the_count_of_stgermain.html (accessed 12/11/08). 123.Manceron, Age of the French Revolution Vol. IV, Toward The Brink, 1785-1787, supra, at 328. Illuminati of Bavaria 47
Who Fabricated These 1792 Editions?

Do we have any theory about who actually fabricated the 1792 revision of the Essai? Based upon surviving correspondence, it was probably the work of the Illuminatis closest allies at Paris the Amis Reunis and the lodges Grand Master, Savalette de Lange. Savalettes memoirs reveal that in 1791 (one year earlier), he wrote a brother at London, General Rainsfort, to send him every paper he had received about the Masonic congresses at Paris. He also asked another brother to procure for the Amis Reunis archives some very odd materials. Savalette said that he needed everything taken during the detention of Cagliostro at Rome besides the process of Octavio Capelli [N.B. an Illuminatus at Rome] who had a relationship with the Society of Avignon [i.e., the organization that openly operated as the Illuminati in France].124 Both Cagliostro and Capelli had given the police at Rome much information about the Illuminati. Why was Savalette worried about getting all the memoirs back from a British brother about the previous Masonic congresses at Paris? And why was he collecting data on Cagliostro and Capelli at that time if not to prepare a rebuttal or some means of deflecting attention away from their exposures of the Illuminati in France? It makes sense that in 1791 Savalette and his friends were part of a team putting together an effective revision of De Luchets book for publication at London. These were the same people who evidently republished at London in 1791 the Compendio which was the Roman polices book on Cagliostros testimony with a Preface defending Cagliostro. As we saw elsewhere, the version translated and printed at Lononit deliberately deleted any ref-
124.Salvalette de Lange, Dictionnaire de la Franc-Maonnerie (Ligou, ed.) (1987) at 1088. Illuminati of Bavaria 48
The Essai and Karl von Hesse
erence to the Illuminati which appeared in the original Italian Compendio which the London edition purported to translate word-for-word.125
The Essai and Karl von Hesse

De Luchets Essai also represents further corroboration of Karl von Hesses story in 1821 that he was a doubleagent in the Illuminati from 1783 onward. As mentioned earlier, only Karl had access to the highly confidential information revealed by De Luchet. The three facts in this category which were revealed by De Luchet were:
What happened at Wilhemsbad. That the Illuminati and Freemason leaders planned to overthrow France. And how the Illuminati lodges of northern Europe were organized (that is, specific cities organized in circles below which were other circles of cities, that directed other circles, and so on).
Karl von Hesse was in a unique position to know all three facts. Karl von Hesse said in his memoirs of 1821 that: (1) he was at Wilhemsbad; (2) he learned there of the plan to overthrow France; and (3) he was the Illuminatis National of the North, which meant he was in charge of Illuminati lodges in northern Germany.126 Only someone of Karl von Hesses background could have known all three highly sensitive points that De Luchet referred to in the Essai. Someone of very high rank in the Illuminati had to be De Luchets source. At the time of the Essai, as well as the 1786 exposure of Cagliostro, De Luchets employer was Karl von Hesse. Moreover, con125.See Footnote 59 on page 33. 126.See The Wilhemsbad Conference of 1782 on page 1 et seq. Illuminati of Bavaria 49
sistent with Karls beliefs, De Luchet never attacks the Freemasons nor even criticizes them; rather, he highly praises masons.127 De Luchet thus reflected the same thinking as Karl von Hesse regarding Freemasonry. Upon more reflection, we realize again that Karl von Hesse did not wait until 1821 to try to expose the Illuminati in print. He must have worked with De Luchet to print the exposure of Cagliostro and the Illuminati in 1785 and then again in the Essai from 1788 to 1792. And, likewise, our confidence in the reliability of De Luchets work is enhanced by knowing his probable source was one so high up in the Illuminati such as Karl von Hesse.
127.De Luchet wrote of Freemasonry in the Essai: this institution, respectable since antiquity, because of its two fundamental bases, equality and charity reasonably deserved toleration of governments. He said the Freemasons work for the for the good . . . [but] I speak of English Freemasonry, and French [Freemasonry which is] non-eclectic, non-reformed, composed of men [who are] strangers to Chimera and occult science. [Marquis de Luchet], Essai sur la secte des Illumins (Paris: 1789) (last reprint of 1789 with 256 pages) at 40-41. Illuminati of Bavaria 50

De Luchet's Revelations

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De Luchet's Revelations

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Who was Jean-Pierre De Luchet and what was his background?

Who was Jean-Pierre De Luchet and what was his background?

What were some of the key revelations in De Luchet's writings about the Illuminati?

What were some of the key revelations in De Luchet's writings about the Illuminati?

1 De Luchets Revelations

De Luchets Government Position in Prussia & Mirabeaus Betrayal

De Luchets Government Position in Prussia & Mirabeaus Betrayal

De Luchets Link to Landgrave Karl von Hesse

De Luchets Link to Landgrave Karl von Hesse

17.Welschinger, id., at 40 fn. 1. Illuminati of Bavaria 7

De Luchets Link to Landgrave Karl von Hesse

The First Exposure By De Luchet 1785

The First Exposure By De Luchet 1785

Mirabeaus 1785 Defense of Cagliostro

Mirabeaus 1785 Defense of Cagliostro

38.Id. at 367. 39.Id. at 369. 40.Id. at 370. Illuminati of Bavaria 14

The Essay on the Illumins of 1789

The Essay on the Illumins of 1789

Evidence Karl von Hesse Provided De Luchet Information

De Luchet Solely Approaches This As A Liberal Atheist

De Luchet Solely Approaches This As A Liberal Atheist

De Luchet Opens the Door From the Inside

De Luchet Opens the Door From the Inside

De Luchet Opens the Door From the Inside

De Luchet Opens the Door From the Inside

The Illuminati Create A New Man

De Luchet Opens the Door From the Inside

Deflection of De Luchets Warning

Deflection of De Luchets Warning

error and a ruse [by Knigge] to deter suspicion.94

Deflection of De Luchets Warning

Deflection of De Luchets Warning

Deflection of De Luchets Warning

Analysis of the Mirabeau-based Deflection Efforts

Deflection of De Luchets Warning

Deflection of De Luchets Warning

Deflection of De Luchets Warning

hesitates, and I believe scarcely capable of tracing them.117

Who Fabricated These 1792 Editions?

The Essai and Karl von Hesse

The Essai and Karl von Hesse

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