Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

172 SECRET SOCIETIEShim, on acwunt of their enmity to the Carbonari . He requiredthem to take the following oath :-" I, A . B., promiseand swear upon the Trinity, upon this cross and upon thissteel, the avenging instrument of the perjured, to live anddie in the Roman Catholic and Apostolic faith, and todefend with my blood this religion and the society ofTrue Friendship, the Calderari . I swear never to offend,in honour, life, or property, the children of True Friendship,&c. I swear eternal hatred to all Masonry, and itsatrocious protectors, as well as to all Jansenists, Materialists(Molinists ?), Economists, and Illuminati . I swear, that ifthrough wickedness or levity I suffer myself to be perjured,I submit to the loss of life, and then to be burnt, &c ." Butthe king having learnt what his Minister had been attemptingwithout his knowledge, deprived him of his office andbanished him ; and thus his efforts came to nothing . Ini 8 i g took place the rising at Cadiz, by which the King ofSpain, Ferdinand VII ., was compelled to give Spain constitutionalprivileges . This again stirred up the Carbonari ;but there was no unanimity in their counsels, and their intriguesonly led to many being imprisoned and othersbanished . An attempt made in i82o extorted a constitution ;the leader was the Abbe Menichini . The influence of theCarbonari increased ; lodges were established everywhere .Between i 8 i 5 and 1820, in the Neapolitan states alone,more than two hundred thousand members were affiliated,comprising all classes, from the palace to the cottage ; itincluded priests, monks, politicians, soldiers . Giampietrowas then chief of the Neapolitan police, who used the mostcruel means to suppress the sect ; but public discontent wasbrought to a climax in July 1820, when two officers, Morelliand Silvati, with one hundred and twenty non-commissionedofficers and privates, deserted from their regiment at Nola,and, accompanied by the priest Menichini and some leadingCarbonari, took the road to Avellino . Lieutenant-ColonelDe Concili, also a Carbonaro, who was in command of thetroops at Avellino, joined the insurgents . When the news ofthese events reached Naples, the students of the University,as well as many of the soldiers forming the garrison of thecapital, hastened to De Concili's camp . The house of theadvocate Colletta became the centre of action at Naples ; allthe Carbonari prepared to second the action of their brethren .The king, advised to send General Pepe against the insurgents,declined the proposal, because Pepe was suspected ofbeing a Liberal. In his stead he sent General Carrascosa, .