THE ILLUMINATI GROWS

By 1783, there were over 600 members; and by 1784, their membership reached nearly 3,000. By 1786 they had numerous lodges across the various German provinces, Austria, Hungary, England, Scotland, Poland, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Russia, Ireland, Africa, and America.

By the time of the 3rd Masonic Congress in Frankfurt in 1786, the Illuminati virtually controlled all the Masonic lodges, and at this meeting their goals were stated as: "1) Pantheism for the higher degrees, atheism for the lower degrees and the populace; 2) Communism of goods, women, and general concerns; 3) The destruction of the Church, and all forms of Christianity, and the removal of all existing human governments to make way for a universal republic in which the utopian ideas of complete liberty from existing social, moral, and religious restraint, absolute equality, and social fraternity, should reign."

Students who were members of wealthy families, with international leanings, were recommended for special training in internationalism. Those selected by the Illuminati were given scholarships to attend special schools. Weishaupt wrote: "I propose academies under the direction of the Order. This will secure us the adherence of the Literati. Science shall here be the lure." He also wrote: "We must acquire the direction of education, of church, management of the professorial chair, and of the pulpit." Today, there are many such schools. Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, was educated at an Illuminati school in Gordonstown, Scotland, at the insistence of Lord Louis Mountbattan (whose uncle was a Rothschild relative and who became an admiral after the end of World War II). Those trained at such schools were placed behind the scenes as experts and advisors to perpetuate Illuminati goals.

Weishaupt, worried that his control of the Order was diminishing, argued repeatedly with Knigge. While he preferred to work in secrecy, Knigge wanted to move on to more substantial things. In January, 1783, Knigge wrote in a letter to Zwack: "It is the Jesuitry of Weishaupt that causes all our divisions, it is the despotism that he exercises over men perhaps less rich than himself in imagination, in ruses, in cunning...I declare that nothing can put me on the same footing with Spartacus as that on which I was a first." He also wrote: "I abhor treachery and profligacy, and I leave him to blow himself and his Order into the air." On April 20, 1784, Knigge quit, followed by Baron Bassus ("Hannibal"), Count Torring, Prince Kreitmaier, and others. In July, Knigge signed an agreement promising to return all documents in his possession, and to keep quiet on what he knew about their plans and activities. Some researchers believe that Knigge had also discovered that Weishaupt was a Satanist. He resumed his work as a writer, later becoming an inspector of schools at Bremen, where he died on May 6, 1796.

To insure that the activities of the Order would remain a secret, a warning as to the consequences of betraying the Order was including in the ceremony of initiation. They would point a sword at the initiate and say: "If you are a traitor and a perjurer, learn that all our Brothers are called upon to arm themselves against you. Do not hope to escape or find a place of safety. Wherever you are, shame, remorse, and the rage of our Brothers will pursue you, and torment you to the innermost recesses of your entrails."

In October, 1783, Joseph Utzschneider, a lawyer, who had dropped out of the Order in August, presented to the Duchess Maria Anna, a document which detailed the activities of the Illuminati. He was upset because he had been promoted too slow, and was constantly prodded to prove his loyalty. The Duchess gave the information to the Duke. On June 22, 1784, Duke Karl Theodore Dalberg, the Elector Palatinate of Bavaria, after discovering from the information that the goals of the Illuminati were to "in time rule the world," by overthrowing all civil government, criticized all secret societies, and groups established without government sanction. On March 2, 1785, he issued a proclamation identifying the Illuminati as a branch of the Masons, and ordered that their Lodges be shut down. The government began a war against the Order by initiating judicial inquiries at Ingolstadt. In an attempt to preserve the secrecy of their motives, the Areopagite burned many of their documents, however, the government was able to seize many of their papers when they raided the Lodges.

After being replaced at the University in February, Weishaupt fled across the border into Regensburg, finally settling in Gotha, where he found refuge with another Illuminati member, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha.

In April, 1785, Utzschneider was able to convince three other members to come forward. They were fellow professors at the Marienburg (Marianen) Academy who had doubts about the validity of the organization's principles when they discovered that they would receive no mystical powers. They were also disgruntled over Weishaupt's tyranny. Cossandey, Grunberger, and Renner went before the Court of Inquiry on September 9, 1785, where they supplied valuable information, such as membership lists, and revealed their aims and goals, which they consolidated into the following six points:

1) Abolition of the Monarchy and all ordered government.

2) Abolition of private property.

3) Abolition of inheritance.

4) Abolition of patriotism.

5) Abolition of the family, through the abolition of marriage, all morality, and the institution of communal education for children.

6) Abolition of all religion.

The purposes of these six points were to divide the people politically, socially, and economically; to weaken countries and create a one-world government. They testified that "all religion, all love of country and loyalty to sovereigns, were to be annihilated..."

The government pardoned all public officials and military leaders who publicly admitted membership. Those who didn't, and were discovered to be members, lost their rank and standing, were removed from office, and openly disgraced and humiliated.

Weishaupt was preparing to set his plans into motion for the French Revolution, which was slated to begin in 1789. In July, 1785, he instructed Zwack to put their plans in book form. This book contained a history of the Illuminati, and many of their ideas for expansion and future endeavors. A copy was sent by courier (identified as Jacob Lanze) to Illuminati members in Paris and Silesia. However, after leaving Frankfurt, as the courier rode through Regensburg (another source says it was Ratisbon) on horseback, he was struck by lightning and killed. The authorities found the document and turned it over to the government. Another source indicates the possibility that he may have been murdered, and the documents planted on him.

Xavier Zwack ("Cato"), a government lawyer, and one of the Order's most prominent leaders, whose name was on Renner's list, had his house in Landshut illegally searched by the police in October, 1785, and his papers seized. He was dismissed from his position. Many books, documents, papers and correspondence were discovered, including over 200 letters written between Weishaupt and the members of the Areopagite, which dealt with matters of the highest secrecy. The following year, more information was taken from the houses of Baron Bassus and Count Massenhausen ("Ajar"). Among the confiscated documents, were tables which contained their secret codes and symbols, secret calendar, geographical locations, insignias, ceremonies of initiation, recruiting instructions, statutes, a partial roster of members, and nearly 130 official seals from the government, which were used to counterfeit state documents.

Needless to say, all of this information shed more light on the Order, and the danger first realized by the government, had now become a national emergency. In 1786, the government gathered all of the confiscated documents, and published them in a book called Original Writings of the Order and Sect of the Illuminati, which was circulated to every government and crowned head in Europe, including France, to warn them of the impending danger.

The leaders of the Order who appeared before the government's Court of Inquiry, testified that the organization was dedicated to the overthrow of church and state. However, these revelations, and the publication of their documents did little to alert the public, because of their unbelievable claims. New measures were taken by government officials. The leaders of the Order were arrested and formally interrogated, then forced to renounce the Illuminati. The final blow came on August 16, 1787, when Dalberg issued his final proclamation against the Illuminati. Anyone found guilty of recruiting members were to be executed, while those who were recruited, would have their property confiscated and then be deported.

Zwack, who was banished, sought sanctuary in the Court of Zweibrucken, where he was later appointed to an official position in the principality of Salm-Kyburg. He contributed to the Illuminati movement in Holland. He was later summoned by Dalberg, as the government tried to deal with the problem of fugitives who might attempt to reorganize the Order. Zwack fled to England.

On November 15, 1790, another Edict was announced against the members of the organization. Anyone found to be an active member, was to be put to death. The following year, a list of 91 names of alleged members was compiled. They were hunted down, and banished. This harassment didn't end until 1799, when Dalberg died.

The apparent demise of the Order was taken into stride by its highest members, who continued to operate underground. Weishaupt wrote: "The great care of the Illuminati after the publication of their secret writings was to persuade the whole of Germany that their Order no longer existed, that their adepts had all renounced, not only their mysteries, but as members of a secret society." Weishaupt had a contingency plan ready, and wrote: "By this plan we shall direct all mankind. In this manner, and by the simplest means, we shall set in motion and in flames. The occupations must be allotted and contrived, that we may in secret, influence all political transactions...I have considered everything and so prepared it, that if the Order should this day go to ruin, I shall in a year re-establish it more brilliant than ever."

To hide their subversive activities, the highest members of the Order began to masquerade as humanitarians and philanthropists. Weishaupt fled to Switzerland, later returning to Germany, where the Duke of Saxe-Gotha gave him sanctuary. The Order moved their headquarters to London, where it began to grow again. Weishaupt told his followers to infiltrate the lodges of Blue Masonry, and to form secret circles within them. Only Masons who proved themselves as Internationalists, and were atheists, were initiated into the Illuminati.