To what were they last misfortunes? unproductive throughout all Italy. The Venetian fleet, cruising off an enemy's coast, had obtained its supply of provisions by means of transports that went and came between the kingdom of Naples and roads of Zara. But this year, signalized by so many calamities, was still more so by tempests. Several of these convoys were dispersed, some were swallowed up by the waves, and almost all were retarded by privations; they have been a forted. The crews suffered the greatest privations; they were compelled, for a fortnight, to live on salted meat, without bread. The storms made the station doubly painful; and the murmurs of the sailors became so loud, that it was not possible to doubt the neighborhood of a mutiny. XXVII. Zeno, after consulting with his principal officers, wrote to ask permission o return with his fleet to Venice. All the answer he received was an order to lay iege to Marano. This place was situated mid the marshes formed by the mouths of the Tagliamento. Removed almost two eagues from the sea, it communicates ith it only by a canal which the reflux of he tide leaves dry. They wished to capture because it was an offensive position gainst the states of the Patriarch of Aquiia. Zeno did not hesitate to present imself before it, but he knew the imposbility of the undertaking; and that imossibility was so evident, that the whole rce broke out into murmurs against an der which denoted so absolute an ignonce of the localities. With one voice ey demanded that sail should be made r Venice, without waiting for authority. e admiral, who would not accede to the mand of his men, determined to do so m his own conviction, preferring rather encounter the indignation of the senate in to deserve the reproach of having t that fleet to perish which had been fided to his care. The Venetian government was not acstomed to so much temerity in its gene 3. night without bread. I know that it is Zeno and his officers were introduced into the senate, in order to give an account there of their conduct. The admiral expressed himself with wisdom, and even moderation; but one of his captains, who could not, like him, listen in silence to the harsh reprimand which was addressed to them, protested against the tyranny of a government which thus outraged its most illustrious defenders, and which obstinately compromised the safety of the country, rather than revoke orders inconsiderately given. This want of respect excited the indignation of the whole assembly. They made Zeno and his captains leave the room, and commenced deliberating on their punishment. Almost all voices were united in support of a proposition to throw them into prison; but the people and the sailors tumultuously surrounded the palace, and announced by their cries their resolution to defend a general who was dear to them. As soon as the fleet was seen, two ators went on board of it to forbid Zeno m entering the port, under pain of th. "My life," he replied, "belongs Zeno re-entered the senate hall without the republic, and I will devote myself, being called there, which bold act was a t is necessary, willingly incurring dis- new crime; they treated him as a rebel. ce in order to save the fleet. But what" You have," he said, "an army which has Have they already forgotten our been for a long time victorious, but which n? is now exhausted by fatigue and privations. I manded all the efforts of the Venetians. See how indignant you are against it! You loudly accuse it because it has expressed its wants, perhaps demanded its rights. Let it perish,' say you, provided authority be preserved.' In fact, that authority will be all the more imposing in the eyes of the people and of foreigners, when you shall be stripped of all force. Ah! if such pride would permit it to be, the army would dare to believe that its interest could not be separated from that of the country. As the price of all the blood it has shed, it asks of you only the forgetfulness of fatal passions; it implores you not to compromise the country. If there is any one here with more wounds, let him rise, and proclaim himself to be a better citizen." Saying these words, he left the hall, in spite of all commands to remain, descended to the piazzetta, passed through the crowds of people, who saluted him with acclamations, entered the church of St. Mark, where he performed his devotions, and retired to his own house. The favor of the people was so decidedly pronounced, that it was not possible to either punish Zeno or to send away the fleet. The senate deliberated for several days. Finally, in order to reconcile the maintenance of its orders with circumstances, it was decided that the attack on Marano should be renewed; but in place of employing the fleet, they made use of boats, more proper to make the approaches to the place, and Zeno gave a proof of his submission by setting out immediately to direct the enterprise. He made such remarks on this project as were suggested by his experience, and then he departed with one hundred and fifty barks to attack Marano. He was grievously wounded, yet continued his attacks. Repulsed with loss, he regained his boats only with much difficulty and danger, and was recalled to Venice to be afterwards sent at the head of a fleet to the Grecian seas, where nothing of importance took place. XXVIII. The Genoese had been compelled to surrender Chiozza; but they had still a numerous fleet in the Adriatic. On the continent, the affairs of the allies were in a much more advanced state, since, for a year, the war in the lagunes had de nevertheless, Treviso, their principal place, A revolution, which, a short time be had precipitated Joan of Naples from throne, had drawn the attention of King of Hungary to that quarter, as vacant crown had been offered to nephew, Charles, by the Pope, Urbar The Count of Savoy and the repu Florence chose this moment to offer t selves as mediators between the s and its enemies. A congress was a bled. The Venetian ambassadors haa apparently received instructions to crastinate the negotiations, for the was signed on the 8th of August. The republic was reduced to its lect having already abandoned Dalms the Trevisano, and therefore had no cession | a price on his head, to send an army to reto make; nor was it in a condition to exact duce him, to besiege him in form, and at anything. The conditions of peace were: last to admit him to a capitulation. They 1. That the Lord of Padua should restore restored to him all his goods, and indemniCavarzeto and Maranzano to the republic, fied him for his losses. Houses and lands and demolish all the forts he had erected in Candia were assigned to those inhabion the borders of the lagunes; that the tants of Tenedos who wished to transport limits between the principality of Padua themselves there; to others, who wished and the possessions of the signory should to leave the island, and settle at Constantibe defined by arbitrators; and, finally, that nople, or elsewhere, they paid the value of Carrara should cease to pay all the con- their personal property. Tenedos was tributions and taxes that had formerly fatal to the Venetians; it had cost them been exacted from him. 2. That with re- more to surrender it, than it had to capture spect to the Patriarch of Aquileia, all it. It remained for the government to disthings should remain on the footing which charge the debt due to those citizens who hey had occupied previous to the war. 3. had manifested the most devotion to the That the King of Hungary should abandon republic during its dangers. is pretensions to the island of Pago, in h gulf of Fiume, agree to close his ports gainst all corsairs, and renounce salt-makng on his coasts. For these concessions, he republic agreed to pay seven thousand ucats during several years, for historians iffer as to the duration of this tribute. Finally, relative to the Genoese, it was ipulated that both nations should reounce their commerce at the mouth of e Tanais, in order to avoid all subjects of scord; that each party should retain its nquests; that the island of Tenedos ould be evacuated by the Venetians, in der to be held by the Count of Savoy, d that its fortifications should be demoled in two years; that at the end of that ne its ultimate destination should be ed, and that the sum of five hundred usand ducats should be deposited by th party in the hands of the Florentines, a security for the execution of the terms the treaty. When prisoners were exchanged, the netians, who had made 7,200, had only 80 to return: 4,000 had perished in the igeons of Venice. The Genoese, on the trary, returned almost all theirs. his peace put an end to the ravages which o had for some time been inflicting on Ligurian coast; but it was on the point being broken by the obstinacy of the etian governor of Tenedos, who, not able to persuade himself that the blic had really and sincerely renounced ession of that island, obstinately refusO give it up to the commissioners of the of Savoy. It was necessary to ace him, to treat him as a rebel, to put nt XXIX. Thirty heads of families were admitted to the great Council. As there can be no purer origin of nobility, I shall mention their names, some of which have since become illustrious. At their head was Giacomo Cavalli, the Veronese general, who during the siege of Chiozza, had commanded the land troops. The others were,-Marco Storlado, artisan; Paolo Trivisano, citizen; Giovanni Garzoni; Giacomo Candolmiere, merchant; Marco Urso, artisan; Francisco Girardo, citizen; Marco Cicogna, apothecary; Antonio Arduino, wine merchant; Raffaini di Carresini, grand chancellor; Marco Paschaligo, citizen; Nicolo Paulo; Pietro Zeukary, grocer; Giacomo Trivisano, citizen; Nicolo Longo, artisan; Giovanni Negro, grocer; Andrea Vendramini, banker; Giovanni Arduino; Nicolo Tagliapietra, artisan; Giacomo Pizzamani, Candiote noble; Nicolo Garzoni; Pietro Penzino, artisan; Giorgio Calerge, Candiote noble; Nicolo Reynieri, artisan; Bartolomo Paruta, furrier; Luigi di Fornese; Pietro Lippomano, citizen; Donato di Porto, artisan; Paolo Nani, grocer; Francisco di Mezzo, artisan; Andrea Zusto, citizen. When this promotion to the patriciate had been made, there were two descriptions of nobles in Venice. All those who had existed anterior to this decree, formed a class by themselves. Nevertheless, they distinguished among the latter the heroes which, by common consent, ascended to the time of the origin of the republic, and which were known by the name of tribunitian families. On the 5th of June, 1382, Venice lost Andrea Contarini, who died, exhausted by mately illumine the whole earth. Those persons who are continually reading history for the purpose of hunting up proofs of popular ingratitude towards national heroes and deliverers, would do well to read, in the way of corrective, the above chapter from the annals of Venice; for on no occasion has the vice of ingratitude been more signally displayed than in the treat age and by the fatigues of a long campaign by sea, of which he had shared all the perils. He was the first doge over whom a funeral oration was pronounced. Contarini, Pisani, and Zeno had had the good fortune, amid the great calamities of their country, to merit her everlasting gratitude. Zeno alone survived this disastrous war. When the question of giving a successor to Contarini came up, the pub-ment of Pisani and Zeno. To these me lic voice designated Zeno. His name was repeated and invoked by the people. The conclave of electors was formed. Two candidates were presented,-the one was Zeno, and the other was that Micheli Morosini, who during the war had tripled his fortune by his speculations. The suffrages of the electors were united on the latter. He was proclaimed Doge on the 10th of June, 1382, and reigned only four months. Such was the "War of Chiozza," in the course of which were displayed all those high qualities for which the Italian race has long been renowned. The patriotism exhibited by the Venetians may be advantageously compared with that of the Athenians during the invasion of the Persians, though its consequences were less important to mankind, there being no comparison between Venice, however great as a commercial state, and however much she exceeded transalpine Europe in civilization, and that Ionic community which bore in its bosom that light which was to ulti Venice owed her existence. The first, ber TOR. THE VENGEANCE OF EROS. IMITATED FROM THEOCRITUS. A WOOER very passionate once loved a cruel May- But as a forest-dwelling beast far from the hunter flies, The snow is white; it hardens first, and then is quickly gone; * * * * * * The heartless fair came forth at morn, and there her lover hung. CARL BENSON. |