FINAL WARNING: The Birth of Tyranny
wrote: “I have observed these doctrines gradually diffusing and mixing
with all the different systems of Freemasonry till, at last, an
association has been formed for the express purpose of rooting out all
the religious establishments, and overturning all the existing
governments of Europe.”Also, that same year, Abbé Augustin Barruel (French patriot, Jesuit,
and 3rd degree Mason) published his Memoires pour servir a l ́Histoire
du Jacobinisme or Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism
(which presented the Roman Catholic view). Both books sought to
warn America about the Illuminati conspiracy, but the warnings were
not taken seriously. The January, 1798 edition of the Monthly Magazine
contained a letter by Augustus Bottiger, Provost of the College of
Weimar, who accused Robison of making inaccurate statements, and
said that since 1790, “every concern of the Illuminati has ceased.”Thomas Jefferson, believed to be a member of the Virginia lodge of the
Illuminati, and a Mason (who helped the Illuminati to infiltrate the New
England Masonic lodges), denied all the allegations, and described
Weishaupt as “an enthusiastic philanthropist” and called Barruel’s
revelations “the ravings of a Bedlamite (Bedlam was the name of a
hospital in London for the mentally insane).”During the summer of 1798, Rev. G. W. Snyder, a Lutheran minister,
wrote a letter to President Washington and included a copy of
Robison’s book, expressing his concern about the Illuminati infiltrating
the American Masonic lodges. In Washington’s response, dated
September 25, 1798, he wrote: “I have heard much about the nefarious
and dangerous plan and doctrines of the Illuminati,” but went on to say
that he didn’t believe that they had become involved in the lodges. A
subsequent letter by Snyder, requesting a more reassuring answer,
resulted in a letter from Washington, dated October 24, 1798, which
can be found in The Writings of George Washington (volume 20, page
518, which was prepared under the direction of the U.S. George
Washington Bicentennial Commission and published by the U.S.
Government Printing Office in 1941). He wrote:“It was not my intention to doubt that the doctrines of the
Illuminati and the principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the
United States. On the contrary, no one is more satisfied of this