The Carbonari (lit. 'charcoal burners') was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. Although their goals often had a patriotic and liberal basis, they lacked a clear immediate political agenda. They were a focus for those unhappy with the repressive political situation in Italy following 1815, especially in the south of the Italian peninsula. Members of the Carbonari, and those influenced by them, took part in important events in the process of Italian unification (called the Risorgimento), especially the failed Revolution of 1820, and in the further development of Italian nationalism. The chief purpose was to defeat tyranny and establish a constitutional government. In the north of Italy, other groups, such as the Adelfia and the Filadelfia, were associated organizations.
. . .Two results of great importance in the progress of the European Revolution (Revolutions of 1848) proceeded from the events that occurred at Naples in 1820-21. One was the reorganization of the Carbonari, consequent upon the publicity given to their organization when it had brought about the revolution (and the secrecy in which it had hitherto been enveloped was no longer deemed necessary); the other was the extension of the organization beyond the Alps. When the Neapolitan revolution had been effected, the Carbonari emerged from their mystery, published their constitution statutes, and ceased to conceal their program and their cards of membership.
In particular, the dispersion of the Carbonari leaders had, at the same time, the effect of extending their influence in France. General Guglielmo Pepe proceeded to Barcelona when the counter-revolution was imminent at Naples and his life was no longer safe there; and to the same city went several of the Piedmontese revolutionists when the country was Austrianized after the same lawless fashion. The dispersion of Scalvini and Ugoni that took refuge at Geneva and others of the proscribed that proceeded to London added to the progress which Carbonarism was making in France, suggested to General Pepe the idea of an international secret society, which would combine for a common purpose the advanced political reformers of all the European States.
Giuseppe Garibaldi has been called the "Hero of the Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and Europe. In 1836, Garibaldi took up the cause of Republic of Rio Grande do Sul in its attempt to separate from the Empire of Brazil, joining the rebels known as the Ragamuffins in the Ragamuffin War (1835-1845). In 1841, Garibaldi moved to Montevideo, Uruguay. In 1842, he took command of the Uruguayan fleet and raised an "Italian Legion" of soldiers for the Uruguayan Civil War (1839-1851). He aligned his forces with a faction composed of the Uruguayan Colorados and the Argentine Unitarios. This faction received support from the French and British Empires in their struggle against the forces of the Uruguayan Government and Argentine Federales.
The origin of the remarkable Society whose name appears at the head of this chapter is involved in no small amount of obscurity. The traditions noticed in the Introduction, and which assign it to the actual Charcoal-burners of the Middle Ages, are too misty and intangible for investigation ; and the various statements which have received publicity since the Society forced itself upon the attention of the world serve only to show that the writers who have professed to know all about the matter, and some of w^hom were affiliated to the Society, were themselves ignorant of the circumstances in which it had its origin. Its institution has been ascribed to Queon Caroline of Naples, to an unnamed French officer of the garrison of Capua, to an unknown Neapolitan officer who is said to have brought the system from Spain, to spontaneous generation in the bosom of an association formed for the cultivation of political science. There is no evidence, however, by which either of these antagonistic statements can be supported. They must be regarded as mere guesses, hazarded by their propounders in the absence of knowledge.Lady Morgan was of opinion that, "in its original formation there were no mysteries to conceal, no forms to celebrate, no dogma, no secret. The league was that of intellect, of spirits ardent in the cause of liberty and truth." This expression of opinion may be safely ventured upon with regard to every secret society ; and we are brought by its enunciation in respect to the Carbonari no nearer to the time, place, and circumstances of the Society's origin, or to the persons by whom it was instituted and organised. Nothing authentic in connexion with the Carbonari can be discovered earlier than 1814, when the first lodges of the Society were opened in the Neapolitan provinces by Maghella, a native of Genoa, who, at the time when Joachim Murat became King of the Two Sicilies, was a subordinate of Saliceti, the Neapolitan Minister of Police.
