-Caveat Lector- http://thenewamerican.com/tna/1996/vo12no20/vo12no20_roots.htm Sunday, August 29, 1999 20th Century Heroes Augusto Pinochet is being persecuted by the global elite and Marxist Left, not because of alleged crimes against humanity, but because he led one of the few counter-revolutions that succeeded in ousting a Communist regime. Vol. 12, No. 20 September 30, 1996 Roots of Subversion by William H. McIlhany Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, by Abbé Augustin Barruel The years 1796 to 1798 saw the publication of two important presentations of evidence concerning an international conspiracy, then only decades old, which had devastated France and was threatening the entire civilized world. That conspiracy had coalesced into a continuing organizational structure with the founding of the Order of the Illuminati by Adam Weishaupt on May 1, 1776 in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The conspirators in the Order came from the top levels of society, and their ultimate goal was the destruction of all existing religious and political institutions, all forms of traditional religious faith, and all governments. They were committed to a campaign of worldwide revolution to destroy the existing order. They hoped that the continuing organizational structure they established would eventually succeed in imposing on the world a "solution" to the chaos they had caused: a totalitarian world government -- a "new world order." Evil Exposed In 1785 the Elector of Bavaria, Carl Theodore, discovered the secret papers of the Illuminati, which revealed the evil plan. He published and distributed the papers to all endangered heads of state. The two important studies published from 1796-98 were substantially based on this primary source documentation. One of those works, Proofs of a Conspiracy Against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, published in Dublin, Ireland in 1797, was written by John Robison, a prominent scientist and professor at the University of Edinburgh. His work, which was originally circulated in Great Britain and THE NEW AMERICAN Republic, was reprinted in 1967 by Western Islands, the publishing arm of the John Birch Society, under the shortened title Proofs of a Conspiracy. It is still available in paperback (contact American Opinion Book Services at the above address). The second work, much lengthier and more detailed, is Abbé Barruel's Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, the subject of this review. Born in France in 1741, Abbé Barruel was educated by the Jesuits and entered the Society of Jesus. During suppression of the Jesuits in France, he resided for some years in Moravia and Bohemia and traveled in Italy as a tutor for a young nobleman. In addition to Memoirs, he wrote several other books prior to his death in 1820, including his History of the Clergy During the French Revolution. Originally in separate volumes, Memoirs consists of four parts. The first two volumes, originally published in French in 1796, concern the anti-Christian and anti-monarchical conspiracy of 1796 and expose certain French and European philosophers of the early to mid-18th century, particularly members of the French Academy in Paris. To illustrate the vicious philosophical campaign against Christianity, Barruel focuses on the works of Voltaire. As for the anti-monarchical campaign, he examines the works of Montesquieu and Rousseau. Modern-day advocates of a limited constitutional republic who may wonder what is wrong with opposition to monarchy should keep in mind that the conspiracy which Barruel traced -- from philosophers whom he called the "sophisters of impiety" to the Illuminati -- targeted all religious and political institutions and forms of government, including the infant American Republic, and sought as the ultimate goal an international totalitarianism. Rise of the Order One of the principal weapons used by the sophisters of impiety, particularly Diderot, was the publication of the Encyclopédie beginning in 1751, and its eventual Supplement. The conspirators hoped that this work would become the standard reference for all learned and literate persons on virtually all subject matter. Barruel demonstrates at length that it was used as a comprehensive, subtle carrier of propaganda and indoctrination favorable to subversive strategy. The third part of Memoirs concerns the Illuminati. Therein Barruel presents in greater detail than Robison's Proofs of a Conspiracy the primary source documents captured from the Order. The rapidly growing influence of the Order in, and outside of, Bavaria is carefully traced both before and after the French Revolution. Barruel recounts the European freemasonic conference at Wilhelmsbad in the summer of 1782, at which Weishaupt's representatives recruited the leadership of French, German, and other European Grand Orient freemasonry into the Illuminati, thus bringing those bodies under the Order's control. Much evidence in Barruel's and other contemporary sources testifies to this fact. The leaders of the Illuminist French Grand Orient ran the Jacobin clubs and were responsible for planning and orchestrating all the major events of the French Revolution. In the final part of Memoirs, Barruel reviews the tragic success of the Illuminati's first experiment in subversive destruction, the French Revolution of 1789, from which France has never fully recovered. Barruel's review of this episode, along with historian Nesta Webster's outstanding 1919 work The French Revolution: A Study in Democracy, provide a fairly complete history of the Conspiracy's first attempt at organized subversion. Sounding the Alarm It would be hard to overstate the influence Robison's and Barruel's works had on events in America for several decades after their publication. In 1799, George Washington read Robison's Proofs of a Conspiracy, which only reconfirmed his awareness of the danger to our Republic from Illuminists who tried to bring revolutionary Jacobinism to our shores. Five years earlier Illuminist agents Genet and Fauchet had used front organizations ("democratic societies") to trigger the so-called "Whiskey Rebellion" in Pennsylvania. Only Washington's public exposure and opposition with armed troops stopped this early campaign of sedition without bloodshed. Regrettably, during Washington's Presidency his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson was closely allied to the French agents behind the Whiskey Rebellion. Perhaps simply deluded by his idealism at this time, Jefferson unsuccessfully opposed Washington's efforts to stop the conspirators. Jefferson defended Weishaupt and referred to Barruel's Memoirs as the "ravings of a Bedlamite." Other prominent Americans did their best to warn the public of the Conspiracy's attempts, and they relied on Robison's and Barruel's works. They included Jedidiah Morse, author of early history and geography textbooks and the father of Samuel Morse; Yale University president Timothy Dwight; and Seth Payson, author of Proofs of the Real Existence and Dangerous Tendency of Illuminism (1802), which summarized Robison's and Barruel's works and included evidence from Morse of Illuminist efforts in America. President Washington and Jedidiah Morse were the outstanding American "alarmists" of their time, and they were attacked by their enemies just as members of the John Birch Society and other "conspiratorialists" are attacked today. Washington's and Morse's weapon was the truth, and Barruel's Memoirs and Robison's Proofs provided them with indispensable ammunition. Interestingly, some historical personalities very close to, and devoted to, the Illuminist conspiracy valued and relied on the accuracy of Barruel's Memoirs. Among them was the British poet Percy Shelley, who not only "treasured" his copy but marveled at length over its descriptions of the destructiveness he hoped to see occur. French socialist leader Louis Blanc used Barruel's evidence as the basis for linking the early communist movement to its Illuminist origins. Barruel's Memoirs were translated and published in all major languages. Of course, both Robison and Barruel were attacked by a few contemporary friends of the French Revolution, and have been attacked by orthodox historians ever since. Most of these criticisms are exercises in clarity of hindsight and are based on mistakes in translation or factual errors or omissions that always result when history is written chronologically close to the events. Anyone who has studied the major 19th and 20th century historians of the Master Conspiracy, as well as the primary source documents now available in reprint, can attest to the substantial accuracy of Robison's and Barruel's works. Some have noted a distinction between Robison's thesis and Barruel's. Robison correctly argued that the Illuminati invaded and captured continental European (not British or American) Grand Orient free masonic lodges in order to use them as tools for infiltration and revolution. On the other hand, Barruel argued that the Illuminati was a natural outgrowth of freemasonry in its tracing of a pre-Illuminati philosophical plot against altar and throne involving numerous French freemasons. Once again, students of the Master Conspiracy today enjoy the benefit of much more data and a much larger perspective. Crucial Reading The new one-volume reprint of Memoirs includes Barruel's complete text, as well as a fine introduction by Fr. Stanley L. Jaki. It does not include, however, a postscript written by English translator Robert Clifford, which was published at the end of volume four of the 1798 London edition. The postscript, entitled "Application of Barruel's Memoirs of Jacobinism to the Secret Societies of Ireland and Great Britain," provides another 50 pages of evidence concerning the Illuminists' efforts to organize sedition and rebellion. This reviewer cannot recommend too highly that any American who wishes to be well informed in the fight for freedom carefully read Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism. Barruel's impressive presentation provides thoughtful and penetrating insight not only into the events he reviews, but also into the strategies and tactics that the same Master Conspiracy that began as the Order of the Illuminati has employed ever since. Reading Memoirs will also provide one with added confirmation that the Master Conspiracy thesis advanced by British historian Nesta Webster and John Birch Society founder Robert Welch is overwhelmingly established by both logic and a physical mountain of evidence. But don't just take this reviewer's word for it. Consider the words of British statesman Edmund Burke, author of Reflections on the Revolution in France, who said of Barruel's Memoirs: "Certain we are, that no book has appeared since the commencement of our labours, which was more necessary to be read, and weighed attentively, by every person of any property, whether hereditary or commercial; every person holding any rank in society; and every person who has within him a spark of zeal, either for the honour of God, or the welfare of mankind." © Copyright 1999 American Opinion Publishing Incorporated http://thenewamerican.com/tna/1996/vo12no20/vo12no20_roots.htm Bard Bard DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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