#050: “A Network of Secret Societies”

“There is in Italy a power which we seldom mention in this House … I mean the secret societies.... It is useless to deny, because it is impossible to conceal, that a great part of Europe — the whole of Italy and France and a great portion of Germany, to say nothing of other countries — is covered with a network of these secret societies, just as the superficies of the earth is now being covered with railroads. And what are their objects? They do not attempt to conceal them. They do not want constitutional government; they do not want ameliorated institutions … they want to change the tenure of land, to drive out the present owners of the soil and to put an end to ecclesiastical establishments. Some of them may go further...”

--------------------------------/
Benjamin Disraeli, in a speech in the House of Commons (14 July 1856) https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Conspiracy

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield KG, PC, MP, FRS (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British politician, novelist, and essayist, serving twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, serving in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880. He was a member of the British Conservative Party and played a central role in the creation of the modern Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. ... He is the only British prime minister to have been of Jewish birth. He was also a novelist, publishing works of fiction even as prime minister. The anniversary of his death on 19 April is known as Primrose Day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli