part in the Russian campaign of 1812, and on its failure

further pressed him to break with France, proclaim an independent Italy, and put himself at the head of the move¬ ment. The idea was not unfavourably received at the Congress of Prague, for the Allies would have welcomed any anti-Napoleonic movement; but Murat could not make up his mind to such a bold step, and Napoleon, on getting wind of what was afoot, demanded that Maghella be sent to Paris as a State prisoner, an order which was duly carried out. However, towards the end of 1813 Maghella made his escape, returned to Naples, and took a prominent part in persuading Murat to throw in his lot with the Allies. Later, in 1815, when Murat occupied the Papal States and hoped to retain them as his own, he entrusted Maghella with their secular organization; but with the failure of this scheme and the deposition of Murat, Mag- hella’s political career came to an end, and he again became the State prisoner of an absolutist Government. This, however, is anticipating events.
It was in 1814 after his return to Naples that he set about consolidating the Carbonari as a political power. He was working for his old ideas, as was shown by an address pub¬ lished in March, 1815, asking Murat for a constitution in which the power of the crown should be subject to certain limitations; this, if granted, would have been an induce¬ ment to the other Italian States to link up their fortunes with that of Naples. Maghella’s demand was supported by the nobility, army and upper classes ; but the middle and lower classes were indifferent to a constitution, and some of the provinces of the kingdom of Naples, notably the Abruzzi and Calabria, held back, for in those districts an attachment to King Ferdinand, the deposed Bourbon, and a dislike of innovations persisted. Moreover, Murat had no intention of granting constitutional government unless his hand were forced. So to overcome all these hindrances Maghella chose the Carbonari society as a lever.
128 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
“Both the character and the position of Murat precluded reliance upon him, and the Carbonari organization was an instrument which could be used to mould to the purposes of its directors, or to overturn, either a Bonaparte or a Bourbon.”1
The instrument itself must now be described.
Contemporaries, both friends and foes, traced the origins of the Carbonari to Freemasonry. It is said that any Free¬ mason who wished to join a Carbonaro Lodge in Naples was admitted simply on ballot, without having to go through the usual initiatory ceremonies. This, if true, must refer only to certain brands of quasi-Freemasonry as practised on the Continent; for the society of Carbonari was, above all, political in its objects.
What follows is the earliest account available of the legend on which the society was based.2
During the troubles in Scotland in Queen Isabella’s time, many people took refuge in the woods from tyranny. They employed themselves in cutting wood and making charcoal. Under pretence of carrying charcoal for sale they introduced themselves into the villages, met their partizans, and communicated their plans. They recognized each other by signs, tokens, and words. They lived in oblong huts in the forest, and established there a Govern¬ ment and laws. This Government consisted of three persons; their office was triennial, and they presided over three vendite3 or Lodges; one legislative, another adminis¬ trative, and the third judicial. This last was called the Alta Vendita.
These vendite were divided into a number of baracche, each erected by a Good Cousin of some distinction among his companions who communicated with the Alta Vendita, and was styled the Grand Master.
There was a hermit in the forest named Theobald, who joined the Carbonari, and was proclaimed their protector.
Francis I, king of France, hunting on the frontiers of his
1 Thomas Frost, Secret Societies of the European Revolution, 1876.
2 Memoirs of the Secret Societies of the South of Italy, 1821.
3 Vendita is, literally, a place of sale; baracca, a hut or tent.
THE CARBONARI
129
kingdom nearest to Scotland , got lost in the forest. He stumbled upon one of the baracche and asked for shelter, which was granted. Francis admired the happiness and mystic disci¬ pline of the Carbonari, discovered himself to them as the king of France, and requested to be made acquainted with their secrets. They initiated him, and he promised to become their protector. On his return to France he scrupulously fulfilled his oath, declared himself the protector of the Carbonari, and increased their number. The society afterwards spread itself over Germany and England.
The absurdities of this legend would hardly call for any comment, but for certain deductions that may be drawn from it. It seems to be of French invention from the men¬ tion of King Francis; to have been composed, moreover, in a part of France where the people were unaware of the real frontier, the sea, between that country and Scotland; while the fact that Scotland was mentioned at all would seem to point to that period in French Freemasonry when the word Ecossais was applied to any recently invented degree as a forged hall-mark of respectability. If these deductions be right, we shall perhaps not be far wrong in seeking for the true original of the Carbonari society in some obscure French secret society of the second half of the eighteenth century.
The general doctrines of the Order were ten in number.