"Nor Can It Be Said...": Proofs of a Conspiracy...: pp. 216-END

"Nor can it be said that these are vain fears. We know that the enemy is working among us, and that there are many appearances in these kingdoms which strongly resemble the contrivance of this dangerous Association."

It's nice that it cannot be said that this is the case. It isn't exactly a vain fear, the fear that Robison has is without a warrant, but his fear is not the Illuminati. The fear is that the world is changing around him and he can't accept it. The fear is that the world is now more literate than it has ever been and new ideas are being tossed around that aren't the orthodoxy that he grew up with. Yes, Robison has a real fear, but the vanity is in thinking that the Illuminati are out there trying to target him. 

For once we actually get a name of a book that is widely available even now, Thomas Paine's "Age of Reason." Here's what Robison claims about the book, "Till Paine's Age of Reason appeared, the most sceptical writings of England kept within the bounds of decency and of argument, and we have not, in the course of two centuries, one piece that should be compared with many of the blackguard productions of the German Presses."

I've read the Paine book. Paine wrote "Age of Reason" in France awaiting execution by the revolutionary government. It is only by coincidence that he survived (his door was marked for his execution but it was marked on the wrong side and the jailer missed it), and he was finally invited to return to the new United States at the invitation of President Thomas Jefferson. Age of Reason is a scathing attack on the Bible, but here's the thing about it: Paine only used the Bible to argue against the Bible. All the new things that new atheists point out in the Bible--the contradictions and the absurdities; come from Paine. Although, he also points out the meaninglessness of all of it as well: why does it matter that Samson tied torches to foxes, that donkey could speak, etc. It's only indecent if you don't like people actually knowing about the book that you claim to be the epitome of morality, the greatest story ever told, or the rock of ages. It's not a vulgar or offensive book unless you think that any kind of skepticism is a bad thing. 

Robison reminisces about his youth and how enjoyed the skeptical writings of his day, but these days are different. This is nothing more than old people complaining about the "music these days." Yeah, I get it the radical literature in your day was correct, but now they've changed what radical means and you're no longer it--and what is radical is new and scary (paraphrasing a 20-year-old Simpson's quote). 

There's nothing radical or new about defending the system, which is what Robison closes on. The doctrines of the Illuminati are preached throughout England and it seems to him that the new thing is to assume that the government of the UK is always wrong. Even a Dr. Priestly claims that if France continues to improve after the revolution the problems in England might boil over and produce the same effect. What is Robison's solution? Well, it's actually quite good--instruct the clergy so that they are educated enough to argue against the doctrines of Illumination. 

Honestly, I was quite surprised by this recommendation, and I heartedly endorse it. It's a quite refreshing change from the modern conspiracists who "wink wink, nudge nudge" aren't calling for violence against the globalists, the new world order, and whatever other boogie men they've dreamed up. Engage in debate and let us see which ideas survive--but writing this nearly 250 years later, I know that Robison loses the debate. The Enlightenment ideals win; still, it was a nice sentiment. 

Another section I like is a weird non sequitur in which Robison observes that no one understands Newton. Newton never, according to him (and I agree), claimed in his Principia that the aether was an operational element. Now, in a few of his letters, he'll assure some the religious people that action through a void cannot happen and that gravity must have a fluid that it operates through--aether was a stand-in. Yet, people would take this stand-in and claim all sorts of bullshit from it. Magnet therapy and Mesmerism will use the aether in much the same way that pseudo-scientists and alt-med people will use "quantum." Robison is right, but I'm not sure why this is in the book.

Robison ends the book by claiming, as some conspiracy theorists do, "Nothing would give me more sincere pleasure than to see the whole [book] proved to be a mistake;--to be convinced that there is no such plot, and that we run no risk of the contagion; but that Britain will continue..."

Well, I've good news and bad news Robison. The good news is that Britain continues. In fact, even though you've lost the colonies, the British empire is still rising. The sun will never set on the British empire for about a hundred years and the influence of the empire continues to my day. The bad news is that its greatest enemy was not the Illuminati, it was believers in this type of work who convinced the population that it was under assault--not by German literature but by Slavic immigrants and then torpedoed the entire economy. 

The book then has a post-script. Which is not interesting except for how it begins. The copy I have been using is apparently not a pdf of the first edition. Robison has been made aware of a few things. The first is that he has a factual error concerning Diderot's library (which I pointed out in the very beginning), that a follower of Dr. Priestly was mistaken, and some minor thing about a letter being misattributed. 

Another thing that has happened is that Robison has been made aware of Augustin Baurrell's work on the same subject, "Memoirs of the History of Jacobinism." This is where Robison believes that this book is vindicated. Baurrell is not going to make the same claims as Robison but he's going to repeat the idea that there exists a secret conspiracy. In fact, Robison observes that Baurrell has made an observation that Robison missed, "That irreligion and unqualified Liberty and Equality are the genuine and original secrets of Free Masonry, and that ultimatum of a regular progress through all its degrees."

Robison only missed that because he wasn't willing to admit that he was involved in such a group. Otherwise, it's the same bullshit. The differences in the books are that Baurrell will only mention the Illuminati in later versions after he's read Robison's book. Baurell didn't even like Robison's work and will discuss how Robison is completely mistaken in parts. It's a competition between conspiracy theorists similar to how Alex Jones hatest the Q-anon people. If either work had any proof that would be one thing, but ultimately, the problem is that the times are changing and Robison (as well as Baurell) are afraid of it. 

Next week: I offer my closing remarks on this work.