CHAPTER XIX. GENERAL GRANT AT ROME HONORS FROM KING HUMRECEPTION AT FLORENCE ARRIVAL AT BERT HISTORY THE "GOLDEN BOOK - THE CITY OF THE DOGE AN INTERESTING THE FOUR ORDERS MICHELI STENO'S REVENGE- THE APOSTLES AND EVANGELISTS-MILAN, THE ITALIAN PARIS-A BEAU -THE CORSO THE CATHEDRAL THE TIFUL CITY · THE TEMPLE OF CREMATION - AN INTERESTING MUSEUM. Continuing his journey along the shores of the Mediterranean, General Grant visited the beautiful cities which dot the coast, beholding the beautiful works of art, and receiving honors from the high and the low. During his stay in Rome, King Humbert gave him a magnificent dinner, at which all the Italian Ministers were present. Speeches were made, toasts drank, and every one seemed determined that the General should enjoy himself. Florence was reached on the 16th of April. The party were received at the station by the municipal authorities, the American Consul, Mr. J. Schuyler Crosby, deputations of the Italian army, and the American residents. Here they remained several days, visiting places of interest and greatly enjoying themselves. During their stay they visited the art galleries of the Uffizi and Pitti palaces, and also attended the religious ceremonies of Holy Saturday. They reached Venice on the 22d, and were received at the station by the officials of that city, Mr. John Harris, United States Consul, and several American residents. The unlimited power wielded by a hereditary aristocracy, as that of the Republic of Venice, whose importance and splendor were due solely to the fortunate results of commerce and industry, is a novel and astonishing fact of the Middle Age. It is difficult, indeed, to explain why, in spite of prejudice, this mercantile and industrial aristocracy was considered by the feudal nobles and warriors of Europe as the most desirable and illustrious of them all. ST. PETER'S, ROME. SEATS 54,000 PEOPLE. The origin of this power, and of the éclat of the Republic of Venice, does not extend much further back than the twelfth century. It was at about that period that the nobility gained over the Venetian democracy the first and perhaps the most important of its victories. Padua, which had founded Venice, had at first put it under the authority of three consuls, who governed there about thirty years. About the year 453, when the fierce Attila, defeated by Meroveus, fell back and filled Italy with terror, numbers of the flying people flocked to the island of Rialto (il Rive Alto, the deep stream), which the Paduan Senate had proclaimed a place of asylum, together with the adjacent islands of those lagoons which comprised the possessions now constituting the city of Venice. Tribunes were at first sent to govern them, who, however, erected each separate islet into a petty sovereignty, and thus reigned until 697, when the people, disgusted with their little tyrannies, menaced their power, and the tribunes themselves confessed their governmental incapacity. Twelve of the principal ones consulted together, and having obtained the consent of the Pope and the Emperor, decided to change the form of the Executive, and confided it to one chief magistrate, who should be elected for life and bear the title of Doge, in the Venetian dialect meaning duke. Paolo Luca Anafesto was chosen in March, 697, as the first Doge of Venice. Although Venice was in substantiality at this time an independent city, it still acknowledged the sovereignty of Padua. The Doges were not tardy in elevating themselves into real kings with absolute power. They associated their relations with them in power, and designated their successors. But about the year 1172, a great change took place, being the victory of the nobility over the citizens, before referred to. The nobility, which formerly had participated in all the measures of the government in exactly the same degree as the lowest class of citizens, combined to abolish the mode of election of the reigning Doge, which had been that of universal suffrage. A Grand Council was established, and charged with the duty of choosing the Doge. This Council was composed of two hundred and forty citizens, taken indifferently from the nobility, the middle class, and the tradesmen. At the same time, in order to limit the ducal power, twelve tribunes were created, whose |