New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-10-21

beneath the shadow Of St Marks. This legisla-
ton sprang from the Yenetians ineradicable
distaste for anything that sayored Of permanent
separation from the fatherland- The colonizing
instinct was not in him He was glad to pos
sess territory on the Bosphorus or elsewhere,
but like the modern Frenchman. he preferred to
stay at home himself It was all very patTi-
etc and admirable. but it explains the decay Of
The Republic.
Laws were framed for the equal protection Of
a. classes, but the noble and wealthy families
TOOK the lead II politics as q matter Of course
they accustomed the people TO fractional govern
uent TO the more Or less yelled despotism Of one
party or another and the state Of affairs thus
eagendered al home was hardly calculated to
give liberal and nobly ambitious tendency to
the foreign policy Of the republic Luxurious in
their tastes. in spite Of much personal hardi-
hood: absorbed IN trade and finding many OF
their quarreIs in the course Of a constant search
for ways Of weakening competition in the marts
OF the world, tie Venetians seem to have deterio-
rated through nothing so much as the rank ma
teriaIism Of their ideals Their life abounded in
religious Interests il is true, and they were al
ways piously willing TO ascribe good fortune to
tre intercessicn Of their patron saint But Mr.,
HGzitt's narrative is one long record of wars
vaged Tor worldly aggrandizement Of social
development which dazzles by its briliiance but
rarely appeals to the finer emotions save where
the courage Of some soldier or the Inspiration Of
some artist Is concerned Naughty to the point
OF arrogance, confident Of her ability TO hold
her own among tn nations and secretly DESTROYS
o. exercising q paramount influence among them,
Venice as she would have liked TO see herself 5
really less accurately symbolized by the famous
winged lion, aloft upon his pillar. than by some
Such opulent, earthly presence as Neronese eX-
hh5ts in his painting Of Venice, Mistress Of the
world, Between Justice and Peace" The SPLEEN
dor Of the flesh is what thinks Of in reading
her history, not the dominion Of the soul
II is a curious fact that throughout the cen
turfes summarized by Mr. Hazlitr the Doges,
statesmen. commanders, powerful private cit-
zens and political groups involved in the story
never seem 10 b standing for any definite con
str7lctfve policy commensurate to the scope of
Venetian influence in the affairs Of the world
For more and more territory near their own
they were always greedy, but what would they
have done with il, supposing they had won it,
and had kept il? Venice the nation would still
have been no more than Venice the city; the
STATE would never have risen 10 imperial stature
10 matter how much power it might have ac-
CURED: il would always have remained the
Iuxury-Ioving republic on the Adriaue, the the
atre OF patriotic deeds but tie source of no far
reaching actions designed with thought foI
others rs well as for the patricians and com
1noners CT the Ratio. PathOs hangs about Mr.
Hazlitfs book for Il il deals with "one OF the
most remarkable communities, alike in regard tc
its political structure and it's inner life, which
the world has ever beheld." it deals also Win
one OF the most evanescent There IS great
quiz between ancient and modern Rome bu'