[A FRIEND TO TRUTH], A DEFENCE OF FREE MASONS ETC., IN ANSWER TO PROFESSOR JOHN ROBISON ’S PROOFS OF A CONSPIRACY (1797)

Conspiracy theories that blamed Freemasons for the French Revolution became increasingly popular in the 1790s. In a strong anti-Jacobin and Gallophobic climate, to defend his countrymen against radical conspirators, John Robison (1739-1805), a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh,3 informed British people about the signs of potential plots, endangering peace and public order in his Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, Carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies.4 Like the authors of most Illuminati conspiracy theories, he was a Freemason. In 1770, Admiral Knowles invited Robison to help him reform the Russian navy. During his journey to Russia he was initiated in the Loge de la Parfaite Intelligence in Liège. He also visited French lodges in Valenciennes, Brussels, Aachen, Berlin and Königsberg.5 In St Petersburg he joined the English lodge there, whose activities he enjoyed. However, he resisted encouragement to join the French lodges.6 Then his ‘masonic spirit had evaporated’.7 He became interested in Freemasonry again in 1795 when he read a volume of the German magazine Die neuesten Religionsbegebenheiten discussing controversies and schisms in the fraternity, which inspired him to write his first political work.