ANISM

We have seen in the course of this book that the idea of a secret power
working for world-revolution through both open movements and secret
societies, is not a new one, but dates from the eighteenth century. In
order to appreciate the continuity of this idea, let us recapitulate the
testimonies of contemporaries, some of which have been already quoted in
their context, but which when collected together and placed in
chronological order make up a very remarkable chain of evidence.

In 1789 the Marquis de Luchet warned France of the danger of the
Illuminati, whose object was world-domination.[763] In consequence of
this "gigantic project" de Luchet foresees "a series of calamities of
which the end is lost in the darkness of time, like unto those
subterranean fires of which the insatiable activity devours the bowels
of the earth and which escape into the air by violent and devastating
explosions."[764]

In 1794 the Duke of Brunswick in his manifesto to the German lodges
said:

A great sect arose, which, taking for its motto "the good and
happiness of man," worked in the darkness of the conspiracy to make
the happiness of humanity a prey for itself. This sect is known to
everyone: its brothers are known no less than its name.... The plan
they had formed for breaking all social ties and of destroying all
order was revealed in their speeches and acts.... Indomitable
pride, thirst of power, such were the only motives of this sect:
their masters had nothing less in view than the thrones of the
earth, and the government of the nations was to be directed by
their nocturnal clubs.[765]

In 1797 Montjoie, writing of the Orleaniste conspiracy, to which in an
earlier work he had attributed the whole organization of the French
Revolution in its first stages, observed:

I will not examine whether this wicked prince, thinking he was
acting in his personal interests, was not moved by that _invisible
hand_[766] 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.[767]

In 1801 Monsignor de Savine "made allusions in prudent and almost
terrified terms to some international sect ...a power superior to all
others ...which has arms and eyes everywhere and which governs Europe
to-day."[768]

In 1817 the Chevalier de Malet declared tha