DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55699#0032
14
THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
for Venice, the Doge summoned all the different depart-
ments of the government to deliberate on the situation
of the. state. Various were the opinions advanced on the
occasion: midnight had already past, and they had formed
no determination as to what measures they should pursue,
when a letter was delivered from the commander of their
flotilla, announcing that the French had already com-
menced preparations for a blockade. Consternation was
visible in every countenance ; and the doge, agitated and
trembling, walked up and down the apartment, exclaim-
ing, “ This night even we are not sure of sleeping tran-
quilly in our beds !” How changed was the Venetian
spirit from what it was when the blind old Dandolo faced
the batteries of Constantinople ! It was at first decided
that the operations of the French should be resisted, but
a counter resolution reduced this determination to no-
thing ■, and the procurator Pesaro, almost the only mem-
ber of the state who seemed to feel the degradation of
his country, sighed deeply, and said, with tears in his
eyes, “ I see the fate of my country !—I cannot succour
it ; but a brave man finds a home any where : I must
seek mine in Switzerland.”
In a subsequent meeting it was debated whether a
change in the constitution might not serve to remove
some of the evils which were hanging over the state.
The grand council was assembled to deliberate on the
project. The palace on this occasion was surrounded
with troops and cannon; the workmen of the arsenal,
and different companies of citizens, were all under arms ;
while patrols hastening along the streets, their faces dis-
playing signs of fear and amazement, served to spread
THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
for Venice, the Doge summoned all the different depart-
ments of the government to deliberate on the situation
of the. state. Various were the opinions advanced on the
occasion: midnight had already past, and they had formed
no determination as to what measures they should pursue,
when a letter was delivered from the commander of their
flotilla, announcing that the French had already com-
menced preparations for a blockade. Consternation was
visible in every countenance ; and the doge, agitated and
trembling, walked up and down the apartment, exclaim-
ing, “ This night even we are not sure of sleeping tran-
quilly in our beds !” How changed was the Venetian
spirit from what it was when the blind old Dandolo faced
the batteries of Constantinople ! It was at first decided
that the operations of the French should be resisted, but
a counter resolution reduced this determination to no-
thing ■, and the procurator Pesaro, almost the only mem-
ber of the state who seemed to feel the degradation of
his country, sighed deeply, and said, with tears in his
eyes, “ I see the fate of my country !—I cannot succour
it ; but a brave man finds a home any where : I must
seek mine in Switzerland.”
In a subsequent meeting it was debated whether a
change in the constitution might not serve to remove
some of the evils which were hanging over the state.
The grand council was assembled to deliberate on the
project. The palace on this occasion was surrounded
with troops and cannon; the workmen of the arsenal,
and different companies of citizens, were all under arms ;
while patrols hastening along the streets, their faces dis-
playing signs of fear and amazement, served to spread