been initiated into the Stricte Observance near Frankfurt and was now employed as agent of the combined order. According to his own confession his mission "was to work so as to turn Freemasonry in the direction of Weishaupt's projects"; and the funds he drew upon were those of the Illuminati. Cagliostro also formed a link with the Martinistes, whose doctrines, though derided by Weishaupt, were useful to his plan in attracting by their mystical character those who would have been repelled by the cynicism of the Illuminati. According to Barruel, it was the Martinistes who--following in the footsteps of the Rosicrucians--had suggested to Weishaupt the device of presenting Christ as an "Illuminatus" which had led to such triumphant results amongst the Protestant clergy.
But if Weishaupt made use of the various masonic associations, they on their account found in him a valuable ally. The fact is that by this time both French and German Freemasons were very much at sea with regard to the whole subject of Masonry and needed someone to give a point to their deliberations. Thus at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad convened on July 16, 1782, and attended by representatives of masonic bodies from all over the world, the first question propounded by the Grand Master of the Templars (i.e. the Stricte Observance) was: "What is the real object of the Order and its true origin?" So, says Mirabeau in relating this incident, "this same Grand Master and all his assistants had worked for more than twenty years with incredible ardour at a thing of