Introduction

1 The Cercle Social

Introduction
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote in 1845:

The revolutionary movement which began in 1789 with the Cercle Social, whose main representatives were to be Leclerc and Roux, and which ended in Babeufs conspiracy, gave birth to the communist idea which Buonarotti, friend of Babeuf, reintroduced into France after the Revolution of 1830.1

This Social Circle aka Cercle Social was an organization founded in Paris in 1789, located at rue du Thtre Franois, N. 4.2 It was in the mold of a masonic lodge whose founder Bonneville claimed he was carrying on the mission of the Bavarian Illuminati. Bonneville in 1791 wrote in reference to Mirabeaus 1788 defense of the Bavarian Illuminati, and then Bonneville claimed he was carrying on the Bavarian Illuminati program in France:
This project (of the Illuminati) continues. Mr. Mirabeau was beautiful, noble and great; and since the very instant when [electoral] districts were summoned in May 1789 [for the Estates General], The Mouth of Iron, persevered with all its might their noble intentions, and never has abandoned the principles and promises

1. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Die Heilige Familie (1845) at 186 quoted in R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution: The Social Cercle and the Enrags, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library Manchester (Sept. 1958) Vol. 41, No. 1 at 139. 2. This is indicated on the title page of Bonnevilles LEsprit des Religions (1792). Illuminati of Bavaria 1

The Cercle Social

of THOSE WHOSE NAME IS CURSED BY POSTERITY [i.e., the Illuminati].3

The reputable specialist on the French Revolution, Mathiez, comments on this passage: Bonneville considered himself the heir who carried on the thought and work of Weishaupt.4 As Billington noted, Nicholas Bonneville was...the decisive channel of Illuminist influence.5 This chapter asks whether the Illuminati or their allies set up the Social Cercle at Paris. If so, what impact did this group have on events and the French Revolution of either 1789 or 1792?

The Social Cercle

Besides the Jacobins, the Cercle Social (Social Cercle) influenced the French Revolution. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels even credit the Social Cercle with the birth of the communist movement. Despite this honor, Rose points out the Cercle Social has received little or no attention from
3. Albert Mathiez, R. Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Baviere et la Franc-Maconnerie allemande. Paris, Hachette, 1915 [review]. Annales Rvolutionnaires (Besancon: Millot Freres, 1916) VIII at 432, 436. The original passage in French is: Ce project (des Illumins) continue. H. Mirabeau tait beau, noble et grand; et, si depuis linstant o les districts furent convoqus en mai 1789, La Bouche de fer, poursuivant de toutes ses forces un s noble dessein, a jamais abandonn ces principes et ses promesses, QUE SON NOM SOIT MAUDIT DANS LA POSTRIT. (Bouche de Fer, April 8, 1791.) 4. Albert Mathiez, R. Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Baviere et la Franc-Maconnerie allemande. Paris, Hachette, 1915 [review]. Annales Rvolutionnaires (Besancon: Millot Freres, 1916) VIII, at 436. Ligou downplays this to his Freemason audience, and says Mathiez thought that he [Bonneville] had the ambition to play in France the role of Weishaupt. See Ligou, Ed., Dictionnaire de la Franc-Maonnerie (1987), supra, at 150. 5. Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men (Transaction Publishers 2004) at 96. Illuminati of Bavaria 2

The Social Cercle

Marxist historiography.6 Not only that, but the major historians of the French Revolution (with the exception of Mathiez) largely ignore the Social Cercle. In October 1789, Nicholas Bonneville (1760-1828) with Fauchet founded the society Cercle Social.7 Bonneville was the primary leader.8 At the time of its founding, he belonged to a Freemason lodge with a similar name: the Social Contract Lodge of Paris. Many members of the Social Contract Lodge were members of the Cercle Social Lodge in Paris. This points to the possibility that the Cercle Social lodge was simply an extension of the same society. The Paris Social Contract lodge was founded in 1779 by a Berlin Illuminatus.9 Later, Mathiez says the lodge Contrat social fell under the inspiration of Bonneville.10 Thus, more or less, they were connected. Bonnevilles Social Cercle lodge copied the secret societies. Rose comments that Bonneville was used to the spirit of the secretive Masonic lodge, [and] intended [the

6. R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution: The Social Cercle and the Enrags, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library Manchester (Sept. 1958) Vol. 41, No. 1 at 139. The Soviets had paid some attention just a couple of years earlier. See V. Alexeev-Popov, Le Cercle Social, 1790-1791, Recherches sovitiques (May-June 1956) No. 4 at 89-150. 7. Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 39. R. B. Rose corrects other historians on the date of the founding of the Cercle Social. Rose points out it was founded in October 1789, not October 1790 as some report. See R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution: the Cercle Social and the Enrags, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, xli, no. i (Sept. 1958) at 142, 144. 8. Bonneville was a literary critic, translator, and publisher. Prior to the Revolution, he published Nouveau theatre allemand (1782, 12 vols.). 9. See Chapters Eight and Twenty-three. 10.Albert Mathiez, R. Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Baviere et la Franc-Maconnerie allemande., etc. Annales Rvolutionnaires (Besancon: Millot Freres, 1916), VIII at 437. Illuminati of Bavaria 3

The Cercle Social

Social Cercle] rather as a society of lite devoted to educating the masses.11 Mathiez, a renown Marxist scholar of the French Revolution, says the Social Cercle
in fact . . . was a Masonic lodge in which Bonneville, the smoky and bold spirit, [was] the Grand Chief. The great aim is to instruct, to prepare the spirits toward profound changes which it keeps from the rest which is announced in veiled and mysterious terms.12

Mathiez elsewhere described the Social Cercle as a group of revolutionary Freemasons constituted as a society of propaganda with an interior and exterior circle.13 By January 1790, Bonneville announced plans to found sister societies in the eighty departments of France. Each would publish a journal modeled after Bonneville's Paris daily, the Bouche de Fer.14 By October 1790, Bonneville and Fauchet had put in motion their plans for a nationwide movement. They did this by creating an exterior circle of the organization called the Universal Confederation of the Friends of Truth (La Confedration Universelle des amis de la Vrit). The inner circle, Mathiez points out, was the Social Cerclethe secret
11. Cercle Social, Letter xliii, in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, England at 243, discussed in R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution: The Social Circle and the Enrags, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library Vol. 41 (1958-59) 139 at 142. 12. Isabelle Bourdin, Les Socits Populaires Paris, etc.(Paris 1910), supra, at 159 quoting Mathiez, Le Club des Cordeliers. 13. Albert Mathiez, R. Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Baviere et la Franc-Maconnerie allemande. Paris, Hachette, 1915 [review]. Annales Rvolutionnaires (Besancon: Millot Freres, 1916) VIII, at 436. 14. Cercle Social Letter vii, in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, England, at 42, discussed in R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution: The Social Circle and the Enrags, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library Vol. 41 (1958-59) 139 at 142. Illuminati of Bavaria 4

The Social Cercle

directory within the Universal Confederation.15 The plan was to spread this Universal Confederation society to each town and city of France and to other countries.16 In fact, soon the Social Cercle was corresponding with associates in Britain, Poland, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as well as in many parts of France. The Social Cercle had outlets selling its books by 1793 in many distant places, like Philadelphia, Geneva, Utrecht, and Genoa.17 Bonneville described the Universal Confederation in the Bouche de Fer in more detail: members had secret cards and assumed names. He also revealed that an inner group guided this outer circle. The inner core was called the patriotic circle of the friends of truth.18 In 1790, Bonneville explained the inner circle directed the outer circle from the hub in the wheel at Paris. Bonneville wrote: The Cercle Social has been known by this plan, offering the facilities, it puts into motion all of the circles of its free-brothers [francs-frres] with whom it is affiliated.19 Because of these components, Rose says the prime

15. Isabelle Bourdin, Les Socits Populaires Paris, etc., supra, at 159 quoting Mathiez, Le Club des Cordeliers, supra (Paris: 1910). 16. R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, supra, at 144. 17. R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, supra, at 144. 18. Bouche De Fer (1790), I, at 3, second pagination, I-4, for Prospectus pour le Cercle Patriotique and 5-12 for the Portrait du Cercle Social, discussed in Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 39. 19. Program du Cercle Social (Paris: 1790), quoted in R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, supra, at 144. This term freebrothers in the Social Cercle program is apparently a reference to Freemasons. Illuminati of Bavaria 5

The Cercle Social

inspiration in the new movement was that of the Freemasons.20 Lefebvre similarly referred to the Cercle Social as the Masonic lodge Friends of Truth (Amis des Verit).21 The foundation book for the Universal Friends of Truth was Bonnevilles 1791 work LEsprit des Religions. It is described as the ouvrage promis et n cessaire la Confdration Universelle des Amis de la Vrit.22 Camille Desmoulins, a Jacobin, reported in December 1790 the Cercle Social had 3,000 members.23 The Social Cercles first major festivity in October 1790 was attended by 6,000 members.24 An account of this meeting is preserved in a letter of Comte de Chteaugiron:
On the night of the 13th, a remarkable act [took place] at the Palais Royal, the inauguration of the Confederation Universal des Amis de la Vrit. It is the Abb Fauchet who opened the meeting by a very eloquent speech on the situation of the national interest, on public opinion, and on the advantages of reuniting into a single club of all the clubs of the capital to the
20. R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, supra, at 144. This is partly explained by Bonneville staying active after 1789 in a Freemason lodge called the Loge de St. Jean of Scotland in Paris. Georges Lefebvre, The French Revolution Vol. I From Its Origins to 1793, supra, at 181. 21. Bourding at 233. 22.David Nutt, A Catalogue of Foreign Theology (London: 1837) at 96. 23. Camille Desmoulins, Rvolutions de France et de Brabant No. 54 (Dec. 6, 1790) at 61. 24. R.B. Rose, Gracchus Babeuf: The First Revolutionary Communist (1978) at 146. Lacroix has a somewhat different figure. See S. Lacroix, Actes de la Commune de Paris pendant la rvolution (1896) (first series), VII at 597, cited in Billington at 38. As an example of muddleheadedness and error surrounding this topic, J.M. Roberts in his 1972 work The Mythology of the Secret Societies said the Cercle Social was not a club, it had no formal membership and any citizen might address its meetings. Illuminati of Bavaria 6

The Social Cercle

end that public spirit ought to have . . . only one home where it is fed its civics by new lights and new grounds so as to attach them to the Revolution and to the Constitution. All the citizens of the world will be, if they are honest, . . . affiliated to this club where . . . a committee ought to verify all events which are announced . . . . It will be a committee of charity [bienfaissance] and a philanthropic institution which will serve to help honest men and take them within its bosom.25

Fauchet and Bonneville were openly telling all patriots that their society should supervise all other revolutionary societies in Paris. This would give it the hegemony to control the Jacobin affiliates in France, and throughout the world. Thus, Bonneville dreamed of spearheading a world revolution from Paris. The ostensible purpose of the Social Cercle was to spread propaganda to the masses and destroy opposing ideas in their infancy. The Cercle published a daily journal entitled Bouche de Fer that means Mouth of Iron. This journal appeared from January 1790 to July 24, 1791. Typical articles consisted of reprints of Fauchets speeches about the power to unify all men into a world utopia of love and fraternity.26 In July 1791, it was shut down in response to the role taken by the Cercle Social in the Champ de Mars fiasco. Later, it reopened as the Tribun du Peuple (1791), Chronique du Mois (1791 to July 1793), and then Bien Informe. In the midst of the Revolution of 1792, the Social Cercle published a daily paper called Bulletin des Amis de la Vrit (Dec. 31, 1792 to April 30, 1793).27

25. Gazette manuscrite de Rne le Prtre de Chteaugiron, John Rylands Library of Manchester, MS 50, quoted at R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, supra, at 145 [emphasis added]. 26.Simon Schama, Citizens at 474. Illuminati of Bavaria 7

The Cercle Social

Bonneville wrote in the premier issue of Bouche de Fer (January 1790) that the Social Cercle represented a different superior power . . . a fourth power to comment upon the three functions of government (executive, judicial, and legislative). As such, it had the right and duty to censor and denounce other writers and persons who opposed their brand of revolution. One dissertation affirms Bonnevilles concept of the Cercles mission was universal surveillance on behalf of the multitude of good citizens who are not yet enlightened enough to know what they desire.28 The Cercle also saw its ability to print stories as power to influence the government. Fauchet wrote: The teachers of men, the directors of opinion are the regulators of society.29 Bonneville looked upon the intellectual elite of the Social Circle as superior minds who could direct the less informed masses about what they should believe.30 As mentioned earlier, the Cercle Social created an outer circle. In that circle, the public was invited to listen to speakers whom the Social Cercle sent once a week to the amphitheater of the Palais Royal. The Palais was close to the Jacobin society headquarters in Paris. The Palais consisted of apartments and stores owned by the Duke dOrleans, the Grand Master of all French Freemasons. DOrleans had leased to the Cercle Social the space for their public meetings.31
27. Hlene Delsaux, Condorcet Journaliste (1790-1794) (Paris: Librairie Ancienne, 1931) at 273, 274, 275, 277, 279, 349. 28. C. Delacroix, Recherches sur le Cercle Social (1790-1791) (1975) (an unpublished thesis from the Sorbonne) at 21 and 26, discussed in Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 36. 29. Journal des Amis, XI (1791), quoted in R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, supra, at 145 n. 3. 30. Bouche de Fer ser. II, no. 7 (14th discours), quoted in R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, supra, at 145. 31. See Gary Kates, The Cercle Social, the Girondins & The French Revolution (Princeton U. Press. 1985). Illuminati of Bavaria 8

Political Doctrines at the Social Cercle

The Social Cercle rose to a dominant state position when the Brissotins (often misnomered as Girondins) took power. As Brandon relates:
Between July 1791 and June 1793, the same people who had been active in the Cercle Social emerged on the national scene as the core of the Girondins [sic: Brissotins], and the Cercle Socials publishing company, the Imprimerie du Cercle Social, became the largest and most effective center for Girondin propaganda. The Cercle Social and the Girondins thus became linked, and the Cercle Social finally came to an end when the Girondins were overthrown in June 1793.32

Political Doctrines at the Social Cercle

At these meetings, Abb Fauchet gave speeches expounding on Rousseaus philosophy and advocating social equality.33 The socialist historian Jessica Blanche Peixotto states: Nightly, Claude Fauchet preached Rousseau or communism to hysterical men and women at the Cercle Social, and fostered that extreme wing of the revolution that culminated in Babouvism [i.e., Gracchus Babeuf].34

32.Harriet Branson, Women and politics in the age of the democratic revolution (University of Michigan Press, 1993) at 165-66. The label Girondins was meant as ridicule by Desmoulines. It is a shame historians use that label. They were called Brissotins to that point by the press, and that label fairly identifies their leader in the legislature: Jacques Brissot. They held all ministerial positions in the government since March 1792. They also controlled the Jacobins until ousted in October 1792 by Robespierre and the Mountain party. 33. Le Harivel, Nicolas de Bonneville pre-romantique et revolutionnaire (Strasbourg: 1923) at 52; Simon Schama, Citizens, supra, at 169. See J. M. Roberts, supra, at 159. Illuminati of Bavaria 9

The Cercle Social

In such speeches, Fauchet repeated the claims of Weishaupt. He claimed the world they wish to create was first taught by Christ. Fauchet said: The first disciples of Christ were equal and free; their republic ought to serve as a model, within the maturity of time, for a Republic of the World [rpublique de lUnivers].35 Fauchets sermons were reprinted in the Bouche der Fer. In other speeches, he decried the existing order as based on the oppression of the poor by the rich. He claimed it was an "infernal regime." Millions could not be sure of getting enough to eat while a few with "insolent wealth" eat without even having to work.36 Fauchet called for a social revolution where there would be neither poor nor rich. Each man was guaranteed a sufficient portion of the worlds goods. He concluded that without this economic liberty, political liberty would be a hollow illusion. Fauchet envisioned a redistribution of wealth to end this oppression. The rich must be subject to a law in some manner that requires him to supply the [necessary] resources to the poor.37 He advocated, as one means to do this, a progressive income tax.38 This was a common position among Cercle Social members, e.g., Condorcet.

34. Jessica Blanche Peixotto, The French Revolution and Modern French SocialismA Comparative Study of the Principles of the French Revolution and the Doctrines of Modern French Socialism (N.Y.: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1901) at 99. 35. R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 146, citing as support Bonnevilles Frre Claude (Paris: 1791) (Rylands Library, F.H.T.). 36. Bouche de Fer, ser. i, no. 29, as summarized in R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 146-47. 37.Bouche de Fer, ser. ii, nos. 19 and 20, 18th discourse, quoted in R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 147. 38.Fauchet, Tousime Discours sur la Libert Franaise (1789), discussed in R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 147. Illuminati of Bavaria 10

Political Doctrines at the Social Cercle

Bonneville similarly advocated in 1791 that a systematic "national assistance" (welfare) program should be set up for the state to give money to the poorest members of society.39 Another means Bonneville advocated was limiting the right of inheritance. He suggested that no estate that could produce over 50,000 livres in rent should be inheritable. Bonneville also proposed that inheritance by the eldest son should be abolished. Instead, he wanted all children to inherit their parents estate so that division would occur, and this would bring us closer to the "grand social communion.40 In a later speech, Fauchet explained:
All men have right to the earth and property necessary for his existence. He can [earn the right to] take possession by working, and his portion ought to be circumscribed by the rights of his equals. All the rights are put in common within a well-ordered society; the social sovereignty ought to take these fruits so as to [ensure] all have something, and each does not have too much.41

Fauchet was thus spouting the Illuminism of Weishaupt day-and-night.42

39. R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 149. 40. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 148 (quoting De L'Esprit des Religions). 41.Bouche de Fer, ser. i, no. 22, quoted in Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 147. Illuminati of Bavaria 11

The Cercle Social

Members of the Cercle Social

The Social Circle had a group of writers and society members who wrote for Cercle Journals or founded new journals under the aegis of the Cercle. For example, Condorcet was a speaker and writer at the Social Circle, and leading advocate of its doctrines.43 Many other Cercle Social writers and speakers became prominent leaders of the Revolution of 1792. Delsaux says the list of writers and founders of the Social Cercle that appeared on the face page of Bonnevilles La Chronique du Mois from November 1791 to July 1793 were: E. Clavire, Condorcet, J.P. Brissot, Mercier, Athanase Auger, J. Oswald, Bonneville, J. Bidermann, A. Broussonet, A. Guy-Kersaint, J. Ph. Garran de Coulon, J. Dussaulx, F. Lanthenas, and Collot dHerbois. Other writers for the Social Cercle were Claude Fauchet, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, J. Ph. Garran de Coulon, Groupil de Prefelne, Chabroux, and Restif.44 Branson also mentions as Cercle Social members Jacques Godard and Henri Bancal Desissarts (1750-1826), a Deputy in the Convention, besides Condorcet, Brissot, Fauchet and Bonneville.45 Beginning in 1791, Manon...and Jean-Marie Roland...[also] regularly attended ... meetings of the Cercle Socials Federation of the Friends of Truth.46
42. Henri Martin in 1866 questioned whether Fauchet derived these lessons from the Illuminati or French philosophers who invented these ideas first. He says: "The communist doctrines which were manifested later under an evangelical form in Fauchet, and under a material and violent form in Babeuf, proceeded from Morelli and Mabli, more or less rightly understood, rather than from the leader of the Illuminati." Henri Martin, History of France from the Most Remote Period to 1789 (trans. Mary Booth) (Boston: Walker, Fuller & Co., 1866) Vol. 16, at 484. Martin, however, hedged this opinion by saying one had to interpret "rightly" Morelli or Mabli to agree with this. Indeed, Morelli and Mabli were proto-socialist; they were not communist utopian as was Fauchets and Weishaupts. It would be more likely, if any philosopher had an influence over Fauchet who was French, then it was Rousseau, who in turn clearly influenced Weishaupt. Illuminati of Bavaria 12

Synopsis of The Spirit of Religions

Bonneville also names as visitors to his Cercle Social lodge Desmoulins (secretary to Mirabeau), Paine, Siyes, and Madame Roland.47 Other historical sources similarly note that the Cercle Social members included Sieys, Paine, Brissot and Cloots:
Bonneville was together with Claude Fauchet a central figure within the Cercle social, from its founding in October 1790 [sic: 1789] until its suppression in June 1793 a centre for enlightened philosophy and democratic agitation, which counted among its members Condorcet, Cloots, Sieys, Brissot, and Thomas Paine.48

Synopsis of The Spirit of Religions

The LEsprit des Religions is Bonnevilles chief work, particularly noticed for its social if not socialist criticism. It argues against the unjust division of property by stating that the only possible means to achieve the great social communion is to divide the estates in equal and limited parts for the children of the deceased, and leave the rest to divide among the other heirs. ([I] at 59).

43. The Bouche der Fer announced in December 1790 that:

One of our first writers has been called to the Committees of the National Assembly, M. de Condorcet, [and has] accepted the position of the orator of the Cercle Social, and [he] will begin at once [his] function for some dignified discourse . . . about the World Confederation of the friends of truth.

(Hlene Delsaux, Condorcet Journaliste (1790-1794) (Paris: Librairie Ancienne, 1931) at 44.) Condorcet contributed new ideas to the plans of the Social Cercle. He advocated state-run old age pension programs and insurance for widows and orphans. See Condorcet, Esquisse dun Tableau Historique des Progrs de LEsprit Human [1794] (Paris: Biblioteque Choisie, 1829) at 258. Illuminati of Bavaria 13

The Cercle Social

Babeuf: A Pupil of Bonnevilles

Sylvain Marchal (1750-1803), the mentor to Babeuf, also belonged to the Social Cercle. Marchal was also a Freemason, belonging to the lodge La Fidelit of the Grand Orient at Paris.49 From May 1790 onward, his pupil Babeuf, the future famous communist revolutionary, was also one of Bonnevilles avid followers in his Universal Confederation Society. Babeuf joined the Social Cercle in 1790. In April 1793, Bonneville made Babeuf a staff writer for Social Cercle journals.50 For this reason, Billington criticized Dalin as superficial when Dalin said there is no organizational connection between Babeuf and Bonneville: He generally ignores the role of Marchal and Varlet, let alone Restif; shows no curiosity about the survival of the Social Cercle press; and

44.Helene Delsaux, Condorcet Journaliste (17901794) (Paris: Librairie Ancienne, 1931) at 277, 349. See R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 146 (similar names); James H. Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith (N.Y.: Basic Books, Inc., 1980) at 72, 73. See also J. M. Roberts, The Mythology of Secret Societies, supra, at 160 (Restif was writer on Bonnevilles journals and a friend); "Bonneville," La Grand Encyclopedie (1878), Vol. 7 at 346 (collaborators were Mercier and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.) Authanase Auger submitted to the National Assembly some of Fauchets proposals about limiting inheritance and progressive taxation. His proposals, however, were not passed. See R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 148-49. 45.Harriet Branson, Women and politics in the age of the democratic revolution (University of Michigan Press, 1993) at 165. 46.Branson, id. 47.R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 146. 48.Antiquariaat MATTHYS DE JONGH (Netherlands), http://www.mdejongh.com/117.html (accessed 2/15/09). 49.Marchal, Ligou, Ed., Dictionnaire de la Franc-Maonnerie, supra, at 762. Illuminati of Bavaria 14

Connections of Social Cercle to Illuminati

seems ideologically impelled to detach Babeuf at all points from the less socially radical views of Fauchet and Bonneville.51 Rose, likewise, was unaware of Babeufs connection to the Social Cercle. He wrote: A direct connection between the Social Cercle, the Enrags, and Babeuf, such as that implied [sic: explicitly stated] by Marx, would be difficult to establish, although we have seen that Varlet, one of whose pamphlets was published by the Social Cercle press, was an associate of Babeuf.52 However, Rose is unaware that Babeuf was a Social Cercle member and writer. These facts negate Roses conclusion. Karl Marxs quote at the start of this chapter says the Social Cercle spawned Babeuf. Then Marx says, as do many historians, that Babeuf was the first revolutionary communist. This is because Babeuf in 1796 organized the famous Conspiracy of Equals to overthrow France. His groups aim was to institute communist experiments, communal supply stores to trade produce, etc. Since the communist movement traces its lineage to Babeuf and the Social Cercle where he began, one would think historians would pay more attention to the Social Cercle. Just the opposite is the case; their history is ignored.

Connections of Social Cercle to Illuminati

But was the Cercle Social just a copy-cat of a Masonic lodge or, as its ideology shows, an Illuminati lodge in Paris but under another name?

50. James H. Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of The Revolutionary Faith (N.Y.: Basic Books, Inc., 1980) at 72, 73. 51. Id. 535 n. 234. 52..R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, John Ryland, supra, at 165-66. Illuminati of Bavaria 15

The Cercle Social

Bonnevilles affiliation to the Bavarian Illuminati is fact. He made it clear to his friends and he wrote in his journal that he was carrying on the mission of the Bavarian Illuminati in France. Bonneville virtually said he had taken over leadership of the Illuminati of Weishaupt. Lets review this evidence in detail. First, historians generally concede Bonneville was an Illuminatus. The Grand Encyclopedia of France describes Bonneville as a [p]artisan of the teachings of Saint Martin and the Illuminati, [and] Bonneville was also one of the adepts of Freemasonry.53 Gustave Bord, a Masonic historian, is firm, and says Bonneville was an Illuminatus of Weishaupt.54 Second, an associate of Bonneville Sergent Marceaux who was also a Jacobin wrote that Bonneville "thought himself to be one of the Illuminati."55 Another friend of Bonneville recognized that he had become an apostle of the Illuminati's doctrines. La Harpe, a prominent intellectual and rationalist liberal of the time,56 became disgusted with Bonneville. He said that "one finds quickly [with Bonneville] all the reveries of the Illuminati with the political discussions, the jargon of mystery . . . where he projects no means but a world religion, universal regeneration."57
53.Bonneville, Nicolas de, Le Grand Encyclopedie (Paris: 1873), Vol. VII, at 346. Bonneville also was the friend of Saint Martin and published his works. J. M. Roberts, supra, at 160. 54. Gustave Bord, La Franc-Maonnerie en France; des origines a 1816: Les Ouvriers de l'Idme Rvolutionnaire (1688-1771) (Paris: Libraire Nationale, 1908) (reprinted Geneva-Paris: Slatkine, 1985) at 243. 55. Gustave Bord, La Franc-Maonnere en France; des origines a 1816 (1908) at 361, citing C. M. Simpson, Reminiscences of a Regicide from the Original MSS. of Sergent Marceaux. This is discussed in Firminger, Romances of Barruel, at 54 n. 2. 56. He was a close friend of Voltaire too. 57..J. M. Roberts, supra, at 161. Illuminati of Bavaria 16

Connections of Social Cercle to Illuminati

Third, Bonneville met in Paris during 1787 the head of the Illuminati, Bode. We discuss their meeting in an earlier chapter. Essentially, Bonneville introduced Bode at the Freemason lodge Amis Reunis to the other members. He must have served as Bodes translator while Bode spoke to the lodge.58 A year later, in 1788, Bonnevilles book was translated by Bode. Its French title was Jesuits chasses de la francmaconnerie et leurs poignards brises par les macons (1788, 2 parts).59 This is why Mathiez said Bonneville was "no doubt in touch with the German Illuminati."60 Even Lefebvre never giving any credence to the influence of the Illuminati essentially admits this. He says that Bonneville, through the Masonic conference of 1787 at Paris, "was in contact with . . . the Illuminati [who] attempted to proselytize among the French Masons. . . ." Lefebvre then concedes Bonneville must have joined the Illuminati after meeting Bode at Paris in 1787.61 Fourth, Brissot, a close friend of Bonneville, revealed in a diary note that Bonneville, in about 1787, was a member of a German lodge in Paris. Bonneville told Brissot that this German lodge had a very important secret. Brissots diary shows that Bonneville encouraged him to get more involved. Brissot was probably referring to the Lodge Harmony, because that lodge was renown for having adopted the German Illuminati system.62

58. See Chapter Twenty-three. 59. "Bonneville, Nicolas de," Le Grand Encyclopedie, supra, Vol. VII at 346. The French edition, however, appeared under Bonneville's name as author. See Chapter Twenty-three. 60. Mathiez, The French Revolution (1927), supra, at 208. 61. Georges Lefebvre, The French Revolution Vol. I From Its Origins To 1793, supra, at 174, 181. 62. See Chapter Nineteen of book two in this series, Magical Misdirection. Illuminati of Bavaria 17

The Cercle Social

Fifth, when Mirabeau died, Bonneville in the April 8, 1791 issue of the Bouche de Fer included a very revealing article. He reprinted Mirabeaus entire chapter from On the Prussian Monarchy devoted to the Freemasons and the Bavarian Illuminati.63 Bonneville then writes plainly that he is carrying on the Illuminati program in France:
This project (of the Illuminati) continues. Mr. Mirabeau was beautiful, noble and great; and since the very instant when [electoral] districts were summoned in May 1789 [for the Estates General], The Mouth of Iron, persevered with all its might their noble intentions, and never has abandoned the principles and promises of THOSE WHOSE NAME IS CURSED BY POSTERITY [i.e., the Illuminati].64

Mathiez comments on this passage: "Bonneville considered himself the heir who carried on the thought and work of Weishaupt."65

63. Those passages are discussed at length in Chapter Seven of book one. 64. Albert Mathiez, "R. Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Baviere et la Franc-Maconnerie allemande. Paris, Hachette, 1915 [review]." Annales Rvolutionnaires (Besancon: Millot Freres, 1916) VIII, 432, 436. The original passage in French is: "Ce project (des Illumins) continue. H. Mirabeau tait beau, noble et grand; et, si depuis l'instant o les districts furent convoqus en mai 1789, La Bouche de fer, poursuivant de toutes ses forces un s noble dessein, a jamais abandonn ces principes et ses promesses, QUE SON NOM SOIT MAUDIT DANS LA POSTRIT." (Bouche de Fer, April 8, 1791.) 65..Albert Mathiez, "R. Le Forestier, Les Illumins de Baviere et la Franc-Maconnerie allemande. Paris, Hachette, 1915 [review]." Annales Rvolutionnaires (Besancon: Millot Freres, 1916) VIII, at 436. Ligou downplays this to his Freemason audience, and says "Mathiez thought that he [Bonneville] had the ambition to play in France the role of Weishaupt." See Ligou, Ed., Dictionnaire de la Franc-Maonnerie (1987), supra, at 150. Illuminati of Bavaria 18

Connections of Social Cercle to Illuminati

Sixth, Bonneville in the mid-1780s belonged to the lodge Social Contrat of Paris. As already mentioned, it was founded in 1779 by an Illuminatus from Berlin, Dr. Boileau.66 This was the Illuminatis first lodge in France. This lodge may have inspired Bonneville in creating the Social Cercle. Bonnevilles lodge name "Social Cercle" is curiously similar to "Social Contrat." It may very well be that "Social Cercle" is but a new name for the older lodge. And historians note the close affiliation the two lodges had, thus indicating an Illuminist role over the Social Cercle lodge. Lastly, the Social Cercle actively worked with Illuminati at Strasbourg. Bonnevilles Cercle Social distributed "leaflets . . . in Germany through the efforts of Dietrich, the mayor [of Strasbourg]."67 Dietrich was a member of the German Illuminati.68 He also was a revolutionary. During the Great Fear of 1789, Dietrich raised a militia which took control of Strasbourg and then this militia appointed him mayor.69 During 1792, Dietrich printed 2,000 copies of a speech at Bonnevilles masonic lodge at Paris. It had been translated into German. Dietrich distributed this speech to German Freemason lodges. A French Captain named Le Maire helped him.70

66. See Chapter Eight. 67..Georges Lefebvre, The French Revolution Vol. I From Its Origins to 1793, supra, at 181. 68. See Chapter Twenty-three. 69..On Dietrichs membership in the Illuminati, see Chapter Twentythree. On Dietrich's seizure of his office, see Chapter Eight of book two in this series, Magical Misdirection. 70..Mathiez, "Les franc-maons et la propagande revolutionnaire aprs Varennes," Annales rvolutionnaires VI (1913) at 101-02. Illuminati of Bavaria 19

The Cercle Social

Biro mentions that this letter is a remarkable recent discovery. He says it shows the Jacobin Republican Army in 1793 used Freemasonry to foment revolution in the countries that the army was invading. More important, this document reveals that Bonneville and Dietrich, although separated by hundreds of miles, were working together on propagandizing Masons. The best explanation of their collaboration is their common membership in the Illuminati. In sum, Bonneville most certainly was an Illuminatus. His words, friends, activities, and publishing background confirm this. His ideology took a page right out of Weishaupt's book. The next section discusses this.

Bonneville's Illuminist Agenda is Offered to France

Bonnevilles lodge at the Social Cercle pursued the identical and peculiar dreams of the Illuminati. Mathiez notes the Social Cercle lodge "held cosmopolitan views and dreamt of putting an end to the hatred between nations and classes" by creating a future world republic.71 Bourdin similarly says that their goal was a "republique universelle."72 In this vein, Fauchet around 1791 told the Social Cercle that world revolution was to soon begin: "[We will] spread over the face of the earth the holy fire of universal fraternity."73

71..Albert Mathiez, The French Revolution (London: 1927) at 122. See also Bourdin, supra, at 159 (citing Albert Mathiez, Le Club des Cordeliers, pendant la crise de Varennes et la massacre du Champ de Mars (Paris: Champion, 1910)). 72..Bourdin, Les Socits, supra, at 159. 73..Mona Ozouf, "Fraternity," Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution, supra, at 696. Illuminati of Bavaria 20

Bonneville's Illuminist Agenda is Offered to France

They preached that the primary group to assist them were the Freemasons. Fauchet in his second speech that was published in the Social Cercels Bouche de Fer said the Freemasons were that "great free people dispersed all over the globe" who will become the "instrument of the union of the human race [lunion du genre humain]. These free friends are indispensable to the success of our grand designs on the religion of the union [of the world] and the reorganization of society."74 In issue no. 4 of Bouche de Fer, Bonneville appealed to Germans, particulalry Freemasons, to aid in revolution in imitation of the French. He said the Freemasons throughout Europe were the messengers of a "new good" which would reverse despotism and construct the "famous edifice, which was begun but so much time had passed that it seemed infeasible, impossible." Bonneville was subtly referring to the Tower of Babel when he mentions the "famous edifice." In that Bible account, God stopped the tower because the builders wanted to build a tower to the heavens to make a name for self.75 Bonnevilles lodge also revealed its agenda by proposals it made for reform. It began the agrarian law movement during the revolution. In 1790, a friend of Bonnevilles published a petition for agrarian laws. He was an AngloIrishman by the name of James Rutledge. He copied the style of Bonnevilles Universal Confederation members by calling himself a "citizen of the Universe. By his very close association with Bonneville and use of this rhetoric, we can affirm he was certainly a Cercle Social member.

74. The original French is: "Les francs frres sont indispensables au succs de nos grands desseins: la religion de l'union et la rorganisation de la socit." See Albert Mathiez, "R. Le Forestier, Les Illumins," etc. Annales Rvolutionnaires (1916) VIII, at 436. 75. Id. at 436. See Gen. 11:1-8 (world at first had common language, but people sought to build tower to reach Heaven to make name for self and be important in whole world). Illuminati of Bavaria 21

The Cercle Social

Rutledge came to Paris and joined the Cordeliers Society. Bonneville had been a founding member of the Cordeliers too.76 In 1790, Rutledge wrote a book calling for tat social with no ownership of property.77 In January 1791, he wrote in his Paris journal, Le creuset, that France needed to divide her lands. He called this law of land redistribution the agrarian law. Rutledge conceded that it was too difficult to divide all wealth. However, he felt the government should break up incomes of the very rich.78 Rutledge also advocated that seized lands of the church be distributed to the people rather than sold for the state.79 He said this idea of a lex agraria was modelled on the ancient proposal of Caius Gracchus, proconsul of Rome two millennia earlier. What Gracchus had done was to confiscate properties of large landowners and distribute small plots to property-less Italian peasants. In early 1791 Rutledge spoke at the Jacobins. He advocated the Social Circle program. Rutledge advocated that the land seized from the church should be distributed free to the people rather than sold. He also said the rich should be forced to give up their wealth. This issue was being debated in the papers daily. By boos and hisses, the crowd showed

76..R. B. Rose, "The Red Scare, etc.," supra, at 121; R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 141. 77."Questions sur les loix agraires," ostensibly published in London but printed in French, and attributed to Rutledge, then in Paris. See Saitta, Buonarroti, I, 285, cited in Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 71-72. s It appears the Social Cercle was using the term "social" as a goal in the same sense that inspired Robert Owen to first call these doctrines "socialism." It may be argued that the very word socialism derives from contemporaries of Bonneville giving a name to the movement of the Cercle Social. 78..Le creuset, No. 1 (Jan. 3, 1791), at 10 et seq., discussed in R. B. Rose, "The Red Scare, etc.," supra, at 122. 79..Id. No. 8 (Feb. 1, 1791) at 145. Illuminati of Bavaria 22

Bonneville's Illuminist Agenda is Offered to France

they agreed with those in the press arguing that such redistribution action was disfavored. In fact, they booed so strenuously that Rutledge withdrew from the podium.80 If we step back again a few months to late 1790, others at the Cercle Social were pressing these ideas. For example, the agrarian law idea was, according to Billington, systemically propagated at the same time by Bonnevilles principal collaborator in the Social Cercle, the Abb Fauchet.81 In October 1790, Fauchet started a series of weekly discussions on Rousseau's Social Contract. Several thousand people showed up at these public sessions of the Social Cercle. Yet, the public was not quite ready for these ideas. In November 1790, Fauchet declaimed at the Cercle Social that by the eternal order of justice . . . every man has a right to the land and ought to have as their property the domain of his existence.82 Desmoulins reported, however, that the crowd interpreted Fauchet as advocating the agrarian law and they hissed him for half an hour.83 Another close associate of Bonneville, Marchal, was an early advocate of the agrarian law. Marchal, in one of his 1793 works, revealed on the title page that he was one of the Directeurs de lImprimerie du Cercle Social. That meant he was a not only a member of Bonnevilles Cercle Social but a director of its publishing house.84 At the end of 1790,
80.A. Aulard, La societ des Jacobins (6 vols) (Paris: 1889-1896), Vol. II, at 303, discussed in R. B. Rose, The Red Scare of the 1790s: The French Revolution and the #Agrarian Law,' Past & Present (London: Oxford University Press, 1984) at 122. 81..Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 72. 82.Bouche de Fer 1st ser. no. 22 (November 1790) at 346, as quoted in R. B. Rose, The Red Scare of the 1790s: The French Revolution and the 'Agrarian Law,' Past & Present No. 103 (May 1984) at 121. 83.Camille Desmoulins, Rvolutions de France et de Brabant, No. 54 (Dec. 6, 1790) at 50-62, discussed in R. B. Rose, The Red Scare, etc., supra, at p. 121. Illuminati of Bavaria 23

The Cercle Social

Marchal had become editor of Rvolutions de Paris. It claimed 200,000 readers. In February 1791, Marchal penned anonymously Concerning the Rich and the Poor. In it, he demanded the rich give up freely some of their property or this agrarian law of which people are already talking will be imposed. He concluded that every rich person should turn over to a poor person enough to support him. Yet, Marchal concluded that the rich would not do this. Thus, the people must move to the proclamation of the agrarian law, and divide up the common lands covering a third of the surface of the empire.85 He was referring to the lands already held in common in France. In June 1793, this proposal was effectively put into effect in France despite never being enacted into law. La Harpe replied to Marchals work in Mercure de France. He said this dream was an "absurd chimera of an agrarian law in France." Only madmen could support it. Thus, began the label of Bonnevilles followers as the enrags or madmen. Bonneville too became an avid "exponent of the agrarian law."86 He set out his views in July 1791 (just after the Kings flight to Varennes) in a book entitled De l'Esprit des religions. Bonneville's ideas precisely match those of the Illuminati. His friendsMarchal, Rutledge, and Fauchet appear tame next to Bonneville. Bonneville proposed a plan of a world communist system. In Chapter Thirty-nine, for example, he proposed a means "of execution for preparing for a universal sharing the land."87 Bonneville also extolled Freemasonry as a religous model. He explained why. "Of all religious systems, Freemasonry is the most general: as noth-

84.Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 84. 85.Rvolutions de Paris, No. 82 (29 Jan.-3 Feb. 1791) at 171-75, quoted and discussed in R. B. Rose, The Red Scare, etc., supra, at 122. 86..Mathiez, The French Revolution (1927), supra, at 210. Illuminati of Bavaria 24

Bonneville's Illuminist Agenda is Offered to France

ing ought to be secret with a free people, and their object has been accomplished in France, they should open their temples."88 Bonneville further explained that Christianity is really an offspring of Freemasonry. He said clearly mimicking the claims of Weishaupt that Jesus was "an initiate of the Masonic Druids."89 Finally, he proposed one day the abolition of Christian worship, the redistribution of land, and a world religion whose priests would be the philosophers.90 Bonneville justified redistributing land by citing the example of the early Franks. He claimed Caesar and Tacitus reported the Franks lived in a communal society. Bonneville claimed this knowledge about Frankish communal practices was passed down to him through the European Druids. "You will say than an annual division is impossible," Bonneville protested, but "I reply that it was a law of the government of our fathers. This happy and free people [of the Franks] . . .

87..Id. at 208 (quoting Bonneville's De L'Esprit des religions). The first edition came out in 1791 immediately after the king's flight to Varennes. The second edition was printed immediately after the August 10th revolution. See Mathiez, The French Revolution, supra, at 208. 88. See J. M. Roberts, The Mythology of Secret Societies, supra, at 160 (quoting De l'Esprit des religions). In this passage, Bonneville was admitting the Freemasons played a role in the agitation so far. Id.. Bonneville's partner at the Social Cercle and its leading speaker was Fauchet. Fauchet prior to the 1792 revolution gave a speech in which he praised Freemasonry as a world-wide society "possessing the means of gathering together the human family by the rights of nature and welfare." The world "knows the general objects [of the lodges] . . . is but concord and friendship." He said most Freemasons do not understand the "significance of the ceremonies," only having received "vulgar proofs" in the lodge. However, "their common repasts and innocent pleasures promote feelings of friendship and inculcate duties of mutual support." See Firminger, "The Romances of Barruel and Robison," supra, at 44. 89..J. M. Roberts, supra, at 162 n. 30.. Illuminati of Bavaria 25

The Cercle Social

overthrew the regal people [the Romans] who dictated arbitrary laws to the universe."91 Clearly, Bonnevilles ideas are indistinguishable from Weishaupts. Seeking equality over the long term, Bonneville advocated incremental steps to move society toward his ultimate political goals. He wrote: "The only possible means of arriving at the great social COMMUNION is to divide inherited lands into fixed or equal shares for the children of the deceased, and to call in all the remaining relatives to share in the rest. Fix the limits of inheritance, from today onwards, at five or six acres, for every child or grandchild, and let the other relatives make an equal division of the remainder of the inheritances. You will still be removed from justice and from admissions which you have made regarding the equal and imprescriptible rights of all men. . . ."92 Another important spokesperson of the Social Cercle was Restif. Nicolas Restif was a science-fiction writer who enjoyed writing torrid sexual fiction. In 1779, he wrote a book entitled The Project for a Philosophical Community. Borrowing from Rousseau's crude communism, this is the first published work that espoused a non-religious communist society. He based it upon an experiment that he claimed to have begun the prior year, 1778. In his alleged community, children were educated communally up to age five to rid them of past prejudices. Special privileges were given to leave the "house of meeting" for only those who became "married within the Philosophical Community."

90. "Bonneville, Nicolas de," M. Prevost, Dictionnaire de Biographie Francaise (Paris: Libraire Letouzey et Ane, 1954), Vol. 6 at 1036. This author claims Bonneville advocated a "community of women" in LEsprit. However, I have read that book thoroughly, and translated most of it, and there is no such proposition that I could find. 91. Nicolas de Bonneville, De lesprit des religions (Paris: 1792 edition) at 52-57, quoted in R. B. Rose, "The Red Scare, etc." supra, at 123. 92. Mathiez, The French Revolution, supra, at 208-09 (quoting De l'esprit des religions). Illuminati of Bavaria 26

Bonneville's Illuminist Agenda is Offered to France

Restif had already adopted ideas that would make him ideally prepared to become an Illuminatus. Predictably, Billington notes that "Restif's closest friend" was the Illuminatus Nicolas de Bonneville. Bonneville, who lived at Paris, saw Restif almost daily in the mid and late 1790s. Bonneville secretly printed Restifs Monseiur Nicolas, a blueprint for a communist future. He published it out of his own home along with the sequel treatise, Le Philisophie de Monsieur Nicolas.93 In 1781, Restif wrote a literary fantasy where he said, "All must be common among equals. Each must work for the common good. All must take an identical part in work." Then he wrote another book where he advocated a "community of goods" for "all nations of Europe." In late 1792 and early 1793, Restif submitted an appeal to the Convention for what he now called his plan de communaut gnrale. In February 1793, Restif used the word communism to describe the fundamental change in ownership that would end the need to further distribute goods and property.94 During 1794, Restif in Monsieur Nicolas or the Human Heart Unveiledperhaps glorifying Nicolas Bonnevilledetailed a communist blueprint for the future. In it, he frequently used the word "communist," giving him the honor of being the first to coin that term in relation to these ideas. Restif insisted on the absolute abolishment of private property. He expressed the goal of rallying the French army around communism. Restif explained how life would operate in a communist society. Everyone voluntarily works and declares at the start of each year their production goals. Neither professions nor possessions could be passed down through a family. In the new order, we would enjoy communal eating. Restif also said only communism would rid the world of corruption and
93..Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 84. 94. Some regard this the first use of the term in the modern sense. Illuminati of Bavaria 27

The Cercle Social

vice. Restifs three volume work Philosophie de Monsieur Nicolas of 1796 called for a communaut universelle. It talked as if "communists" were an active movement with many adherents in the real world.95 In sum, Bonneville and his lodge advocated ideas identical to those of the Illuminati as revealed in the Original Writings of the Illuminati. Bonneville made his Paris lodge the primary Illuminat training center in France.

Use of Political Jargon

Scholars should be interested about the Social Cercles role in creating modern techniques of political jargon but they are not. It was the Social Cercle that first popularized new modes of speaking to revolutionize people who just read the morning paper. This was the origination of contemporary use of jargon to influence political thought. Bonnevilles lodge, the Social Cercle, spearheaded these notions. Bonneville thought one could influence peoples thinking by remaking certain words socially acceptable or unacceptable. His lodge sponsored changes in French vocabulary as the means of ushering in a new age. Before the Revolution, this strategic use of language was a key doctrine of Gbelin, Grand Master of the Neuf Souers in Paris.96 Bonnevilles Social Cercle, through its journals and friends, made this lesson a reality by creating what his group regarded as a new, post-aristocratic form of French. It was rich in neologismsthe use of current words with a new or different (even opposite) meaning than what had preceded. They hailed it as la langue universelle de la Rpublique.97
95. Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 80-83. 96. See Chapter Eight. 97. Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 36. Illuminati of Bavaria 28

Use of Political Jargon

Later, Restif and Mercier, both close friends and members of Bonnevilles Social Cercle lodge, compiled dictionaries with the aim of fostering this new French. Restif produced such a work around 1792 entitled Glossographe. This work is replete with efforts to redefine words for Social Cercle writers. It instructs them on the advantage of using common words in entirely new or different politicized meanings. In 1801, Mercier even published a monumental work dedicated to fostering dualistic meanings to ordinary words in a truly monumental dictionary entitled Neology or Vocabulary of Words That are New or to Be Renewed. Mercier like Restif created new words to instill a revolutionary ardor. Mercier thought his task so important that he traced the origin of the French Revolution itself to the use of new words.98 Meanwhile, the Social Cercle and its press aggressively used political jargon a list of politically correct words or euphemisms to mold public thinking. For example, it was Bonneville who championed the neologism of the greeting Citizen. He made it a politically correct term. Simultaneously, he so disparaged the common greeting Moisseur (Mr.) as aristocratic that people gave it up. His tactic did not go unnoticed. In December 1790, Bonneville was accused of making the title of Citizen a grade of Illuminism.99 What Bonnevilles Cercle preached was that if they instilled into the public consciousness a politically correct vocabulary, then they would create a right way of expressing oneself. They even intended to thereby prevent wrong thinking.

98.M. Mormille, La Nologie rvolutionnaire de Louis-Sebastien Mercier (Rome: 1973) at 25-26, 157-58, 164 n. 24. 99. Mercure de France (Dec. 18, 1790), Critique section, at 121 cited in Philippe Le Harivel, Nicolas de Bonneville pre-romantique et revolutionnaire 1760-1828 (Strasbourg-Paris: La Facult des lettres de luniversit de Strasbourg, 1923) at 155, discussed in Billington, supra, at 97. Illuminati of Bavaria 29

The Cercle Social

During the Revolution of 1792, the Social Cercle carried this strategy into action. They demanded a new vocabulary for all of France. They insisted upon abolishing dialects and other tongues common in France. So, the Social Cercle trumpeted a new "universal language of the Republic"a national French to replace the varying dialects of France.100 The Cercle succeeded in having this policy officially adopted. Soon after the Revolution of 1792, a law was passed compelling the provinces to use this new national language. For example, at Cercle urging, all official government documents were no longer translated into provincial dialects as had been the long-standing tradition. Only a new national French could be used in public records.101 The Cercle press chastized those in France who spoke Provenal, Breton, German, Flemish, or Basque. Crane Brinton comments that such efforts soon perpetuated the idea that only national French was the language of revolution anywhere in the world.102 This is precisely what the Social Cercle had at first advocated French was now to be regarded as la langue rpublicaine for the entire world.

100. See M. de Carteau, D. Julia and J. Revel, "Une Ethnogoraphie de la langue," Annales (Jan.-Feb. 1975) at 27; same authors, Une politique de la langue. La Revolution francaise et les patois (1975); and J. R. Armogathe, "Nologie et Idologie dans la langue franaise au 18e sicle," Dis-Huitiem Sicle (1973) No. 5 at 27-28. These works are discussed in Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 36. 101. Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 36. 102.Crane Brinton, The Jacobins (N.Y.: Macmillan, 1930) at 150. Illuminati of Bavaria 30

Social Cercle as Key Player in the Revolution

Social Cercle as Key Player in the Revolution

As we have seen, Bonnevilles lodge in the heart of Paris was an Illuminati lodge. By its influence at the Brissotin-led Jacobins, we find the modern progenitors of the strategic use of propaganda and politically correct speech. The question arises whether the Social Cercle had any important role in the Revolution of 1792. We detail that answer later. Yet, we will draw a preliminary sketch of its role here. Bonnevilles allies and agents were present in all major agitations from early 1789 onward. Bonnevilles chief ally was Fauchet. He led one of the besieging deputations to attack the Bastille on July 14, 1789.103 Soon after that, the radicals sought office on the Commune of Paris, the city-government, to turn developments in their favor. Both Bonneville and Fauchet were elected on September 15, 1789 to sit on the Commune of Paris. They held their offices until October 8, 1790. Fauchet even became President of the Commune.104 More important, Bonneville and his friends emerged in 1791 as the leaders of the first attempt at full-scale revolution. After the kings flight to Varennes in June 1791, the earliest republicans, led by Bonneville, thought their moment to overthrow the king had arrived. Bonneville brought together the most ardent republicans to throw off the monarchy and create a full-scale revolution. Bonneville formed a group originally consisting of himself, Brissot, Condorcet and Paine on July 1, 1791. Bonneville called it the Socit Republicaine. The group also
103.R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution: The Social Circle and the Enrags, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library Vol. 41 (195859) 139 at 143, citing Durieux, Vainqueurs de la Bastille. 104. R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution: The Social Circle and the Enrags, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library Vol. 41 (195859) 139 at 143. Illuminati of Bavaria 31

The Cercle Social

took in as members Achille and Duchatelet.105 It published a journal for three weeks called Le Rpublicain. Using the kings flight to Varennes as the grounds for dismissing the king, this society was the first to champion a Republic. It put up a placard spread throughout France saying the King was "a political superfluity." Then Bonnevilles two organizations, the Social Circle and Socit Republicaine, organized for July 14, 1791 an event later known as the Affair of the Champs de Mars. There Bonnevilles group sought to lead the Jacobins and Cordeliers to demand a Republic and the overthrow of the Monarchy. (The Jacobins backed off at the last moment.) However, such open pronouncement of revolution backfired. The French people demanded closure of the Jacobin societies, the Cordeliers, and the Social Cercle. Soon all three were shut down and their leaders put to flight.106 However, the republicans soon recovered their lost stature by the October 1791 elections. Brissot, a journalist of Bonneville's group, was elected to office. Using his position on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Brissotwho then rose to lead the Jacobinsdrove the nation toward war. His avowed private intention was to use the war itself to cause a revolution inside France.107 Brissots plan worked. Then two other Cercle Social members, Varlet and Roux, were involved in the invasion of the kings apartments at the Tuilleries in June 1792. Later, these two became involved in the Revolution of August 10, 1792.108

105. Moncure Daniel Conway, The Life of Thomas Paine with a History of His Literary, Political and Religious Career in America, France and England (N.Y.: G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1892) Vol. I at 308, 311. Bonneville was fluent in English. He published Paines rebuttal to Burke, entitled Age of Reason. Id. at 277. With help from Bonneville and his friends, Paine was elected to the French Convention in the summer of 1792. 106. See Chapter Sixteen of book two in this series, Magical Misdirection. Illuminati of Bavaria 32

Social Cercle as Key Player in the Revolution

Bonnevilles men, thus, were important agitators from 1789 through the Revolution of 1792. All of Bonnevilles men were de facto Illuminati because they belonged to Bonnevilles Illuminati lodge in Paris under the name Cercle Social. Bonneville himself took other active roles in the revolution besides those already mentioned. In the post-1792 Revolution, Bonnevilles advice on a program of reform in LEsprit was voiced by his friends in the legislature. This plan was denounced as the work of enrags (madmen).109 Bonnevilles Agrarian Law was regarded as so off-base that the Convention not only rejected it but also banned any future motion that contained a similar proposal. The Conventions refusal provoked renegades from the Cercle Social to step forward. They turned violently against the Convention to help the Mountain section of the Jacobins. Bonneville never endorsed this renegade action. In

107. Robespierre turned against Brissot later. He derogatorily referred to him as a Girondin. As a result, many historians mistakenly claim Brissot was a counter-revolutionary or right winger. This is wrong. The Robespierrist myth of the Girondins is discussed elsewhere in this series. More accurately, they were left-wing liberals in the original sense of the meaning of those words. Some historians describe the Social Cercle, however, to make them sound right-wing. For example, Roses article on the Social Cercle says: "The political orientation of the Cercle Social was, in fact, with the Gironde, the party associated with the liberal merchant and banking interest. (R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 150.) However, at the same time, Rose defines them as socialists, which they were not for they opposed the power of the state in owning things. They sought to empower the people through (a) division of lands into individual ownership (i.e., the agrarian law) and (b) the abolition of all taxes except a progressive tax only on the rich to benefit the poor. Yet, despite this, Rose writes: Then [the Social Cercles] socialism was a socialism of sentiment without any direct appeal to the masses." (Id.) 108. See Chapters Twenty-three and Twenty-six in of book two in this series, Magical Misdirection. Illuminati of Bavaria 33

The Cercle Social

June 1793, Varlet allied with Cloots working apart from Bonneville so as to forcibly oust twenty-nine deputies who were Cercle Social leaders in the legislature.

Dechristianizing Movement
Renegade members of the Social Cercle such as Cloots also played a prominent role after the Revolution of 1792 in what is called the dechristianizing movement of 1793-1794. As explained in the Introduction, it was an antireligious movement without discrimination. Bonneville spread the propaganda that ushered in this movement, although he was a strong advocate of freedom of religion. Bonneville in his book LEsprit des Religions espoused during 1791 that one day the Christian church of France would be replaced by a religion that worshipped the laws. Even though he simultaneously said he did not believe in doing this in violation of the freedom of religion, there were renegades at the Cercle Social Cloots in particular who found in the Commune men who would ally to make Bonnevilles goals a reality. They sought to enforce atheism. Beginning in October 1793, Hbert was the leader of the official atheist movement in France.110 He was a member of Social Cercle friends. First, Hbert was a member of the Socit Fraternelle des Deux Sexes along with Varlet (mem109. Albert Mathiez, The French Revolution (London: 1927) at 210; Helene Delsaux, Condorcet Journaliste (1790-1794) (Paris: Libraire Ancienne, 1931) at 274, 277. Historians refer to a group of radicals around Roux, Varlet, and the Cordeliers society as enrags. This term, however, was not one used during that period to apply to only these men or their circle. During the Revolution, enrags was a label used against all members of the Jacobins, Cordeliers and other allies. On the first altered use of this term by historians, see Chapter Twenty-six of book two in this series, Magical Misdirection. 110. On his leading role in this, see Chapter Six of book three in this series, The First Totalitarian Revolution. Illuminati of Bavaria 34

Womens Movement at Paris and Illuminism

ber Social Cercle), Millard, Pauline Lon, and Fournier Americain.111 The leader of this society was Goupil de Prfelne, a prominent member of the Cercle Social. Goupil preached at the Socit Fraternelle the same communist doctrines as Abb Fauchet preached at the Cercle Social.112 Lastly, Hbert also was a Cordelier. As mentioned before, Bonneville was an original founder of the Cordeliers.113 Another leader of the atheist movement of 1793 was Anacharsis Cloots. He was a member of the secret society underworld of Paris, in particular the Neuf Soeurs lodge. He was also at one time a close associate of Fauchet, who cofounded the Social Cercle with Bonneville.114 However, by 1793, Fauchet and Cloots had a falling out, and Cloots had taken independent paths.

Womens Movement at Paris and Illuminism

Incidentally, during the French Revolution, there was a movement of women in favor of womans rights. They were tied to the Social Cercle. Pauline Lon, a member of the Cordeliers and Socit Fraternelle, also was a member of the Social Cercle crowd. In 1793, she married Leclerc who belonged to the Social Cercle. In 1791, she founded an organization of 300 women. She insisted each member arm them-

111..R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 149. 112..Desgnettes, Souvenir de la Fin du xviii Siecle et du Commencement du xix (Paris: Didot, 1836), Vol. II at 240. 113. On the Cordeliers, see later page The Cordeliers. 114. On Clootz' memberships, see Chapter Eight. Illuminati of Bavaria 35

The Cercle Social

selves and drill to prepare for the worst.115 In February 1791, Lon led a party of women in ransacking the house of Royou, the editor of Ami du Roi, a pro-monarchy paper.116 Pauline Lon also played helpful roles in the Brissotin-led revolution of August 10, 1792.

The Propagande Society

Another society that was identified as working for revolution was the Propagande. It was dedicated to spreading propaganda, just as its name implies. In fact, it may not have been so much as an alliance as another name for the Social Cercle in other cities. However, some historians say there is no corroboration that a Propaganda society ever existed. They question Girtaners claim of personal knowledge that the Amis Reunis lodge set up this Propaganda society during 1786. It was intended, Girtaner said, to be a revolutionary press to encourage overthrow of France.117 James Billington, the U.S. Librarian of Congress, points out that the Illuminatus Schneider in 1793 was leading a "special unit for popular revolutionary indoctrination throughout Alsace called la Propagande."118 This Propa-

115.P. Lon, Adresse individuelle par des Citoyennes de la Patrie (Imprimerie Nationale, 1791) (Rylands Library), discussed in R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, John Rylands Library, supra, at 156. 116.R. B. Rose, Socialism and the French Revolution, John Rylands Library, supra, at 156. 117. See Chapter Four. 118.Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men, supra, at 61. He cites as support F. L'Huillier, "Les grands courants de l'opinion publique," Deux sicles d'Alsace, at 244-50; Tiersot, Histoire, 73; Annales Historique, IC, 1932, at 21-27, 103; Harsany, Vie, at 257-59. Illuminati of Bavaria 36

The Propagande Society

gande society had rough characters bring about a new order at Strasbourg.119 There is no doubt it existed at Strasbourg for two reasons. First, St. Just, a Jacobin leader in Paris who functioned as second-in-command, suppressed it by name in 1794 because it was too revolutionary.120 Second, one of Schneiders close associates wrote from prison a history of the Propagande society. His book was even entitled Histoire de la propagande et des miracles quelle a faits Strasbourg....121 Moreover, in June 1790, State Minister Metternich of Austria wrote Emperor Leopold from Coblenz about this group. He said he learned there was a Club de Propagande in Paris intending to cause revolutions in other countries.122 Girtaner was not the source of this charge. He had not written any books yet. He was still a happy revolutionary at Paris in 1790, and even helped during the Revolution of 1792. So Girtaner was not the source of this information to Austria. Also, in a letter of July 31, 1790again while Girtaner was in Paris supporting revolutionary programs, a report arrived in Austria that at Turin (a city of northern Italy) a society called "De Propaganda Libertate" was operating.123
119. Palmer states, "Indeed on November 16, 1793, there appeared on the streets of Strasbourg "a number of French-speaking strangers . . . fierce-looking men with bristling mustaches, wearing red caps and armed with sabres . . . . They called themselves the Propaganda, and . . . set about promoting advanced revolutionary doctrine." Palmer, Twelve Who Ruled, supra, at 187-88, discussed in Biro, Germany Policy, etc. 120..Palmer, The Age of Democratic Revolution, supra, II at 52-53 n. 19. 121. It is referred to in R. Jacquel, "Un terrorist alsacien: Le cordonnier Jung," La Bourgeoisie Alsacienne (Strasbourg: 1967) (repr. of 1954) at 253 n. 86. 122. Palmer, The Age of Democratic Revolution, supra, II at 161. 123. Palmer, The Age of Democratic Revolution, supra, II at 51 n.11, citing Pia Onnio Rosa, "Filippo Buonarroti nel Risorgimento italiano," Rassegna Storica del Risorgimento, LXIX (1962), 31 n. 1 & 2. Illuminati of Bavaria 37

The Cercle Social

Also, in March 1791, Axel de Fersen wrote privately to the king of Sweden, who had sent him to Paris, about a group called "the Propaganda, that infernal abyss of secret agents everywhere."124 Furthermore, shortly later, Lord Auckland who was the British envoy at the Hague, wrote to London that "on good authority" there exists a "Society of Propagande" whose aim is a revolution not only in France and Holland, but in the "whole world." In May 1791, he reported that the society had 5,000 members. Auckland ended his letter saying they were organized "in every country to spread this so-called enlightenment."125 These communications by Metternich, Fersen, Auckland, etc., were private diplomatic messages that Girtaner would have no way of knowing about in 1793. Girtaner himself in 1790 was still in alliance with the Revolution. Thus, what he revealed in 1793 that he learned during 1786 was corroborated when years later various memoirs were published of which Girtaner could have no idea existed when he wrote in 1793. Despite the cogent case that can be made for the existence of an extensive Propaganda society, Palmer contends that it only existed in Strasbourg, and the rest were fabrication. In truth, the most that can be said is the rest were not confirmed by open public activity. Palmer has taken the ahistorical approach that reports by government police authorities are always untrustworthy. He maintains this position even in the face of the credible revelation by Girtaner, who was a revolutionary in 1793.

124. Palmer, The Age of Democratic Revolution, supra, II at 52, citing R. Klinkckowstrom, Le comte de Fersen et la cour de France (2 vols.) (Paris: 1877), I at 87. 125..The Manuscripts of J. B. Fortescue Preserved at Dropmore (10 Vols.) (London, Great Britain: Historical Manuscripts Commission: 1892-1927) II, at 69-70, 117, 342, 358 (cited in Palmer, The Age of Democratic Revolution, supra, II, at 87). Illuminati of Bavaria 38

The Cordeliers

In Palmers defense, there was never any evidence other than Girtaner that a Propagande society existed in Paris.

The Cordeliers
Another important society involved in Revolution at Paris was the Cordeliers society. The Cordeliers maintained several meeting places in Paris. They had no affiliates outside Paris. The Cordeliers were founded in the summer of 1790 by Nicolas de Bonneville, Jacques Danton, Anacharsis Clootz, and Camille Desmoulins (secretary to Mirabeau)all Freemasons. Marat and Hbert became prominent leaders of the Cordeliers.126 Varlet and Roux were also members of the Cordeliers. Louis Philippe, an executive member of the Paris Jacobin, said the Cordeliers controlled the Jacobins. They became the secret power over the Jacobins and directly roused the mobs of Paris to act as their levers whenever the need arose, he explained.127 These societies were in hierarchical relation to one another and served different functions:
The Jacobins were to gain control over the National Assembly by infiltration and co-opting deputies. The Cordeliers were to prepare for street agitation and any violence needed. 126.Isabelle Bourdin, Les Socits Populaires Paris Pendant La Rvolution (Paris: Librain du Recueil Sirez, 1937) at 111, 431 (mentions Bonnevilles activities at Cordeliers); R. B. Rose, "Socialism and the French Revolution," supra, at 141 (Bonneville in Cordelier club); Alfred Cobban, A History of Modern France, Vol. I: Old Rgime and Revolution 1715-1799 (Great Britain: Penguin Books, 1978) at 177. See also Salvemmi, The French Revolution: 1788-1792, supra, at 219. Bourdin listed other Cordeliers: Desmoulins; Stanislaus Freron; Franois Robert; Prof. Rotondo; Franois Sergent; J. L. Tallien; and Vincent. 127..See Louis-Philippe, Memoirs 1773-1793, supra, at 55, 101. Illuminati of Bavaria 39

The Cercle Social

The Social Cercle was to coordinate action and ideology among the Jacobins & Cordeliers.

However, by 1793, the Cordeliers had split away from the Cercle Social, and were subservient to the Mountain section at the Jacobins. It also came into alliance with Cloots and the Commune. At this juncture, the Cordeliers openly and proudly enlisted a special section willing to assassinate foreign leaders. They kicked this off by announcing formation of a legion of twelve hundred men. Each would be bound by an oath to assassinate the monarchs of Europe.128 Clootz went about founding international legions for this purpose and revolution.129 The Cordeliers also must have trained members to violently attack the religious institutions of France. Cordeliers such as Hbert spear-headed the destruction of the churches throughout France during 1793. His closest assistants in this policy were all Cordeliers.130

Conclusion
Adherents of the Illuminati of Bavaria established the Cercle Social lodge and publishing firm in Paris. The Social Cercle in the Revolution itself has been virtually totally overlooked but its contribution to the ideology, vocabulary, and party-divisions is now well-established.

128.William Playfair, History of Jacobinism, supra, Vol. II at 152. 129. See Chapter Twenty-one of book two in this series, Magical Misdirection. 130. See Chapter Six of book three in this series. Illuminati of Bavaria 40