M. Cretineau Joly^ is clearly of opinion that it was by poison; and

as it was a custom with the unfortunate chief to betray for his own protection, or for punishment, some lodges of Carbonari to the Pontifical Government, it is more than probable that it was by his provision or information that the same Government came into the possession of the whole archives of the Alta Vendita, and that the Church and society have the documents which I have quoted and others still more valuable to guide them in discovering and defeating the attempts of organized Atheism,
The Alta Vendita subsequently passed to Paris, and since it is believed to Berlin. It was the immediate successor of the Inner Circle of Weishaupt. It may change in the number of its adepts and in the places of its meetings, but it always subsists. There is over it, a recognized Chief like Nubius or Weishaupt. But in his lifetime this Chief is usually unknown, at least to the world outside " Illuminated " Masonry,- He is unknown to the rank and file of the common lodges. But he wields a power which, however, is not, as in the case of Nubius and Mazzini, always undisputed. Since that time, if not before*it, there have been two parties under its Directory, each having its own duties, well defined. These are
XVI.
The Intellectual and the War Party in Masonry.
Eckert^ shows that at present all secret societies are divided into two parties — the party of direction and the party of action or war party. The duty of the intellectual party, is to plot and to contrive ; that of the party of action, is to combine, recruit, excite to insurrection, and fight. The members of the
' Opus, cit. ii. 23.
^La Franc-Magonmrie dans sa veritable s'ujnlficatlon, par Eckert, avocat h Dresde, trad, par Gyr (Liege 1854), 1. 1., p. 287, appendice. See also Les Societes Revolutionnaires Introduction, de Vaction des Societes Secretes an xix. Sieck. Far