The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1878-01-24

as the wall OF modern Greek over the
degeneracy of his countryinen. Its true
tenor is easily shown by extracts made
IN a,spirit Of fairness:
''On thy voiceless shore
The heroic lay is tuneless now
The heroic bosom beats no morei
You have the letters Cadmus gave
Think ye he meant them for a slave?
] see their glorious black eyes shine;
But gazing on each glowing maid,
My own the burning tear-drop laVes.
To think such breasts must suckie
slaves
II more convincing proof is desired as
to the opinion which the mighty dead
entertained of the modern Greeks, il is
furnished in Chjlc2e Harold's Pilgrim
age, Ctz'2tO IT., tStct3asa LX-YITE, ct seq.
we select few lines from that Immor-
tai poem:
Fair Greece!
Who now shall lead thy scattered children
forth,
And long-accustom'd bondage uncreate?
But every earle can lord it DER thy land;
Nor rise thy sons, but idly rail i'll vain,
trembling beneath the scourge of Turkish
hand,
From birth till death cnslav'd, in word, in
deed unmann'd.
Hereditary bondsmenI Know ye not
Who would be free themselves must strike
the blow?
But ne'er will freedom seek this fated soil,
But slave succeed to slave thro' years of
endless toll"
Aye, ''see how we can prove by By
ron that modern Greek is o hero. '
Whose reliability has Juni impeached
by this venture, Byron's or his own? Is
there augl3t in his vaunt to detract from
the credit which should be given to
what Byron says of the Venetian gov
ernment in the 10Th century?
Now for the accusations made by the
Dlographer against our excerpts and in
ferences from history. He says:
Our critic does not deny any of the infer
ences we drew from history except the one
that Venice was not despotism."
We did, and do now, most emphatic
ally. We specifically deny his right
to infer that because Venice was great
commercial city, and not rs jealous as
some other powers in the cause of the
Crusades, therefore Shylock practically
enjoyed religious and social equality
His quotations from history are all Sc
lected with view to warrant this infer
enee. The last Crusade was about the
year 1870, more than 800 years, by his
own SlOWlI3. D0lOE0 lCch guile lhtC
court. He has not cited a single histor-
ic passage to show the existence OF relig-
ious tolerance in Venice after the 18th
century; while, in opposition to his
claims, it has been historically proved
that prosecutions of the Jews ragged in
Italy in the 18th century. Three centu-
RES intervene between the foundation
for his premises aud the date to which
l. 4,,,n 20 /,
bic; and, on the strength of his bald
assertion, we are asked to believe that
in that long interval the fires of fanati-
cism we're never kindled in Venice,
although they burned with appalling
fury all around her. This is one of the
most material points involved in our
controversy. We proceed to examine
the worth or worthiessness of his posi-
tive statements relating to matters of
history, by which we shall be assisted in
ascertalning how much credit is to be
given to his inferences.
He relies greatly on Hallams state
ment that religious antipathy was at one
time deaiened in Venice. But when
did this condition exist? Why, at least
324 years before The Merchant OF ZEN
ice was written. reckoning from the date
az tha last Crusade; for Hallam' S state
ment has reference to the period of the
CruSadeS.
Juni SAYS:
The ordinary criminal jurisdiction was
mainly vested in another Council of Forty.
The Council OF Ten had mainly to do with IN
ternational and state matters, and very Little
directly with the citizens. 1.-THE citizens1 had
their remedy through the Great Council
Haliam says:
''Fhe council of ten are chiefly known as an
arbitrary and inquisitorial tribunal, the stand
ing tyranny of Venice. Excluding the Old
council of forty, regular court of criminal
judicature, not only from the investigation OF
crimes OF magnitude, they Inquired, they
judged, they punished, according to what they
called reasons Of state.....lt is most remarika-
bic that part of the constitution which de-
stroyed every mans security. and incurred
general hatred, was still maintained by sense
of its necessity. -
Lippincott's Gazetteer says:
These inqrisitors, - whom all the powers
CT The state We're absolutely vested" sc.
Was the council Of ten, therefore, a less
odious institution, OF one less dangerous
to the general liberty, than we repre-
scented it? Again:
He should have TUNED over to the next
nage lot Halla!nI and quoted the following;
.Fifle council of ten, annually renewed might
annually have been annihtlated.' '-JRHj.
for what purpose should we have
done so? The next sentence, but one,
on the same page is;
This was several times attempted, but the
uobies never steadily persevered in refusing to
re-elect it; it was in fact, become essential to
tuition that she could not endure their rene
dies
Do the last two quotations show the
blographer 10 ally better, OK Us in any
more unfavorable, light? On whom do
they cast suspicion Of quibbling and
perYerslon? We stand ready to accept
the public judgment on this point, with
out whimper,
Hfs would have been wei flor usJ to quote
another passage from Hallaml: 1t was a very
comm on theme with political writers +
to deScant on the WiSd0in of this government -
-Juni.
Venice was at least nomnally a
republic and not despotism Shakespeare shared
the then prevalent opinion that hers was 8 wise
government.'-M-
Did he, in soeth VIC let the biog-
EE,Ititar's TaYorite Historian pulverize
those assertions:
He [whol has learned the true attri-
butes of WiSd0m in civil policy, viii
not easily prostitute kat word TO constitution
forl'Ieo, WitisouI reference to property or pop
ulatibn, that vested sovereign power partly il a
body of Impoverished mobiles, partly IN an oJerz
ruling desp0tisH; to practical system. Of SOW
eminent that made vice the aiy or tyranny, and
sought inSpua:ty ror Its own assassinations by
encouraging dissoiuteness of private life. =
III the ultimate crisis. at least, of Venetian
liberty, that solemn mociSery OF statesnanship
1.-The senatel was exhibited TO conter.E. t0o
blind to avert danger. tee flcstaraiiy 10 with
stand it."-Hq!!.Ga.
Does tho celebrated author whose aid
jun invoked, prove valuable ally IL the
effort to show the Venetian rule to have
heap asfse and NOT desp0tjc ? Whose
quotations were 'sgarbled' and ''placed
III misleading order 2" Again we invite
the decision of our readers.
"OIr critic gives the dates to which his quo
tations apply, and they 9aEgc ffont 81 to 4. D.
4 ~ - tns,ln LII