CHAPTER XXV.

VENICE.

THE BUONAPARTE FAMILY IN THE VENETIAN

TERRITORIES.

Buonaparte plans the Destruction of the Venetian Republic ......Marriage of his sister Paulina...... Violation of the Venetian Territory......Mission of Alvise Quirini to Paris ......Massacre at Verona...... Peace of Campo Formio...... Sale of the Venetian States to Austria......The new MockGovernment described......Heavy Contributions levied by Buonaparte at Venice......Plunder of the Works of Art ......Josephine's visit to Venice.

By this time, my reader must, I think, have formed a tolerably correct judgment, both of the past state of the Venetian territories, and of their present deplorable condition under the yoke of Austria. The outline which I have drawn of that condition is a correct one; but, the picture will not be complete, without the introduction of a few additional traits, in which will be exhibited in their true light, the conduct of Buonaparte towards the Venetians, and the spirit, the tone, the temper, and the intent, with which the overthrow of their venerable republic was effected by the son of the attorney of Ajaccio, preparatory to its being finally

handed over by him to Francis of Austriathe descendant of the immortal Maria Theresa!

Some highly interesting anecdotes of the exploits of The Buonaparte Family in Italymother as well as son, brothers as well as sisters-I reserve for my second volume, under the head "Milan," and shall only insert in this place such as either took place in, or have reference to, the hard fate of the once "Venezia la Ricca."

When the Cisalpines had literally become the humbled and degraded slaves of the "Gran Madre Republica," the plan was next formed for the ruin of that once happy people, the Venetians; a ruin which, no doubt, was hastened by the imbecillity and the treachery of the then powerful Francesco Pesaro, of whom I have already spoken, by his persuading the Venetian government to maintain an unarmed neutrality; which, as Mallet du Pan justly observed, was "una parola nuova nel vocabulario;" for, surely, if any one power wishes to be respected, it can only become so, from the force which it is able to oppose, in case of its being threatened with violence by another. For the logic of sovereigns is generally comprised in the short and pithy argument which Frederick the First caused to be engraved on his

cannon, "Voilà mon droit:" and Frederick might, with some shew of propriety, enforce it; for he possessed both men and money, and was unlike Buonaparte, who, when complaints were made to him against the peculations of his numerous civil and military employés would answer, "Neho bisogna di uomini e dinari, per far la guerra: ciò mi basta."

Being on a visit to the Duke di Serbelloni, at Castel Gomberto, one of his country seats, I was requested to accompany him to Milan, as he had been invited to a grand déjeuné given at the Palazzo Serbelloni, in consequence of the marriage of Paulina Buonaparte with General Le Clerc; which said déjeuné was assuredly not served up in a homely, democratical style; since it would scarcely be possible for pen to describe the magnificence that was displayed upon the

occasion.

From that time, I never saw Madame Le Clerc, except accidentally on my return from Spain, in my way to Italy, when I again met her at Marseilles, where she had just arrived, with the body of her husband, who had died at St. Domingo; and sometime afterwards at Rome, when she had become the Princess Borghese. But she was then so much altered, as scarcely to be recognized; for, at the time of

her marriage to her first husband, she was really a most beautiful woman.

As I have mentioned the sumptuous déjeuné given by Buonaparte at the palace Serbelloni, on the marriage of his sister, I shall here take occasion to express the astonishment I have often felt, that this Corsican family should have been so uncommonly extravagant, seeing that not a soul of them had ever before been in affluent circumstances.

At the Hôtel di Belvidere, where I resided, I found that one of the waiters had been servant to Buonaparte, during the siege of Toulon, when his propitious star first shone upon his early exploits. At that time, he was so excessively poor and friendless, that he and his man often could not scrape together a sum sufficiently large to allow them to engage any other conveyance, from Marseilles to Toulon, than a single horse between them, and frequently they were obliged to go on foot, for want of that useful commodity which is said to "make the mare to go."

This man also accompanied Buonaparte to Paris, and continued in his service until he embarked for Egypt. He declared to me, that, he had often heard his master say, "I must positively quit Paris and France for some little

time, or I sball meet with the fate that befel the Scipios those two warriors were the greatest men Rome ever possessed: their statues were worshipped, and placed amongst those of their gods in the Pantheon, upon cushions; but they lost all their popularity with the Romans, by appearing too often before them." To this policy it may be attri buted, that Buonaparte was induced to undertake the command of that most extraordinary expedition.

It was at the sumptuous déjeuné, given at the palazzo Serbelloni, on the occasion of the marriage of his sister Paulina to General Le Clerc, that the violation of the Venetian territory was determined on by Buonaparte. It was, however, necessary for him to proceed with every possible degree of caution, so as not openly to insult the hospitality of the Venetians; as the French army, at that time, were actually maintained by the very government, whose destruction had been irrevocably fixed.

To accomplish this destruction, Salicetti was directed to prepare some hundreds of peasants' dresses; which dresses were distributed amongst the men and officers; and under this disguise were Bergamo and Brescia invaded, in concert with