Federico Confalonieri

He then joined the freemasons, which was arranged by Timothy Yeats Brown in September 1818, and some of the various other secret societies with which all Europe was swarming, being initiated by Philippe Buonarroti (1761–1837), an old Tuscan Jacobin living in Paris.

[2] On returning to Milan, where he found the Austrians in possession, he at first devoted himself to promoting the material progress of his country, but he was ever watching for an opportunity to liberate it from the foreigner.

There was talk of a rising at Milan combined with a Piedmontese invasion to expel the Austrians, but the plans were very vague and unpractical, for the military conspirators could count only on a few hundred men, and Confalonieri warned them that Lombardy was not ready.

[1] A long trial now began, conducted with all the rigour and secrecy of the Austrian procedure, and Confalonieri, outwitted by the astute examining magistrate, Antonio Salvotti (d. 1866), contradicted himself, made fatal admissions, even compromised others, and together with several companions was condemned to death for high treason, but through the intercession of his wife and father, who went to Vienna to plead his cause in person, the emperor Francis commuted the penalty to perpetual imprisonment in the fortress of Spielberg (January 1824).

He had undoubtedly played a considerable role in the conspiracy of 1821, being the most influential and richest of the Milanese Liberals; when first arrested his conduct may have been open to criticism, but he more than expiated any temporary weakness due to ill-health and to the barbarous methods of examination by his heroic attitude during his long imprisonment, and his persistent refusal to accept offers of pardon accompanied by dishonouring conditions.