A PROJECT OF JOSEPH DE MAISTRE FOR THE UNION OF PEOPLES
Emile Dermenghem, to whom we owe the remarkable work Joseph de Maistre mystique, has also made available a previously unpublished manuscript by de Maistre, a memorandum of 1782 addressed to Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick (Knight of Victoria), Grand-Master of the Rectified Scottish Rite, on the occasion of the Wilhelmsbad Freemasons' Lodge Meeting. In September 1780, Duke Ferdinand, hoping to 'bring order and wisdom into Masonic anarchy,' had addressed to all the Lodges of his obedience the following questionnaire:
(1) Is the origin of the Order an ancient society, and if so, what is this society? (2) Are there really Unknown Superiors, and if so, who are they? (3) What is the true aim of the Order? (4) Is this aim the restoration of the Order of Templars? (5) In what way should the ceremonial and rites be organized so as to be as perfect as possible? (6) Should the Order occupy itself with secret sciences?
It was in reply to these questions that Joseph de Maistre composed a separate memorandum, distinct from the collective response of the Perfect Sincerity Lodge of Chambéry to which he belonged, in which, in his capacity as 'Grand Professor' or member of the highest grade of the Rectified Regime (under the name Knight of Floribus), he proposed to express 'the views of some Brothers more fortunate than others, who seem destined to contemplate truths of a higher
order.' Dermenghem even says that this memorandum is 'the first important work to come from his pen.'
Joseph de Maistre did not accept the Templar origin of Masonry, and was unaware of the real interest of the question. He goes so far as to write: 'What does the destruction of the Order of the Templars matter to the universe?' But it matters very much, since this marks the point at which the West broke with its own initiatic tradition reaches back, a rupture that is truly the primary cause of the intellectual deviation of the modern world. This deviation in fact goes back further than the Renaissance, which marks only one of the principal stages, the fourteenth century being its actual startingpoint. De Maistre, who moreover had only a rather vague understanding of the Middle Ages, knew nothing of the means of transmission of initiatic doctrine or of the representatives of true spiritual hierarchy, but he clearly maintained the existence of both, which is already a great deal, for one must realize how matters stood at the end of the eighteenth century with the many Masonic organizations, including those not confining themselves to a wholly outward formalism, but claiming to offer their members a real initiation and they all sought a connection with something the exact nature of which was unknown to them, to rediscover a tradition of which the signs still existed everywhere but of which the principle was lost. No one possessed the 'true characteristics'-as it was put during this period-and the Wilhelmsbad Lodge was an attempt to reestablish order in the besetting chaos of rites and grades. 'Certainly,' says Joseph de Maistre,
the Order could not begin as we now see it. Everything declares that common Freemasonry is a detached and perhaps corrupted branch of an ancient and respectable line.
This is the strict truth; but how to know what this line was? He cites an extract from an English text dealing with the question of certain brotherhoods of builders, to which he adds, 'It is remarkable that these kinds of establishments coincide with the destruction of the Templars.' This remark could have opened to him wider horizons, and it is astonishing that it did not lead him to further reflection, all the more so since the sole fact of having written it hardly accords
with what goes before. Let us add, moreover, that this only concerns one side of the exceedingly complex question of the origins of Masonry's.
The attempt to join Masonry to the ancient Mysteries represents another side of this same question:
The most learned Brothers of our Regime think there are strong reasons for believing that true Masonry is merely the Science of Man par excellence, namely the knowledge of his origin and destiny. A few add that this Science does not differ essentially from ancient Greek or Egyptian initiation.
De Maistre objects that it is impossible to know exactly what the ancient Mysteries were and what was taught in them, and he seems to have only a rather indifferent opinion of these things, perhaps even more astonishing than the similar opinion he had adopted regarding the Templars. Since he quite rightly does not hesitate to affirm that 'remnants of the original Tradition are to be found' among all peoples, how is it that he was not led to think that the chief aim of the Mysteries would have been precisely the conservation of the deposit of this same Tradition? And yet in a certain sense he does admit that the initiation of which Masonry is heir goes back 'to the origin of things,' to the beginning of the world. 'The true religion spans far more than eighteen centuries: it was born the day that days were born.' Here again, what eludes him are the means of transmission, and one may well feel that he rather too easily accepts this ignorance-but of course he was only twenty-nine years old when he wrote this memorandum.
De Maistre's reply to another question proves again that despite the high grade he held, his initiation was far from perfect; and how many other Masons of the highest grades, past and present, are in exactly the same situation, or know even less! What we refer to are his comments regarding the 'Unknown Superiors'. Here is what he says:
Have we Masters? No, we have not. The proof is brief, but decisive. It is that we do not know them. . . . How could we have contracted some tacit commitment to hidden Superiors, since if
they had made themselves known they would perhaps have displeased us and we would have withdrawn?
He is clearly unaware that what is really involved is the mode of action of the genuine 'Unknown Superiors'. As for the fact that the latter were not known even by the Masonic leaders, this proves only that any effective connection with the true initiatic hierarchy no longer existed; and the refusal to recognize these Superiors made the last chance that might still remain to reestablish it disappear.
The most interesting part of the memorandum is doubtless that which answers the last two questions, and we should first not the part about ceremonies. De Maistre, for whom 'form is a great thing,' nevertheless does not speak of the essentially symbolic character of the ritual and its initiatic import, and this is a regrettable omission, but he does insist on what might be called the practical value of the ritual, and what he says is a great psychological truth:
Thirty or forty people decked out in their singular robes and speaking only with permission, ranged silently along the walls of a chamber hung in black or green tapestries, will reason sagely on any subject put to them. But take away the tapestries and robes, put out the candles, allow them to change places, and these same men will jump on one on another, no longer agreeing, or speaking of newspapers and women; and the most reasonable member of society will return home before reflecting that he acted just like the others. . . . Above all let us guard against the suppression of the oath, as some people have proposed, perhaps for good reasons, but which are does not understood. Theologians who have wanted to prove that our oath is illicit have reasoned poorly. It is true that the civil authority alone can prescribe and accept oaths in the various acts of society; but one cannot dispute the right of another intelligent creature the attest by oath an inner determination of his free will. The sovereign has authority only over actions. My arm is his; my will is my own!
Next comes a kind of plan of tasks for the different grades, each of which must have its particular object, and here let us dwell more
particularly on this. But first it is important to dispel a confusion. Since the division De Maistre adopts consists only of three grades, Dermenghem seems to have understood this to mean that he intended to reduce Masonry to three symbolic grades. But this interpretation is irreconcilable with the constitution of the Rectified Scottish Rite itself, which is essentially a Rite of high grades. Dermenghem has not noticed that De Maistre writes 'grades or classes,' and in truth it is really a matter of three classes, each further divisible into several grades properly speaking. Here is how this apportionment seems to be established: the first class comprises the three symbolic grades; the second class corresponds to the capitulary grades, of which the most important and perhaps even the only one in fact practiced in the Rectified Rite is that of Saint Andrew of Scotland; and finally, the third class is formed by the higher grades of Novice, Squire, and Grand Professor [Profes] or Knight Beneficent of the Holy City. What proves again that it really must be understood in this way is that in speaking of the works of the third class, de Maistre writes: 'What a vast field open to the zeal and perseverance of the G.P.! It is evidently a matter of the Grand Professor here, not simple Masters of the 'Blue Lodge' and not at all a question of suppressing the high grades, but on the contrary of giving them aims in keeping with their own character.
The aim assigned to the first class is the practice of charity, 'which must be the visible object of the whole Order.' But that is not enough, and to this a second aim must be added, which is already more intellectual:
Not only will the heart of the Mason be formed in the first grade, but his mind will be enlightened by being applied to the study of morals and politics, which is the morality of the States. Interesting questions on these two sciences will be discussed in the Lodges, and now and then the opinion of the Brothers will be requested in writing. . . . But above all the great object of the Brothers will above all be to acquire a thorough knowledge of their country, of what it possesses and what it lacks, of the causes of distress and the means of regeneration.
According to the system proposed, the second class of Masonry should have as its aim, the direction of governments and the meeting of all Christian sects.
As regards the first point,
one will be untiringly careful to exclude obstacles of all kinds interposed by the passions between truth and the ear of authority. . . . The limits of the State will not be able to confine the activity of this second class, and sometimes the Brothers of different nations will sometimes bring about the greatest good through zealous harmony.
And for the second object:
Would it not be worthy of us to propose the advancement of Christianity as one of the aims of our Order? This project should have two parts, for it is necessary that each communion work by itself and work to bring others together. . . . We should establish committees of correspondence, composed of priests of the different communions that we will have incorporated and initiated. We shall work slowly but surely. We shall not undertake any conquest not suitable to perfect the Great Work. . . . Everything that can contribute to the advancement of religion, to the extirpation of dangerous opinion, in a word, to raising the throne of truth on the ruins of superstition and Pyrrhonism, shall be the jurisdiction of this class.
Finally, the third class shall have as its objective what De Maistre calls 'transcendent Christianity', which, for him, is 'the revelation of the revelation' and constitutes the essential of the 'secret sciences' mentioned earlier; in this way 'the solution of several troublesome difficulties shall be found in the knowledge that we possess.' And he further explains:
The Brothers admitted to the higher class will have as the object of their studies and deepest reflections factual research and metaphysical knowledge. . . . All is mystery in the two Testaments, and the elect of each of the laws were merely true initiates. Question this venerable Antiquity and ask how it understood the
sacred allegories. Who can doubt that this kind of research equips us victoriously against modern writers who insist on seeing in Scripture the literal meaning alone? They are already refuted by the expression Mysteries of Religion which we use every day without penetrating its meaning. This word mystery in principle merely means a truth concealed beneath symbols by those who possessed it.
Is it possible to assert more clearly and more explicitly the existence of esoterism in general and of Christian esoterism in particular? In support of this, various citations are taken from ecclesiastical and Jewish authors, borrowed from Monde Primitif by Count de Gébelin. However, in this vast field of research everyone will find something or other with which to busy himself, according to his abilities:
Some are courageously absorbed in erudite studies that can multiply our qualifications and explain those that we possess. The genius of others calls them to metaphysical contemplation and seeks the proofs of our doctrine from the very nature of things. And finally, others (and thanks to God there are many!) tell us what they have learned from this Spirit that blows where it wishes, as it wishes, and when it wishes.
The call to direct inspiration expressed in this last phase is not what is least remarkable here.
This project was never implemented and we do not even know whether the Duke of Brunswick was aware of it; but it was not as chimerical as some might think, and we believe it well suited to stimulate interesting reflections, as much today as when it was first conceived, which is why we have given such long extracts. In sum, the general idea that emerges can be formulated thus: without claiming in any way to deny or to suppress differences and national characteristics-of which, on the contrary, we must be as profoundly aware as possible, despite the claims of, despite the claims of internationalists today-it is a question of restoring the supranational rather than international unity of ancient Christianity, a unity destroyed by the many sects that have 'rent the seamless robe', and then of raising it to universality by realizing Catholicism in the
true sense of the word, in the sense also meant by Wronski, for whom this Catholicism would have a fully effective existence only when it had succeeded in integrating the traditions contained in the sacred books of all peoples. It is essential to note that such a union as that envisaged by Joseph de Maistre must be accomplished above all in the purely intellectual realm, which is just what we ourselves have always maintained, for we think there can be no true understanding between peoples, especially belonging to different civilizations, other than one based on principles in the proper sense of this word. Without this strictly doctrinal base, nothing solid can be built: all political and economic schemes will remain powerless in this respect, no less than will sentimental considerations, whereas, if agreement on the principles is realized, understanding in all other domains must necessarily follow.
No doubt Masonry of the end of the eighteenth century no longer had the means necessary to accomplish this 'Great Work', of which certain conditions moreover would very likely have escaped De Maistre himself. Is this to say that such a plan will never again be undertaken in one or another form by some organization with a truly initiatic character and possessing an 'Ariadne's thread' to guide it through the labyrinth of innumerable forms under which the sole Tradition is hidden, in order finally to recover the 'Lost Word' and leave 'the Light of the Shadows, the order of Chaos'? We do not wish to prejudge the future in any way, but certain signs permit us to think that, in spite of the unfavorable appearances of the present time, it is perhaps not completely impossible. We shall end by citing a rather prophetic phrase, again from Joseph de Maistre, found in the second meeting of the Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg:
We must be ready for a tremendous event in the divine order, toward which we are marching with an accelerated speed that must strike all observers. Terrible oracles already announce that the time has come.