“There are letters from the French king intercepted,” said one, after time had permitted them to rally their thoughts;—­“it would appear they treat of the new intentions of the emperor.”

“Have they been restored to the ambassador? or are the originals to go before the senate?” demanded another.

“On that we must take counsel at our leisure.  I have naught else to communicate, except that the order given to intercept the messenger of the Holy See hath failed of its object.”

“Of this the secretaries advertised me.  We must look into the negligence of the agents, for there is good reason to believe much useful knowledge would have come from that seizure.”

“As the attempt is already known and much spoken of, care must be had to issue orders for the arrest of the robbers, else may the Republic fall into disrepute with its friends.  There are names on our list which might be readily marked for punishment, for that quarter of our patrimony is never in want of proscribed to conceal an accident of this nature.”

“Good heed will be had to this, since, as you say, the affair is weighty.  The government or the individual that is negligent of reputation, cannot expect long to retain the respect of its equals.”

“The ambition of the House of Hapsburgh robs me of my sleep!” exclaimed the other, throwing aside some papers, over which his eye had glanced in disgust.  “Holy St. Theodore! what a scourge to the race is the desire to augment territories and to extend an unjust rule, beyond the bounds of reason and nature!  Here have we, in Venice, been in undisputed possession of provinces that are adapted to our institutions, convenient to our wants, and agreeable to our desires, for ages; provinces that were gallantly won by our ancestors, and which cling to us as habits linger in our age:  and yet are they become objects of a covetous ambition to our neighbor, under a vain pretext of a policy that I fear is strengthened by our increasing weakness.  I sicken, Signori, of my esteem for men, as I dive deeper into their tempers and desires, and often wish myself a dog, as I study their propensities.  In his appetite for power, is not the Austrian the most rapacious of all the princes of the earth?”

“More so, think you, worthy Signore, than the Castilian?  You overlook the unsatiated desire of the Spanish king to extend his sway in Italy.”

“Hapsburgh or Bourbon; Turk or Englishman, they all seem actuated by the same fell appetite for dominion; and now that Venice hath no more to hope, than to preserve her present advantages, the least of all our enjoyments becomes a subject of covetous envy to our enemies.  There are passions to weary one of an interference with governments, and to send him to his cord of penitence and the cloisters!”

“I never listen to your observations, Signore, without quitting the chamber an edified man!  Truly, this desire in the strangers to trespass on our privileges, and it may be well said, privileges which have been gained by our treasures and our blood, becomes more manifest daily.  Should it not be checked, St. Mark will be stripped, in the end, of even a landing-place for a gondola on the main.”