And, that this covert sort of impost is a highly lucrative one, there can, I believe, be very little doubt; since his Imperial Majesty, once or twice in the space of every month, gives an audience, which lasts for six or eight hours, to persons of all ranks and descriptions, for the sole purpose of receiving these memorials. And, as they are generally returned, by the post, to the different petitioners, a fresh source of revenue presents itself to Austrian cupidity! But, why should I complain of all this? Are not the Venetians Italians? And, if the Germans generously condescend to leave them their eyes to weep with, would it not be ingratitude, "more hideous than the sea-monster," to complain?

Under the Venetian Government, and even under the yoke of Buonaparte, all persons known to be in slender circumstances were exempted, when they happened to have occasion to go to law, from the payment of certain stamp and register duties; and not unfrequently from the expence of counsel, and the charges for briefs and affidavits. The simplicity, too, of the law proceedings formerly, in comparison with those at present adopted, was, in the proportion of one to a hundred, more beneficial, both to plaintiff and defendant, than the com. plicated and confused forms introduced by the

Austrians. If properly followed up, a lawsuit, in the space of six weeks, might be carried through all its stages, up to its termination.

The Venetian laws were also distinguished for their clearness and simplicity. Neither has the eloquence of their public pleaders been exceeded by the orators of any other country whatever. Indeed, for the space of centuries, the excellence of the laws of Venice, and the fairness with which those laws were administered, occasioned the tribunals of that city to be held in such esteem throughout Italy, that persons from all parts were accustomed to send their differences to be decided by the Courts of Venice, in preference to those existing in any other parts of the kingdom.

But, all these great and glorious deeds of the olden time have vanished-never more to return! At Venice, the poor have now no protector to look up to, save Heaven! Under the iron gripe of Austria, the rising genius of her citizens is nipped in the bud. Men of talents are forbidden to exercise those talents, in the church, or at the bar;-at least, within the Venetian territories.

This barbarous policy operates most destructively; for it not only checks the progress of the arts and sciences, but arrests the march of

civilization. It also strikes at the very root and life-spring of " la bella litteratura Italiana." The Venetians, therefore, as they value their own comfort, should imitate the conduct of the ancient Greeks; who, after the tyrant Sylla had overturned the tribunals at Athens, instituted academies, where the people were taught the art of forgetting what they had once acquired. Even the works of the great Metastasio—who wrote the chief part of his operas at Vienna, at the express command of her Imperial Majesty the Empress Maria Theresa, for the entertainment and instruction of her daughters, the Archduchesses, and which works the murdered Marie-Antoinette was so passionately fond of, that she had committed their principal beauties to memory-even these works, I say, are now amongst the list of libri prohibiti, in-the Aus

CHAPTER IX.

VENICE.

Preference given to Germans in all the Public Offices...... The Venetians not suffered to leave the City without Passports......Destruction of the Palaces of the Nobles...... Confiscation and Sale of them to Jews for Arrears of Taxes ......Neglect of the Arts and Sciences......Stagnation of Commerce......Restrictions thereon......Present State of the Arsenal......Fettered Condition of the Press.

AFTER the best consideration I have been able to give to the treatment which the people of Italy generally, and the Venetians in particular, have experienced at the hands of their task-masters, I cannot help saying, and I do not use the expression irreverently, that the latter, during a space of nearly two thousand years, are the only people who have followed the example of the Saviour of the world—who, when he received the sacrilegious slap, instead of resenting the foul insult, turned the other cheek to receive a repetition of the outrage. To nothing else can I compare the humiliating condition to which the noblest portion of God's creatures are now reduced! We are told, that men are

never taught wisdom so effectually as in the school of adversity. I believe the maxim to be a just one. It should however be borne in mind by their rulers, that the Venetians are men; and that, though they may hitherto have patiently submitted to the yoke of the oppressor, it does not necessarily follow, that they will for ever consent to remain in their present prostrate condition.

Every individual possessing a grain of proper feeling, is naturally actuated by the laudable desire of being useful to his country; and he expects to receive from his sovereign the reward of his exertions, instead of seeing that reward bestowed on a foreigner; more especially when that individual feels, that he is not only in every respect the equal of the intruder, but greatly his superior, both in ability and in local information.

No Venetian, however, is permitted to serve under the Austrian government, but as un' Alunno, and without pay. The Germans, nevertheless, are employed in all the departments of the state, both at Venice and in the Terra Firma, and receive regular salaries; although many of them, from their entire ignorance of the Italian language, are incapable of performing their duty towards either their sovereign or the public.

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