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The Count of Saint­Germain

David Pratt

September 2012

Part 1 of 2

Contents

Part 1 1. Introduction 2. England and music 3. At the French court 4. Peace mission 5. Ubbergen and Tournai 6. Italy and the Turkish campaign 7. Travels in Germany

Part 2 8. Prince Carl and the final years 9. Origins: Prince Rákóczy10. Messenger and adept11. Cagliostro and Mesmer

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The Count of Saint­Germain (from an engraving by Nicolas Thomas,1783, made from a painting attributed to Count Pietro dei Rotari(1707­62) and owned by the Marquise d’Urfé).

1. Introduction

The Count of St. Germain was an enigmatic figure who achieved greatprominence in European high society in the mid­18th century. He was on closeterms with many kings, princes and statesmen, and enjoyed their confidence andadmiration. He was fabulously wealthy, possessing a collection of jewels of raresize and beauty, which he often gave away as gifts. Acquaintances praised hischarming grace, genteel manners and enormous erudition. He was anaccomplished musician and composer, and a virtuoso on the violin. He was alsoa brilliant chemist, with a unique knowledge of dyes and diamonds. Frederick theGreat called him a man whose riddle had never been solved. His birth andbackground are obscure, but towards the end of his life he revealed that he wasa son of Prince Francis Rákóczy of Transylvania.

Tales about Saint­Germain grace many memoirs of the period, but their reliability

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varies; they often contain embellishments, exaggerations and outrightfabrications, and several were not written by their alleged authors.1 There arelegends that he could fuse small diamonds into larger ones, make gold,possessed the secret of eternal youth, and was hundreds or even thousands ofyears old. His contemporaries sometimes referred to him (often ironically) as ‘theWonderman’. Voltaire mockingly called him ‘a man who never dies and whoknows everything’. Although Saint­Germain has often been labelled a charlatan,adventurer, swindler and spy, there is no convincing evidence to back this up.

Saint­Germain’s name is frequently linked to alchemy, occultism and secretsocieties. Helena P. Blavatsky writes: ‘Count St. Germain was certainly thegreatest Oriental Adept Europe has seen during the last centuries. But Europeknew him not.’2 According to Isabel Cooper­Oakley, ‘he brought his greatknowledge to help the West, to stave off in some small measure the storm cloudsthat were gathering so thickly around some nations. Alas! his words of warningfell on deafened ears, and his advice went all unheeded.’3

This article first reconstructs the life and work of Saint­Germain from historicalsources, and then considers what occult sources have to say about him.

Notes

1. For critical comments on the reliability of different sources, see Jean OvertonFuller, The Comte de Saint Germain: Last scion of the House of Rákóczy,London: East­West Publications, 1988, pp. 100, 105­7, 124, 188, 190­1, 197,240, 243­4.

2. H.P. Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary, Los Angeles, CA: Theosophy Co.,1973 (1892), p. 309.

3. Isabel Cooper­Oakley, The Comte de St. Germain: The secret of kings,original ed., 1912, reprint, Escondido, CA: The Book Tree, 1999, p. 2.

2. England and music

The Count of Saint­Germain we are considering here is sometimes confused withseveral other Saint­Germains: Claude­Louis, Comte de Saint­Germain (1707­78),a Frenchman famous for his military talents, who was appointed war minister byLouis XVI in 1775, but whose career ended in disgrace because of the reformshe tried to introduce in the army; Robert­François Quesnay de Saint­Germain(1751­1805), an occultist; and Pierre­Mathieu Renault de Saint­Germain, FrenchGovernor of Calcutta in 1755.

The first historical trace of the Count of Saint­Germain seems to be a letterwritten on 22 November 1735 in The Hague in the Dutch Republic (officiallyknown as the Republic of the United Provinces) by someone signing himself‘P.M. de Saint­Germain’. It is addressed to Irish physician and collector Sir HansSloane, and offers to procure for him a printed copy of the Catholicon (anencyclopaedic Latin dictionary compiled by Johannes Januensis). A Frenchman

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by the name of Morin, who was then ambassador to The Hague, said he had metSaint­Germain there in 1735, and that when he met him again in France in thelate 1750s he was astonished to find that Saint­Germain did not seem to haveaged by so much as a year.1

Saint­Germain next turns up in England in 1745, where he was arrested onsuspicion of being a spy. That year saw the start of the Second JacobiteRebellion, led by Charles Edward Stuart, also known as the Young Pretender(grandson of James II, who was deposed in the English Revolution of 1688).Charles left France for Catholic Scotland in July 1745 and, supported by severalScottish clans, soon reached Edinburgh. His forces were defeated at the Battle ofCulloden in the Scottish Highlands in April 1746, putting an end to any realistichope of overthrowing the reigning (Protestant) House of Hanover and restoringthe (Catholic) House of Stuart to the British throne.

In a letter of 9 December 1745, Horace Walpole, a young Whig politician (theWhigs played a central role in the Revolution of 1688), wrote to Horace Mann,the British envoy in Florence, as follows:

[T]he other day they seized an odd man, who goes by the name ofCount St. Germain. He has been here these two years, and will nottell who he is, or whence, but professes two wonderful things, the firstthat he does not go by his right name; and the second that he neverhad any dealings with any woman – nay, nor with any succedaneum[substitute]. He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, ismad, and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, aPole; a somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico, and ranaway with her jewels to Constantinople; a priest, a fiddler, a vastnobleman. The Prince of Wales has had unsatiated curiosity abouthim, but in vain.2

In a report dated 21 December 1745, the French chargé d’affaires in Londonstated that Saint­Germain

has met every highly placed person, including the Prince of Wales. Hespeaks several languages, French, English, German, Italian etc., is avery good musician and plays several instruments, said to be aSicilian and of great wealth. What has drawn suspicion on him is thathe has cut a very fine figure here, receiving great sums and settling allbills with such promptitude that it has never been necessary to remindhim. Nobody could imagine how a man who was simply a gentlemancould dispose of such vast resources, unless he were employed as aspy. He has been left in his own apartment under the guard of a StateMessenger; no papers have been found in it or on his person whichfurnish the least evidence against him; he has been interrogated bythe Secretary of State [the Duke of Newcastle], to whom he does notfurnish an explanation of himself quite so satisfactory as thatgentleman wishes, persisting in his refusal to state his real name, titleor occupation, unless to the King himself, for, he says, his behaviourhas been in no wise contrary to the laws of this country, and it isagainst common right to deprive an honest foreigner of his libertywithout formulating an accusation.3

Soon afterwards Saint­Germain was released without charge.

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The Duke of Newcastle. (en.wikipedia.org)

Whatever the main purpose of Saint­Germain’s stay in England, he made a greatimpression as a musician. Charles Burney, composer of the British nationalanthem, mentions that Prince Lobkowitch and the ‘celebrated and mysteriousCount Saint­Germain’ attended all the rehearsals for an opera at the Haymarkettheatre and Saint­Germain also composed several new songs for it, one of whichwas encored every night. A collection of six arias published around 1747contained three by Saint­Germain. The one encored every night hasaccompanying lines for first and second violins, viola, cello and harpsichord.Saint­Germain participated in concerts not only as a performer but also as adirector. Forty­two arias with Italian lyrics composed by Saint­Germain werepublished around 1750, as was Six Sonatas for two Violins with a bass forHarpsichord or Violoncello by SSSS de St. Germain. Seven Solos for a Violin,also by Saint­Germain, appeared around 1758.4

After 1745, Saint­Germain’s precise whereabouts and activities for the next 12years are uncertain. His own statements indicate that he was probablydeveloping various manufacturing techniques in Germany, mainly in the area ofdyeing. In 1755 he was involved in promoting a machine invented by aFrenchman for cleaning and deepening ports, estuaries and waterways, andmade a trip to The Hague in late 1755 or early 1756.5

Notes

1. Jean Overton Fuller, The Comte de Saint Germain: Last scion of the House of

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Rákóczy, London: East­West Publications, 1988, pp. 60­2, 106.

2. Count of St. Germain, en.wikipedia.org; censored version: Charles DukeYonge (ed.), Letters of Horace Walpole, London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1890, vol. 1,gutenberg.org.

3. Fuller, pp. 67­8.

4. Ibid., pp. 66­84, 310­2.

5. Ibid., pp. 89, 95­6.

3. At the French court

When the Second Jacobite Rebellion broke out in England, most of the Britisharmy was in Flanders and Germany, participating in the War of the AustrianSuccession (1740­48), which pitted the upcoming German province of Prussia(backed by France, Spain, and Bavaria) against Austria, the seat of the HabsburgEmpire (backed by Britain and the Dutch Republic). The War of the AustrianSuccession was followed by the Seven Years War (1756­63), which affectedEurope, North and Central America, the West African coast, India, and thePhilippines, and cost around a million lives. In this global conflict, the earlieralliances were reversed: instead of France and Prussia versus Britain andAustria, it now became France and Austria versus Britain and Prussia. Thisswitch of alliances is known as the Diplomatic Revolution. The underlyingantagonisms nevertheless remained: Prussia versus Austria, and Britain versusFrance.

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(hyperhistory.com)

Saint­Germain entered France during the summer or early autumn of 1757. Atthat time France was ruled by Louis XV. Louis enjoyed a favourable reputation atthe start of his reign (1715), but he became extremely unpopular due to theextravagance of his court, his ill­advised financial policies, and his loss ofterritories. In 1757 he suffered an assassination attempt.

Uninterested in politics and largely influenced by his chief mistress,Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV’s decisions damaged the power ofFrance, weakened the treasury, discredited the absolute monarchy,and arguably led to the French Revolution which broke out 15 yearsafter his death. He was succeeded by his grandson Louis XVI in1774.1

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Louis XV. (en.wikipedia.org)

Madame de Pompadour, ca. 1750. (en.wikipedia.org)

Mme de Pompadour shouldered much of the blame for France’s reversal ofalliances from Prussia to Austria and the disastrous Seven Years War thatensued, as well as for its recurrent financial difficulties. Her father was head clerkto the Pâris brothers (Joseph Pâris­Duverney, her godfather, and Jean Pâris­Monmartel), the biggest financiers in France, and she accepted their adviceblindly. Her brother became Marquis of Marigny and the King made him Directorof the King’s Manufactures and Superintendent of the King’s Buildings. In thesecapacities, he received several letters from Saint­Germain, who signed himself

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‘Denis de S.M., Comte de St. Germain’.

I have made on my own lands the most rich and rare discovery thathas yet been made, excepting only that of America. I have worked atit with a diligence, application and patience perhaps without precedentfor close on twenty years. ... The object of all this work having beenachieved I wish to donate the profit to the King, my expenses onlydeducted, without asking him for anything but the use, free, of one ofthe royal residences, in which to establish the people I have broughtfrom Germany for his service. ... It is a year that I have been talking about this, three months that Ihave been in Paris.2

Saint­Germain felt that his dyeing and other techniques could provideemployment, increase national wealth and relieve taxation on the poor.

By May 1758 Saint­Germain had been granted use of several suites at theChâteau de Chambord, the most magnificent of the King’s residences afterVersailles. He was also granted use of three kitchens on the ground floor (for thedyeing process) and some of its outbuildings (for housing his workforce). Workhad not yet started as everything had to be brought from Germany. He met theKing and Mme de Pompadour at Versailles, became a regular guest at Mme. dePompadour’s suppers, and spent many evenings with the King and royal family.

Another regular guest at the suppers given by Mme. de Pompadour was theDuke de Choiseul. In autumn 1758 he returned to France from Vienna, where hehad been ambassador, to take over as foreign minister. He strongly favouredFrance’s alliance with Vienna. He took a dislike to Saint­Germain, now a closefriend of the King, perhaps partly because he had not been let in on the secret ofSaint­Germain’s parentage. At the time, Louis XV seems to have been one of thevery few people – another may have been the Duke of Newcastle – to whomSaint­Germain had revealed this secret. Louis did not receive men below acertain rank in the nobility, and would not have allowed himself to be imposedupon by a charlatan. It is worth noting that Louis XV’s predecessor and greatgrandfather, Louis XIV (the ‘Sun King’), had been a good friend of Saint­Germain’s father, Prince Francis II Rákóczy.

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The Duke de Choiseul. (fr.wikipedia.org)

The Duke de Choiseul’s hostility towards Saint­Germain was revealed during ameal at his home. The duke asked his wife why she was not drinking, and shereplied that she was following the regime recommended by Saint­Germain, andwith great success. The duke then forbade her from ‘following the follies of a manso equivocal’, and went on to claim that he knew the truth about Saint­German:‘he is the son of a Portuguese Jew, who imposes on the credulity of the town andof the Court’.3 Choiseul is simply repeating hearsay, though it is probably true thatSaint­Germain had spent some time in Portugal, as he spoke the languagefluently.

In her memoirs, Mme de Genlis (then known as Stéphanie­Félicité du Crest)reports that during the summer of 1759, when she was 13 years old, she sawSaint­Germain virtually every day and sometimes, while she sang, he wouldaccompany her by ear on the harpsichord. She describes Saint­Germain as agood physician and a very great chemist. She also says he painted in oils, andclaims that he painted pictures in which people were shown wearing jewellery,which – due to a special pigment he had discovered – gleamed and reflectedlight as though made of real stones. Saint­Germain was certainly a connoisseurof paintings, but if he also painted himself, we would most likely have heard ofthis from other writers.4 She also writes:

Saint­Germain’s conversation was instructive and amusing; he hadtravelled a great deal and knew modern history with an astonishingamount of detail, which made him speak of the most ancient peopleas if he had lived with them ... His principles were of the loftiest, hecomplied with all the exterior duties of religion with exactitude, he wasvery charitable, and every one agreed that his morals were the verypurest.5

Yet she still persists in calling him a charlatan.

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Karl Heinrich Baron von Gleichen, a prominent Freemason, met Saint­Germain in1759 when he called on the latter’s banker, Mme Lambert. Saint­Germain oftenlodged at her house when in Paris. Gleichen says he followed Saint­Germain forsix months but ‘he taught me nothing’, and his resulting dislike of Saint­Germainis often reflected in the way he writes about him. He makes the interestingcomment that Saint­Germain, ‘unlike other charlatans, never claimed to possesssupernatural knowledge’.6 Whether Saint­Germain possessed paranormalpowers or not, there do not seem to be any reliable eyewitness accounts of hisdisplaying them,7 whereas there are reliable reports of other leading occultists(such as Cagliostro and H.P. Blavatsky) doing so.8

Gleichen describes Saint­Germain as ‘a man of medium height, very robust,clothed with a magnificent simplicity and very elegant’. On one occasion Gleichenspoke of some paintings he had seen in Italy, and Saint­Germain later showedhim some very beautiful paintings in his own possession and a quantity ofprecious stones, mainly diamonds, ‘of surprising size and perfection’. Gleichenalso writes:

He possessed chemical secrets, for the making of colours, dyes, anda similor [a metal resembling gold] of rare beauty ... He kept a very strict regime, never drinking while eating, purginghimself with senapods, which he prepared himself, and that was all hehad to recommend to those who asked him what they should do toprolong their lives.9

Several people reported that Saint­Germain looked about 40 to 60 years old in1759. One of the reasons why people thought he was unnaturally old is thatGleichen reported – second­hand – that the composer Jean­Phillippe Rameauand an elderly relative of a French ambassador to Venice, who both met Saint­Germain in France, said they had also met him in Venice around 1710, lookinglike a man of 50 whereas in 1759 he only looked like a man of 60.10 Peopleassumed that Saint­Germain’s mostly vegetarian diet and his regular drinking ofa herbal tea containing senna pods had enabled him to live to an unnatural age.It was due to his special diet that he was never seen eating in public.

Mme du Hausset, lady­in­waiting to Mme de Pompadour, says the Saint­Germainwas ‘neither stout nor lean’, ‘dressed very simply, but in good taste’, and ‘hadvery beautiful diamonds on his fingers as well as on his snuff­box and his watch’.Saint­Germain reportedly told her: ‘Sometimes I amuse myself, not in makingpeople believe, but in letting them believe that I lived in the most ancient times.’11

Some of the wild tales that circulated about Saint­Germain were the result of theactivities of a man called Guave, who was nicknamed Milord Gower because heliked to mimic the English. He had been employed as a spy against the Britisharmy during the Seven Years War, and courtiers now made use of his services inParis to play the parts of all sorts of people. Sometimes he would disguisehimself as Saint­Germain ‘to satisfy the curiosity of women and idlers’. Gleichensays that, when impersonating Saint­Germain, Gower would begin with minorexaggerations,

but if he saw that all was received with admiration, he would go backfrom century to century until the time of Christ, of whom he wouldspeak familiarly as though he had been his friend. He would say, forinstance, ‘I knew him intimately, he was the best man in the world butrather romantic and reckless; I warned him several times he would

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come to a bad end’ ... This kind of nonsense, which was widelyrepeated and taken quite seriously in Paris, gave Monsieur de Saint­Germain the reputation for possessing a medicine which rejuvenatedand rendered immortal ...12

As many people testified, Saint­Germain had a secret process for removing flawsfrom diamonds and improving their colour and brilliance. On one occasion theKing showed him one of his own diamonds which had a flaw. It was valued at6000 livres, but without the flaw it would be worth 10,000 livres (upwards of£75,000). Saint­Germain said he could get rid of the flaw, and brought it back amonth later, wrapped in amianthus, without the flaw. It was found to be virtuallythe same weight as before. The jeweller offered 9600 livres for it, but the Kingpreferred to keep it as a curiosity.13

Nowadays, the colour and brilliance of diamonds can be improved by irradiatingthem with electrons or neutrons and flawed diamonds can be improved by boilingthem in strong acids, if the flaws are accessible via a hairline crack. We have nodetails of the techniques used by Saint­Germain; he may have used acids (whichwere extensively employed in dyeing), and/or some other electrical, chemical oralchemical process.

Notes

1. Louis XV of France, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_xv.

2. Jean Overton Fuller, The Comte de Saint Germain: Last scion of the House ofRákóczy, London: East­West Publications, 1988, pp. 95­6.

3. Ibid., p. 116.

4. Ibid., pp. 107, 191.

5. The Theosophical Path, Jan 1915, p. 48. This is part of a series of 18 articleson Saint­Germain by Philip A. Malpas, The Theosophical Path, v. 6, Jan 1914 tov. 9, Jul 1915.

6. C.A. Vulpius (ed.), Curiositäten der physisch­literarisch­artistisch­historischenVor­ und Mitwelt, Weimar: Landes­Industrie­Comptoirs, vol. 7, 1818, pp. 12­22,zs.thulb.uni­jena.de; The Theosophical Path, Dec 1914, pp. 454­5.

7. The untrustworthy Chroniques de l’Oeil­de­Boeuf by Georges Touchard­Lafosse (Paris: G. Barba, 1836), which borrows heavily from the unreliablememoirs of Mme du Hausset, Mme de Genlis and Baron von Gleichen, containsthe following: ‘There are people who have seen him doing things that exceedhuman powers. They say that he calls up spirits at the desire of those who arebold enough to ask for these terrible apparitions, which are always recognizable.Sometimes he causes replies to questions as to the future to be given bysubterranean voices, which one hears very distinctly if one applies the ear to theflooring of a mysterious chamber, which is only entered for the purpose ofhearing mysterious oracles. Several of these predictions have been alreadyfulfilled, they assert, and Saint­Germain’s correspondence with the other world isa demonstrated truth for many people.’ (The Theosophical Path, Jul 1915, p. 43.)

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8. Daniel Caldwell (comp.), The Esoteric World of Madame Blavatsky: Insightsinto the life of a modern sphinx, Wheaton, IL: Quest, 2000.

9. Fuller, p. 106.

10. Curiositäten der physisch­literarisch­artistisch­historischen Vor­ und Mitwelt,vol. 7, p. 16. Jean Overton Fuller suggests that in 1717 Rameau might have metSaint­Germain’s father, Francis Rákóczy, travelling down the Rhone incognito,and might have confused the two (pp. 106, 281­3). The French ambassador thatGleichen refers to is Count Languet de Gergy, who was ambassador in Venicefrom October 1723 to November 1731 – i.e. 27 to 35 years earlier, rather than 50(The Theosophical Path, Jul 1915, p. 38).

11. The Theosophical Path, Jan 1915, pp. 51­2.

12. Translated from Curiositäten der physisch­literarisch­artistisch­historischenVor­ und Mitwelt, vol. 7, pp. 15­6.

13. Fuller, p. 103.

4. Peace mission

France’s new alliance with Austria was not benefiting France and ongoing warwas draining its resources. The Duke of Newcastle, who was now the BritishPrime Minister, and Lord Granville, Lord President of the Council, sent a lettersaying that they favoured a separate peace between England and France. AtMme de Pompadour’s request, Saint­Germain informed the Duke de Choiseul ofthe letter, but he dismissed it out of hand. Marshal de Belle­Isle, Secretary ofState for War, on the other hand, regretted the alliance with Austria and favouredpeace with England. So did the King and Mme de Pompadour, but they werevery close friends of Choiseul and did not want to openly oppose him. Opinion inEngland was also divided. For instance, the Secretary of State for ForeignAffairs, William Pitt, opposed peace with France; he was a very powerful figure,who had established his fame as the man who was winning the war againstFrance.

Louis, Pompadour and Belle­Isle asked Saint­Germain to find out whetherNewcastle and Granville were strong enough to carry the day. Like them, Saint­Germain regretted the reversal of alliances, opposed the domination of so muchof Europe by the Habsburgs, and believed that France could not afford tomaintain its dependent colonies. If France concluded peace with England, Austriawould do so with Prussia. Saint­Germain agreed to travel to The Hague – aneutral city – and speak with General Sir Joseph Yorke, the British ambassador,whom he knew from his time in England. It was decided not to tell Choiseul inadvance but to wait until Saint­Germain had something positive to report, in thehope that Choiseul would then fall into line.

On 8 January 1760, the Prussian chargé d’affaires at The Hague, Bruno vonHellen, wrote to King Frederick II (Frederick the Great) to tell him about Saint­Germain, who was then still in Paris:

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He is a sort of adventurer, who has lived in Germany and England asthe Comte de Saint­Germain, who plays the violin with excellence, butalso prompts from behind the scenes, and so cuts a great figure. ...The Comte must at the present time play a great role at the Court ofVersailles, having entered into the intimate councils of the King andthe Marquise [de Pompadour] ... [H]e seems to have really impartedto the King of France some curious discoveries which he madethrough chemistry, amongst others the secret of rendering coloursfast.

Von Hellen speculates that Saint­Germain had won the King’s favour byconvincing him he could deliver the philosopher’s stone! He also tells Frederickthat Saint­Germain had frankly told the finance ministers that ‘they committed thehighest degree of folly in breaking off relations with Your Majesty and mixingthemselves up in the war of the Continent’ and had advised them to make peace.Von Hellen says that Saint­Germain was probably involved in the replacement ofthe previous French finance minister in November 1759.1

Apart from the peace initiative, Saint­Germain seems to have had anotherpurpose for making his trip to The Hague, related to France’s dire financialstraits. In Amsterdam he lodged with the brothers Adrian and Thomas Hope,directors of the East­India Company. The Hope brothers had made the FrenchCrown or government a loan on which repayments with interest were apparentlynot being kept up. Baron von Reischach, Austria’s ambassador to the Hague,reported to the Austrian Chancellor, Prince von Kaunitz, in March 1760 thatSaint­Germain was believed to have pledged his own credit as guarantor tosecure the advance of an enormous sum to the French court.2

On 5 March 1760, Saint­Germain called on Willem Bentinck, the Count vonRhoon, at the latter’s request. Bentinck was a member of the States General (theDutch parliament), and one of the regents for Prince Willem V of Orange. Theymet several times and Bentinck accompanied Saint­Germain to the ball andsupper given for Willem’s 12th birthday. In his diary for 9 March 1760 Bentincknoted down many details of his conversations with Saint­Germain, which revealhow well informed the latter was about national and international affairs.

That the King of France and Madame de Pompadour, the wholeCourt and the whole of France desired [peace] passionately; that oneman prevented it. That was the Duc de Choiseul, won over as he hadbeen by the Court of Vienna ... That all the confusions and troubles of Europe came from theTreaty of Versailles, 1756, which was but a consequence of that ofVenice. That there was a secret clause by which Flanders would be givento the [Spanish] Infanta in exchange for Silesia [which Austria hopedto regain from Prussia] ... That there was only one way out of it, and that was by a peaceconcerted between England and France; that the usual method ofpreliminaries, congresses and conferences would lead to drawingthings out indefinitely ... That the King and Madame de Pompadour craved it ...; that theKing of England wished for it no less; that the Duke of Newcastle andLord Granville strongly favoured it; that Pitt, at present connected withthe two others, had until now managed to thwart them, but that Pitt

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was hated by the King ... [H]e entered into great detail concerning the [French] provinces,their depopulation, the ruin of the gentlemen­landowners, bringing inits train by natural consequence the ruin of the peasants whocultivated the land, all caused by the disproportion between thecapital and the realm; of which one now felt the effects because theresources which supplied the provinces and, to excess, the ruinousluxury consumption of Paris, were dried up by the suspension offoreigners’ profits and the ruin of trade.3

Willem Bentinck. (en.wikipedia.org)

Bentinck also wrote:

His conversation pleased me very much, being extremely brilliant,varied, full of details concerning different countries in which he hadbeen, very interesting anecdotes, and I was extremely pleased withhis judgement of persons and places known to me, his manners wereextremely polished and speak a well­bred man of the highest class.

I therefore pressed him with questions, to which he replied readily andclearly (for he speaks with such facility as though he were giddy­headed ...) ...4

Many people commented on Saint­Germain’s talkativeness and skills as araconteur.

On 14 March 1760, General Yorke wrote to the Earl of Holdernesse, Britain’sSecretary of State for the Northern Department, to say that Saint­Germain hadcalled on him and explained that Mme de Pompadour and Marshal de Belle­Isle,

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with the knowledge of the King, had sent him to The Hague to tell him of theKing’s desire for peace. Saint­Germain told him that the French ambassador toThe Hague, D’Affry, was not in the know, nor was Choiseul, who would be‘turned out’. Yorke had replied that the British King wanted an honourable peace.

On the same date Count Kriegsrath Kauderback, a Saxon, the King of Poland’srepresentative at The Hague, wrote to tell a friend about a meeting over dinnerwith Saint­Germain. After recounting rumours of Saint­Germain’s immense age,he says:

What is certain is that a member of the States General who isapproaching seventy has told me he saw this extraordinary man in thehouse of his father when he was only a child, and yet that he has theagile, loose movements of a man of thirty. His legs are ever ready totake a turn, he wears his own hair, black and growing from all over hishead, and has hardly a line on his face. He never eats meat, exceptfor a little of the white of chicken, and limits his nourishment tocereals, vegetables and fish. He takes great precautions against cold...5

He adds that Saint­Germain claimed to have learned ‘nature’s most beautifulsecrets’, was extremely rich, and had shown him stones of inestimable value.Saint­Germain told him of the French King’s lack of firmness, saying that thosearound him abused his good nature and flattered his weakness, especially ‘thecreatures of the Pâris brothers, who, in themselves, constitute the entire ill ofFrance’.

Choiseul soon found out about what was going on. On 19 March 1760 he sentd’Affry a letter Saint­Germain had written to Mme de Pompadour, saying that it ‘issufficient in itself to demonstrate the absurdity of this personage; he is anadventurer of the first water, and moreover very stupid’.

[Y]ou have my order to warn him that if I hear he has meddled inpolitics, in a big way or in small, I will obtain an order from the Kingthat if ever he returns to France he will spend the rest of his days in adungeon. ... [Y]ou will beg him never again to set foot within your doors ...6

Saint­Germain later told Bentinck:

He [d’Affry] does not realise that I have trodden underfoot both praiseand blame, fear and hope, and that I have no object but the good ofhumanity, to do the best I can for humankind. The King knows it well,and I do not fear either Monsieur d’Affry or Monsieur de Choiseul.7

On instructions from the Earl of Holdernesse, Yorke told Saint­Germain that theBritish Crown was willing to discuss peace with him, provided he produced formalproofs that he was representing the French King. Saint­Germain was willing forsomeone holding an official position in Louis XV’s government to accompany himon further visits to Yorke. At this stage, Bentinck still felt that peace was withintheir grasp.

On 4 April, Yorke wrote to Holdernesse saying that since his last despatch Saint­Germain appeared to have lost ground. The next day, d’Affry wrote to Choiseultelling him he had informed all the principal ministers in The Hague, the big

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bankers and the Hope brothers that Saint­Germain had been repudiated. Severalletters that Saint­Germain had written to Pompadour and Belle­Isle had failed toreach them, because Prince Louis of Brunswick – tutor to the young PrinceWillem V and virtually regent of the Netherlands – had redirected them toChoiseul. Prince Louis realized that if Saint­Germain was talking to Yorkedirectly, his own role as mediator between Britain and Prussia, and betweenFrance, Austria and Russia, would disappear.

On 15 April, Choiseul wrote to d’Affry:

The King has ordered me to direct you expressly not only to decry thisso­called Comte de Saint­Germain in the most humiliating andexpressive terms, verbally and in actions, before all whom yoususpect of knowing this knave throughout the United Provinces but topersuade the States General ... to have him arrested and transportedto France, so that he can be punished according to the gravity of hisfault ... [H]ave a notice inserted in the Dutch gazettes, decrying thisknave once and for all ...8

Louis XV proved too weak to stand up to Choiseul and ended up sacrificing hissecret envoy.

Bentinck received intelligence of the imminent danger facing Saint­Germain. Heobtained from Yorke a passport to enable Saint­Germain to escape to England.The latter departed by boat in the early morning of 16 April, just hours before theorder for his arrest could be executed. Bentinck later observed that Saint­Germain had nearly succeeded in his noble endeavour and failed only because‘he relied too much on his own intentions and had not a bad enough opinion ofthose of the men with whom he had to deal’.9

The boat carrying Saint­Germain reached Harwich on 22 April 1760, and Saint­Germain arrived in London a few days later, where he was put under a politeform of house arrest, guarded by a state messenger. While there, he received aletter from the Comte de la Watu, a friend he had left behind in Amsterdam:

If a thunderbolt had struck me, I could not have been more confusedthan I was at The Hague in finding you gone. I will stake everythingand make all imaginable efforts to pay my respects to you in person,for I am not unaware, Monsieur, that you are the greatest Lord of theEarth, and I am only mortified that wretched people dare to cause youtroubles. I have heard that gold and intrigues have been employed againstyour pacific pains.10

William Pitt refused to see Saint­Germain and insisted on his leaving Britain. ThePrussian ambassador to London, Baron von Knyphausen, met Saint­Germainand, with the permission of King Frederick II of Prussia, arranged for him to travelto Aurich under the name of Count Cea (Céa was a county of the Spanishkingdom of Léon). To avoid embarrassing Frederick, however, Saint­Germaindecided to take refuge elsewhere. Louis XV’s failure to stand up for Saint­Germain had hardened Frederick against him, and he was now pressing forwardwith the war against France.

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Notes

1. Jean Overton Fuller, The Comte de Saint Germain: Last scion of the House ofRákóczy, London: East­West Publications, 1988, pp. 121­2.

2. Ibid., p. 136.

3. Ibid., pp. 126­7.

4. Ibid., 130­1.

5. Ibid., p. 135.

6. Ibid., p. 139; Isabel Cooper­Oakley, The Comte de St. Germain: The secret ofkings, original ed. 1912, reprint, Escondido, CA: The Book Tree, 1999, pp. 170­1.

7. Fuller, p. 141.

8. Ibid., p. 153.

9. Cooper­Oakley, p. 212.

10. Fuller, p. 158.

5. Ubbergen and Tournai

On 12 February 1761 the Gazette des Pays­Bas published a report from TheHague, which begins:

The so­called Comte de Saint­Germain, that indecipherable man,whose true name, origin and nationality are unknown, who is rich withthe revenues of unknown origin, and with knowledge acquired it is notknown where or how, who enters the cabinets of Princes withoutbeing avowed, this man ... is actually here [in The Hague], notknowing where to lay his head, an exile from all lands.1

In March 1762 a Dutchman, Baron van Hardenbroek, wrote in his diary that hehad heard that Saint­Germain was living at Ubbergen2 near Nijmegen, ownedanother property near Zutphen, and had a large laboratory in his house, wherehe spent whole days. He was ‘a great philosopher’, ‘of virtuous character’,intended to ‘favour the Republic with his manufactures’, and helped with thepreparation of colours for a porcelain factory in Weesp. He ‘had an enormouscorrespondence with foreign countries’, was often visited by Bentinck, andfrequently went to Amsterdam, where he knew the mayor, G.A. Hasselaar, verywell (having also met him in early 1760).

[He] possesses rare, precious stones, rubies, sapphires, emeraldsand diamonds. It is said that he possesses the art of giving diamondsa brighter water and of giving stones a better colour; he is verygenerous and possesses great properties in the Palatinate and otherparts of Germany ...3

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Since Saint­Germain was initially planning to establish his factory at Ubbergen(which means ‘on the hill’), he decided to adopt the name Surmont (which hasthe same meaning in French).

Estate at Ubbergen (by M. Berkeboom, ca. 1715­20). (dbnl.org)

In the first half of 1762 Saint­Germain visited Russia, possibly to acquire someingredient for his manufacturing processes. He stayed in St. Petersburg with theItalian artist Count Rotari. He was friendly with the Yousopoff family and gavePrince Yousopoff an ‘elixir for long life’. He was also remembered as a splendidviolinist. There is a record of his having been with Princess Galitzin in Archangel(400 miles north of St. Petersburg) on 3 March 1762.4 There were gold fields inthe vicinity and also sources of iron (used in his dyeing process).

Saint­Germain’s visit to Russia took place during the reign of Emperor Peter III,who ascended the throne on 5 January 1762. He was very pro­Prussian and wasassassinated following a coup organised by the Orlov brothers (Ivan, Grigory,Alexei, and Fyodor) on 9 July in favour of Peter’s wife, who became Catherinethe Great. There is a legend that Saint­Germain met the Orlovs while in Russiaand played a part in the coup, though there is nothing to substantiate this. JeanOverton Fuller speculates that he did meet Catherine during this visit anddisclosed his true identity.5

In early 1763 Saint­Germain travelled from the Dutch Republic to the AustrianNetherlands (formerly known as the Spanish Netherlands until the end of War ofthe Spanish Succession), or modern­day Belgium. In Brussels he called onCount Karl Cobenzl, the Austrian minister plenipotentiary, to obtain permission tobring some goods through the country. The conversation turned to paintings andcultural interests, and also to Saint­Germain’s manufacturing experiments andideas. Cobenzl introduced him to Madame Nettine (probably Cobenzl’s mistress),the widow of the founder of the Nettine Bank, and to her son and son­in­law. Theidea arose of launching Saint­Germain’s manufactures in Tournai (Doornik), withan advance from the bank.

A letter written by Cobenzl to Kaunitz, the Austrian Chancellor, on 8 April 1763

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provides the first real details about Saint­Germain’s industrial processes.

About three months ago the person known as the Comte de StGermain passed through here and paid a call on me. I have found himthe most singular man I have met in my life. His birth is not yet knownto me exactly, but I believe him the son of a clandestine unioncontracted by a member of a powerful and illustrious house.Possessed of great wealth, he lives in the greatest simplicity. Heknows everything, and is of a rectitude and goodness worthy ofadmiration. Amongst other proofs of knowledge, he performed severalexperiments before my eyes; I will shortly send Your Excellencysamples. The most essential is the transformation of iron into a metalas beautiful as gold, and to say the least of it just as good for any kindof goldsmith’s work. Dyeing and the preparation of leatherssurpassing all the Moroccos in the world, and the most perfecttanning. Dyeing of silks carried to a perfection never seen until now.Similar dyeing of wool. Dyeing of wool in all the most vivid colours,right through and through, and all without Indigo or Cochineal, withthe most ordinary ingredients and therefore at a very modest price.Making up of colours as artists’ paints; ultramarine as perfect as thatfrom lapis; finally, removal of smell from the oils used in painting, andpreparation of best oil of Provence from rape­seed, colza and otherequally inferior oils.6

Cobenzl added that he expected the profits to ‘go into millions’, and that Saint­Germain had asked only for a payment proportionate to any profits made.Kaunitz passed on this information to ‘Her Sacred, Imperial and ApostolicMajesty’ Maria Theresa, the Austrian Queen and Empress of the Holy RomanEmpire. She was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last ofthe House of Habsburg.

Saint­Germain removed a flaw from a diamond belonging to Cobenzl, greatlyincreasing its value. He also showed him his collection of paintings and gave hima genuine Raphael as a token of his friendship. Baron von Gleichen asserted thatin France Saint­Germain had shown him a painting by the Spanish artist Murillothat was as beautiful as the Raphael in Versailles. This may be the same paintingthat Saint­Germain gave to Cobenzl, as Gleichen may have attributed it to Murilloto fit his belief that Saint­Germain was a bastard of the Queen of Spain.7

In a letter to Kaunitz of 28 April 1763, Cobenzl says: ‘We have got a good andfaithful manufacturer at Tournai, and are there making the necessarypreparations.’ Regarding Saint­Germain’s wealth he writes:

he has a property in Holland two thirds paid for, and he has valuableswhich the man who provided him with the mortgage on their securityestimates at well over a million. I have had these valuables broughthere and deposited with Madame Nettine. ... It is certain he is of illustrious birth, but as that does not serve myend I must keep the secret with which he has entrusted me. He speaks of his wealth and must indeed possess much, sinceeverywhere he has been, he has given prodigious presents, spent agreat deal, never asked for anything and never left debts.

Cobenzl says that Saint­Germain ‘asks nothing from us, and wants to give me hissecret’, and he ends with the boast: ‘there is nothing in the world we cannot make

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him do’.8

Kaunitz was far less enthusiastic about the project. He could not understandSaint­Germain’s disinterested motives and wondered why he did not set upbusiness by himself. Kaunitz did not reveal to Choiseul that Saint­Germain wasnow staying in the Imperial domains and that they were exploring the possibilityof turning his secrets to the profit of the Imperial Crown. It is not clear whetherSaint­Germain knew that the royal finances were involved or thought he wasdealing with Cobenzl and Nettine as private investors.

In a letter of 25 June 1763 to Kaunitz, Cobenzl says that despite being told by anAmsterdam merchant that Saint­Germain’s valuables were worth at least amillion,

the effects that were brought here were not of great value, and thosethat remained in Holland consisted only of paintings, which heesteemed highly but which appeared to be of little worth. Weperceived, moreover, that the Comte was pressed by creditors inHolland, and as incapable of order and economy in his personalaffairs as marvellous in science.

It is highly unlikely, however, that the Nettine Bank would have provided anadvance of 81,720 florins without first seeing Saint­Germain’s valuables.Moreover, the Raphael painting alone would have been worth that amount, butCobenzl never told Kaunitz about it. Cobenzl says that they had succeeded inobtaining Saint­Germain’s secrets and now intended to ‘remove from thedirection of the factory a man who, by his lack of order, could have eaten up theprofits in extravagancies’. It would then be up to Maria Theresa to decide whetherto take over the factory from Mme Nettine.9

In further letters, Cobenzl assured Kaunitz that once the factory was established,there would be no running costs, because Saint­Germain had agreed to paythem out of his own half of the takings. He also says: ‘There is certain value inthe secrets; this is recognised in the leathers and hats, and all our silk and linenmanufacturers find the dyes admirable.’10 Kaunitz himself was most interested inthe refinement of oils, but Saint­Germain did not give them this secret.

In August 1763 Cobenzl informed Kaunitz that Saint­Germain had departedbecause his presence was no longer needed and because he had told him thatMaria Theresa was not interested in his secrets. Saint­Germain had beeninduced to bring his valuables as security for an advance, but it appears thatMme Nettine did not return the valuables, even though Cobenzl informed Kaunitzthat Nettine would recover her outlay.11 The details are unclear, but it seems thatSaint­Germain may have been robbed of a portion of his fortune.

Saint­Germain had been refining his secret process for decades. The informationprovided by Cobenzl indicates that he took crude iron, did something to it thatcaused it to change from dark to golden, immersed it in water (perhaps withadditives), and after it had imparted its properties to the water, he removed it andput in the materials to be dyed. The water in which the dyeing had been donewas later used to make paints. According to a modern expert in the field ofdyeing, the golden permutation of iron could be ferric chloride or more likelyferrocyanide. Using very ordinary and inexpensive ingredients, Saint­Germainwas doing chemical dyeing before the age of chemical dyeing.12

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Jean Overton Fuller says that Saint­Germain’s production of inexpensive fabricsin a range of cheerful colours could have brought forward the IndustrialRevolution by over a century.

Saint­Germain was offering the first mass­market, and one can seefrom these details the sort of revolution he would have wrought inFrance, wherein, besides giving a paid employment to the workpeoplewhom the ruin of the land­owners left to starve, he would haveproduced clothing and other goods at a price ordinary people couldafford, reducing class distinction and creating new exports, hencenew internal wealth, so perhaps avoiding the bloody Revolution whicheventually came.13

Very little is known about whether the factories that Saint­Germain helped to setup in various places were a lasting success and what their economic impactwas.14

Notes

1. Jean Overton Fuller, The Comte de Saint Germain: Last scion of the House ofRákóczy, London: East­West Publications, 1988, p. 162.

2. The two brothers and soap manufacturers Abraham and Jacob de Mist, actingon Saint­Germain’s behalf, purchased the property at Ubbergen in September1761 for 72,500 florins. Ownership was never transferred to Saint­Germainbecause in 1763, before he could pay the full amount, the de Mist brothers weredeclared bankrupt. To help resolve the matter, the city of Nijmegen becameowner of the property for a while. (L.F. van Gent, ‘De Graaf van Saint­Germain,heer van Ubbergen’, Gelre, bijdragen en mededeelingen, v. 44, 1941, pp. 87­115.)

3. F.J.L. Krämer (ed.), Gedenkschriften van Gijsbert Jan van Hardenbroek,Amsterdam: Müller, 1901­1918, vol. 1, pp. 220­1; Fuller, p. 163.

4. Cooper­Oakley, pp. 19­21; Fuller, pp. 164­6.

5. Fuller, p. 165.

6. Ibid., pp. 167­8.

7. Ibid., p. 170.

8. Ibid, p. 172.

9. Ibid., p. 177. Some creditors did indeed come forward with claims againstSaint­Germain after the De Mist brothers had gone bankrupt (‘De Graaf vanSaint­Germain, heer van Ubbergen’, pp. 88­9, 99­102).

10. Fuller, pp. 180, 185.

11. Ibid., p. 186.

12. Ibid., pp. 180­2.

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13. Ibid., p. 184.

14. After Saint­Germain’s departure from France in early 1760 disputes broke outamong the workers at Chambord, which probably led to the operation beingclosed down (ibid., p. 162).

6. Italy and the Turkish campaign

Cobenzl thought that after leaving Tournai, Saint­Germain headed for Liège andthen Karlsruhe to stay with the Markgraf van Baden­Durlach. In 1765 Saint­Germain was in Russia again. He had a factory in Moscow for making Indiennesor calicos (a kind of cotton cloth) using his own dyes, and he gave Catherine theGreat some of his manufacturing secrets. From Russia he went to Italy. Thereare allusions to his having been in Venice, Milan, Genoa, Pisa and Florence. VonGleichen heard of his travelling through villages in Piedmont, and Mme de Genlisheard that in 1767 he was living in Siena under a different name.1

During the Russo­Turkish War of 1768­74, the Ottoman Empire was backed byFrance, while Britain assisted Russia. The Battle of Chesma (Çesme) took placeon 5­7 July 1770 off the western tip of Anatolia, and resulted in a decisiveRussian victory and the destruction of the Turkish fleet. Saint­Germain, under thename of General Soltikow, was present at the battle, probably on the flagship ofthe Russian commander, his friend Alexei Orlov.

Battle of Chesma at night (Ivan Aivazovsky, 1848). (wikipaintings.org)

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Saint­Germain first met Count Alexei Orlov in Venice, where Orlov was waitingfor the Russian fleet. Saint­Germain received his brevet as a Russian General,made out in the name of Chevalier Welldone, in Pisa, in the winter of 1769­70when the Russian fleet put in at Leghorn (Italy) on its way to Turkey. After theBattle of Chesma, Orlov withdrew the fleet to Leghorn. In May 1771 the Russianfleet returned to Turkish waters, and Saint­Germain probably sailed with them.2

Alexei Orlov. (en.wikipedia.org)

The Russians were planning a vast pincer movement, with Orlov leading the seaattack from the south and Rumiansov leading the land forces from the north. Butthe Russian fleet appears to have delayed too long at Leghorn in early 1770,waiting for the arrival of a division sent from Britain, and lost the initiative. Theaim was to pass through the Dardanelles to Constantinople and the Black Sea,but by the time they tried to pass the Dardanelles, French engineers had made itimpassable.

Jean Overton Fuller suggests what the purpose of Saint­Germain’s involvementmay have been.

[H]ad they reached the Black Sea, and landed in those parts ofTurkey’s domains in Europe known as Wallachia and Moldavia (partsof modern Rumania), then, perhaps joined by land forces pushingdown from the south of Russia, they could have marched straightthrough into Transylvania. ...

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[I]n Transylvania, Saint­Germain could have declared his identity asa son of Francis Rákóczy, and there and in Hungary the wholepopulation might have flocked to him, in his General’s uniform,greeting his Russian forces as liberators from the domination ofAustria. He might have been received in succession to his father asPrince of Transylvania, and even have been acclaimed in Hungary.3

Saint­Germain later told Gemmingen­Guttenberg that proof of his identity was inthe hands of a person on whom he was dependent. This may refer to Catherinethe Great, as she would need proof of Saint­Germain’s parentage to show toforeign heads of state. However, the halting of the Russians’ advance scupperedany hopes Saint­Germain may have had.

After retiring from various official duties in 1769, Count Maximillian von Lamberg(1729­92) took up the life of a wanderer. He published a book about his travels,Mémorial d’un Mondain, in 1775.4 In it he reports having met Saint­Germain inVenice. His tales, however, seem largely fictitious. Count von Schachmann latertold Saint­Germain he had read a lot about him in von Lamberg’s book, to whichSaint­Germain replied: ‘He’s a madman. He does not have the honour of knowingme.’5 Several writers about Saint­Germain, including Isabel Cooper­Oakley, PhilipMalpas and Manly Hall, cite von Lamberg’s tales without mentioning or beingaware of Saint­Germain’s comment.

Von Lamberg says that, when he met Saint­Germain in Venice, the latter wasliving under the name Marquis de Belmar, bleaching linen and refining it to thequality of Italian silk, and had 100 women working for him. That is possible, butvon Lamberg goes on to make a lot of less credible assertions: that he dictated toSaint­Germain a passage from Zaïre which he took down with both handssimultaneously, and when the pages were placed on top of each other they werefound to be absolutely identical; that he had a balsam that restored youth and alady who applied too much became an embryo again; that Saint­Germain couldmake diamonds, and could tame bees and charm snakes with his music andsinging; that he claimed to be 350 years old; that if he played the violin whilehidden behind a screen the audience thought they were listening to five or sixinstruments; and that he carried a book containing handwritten comments bypersons long dead, including one by Montaigne, written in 1580.6

Von Lamberg claims that in 1773, while in Venice, he received a letter fromSaint­Germain, then supposedly in Mantua, Italy. The letter, which von Lambergprobably concocted himself, has been widely quoted, including the followingsentence: ‘I owe the secret of melting stones to my second voyage to India, in1755, with Colonel Clive, under Vice­Admiral Watson.’7 It is possible that Saint­Germain visited India, but in 1755 he was busy promoting the port­cleaningmachine. Saint­Germain did make a military voyage, but it was with the Russianfleet in 1760­61. In the same fictitious letter, Saint­Germain says that his(fictitious) son accompanied him on this trip to India.

The unscientific idea that Saint­Germain melted small diamonds to make biggerdiamonds is also found in Casanova’s unreliable memoirs (Lamberg andCasanova met in 1761).8 Diamond and graphite are both composed of carbon. Inair, diamond begins to turn into graphite at a temperature of about 700°C, and itignites at a temperature of 850 to 1000°C. Saint­Germain stated that he could notmake gold, diamonds or other precious stones, but he could improve them all.9

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Notes

1. Jean Overton Fuller, The Comte de Saint Germain: Last scion of the House ofRákóczy, London: East­West Publications, 1988, pp. 189, 230.

2. Ibid., pp. 201, 205, 209.

3. Ibid., p. 206.

4. C.A. Vulpius (ed.), Curiositäten der physisch­literarisch­artistisch­historischenVor­ und Mitwelt, Weimar: Landes­Industrie­Comptoirs, vol. 7, 1818, pp. 3­11,zs.thulb.uni­jena.de.

5. Fuller, p. 240.

6. The Theosophical Path, Mar 1915, pp. 194­7.

7. Fuller, p. 191.

8. The Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova met Saint­Germain at Mme d’Urfé’sin 1757, and also claims to have met him later at The Hague and Tournai, thoughthe alleged dates cast doubt on this. He called Saint­Germain ‘an astonishingman’ and ‘the king of impostors and quacks’. At Tournai, in 1764 (a year afterSaint­Germain had left!), he supposedly watched Saint­Germain transform asilver coin into pure gold by putting it on red­hot charcoal and using a blowpipe(H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House(TPH), 1950­91, 3:127). For many years Casanova led Mme d’Urfé to believethat he himself was a magical adept who could arrange for her to reincarnate intothe body of a son he would beget on her, which was necessary for her spiritualevolution and would cost her a lot of money! He threatened her that Saint­Germain would turn himself into a female gnome and attack her. She eventuallyrealized she had been deceived. Casanova seems to have been fixated on Saint­Germain. In 1760, he lived in Berne under the name and style of Saint­Germain,professing all kinds of wonders. (Fuller, pp. 100, 124, 188, 191.)

9. Ibid., p. 276.

7. Travels in Germany

In 1774 Saint­Germain was in Ansbach (or Anspach), a small Principality inFranconia, now part of Bavaria, just to the southwest of Nuremberg. He wasliving under the name Count Tsarogy. Reinhard Gemmingen­Guttenberg1, aminister in Markgraf Karl Alexander’s government, writes of him as follows:

This singular man, who in his time caused so much unmeritedsensation, lived for several years in the Principality of Ansbach,without anyone’s having the slightest idea he was the mysteriousadventurer about whom people spread such extraordinary stories. It was in the year 1774 that the late Markgraf von Brandenberg KarlAlexander learned that there was staying in Schwabach, a town in thePrincipality, a foreigner, who gave himself out for a Russian officer,

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lived very withdrawn and secluded, yet performed many benevolentworks. ... The foreigner seemed to be a man between 60 and 70 years old, ofmedium stature, lean rather than strong, his grey hair hidden under awig, looking like an ordinary, elderly Italian. His clothes were of thevery simplest; his appearance presented nothing extraordinary.

The Markgraf ordered that he be watched closely. Later, Saint­Germain asked tomeet the Markgraf and thanked him for allowing him to stay in his landsundisturbed. He spoke in French but his accent ‘betrayed an Italian’. Hecomplimented the Markgraf on his rule, and told him he would confide to him‘certain secrets, which would contribute to the happiness and well­being of theprincipality’. He also displayed some very beautiful stones. The Markgraf invitedCount Tsarogy to stay with him in Triesdorf, his summer residence.

He had no servants, ate alone and as simply as possible, in his ownroom, which he seldom left. His needs were reduced to the veryminimum. He had no social circle of his own, but spent the eveningswith the Markgraf and Mademoiselle Clairon, and any friends broughtin by the Markgraf. He could not be persuaded to come for his mealsto the Princely table ... His conversation was always interesting and showed muchknowledge of the world and of people, but sometimes there dropped amysterious word and he broke off or changed the subject when onesought to know more about him. He liked to speak of his childhoodand of his mother, whom he never mentioned without emotion. Tobelieve him, his upbringing must have been that of a Prince. ... What this singular man did with the whole of each day would behard to say. He had no books with him, except for a dirty copy ofPastor Fido. He would seldom allow anybody to come into his room,but when one did one usually found him with his head wrapped in ablack cloth. His preferred occupation was with the preparation of allkinds of dyes. The windows of his room, which gave onto the garden,were so spattered with dyes one could not see through them. Soonafter he arrived at Triesdorf he suggested to the Markgraf that heallow it to be used for manufactures. Amongst these figured themaking of the most beautiful Moroccan, Spanish and Russian typeleathers out of leather of the poorest quality, preparation of beautifulTurkish yarn etc. ... The work was carried on in a specially prepared laboratory, behindlocked doors. ... [T]he author still vividly remembers the atmosphereof eager excitement in which the experiments were conducted, andhow often and how heartily the Markgraf and he laughed to seethemselves and their trusted helpers transformed with tan and dyes.2

Count Alexei Orlov, who was returning from Italy, sent Saint­Germain a letterinviting him to meet him at Nuremberg. Saint­Germain asked the Markgraf toaccompany him and meet the hero of Chesma.

Orlov came with open arms towards Tsarogy, who was now for thefirst time wearing the uniform of a Russian General, embraced himand called him caro padre, caro amico (‘dear father’, ‘dear friend’),and so on. He received the Markgraf with extraordinary civility andthanked him for the protection he had given his friend. ...

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The conversation was extremely interesting, and ran in part uponthe campaign [against Turkey] in the Archipelago but more uponuseful discoveries. Amongst other things, Orlov showed the Markgrafa piece of unignitable wood, that when a light was put to it neithercaught fire nor went into cinders, but swelled up like a sponge andthen fell in a light ash. ... [Tsarogy] confided to the Markgraf that the name Tsarogy wasassumed, or anagrammatical, and that he was really a Rákóczy,descended from Prince Rákóczy of Transylvania, of the time of theEmperor Leopold, the last scion.3

A problem arose when the Markgraf and Gemmingen­Guttenberg began toreceive information that they interpreted to mean that Saint­Germain/Tsarogywas a liar. In 1775, in Italy, the Markgraf and Gemmingen­Guttenberg were toldthat the last of the Rákóczy was dead, and that Tsarogy was the ‘notoriousComte de Saint­Germain’. Another ‘trustworthy’ source informed them that hehad been born in San Germano, a little town in Savoy, and that his father was atax collector named Rotondo.

From that time on he toured the world as an adventurer, living in Parisand London as Saint­Germain, in Venice as Conte di Bellamare, inPisa as Chevalier Schoening, in Milan as Chevalier Welldone, inGenoa as Soltikow, and must be 75 years old.4

In 1776 the Markgraf sent Gemmingen­Guttenberg to tell Saint­Germain of thePrince’s displeasure at the abuse of his goodwill. On arriving in Schwabach, hefound Saint­Germain in bed, ‘confined despite his potions and usual health byage and an attack of gout [acute arthritis]’.

He listened to all of the charges in a completely relaxed manner, andsaid that he had, at one time or another, used all the names recited,even down to Soltikow; but, he said, under all these names he wasknown as a man of honour. ... He feared nothing, as there wasnothing that could be set to his discredit. He asserted with steadfastassurance that he had told the Markgraf nothing untrue with regard tohis name and had disclosed to him his true family. ... [H]e thought that as he asked nothing from the Markgraf, hurtnobody and gave no trouble, he would be judged simply by hisconduct.5

Gemmingen­Guttenberg casts doubt on Saint­Germain’s skills as a chemist. Hementions several instances where the leather and yarn proved to besubstandard, and reports that the gold­coloured iron lost its lustre, but this couldbe the result of the workers involved using faulty methods or of impurities in theingredients, given that there is plenty of testimony that the results were oftensuccessful and durable.6 Gemmingen­Guttenberg conceded that Saint­Germainpossessed the art of removing flaws from diamonds. He also mentions that Saint­Germain showed him a large pocket knife, of which half was a yielding lead andhalf unyielding, hard iron. ‘He offered this as proof that iron could be made asyielding and ductile as lead, without losing its own proper qualities.’

Regarding Saint­Germain’s medical knowledge, Gemmingen­Guttenberg says:

His prescription consisted chiefly in a strict diet and in a tea, which hecalled Thé de Russie [Russian tea] or Acqua Benedetta [Blessed

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Water]. The Markgraf obtained the recipe for this from the ... EnglishConsul in Leghorn. It had been taken by the Russian fleet in theArchipelago to protect the men from sunstroke. ... It would be ungrateful to call him a deceiver. ... So long as hestayed with the Markgraf, he asked for nothing, received nothing ofthe least worth and engaged in nothing unbecoming. Because of hisvery simple life­style, his needs were almost none. If he had money,he shared it with the poor. He is not known to have left any debts.7

In October 1776, Saint­Germain travelled to Leipzig in Saxony, using the name ofWelldone, but his identity was soon pierced. The Prussian ambassador toSaxony, Count von Alvensleben, wrote to Frederick the Great to inform him ofSaint­Germain’s presence and that he had claimed in public to have receivedseveral letters from Frederick. In reply, Frederick did not deny the letters butasked the ambassador to find out the purpose of Saint­Germain’s visit.

Frederick was unaware that his own nephew, Prince Frederick Augustus ofBrunswick, had been pressing Saint­Germain to come to Prussia. Like mostGerman aristocrats, Prince Frederick was a Freemason. He was Master of TheThree Globes Lodge in Berlin and Prior of the Strict Observance, the establishedform of Freemasonry in Germany (it was founded in 1754 and claimed toemanate from a worldwide network of ‘unknown superiors’). He had sent Countvon Bosch, Chancellor of the Exchequer for Saxony, banker and Mason, to Saint­Germain with a letter. On 15 March 1777 Bosch informed Frederick Augustusthat Saint­Germain had let it be understood that the name Count Welldone ‘hidhis veritable identity as Prince Rákóczy’. Bosch also said he was convinced thatSaint­Germain ‘was not an adept’, was ‘nothing less than a Theosophist’ (i.e. amystic such as Jacob Boehme), and ‘was far from forming a correct idea of theFirst Cause’. Bosch says he ended his relations with Saint­Germain when thelatter asked to borrow money from him. Jean Overton Fuller wonders whether thereason Saint­Germain revealed his true identity was that, now that the Orlovs hadfallen from power in Russia, Prussia ‘might be the power to help him liberateTransylvania, shifting the balance of power in Europe as a whole towardsfreedom of thought’.8

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Frederick Augustus of Brunswick. (de.wikipedia.org)

Frederick Augustus received a second opinion about Saint­Germain from anotherMason, Johann Rudolf von Bischoffwerder, who criticizes Bosch for seeingeverything ‘in a false light’ and not appreciating that Saint­Germain ‘sometimeshas to borrow but never fails to pay back honourably’. He adds that Saint­Germain’s letter to Frederick Augustus (which has not survived) is what onewould expect from someone possessing the key to spiritual knowledge. On 28March 1777 a merchant friend of Bosch wrote to Frederick Augustus, saying‘This Sieur Welldone is not a Mason, not a Magus, not even a Theosophist.’9

Also on 28 March, Alvensleben wrote to King Frederick to inform him that Saint­Germain wanted to propose some projects to Leipzig municipal council. He didnot want any compensation for his manufacturing processes; if they were ofservice to humanity that would be a sufficient reward. Bischoffwerder wrote toFrederick Augustus on 5 April, saying that, despite the proof of Saint­Germain’sknowledge, he was not Clerical Prior, a grade in the Strict Observance secondonly to that of Grand Prior, the position held by Frederick Augustus. On 12 April,Bosch reported a conversation with a gemnologist, who assured him that Saint­Germain did not make artificial stones, but had shown him a method forimproving topaz.10

On 2 May 1777, Count Ernst Heinrich Lehndorff, chamberlain to the Queen ofPrussia, wrote in his diary that he had spent three days visiting Saint­Germain,‘the most remarkable man in Europe’:

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He follows a very strict diet, studies great frugality, drinks only water,never wine, and takes only one light meal a day. ... He preachesvirtue, abstemiousness and good works, and sets an example inthese respects. No one can reproach him with the least impropriety inany dealing. He seems not so rich as he used to be. ... His face gives an impression of extraordinary spirituality. Hisspeech is spirited and holds one’s attention, but he does not likecontradiction. ... People invent myths about him, and what he does not say. Somethink he is a Portuguese Jew, others that he is two hundred years oldand a dethroned Prince. Some accuse him of making people believehe must be the third son of Prince Rákóczy. He speaks as a great physicist. Above all things, he is a doctor,and speaks of his precious powder, which should be drunk as tea. Ilet him pour me out a cup. It tasted of aniseed, and acted in much thesame way. He discourses constantly of right balance between bodyand soul. When this is observed, he says, the life­machine cannot getout of order.11

On 7 May 1777, Fröhlich wrote to Frederick Augustus, saying: ‘Saint­Germain isstill in Leipzig but all hope fades of his having the least Masonic knowledge.’12Despite all the discouragement, Frederick Augustus had already sent Saint­Germain another letter, begging him to come, and Saint­Germain accepted theinvitation. On 19 May, another Freemason, Baron von Wurmb, Councillor of Stateto the Saxon Court, wrote to Frederick Augustus about Saint­Germain:

Knowing that he had rebuffed certain people who wanted to see himas a wonder­worker, I proceeded upon the contrary tack, and treatedhim as an ordinary man, whose knowledge of chemistry and physicsroused my curiosity. I found in him a man between 60 and 70, young for his years,laughing to scorn those who credit him with extraordinary age; buthoping to live for a long time yet, through his diet and medicines. Forall that, his appearance did not seem to me to promise a very muchlonger life. One cannot deny that he has beautiful arts, and I shallwork with him on the dyeing of certain articles and in the preparationof wool and cloth, to see if it would be practical to engage in themanufacture. What I do not like is that he speaks of tens of millions,though he is far from having them at his disposal, and does not evengive the appearance that he knows how to make gold. Having gained his confidence, I drew him into speaking of Masonry;without displaying much zeal, or even particular attention, he avowedbeing of the 4th grade, though no longer able to remember the signs.He did not seem to know anything of the system of the StrictObservance, and I could, therefore, go no further with him. However,he evinced spontaneously a curiosity concerning the Schroepferaffair13, and after I had recounted to him what I could of it, he treatedme to a story of something that had happened to him in Paris, wherea group of about 200 people, led by the imbecile Duc de Bouillon andsome women, followers of the Comte de Gabalis’ system, sought himout, supposing him to be the Superior in Chief. From all this, I think itmay be concluded that either he dissimulates or he is not one of ours.I think the latter more likely, all the more so as in religion andphilosophy he is a pure materialist.14

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As we shall see later, Wurmb was not the only Mason to describe Saint­Germainas a ‘pure materialist’. However, Saint­Germain did recognize a spiritual side tothe cosmos, as shown by a sonnet that appeared in Poèmes Philosophiques surl’Homme in 1795; it is attributed to ‘le fameux Comte de Saint­Germain’. InEnglish translation, the last two verses literally read:

Nothing was, god willed, nothing became something,I doubted, I sought that on which the universe rests,Nothing preserved the equilibrium and served as support.

Then, with the weight of praise and blame,I weighed the eternal, it called my soul,I died, I adored, I knew no more.15

Saint­Germain accompanied Wurmb from Leipzig to Dresden, the capital ofSaxony. On 25 June 1777, Alvensleben, who was in Dresden, wrote KingFrederick a lengthy letter about Saint­Germain. He describes Saint­Germain asprobably approaching 70, and as having travelled in Europe, on the coast ofAfrica and in Asia Minor.

He says he is Prince Ragotzi, and to furnish me with proof ofparticular confidence adds that he had two brothers, who so loweredthemselves as to submit to their unhappy fate, and that at a certainmoment he took the name and style Comte de Saint­Germain,meaning the holy one among the brothers [sanctus germanus = holybrother]. He says that for eight years he has kept a Frenchman calledBoissy in India and China at his own expense, to send him thematerials and information he needs. He scoffs at doctors and drugs,yet dispenses a powder for which he claims marvels and thereforesmells like a walking apothecary’s shop.16

Alvensleben enclosed a list, drawn up by Saint­Germain, of 29 manufacturingprocesses, which included improving, bleaching and dyeing various materials,preparing artists’ paints, preventing maladies, and preparing cosmetics. The listwas signed ‘L.P.T.C. de Welldone’ (i.e. Le Prince de Tsarogy Comte deWelldone). He said his researches had cost him millions, but he was offeringthem to King Frederick free of charge. He believed that the processes couldserve as the basis for trade and an alliance between Saxony and Russia, andthat both countries should form an alliance with Prussia. Some people thoughtSaint­Germain wanted to become finance minister in King Frederick’sgovernment, but Saint­Germain laughed and told Alvensleben that, being aprince, he could not accept service under another sovereign.17

On 30 June, King Frederick replied to Alvensleben, authorising him to tell Saint­Germain he was free to come to Berlin. He also sought the advice of PrinceHeinrich, one of his brothers, who replied on 15 July that although Saint­Germainpromised much, he knew much, and might truly possess the secret of improvingmaterials.

On 19 July, Bieshoffwerder wrote another letter to Frederick Augustus, fromElsterwerda (48 km northwest of Dresden), saying that ‘Count Welldone iscertainly not one of ours’, and expressing astonishment at the fact that Saint­Germain had discovered valuable chemical processes even though he was ‘aprofane’ (i.e. someone not initiated into Freemasonry) and ‘an atheist’. When hewrote again on 16 September, however, he had undergone a change of heart:

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The essay I have made with the secrets Saint­Germain has passed tome show them to be of astonishing effect, all is given still without theslightest condition beyond my word of honour as to silence, and tothis hour I do not understand why I should be the depositary.18

Saint­Germain left Saxony for Berlin, the capital of Prussia, and probably visitedKing Frederick and Prince Frederick Augustus at their informal residence, SansSouci. Dieudonné Thiebault relates that Saint­Germain spent over a year inBerlin, staying in a small apartment in one of the best inns. ‘He lived there verywithdrawn, with two servants and a cab that waited outside all day’, and hereceived or visited various high­ranking individuals.19

By the autumn of 1778 Saint­Germain left Prussia for Altona, then capital ofHolstein. He paid for everything in cash, but the source of his money wasunknown.

He was believed to spend most of his days writing. Letters addressedto him arrived from the Empress Catherine and Princess Wilhemina.The only persons he was known to see in Altona were CountessBentinck (the widow of Saint­Germain’s old friend, Count Bentinck,who had died on 17 October 1777), and the French Minister, Baron(Mathias) de la Housse.20

Back in France, Louis XV had sacked the Duke de Choiseul in December 1770,partly because of his opposition to Louis’ new mistress, Mme du Barry, a womanfrom a lower social class (Mme de Pompadour had died from consumption inApril 1764). One of Choiseul’s last acts was to arrange the marriage in May 1770of Louis’ grandson, the heir to the throne, with Marie­Antoinette, the youngestdaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress MariaTheresa. The grandson ascended to the throne as Louis XVI in May 1774.

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Marie­Antoinette. (en.wikipedia.org)

There is a strong legend that Saint­Germain visited Marie­Antoinette when shewas queen to warn her of the Revolution and bloodshed to come. The bookSouvenirs sur Marie­Antoinette ... et sur la cour de Versailles,21 published in 1836and supposedly written by the Countess d’Adhémar, a confidante of Marie­Antoinette, tells how the queen received anonymous messages from a‘mysterious adviser’ (who turned out to be Saint­Germain) for a period of severalyears, and also describes a dramatic meeting between the Queen and Saint­Germain in 1775, warning her of a conspiracy to overthrow the monarchy andestablish ‘a greedy republic, whose sceptre will be the axe of the executioner’.22

The Souvenirs sur Marie­Antoinette is now known to be spurious;23 the work waswritten by Etienne­Léon Lamothe­Langon, who wrote other fake memoirs, alongwith a novel about a love affair between Saint­Germain and Mme de Pompadour.Nevertheless, the tradition of a visit to Marie­Antoinette could still be based onfact. Jean Overton Fuller suggests that if such a visit took place, it is more likelyto have been in the very late 1770s. She also speculates that, rather thanwarning of impending doom, Saint­Germain would have advised Louis XVI not tosupport Emperor Joseph, his brother­in­law, in the invasion of Bavaria, but to puthis own house in order and stop the drain on its finances.24

Notes

1. C.A. Vulpius (ed.), Curiositäten der physisch­literarisch­artistisch­historischen

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Vor­ und Mitwelt, Weimar: Landes­Industrie­Comptoirs, vol. 8, 1820, pp. 279­94,‘Ausschlüsse über den Wundermann, Marquis St. Germain, und sein Aufenthaltin Anspach; von einen Augenzeugen’, Reinhard von Gemmingen­Guttenberg,zs.thulb.uni­jena.de. It was the inaccuracies in von Gleichen’s account of Saint­Germain’s stay in Ansbach that prompted Gemmingen­Guttenberg to write hisown account, as a first­hand witness.

2. Jean Overton Fuller, The Comte de Saint Germain: Last scion of the House ofRákóczy, London: East­West Publications, 1988, pp. 197­9. Pastor Fido (FaithfulShepherd) is a long Italian poem by Giovanni Batista Guarini (1585). It isnoteworthy that Saint­Germain did not have any technical books relevant to hischemical experiments.

3. Ibid., pp. 199­200.

4. Ibid., p. 200.

5. Ibid., p. 201.

6. Gemmingen­Guttenberg says that a factory set up for the gold­like metal soonfailed. Later, however, Prince Carl of Hesse­Cassel established a factory for thismetal at Ludwigsburg, which is said to have been very profitable. In 1996 anexhibition on Carl of Hesse­Cassel was held in the Schleswig­Holstein archives.It included examples of the gold­like metal, which is described as being ‘notunsightly’. (‘Wer war “Graf Saint­Germain”: eine historisch­kritischeBestandsaufnahme’, Jahrbuch der Heimatgemeinschaft Eckernförde e.V., no. 5,2004, p. 33.)

7. Fuller, p. 202.

8. Ibid., pp. 218­21.

9. Ibid., pp. 221­2.

10. Ibid., pp. 222­4.

11. Ibid., p. 225.

12. Ibid., p. 226.

13. The Schroepfer affair was a scam started by Johann Georg Schroepfer, aMason, who professed to be a magician or medium and to have a mission to fuseFreemasonry with the Society of Jesus. He invited Masons to come and hearcommunications from departed spirits. Some Masons (including Bosch) werepersuaded to advance money for a project supposedly involving very highnames. Schroepfer committed suicide after being exposed as a confidencetrickster.

14. Ibid., p. 227.

15. Slightly differing versions of the French text exist, and also several alternativeendings (Fuller, pp. 111­2; Isabel Cooper­Oakley, The Comte de St. Germain:The secret of kings, original ed. 1912, reprint, Escondido, CA: The Book Tree,1999, p. 128). In the original French version, ‘dieu’ (god) is written with a smallletter. For a free and very fine translation of the entire poem by Sebastian Hayes(who manages to preserve the sonnet form), see: poetryintranslation.org.

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16. Fuller, p. 230.

17. Ibid., pp. 232­3.

18. Ibid., pp. 234­5.

19. Ibid., p. 238.

20. Ibid., p. 241.

21. Madame la Comtesse d’Adhémar (Etienne Léon Lamothe­Langon),Souvenirs sur Marie Antoinette ... et sur la cour de Versailles, Paris: L. Mame,1836, vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3, vol. 4.

22. Cooper­Oakley, ch. 3.

23. Fuller says (p. 243): ‘The so­called recollections seem coined out of thememoirs of Madame du Hausset, Casanova and the Chroniques de l’Oeil­de­Boeuf, another concocted work.’ The Souvenirs are not always consistent. In an anonymous letter received byMarie­Antoinette in early 1789, Saint­Germain allegedly writes: ‘Woe to all thosewho have disdained freemasonry, who have persecuted Cagliostro and torturedthe brethren!’ (The Theosophical Path, Feb 1914, p. 93). But in a later signednote to Countess d’Adhémar he supposedly writes: ‘I wanted to see the workwhich the demon Cagliostro prepared; it is infernal; keep yourself apart’ (ibid.,Mar 1914, p. 194).

24. Fuller, pp. 242­4.

The Count of Saint­Germain: Part 2

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