CHARLES LEADBEATER WANTED EVEN MORE MONEY

 

 

 

In the Sydney newspaper, the Truth, from October 11, 1925, page 9, appeared the following article:

 

 

 

 

And below I transcribe the text of the article:

 

 

“BISHOP” LEADBEATER AGAIN

 

Seeks a “Tribute Offering” for His Liberal Catholic Church and Co-Masonry

 

UNSAVORY AND DEGENERATE PAST REVIEWED

 

_ _ _

 

The curtain is up. The stage is set. Enter once more to take his old position in the limelight, the “Right Reverend” Charles Webster Leadbeater, “Presiding Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church,” “Administrator-General in Australia of the Universal Co-Masonic Order,” “Protector of the Star in the East,'' and “Senior Knight of the Round Table.”

 

There maybe other titles —Leadbeater is renowned as the inventor of all that is suggestive of humbug and flummery— but the newspaper “Truth” has not yet heard of them.

_ _ _

 

 

The “Bishop” is after money —a fact not extraordinary in itself— and synchronizing with the chase after cash is his proposed trip to India with fifty-three of his disciples to take part in the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Theosophical Society.

 

“His Grace” will leave by the Oronsay on November 14 — if the steamship company with take him, or if the Indian Government will allow him to land. For the odor that surrounds the name of Charles Webster Leadbeater is as far removed from the scent of the violet as chalk is from cheese. Decent people in India know Leadbeater — only too well.

 

Still, that rests with the future. It is with the Bishop's past and present activities that the “Truth” is more concerned.

 

At the moment there is a drive being made for £5000 to wipe off the debt on the Church of St. Alban's, near the Central Railway Station, the headquarters in Australia of Leadbeater's “Liberal Catholic Church,” a spurious organization that calls itself a religion, covering itself with a sort of sanctity that is enough to make a cat laugh, when the wretched record of its “Presiding Bishop” is taken into consideration.

 

The “drive” is called a “Tribute Offering to Bishop Leadbeater,” and is to be devoted “to the object nearest his heart.” Active followers and sympathizers as asked to give, but when one comes to consider the scandals that inevitably arise wherever Leadbeater ensconces himself, the generous might pause, and consider, before giving, whether the object is worthy.

 

For genuine religious organizations “Truth” has every respect, but it has none for Leadbeater's church, conceived as it was In the mind of an admitted and acknowledged sex pervert of the worst type, whose odious practices have brought down on his head the castigation of decent people in four countries.

 

An elegant brochure has been published telling readers what a wonderful man the “Bishop” is, boosting many of his doubtful virtues, and none of his frailties

 

It pleads eloquently for £5000 for his “church,” and for £4000 for his “Co-Masonic Temple,” the headquarters in Sydney of another spurious organization with which Freemasons will have nothing whatever to do.

 

 

 

DELUDING BOOK

 

Every second page contains, a hand some portrait of the dear old gentleman, and the book itself is nothing but a back scratching publication that might easily delude those who know nothing about the unpleasant past that is following “his Grace” around all over the world.

 

The writer, Mary E. Rocke, M.D., tells of his “great and unusual powers, his genius, and utter purity” Heaven help the impure if Leadbeater is a paragon of purity! — and calls him “Messenger of the Gods standing as he does on the very threshold of the Super-Man, transmitter of Their Word, instrument of Their Will, dispenser of Their Benefits” and so on.

 

If Leadbeater weren't so hardened one might easily visualize him blushing and curling his whiskers with delight. But obviously what will concern him most will be the rolling in of the cash, so that his pseudo-church may be kept out of the Bankruptcy Court, and his Co-Masonic Order given a push along the road to prosperity.

 

What “Co-Masonry” stands for actually is known only to those who move within the inner circle, but its head apparently is Mrs. Annie Besant, who has captured the Theosophical Society, and driven out all those who believe in what the late Madame Blavatsky stood for.

 

Nevertheless, it seems to be part of a world revolutionary conspiracy, being a part of Annie Besant's world-wide political connections.

 

It may not have much of an effect on Australia, but it shows Leadbeater in something like his true light so far as such matters are concerned.

 

Now back to the boost of his Grace. “His very presence is a silent benediction continually outpoured” says this astounding biographer, “and every one feels invigorated and joyous as well as spiritually uplifted after even a few minutes of his company.”

 

 

 

UNPLEASANT PACTS

 

Either the lady is being hoaxed by the “right reverend” gentleman, or is shutting her eyes to some very obvious facts, facts that make the decent minded shudder when they think of them.

 

Looking back, Leadbeater has led as many religious lives as a dog has fleas. He was born on February 17, 1847, and apparently his father was a man of wealth, but that was lost in South America, and Leadbeater was forced to leave the University without a degree.

 

However he was ordained about 1879 and became a High Churchman, but left in 1884 to take up Theosophy. Studying theosophy, he mixed his studies with a little spiritualism, and absorbed many ideas from the teachings of Swedenborg.

 

And then the scandal began to rise about his name, and people who heard of his malpractices with boys began to look askance at him. In fact, he was driven from Madras, India, the headquarters of Theosophy, by Madame Blavatsky, because of his alleged infamous conduct with a number of choir boys.

 

He went to Ceylon, but there rumors of what he was doing began to spread, and be cleared out for London, taking with him Jinarajadasa, now a great supporter of his, and vice-president of the Adyar Theosophical Society.

 

The years sped by, and no matter where this esteemed and reverend gentleman with his utter purity went, scandal upon scandal always arose from his dubious connections with boys.

 

 

 

CHARGES ADMITTED

 

The year 1906 came, and with it some of the most astounding revelations that could be made about any man. He was called before the Council of the British Section of the Theosophical Society, and denied none of the charges —that he had taught young boys to act detestably— made against him.

 

In fact, when he was questioned he strengthened the charges, and it was admitted so by Annie Besant when she tried to whitewash him two years later when he sought readmission.

 

“It was conceivable,” she wrote, “that the advice, as supposed to have been given, had been given with pure intent, and the presumption was so in a teacher of theosophical morality; anything else seemed incredible. But such advice as was given in fact, such dealing with boys before sex passion had awakened, could only be given with pure intent, if the giver were, on this point, insane.”

 

His resignation was accepted, as was only natural, and for the two years following he went his way alone, but he wanted to get back to the Theosophical Society again, and in 1908 Mrs. Annie Besant restored him to membership.

 

In black and white, on that occasion, Leadbeater candidly confessed what he had done.

 

“You ask me” he said, “to write you a clear letter that you may show at need, expressing my real views on the advice I gave some time ago to certain young boys. I need hardly say that I keep my promise not to repeat the advice, for I defer to your opinion that it is dangerous. I also recognize, as fully as yourself, that it would be, if it were promiscuously given, hut I have never thought of so giving it.”

 

A little thought, however, can only force one to the conclusion that Leadbeater wrote that with his tongue in his cheek, because it is perfectly obvious, even to the present day, that he did not reform one bit, because a man so steeped in vice can never reform.

 

And this is the man who lives in the delightful surroundings of The Manor mansion at Clifton Gardens, escorted always by young boys, and who presides over this “Liberal Catholic Church” with all the ease of a holy ecclesiastic, acting always as though he had been ordained by God. What a travesty on religion!

 

 

 

 

 

Leadbeater surrounded by his students and followers in The Manor

 

 

 

Exterior view of The Manor mansion

 

 

 

 

FOUL PRACTICES

 

However, there were others who held views quite contrary to those of Mrs. Besant, and in November 1908, a Hindu Theosophist wrote to “The Theosophic Voice,” of Chicago, the following in reply to Mrs. Besant's attempt to show that Leadbeater was not what he was supposed to be.

 

“If we are to believe the stenographic report of the inquiry of 1906,” the gentleman wrote, “then instead of holding that Mr. Leadbeater denied the charges, we must come to the conclusion that not only did he teach a certain practice, but, further, he did things which would have brought him within the pale of the criminal laws for the foulest and most, indecent of fence which brute man may commit. This is our latter day saint who must be re-admitted, nay, invited back into the Theosophical Society.”

 

But Leadbeater's hide is like unto that of that gentle animal known as the rhinoceros, and back again in the Theosophical Society, in which he still happens to be, he went his way quite un concerned.

 

He became a leading light in its offshoot, the Liberal Catholic Church, and one of his most intimate friends was the notorious “Bishop” Wedgwood, a gentle man who practiced vices as low if not lower as those that Leadbeater practiced.

 

Wedgwood “consecrated” Leadbeater “Bishop,” but he himself was forced to make himself scarce in England. In fact, Wedgwood went so far as to be chased by the police. He actually made a confession, and resigned from the Liberal Catholic Church, the Theosophical Society, and the Co-Masons.

 

In 1922, a “priest” of the Liberal Catholic Church confessed that he “was led astray by those whom I considered to be my superiors both morally and spiritually.”

 

Wedgwood, it may be noted incidentally, absolutely declined to give up his filthy habits, lie get over the difficulty of a clash with the English law by making himself scarce, and fleeing to Algeria, where possibly he is still carrying on la more congenial surroundings.

 

What sort of a “church” can this Liberal Catholic organization be when two of its “most celebrated” heads are so low that a farmyard goose would shudder to have such a reputation?

 

What kind of a lunatic is Leadbeater, anyway? Only a mental specialist could diagnose an insanity that is an absolute menace to those who might come in contact with its teacher.

 

Under the hypocritical pretence that he was trying to wean lads from evil practices —the cure is greater than the disease— he taught what came to be known as the infamous “X-system,” and so cunningly did he teach it that many misguided fools in the United States actually became disciples, looking upon him as a sort of prophet sent from heaven to cleanse the world from sin.

 

Indeed, one of his dupes even went so far as to hold that the system would be taught  in the public schools before many years, and a number declared that they understood it to be a highly occult teaching given to would-be disciples.

 

 

 

PREVENTING CRITICISM

 

Leadbeater was taken to task by Dr. Hiestand-Moore, editor of “The Voice,” a Theosophical organ published in Chicago, and in August, 1908, to show to what lengths Leadbeater's followers would go to suppress criticism, wrote:

 

“Slander, falsehood, deceit, treachery, all have been summoned to the support of Mr. Leadbeater's cause. Anonymous communications have been written to confound the prosecution, letters have been stolen, and threats made. The editor of The Voice has been compelled to call upon the Secret Service to protect her mails.”

 

To look at this “holy man” now, you would think that butter would not melt in his mouth. At least, persons ignorant of his exact character would hardly credit that he is a degenerate who has stirred England, America, and India.

 

And to think that he is earning on in our midst under the assumed cloak of presiding dignitary of the “Liberal Catholic Church”

 

Another little insight into his past career is gained by returning to the year 1913, when further charges were leveled against him by the father of a boy named Krishnamurti, who had been adopted by Mrs. Besant.

 

Leadbeater let it out that the Indian youth was the body of the returning Christ, and managed so well to pull the wool over the eyes of his deluded followers that a largo sum of money was collected, perhaps running into many thousands of pounds, to erect the elegant structure at Balmoral, from which the chosen followers of Leadbeater will witness the so-called second coming of Christ.

 

Apparently Krishnamurti's father had no doubt about what Leadbeater actually was, and objected strongly to having his son polluted by this infamous man.

 

 

 

IMMORAL PERSON

 

Mr. Justice Bakewell, who heard the application, certainly had no doubts about Leadbeater. “He is certainly an immoral person, and highly unfit to be in charge of boys,” said the learned judge.

 

Then, Leadbeater admitted in open court that he still believed in inculcating within the minds of boys the system of a detestable vice!

 

What is he doing now? Certain it is that his pranks in this up-to-date mansion at Clifton Gardens would not bear the light of investigation.

 

Thus came he to Australia in 1914, the year following the biting strictures of Mr. Justice Bakewell. His advent to Australia was under rather peculiar circumstances. Mrs. Besant attempted to force her way into Indian politics, but realized that while Leadbeater was hanging around there was no chance. So he was bundled away, bag and baggage, and has been here ever since.

 

Two years ago he had everything packed up ready to get out of the country, but the steamship company by whose ship he intended to travel jibbed at having such an auspicious person aboard their boat, fearful that when he arrived at an Indian port the Indian authorities would refuse to give him admittance.

 

However, while he has been here he has made hay while the sun shone, as may be witnessed by his Liberal Catholic Church, conceived self-confessed, and carried on by a man whose infamy is too disgusting to give in detail.

 

He asks for £5000 and £4000! There is no goat on a rubbish tip who would subscribe if it knew the past of this holy gentleman with more titles than a Chinese general.

 

If he succeeds in getting away, any thing may happen. Perhaps he may not want to come back again. There is not the harvest in Australia that there is in India with its teeming millions.

 

But if he does attempt to come back again the Federal Government should refuse his admission. “Truth” has here produced sufficient reasons to show why, how, and in what form he is a menace to the youth of Australia!

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADDITIONAL NOTE

 

Independent Theosophical Societies and Leadbeater

 

In Sydney there are two Theosophical Societies, one that claims to be genuine, and the Independent Theosophical Society. The latter has nothing whatever to do with Leadbeater, and it is because of his filthy practices that it is placed in the position that it is in today.

 

At present there is litigation going on over the King's Hall in Hunter-street, wherein the Independent Theosophical Societies has its headquarters. The litigation is an attempt by Leadbeater's crowd to push them out.

 

In fairness to these members of the Independent body, “Truth” makes the true facts known to the public.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OBSERVATION

 

Not content with living like a king in a grand mansion in one of Sydney's luxurious areas, receiving large sums of money from the sale of his numerous books full of lies, and having accumulated a great fortune promoting the false arrival of Lord Maitreya, Leadbeater still wanted more money to continue with his delusions of grandeur. And that is typical of tricky men, they never have enough and they always want to suck more and more from their followers.