ILLUMINATI, a secret association which existed in Get many, some time previous to the French revolution, and which has been supposed to have been connected with the masonic institutions on the continent. This associa tion was founded in 1775, by Dr. Adam Weishaupt, pro fessor of canon law in the University of Ingolstadt. The pro fessed objects of the institution were, to introduce more en lightened ideas of government, to disseminate a knowledge of the sciences, and to promote the interests of virtue ; but its members have been accused, not without some appear ance of reason, of inculcating speculative opinions, equally hostile to the principles of sound religion and social order.
Soon after the commencement of the French revolution, the attention of the public was eagerly directed towards the plan and objects of this association, which then indeed no longer existed, but whose members were supposed to have exercised no inconsiderable portion of activity and in fluence, in producing the peculiar temper, and directing the political events of the times; and the works of the Abbi; Barrucl and Professor Robison, in which the secret and active exertions of the order were sought to be developed, were perused with extraordinary interest and avidity. It seems, now, however, to be pretty generally acknow ledged, that these, and other authors, were induced to ascribe to this institution an extent and an influence, which in reality it never possessed ; and that, in particu lar, the secret machinations and wicked practices of the illuminati were excessively magnified by the heated ima gination of the French priest, and the honest credulity of our distinguished countryman. The history of the order of the illuminati indeed is involved in much obscurity ; and this circumstance, which has led some, perhaps natu rally enough, to overrate its influence, (mune ignotum pro magnifico) affords to our mind no mean evidence of its insignificance. Time, however, has contributed to dimi nish the imaginary importance of this formidable associa tion ; and the following short statement contains the gene ral result of all the information we have been able to ob tain, relative to this once interesting, but now almost for gotten subject.
It is well known that since the period of the reform ation, the various states and principalities of the Ger man empire were not more strictly defined by territorial limits, than by different professions of faith. Throughout those provinces which had adopted the new doctrines a spirit of liberal enquiry was excited, which, if un obstructed by other causes, promised to prove highly beneficial to science, and to the interests of humanity; while, at the same time, the diffusion of useful know ledge and enlightened opinions was generally encou raged, in a greater or less degree, by the different gas ernments. A sort of rivalry, indeed, took place among the several principalities, and each, according to its means, endeavoured to surpass its neighbours in the (.umber and the splendour of its literary institutions. In those states, on the other hand, which adhered to the doc trines and discipline of the Romish church, an opposite line of policy was pursued by the rulers. Afraid, it would seem, lest the light of science should dispel those ancient prejudices, upon which they c( nceived that the security of their civil and religious establishments principally depend ed, they endeavoured to insulate themselves limn their mare enlightened neighbours, to exercise a species of sur l.tillance over the intellects of their subjects, by means of edicts levelled against the commerce of literature, and to oppose the antidote of ignorance to the contagion of know ledge. But it was no easy matter to exclude this dreaded
pestilence, or to keep the sick separate from the uninfect ed, in a country whose inhabitants boasted one common origin, and spoke one common language, and possessed the means of frequent intercourse with each other. Some scattered rays of the surrounding light would easily pene trate the intervening gloom,—enough at least to spew those upon whom they fell the darkness in which they were placed, and to excite in them a desire for a more extensive prospect. In none of the provinces of Germany was this interdiction of literature more strictly and oppressively ex ercised than in Bavaria, under the bigoted administration of the elector Charles Theodore; and accordingly, it is pre cisely in this province that we find the natural result of such absurd and barbarous policy. Alen of enlightened minds could not fail to look with abhorrence upon regula tions, which were calculated to check the natural progress of knowledge, and would readily endeavour to concert the means of evading the existing laws. These means, how ever, could only be concerted in secret ; and to this sim ple origin, we belies e, the institution founded by Weishaupt may truly be ascribed, however widely the conduct of its members may have afterwards deviated from the original object. There is undoubtedly something dangerous in the very nature and constitution of such a secret association, however pure the intentions of its founders may have been. Secrecy implies something illegal in the object ; and such a society being under no regular control, its views may easily become enlarged, and its influence perverted to im proper purposes. Some zealous enthusiasts among the illuminati may have contemplated the possibility of direct ing the existing governments, by means of the powerful but pacific influence of a secret association ; others, imbued with the absurd theory of the infinite perfectibility of the human mind, may have considered such an institution as calculated to promote their romantic and unattainable views; while a third class, perhaps, consisting of men more cunning than enthusiastic, full of ambition, but deStitute of principle, may have looked upon a society so constituted as best adapt ed to the concoction of their wicked designs. Yet the so ciety of the illuminati never seems to have acquired any extensive influence ; nor does it appear to have possessed any ramifications beyond the limits of Germany. Through out the whole of that large empire it produced no extra ordinary or permanent effects ; and a few years after the suppression of the order ias 1787, it was nearly forgotten in the very country where it had boasted an ephemeral ex istence. It was chiefly on account of its supposed influ ence in producing the catastrophe of the French Revolu tion, that the ashes of this short-lived association were raised up from the charnel-house of oblivion, and a degree of posthumous celebrity conferred upon its proceedings. The supposition, however, is entirely unsupported by evi dence, and has been sufficiently refuted by AI. Mounier and others.
But whatever may have been the extent, influence, and real objects of this society, there can be no doubt that its constitution was illegal, and the opinions and practices of its members highly dangerous to civil and religious go vernment. The suppression of the order, therefore, was justifiable upon every principle of right and expediency. A great mass of publications has appeared upon the sub ject of this article ; but the substance of the whole will be found in the works of the Abb6 Barrucl, Professor Robison, and AI Alounier. (z)