372 



The Review of Review:*. 



October 1, 1906. 



THE GODFATHER OF THE REVOLUTION. 



Weishaupt, the Ex-Jesuit. 



In an article entitled " Illuniinism and the French 

 Revolution," the Edinburgh Reviezu calls attention to 

 the immense influence of secret societies in bring- 

 ing about the French Revolution. These secret 

 societies were of both sexes, and by no means 

 exclusively masonic. They organised the Revolu- 

 tion. The reviewer says: — 



At the great Eevolution the doctrines of the lodges were 

 at last translated from the silent world of secrecy to the 

 common world of practice; a few months sufficed to de- 

 pose ecclesiasticism .rom its pedestal and monarchy from 

 Its throne; to maiie the army repuolican. ana the worn ol 

 Eousseau law. 



The great subversive work had been silently and ruth- 

 lessly accomplished m the face of kings and popes. 

 Though the Cliurch spreac ilie report that Illuminates wor- 

 ahipi^ed a devil, and named it Clirist. and denounced 

 m;isonry as the "mystery of iniquity"; though Saintr 

 Germain and Saint-Martin were decried by the Jesuits: 

 though Cagliostro died in tlie Inquisitors' prison of Sanf 

 Angelo. and Cazotte, Egalite, and many another agent of 

 the great service were guillotined: though Weishaupt was 

 persecuted and the German Perfettibilists suppressed; yet 

 the mine which had been dug under altar and throne was 

 too deep to be filled up by either persecution or calumny. 



The genius who organised the various societies 

 and lodges into one great whole was a Cierman 

 ex- Jesuit of the name of Weishaupt: — 



With Weishaupt alone lay the credit not only of realis- 

 ing the cause of the ineffectiveness of societies upon so- 

 ciety, but of elaborating a homogeneous scheme which 

 should embrace and eventually absorb all lodges and all 

 rites. He was no freemason when he invented his design, 

 biit in order to study masonic methods he was received 

 a.s a mason in Munich, where one Zwack, a legal member 

 of the lodge, afterwards one of Weishaupt s confederates, 

 gold him the ultimate secrets of masonry. Equipped with 

 this knowledge, he allied himself with Von Kiiigge of the 

 " Strict Observance." and caused all his own disciples to 

 become masons. " Every secret engagement is a source of 

 enthusiasm," said Weishaupt: " it is useless to seek for 

 the reasons; the fact exists, that is enough." In confoimity 

 with this belief he recruited the new secret society which 

 was destined to swallow up all the others. 



In 1776 the order of the Pcrtectibilists was founded. 

 They began by creating a new world, for they purposed 

 to work independently of existing conditions. The object 

 in establishing the Perfectibilists was the literal realisa- 

 tion of Eousseau's theories. He dreamt and schemed for 

 a day when the abolition of property, social authorit.v. 

 and nationality would be facts, when human beings would 

 return to that happy state in which they formed hut one 

 family. As an ex-Jesuit he determined to adapt the nlan 

 of that Order's organisation to his own scheme to make. 

 as it were, a counter-society of Jesus, with all the maxims 

 and practices of the Jesuits, applied even further and 

 mora vigorously than they had been applied by their in- 

 ventors. Passive obedience, universal espionage, and all 

 the doctrines of casuistry were his tools; and so success- 

 ftil wa<i the undertaking that in four years a svstem of 

 ' nmnnication and information with every part of Europe 

 ' d been established. The unseen hands of the society 

 " ?re in all afTairs. its ears in the cabinets of princes and 

 cardinals. The Church was regarded unrelentinglv as a 

 foe. for the Perfectibilists were the enemies of institutional 

 Christianity, and represented themselves as professors of 

 the purest Christian Socialism. 



At the great Convention of Masonry held at Wilhelmsbad 

 in 1782 the Order of the Strict Observance was suspended, 

 and Von Kmgge disclosed the scheme of Weishaupt to the 

 nssembled representatives of the masonic and mystical 

 fraternities. Then and there disciples of Saint-Martin and 

 of Willermooz, as well as the statesmen, scientists, magi- 

 cians and magistrates of all countries were converted to 

 Illuminism. Perfectihilist doctrines percolated everywhere 

 throuek the lodees of Europe, and when the " Philaiethes " 

 at the instigation of Mirabeau. he^-pme the missionary 

 ivents of Illimiinism. they preached to already half-con- 

 -verted audiences. 



HOW SAN FRANCISCO WAS DESTROYED. 



In the Open Court for July, Mr. Edgar L. Larkin 

 describes the destruction ot San Francisco by the 

 earthquake. He says that he 



scarcely knows which one of the multitude of theories re- 

 garciiug Uie cause of earthquakes to adopt. Pent-up steam, 

 gases, chemical activity, lauits, shrinking, warpmg. crump- 

 ling of strata, contracting: ut the external shell on Cue liquid 

 interior, settling, rising and distortion, together with sun- 

 spots, causing a variation in the earth's electrical potential 

 and magnetic, and a dozen otlier hypotheses are lound in 

 the books. Of these I have decided to adopt the doctrine 

 of ■ faults ■■ in this earthquake. There are rents, breaks, 

 cracks and seams lu the rock strata of the earth. There 

 is an ancient fault, in Ca.i.ornia. The San Francisco ©arth- 

 quako was due to a le-aujustment ot the edges of the layers 

 once torn apart, when the earth was young. Since the con- 

 vulsion that laid a proud city low, Profe^or Branner, of 

 the Stanford University, explored the ancient rent for 

 torty miles south of San Francisco, and discovered that 

 the archaic wound had re-opened, exposing fresh edges of 

 the ancient layers. In the Santa Cruz Mountains he found 

 lateral displacement of four feet, and vertical two. This 

 is auflacieut to have produced the earthquake. 



On<:' viz-n- extraordinar)^ fact for which he vouches 

 is that the convulsions were onlv felt on the surface. 

 Miners underground experienced no disturbance. 

 And the curious thing was that the monuments in the 

 cemeterv were either thrown down or turned round 

 on their pedestals : — 



Some of these weigh tons, so that the force required to 

 slide them laterally, against enormous friction, was strong 

 indeed. Uranite was ground into fine powder under the 

 bottoms ol the displaced shafts. This convulsion presented 

 in one grand upheaval almost every kind of impulse, mo- 

 tion, activity, and turbulence known in earthquakes. By 

 closely studying this colossal displav of force one can be- 

 come familiar with all kinds, nearly, of earthquake phe- 

 nomena. The successive impulses were vertical, horizontal, 

 to and fro. circuhir, gyratory, inclined and undulatory. 

 The strata in the earth below the entire area of dis- 

 turbance were in the clutch of a twisting, wrenching, dis- 

 torting monster. 



Strain-, tension, and pressure were tremendous. An exam- 

 ple of titanic power is given by an immense chimney in 

 the western part of San Francisco. The entire upper half 

 had been lifted clear from the lower half, turned around 

 about twenty degrees, and gently lowered without injury. 

 These things must have occurred, for the bricks where the 

 rupture took place are intact, and not ground to powder. 

 The top half weighs hundreds of tons, and if twisted 

 around without being lifted up, whole layers of brick 

 would have been ground into fine dtKt. like the granite 

 bases of the laterally displaced monuments. 



RUSSIA AND ENGLAND IN ASIA. 



The Edmbnrgh Review says: — 



Russia and Engh. nd cannot be perpetually maDoeuvring 

 against each other in Asia if they desire to act together in 

 Europe. And it is time to make a stand against the fixed 

 idea, which has be?n too prevalent in the minds of those 

 who speculate upon the outcome of the existing s-tuation 

 in tie East, tha' the inevitable issue must be some de- 

 cisive trial of strength between these two great empires 

 in the res^ion which lies between their Asiatic frontiers. 

 We entirely agree with M. Varabery's conclusion that the 

 existing state of the relations between Russia and England 

 in Asia is detrimental not only to the interests of the two 

 governments, but also to the welfare of the Asiatic conn- 

 tries under their influence. And the point for consideration 

 is how lone this deadlock, caused by the mutual political 

 distrust and commercial rivalry of Russia and England, ie 

 to continue; whether there is no possibility of overcom- 

 ing it by a reasonable partition of claims and interests on 

 the bnsis of some formal agreement. The primary and 

 essential conditions would be that Persian railways, which 

 would only he undertaken by foreign capital, would be 

 un-ler inteTatiop-*! -^o'ltrol and administration: that they 

 must not >>'» nsed. directly or indirectly, for military pur- 

 poses; "^nd that the door should stand open, on equal 

 terms, for all foreign r^mmerce. 



