[473] Staack, in his _Der Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert_ (1803), vol. ii, p. 276, represents von dem Busche as a military official in the service of the Dutch government, and as a member of Weishaupt’s order. Mounier (p. 212) refers to him as a major in the service of the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. His figure is of no historical importance apart from its chance connection with the Illuminati legend. [474] This bizarre and preposterous explanation of the genesis of the French Revolution was a favorite with contemporary German and French writers of the special-pleader type. It was used, as we shall see later, by both Robison and Barruel in their discussions of the rôle played by the Illuminati in the great French political and social debacle. Its classic statement was made a few years later by Staack, in his _Der Triumph der Philosophie im 18. Jahrhundert_, vol. ii, pp. 348 _et seq._ A more silly exposition of the relation of the Illuminati to the French Revolution is that found in the fabulous tale related by the notorious Sicilian impostor, Giuseppe Balsamo (“Count” Alessandro Cagliostro), who, in 1790, having been arrested at Rome and interrogated by officials respecting his revolutionary principles, attempted to divert suspicion by recounting experiences he claimed to have had with two chiefs of the Illuminati, at Mitau, near Frankfort, Germany. Revelations had been made to him at that time (1780), he alleged, to the effect that the Order of the Illuminati was able to number 20,000 lodges, scattered through Europe and America; that its agents were industriously operating in all European courts, particularly, being lavishly financed with funds drawn from the immense treasures of the order; and that the next great blow of the order was to be delivered against the government of France. _Cf._ Sierke, _Schwärmer und Schwindler zu Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts_, pp. 407 _et seq._ Both Engel (pp. 420 _et seq._) and Forestier (pp. 658 _et seq._) devote an unnecessary amount of space to Cagliostro’s foolish “revelations”. It is sufficient for our purpose to remark in passing that, in any case, Cagliostro was not discussing the affairs of Weishaupt’s order, but the affairs of the Strict Observance whose growing credulity and occultism caused the term “Illuminati” sometimes to be applied to them.