chiefly of _a combination long since founded in Europe, by Infidels and Atheists, to root out and effectually destroy Religion and Civil Government_,—not this or that creed of religion,—not this or that form of government,—in this or that particular country,—but all religion,—all government,—and that through the world.[674] At Hartford, Theodore Dwight, brother to Yale’s president, publicly averred it was a fact well ascertained that the French Revolution “was planned by a set of men whose avowed object was the overthrow of Altars and Thrones, that is, the destruction of all Religion and Government.”[675] At the midnight orgies of the “modern Illuminati” the plan had been conceived and nourished. For six years past, the orator declared, the government of France has been directed by men who have been schooled in that society of demons.[676] In the same city, and on the same occasion, another voice was raised to declaim against the reckless impiety of French partisans in the United States.[677] These conspiring men, so this orator somewhat vaguely declared, are said to have substituted the wild dogmas of infidel philosophy for the benevolent principles of Christianity. They have adopted “a philosophy originating in wickedness, founded in error, and subversive of the peace and happiness of society.”[678] From this early handling of the subject by clergymen and orators, we are now called away to consider a significant exposition of the matter in the columns of a Boston newspaper. To the issue of the _Massachusetts Mercury_ of July 27, 1798, “Censor” contributed an article that was destined to have important bearings on the course of public discussion. Professing a spirit of reasonable moderation, “Censor” offered the practical suggestion that the time had come to inquire what evidence Professor Robison possessed respecting the authenticity of his sources. “At this distance,” he urged, “it is impossible to decide on the truth of his assertions, or the respectability of his testimonies.” Yet the writer had had his attention drawn to certain evidences of prejudice, misrepresentation, and unrestrained imagination on the part of Robison which tended to destroy confidence in his judgment. Dr. Morse, too, he continued, on the unsupported assertion of an individual three thousand miles distant, to the effect that several lodges of the Illuminati had been established in America prior to ’86, in his fast sermon had seen fit to declare that the Illuminati were here, that they had made considerable progress among us, and that to them were to be traced the torrent of irreligion and the abuse of everything good and praiseworthy which threatens to overwhelm the world. For all these assertions, “Censor” inquired, where were the evidences?[679]