Viva La Revolucion: Proofs of a Conspiracy...pp. 165

Last week we left off with Robison's take on the French Revolution and its cause. To repeat he said, in plain Scotch English, 

"That the Illuminati and other hidden Cosmo-political societies had some influence in bringing about the French Revolution , or at least accelerating it, can hardly be doubted.--in reading the secret correspondences, I was always surprised at not finding any reports from France, and something like a hesitation about establishing a mission there; nor am I yet able thoroughly to account for it." 

This week we are going to discuss these two sentences as well as a brief overview on the nature and causes of the French Revolution. Perhaps no single greater event is pivotal in the history of conspiracism than the French Revolution. If one were to accept that time is real (remember in conspiracy theorizing this is not a given, and that historical occurrences are real (again not a given), the revolution of France is a Dr. Who-style fixed point in history. The major conspiracy theories all claim a connection with this event. The reason is because this is the event that gives us the Illuminati.

The book we are currently reading and Augustin Baurrell's contemporaneous work on the history of the Jacobins placed the Illuminati as being responsible for the revolution. In fact, without these two books, I would hazard that none of us but someone writing a PhD dissertation on the history of German secret societies would have any idea what the Order of the Illuminati was. It's probably not even them either. Very few people read these books when they were published, some influential people did, as I mentioned in the very first post on this book, Thomas Jefferson had read this book and derided it. If not for Nesta Webster's work on the French Revolution where she uses, as sources, the two books--we would have no idea. Well, that's not true, it's probably because Winston Churchill gave a glowing accolade to Webster's book that anyone has any idea of the Illuminati today.

In the first sentence above, Robison is just making an assumption--that it cannot be doubted that there was the involvement in the Revolution by Weishaupt's group. Remember this is a thing that Robison could have asked Weishaupt. However, this is a rhetorical trap--it can easily be doubted. Especially when we consider why the Revolution occurred in the first place. 

I try and impress upon my students that the reason the Revolution was so shocking was not the reign of terror. That's going to factor into it, but even initially the Revolution sends a shockwave throughout the European continent all of the way to the great Russian empire. The first is that unlike the American Revolution, this one took place on European soil. This isn't some colony across the sea, this was the home country. That's a much bigger deal because the other kingdoms of Europe cannot just pretend that it took place in some far off place. This is the capital, this took place not where the Mercantilistic raw materials came from but where the money was. The gold of the Sun King was at stake here. 

The second reason is that this was France. The Ancien Regime. As long as Europe had been free from the Romans it seemed like the French had their country. They had resisted the Moorish invasions holding the line at Spain (sort of...). They supplied the armies of the Crusades and for a brief time--they were the seat of the Catholic church. While the Italian and German states were carved up through history--the French were not. It seemed that France had always been there and unlike the same in Britain, there was no water to protet them. 

I am no historian so my knowledge of the French Revolution is not that deep. However we can point to a few things. The first is that the kingdom of France was bankrupt. Years of wars, including funding the American Revolution, had depleted the King of money. They were deeply in debt and in order to fix this they instituted a series of regressive taxes by which the peasants not only had to pay a higher rate, but also had to retroactively pay the higher rate. Then the famines. Years of deregulating agricultural practices led to mass starvation. All of this would be bad enough, but a revolution against a monarch, according to Italian Philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, needs to be conducted from a position of relative strength. 

This is where the merchant class comes in. France is still operating under the feudal system, but the practice of trade has created a new class between the lords and the serfs--the merchants. While the kingdom was broke, the merchant class was still making money and paying taxes. They were the only functioning aspect of the French kingdom, but they had no place and most importantly the indepedent merchants had no authority. They kept the sinking ship afloat but had no say in the operation of the government. Add to that those pesky books that Robison ranted about and an increasing literacy; and the people could observe how bad they had it while the aristocrats and the clergy lived in comfort. Something was going to happen.

Let's take a look at the second half of that overly long sentence that Robison writes, "in reading the secret correspondences, I was always surprised at not finding any reports from France, and something like a hesitation about establishing a mission there; nor am I yet able thoroughly to account for it." 

Robison is claiming that he is shocked by the fact that none of the letters he has been reading between the Illuminatus discuss France. That is impossible right? Because they have to be there, they must be involved, but...he has no proof. Which leads him to a proof by ignorance, because he can't find it means that they are being extra secret about it. Well, no, it could mean--and here's the thing, that they had nothing at all to do with it. 

The second half of that sentence lends credence to my claim. There was a hesitancy to establish a mission there. This makes perfect sense. The revolution became so chaotic that people like Thomas Paine were accused of being enemies of the Revolution. The reluctance is probably based on the turbulence in France. I wouldn't want to set up a mission there either until the fighting at least calmed down.

Robison clearly wants that proof, but since it isn't there he has to assume it. This is bad thinking, and it's kind of refreshing to see that the very outset of the Illuminati conspiracy they were making it up.