In Piedmont, where the Carboneria was more commonly known as the Federazione (the Confederation), the Revolution of 1821 had two objects; to obtain a constitutional government and to drive the Austrians from the peninsula, in order to form with the House of Savoy a kingdom of all northern Italy. The promoters of this were chiefly officers of the army be longing to the principal aristocratic families, and they believed that the young Prince and heir-presumptive to the throne, Carlo Alberto of Savoy-Carignano, was also of their party, since in private conversations with his friends he made no attempt to conceal his ardent love for the independence of his country and his de sire to do something for her. The insurrection burst forth when it became known that an Aus trian army had arrived at Naples to quell this revolution, and they believed that they could attack it from the rear with the help of the Lombardy-Venetians, who were to rise at the call of the Piedmontese. On 10 March 1821 a regiment in Alessandria rose, and formed there a provisional government, and during the days following other garrisons arrived in that city; some soldiers, at the gate of Turin, shout ing for the constitution, raised the tri-colored banner; and the king, Victor Emanuel I, who felt that he could not change the order of events and did not wish to use violence against his subjects, abdicated in favor of his brother, Carlo Felice, naming as regent during the latter's ab sence the Prince of Carignano, who, in obedi ence to the demands of the people, conceded the Spanish constitution. But the king, Carlo Felice, in Modena, annulled this concession, or dered Carlo Alberto to withdraw into Tuscany, assembled that part of the army which had re mained faithful and called for help from Aus tria. The soldiers in favor of the constitution were beaten (8 April) near Novara; the heads of the movement — the most famous of whom was Santorre of Samtarosa— in order to es cape the gallows, were obliged to exile them selves in Spain, Portugal, Greece, France or England.
These attempts at gaining liberty were fol lowed by 10 years of frightful reaction, in Piedmont as well as at Naples and everywhere in Italy. Austria more than ever was master of all; nevertheless, the Carbonari, beaten but not destroyed, continued to work in secret.
When in 1830 upon the accession of Louis Philippe to the throne of France, it seemed that the liberal aspirations of Europe had found strong and secure foundations, the patriots of central Italy hoped to be able to form a king dom with a constitutional government, consist ing of Lombardy, Modena, Parma and Ferrara; a loingdom which they would give to Francesco IV, Duke of Modena, who had much ambition and great wealth, and who they knew had an understanding with the Carbonari and was a friend of one of their most highly esteemed chiefs, Ciro Menotti. It is said that at the last moment the Duke was seized with fear of being discovered and severely punished by Austria, and, therefore, abandoned the conspiracy. Men otti, in consequence of this, wished to antici pate the revolution; but or the night appointed for the rising (3-4 Feb. 1831) the Duke, with 800 soldiers, surrounded his house and took him, with many others, prisoners; and when he knew that the revolution was so widespread throughout the state, he repaired to Mamma, taking with him Menotti, to be under the pro tection of the Austrian cannon. This revolu tion extended to the Pontifical State, where Bologna (5 February) and later other cities rose in rebellion; the temporal power of the Pope was declared abolished, and they founded together with Romagna and the Marches, a free state which they called the United Provinces. From Parma also the Duchess Maria Louisa was obliged to flee and take refuge in Piacenza. The Austrians, called upon for help, intervened, overcame the Italians and again established in every place the preceding government.. The
Duke of Modena was savage in his revenge; shortly after his return Ciro Menotti and others were hanged on the gallows. The foreign powers in a Memorandum publicly invited Pope Gregory XVI to give to his state a more pa cific administration; but the Pope, instead of ameliorating public administration of public affairs, gave himself up to a violent reaction. so that in 1832 the revolution again broke out The Austrians returned, and the French occu pied Ancona in order not to leave Italy in the power of Germans alone, and neither of them took their departure until 1838.
All these movements of the Carbonati, therefore, failed, because they were successive, not contemporaneous; because they were not sufficiently prepared and not wisely guided; cause, being the work of the minority, they were not participated in by the people; and finally, because their plans were to establish a kingdom, not a nation.
Period IL—Conspiracies and Insurrec tions Promoted by ((Young Italy* (1831-46).
—The impossibility of obtaining independence and freedom for Italy by means of the Car boneria was impressed upon the people chiefly by Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72) of Genoa,' who had been a member of this society and in 1830 by a piece of ordinary treachery had been cast into prison. While incarcerated in the fortress of Savona, he conceived the idea of forming a new association, which should be national and not sectional, and which, while pre paring in secret for a revolution, should openly propagate its principles by means of the press. Released from prison, he was obliged to go into exile, and in Marseilles he became con vinced that it was useless to expect any gener ous initiative on the part of any sovereign; he therefore (from among the many Italian refugees of the Revolution of 1820-21 and that of 1831) founded in 1831 °Young Italy,* an association of persons who believed in the law of progress and duty, and who were obliged to swear to work — by means of education and insurrection — to the end that Italy should be come one, free, independent and republican. To disseminate the ideas and the aims of the association they published a periodical (1832) entitled La Gsovatif Italia ((Young Italy)), and the society and the paper spread throughout the peninsula, especially in the kingdom of Sardinia, in which the king, Carlo Felice, the last of the eldest branch of the House of Savoy, had been succeeded by Carlo Alberto of Savoy Carignano. Upon this state Mazzini founded his greatest hopes, because he was convinced that having brought under the influence of these new ideas the Piedmontese army, the chief mili tary force of the Italian states, the society would be able to drag down the tyrants from their thrones and hunt the foreign oppressors from out the land. Therefore they sought above all recruits from the Sardinian army. But the police were not slow to discover the conspiracy in 1833, and proceeded to make arrests in Geneva, Alessandra, Chambery and other places. Vincenzo Gioberti, unable to disprove his guilt, was sentenced to exile. Standing courts were immediately set up, which instituted pro ceedings that ended with severe condemnations and punishment of soldiers and citizens. Young Italy then sought her revenge. An expedition composed of some hundreds of Italians, Poles, Germans and Swiss, prepared by Mazzini, in vaded Savoy from Geneva (1834) ; but, not finding help from the inhabitants, was easily repulsed by the soldiers of the king. Genoa, which was supposed to rise at the same time, did not stir; there followed at once condemna tions of the conspirators, among which was a sentence of death against Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82).