Memoirs Of The Freemasons Of Naples.

but , casting them aside , the unhappy husband and father was stabbed by forty-two blows on the threshold of his own house , and before the eyes of a tender wife and nine children . Each ruffian gave one stab with the same daggeras the instrument was passed from one to the

, other . When the crime became known , the city authorities were struck with terror , which was increased by a report that a paper had been found nailed to the forehead ofthe corps with the words number one written on it . Twentysix victims were named , and as every one suggested

different names , according to their own imaginations , many of the citizens were alarmed for themselves . The terror was still farther increased by reports that the murder had been concerted in the nocturnal meetings of the Carbonari , and , by observing the silence and inaction of the magistratesnot because they approved the deed

, , but from fear . The name of the Chevalier de Medici , who was a well-known opposer of anarchy and rebellion , and also an old and respected Mason , was frequently mentioned as the next victim . He , however , took warning ,

and fled on board ship to Civita Veechia , and thence proceeded to Borne * , where he recorded his danger , his flight , and an account of the revolution , which threw discredit on all concerned in it . Numbers followed de Medici ' s example and fled the country . * The northern states were at this period under no control , and a party of brigands infested the countrywho robbed and

, pillaged all around them . Near Castel di Sangro , in the Abruzzo , a band of these robbers descended to a little village , ancl demanded of a farmer , the only man of property in the nei ghbourhood , a supply of provisions and a certain sum of money ; the farmer shut himself up in the house and refused to comply ; and the robbers ,

nofc thinking fit to attack him , retired , vowing they would give him cause to repent his refusal . The next morning it was found these wretches had gone off to a place at a little distance where the farmer ' s large flocks were folded , aud had not only helped themselves to what they wanted , but killed nearly all the rest , and massacred ten men and boys who slept in huts to guard them . The manner in which the poor shepherds were slaughtered is too monstrous for detail .

When the Pope discovered the Carbonari made frequent use of the Bible in their ceremonies , and that religion was freely discussed among them , he issued a bull against the sect as being an association whose object was the subversion of the Catholic reli gion , of Christian morals , and of all sacred and legitimate authority . His

Holiness interdicted any persons , under pain of excommunication , from becoming a member of the societ y , affording any of them an asylum , or countenancing them in any way whatever . Great encouragement was given to the Jesuits , both by the Government and the Pope , and a deadly hatred existed between this society and the Carbonari .

And now again was the absolute monarchy restored to Ferdinand by the aid of foreign powers " ; and the certainty of an approaching , although unknown , calamity affected both the metropolis and the kingdom of Naples . There were few that were not aware that , during the last nine months , they had done or said something

which implied their approbation of the late Government and very few who , amidst so much civil discord , could hope that he had not a detractor or an enemy . If they had offended the King , they believed he would be deaf to pity , ancl inclined for vengeance ; being farther roused against the Carbonari b y the advice of the Pope ; aud

being supported by a powerful foreign army , who were strictly Catholic , that society feared his vengeance , and many of them left the kingdom ; others went into the provinces , and concealed themselves ; others , again , appeared openlyeager to prove their innocence ; but all

, inwardly trembled . In the Congress of Laybach the sovereigns , anxious to respect the oaths of King Ferdinand , and to maintain appearances , while they were expressing their disapprobation of the Eevolution of 1820 , declared that the King had been under compulsionandthereforethat

, , , his acts at that time were invalid ; they proposed to punish the leaders of Monteforte , but only a few of them , and none with death ; they urged the guilty to fly , and assisted them in their fli ght , in order to avoid tho obloquy of their condemnation ; thej r re-modelled the statute of 1820 ; and , while passing strict laws for

the future , they were lenient to the past , and wished to bury the faults of subjects and rulers alike , in silence and clemency . But this mildness was displeasing to Prince Canosa , who was again a favourite of the king , though , in 1816 , he had been exiled from Naples for causing an

insurrection in the country , being the leader of the Calderari , a society composed of the dregs of the Carbonari , and violently opposed to each other . He endeavoured to excite the anger of the King more particularly against the Carbonari , for whom he had a

private hatred ; and he persuaded the King to petition the sovereigns in Congress to use greater severity . Several despatches were therefore written in the form of ' jietitions , which were sent to Laybach in the name of the King , but with the signature of his minister : they did not succeed , however , in changing the lenient disposition of the sovereigns . Butafter the Piedmontese

, Eevolution , these potentates were exasperated against the people , and when again petitioned by the King of Naples , or rather by his minister , they consented to leave him at liberty to act as he pleased . The Prince Canosa rejoiced at this , as he would be relieved from all restraints upon his tyranny , and he laid down the

following maxims by which the Government was to be guided : — "To punish every crime , and take vengeance for any offence committed during the long reign of Ferdinand : to draw up a list of the late delinquencies , of all committed during the five previous years , or during the ten years of fche French kings , or under the Constitution of Sicily , or

during the Neapolitan republic , or at the time of the first rebellion in the year 1793 ; to punish ivith imprisonment and exile all opposed to an absolute government ; the form of a trial to be set- aside , as too slow , and the punishments to be summarily executed , and loft to the arbitrament of the judge ; the treaty of Cabulanza to be annulled , as well as all previous contracts , whether in the form of treaties or pardons ; and to seize this opportunity to deliver the kingdom from the enemies of thrones . " " ( To be continued ,. )

Ar00401

AVIIT is A 3 IAN OBLIGED TO KEEP nis AVOKD . —The reasons assigned for this obligation , although various , ultimately coincide , whether founded on " right , " or " the fitness of things , " or " a conformity with reason and truth , " or " the promotion of public good , " or , lastly , on " obedience to God ' s will . " Por by "the fitness of things" is meant their fitness to produce happiness ; by " tlie reason of things " is meant the principle by which a

judgment is formed of the power of things to produce happiness , of which judgment truth is the result . Hence , wliafc promotes general happiness is agreeable to the fitness of things , to reason , and truth ; and , again , as " the will of God" requires only what promotes general happiness , whatever leads to such an end must needs be " right , " by which is merely meant a conformity with the rule , whatever it may be , of moral conduct ,. Paley .