Secret_History

Chapter 1: The Nature of the Quest 47
In Holland, the Count lived under the name Count Surmont, and he worked to
raise money to set up laboratories in which he made paint and dyes and engaged in
his alchemical experiments. By all accounts, he was successful in some sense,
because he disappeared from Holland with 100,000 guilders!
He next shows up in Belgium as the “Marquis de Monferrat”. He set up another
laboratory with “other people’s money” before disappearing again. (Are we
beginning to see a pattern here?)
For a number of years, Saint-Germain’s activities continued to be reported from
various parts of Europe and, in 1768 he popped up in the court of Catherine the
Great. Turkey had just declared war on Russia, and Saint-Germain promoted
himself as a valuable diplomat because of his status as an “insider” in French
politics. Pretty soon he was the adviser of Count Alexei Orlov, head of the Russian
Imperial Forces. Orlov made him a high-ranking officer of the Russian Army and
Saint-Germain acquired an English alias, “General Welldone”.
His successes in Russia could have enabled him to retire on his laurels, but he
didn’t. In 1774 he appeared in Nuremberg seeking money from the Margrave of
Brandenburg, Charles Alexander. His ostensible alias at this point (apparently he
was no longer satisfied with being either a Count or a Marquis) was Prince
Rakoczy of Transylvania!
Naturally, the Margrave of Brandenburg was impressed when Count Orlov
visited Nuremburg on a state visit and embraced “the Prince” warmly. But later,
when the Margrave did a little investigating, he discovered that the real Prince
Rakoczy was indubitably dead and that this counterfeit Prince was, in fact, only
Count Saint-Germain! Saint-Germain did not deny the charges, but apparently he
felt that it was now time to move on.
The Duc de Choiseul, Saint-Germain’s old enemy, had claimed that the Count
was in the employ of Frederick the Great. But, that was probably not true because,
at this point, Saint-Germain wrote to Frederick begging for patronage. Frederick
ignored him, which is peculiar if he had been in the employ of the Prussian king as
de Choiseul thought.
In the way of the psychopathic con man who can never quite figure out when to
quit, Saint-Germain went to Leipzig and presented himself to Prince Frederick
Augustus of Brunswick as a Freemason of the fourth grade!
Now, Frederick Augustus just happened to be the Grand Master of the Prussian
Masonic Lodges, so this was really a stupid move on the part of Saint-Germain
since it turned out that he was not a Mason! But, it is true of the pattern of all con
men; their egos eventually prove to be their downfall! The Prince challenged
Saint-Germain because he did not know the secret signals and sent him away as a
fraud.
In 1779, Saint-Germain was an old man in his 60’s who continued to claim to be
vastly older. He hadn’t lost his touch because, at Eckenforde in Schleswig,
Germany, he was able to charm Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel. At this point, part
of his scam included being a mystic, for he is recorded as having told Prince
Charles:
“Be the torch of the world. If your light is that only of a planet, you will be as
nothing in the sight of God. I reserve for you a splendour, of which the solar glory