part in the celebrated ^'Holy Alliance," he was under the

hidden guidance of others of the Illuminati. Fessler, an apostate Austrian religious, the Councillor of Joseph II., after having abjured Christianity, remained, while professing a respect for religion, its most determined enemy. He founded what is known as the Tugenbund, a society by which German Freemasonry put on a certain Christian covering, in order more securely to outlive the reaction against Atheism, and to de-Christianize the world again at a better opportunity. The Tugenbund refused to receive Jews, and devised many other means to deceive Christians to become sub- stantially Freemasons without incurring Church censures or going against ideas then adverse to the old Freemasonry, which, nevertheless, continued to exist as satanic as ever under Christian devices.
In France, the Illuminati of the schools of Wilhelmsbad and Lyons continued their machinations without much change of front, though they covered themselves with that impenetrable secresy which the sect has found so convenient for disarming public suspicion while pursuing its aims. Possessing means of
54 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
deceiving the outside world, and capable of using every kind of hypocrisy and ruse, the Freemasons of both France and Germany plotted at this period with more secure secresy and success than ever. There is nothing which Freemasonry dreads more than light. It is the one thing it cannot stand. Therefore, it has always taken care to provide itself with adepts and allies able to disarm public suspicion in its regard. Should outsiders endeavour to find out its real character and aims, it takes refuge at once under the semblance of puerility, of harmless amusement, of beneficence, or even of half-witted simplicity. It is content to be laughed at, in order not to be found out. But it is for all its puerility, the same dangerous foe to Chris- tianity, law, legitimacy, and order, Avhich it proved itself to be before and during the first French Revolution, and which it will continue to be until the world has universal reason to know the depth, the malignity, and the extent of its remorseless designs.^ At the period of the reaction against Bonaparte it seems to have taken long and wise counsel. When Tallevrand found
1 At the Council of Verona, held by the European sovereigns in 1822, to guard their thrones and peoples from the revolutionary excesses which threatened Sf)ain, Naples, and Piedmont, the Count Haugwitz, IVIinister of the King of Prussia, who then accompanied his master, made the following speech : —
" Arrived at the end of my career, I believe it to be ray duty to cast a glance upon the secret societies whose power menaces humanity to-day more than ever. Their history is so bound up with that of my life that I cannot refrain from publishing it once more and from giraig some details regarding it.
"My natural disposition, and my education, ha\'ing excited in me so great a desire for information, that I could not content myself with ordinary knowledge, I wished to penetrate into the very essence of things. But shadow follows light, thus an insatiable curiosity develops itself in proportion to the efforts which one makes to penetrate further into the sanctuary of science. These two sentiments impelled me to enter into the society of Freemasons.
It is well known that the first step which one makes in the order is little calculated to satisfy the mind. That is precisely the danger to be dreaded for the inflammable imagination of youth. Scarcely had I attained my majority, when, not only did I find myself at the head of Masonry, but what is more, I occupied a distinguished place in the chapter of high grades. Before I had the power of knowing myself, before 1 could comprehend the situation in which I had rashly engaged myself, I foimd myself charged with the superior direction of the Masonic re-unions of a part of Prussia, of Poland, and of Russia. Masonry was, at that time, di\aded into two parts, in its secret labours. The first place in its emblems, the explanation of tlie philosopher's stone: Deism and non-Atheism was the religion of these sectaries. Tlie central seat of their labours was at Berlin, under the direction of the Doctor Zumdorf. It was not the same with the other part of which the Duke of Brunswick was the aj)parcnt Chief. In open
FREEMASONKY AFTER THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 55
that Wieshaupt and the inner Masonry no longer approved of Napoleon's autocracy, he managed very adroitly that the Emperor should grow cold with him. He was thus free to take adverse measures against his master, and to prepare himself for the coming change. The whole following of Bonaparte recruited from the Illuminati were ready to betray him. They could compass the fall of the tyrant, hut the difficulty for them was to find one suitable to put in his place. It was decreed in their highest council that whosoever should come upon the throne of France, should be as far removed as possible from being a friend to Catholicity or to any principle sustaining true religion. They therefore determined that, if at all possible, no member of the ancient House should reign ; and as soon as the allied sovereigns who were for the most part non-Catholic, had crushed Napoleon, these French Masons demanded the Pro- testant and Masonic King of Holland for King in France. This failing, they contrived by Masonic arts to obtain the first places in the Provisional Government which succeeded Napoleon. They endeavoured to make the most of the inevitable, and to rule the
conflict between themselves, the two parties gave each other tlie hand in order to obtain the dominion of the world, to conquer thrones, to serve themselves with Kings as an order, such was tlieir aim. It woidd be superfluous to explain to you in what manner, in my ardent curiosity, I came to know the secrets of the one party and of the other. The truth is the secret of the two sects is no longer a mystery for me, That secret is revolting.
" It was in the year 1777, tliat I became charged with the direction of one part of the Prussian lodges, three or four years before the Convent of Wilhelmsbad and the invasion of the lodges by Ilhuninism. My action extended even over the brothers dispersed throughout Poland and Russia. If I did not myself see it, I could not give myself even a plausible ex^^lauation of the carelessness with which Governments have been able to shut their eyes to such a disorder, a veritable state within a State. Not only were the chiefs in constant correspond- ence, and em^jloyed particular cyphers, but even they reciprocally sent emissaries one to another. To exercise a dominating influence over thrones, such was our aim, as it had been of the Knight Templars.
" I thus acquired the firm conviction that the drama commenced in 1788 and 1789, the French Revolution, the regicide with all its horrors, not only was then resolved upon, but was even the result of these associations and oaths, &c.
" Of all my contemporaries of that epoch there is not one left . . . My first care was to commimicate to William III. all my discoveries. We came to the conclusion that all the Masonic associations, from the most humble even to the very highest degrees, could not do otherwise than employ religious sentiments in order to execute plans the most criminal, and make use of the first in order to cover the second. This conviction, which His Highness Prince William held in common with me, caused me to take the firm resolution of renomicing Masonry."
56 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
incomms? Louis XVIIf., in the interests of their sect, and to the detriment of the Church and of Christianity.
Notwithstanding the fact that they had shown open hostility
to himself and to his house, Louis XVIIL , strange to say, favoured
the Illuminati. Talleyrand was made minister, and the other
advanced Freemasons of the Empire — Seyies, Cambaceres,
Fouche, and the rest — obtained place and power. These men at
once applied themselves to subvert the sentiment of reaction in
flivour of the monarchy and of religion. Soon, Louis XVIIL gave
the world the sad spectacle of a man prepared at their bidding
to cut his own throat. He dissolved a Parliament of ultra
loyalists because they were too loyal to him. The Freemasons
took care that his next Parliament should be full of its own
creatures. They also wrung from the King, under the plea of
freedom of the press, permission to deluge the country anew
with the infidel and immoral publications of Voltaire and his
confederates, and with newspapers and periodicals, which proved
disastrous to his house, to royalty, and to Christianity, in
France. These led before long to the attempt upon the life of
the Duke of Berry, to the revolution against Charles X., to the
elevation of the son of the Grand Master, Egalite, as Constitutional
King, and to all the revolutionary results that have since
distracted and disgraced unfortunate France. But much as
Freemasonry effected in that country, it was not there but in
peaceful Italy that its illuminated machinations produced the
worst and most wide-spread fruits of death. We shall see
this by a brief review of the Freemasonry which formed the
•
XI L
Kindred Secret Societies in Europe.
We have seen that the use made of Freemasonry by the Atheists of the last century was a very elastic one. As it came from England it had all the qualities required by the remorseless revolutionists, who so eagerly and so ably employed it for their
KINDRED SECRET SOCIETIES IN EUROPE. 57
purposes. Its hypocritical professions of Theism, of acceptation of the Bible, and of beneficence ; its terrible oaths of secrecy; its grotesque and absurd ceremonial, to which any meaning from the most silly to the deepest and darkest could be given ; its ascending degrees, each one demanding additional secrets, to be kept not only from outsiders, but from the lower degrees ; the death penalty for indiscretion or disobedience ; the system of mystery capable of any extension ; the hidden hierarchy ; in a word, all its qualities could be improved and elaborated at will by the Infidels of the Continent who had made British Masonry their own. Soon the strict subjection of all subordinate lodges to whatever Grand Orient or Mother Lodge they spring from, and on which they depend ; and, above all, the complete under- standing between the directors of the Masonic " powers," that is of the different rites into which the Masonry is divided, placed its entire government in a select ruling body, directed in turn by a small committee of the ablest conspirators, elected by and known to that body alone. The whole rank and file of Masonry receive their orders at present from this inner body, who are unknown to the mere masons of the lodges. The members of the committee deputed by the lodges are able to testify to the fact of the authenticity of the orders. Those who rule from the hidden recesses take care that these deputies shall be men worthy of confidence. A lodge, therefore, has its master, its officers, and management ; but its orders come through a channel that appears to be nothing, whereas it is everything in the movement of the whole mass. Thus it happens that the master of a lodge or the grand master of a province, or of a nation, whose high-sounding titles may make him seem to outsiders to be everything, is in reality often nothing at all in the actual government of Masonry. The real power rests with the hidden committee of direction, and confi- dential agents, who move almost invisibly amongst the officers and members of the lodges. These hidden agents of iniquity are vigilant spies, secret " wire pullers," who are seldom promoted
5S WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
to any ofl&ce, but content themselves with the real power which they are selected to use with dexterity and care.
It was through this system that Weishaupt obtained the adoption of illuminated Masonry at the convent of Wilhelmsbad. Through the machinations of Knigg, he obtained from the delegates there assembled, the approval of his plan that tlie ultimate end of Freemasonry and all secret plotting should be — 1°, Pantheism — a form of Atheism which flatters Masonic pride. 2°, Com- munism of goods, women, and general concerns. 3°, That the means to arrive at these ends should be the destruction of the Church, and of all forms of Christianity; the obliteration of every kind of supernatural belief; and, finally, 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. When these ends should be attained, but not till then, the secret work of the Atheistic Free- masons should cease.
At the convent of Wilhelmsbad, Weishaupt had the means taken to carry out this determination. There Masonry became one organized Atheistic mass, while being still permitted to assume many flmtastic shapes. The Knights Rossicrucian, the Templars, the Knights of Beneficence, the Brothers of Amity were strictly united to Illuminated Masonry. All could be reached through Masonry itself. All were placed under the same government. Masonry was made more elastic than ever. When, as in the cases of Ireland and Poland, an enslaved national- ity should be found, which the supreme Invisible Directory wished to revolutionize, and when, at the same time, the existing respect for the words of the Vicar of Christ made Masonry hateful, a secret political society was ordered to be formed on the plan of Free- masonry, but with some other name. It was to put on, after the example of Masonry itself, the semblance of zeal and respect for religion, but it was bound to have horrible oaths, ascending degrees, centres, the terrible death penalty for indiscretion or
KINDRED SECRET SOCIETIES IN EUEOrE. 59
treason, to be, in essence, and in every sense, if not in name, a society identical Avitli Freemasonry. The supreme direction of the Revolution was to contrive by sure means to have adepts high and powerful in its management ; and the society was, even if founded to defend the Catholic religion, thus sure, sooner or later, to diverge from the Church and to become hostile to religion and to its ministers. The Atheistic revolutionists of the Continent in the last century, learned to perfection the art to effect this ; and hence the ready assistance which men who were murdering priests in Paris and throughout France and Italy, gave to the Catholics of Ireland in '98. Was it to relieve the Catholics of Ireland from persecution, while they themselves were to a far more frightful extent oppressing the Catholic Church, the Catholic priesthood. Catholic religious, and Catholic people, for no other reason than the profession of the Catholic faith in France and Italy ? By no means. They, at the very time, had already corrupted Irishmen. Some of these were open Infidels and others were Jacobite Freemasons of no particular attach- ment to any form of Christianity. They shared in Napoleon's indifference to religion, and were as ready to profess zeal for their Catholic fellow countrymen, as he and his soldiers were ready to profess " love " for the Alkoran and the Prophet in Egypt, or for St. Januarius, in Naples. But they and their leaders in Black Masonry knew that once they could unite even the very best and truest Catholic men in Ireland into a secret society on such lines as I have described, they would soon find an entrance for Atheism into the country. They would not be wanting in means to win recruits by degrees from the best intentioned Catholics so bound by oaths, and so sub- jected to hidden influences. They were adepts at proselytism, especially amongst those who gave up liberty and will to unknown masters. If Irishmen, few indeed, thank God, but still Irishmen and Catholics, had lost their fliith in France at the period of the Revolution, what could save the Irish Catholics in Ireland from theefibrts and example of French and Irish Atheistic liberators?
60 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
Catholics suffered terribly under the Protestant domination, but they nobly kept their faith through the whole of that dreadful period. Their condition was bad during the penal days, but if the French obtained the mastery, even for a decade, at the Kevolution, it would be worse, I believe, for the Faith and liberty of Irish Catholics, than the previous two centuries of heretical persecution. Providence, moved by the prayers of God's Mother, of St. Patrick, and of the innumer- able host of Irish Saints and Martyrs, no doubt, saved the country ; and the agency of the Atheists of France was carried to work the mischief it intended for Ireland upon other Catholic lands. It forced its tyranny very soon upon Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and the Rhenish provinces of Germany. That was bad enough, but it was not all. When the French revolutionary armies had departed from these countries, after the fall of Bonaparte, they left, a deadly scourge that could not be removed, behind them. That was the system of Atheistic organization of which we have been speaking, and which was not slow in producing its malignant fruits.
In Catholic Italy, where the scourge of the Revolution fell most heavily, the misfortune happened thus : The discontent consequent upon the multitude of political parties in that country gave the secret machinators of the Weishaupt school a splendid opportunity of again renewing their intrigues ; while the miserable Government of the Bourbons in France, in permitting Freemasonry to flourish, afforded its supreme direction an opportunity to assist them in many ways. Public opinion in Germany was unripe for any Atheism unless veiled under the hypocritical pretences of the Tugenbund. In Italy, however, though religion was strong amongst all classes, the division of the country into small principalities caused the hopes of the revolutionists to be more sanguine than anywhere else, and the opportunity of dealing a blow at the temporal power of the Pope under the national pretext of a united Italy, was too great a temptation for the Supreme Masonic Directory to resist.
KINDRED SECRET SOCIETIES IN EUROPE. 61
Besides, it could not be forgotten by them, that in making past efforts the power of the Pope was the principal cause of tlieir many failures. They rightly judged that the complete destruc- tion of his temporal authority was essential to Atheism, and the first and most necessary step to their ultimate views upon all Christianity, and for the subjugation of the world to their sway. The temporal power was the stronghold, the rallying point of every legitimate authority in Europe. With a sure instinct of self- preservation, the Schismatical Lord of Russia, the Evangelical King of Prussia, the Protestant Governments of England, Denmark, and Sweden, as well as the ancient legitimate Catholic dynasties of Portugal, Austria, Bavaria, and Spain had determined at the Congress of Vienna on the restoration of the temporal dominions of the Pope. The Conservatives of Europe, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Schismatic, felt that while the States of the Church were preserved intact to the Head of the Catholic religion, their own rights would remain unquestioned — that to reach themselves his rights should be first assailed. The Atheistic conspiracy, guided now by old, experienced revolutionists, saw also that the conservatism of the world which they had to destroy in order to dominate in its stead, could not be undermined without first taking away the foundation of Christian civilization upon which it rested, and which unquestion- ably, even for Christian schismatics and heretics, was the temporal and the spiritual authority of the Pope. Having no idea of a divine preservation of the Christian religion, they judged that the destruction of the temporal power would lead inevitably to the destruction of the spiritual ; and as experience proved that it would be useless to attempt to destroy both altogether, they then set all their agencies at work to destroy the temporal power first. They, therefore, determined to create and ferment to the utmost extent a political discontent amongst the populations of the different states into which the Italian Peninsula was divided. Now this was a difiicult task in the face of the experience which the Italian people had gained of the revolutions and constant political
62 WAR OF ANTICHRIST "WITH THE CHURCH.
changes brought by the French from the first attempt of the Ee- public to the last of tlie Empu^e. The Congress of Vienna restored most of the ancient Italian States as well as the States of the Chiu'ch to the legitimate rulers. Peace and prosperity beyond what had been known for years began to reign in the Peninsula. The people in mass were profoundly contented. They were more Catholic than ever, notwithstanding all that the revolu- tionary agents of France did to pervert them. But there remained a dangerous fraction amidst the population not at all satisfied with the change which had so much improved the nation generally. This fraction consisted of those individuals and their children who benefitted by the revolutionary regime. They were the men who made themselves deputies in Rome, Naples, and elsewhere, and by the aid of French revolutionary bayonets seized upon Church property and became enriched by public spoliation. These still remained revolutionary to the core. Then, there was the interest effected by their party. And finally, there was that uneasy class, educated by the many cheap universities of the country in too great number, the sons of advocates and other professional men, who, tinged with liberalism, easily became the prey of the designing men who still remained addicted to the principles and were leagued in the secret organizations of Wieshaupt and his fellow Atheists. Even one of these youths corrupted and excited to ambition by the adroit manipulation of these emissaries of Satan, still active, though more imperceptible than ever, would be sufiicient to kindle a flame amongst his fellows capable of creating a wide discontent. Aided then by such elements, already at hand for their purposes, Wieshaupt and his hidden Directory determined to kindle such a flame of Eevolution in Italy, as in its effects should, before long, do more harm to religion and order, than even the French Revolution had caused in its sanguinary but brief career. They effected this by the formation, on the darkest lines of " illuminated " Masonry, of the terrible sect of —
THE CARBONARI. 63
XIII.
The Carbonari.
In this sect, the whole of the hitherto recognized principles of organized Atheism were perfected and intensified. In it, from the commencement, a cunning hypocrisy was the means most used as the best calculated to lead away a people Catholic to the very core. The first of the Carbonari that we have any distinct notice of, appeared at a season when Atheism, directed by Wieshaupt, was busy in forming everywhere secret associations for apparently no purpose other than political amelioration. He determined to try upon the peasantry of Italy the same arts which the French had intended for the Catholic peasantry of Ireland. The United Irishmen were banded together to demand, amongst other things, Catholic Emancipation. Never had a people greater reason to rise against oppression than the Catholics of Ireland of that period. They were urged on to do so, however, by leaders who, in many instances, were not Catholic, and who had no political grievance, and whose aim was the formation in Ireland of an independent republic ruled, of course, by themselves, on the model of the one which was established then in France. That seemed to the Catholic the only way to get out of the heretical domination which had for such a lengthened period oppressed his country. Now, the Carbonari of Italy were at first formed for a purpose identical with that of the United Irishmen. 'J'hey conspired to bring back their national independence ruined by the French, the freedom of their reli- gion, and their rightful Bourbon sovereign. With them it was made an indispensable obligation that each member should be not only a Catholic, but a Catholic going regularly to the Sacra- ments. They took for their Grand Master, Jesus Christ Our Lord. But, as I have said before, it is impossible for a secret society having a death penalty for breach of secret, having ascending degrees, and bound to blind obedience to hidden masters,
64 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
to remain any appreciable length of time without falling under the dominion of the Supreme Directory of organized Atheism. It was so with Carbonarism, wliich, having started on the purest Catholic and loyal lines, soon ended in being the very worst kind of secret society which Infidelity had then formed on the lines of Masonry. Very soon, Italian adepts in black Masonry invaded its ranks, the loudest in the protestation of religion and loyalty. Equally soon, these skilled, experienced, and unscrupulous veterans in dark intrigue obtained the mastery in its supreme direction, won over proselytes from fit conspirators, and had the whole association in their power. It was then easy to find abundant pretexts to excite the passions of the rank and file, to kindle hopes from revolution, to create political dissatisfaction, and to make the whole body of the sect what it has actually become. Italian genius soon outstripped the Germans in astuteness; and as soon, perhaps sooner, than Weishaupt passed away, the supreme government of all the secret societies of the world was exercised by the Alta Yendita or highest lodge of the Italian Carbonari. The Alta Vendita ruled the blackest Freemasonry of France, Germany, and England ; and until Mazzini wrenched the sceptre of the dark Empire from that body, it continued with consummate ability to direct the revolutions of Europe. It considered, with that wisdom peculiar to the children of darkness, that the conspiracy against the Holy See was the conspiracy in permanence. It employed its principal intrigues against the State, the surroundings, and the very person of the Pontifi". It had hopes, by its manipulations, to gain eventually, even the Pope himself, to betray the Christian cause, and then it well knew the universe would be placed at its feet. It left unmeasured freedom to the lodges of Masonry to carry on those revolutions of a political kind, which worked out the problems of the sect upon France, Spain, Italy, and otlier countries. It kept still greater movements to itself. The permanent instruction of this body to its adepts, will give you an idea of its power, its policy, and its principles. It says —
(■i
PERMANENT INSTRUCTION OF THE ALTA VENDITA. 65
XIV.
Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita. Ever since we have established ourselves as a body of *' action, and that order has commenced to reign in the bosom of " the most distant lodge, as in that one nearest the centre of ^ action, there is one thought which has profoundly occupied "the men who aspire to universal regeneration. That is tlie " thought of the enfranchisement of Italy , from which must one day " come the enfranchisement of the entire world, the fraternal re- " public, and the harmony of humanity. That thought has not yet '' been seized upon by our brethren beyond the Alps. They believe '^ that revolutionary Italy can only conspire in the shade, deal " some strokes of the poinard to sbirri and traitors, and tran- " quilly undergo the yoke of events which take place beyond " the Alps for Italy, but without Italy. This error has been " fatal to us on many occasions. It is not necessary to combat " it with phrases which would be only to propagate it. It is *•' necessary to kill it by facts. Thus, amidst the cares which have " the privilege of agitating the minds of the most vigorous of ''' our lodges, there is one which we ought never forget.
'' The Papacy has at all times exercised a decisive action " upon the affairs of Italy. By the hands, by the voices, by the pens, " by the hearts of its innumerable bishops, priests, monks, nuns, and " people in all latitudes, the Papacy finds devotedness without end '' readyformartyrdom,and thatto enthusiasm. Everywhere, when- '' ever it pleases to call upon them, it has friends ready to die or lose " all for its cause. This is an immense leverage which the Popes " alone have been able to appreciate to its full power, and as yet " they have used it only to a certain extent. To-day there is no " question of reconstituting for ourselves that power, the prestige '' of which is for the moment weakened. Our final end is that of " Voltaire and of the French Revolution, the destruction for ever '^ of Catholicism and even of the Christian idea which, if left '• standing on the ruins of Kome, would be the resuscitation of " Christianity later on. But to attain more certainly that result,
F
Q6 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
" and not prepare ourselves with gaiety of heart for reverses *' which adjourn indefinitely, or compromise for ages, the *' success of a good cause, we must not pay attention to " those braggarts of Frenchmen, those cloudy Germans, those " melancholy Englishmen, all of whom imagine they can kill " Catholicism, now with an impure song, then with an illogical " d(iduction ; at another time, with a sarcasm smuggled in like the " cottons of Great Britain. Catholicism has a life much more " tenacious than that. It has seen the most implacable, the most " terrible adversaries ; and it has often had the malignant pleasure '' of throwing holy water on the tombs of the most enraged. Let ^' us permit, then, our brethren of these countries to give themselves " up to the sterile intemperance of their anti-Catholic zeal. Let '' them even mock at our Madonnas and our apparent devotion. " With this passport we can conspire at our ease, and arrive little " by little at the end we have in view.
" Now the Papacy has been for seventeen centuries inherent " to the history of Italy. Italy cannot breathe or move without " the permission of the Supreme Pastor. With him she has the ** hundred arms of Briareus, without him she is condemned to a " pitiable impotence. She has nothing but divisions to foment, " hatreds to breakout, and hostilities to manifest themselves from '' the highest chain of the Alps to the lowest of the A ppenines. We " cannot desire such a state of things. It is necessary, then, to " seek a remedy for that situation. The remedy is found. The Pope, " whoever he may be, will never come to the secret societies. It ^' is for the secret societies to come first to the Church, in the " resolve to conquer the two.
" The work which we have undertaken is not the work of a " day, nor of a month, nor of a year. It may last many years, a '' century perhaps, but in our ranks the soldier dies and the fight " continues.
" We do not mean to win the Popes to our cause, to make " them neophytes of our principles, and propagators of our ideas. " That would be a ridiculous dream, no matter in what manner
PERMANENT INSTRUCTION OF THE ALTA VENDITA. 67
'^ events may turn. Should cardinals or prelates, for example, " enter, willingly or by surprise, in some manner, into a part of " our secrets, it would be by no means a motive to desire their '* elevation to the See of Peter. That elevation would destroy us. " Ambition alone would bring them to apostasy from us. The needs " of power would force them to immolate us. That which we ought " to demand, that which we should seek and expect, as the Jews " expected the Messiah, is a Pope according to our wants. " Alexander VI., with all his private crimes, would not suit ''us, for he never erred in religious matters. Clement " XIV., on the contrary, would suit us from head to foot. " Borgia was a libertine, a true sensualist of the eighteenth " century strayed into the fifteenth. He has been anathe- " matized, notwithstanding his vices, by all the voices of " philosophy and incredulity, and he owes that anathema to the *' vigour with which he defended the Church. Ganganelli gave " himself over, bound hand and foot,to the ministers of the Bourbons, " who made him afraid, and to the incredulous who celebrated his " tolerance, and Ganganelli is become a very great Pope. He is "■ almost in the same condition that it is necessary for us to find " another, if that be yet possible. With that we should march more " surely to the attack upon the Church than with the pamphlets *• of our brethren in France, or even with the gold of England. * ' Do you wish to know the reason ? It is because by that we '' should have no more need of the vinegar of Hannibal, no more " need the powder of cannon, no more need even of our arms. We " have the little finger of the successor of St. Peter engaged in " the plot, and that little finger is of more value for our crusade " than all the Innocents, the Urbans, and the St. Bernards of " Christianity.
" We do not doubt that we shall arrive at that supreme term " of all our efforts ; but when ? but how ? The unknown does '' not yet manifest itself. Nevertheless, as nothing should separate " us from the plan traced out; as, on the contrary, all things should " tend to it,— as if success were to crown the work scarcely sketched
68 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
" out to-moiTow, — we wish in this instruction which must rest a " secret for the simple initiated, to give to those of the Supreme- " Lodge, councils with which they should enlighten the universality " of the brethren, under the form of an instruction or memorandum. " It is of special importance, and because of a discretion, the •' motives of which are transparent, never to permit it to be felt " that these counsels are orders emanating from the Alta Vendita. '' The clergy is put too much in peril by it, that one can at the " present hour permit oneself to play with it, as with one of these '' small affairs or of these little princes upon which one need but " blow to cause them to disappear.
" Little can be done with those old cardinals or with those "prelates, whose character is very decided. It is necessary to " leave them as we find them, incorrigible, in the school of " Consalvi, and draw from our magazines of popularity or *' unpopularity the arms which will render useful or ridiculous the " power in their hands. A word which one can ably invent and " which one has the art to spread amongst certain honourable " chosen families by whose means it descends into the cafes, and "from the cafes into the streets; a word can sometimes kill a man. " If a prelate comes to Kome to exercise some public function from "the depths of the provinces, know presently his character, his " antecedents, his qualities, his defects above all things. If he is '' in advance, a declared enemy, an Albani, a Fallotta. a Bernetti, " a Delia Genga, a Riverola? Envelope him in all the snares " which you can place beneath his feet ; create for him one of those " reputations which will frighten little children and old women ; "paint him cruel and sanguinary ; recount, regarding him, some '' traits of cruelty which can be easily engraved in the minds of " the people. When foreign journals shall gather for us these " recitals, which they will embellish in their turn, (inevitably " because of their respect for truth) show, or rather cause to be " shown, by some respectable fool those papers where the names " and the excesses of the personages implicated are related. As " France and England, so Italy will never be wanting in facile
PERMANENT INSTRUCTION OF THE ALTA VENDITA. 69
*' pens wliicli know how to employ themselves in these lies so useful " to the good cause. With a newspaper, the language of which " they do not understand, but in which they will see the name of '' their delegate or judge, the people have no need of other proofs. " They are in the infancy of liberalism ; they believe in liberals, " as, later on, they will believe in us, not knowing very well why. " Crush the enemy whoever he may be ; crush the powerful " by means of lies and calumnies ; but especially crush him in the " egg. It is to the youth we must go. It is that which we " must seduce ; it is that which we must bring under the banner " of the secret societies. In order to advance by steps, calculated " but sure, in that perilous way, two things are of the first " necessity. You ought have the air of being simple as doves, but " you must be prudent as the serpent. Your fathers, your children, " your wives themselves, ought always be ignorant of the secret " which you carry in your bosoms. If it pleases you, in order the '"' better to deceive the inquisitorial eye, to go often to confession, " you are, as by right authorised, to preserve the most absolute " silence regarding these things. You know that the least revela- tion, that the slightest indication escaped from you in the tribunal of penance, or elsewhere, can bring on great calamities, '^ and that the sentence of death is already pronounced upon the " revealer, whether voluntary or involuntary.
'^ Now then, in order to secure to us a Pope in the manner " required, it is necessary to fashion for that Pope a generation " worthy of the reign of which we dream. Leave on one side old age and middle life, go to the youth, and, if possible, even to infancy. ' Never speak in their presence a word of impiety or impurity. Maxima dehetur jpuero reverentia. Never forget these words of '' the poet for they will preserve you from licences which it is " absolutely essential to guard against for the good of the cause. "In order to reap profit at the home of each family, in order to " give yourself the right of asylum at the domestic hearth, you '' ought to present yourself with all the appearance of a man " grave and moral. Once your reputation is established in the
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70 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
" colleges, in the gymnasiuras, in the universities, and in the "seminaries — once that you shall have captivated the confidence of " professors and students, so act that those who are principally " engaged in the ecclesiastical state should love to seek your " conversation. Nourish their souls with the splendours of ancient " Papal Rome. There is always at the bottom of the Italian " heart a regret for Republican Rome. Excite, enkindle those •' natures so full of warmth and of patriotic fire. Ofi'er them at " first, but always in secret, inoffensive books, poetry resplendent " with national emphasis ; then little by little you will bring your •' disciples to the degree of cooking desired. When upon all the " points of the ecclesiastical state at once, this daily work shall " have spread our ideas as the light, then you will be able to " appreciate the wisdom of the counsel in which we take the " initiative.
" Events, which in our opinion, precipitate themselves too " rapidly, go necessarily in a few months' time to bring on an " intervention of Austria. There are fools who in the lightness of " their hearts please themselves in casting others into the midst *' of perils, and, meanwhile, there are fools who at a given hour *•' drag on even wise men. The revolution which they meditate in " Italy will only end in misfortunes and persecutions. Nothing is " ripe, neither the men nor the things, and nothing shall be for a " long time yet ; but from these evils you can easily draw one new " chord, and cause it to vibrate in the hearts of the young " clergy. That is the hatred of the stranger. Cause the German 'Ho become ridiculous and odious even before his foreseen entry. " With the idea of the Pontifical supremacy, mix always the old " memories of the wars of the priesthood and the Empire. *' Awaken the smouldering passions of the Guelphs and the " Ghibellines, and thus you will obtain for yourselves the '^ reputation of good Catholics and pure patriots.
" That reputation will open the way for our doctrines to pass " to the bosoms of the young clergy, and go even to the depths of " convents. In a few years the young clergy will have, by the
PERMANENT INSTRUCTION OF THE ALTA VENDITA. 7 1
" force of events, invaded all the functions. They "will govern, '' administer, and judge. They will form the council of the "Sovereign. They will be called upon to choose the Pontiff " who will reign ; and that Pontiff, like the greater part of his "contemporaries, will be necessarily imbued with the Italian and "humanitarian principles which we are about to put in circula- " tion. It is a little grain of mustard which we place in the " earth, but the sun of justice will develop it even to be a great " power ; and you will see one day what a rich harvest that " little seed will produce.
"In the way which we trace for our brethren there are "found great obstacles to conquer, difficulties of more than one " kind to surmount. They will be overcome by experience and " by perspicacity ; but the end is beautiful. What does it matter " to put all the sails to the wind in order to attain it. You "wish to revolutionize Italy? Seek out the Pope of whom we " give the portrait. You wish to establish the reign of the elect " upon the throne of the prostitute of Babylon ? Let the clergy '' march under your banner in the belief always that they march " under the banner of the Apostolic Keys. You wish to cause the '' last vestige of tyranny and of oppression to disappear ? Lay "your nets like Simon Barjona. Lay them in the depths of " sacristies, seminaries, and convents, rather than in the depths of "the sea, and if you will precipitate nothing you will give " yourself a draught of fishes more miraculous than his. The " fisher of fishes will become a fisher of men. You will bring your- " selves as friends around the Apostolic Chair. You will have "fished up a Revolution in Tiara and Cope, marching with Cross "and banner — a Revolution which it will need but to be "spurred on a little to put the four quarters of the world " on fire.
" Let each act of your life tend then to discover the Philo- " sopher's Stone. The alchemists of the middle ages lost their " time and the gold of their dupes in the quest of this dream. " That of the secret societies will be accomplished for the most
72 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
''simple of reasons, because it is based on the passions of man. " Let us not be discouraged then by a check, a reverse, or a " defeat. Let us prepare our arms in the silence of the lodges, *' dress our batteries, flatter all passions the most evil and the " most generous, and all lead us to think that our plans will " succeed one day above even our most improbable calculations." This document reveals the whole line of action followed since by the Italian Revolutionists. It gives also a fair insight into tactics with which other European countries have been made familiar by Freemasonry generally. But we are in posses- sion of what appears to me a still more striking document, written for the benefit of the Piedmontese lodges of Carbonari, by one of the Alta Vendita, whose pseudonym was Piccolo Tigre — Little Tiger. I may here mention that the custom of taking these fanciful appellations has been common to the secret societies from the very beginning. Arouet became Voltaire, the notorious Baron Kuigg was called Philo, Baron Dittfort was called Minos, and so of the principal chiefs of the dark Atheistic conspiracy then and since. The first leader or grand chief of the Alta Vendita was a corrupt Italian nobleman who took the name of NuUus. From such documents as he, before his death, managed, in revenge for being sacrificed by the party of Mazzini, as we shall see, to have communicated to the authorities of Eome ; or which were found by the vigilance of the Roman detective police ; we find that his funds, and the funds for carrying on the deep and dark conspiracy in which he and his confederates were engaged, came chiefly from rich German Jews. Jews, in fact, from the commencement, played always a prominent part in the conspiracies of Atheism. They do so still. Piccolo Tigre, who seems to have been the most active agent of JSfuhius, was a Jew. He travelled under the appearance of aif itinerant banker and jeweller. This character of money-lender . or usurer disarmed suspicion regarding himself and such ot his confederates as he had occasion to call upon in his peregrina- tions. Of course he had the protection of the Masonic body
LETTER OF PICCOLO TIGRE, ETC. 73
everywhere. The most desperate revolutionists were generally the most desperate scoundrels otherwise. They were gamblers, spendthrifts, and the very class with which an usurious Jew would be expected to have money dealings. Piccolo Tigre thus travelled safely ; and brought safely to the superior lodges of the Carbonari, such instruci:ions as the Alta Yendita thought proper to give. In the document referred to, which I shall now read for you, it will be seen how anxious the Secret Directory were to make use of the most common form of Masonry not- withstanding the contempt they had for the hons vivants who only learned from the craft how to become drunkards and liberals. Beyond the Masons, and unknown to them, thougli formed generally from them, lay the deadly secret conclave which, nevertheless, used and directed them for the ruin of the world and of their own selves. The following is a translation of the document 1 speak of, called" an instruction," and addressed by Piccolo Tigre to the Piedmontese lodges of the Carbonari : —
XV.
Letter or Piccolo Tigre, &c.
'^ In the impossibility in which our brothers and friends ''find themselves, to say, as yet, their last word, it has been "judged good and useful to propagate the light everywhere, and " to set in motion all that which aspires to move. For this " reason we do not cease to recommend to you, to affiliate "persons of every class to every manner of association, no " matter of what kind, only provided that mystery and secrecy " shoidd he the dominant characteristics. All Italy is covered "with religious confraternities, and with penitents of divers " colours. Do not fear to slip in some of your people into the " very midst of these flocks, led as they are by a stupid devotion. "Let our agents study with care the persoymel of these confra- " ternity men, and they will see that little by little, they will " not be wanting in a harvest. Under a pretext the most futile, " but never political or religious, create by yourselves, or,
74 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
" better yet, cause to be created by others, associations, having "commerce, industry, music, the fine arts, etc., for object.^ " Reunite in one place or another, — in the sacristies or chapels " even, — these tribes of yours as yet ignorant : put them under " the pastoral staff of some virtuous priest, well known, but '' credulous and easy to be deceived. Then infiltrate the poison " into those chosen hearts ; infiltrate it in little doses, and, as if " by chance. Afterwards, upon reflection, you will yourselves be " astonished at your success.
" The essential thing is to isolate a man from his family, to "■ cause him to lose his morals. He is sufficiently disposed by " the bent of his character to flee from household cares, and to " run after easy pleasures and forbidden joys. He loves the " long conversations of the cafe and the idleness of shows. " Lead him along, sustain him, give him an importance *' of some kind or other ; discreetly teach him to grow weary of " his daily labours, and by this management, after having " separated him from his wife and from his children, and after " having shown him how painful are all his duties, you will then " excite in him the desire of another existence. Man is a born " rebel. Stir up the desire of rebellion until it becomes a con- '^ flagration, but in such a manner that the conflagration may " not break out. This is a preparation for the grand work that *' you should commence. When you shall have insinuated into "a few souls disgust for family and for religion (the one
^ Mazzini, after exhorting his followers to attract as many of the higher classes as possible to the secret plotting, which has resulted in united Italy, and is meant to result in republican Italy as a prelude to republican Europe, says, " Associate, associate. All is contained in that word. The secret societies can give an irresistible force to the party who are able to invoke them. Do not fear to see them divided. The more they are divided the better it will be. All of them advance to the same end by different paths. The secret will be often imveiled. So much the better. The secret is necessary to give security to members, but a certain transparency is necessary to strike fear into those wishing to remain stationary. When a great number of associates who receive the word of command to scatter an idea abroad and make it public opinion, can concert even for a moment they will find the old edifice pierced in all its parts, and falling, as if by a miracle, at the least breath of progress. They will themselves be astonished to see kings, lords, men of capital, priests, and all those who form the carcass of the old social edifice, fly before the sole power of public opinion. Courage, then, and perseverance.''
LETTER OF PICCOLO TIGRE, ETC. 75
'* nearly always follows in the wake of the otherj, let fall some " words from you, which will provoke the desire of being affiliated " to the nearest lodge. That vanity of the citizen or the burgess, '•'to be enfeodated to Freemasonry, is something so common '^ and so universal that it always makes me wonder at human " stupidity. I begin to be astonished at not seeing the entire " world knock at the gates of all the Venerables, and demand from " these gentlemen the honour to be one of the workmen chosen '' for the reconstruction of the temple of Solomon. The prestige '' of the unknown exercises upon men a certain kind of power, " that they prepare themselves with trembling for the phantas- " magoric trials of the initiation and of the fraternal banquet.
" To find oneself a member of a lodge, to feel oneself called '^upon to guard from wife and children, a secret which is never " confided to you, is for certain natures a pleasure and an am- '' bition. The lodges, to-day, can well create gourmands, they " will never bring forth citizens. There is too much dining " amongst the right worshipful and right reverend brethren of all " the Ancients. But they form a place of depot, a kind of stud " (breeding ground), a centre through which it is necessary to * ' pass before coming to us. The lodges form but a relative evil, " an evil tempered by a false philanthropy, and by songs yet "more false as in France. All that is too pastoral and too ''gastronomic ; but it is an object which it is necessary to en- " courage without ceasing. In teaching a man to raise his glass " to his lips you become possessed of his intelligence and of his " liberty, you dispose of him, turn him round about, and study ''him. You divine his inclinations, his affections, and his *' tendencies ; then, when he is ripe for us, we direct him to the " secret society of which Freemasonry can be no more than the " antechamber.
" The Alta Vendita desires, that under one pretence or " another, as many princes and wealthy persons as possible " should be introduced into the Masonic lodges. Princes of a " sovereign house, and those who have not the legitimate hope
76 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
" of being kings by the grace of God, all wish to be kings by the " grace of a Kevolution. The Duke of Orleans is a Freemason, " the Prince of Carignan was one also. There are not wanting '' in Italy and elsewhere, those amongst them, who aspire to the " modest-enough honours of the symbolic apron and trowel. " Others of them are disinherited and proscribed. Flatter all of " their number who are ambitious of popularity ; monopolize "them for Freemasonry. The Alta Yendita will afterwards see " what it can do to utilize them in the cause of progress. " A prince who has not a kingdom to expect, is a good for- " tune for us. There are many of them in that plight. Make "Freemasons of them. The lodge will conduct them to Car- " bonarism. A day will come, perhaps, when the Alta Vendita " will deign to affiliate them. While awaiting they will serve as " birdlime for the imbeciles, the intriguing, the bourgeoisie, and " the needy. These poor princes will serve our ends, while " thinking to labour only for their own. They form a magnificent " sign board, and there are always fools enough to be found, who '-^are ready to compromise themselves in the service of a " conspiracy, of which some prince or other seems to be the " ringleader.
" Once that a man, that a prince, that a prince especially, " shall have commenced to grow corrupt, be persuaded that he " will hardly rest upon the declivity. There is little morality " even amongst the most moral of the world, and one goes fast " in the way of that progress. Do not then be dismayed to see " the lodges flourish, while Carbonarism recruits itself with ' difficulty. It is upon the lodges that we count to double our " ranks. They form, without knowing it, our preparatory " novitiate. They discourse without end upon the dangers of " fanaticism, upon the happiness of social equality, and upon *'the grand principles of religious liberty. They launch amidst " their feastings thundering anathemas against intolerance " and persecution. This is positively more than we require to " make adepts. A man imbued with these fine things is not
u
LETTER OF riCCOLO TIGRE, ETC. 77
" very far from us. There is nothing more requn-ed than to " enlist liira. The Law of social progress is there, and all there. " You need not take the trouble to seek it elsewhere. In the " present circumstances never lift the mask. Content yourselves " to prowl about the Catholic sheepfold, but as good wolves "seize in the passage the first lamb who oifers himself in the " desired conditions. The burgess has much of that which is '^ good for us, the prince still more. For all that, these lambs " must not be permitted to turn themselves into foxes like the " infamous Carignan. The betrayal of the oath is a sentence " of death ; and all those princes whether they are weak or " cowardly, ambitious or repentant, betray us, or denounce us. " As good fortune would have it, they know little, in fact not " anything, and they cannot come upon the trace of our true " mysteries.
" Upon the occasion of my last journey to France, I saw " with profound satisfaction, that our young initiated exhibited " an extreme ardour for the diffusion of Carbonarism ; but I also " found that they rather precipitated the movement a little. As " I think, they converted their religious hatred too much into a " political hatred. The conspiracy against the Roman See, should " not confound itself with other projects. We are exposed to " see germinate in the bosom of secret societies, ardent ambitions ; " and the ambitious, once masters of power, may abandon us. " The route which we follow is not as yet sufiiciently well traced " so as to deliver us up to intriguers and- tribunes. It is of ^' absolute necessity to de-Catholicise the world. And an "ambitious man, having arrived at his end, will guard himself " well from seconding us. The Revolution in the Church is the ^^ 'ReYoliition en jyermanence. It is the necessary overthrowing " of thrones and dynasties. Now an ambitious man cannot " really wish these things. We see higher and farther. Endeavour '' therefore to act for us, and to strengthen us. Let us not con- " spire except against Rome. For that, let us serve ourselves " with all kinds of incidents ; let us put to profit every kind of
78 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
" eventuality. Let us be principally on oiir guard against the " exaggerations of zeal. A good hatred, thoroughly cold, " thoroughly calculated, thoroughly profound, is of more worth "than all these artificial fires and all these declamations of the " platform. At Paris they cannot comprehend this, but in " London I have seen men who seized better upon our plan, and '' who associated themselves to us with more fruit. Considerable " offers have been made to me. Presently we shall have a print- " ing establishment at Malta placed at our disposal. We shall " then be able with impunity, with a sure stroke, and under the " British flag, to scatter from one end of Italy to the other, books, "pamphlets, etc., which the Alta Vendita shall judge proper '' to put in circulation."
This document was issued in 1822. Since then, the instruc- tions it gives have been constantly acted upon in the lodges of Carbonarisra, not only in Italy but everywhere else. " Prowl about the Catholic sheepfold and seize the first lamb that presents himself in the required conditions." This, and the order to get into Catholic confraternities, were as well executed by the infamous Carey under the influence of " No. One," as they were by any Italian conspirator and assassin^ under the personal inspiration of Piccolo Tigre. Carey, the loud-spoken Catholic — the Catholic who had Freemason or Orange friends able to assist him in the truly Masonic way of getting members of the craft as Town-Councillors, or Aldermen, or Members of Parliament — was, We now know, a true secret-society hypocrite of the genuine Italian type. He prowled with effect round the Catholic sheepfold. He joined " with fruit " the confraternities of the Church. Well may we pray that God may guard from such Satanic influences the noble, generous-hearted, faithful young men of Ireland at home and in all the lands of their vast colonization. The scoundrel that presents the "knife" or the " prayer-book " ready to swear them in, is a murderer in intention, and in effect whenever he dares to be, with a chance of impunity. He is ready to drag them in the toils of the
LETTER OF PICCOLO TIGRE, ETC. 79
Carbonari, for whetlier a secret society be Irish, English, or American ; whether Fenian or Invincible, no matter by what name it may be called, it is still black Masonry — Carbonarism pure and simple. And the lost hypocrite and assassin who tempts incautious youth, under the pretence of patriotism, to join any such society, is ever, like Carey, as ready to betray as he is to '' swear in " his victim.
Another curious instruction given by the Alta Vendita to the Carbonari of the lower lodges, is the way to catch a priest and make the good, simple man, unconsciously aid the designs of the revolutionary sectaries. In the permanent instruction of the Alta Vendita, given to all the lodges, ycu will recollect the passage I read for you relative to the giving of bad names to faithful Prelates who may be too knowing or too good to do the work of the Car])onari against conscience, God, and the souls of men. " Ably find out the words and the ways to make them unpopular " is the sum of that advice. Has it not been attempted amongst ourselves ? But the main advice of the permanent instruction is to seduce the clergy. The ecclesiastic to be deceived is to be led on by patriotic ardour. He is to be blinded by a constant, though, of course, false, and fatal popularity. He is to be made believe that his course, so very pleasant to flesh and blood, is not only the most patriotic but the best for religion. " A free Church in a free State," was the cry with which the sectaries pulled down the altars, banished the religious, seized upon Church property, robbed the Pope, and despoiled the Propaganda. There were ecclesiastics so far deceived, at one time, as to be led away by these cries in Italy, and ecclesiastics have been deceived, if not by these, at least by cries as false and fatal elsewhere to our knowledge. The seduction of foremost ecclesiastics, prelates, and bishops, was the general policy of the sect at all times, and it remains so everywhere to this day.
The rank and file of the Carbonari had to do with local priests and local men of influence. These were, if possible, to be
80 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
corrupted, unnerved, and seduced. There was a method for that, " the corruption of the clergy by ourselves " devised. Each Carbonaro was moreover ordered to try and corrupt a fellow Christian, a man of family, by means that the devil himself incarnate could not devise better for the purpose.
At the end of his letter, Piccolo Tigre glances at means of corruption which he hoped then — and his hopes were soon realized to the full — to have in operation for the scattering of Masonic " light " throughout Italy. We have another document which will enable us to judge of the nature of this " light." It is contained in a letter from Vindex to JViibius, and was meant to cause the ideas of the Alta Vendita to pass through the lodges. It is found in that convenient form of questioning which the Sultan propounds to the Chiek-ul- Islam when he wants to make war. He puts his reasons in a set of questions, and the Chiek replies in as many answers. Then the war is right in the sight of Allah, and so all Islam go to fight in a war so sanctified. The new Islam does the same. A skilfully devised set of questions are posed for the con- sideration of one member of the A Ita Vendita by another, and the answer which has been well concocted in secret conclave, is of course either given or implied to be given by the nature of the case. The horrible quality of the diabolical measures proposed by Vindex to Nubius in this form for the desired destruction of the Church, cannot be surpassed. If he dis- countenances assassination, it is not from fear or loathing of that frightful crime, but simply because it is not the best policy. He certainly did fall in upon t]ie only blow that could — if that were possible, which, thank God, it is not — destroy the Church of God, and place, as he well says, Catholicity ii^ the tomb. This a translation of the document : —
" Castellamare, ^th August, 1838. " The murders of which our people render themselves cul- '• pable now in France, now in Switzerland, and always in Italy,
LETTER OF riCCOLO TIGRE, ETC. 81
" are for us a shame and a remorse. It is the cradle of the " world, illustrated by the epilogue of Cain and Abel, and we *' are too far in progress to content ourselves with such means. " To what purpose does it serve to kill a man ? To strike fear " into the timid and to keep audacious hearts far from us ? Our " predecessors in Cai'bonarism did not understand their power. " It is not in the blood of an isolated man, or even of a traitor, " that it is necessary to exercise it ; it is upon the masses. Let " us not individualize crime. In order to grow great, even to '• the proportions of patriotism and of hatred for the Church, it is " necessary to generalize it. A stroke of the dagger signifies " nothing, produces nothing. "What does the world care for a few '* unknown corpses cast upon the highAvay by the vengeance of " secret societies? What matters it to the world, if the blood " of a workman, of an artist, of a gentleman, or even of a prince, " has flown in virtue of a sentence of Mazzini, or certain of his " cut-throats playing seriously at the Holi/ Vehme. The world " has not time to lend an ear to the last cries of the victim. It " passes on and forgets ; it is we, my Nubius, we alone, that can " suspend its march. Catholicism has no more fear of a well- " sharpened stiletto than monarchies have, but these two bases " of social order can foil by corruption. Let us then never *' cease to corrupt. Tertullian was right in sayhig, that the " blood of martyrs was the seed of Christians. It is decided in " our councils, and we do not desire any more Christians. Let " us, then, not make martyrs, but let us popularise vice amongst " the multitudes. Let us cause them to draw it m by their five " senses ; to drink it in ; to be saturated with it ; and that land ^' which Aretinus has sown is always disposed to receive lewd " teachings. Make vicious hearts, and you will have no more " Catholics. Keep the priest away from labour, from the altar, *' from virtue. Seek adroitly to otherwise occupy his thoughts " and his hours. Make him lazy, a gourmand, and a patriot. "He will become ambitious, intriguing, and perverse. You "will thus have a thousand times better accomplished your task,
82 WAR OF ANTICHRIST WITH THE CHURCH.
" than if you had blunted the point of your stiletto upon the '' bones of some poor wretches. I do not wish, nor do you " any more, my friend Nubius, is it not so ? to devote my life " to conspiracies, in order to be dragged along in the old " ruts.
" It is corruption en masse that we have undertaken; the " corruption of the people by the clergy, and the corruption of " the clergy by ourselves : the corruption which ought, one day, " to enable us to put the Church in her tomb. I have recently " heard one of our friends, laughing in a philosophic manner at *^ our projects, say to us : "in order to destroy Catholicism it is " necessary to commence by suppressing woman." The words " are true in a sense ; but since we cannot suppress woman, let " us corrupt her with the Church, corruptio ojJthiii jy^ssima. " The object we have in view is sufficiently good to tempt men " such as we are ; let us not separate ourselves from it for some *' miserable personal satisfaction of vengeance. The best poniard '* with which to strike the Church is corruption. To the work *' then, even to the very end."
The horrible programme of impurity here proposed was at once adopted. It was after all but an attempt more deter- mined than ever, to spread the immorality of which Voltaire and his school were the apostles. At the time the Aha Vendita propounded this infernal plan they were resisting an inroad upon their authority on the part of Joseph Mazzini, just then coming into notoriety, who, however, overcame them.
Mazzini developed and taught, in his grandiloquent style, as well as practised the doctrine of assassination^ which formed,
' The following extracts from the rules of the Carbonari of Italy, " Young Italy," will give an idea of the spirit and intent of the order as improved by the warlike and organizing genius of INIazziui : —
Art. I. — The society is formed for the indispensable destruction of all the Governments of the Peninsula and to form of Italy one sole State under a Republican Government.
Art. II. — Having experienced the horrible e\als of absolute power and those yet greater of constitutional monarchies, we ought to work to found a Republic one and indivisible.
Art. XXX. — Those who do not obey the orders of the secret society, or
LETTER OF PICCOLO TIGPvE, ETC. 83
we know, a part of the system of all secret societies, and which the Alta Vendita deprecated because they feared that it was about being employed, just then, against the members of their own body. Mazzini speaks of having arisen from his bed one morning fully satisfied as to the lawfulness of removing whom- soever he might be pleased to consider an enemy, by the dagger, and fully determined to put that horrible principle into execution. He cherished it as the simplest means given to an oppressed people to free themselves from tyrants. But however much he laboured to make his terrible creed plausible, as being only permissible against tyrants and traitors, it was readily foreseen how easily it could be extended, until it became a capital danger for the sectaries themselves. Human nature could never become so base and so blinded as not to revolt against a principle so pernicious. It may last for a season amidst the first pioneers of the A Ita Vendita, amongst the Black-Hand in Spain, amongst the Nihilists in Eussia, amongst the Invincibles in Ireland, amongst the Trade- Unionists of the Bradlaugh stamp in England, or amongst the
who shall reveal its mysteries, shall be poniarded without remission. The same chastisement for traitors.
Art. XXXI. — The secret tribunal shall pronounce the sentence and shall design one or two affiliated members for its immediate execution.
Art. XXXII. — Whoever shall refuse to execute the sentence shall be con- sidered a perjurer, and as such shall be killed on the spot.
Art. XXXIII. — If the culpable individual escape he shall be pursued without intermission in every place, and he ought be struck by an invisible hand, even should he take refuge in the bosom of his mother or in the tabernacles of Christ.
Art. XXXIV. — Every secret tribunal shall be competent not only to judge the culpable adepts, but also to cause to be put to death every person whom it shall have stricken with anathema.
Art. XXXIX. — The officers shall carry a dagger of antique form, the sub- officers and soldiers shall have guns and bayonets, togetlier with a poniard a foot long attached to their cincture, and upon which they will take oath, &c.
A large nvmiber of inspectors of police, generals, and statesmen, were assassinated by order of these tribimals. The lodges assisted in that work. Eckart says. La Frcmc-Ma^onnerie, t. ii., p. 218, 219 — "Mazzini was the head of that Yoimg Europe and of the warlike power of Freemasonry, and we find in the Latomia that the minister Nothorub, who had retii-ed from it, say to