Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Ath. 5. Themich2 11503
Rather than cheer my heart, the usual effect of your kind letters, those which Iʹve received lately
have been overwhelming. You speak of death, and elicit in me the sad realization of the
possibility of losing you so soon. Stay, My dear Brother, stay with us. We will go, ibimus, ibimus4
a single battle and the loss of a city5 does not alter our plan. The spirit of liberty wonʹt soon be
lost even after a devastating blow. The AMERICANS still have enough strength to defend
themselves. But suppose that the English become absolute masters of America, which I think
would never happen if we keep in mind the efforts of the Dutch against the Spaniards.6 But
assume the worst. The English will need men to repopulate the depopulated lands which came
about through civil war & its effect.7 They will be content to find people capable of establishing
a new colony. Perhaps they will assign us a place not so far from civilized men, as is our wish. It
matters not: augmented by new recruits we will establish new colonies: we will go forth,
traversing mountains, form an establishment according to our tastes, live together as brothers
and die in Wisdom. I have no doubt in finding a great quantity of capable men able to put our
thoughts into motion. Donʹt worry My Brother; I pray that you do not die on us, for we need
you to be one of the first to kiss the fertile grasslands Elysium. Youʹll be my commander in
chief. Do not leave me, do not abandon me, you are absolutely necessary for my enterprise. The
matter wonʹt be resolved until the end of September; I hope to have the support from our
Illustrious Superiors and will advise you at once; I will send you another 4 or 5 Companions, all
capable men, and enthusiastic enough to risk all for such an enterprise. They are Archytas,
1 Secret State Archive Berlin, FM 5.1.5, Nr, 2910, Bl. 108t‐109t.
2 It is added: July.
3 Le Bauld‐de‐Nans’ Note: The bulk of this letter revolves around the proposed establishment of Elysium in
America. Brother Costanzo or Diomedes was vacillating in Frankfurt; his patron Celsus [Baader] awakens
and invigorates him in the following letter. I transcribe it to prove the character of Baader and Costanzo.
4 Compare. Baader to Costanzo, 6.8.1780, 143. ʺIbimus, ibimus, / utcunque praecedes, supremum / carpere
iter comites parati”; ʺWe will go; we will go, wherever you lead the way, comrades ready to travel the
final journey.ʺ Horace: Odes II 17 (Ex. J. H. Voss).
5 On 05/12/1780, the Americans in the besieged Charleston (SC) had had to give, which the British gained
back control of the southern colonies almost completely.
6 In the course of their struggle for independence against Spain the Dutch succeeded in conquering the
West Indies in 1634.
7 During the war of Independence, North America was hit by a smallpox epidemic, many more people
fell victim than the fighting.
8 Xenophon,9 Democedes, Lysimachus,10 you and I, with the addition of two or four brothers of
mine, and one or two servants: in America you can buy 2 slaves; enough men to begin to find a
most suitable place for our purposes. In as little as four months you will be in Ebenezer, in
Purisburg, in Augusta, three cities built by Germans in South Carolina.11 You could purchase
fifteen to twenty German leagues of land,12 situated between two rivers; send us the plans on
the backcountry in the mountains of North Carolina, the most accurate description four months
after, and with this new information we can proceed with the second colony. The Divine Sulla,
who resembles you, and the enterprising Ajax will be the leaders of this second wave,
accompanied by a dozen men and women, not to mention orphaned children aged 7‐12 years.
Youʹll see that after only a year growth will be apparent. If you leave in February of the year
1150,13 you will at least have 24 people by February of 1151. Even with misfortune taken into
account, this number is capable of erecting something. February 1152, Marius, Lullus, and I, we
will embrace you in the tranquility of Elysium. We speak, always of this enterprise, of our
skilfulness, our work, our RELIGION, our government, fortresses, landscapes, and of our Arts
and Crafts. You have to be a jack of all trades – military exercises, manufacturing, arts, arsenals
– you must look into it all, examine it and take notes to see if they can be served. In order to
make Commander‐in‐chief, observe, visit the arsenals, and examine everything that concerns
your job. Everyone must cultivate the soil [Feldblau],14 be a healer, an artist, craftsman and a
savant. Itʹs a lot, My dear Brother, but we must take stock of what we have left to learn, to
study. Natural history, physics, mathematics, chemistry – each is important. We would need a
man capable of making guns; each must have a ... 15 two pistols, a broad sword, that is to say, a
lined bag with two pistols: proper attire to guard against the wind, allowing us to work as
soldiers and as farmers. Go, and rekindle your enterprising enthusiasm that had animated you
8 Johann Georg (von) Grünberger (1749‐1820), 1774 Professor of Mathematics at the cadet corps in
Munich, then a professor and book censor at Marianum, 1789 forest master to Lossing, 1791 accessed to
real power. Court Chamber Board in Munich, the countryʹs Directorate General Board in 1799 for
forestry, construction and hunting, 1814 Director of the Tax Commission, ennobled in 1818; 1776 Member
of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences; Member of the Lodge ʺSt. Theodor vom guten Rat.ʺ
9 Jean Sulpice Cosandey († 1807), secular priest and teacher of the French language 1780‐89 in the Lyseum
in Munich and Professor at Marianum, 1786 Canon at Freising, 1788 in Göttingen parish, school inspector;
March 1781 Member of the Lodge ʺSt. Theodor ʺ, also of the Eichstätt Lodge ʺPallas zu den drei Lichternʺ
later.
10 Not determined.
11 Settlements bordering the Savannah River: Purrysburgh (Purysburg), SC, founded in 1732 by Jean
Pierre Purry of Neuchâtel, as well as Ebenezer and Augusta, Georgia; 1734/1735 Salzburgers erected the
two towns.
12 Corresponds to about 110‐150 kilometres.
13 It is added: 1780.
14 Probably added by Le Bauld‐de‐Nans: (on agriculture)
15 Gap in the text.
in the beginning, and resolve yourself instead of being subject to an ungrateful MONARCH;
braving perils, enduring hardships, and fighting despite all the dangers, for your brothers, for
the O16, for the honour of humanity. Try and gather as much knowledge as possible, but
knowledge absolutely necessary for our mission. All the Elysians have so much confidence in
you, in relation to your capabilities, as well as your philosophy and your kind heart, even in the
slave vestments of a soldier, that we still believe; and you, you want to abandon your friends,
your brothers? No, you stay and we will go.
You have to stay some time in Frankfurt until you receive money from the lodge. Ulysses is sick
with tertian fever and Brutus is so overwhelmed with the affairs of the court council, thereʹs no
time for the Chapter. With this done, keep the rest for Berlin. Drusus17 only gave me 30 florins.
He left for home and told me that you had misunderstood the situation, and that he could not at
this time send you more. Brutus will give you excuses. It comes to 60 florins. Youʹve spent a lot,
you may need money, perhaps 50 florins in advance, I could get the Lodge to pay you or, more
appropriately, through Brutus and Drusus. It would look like they had given you an advance.
All the brothers are very content with you work, your assiduousness and the enlightenment
that you send. And I never said I knew all the intricacies of the degrees of the Reformists, as I
would learn from your letters. Youʹve done more than the Lodge could hope for. Try again to
learn the cost of each degree of the Reform, even the price of all the degrees of our beloved
Lodge in Berlin.
The word and the sign of the high grades of the Reformists, have they revealed it to you? Have
they not told you in what degree is given the [ritual] bath, in which is the cable tow?18
You could not do anything for the O? It does not matter. Itʹs better that we not have useless
members.
I think it would be very helpful to the lodge that you are in Frankfurt during the [upcoming]
congress [of Wilhelmsbad]. I will try to arrange things according to my wishes.
Farewell my Dear and Very Respectable Brother. Do not think all day about [patet] exitus
[suicide]. You must come with us, and if there is no more hope exeamus omnes simul.19 A
thousand farewells.
16 Encrypted
17 Georg Ignatz Mansuet Rüding (1749‐1809), Director of the Supreme Court Notary, 1790 Electoral Mainz
government advisor and temporary administrator in Gernsheim.
18 In the fourth (Scottish) degree of Hundʹs System the candidate was presented with a noose around his
neck, to be symbolically pardoned.
19 Latin: Let us do it at the same time.