Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

THE CARBONARI 171and executed it with secrecy and promptitude . The memberswho were retained continued to bear the name of Carbonari,while those who were expelled, according to someaccounts, took that of Calderari (Braziers), and an implacablehatred arose between the rival sects . Murat wavered forsome time between the two parties, and at last determinedon supporting the Carbonari, who were most numerous . Butit was too late . They had no confidence in him ;and theyalso knew his desperate circumstances. Murat fell .'558 . Trial of Carbonari.-An extensive organisation forthe union of all secret Carbonaro societies was discoveredin 1817 by an attempt, which was to have been made atMacerata, on the 24th June in that year, to raise the standardof revolt, but which failed through a mere accident-the prematurefiring of two muskets . A great many of the leadingCarbonari were apprehended, and conveyed to the Castleof St . Angelo and other prisons in Rome, where they weretried in October 1818 by order of the pope ; five of themwere sentenced to death, but the pope mitigated their punishmentto perpetual confinement in a fortress ; three weresentenced to the galleys for life, which punishment wasreduced by the pope to ten years . We learn from thisRoman trial that the Republican Brother Protectors-one ofthe branches of Carbonarism-swore over a phial of poisonand a red-hot iron, "never to divulge the secrets of the society,and to submit in case of perjury to the punishment of dyingby poison, and having their flesh burnt by the red-hot iron ."559. Carbonarism and the Bourbons.-King Ferdinand,having, to recover his crown, favoured the Carbonari, whenhe thought himself again firmly seated on the throne, andsecretly disliking the society, endeavoured to kick down theladder by which he had mounted . The Carbonari, who hadrestored not only the king, but order in Calabria and theAbruzzi, and rendered roads and property secure-the Carbonari,so highly extolled at one time, that the pope hadordered priests and monks to preach, that making the signsof the Carbonaro would suffice to justify Saint Peter to openthe gate of Paradise-these same Carbonari were now declaredthe enemies of God and man . The king refused to keep thepromises he had matte, and forbade the holding of Carbonarimeetings . The Prince of Canosa, who became Minister ofPolice in 1819, determined to exterminate them . For thispurpose he formed the Brigands, who had played a part inthe sanguinary scenes of 1799, into a new society, of which hehimself became the head, inviting all the old Calderari to join