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Correspondence from MacGregor Mathers to the "Rebels"
28 Rue Saint Vincent Buttes Montmartre Paris.
July 3, 1902.
To the Rebels against my authority in the R∴ R∴ et A∴ C∴ and in the G∴ D∴ [Golden Dawn].
A printed paper dated the 1 7th May 1902, issued by you, has come into my hands. How DARE you call yourselves "Chiefs of the R∴ R∴ et A∴ C∴"; and pose as the representatives and repositories of the Secret Knowledge of that Order; you, who have received at my hands whatever of its teachings that you know?
I command you to abstain utterly from any arrogation to yourselves of any authority soever in, or control over, either the Order of the R∴ R∴ et A∴ C∴, of the G∴ D∴, or of the Egyptian Mysteries.
I command you also to immediately return to my representative, V.[ery] H.[onourable] Frater Resurgam [Edward Berridge] the whole property of the First and Second Orders which you have illegally retain, in absolute violation of the most solemn obligations which it is possible for mortal man to take.
Your conduct from beginning to end is unspeakable in its wile ingratitude to me, aggravated as it is by deceit, lying reports, slander, libel, and insult. It would seem that you have recoiled from no baseness.
The only one among you for whose conduct there can be even the faintest shadow of excuse, and that only on the ground of revenge, is Miss Horniman [Annie Horniman], whom I was forced to expel from the Order, when you were endeavouring to use her as your tool, lever, and stalking-horse wherewith to injure me.
I warn you that unless the property of the First and Second Order is at once returned: Vault and appurtenances, MSS ., Books, Pillars, Altars, and other accessories, as well as the Egyptian painting of Osiris by G.[reatly] H.[onoured] Soror "Vestigia" [Moina Mathers]; the consequences will be extremely unpleasant for you .
A stamped treaty duly signed and witnessed exists between William Wynn Westcott and myself, by which he undertakes to support an Oath, my claim to the property in question. This was drawn up shortly after your rebellion. Also I am legally advised that your signed pledge forms, all of which are in my possession duly stamped can be used as important evidence to prove breach of agreement. Also among other compromising papers, I hold letters of a libelous character written by certain among you with the intent of still further injuring me.
Also the matter of the condemned criminal [i.e., Mme. Horos] now justly undergoing penal servitude, will have necessarily to be brought forward; for I will find out who or whose agent it was who sent her to me in Paris as "Sapiens Dominabirur Astris" [Anna Sprengel] and equipped her with the necessary information to figure to me in that character; and this coincident with your rebellion coming to a head. She could not have been in possession of the information she then held without being in touch with some one to whose interest it was to try to subvert my authority as Head of the Order. It is a notable point that in the shameful Manifesto you issued, you took little notice of my statement of her being then in Paris. Perhaps it was not to the interest of some among you to do so! Neither was it to your interest to print my former Manifesto to the Theorici-Adepti explaining the manner of the Second Order Knowledge and my relations with the Secret Chiefs, and to which Manifesto you signed allegiance; and yet it was on this manifesto that I based my attitude!
At least have the honesty to call your conduct by its right name and do not cloak your actions with hypocrisy as well!
Deo Duce Comite Ferro 7°=4° Representative of the Secret Chiefs Head of the Orders of the R∴ R∴ et A∴ C∴, of the G∴ D∴ and of the Egyptian Mysteries.
28 Rue Saint Vincent Buttes Montmartre Paris, July 3, 1902
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