Venice. "I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, I saw from out the wave her structures rise, O'er the far times, when many a subject land Where Venice sate in state, thronged on her hundred isles." WHEN Attila, the self-styled "Scourge of God," flattered by his triumphs in Greece, where ruined cities marked his fearful progress, and roused to vengeance by his more recent losses in the North, came down with a desperate energy upon Padua and the other Italian cities, many of the inhabitants, abandoning their loved homes to a foe whose power it were madness to resist, retired for shelter to the lonely places which nature had screened from the eye of the Barbarian invader. Some, with the design of supporting themselves by means of their customary occupation, sought the lagunes of the Adriatic, where they continued undisturbed during the devastations of Attila. When quiet was restored on the Peninsula, they still remained in the secluded spot which had so well befriended them, and called their little settlement "The Port of the Deserted City." The fugitives who thus peopled the Adriatic lagunes were governed for a time by magistrates sent from Padua. From these magistrates sprang many patrician families to whom the dogate and council robes seemed an hereditary right, and whose names occupied a prominent place in the subsequent history of the Republic. Such is the first page of Venetian history. Such the humble origin of that mighty republic which for centuries ruled supreme over European commerce; whose friendly support was courted by the mightiest monarchs of the West; at the fiat of whose Doge an emperor bowed in homage to another; whose enterprise colonized her sister islands on the Italian shore, and the chief depots of Asiatic trade; whose power and daring prowess long kept at bay the vast resources of the Turkish Empire; whose fleet was mistress of the southern seas and the undisputed proprietor of the Adriatic; which dared to hurl an open defiance in the face of the Papal Church, when that despotism was in the very zenith of its glory; and whose natal star shone forth with a cheering brightness amid the fading constellations of Italy. For fourteen hundred years that little island preserved its independence amid the convulsions which were shaking Europe to its center, and reached a height of political influence scarcely known to the greatest states of antiquity, In investigating the republics of the middle ages we must bear in mind that the progress of governments has swept away many of the then recognized principles of polity, and especially those which marked the prerogatives of sovereignty. Otherwise it will be difficult to trace in the constitution of those times even the rudest elements of modern democracy. In the internal structure of the Venetian government, we find many institutions entirely distinct from those of her neighbors, of which we will notice the most important. And first, the elective Dogate. The Doge was the nominal sovereign, chosen at first by the people, and afterwards by the Council. He possessed but little power. He led the armies of the republic in war, and was its organ in peace. But he had no voice in the actual gov ernment of his people during by far the greater part of Venetian bistory. Yet the Dogate was filled by men of great abilities, whose patriotism accomplished much for their country's good. The election of this officer by the people was a valuable guarantee of the popular attachment to the government, and maritime states are less likely to interfere with the prerogatives of their rulers than those whose ordinary pursuits throw them into constant contact with the policy of their own government. The Venetian democracy, contented with the privilege (for it was not then an acknowledged right) of electing their nominal sovereign, and occupied in the lucrative pursuits of commerce, uniformly supported the government in its foreign policy, and rarely questioned the propriety of doinestic measures. In this mode of government, Venice more than verged toward republicanism, and the same principle pervaded in a measure other subordinate offices, with which more of power, but less of honor, was connected. Of all who filled the Dogate of Venice, few, very few, died a natural death. Conspiracies were frequent, but they originated with the envious nobility, not from among the democracy. Next to the elective Dogate, the Secret Council claims our attention. That mysterious body, though it underwent many and great changes in name, character, and power, was, during by far the greater part of Venetian history, the actual sovereign of the state in peace. It controlled the institutions, the politics, and the policy of the republic. Such an institution, once firmly established, must have ruled with almost absolute power. It was strengthened by two important facts: first, the Venetians had an invincible repugnance to the government of a single individual, and this council almost annihilated the power of the Doge, the nominal sovereign; secondly, the religious superstitions. of that age gave validity to the acts of such a tribunal. With this double support, the one political, the other religious, this Senate-Council became firmly established in Venice, and held the chief governmental power under its own control. It was thus enabled to turn domestic changes, and the unsettled state of European policy, to its own advantage. It is impossible completely to unravel the labyrinth of its history; yet such a council as this, checking rather than arousing the change-loving character of the islanders, opening a wide theater for their ambition in the various avenues of commercial trade, and neces sarily conservative in its tendency, must have added much to the strength and permanence of the republic. It was an evil hour for Venice, when, heedless of the lessons of more than eight centuries, she rendered the dignity of councilor hereditary, and ere long several and violent conspiracies arose, which so undermined the strength and resources of the republic, that at length she sank almost unnoticed amid the desperate struggles for power and territorial aggrandizement in the European world. This body stood between the people and the Doge, but it ruled over both, and strengthened itself by the concessions of each. The name of Venetian Senator was an honor to which more than one of the crowned heads of Europe aspired. But notwithstanding the firm footing which this body possessed, it never could have survived so long without the support of another branch of Venetian polity. Connected with this Senate-Council, there once existed a still more mysterious tribunal, invested with almost unlimited powers, whose office it was to act as spies in every department of Venetian government, and in every grade of Venetian life. An impenetrable darkness veils the character as well as the history of this singular and gloomy feature of the republic. By its agency a native historian was denied access to the public records of the city. Of its tyrannical cruelty the marshy lagunes, the burning, loathsome prisons, the dismal Lido, might tell many a revolting story. The horrid picture which Bulwer has drawn is indeed too true, and there is many a fearful tale of its crimes in the national legends of the Rialto. Not even the names of those who composed this secret tribunal were known, and so numerous were its secret agents, and so certain and bloody their revenge, that none dared to speak lightly of its authority in the crowded thoroughfares by day, or in the nightly gatherings of harmless intercourse, lest the dreaded stiletto should silence them forever. When we first glance at the peculiar features of Venetian polity, there appears a glaring inconsistency in the relations which the different departments of government were made to sustain to each other. We can hardly reconcile, for instance, the well known honor attached to the Dogate, with the almost entire absence of power which it involved. But we find on a closer inspection, that the Doge possessed far greater influence over the foreign than the domestic policy of the state. There he was by no means silent. In times of war he possessed great power. Then he was the actual representative of the Republic, and led her armies. In defense of the severe government of the councils it may be urged, and it is certainly true, that the enterprising and excitable character of the citizens demanded a vigorous and decided discipline, and that such a system was sanctioned by the political sentiments of the age. There was doubtless much in the tribunals of Venice which would be revolting to the generous spirit of modern laws; but let those who are most forward to fasten upon her the charge of barbarian cruelty remember, that not a century has yet elapsed since the death-shrieks of the witches proclaimed the rigor of Puritan laws. There was another cause which exerted a powerful influence in Venetian society. Among the early settlers of the lagunes were several patrician families of high standing in Padua, their native city. These, in connection with the families of the tribunes, formed the original nobility of the new city. In an agricultural state they would have been able by monopolizing the landed property, to exclude all others from the privileges of the aristocracy, as was the case with the Barons in the early history of England. But in a maritime state, trade distributes wealth more uniformly, and not unfrequently throws it into the hand of the enterprising and industrious among the lower classes. It was so in Venice. Many too of the poor, who had engaged in the plundering of Constantinople, returned enriched by the spoils. Thus an aristocracy of wealth was gradually fostered, and at length, for wealth always carries influence, the nobility were forced to grant new privileges to this class of citizens and acknowledge their claims to the rank of an aristocracy. This new body, finding rivals in the ancient nobility, and habituated to the prejudices and customs of the lower orders, took the popular side, and thus gained the support of the people to those measures of the government to which they had acceded. In this way a sort of compromise was effected which greatly increased the stability of the state. In diplomacy, Venice far surpassed all the continental states. By her skillful negotiations she warded off many a threatning blow, and gained many a colonial acquisition. Foreign courts dreaded her diplomatists, and foreign diplomatists her court. By her cunning, she protected herself from the formidable league of Cambray, and the subsequent machinations of Louis XII. Her senate held long consultations before deciding on measures of foreign policy, but a decision once given was irrevocable. "Senatus Venetus," said one of her ambassadors to Henry the Fourth of France, "diu deliberat antequam decernit, sed, quod serio decrevit, revocat nunquam." In education, science, and the useful arts the state was not behind the spirit of the age. Her banking system dates back to the twelfth century. Her University to the sixteenth. A newspaper was established there in 1630, called Gazetta, from a coin of that name, and hence our modern Gazette. Silk weaving and sugar refining were introduced into Europe by her merchants. Venice is said to have been for a time the residence of the great Galileo. Marco Paulo, by his travels in the South, awakened a spirit of historical and geographical inquiry among the learned and scientific of Europe. The constant intercourse of Venetian traders with the manners and customs of the East introduced many improvements into Europe, and Venice derived more advantage from these acquisitions than other powers, in consequence of her more extensive acquaintance with Asiatic commerce. A few words on the general policy of the Venetian senate; for in this we are to seek the chief causes of her national strength and permanence. A prominent feature, and one which distinguished Venetian policy from that of the continental states, was the governmental encourage 66 ment of commerce. Her natural position, encircled by the waters of the Adriatic, which separated the Ocean City alike from her Paduan friends and her Genoese rivals; the occupation of the original settlers of the Rialto, continuing from father to son the favorite and productive employment of the lower classes; the limited agriculture of the lagunes; the incitement of Genoese rivalry; the unsettled state of Italian governments; and the natural activity and enterprise of a seaboard people, rendered this of vital importance to Venice. Her commercial expeditions to the East brought wealth to her citizens, and the control of Asiatic and South-Italian trade into the hands of the Venetian Senate. Commercial views induced them to join in the Crusades, and many of the Patrician families amassed enormous wealth from the divided spoils. But the most important result to the Republic was the reacquisition of Gaza. The bargain by which they obtained this valuable prize well illustrates the merchant-like tone of Venetian character. We are come," said the knights of France and Flanders to the venerable Dandolo, who at that time filled the elective Dogate, "from the most powerful barons of France, who have assumed the Cross to avenge the wrongs of our Lord, and to recover Jerusalem, if God permit it. Those knights are aware that you and your people are mighty to assist them, and they implore your pity for the Holy Land, begging for ships and the means of passage thither, desiring you to join in their pious endeavors." But Venice, fully awake to her own interests, was well aware that if the winged lion of St. Mark glittered among the standards of the Crusaders on the soil of Asia, it would result in detriment to her commerce. With characteristic policy, she loaned her fleets but not her armies, to the Holy Cause, stipulating for the most ample remuneration. The adventurous knights returned from their fourth Crusade with spoils by no means equal to their anticipations, and, unable to raise the requisite sum, resigned to their Venetian friends, who had more than complied with their part of the contract, the island of Zara, a revolted colony, which was at that time under Hungarian rule. Venice was emphatically a commercial city, and in the commercial history of the Trans-Atlantic world bears an influential part. The sea was her soil, and its treasures her subsistence. For a long time that powerful state could lay no claim to a single foot of soil on the main land of Europe. Territorial acquisition was not her policy. She counted the empire of the sea. "The Adriatic is ours," was the haughty reply of Venice to the Papal See, when that authority had dared to question her right to control its navigation. And such was the power of Venetian supremacy that, for successive centuries, none ventured to navigate or even to fish in its waters without a license from the Venetian senate, for which they paid a heavy and often enormous tribute. In later times Alexander III, grateful for the protection afforded him by the Venetian government against the power of Frederic Barbarossa, with the customary solemnities of a Catholic transfer, presented a ring to the reigning Doge in these words: "Receive this as an earnest of the empire of the sea, that posterity may know that she is under thy jurisdiction by right of conquest, and |