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PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
To remove the obstructions
which prejudiced and designing men have raised,
is often a necessary, but laborious and ungrateful task,
attending our inquiries after truth.
No sooner is the precious gem brought to view,
than its enemies, who hate its light,
and cannot endure its brilliancy,
are busily employed in covering it with filth and rubbish;
hence much of the labor of those
who wish to possess the heavenly boon.
The testimony of Professor Robison, and Abbe Barruel,
would doubtless have been considered as ample,
in any case which did not interest
the prejudices and passions of men against them.
The scurrility and odium with which they have been loaded
is perfectly natural, and what the nature of their testimony
would have led any one to expect.
Men will endeavor to invalidate that evidence
which tends to unveil their dark designs:
and it cannot be expected that those who believe
that "the end sanctifies the means,"
will be very scrupulous as to their measures.
Certainly he was not, who invented the following character,
and arbitrarily applied it to Dr. Robison,
which might have been applied with as much propriety
to any other person in Europe or America.
The character here referred to,
is taken from the American Mercury,
printed at Hartford, Sept. 26, 1799, by E. Babcock.
In this paper, on the pretended authority of Professor Ebeling,*
we are told,
* It is but justice to the character of Professor Ebeling, to say,
that in none of his Letters to his American Correspondents,
of which I have information,
has he given the least intimation that Professor Robison
was guilty of the crimes here imputed to him.
Nor has he, to my knowledge, ever criminated his moral character.
These base columnies originated, not from Mr. Ebeling,
but from a spirit of malignant opposition to Dr. Robison;
and they furnish strong evidence of the truth of his writings.
"That Robison had lived too fast for his income,
and to supply deficiencies, had undertaken to alter a bank bill;
that he was detected, and fled to France;
that having been expelled the Lodge in Edinburgh,
he applied in France for the second grade, but was refused;
that he made the same attempt in Germany,
and afterwards in Russia, but never succeeded;
and from this entertained the bitterest hatred to masonry;
that after wandering about Europe, for two years,
by writing to Secretary Dundas, and presenting a copy of his book,
which, it was judged, would answer certain purposes of the ministry,
the prosecution against him was stopped,
the Professor returned in triumph to his country,
and now lives upon a handsome pension,
instead of suffering the fate of his predecessor Dodd."
A writer, in the "National Intelligencer," of Jan. 1801,
who styles himself "A friend to Truth,"
and from whom, (if conjecture has pointed out the real author)
better things ought to have been expected,
speaks of Dr. Robison as
"a man distinguished by abject dependence on a party;
by the base crimes of forgery, and adultery;
and by frequent paroxyisms of insanity."
As Dr. Robison is a principal evidence in the cause now pending,
it will be necessary to inquire,
whether this is indeed a just view of the man.
The result of this inquiry, contrasted with the above character,
will serve to give the public some idea
of the means which have been made use of
to discredit Illuminism,
and how "benevolently" disposed some among us are,
to prevent their countrymen from being misled
by what are called, the "ridiculous reveries" of Robison.
The reader's patience, it is feared,
will be exhausted by the detail of credentials
which the effrontery of his accusors have rendered necessary;
but the character of a witness is of the first importance.
The following sketch of the principal events
of the life of Dr. Robison,
was drawn up from authentic documents,
received direct from Edinburgh, through a respectable channel. *
* Concerning the facts contained in this historical sketch,
which were communicated to Dr. Erskine, he writes thus,
"The most important facts in it I have had access to know,
being first settled at Kirkintillock, the neighbouring parish to Boderoch,
where lay the estate of his worthy father.
For the few facts of which I know less,
full and unexceptionable vouchers can be produced."
"The father of the Professor, a respectable country gentleman,
intended him for the church,
and gave him eight years of an University education at Glascow.
Prefering a different profession, he accepted an offer
of going into the Navy, with very flattering prospects.
He was appointed Mathematical Instructor
to his Royal Highness the Duke of York.
In that office, he accordingly entered the Navy in February, 1759,
being that day twenty years old.
"He was present at the siege of Quebec.
With the late Admiral Knowles, he was particularly connected,
and his son, afterwards captain Knowles,
one of the most promising young officers in the British Navy,
was committed to his charge.
"In 1761, he was sent by the board of Admiralty,
to make trial of Harrison's Watch at Jamaica.
At the peace of 1763, he returned to College.
In 1764, he was again appointed by the Admiralty
to make trial of Harrison's improved Watch at Barbadoes;
but his patron, Lord Anson, being dead,
and the conditions not such as pleased him,
he declined the employment,
returned again to College, and took under his care
the only remaining son of his friend, Sir Charles Knowles.
This son is the present Admiral Sir Charles Knowles.
In 1770, Sir Charles was invited by the Empress of Russia
to take charge of her Navy.
He took Mr. Robison with him as his Secretary.
In 1772, Mr. Robison was appointed superintendant
of the education in the Marine Caflet (caslet?castle?) Corps,
where he had under his direction about 500 youth,
350 of whom were sons of noblemen and gentlemen,
and 26 masters in the different studies.
The Academy being burnt, Mr. Robison, with his pupils,
removed to an ancient palace of Peter the Great at Cronstadt,
a most miserable, desolate island, where,
finding no agreeable society,
he availed himself of the first opportunity,
of quitting so unpleasant a situation,
and accepted an invitation from the Magistrates of Edinburgh,
to the Professorship of Natural Philosophy
in the University in that city,
which ranks among the first Universities in the world.
To this very honorable office he acceded in August, 1774,
and from that time continued his lectures, without interruption,
til 1792, when illness obliged him to ask for an assistant.
To enable him to give such a salary to his assistant,
as would make the place worth the acceptance of a man of talents,
the King was pleased to give him a pension of 100 pounds a year.
After five years confinement, by a painful disorder,
he resumed his chair, in 1797.
In 1786, he was elected a member
of the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia,
of which Mr. Jefferson is President;
and in 1797, a member of the Royal Society of Manchester.
In 1799, after the publication of his book,
the University of Glascow, where he received his education,
conferred on him, unsolicited,
the honor of a Doctor's degree in Law,
in which, contrary to the usual custom in these cases,
is given a very particular and flattering account
of his nine years studies in that University.
This peculiar evidence of esteem and respect was given in this way,
in order that his Diploma might have all the civil consequences
which long standing could give.
When he published his book, in 1797,
he was Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
In April, 1800, without solicitation of a single friend,
he was unanimously elected a Foreign Member (there are but six)
of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, at St. Petersburg,
(which, in point of reputation,
is esteemed the third on the continent of Europe)
in the room of the much lamented and highly celebrated Dr. Black.
To prepare for the press,
and superintend the publication
of the Chemical writings of this great man,
required the ablest Chemist in Great Britain.
This distinguished honor has been conferred on Professor Robison,
who has undertaken this important work.
This appointment, for which no man perhaps is more competent,
together with the numerous, learned, and copious articles
which he has furnished for the Encyclopedia Brittanica,
fully evince that in reputation and solid learning,
he ranks among the first literary characters in Europe.
Add to all this,
"he sustains a MORAL character, so fair and unblemished,
that any man may safely be challenged to lay any thing to his charge
of which an honest man need be ashamed."
The following account of Professor Robison, is from a Work, entitled
"Literary Memoirs of Living Authors of Great Britain, &c."
in two volumes, 8vo. published in London, 1798, for R. Faulder:
"John Robison, Esq. M.A. Secretary to the Royal Society at Edinburgh,
and Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University.
Professor Robison is distinguished
for his accurate and extensive knowledge,
especially on the subjects of science.
He contributed to the Encyclopedia Brittanica the valuable articles,
Physics, Pneumatics, Procession of the Equinoxes, Projectiles,
Pumps, Resistance of Fluids, River, Roof, Rope making, Rotation,
Seamanship, Signals, Sound, Specific Gravity, Statics,
Steam, Steam-Engine, Strength of Materials, Telescope,
Tide, Articulating Trumpet, Variation of the Compass, and Water-Works,
also Philosophy, in association with Dr. Gleig.
In the autumn of the year 1797,
Professor Robison published an octavo volume,
entitled "Proofs of a Conspiracy, &c."
This volume has been favorably received,
and although too hasty a performance
for a work of so much consequence,
is well entitled, both from its subject and its authenticity,
to the serious attention of every reader.
It arrives at the same remarkable conclusion
as the celebrated Memoirs of the Abbe Barruel,
illustrating the history of Jacobinism,
though the authors were perfectly unconnected with each other,
and pursued their inquiries in very different ways.
It has raised (we are sorry for such an appearance)
a considerable clamor and enmity against the Professor;
though it was written, we are fully convinced, from the best of motives.
We cannot conclude this article without observing
that the principles, and honest zeal,
which Professor Robison has displayed upon this occasion,
are highly creditable to him,
and merit the warmest acknowledgements from society in general."
The following is an extract of a letter
from one of the most respectable literary characters
which Scotland has produced, dated March, 1800.
The writer of this letter is now in America.
I have not his leave to mention his name.
"Professor Robison's character is so well established
among those who know him best,
that it would be ridiculous, at Edinburgh,
to call in question his veracity or ability.
I had read many of his authorities in the German originals
before his book was published;
and the first notice I received of it was,
in the preface to Dr. Erskine's sketches of ecclesiastical history,
where you will see the honorable testimony that he gives Mr. Robison,
and the great expectation that he had from his publication."
The Rev. Dr. Erskine,
whose character is generally known, and respected in America,
and who is a neighbor to Dr. Robison,
in a letter, dated Edinburgh, September 25, 1800, says,
"I think highly of Professor Robison's book.
Some of the most shocking facts it contains,
I knew before its publication,
from a periodical account of the church history of the times,
by Professor Koester at Giessen,
of which I lent him all the numbers relating to that subject.
For three years, that valuable work has been discontinued,
whether from the artifices of Illuminati booksellers,
to prevent its sale and spread,
or from the author's bad health, I know not."
In a subsequent letter, of June 13, 1801,
speaking of the forementioned criminations of Dr. Robison's character,
which have been circulated in America, the Dr. says,
"Had they been sent to Edinburgh, for their palpable falsehood,
they would have been despised and detested."
In the appendix to the Centurial Sermon of Dr. Dwight,
President of Yale College, published Jan. 7, 1801,
is an attestation to the character of Professor Robison,
taken from a letter of Mr. J. Walker,
a respectable inhabitant of Great Britain,
to Professor Boettiger, of Weimar in Germany;
published in the Mercury of that city, April, 1800.
"It was written in answer to some very severe aspersions
on Mr. Robison, by Mr. Boettiger;
and such was the character of the writer,
and such the weight of his testimony,
that Mr. Boettiger amply, as well as honorably,
retracted his aspersions."
Referring to the exalted character he had given of Dr. Robison, he says,
"Nor is this the exaggerated praise of a friend;
no one who knows Mr. Robison, as I have known him,
and he is almost universally known in Britain,
will dare to call it in question." *
* I have further evidence on this subject, but I conceive it needless to introduce it.
What is laid before the reader is more than sufficient to establish Dr. Robison's character.
It adds no small weight to his opinion; and affords us a degree of assurance,
that what he has published upon the subject of Illuminism, is neither visionary nor trifling.
The reputation he had acquired in the literary world,
forbids us to suppose that he would have added his name to such a publication,
unless convinced that the facts he states, and attests,
were important and well authenticated.
The character of the Abbe Barruel,
so far as it respects his credibility as a witness,
I believe has not been impeached.
The honest warmth, apparent in every part of his celebrated work,
renders it difficult for us to doubt his sincerity,
whatever opinion we may form of his judgment.
If the fervor of his zeal has hurried him into a rash censure,
or an unwarrantable conclusion,
does not the same fervor compel us to respect him as a writer,
who felt the truth and importance of his subject?
Shall we condemn him because he writes
with the ardor of the most exquisite feelings?
How could he but feel, when he saw
the religion and government which he loved,
demolished, and the country, above all others dear to him,
converted into a field of carnage, and bleeding at every pore,
pierced with the daggers of men, who
"owed their greatness to their country's ruin?"
His attachment to principles not admitted in America,
has doubtless weakened the impressions
which his testimony ought to have made.
While we hear him pleading
in support of sentiments in religion,
which in our view are absurd;
advocating a government, which we consider as tyrannical;
and denouncing societies as dangerous,
of which we ourselves, perhaps, are innocent members,
we naturally connect the absurdity of these sentiments,
with the facts adduced in their support.
It is an obvious remark, that the value of these Memoirs consists,
not in the religious or political opinions,
but in the important facts, they contain.
These appear, generally, to be stated with great accuracy,
and with a strict regard to truth;
and from these, the author candidly
invites us to judge for ourselves.
As became an honest man, together with his opinion,
he has given us the facts and circumstances
upon which that opinion was founded;
leaving the reader to correct, if he see cause,
his too hasty judgment.
That the Abbe, by making his own sentiments
the standard in politics and religion,
has censured some persons
whom protestants and republicans would justify,
is not to be denied;
but has he asserted any thing as a fact;
without stating carefully the evidence
upon which his opinion was founded?
It is obvious that the testimony of these writers
is greatly strengthened by its remarkable coincidence.
It appears that Dr. Robison's work was published
just as the third volume of the Abbe's Memoirs was going to the press,
and precisely in those circumstances,
which must have prevented either of them
from suggesting to the other,
either the plan of their proposed publications,
or the principal authorities by which they are authenticated.
The remarkable difference which appears in these two writers
with respect to their methods of arranging,
and communicating their thoughts;
their very different ideas of religious and political truth;
the obscurity which, from the nature of it, attended the subject;
the many remote circumstances with which it was connected,
and especially the different plans they pursue;
Dr. Robison combining, in one paragraph,
what his memory compiled from many,
while the Abbe, as he declares,
"never made a quotation but with the original before him;
and when," says he, "I make a translation which may stagger the reader,
I subjoin the original, that each may explain and verify the text;"
these things taken into view,
a greater degree of harmony could not be expected
from any two historians relating events of equal magnitude. *
* The following testimony, in favor of the authenticity of the works in question, is from a late respectable writer.
"The rise and progress of Jacobinism,
which seems to include every species of Infidelity,
have been examined with industry, and displayed with correctness,
by the Abbe Barruel and Professor Robison.
The facts brought forward in support of their assertions,
have baffled the ingenuity of Jacobinism itself to disprove.
And these facts have clearly shown,
that a conspiracy was actually formed
for the extinction of Christianity,
and the abolition of government and social order,
by a set of men whose names demand the execration of mankind."
--- Kett, on Prophecy, Lond. edition, 1800, ol. II, p. 119.
But we have to encounter still more formidable opposition
than any which has yet appeared,
and that is Professor Ebeling's letter
to his correspondent in Massachusetts,
and published in the Worcester Gazette, October 9, 1799.
This letter appears to have been considered, by some,
as containing plenary evidence
against the veracity of Dr. Robison,
and the credibility of his book.
But, had not this letter been read with the same haste and eagerness
with which it appears to have been written,
certainly so much importance would not have been attached to it.
Upon reading this letter we naturally recollect
an observation made by Professor Renner,
one of the witnesses from whom the public received
the first disclosure of the Illuminated societies.
"There are men;" says he, "who defend the order with great warmth,
though they do not declare themselves to belong to it.
Such conduct certainly deserves a little animadversion. (criticism)
Either these defenders belong to the order, or they do not;
if they do not, can they pretend to defend
that which they neither know,
nor have any possibility of knowing?
If they belong to the order,
that very circumstance renders them unworthy of belief." *
* Barruel's Memoirs, Vol. IV, p. 149.
The propriety of this remark will impress the reader more forcibly,
when he is better acquainted with the arts
by which the Illuminees conceal themselves from the public.
The great stress which has been laid upon this letter,
and the use which has been made of it,
will justify our bestowing on it particular attention.
It may be of some importance to recollect,
that Mr. Ebeling has acknowledged that it was written in haste,
and was, consequently, inaccurate.
It was unfortunate that this information was not communicated, as usual,
at the close of the letter, where it might have been useful
to guard us against placing too much dependence
on a hasty and inaccurate performance;
but it was given in a subsequent letter,
after being informed that the previous one had been made public.
Though this apology came too late for us,
it may be useful to the Professor, and afford him a retreat,
should some of his many confident declarations,
hereafter appear to be founded in error.
Mr. Ebeling considers Dr. Robison's misrepresentations,
as the result of wicked intention;
speaks of him as "an English hired, ministerial writer;"
and tells us,
"his book is certainly a party work, and not without a
political design."
In another part of the same letter
he ascribes Robison's misrepresentations to his
"great ignorance of men, manners, and history,
and of German characters, and language in particular."
Perhaps Mr. Ebeling can reconcile
these two contradictory causes of the same effect.
The talk is beyond my ability.
From these very different representations,
I can obtain no idea but this absurd one,
that Dr. Robison was hired by the British ministry,
to give such a wrong view of things
as would serve their political purposes;
that he undertook the task, and by the luckiest mistake
stumbled upon that very spot at which he was aiming,
and which, had it not been for his gross ignorance
of men, manners, and history,
of German characters, and language,
he probably never would have attained.
Let this form a new item among the advantages of ignorance.
But we have more important remarks to make upon this celebrated letter.
Mr. Ebeling speaks of the existence of Illuminism in Germany,
as a matter of public notoriety;
but, to preserve the impression of its harmless nature,
he says of the Illuminees,
"their design was undoubtedly
to prevent political and religious oppression;"
and with a particular reference to Weishaupt,
the grand projector of Illuminism, further adds,
"he was, as I suppose commonly Roman Catholics are,
when they see the errors of superstition,
and know nothing of the protestant faith, or true religion,
at a loss what to substitute."
Weishaupt then, it is confessed, wished to destroy
the best religion he was acquainted with.
He considered popery as the religion of the Bible,
and this was hateful superstition.
It appears, therefore, from this statement of his Apologist,
that he would have spared no religion,
for in his view there was no substitute for popery.
The reader will observe, that Weishaupt was a Professor in an University,
and distinguished for his literary acquirements;
that he had framed many new systems of Christianity
to deceive his adepts;
that Germany abounded with protestants of every denomination,
but still there was no religion to his taste,
no substitute for popery.
Mr. Ebeling also acknowledges that Weishaupt,
"in his younger life, was guilty of
great deviations from pure morality,"
but in the same paragraph
in which he gives us this view of his moral character,
and in the same paragraph in which he acknowledges,
that Weishaupt could find no religion in all Germany,
nor in the Bible,
better than popery, which he hated,
and was endeavoring to overturn;
Mr. Ebeling displays his invincible charity by adding,
"but I am not convinced that he (Weishaupt)
was ever in theory, or practice,
an enemy to religion !!"
Lest the reader should not extend that charity to Mr. Ebeling,
of which he himself is so liberal,
it may be necessary here to remind him,
that the Professor wrote in haste.
In the confusion of his thoughts he must have lost the impression
which Weishaupt's character had formerly made upon his mind,
and in the hurry of the moment, he marked the
infidel and the debauchee, for a christian;
for nothing less can he be who never was,
"either in theory or practice, an enemy to religion."
One great disadvantage, indeed, results
from this exuberance of the Professor's hasty charity,
for who can assure us, that he has not equally mistaken
the many other characters, he introduces into his letter?
This consideration must diminish
that fund of correct information,
which some imagine they possess in this long epistle,
and leave us room to doubt, at least,
whether Dr. Robison was so very ignorant
of men and manners as he is represented.
But will not this letter assist us in attaining something
beyond probabilities and conjecture?
Mr. Ebeling has said much to discredit the other authorities
to which Dr. Robison occasionally recurs for proof;
but I find nothing to weaken the evidence
resulting from the testimony of the four very respectable witnesses,
given under oath, respecting the practices of the Illuminees;
nor as far as I am able to ascertain, does he express a doubt
respecting the writings, letters, and documents,
found in the hands of the Society
on the search made in consequence
of the testimony above mentioned.
Here we have the code of the Society,
their private correspondence,
and their own remarks upon the nature and design of the institution;
these are admitted to be genuine;
and on these, as their proper basis,
Robison and Barruel raise their superstructure.
Have we not here a clue, which will lead us out
of this labyrinth of discordant opinions?
Let us examine carefully, the ground on which we stand.
It is agreed, that a Society of Illuminees existed in Germany,
instituted by Weishaupt, about the year 1776.
It is agreed, that the papers found
in the possession of Counselor Zwack, in 1786,
and those found in the Castle of Sanderdorf, in 1787,
on search made by order of his Highness the Elector of Bavaria,
are authentic documents, drawn up by the Illuminees,
expressing the plan and object of the order.
It is agreed, that the object of this institution
is the overthrow of all religion and all government.
No; __this, though strangely asserted
by Messrs. Robison and Barruel,
Mr. Ebeling denies.
To determine on which side the truth lies,
we must appeal to the papers which are admitted to be authentic,
and from them judge for ourselves
what were the real views of the Illuminees.
By attacking every other witness in the cause,
Mr. Ebeling, by his silence, concerning the papers,
has implicity acknowledged their truth and validity.
The reader is here reminded,
that the question to be determined is not,
whether Illuminism had an existence; this is admitted:
Nor whether it existed as an organized body,
possessing its code of laws, and definite mode of operation;
for Mr. Ebeling himself informs us,
that the Illuminees were instituted,
or formed into a body, about 1776.
Nor is it a question whether this order of men
had any thing in view beyond their own amusement,
for the same advocate of their cause observes,
"that their design undoubtedly was,
to prevent political and religious oppression."
But the important question to be determined is,
whether this combination of men had not a higher object?
whether their ultimate aim was not the subversion
of every social, moral, and religious obligation?
Taking this for our object, it will be needless
to introduce into this work
that part of the evidence above referred to,
which relates particularly to the subversion
of the Romish hierarchy and despotism,
or political and religious oppression;
for all acknowledge that these were aimed at by the conspiracy.
Our present concern is, with that part only of these writings
which relates to the principal question,
and is calculated to prove,
that the Illuminees were opposed to the fundamental principles
of all religion, and social order.
The Abbe Barruel's Memoirs comprehend
a larger period of time than Dr. Robison's work;
his arrangments are more systematical,
and he traces the evil to its source;
his method, without, however, being confined to it,
will be principally followed.
The Abbe Barruel's plan includes,
First. The Anti-christian Conspiracy,
or that of the Sophisters of impiety against Christianity,
under every form and denomination.
Secondly. The Anti-Monarchical Conspiracy.
This part will be omitted in the following work,
as unconnected with the question in view,
and because it is involved in the
Third, or Anti-Social Conspiracy,
in which the sophisters of impiety, coalesce
with the sophisters of Anarchy
against every religion, and every government,
under the denomination of Illuminees;
and, these again unite themselves
with the occult Lodges of Free Masons,
and thus form the club of the Jacobins at Paris,
who are the real directors of the French Revolution.
This third part embraces the subject of the Conspiracy
of which Dr. Robison treats;
and is more particularly interesting in our present inquiry.
The evidence adduced in proof
of the Anti-Christian Conspiracy,
are the writings of the Conspirators themselves;
especially the Edition of Voltaire's Works, by Beaumarchis.
These Works, it appears, were published
when the sentiments they contain,
were no longer considered as infamous in France. *
* The proofs of the Anti-Social Conspiracy will be noticed
in connection with that part of the subject to which they relate.
The reader will not expect to find, in this work,
the particular references of the larger work, transcribed;
except where some authority, not before mentioned, is introduced.
This would be needless, as the few,
who would wish to recur to the original authorities,
may find every necessary reference
in the translation of Barruel's Memoirs,
printed at Hartford, by Hudson and Goodwin, 1799;
and in the fourth Edition of Robison's Proofs, &x.
printed at New York, by George Forman, in 1799;
which are the Editions made use of in forming this abstract.
The Author of these Memoirs declares it to be
the important and friendly design of his undertaking,
to warn governments and mankind of their danger,
by proving to them, that the French Revolution,
in all the circumstances of horror which attended it,
was the natural result of the principles
from which it proceeded;
and that similar principles will produce similar effects.
Lest any, confiding in their leagues of amity with France,
and her professions of friendship,
should imagine the warning needless with respect to themselves,
he again sounds the alarm. Let America hear!
"When the phantom of peace
shall seem to terminate the present war,
between the Jacobins and the combined powers,
it certainly will be the interest of all governments
to ascertain how far such a peace can be relied on.
At that period, more than any other,
will it be necessary to study the secret history of that sect;
at that period we must remember,
that it is not in the field of Mars that
the war against sects is the most dangerous;
that is a war of plots and conspiracies,
and against them public treaties can never avail." *
* Preliminary Discourse, Barruel's Memoirs, Vol. I.
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