Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1859 — The Carbonari and Louis Napoleon. [ARTICLE]

The Carbonari and Louis Napoleon.

[From the Beaton Juurne.l June 2a.

The society of the Carbonari have been the instigators of and the active participants in every movement made in behalf of tiie freedom of Italy during the recent century. It is true, tfiat the last public demonstration ot the society occurred in 184!, since which time it was supposed t ■ have dissolved. But its patriotic purposes were inherited by the similar though simpler organization of “Young Italy,” controlled during the last j Italian war by Mazzini. Really, however, i the Cabonari are still existing as a fraternity |in many parts of Italy. But were the frater- ! nity no longer intact, thousands of its old members, true to its leading aims and conscientiously bound by its oaths, are alive. Among these, though still on trial for his fidelity to his oath, is Louis Napoleon Emperor of France. He is said to Lave joined the Carbonari, with his brother, in 1830. In the following year he took part in the Italian insurrection, displaying even then his military capacity. His brother died during the brief campaign. It is prob ,ble that that short chapter in the life of Louis Napoleon is now having its equal in the present contest on the plains of Lombardy. Let us see what it was for the young Bonaparte to become one of the Carbonari. The name, meaning coal-burner, originally belonging to a band oFM’ree-masons who met in the forrests of Germany. When the ! lodges were introduced into Italy is not | known to a certainty, but similar associa- ; tions are believed to have existed among the ! Waldenes as early as the sixteenth century. J In process of time the general ideas of the : order in favor of freedom and virtue deterj mined the Italian members to center all ! their energies upon delivering their country ! from all foreign masters. Thus they were instrumental in expelling the first Napoleon from the Italian Peninsula; and in all the subsequent troubles their hand was visible against the foreign rulers. Rival societies were fostered as the best means of destroying their influence. YVhen the revolution of 1820 broke out the Carbonari numbered 642,001) members and nearly 400 lodges. When that attempt was crushed out, but little more was heard of the society till it was again brought to the surface by the events of 1831, in which, as wc have seen, the young Louis Napoleon was tin actor. While the practical aim of the order is sufficiently evinced in this sketch, its interior organization, doctrines and oaths must be learned by other sources. A member published.an account of these anonymously nearly forty years ago, and numerous trials and police investigations have since confirn ed their accuracy. We quote only the follow-

ing doctrines of the order as having interest at the present time. “The members are called Good Cousins; they are divided into two classes—Apprentice s and Masters. “z\n interval of six months is necessary before an apprentice can obtain the rank of master. The principal obligations imposed upon him are, to practice benevolence, to succor the unfortunate, to show docility of mind, to bear no malice against Carbonari’ and to enrich his heart with virtue. “It is forbidden to talk against religiondirectly or indirectly. “All conversation on religion in general, and against good morals, is prohibited. “Every Good Cousin Carbonari is to preserve an inviolable secrecy concerning the mysteries of the order.” The following is the first oath taken: “I, A. 8., promice and swear, upon the general statutes of the order, and udod this steel, the avenging instrument of the perjured, scrupulously to keep the secrets o: Carbonarism; and neither to write, engrave nor paint anything concerning it, without naving obtained a written permission. I swear to help my Good Cousins in case of need, as much as in me lies, and not to atempt anything against the honor of their families. I consent and wish, if I perjure myself, that my body may be cut i i pieces, then burnt, and my ashes scattered to the wind in order that my name may be held up to the execration of the Good Cousins throughout the earth. So help me God.” The second oatli was somewhat similar, though more specific, and to it the Italian Carbonari added the following: “I swear never to divulge the secrets of the society, and to labor day and night for the evtripation of tyrants: and I con.-ent, it f perjure myself, to submit to the punishment of death by poison, and to have my flesh burnt by a red-hot iron. We have not the space to copy any of the ceremonies and regulations ascribed to the Carbonari. But it will be sufficiently seen by the above that the coup d'etat and the whole subsequent career of Louis Napoleon have been in flagrant violation of bis pledges as a member of the Carbonari. Hence it is said, the repeatej attempts at his assassination. in all of which it is a singular fact that Italians have been the ciiief participants. But it is equally singular that since the death ofOrsini these attempts have not been renewed. In explanation of this tact we hav<4 bad statements troin Paris to the effect that tiie Emperor had a secret interview with Orsini, between his condemnation and death, in which the prisoner predicted the absolute certainty ot the Emperor’s death by assassination, as a penalty of bis perjured oaths in j behalf ol Italian independence. j We learn that an intelligent Bostonian, i now resident in Paris, seys that this alleged j interview is generally credited in well-in- [ foi tr.ed circles,and also the further statement that Louis Napoleon, in the most solemn manner,assured Orsini that he would thenceforward devote himself to the work of delivering Italy from foreign masters, and begged the dying conspira or to communicate the resolve to his coadjutors in Italy. Whatever truth there may be in this report, it is certainly rendered probable by the remarkable absence of conspir cies against the Emperor’s life since that time, and by the whole progress thus far of the Italian war. If tiiere be substantial reality in the accounts, it assures the impossibility of Louis Napoleon’s aggrandizing himself at the expense of the Italian opeople. A thousand keen eyes are now upon every step he takes, and a thousand bands at his side by day and in bis camp by night are ready to apply the daggar at the least sign of recreancy or faltering in the great Carbonari now on probation. If he succeeds, the meed of gratitude and the utmost extent of moral influence will be conceded to him by the Italian people. But the badges of actual government over the peninsula cm never press his brow, except to mark him as the sure victim of sworn revenge. —-r

LFrom the New York Atlas.