Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

174 SECRET SOCIETIESreturn to Naples as an absolute monarch. The pope absolvedhim from the oath he had taken, and even in a solemn encyclicalcommanded priests to violate the secret of the confessionalwhenever wives, mothers, sisters, or daughters haddeclared relations to belong to the sect of the Carbonari .At the request of Ferdinand himself an Austrian army of50,000 men, with a Russian army in reserve, marched uponNaples . The king on his way south stopped at Florence,where he decorated the Chapel of the Annunciation withgorgeous gold and silver lamps, and the inscription : " Mariwgenitrici Dei Ferd. I. Mr. Sic. rex Don. d.d. anno 1821 obpristinum imperii decus, ope eius prestantissima recuperatum .(To Mary, the Mother of God, Ferdinand I ., King of the TwoSicilies, for the restored splendour of the kingdom, by meansof her most valiant help, dedicated these in the year 1821 .)Proving once more, if proof were necessary, that " bloodthirstytyrants are most zealous saints ." Every one of theking's immediate attendants had upon him a new cockadebearing the inscription : " Viva l'assoluto potere di FerdinandoI ! "56o. The King's Revenge .-General Pepe, who in his youthhad for three years been a prisoner in the horrible prison ofMarettimo-a rock-hewn cistern turned into a dungeonendeavouredto arrest the advance of the foreigner, but hisraw militia were ill prepared to meet the disciplined forcesof Austria, who defeated Pep6 at Rieti, and followed up thisvictory by marching on the 23rd March into Naples . Thenthe king glutted his desire for vengeance . All the past .treaties with his subjects were considered as void, and allprevious acts of pardon annulled. Not a day passed withoutthe sound of the bell tolling for an execution ; thousands ofthe most respected citizens of Naples were condemned tohorrible dungeons in the penal islands off Sicily and Naplesor the rock-dungeons of San Stefano and Pantelleria, whilenumbers fled the country as exiles. Morelli and Silvati werehanged for having deserted their standard, and been theprime movers of the revolution . But 'the king had enteredinto a treaty with his people, and sworn to uphold the Constitutionhe had granted in consequence of the revolution,hence their execution is condemned by logic and justice .561 . Revival of Carbonarism.--Carbonarism marks a transitionperiod in the history of secret societies. From secretsocieties occupied with religion, philosophy, and politics inthe abstract, it leads us to the secret societies whose objectsare more immediately and practically political . And thus in