FINAL WARNING: The Birth of Tyranny
To insure that the activities of the Order would remain a secret, a
warning as to the consequences of betraying the Order was including
in the ceremony of initiation. They would point a sword at the initiate
and say: “If you are a traitor and a perjurer, learn that all our Brothers
are called upon to arm themselves against you. Do not hope to escape
or find a place of safety. Wherever you are, shame, remorse, and the
rage of our Brothers will pursue you, and torment you to the innermost
recesses of your entrails.”In October, 1783, Joseph Utzschneider, a lawyer, who had dropped out
of the Order in August, presented to the Duchess Maria Anna, a
document which detailed the activities of the Illuminati. He was upset
because he had been promoted too slow, and was constantly prodded
to prove his loyalty. The Duchess gave the information to the Duke. On
June 22, 1784, Duke Karl Theodore Dalberg, the Elector Palatinate of
Bavaria, after discovering from the information that the goals of the
Illuminati were to “in time rule the world,” by overthrowing all civil
government, criticized all secret societies, and groups established
without government sanction. On March 2, 1785, he issued a
proclamation identifying the Illuminati as a branch of the Masons, and
ordered that their Lodges be shut down. The government began a war
against the Order by initiating judicial inquiries at Ingolstadt. In an
attempt to preserve the secrecy of their motives, the Areopagite
burned many of their documents, however, the government was able
to seize many of their papers when they raided the Lodges.After being replaced at the University in February, Weishaupt fled
across the border into Regensburg, finally settling in Gotha, where he
found refuge with another Illuminati member, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha.In April, 1785, Utzschneider was able to convince three other members
to come forward. They were fellow professors at the Marienburg
(Marianen) Academy who had doubts about the validity of the
organization’s principles when they discovered that they would receive
no mystical powers. They were also disgruntled over Weishaupt’s
tyranny. Cossandey, Grunberger, and Renner went before the Court of
Inquiry on September 9, 1785, where they supplied valuable
information, such as membership lists, and revealed their aims and
goals, which they consolidated into the following six points: