stablished the fact that the fortunate
revolution which has taken place in France must and will be for all
the peoples of Europe the awakening of liberty and for Kings the
sleep of death.

But Duport goes on to explain that whilst Mirabeau thinks it advisable
at present not to concern themselves with anything outside France, he
himself believes that the triumph of the French Revolution must lead
inevitably to "the ruin of all thrones ... Therefore we must hasten
among our neighbours the same revolution that is going on in France."[618]

The plan of illuminized Freemasonry was thus nothing less than
world-revolution.

It is necessary here to reply to a critic who suggested that in
emphasizing the role of the secret societies in _World Revolution_ I had
abandoned my former thesis of the Orleaniste conspiracy. I wish
therefore to state that I do not retract one word I wrote in _The French
Revolution_ on the Orleaniste conspiracy, I merely supply a further
explanation of its efficiency by enlarging on the aid it received from
the party I referred to as the Subversives--outcome of the masonic
lodges. It was because the Orleanistes held the whole masonic
organization at their disposal that they were able to carry out their
plans with such extraordinary skill and thoroughness, and because they
had at their back men bent solely on destruction that they could enlist
a following which would not have rallied to a mere scheme of usurpation.
Even Montjoie, who saw in the Revolution principally the work of the Duc
d'Orleans, indicates in a very curious passage of a later work the
existence of the still darker intrigue behind the conspiracy he had
spent his energies in unveiling:

I will not examine whether this wicked prince, thinking he was
acting in his personal interests, was not moved by that invisible
hand which seems to have created all the events of our revolution
in order to lead us towards a goal that we do not see at present,
but which I think we shall see before long.[619]

Unfortunately, after this mysterious utterance Montjoie never again
returns to the subject.

At the beginning of the Revolution, Orleanism and Freemasonry thus
formed a united body. According to Lombard de Langres:

France in 1789 counted more than 2,000 lodges affiliated to the
Grand Orient; the number of adepts was more than 100,000. The first
events of 1789 were only Masonry in action.