At the thought of the manner in which they had been entrapped and outwitted—denuded, as it were, before the Roman Court of some semblance of their ancient privilege of appointing their own Patriarch—there was fresh indignation among these proud patricians. The secretary Marcantonio Giustiniani had been present at the audience granted by Clement to the Venetian Patriarch. \"He would know if it had been possible—even with the most favorable intentions toward Rome,\"—they were crowding round him and questioning with jealous eagerness,—\"even with the feeling which loyal sons should possess for their Mother Church—to interpret that rude cross-questioning of his Holiness, so unexpected and unexampled and contradicting his own explicit promise—otherwise than as an examination— an examination which prejudiced the ancient right of Venice ?\"
A scarcely perceptible smile flitted over the young secretary''''s handsome face—they were so venerable and eager, so careful of shadows of form!—and in a sudden side-light a hint of a question obtruded itself on his consciousness, as to whether there could be a slightly farcical aspect to such an episode between two most Catholic and Christian governments? He saw them both fired with feelings of very human strength, both dealing only with shadows of reality—the Sovereign Pontiff grasping at a semblance of power in insisting that this candidate, named by Venice to a see within her gift, to which he, the Pope, would dare present no other, was invested by his examination and approval; and the Republic, receiving back its own appointee, confirmed with the papal benediction, jealously aroused to unappeasable indignation by the empty form of questioning which had preceded this singular ceremony.
But the dignified company were pressing the young secretary for his answer, and one of them anxiously repeated the keynote, \" An examination which prejudiced the ancient right of Venice ?\"
\"Courtesy and wisdom would render any other opinion inadmissible,\" The elder Giustinian had detected the slight pause which preceded the last two words. \"Wherefore ''''in Venice''''?\" he questioned, with some heat. \"It is a question not of locality, but of justice and judgment.\"
\"It is a question of judgment,\" Marcantonio echoed suavely, \"upon which, it hath been told me, the Senate hath already passed a law that shall keep our Most Reverend Signor Vendramin from such a fate.\"
\"Ay, never again may our Patriarch leave the Republic for confirmation of the see which she alone may grant. The law is just,\" said the Senator Leonardo Donate.
\"In the days when his Holiness was but an Eminence, it hath been said, he gave our ambassador a chance to prove his temper?\" Morosini questioned of Donato, who had been ambassador in Rome while Paul V, who had but just ascended the throne, was still Cardinal Borghese.
\"It was in the matter of the Uscocks,\" Donato answered, after a moment''''s hesitation, seeing that some were waiting for the story. \"And it was the second time that half-civilized tribe hath provoked disputes between two most Christian nations. ''''If I were Pope,'''' said the cardinal, ''''I would excommunicate both Doge and Senate!''''\"
Fra Paolo scrutinized the faces of the listeners, and fixed his gaze searchingly on the speaker. There was an uneasy movement among the company, but Leonardo Donate did not flinch.
\"May they not know your answer, most noble Signor?\" Morosini urged. \"The words were few,\" said Leonardo, with dignity. \"'''' If I were Doge, I would trample your edict under foot .''''\"
There was a sudden hush, in which those who had not been listening became intensely conscious of the words just uttered by the aged and illustrious Cavalière Leonardo Donate, for there had been of late an abiding undercurrent of suppressed excitement ready to awake at any mention of Papal supremacy. The Republic had always jealously guarded against any transference of temporal power from prince to prelate, and many events which seemed linked in a chain that might lead to the most deplorable results had succeeded to the election of Camillo Borghese as Paul V; the desire evidently manifested by Clement during his latter days to encroach on the perquisites and possessions of the minor Italian States was crystallizing into a fixed purpose of ecclesiastical aggrandizement on the part of the new Pope.
\"He was brandishing Saint Peter''''s sword before he had been knighted,\" remarked the Signor Antonio Querini, who was deeply interested in all disputes between Church and State.
\"But not before he had received strenuous training,\" responded the grave, clear voice of the friar. \"For five years he hath held office as Auditor of the Apostolical Chamber, the style of which is written thus, ''''Universal Executor of censures and sentences recorded both in Rome and abroad'''' —a duty which he may be said to have discharged more faithfully than any of his predecessors, as one cannot recall in any previous fifty years as many thunderbolts and monitions as were launched during those five years of his office!\"
Some romance could but attach to the unswerving judicial attitude of a friar who had friends in high favor at the Court of Rome—who had known a Bellarmino and a Navarro, and yet pursued, unchanging, the calm tenor of his critical way. It was rumored that Sixtus V had been known to leave his coach to converse with him, and would have given him, at his mere request, a cardinal''''s hat; that Urban VII, as cardinal and pope, had been his devoted friend; that Cardinal Borromeo—the saintly San Carlo—had wished to attach him to his cathedral; and many were the instances reported when marks of special appreciation had been granted him from Rome, in lieu of denunciations which those jealous of his rapid advance had sought to bring upon him. Even the late Pope Clement had expressed admiration for his learning, while it was, nevertheless, well known that Fra Paolo''''s counsels to the Senate, in certain troubles arising out of Clement''''s attitude at Ferrara, had brought him the refusal of the bishoprics of Candia and Caorle; but, whatever the occasion, he was invariably discreet and fearless.
However pungent the tone, the words of this man could no more be attributed to personal bitterness than they might be influenced by personal interest; and although the opinion which they indicated was a surprise to some of the company, instinctively they felt the situation to be graver than they had feared, and the evening''''s talk drifted as wholly into the current of Church and State as if this ridotto were a commission appointed by the Ten to prepare resolutions upon the situation. And the list of grievances now reviewed, which had occupied the Senate during the closing years of Clement''''s reign, was, in truth, long. Vast differences of opinion concerning the Turks and the piratical tribes who infested the shores of Italy and the uses their villainy might be made to serve; troubles at Ferrara, teasing and undignified, temporarily brought to a close by the sending of the galleys of the Republic to prevent the seizure of their fishing-boats by agents of his Holiness; questions of boundaries and taxes; attempts to divert the trade of Venice, to arrest improvements redounding not only to the advantage of the Republic but to that of the neighboring country; to forbid, under pain of excommunication, all commerce with countries tainted with heresy. These were matters meet for discussion by temporal sovereigns touching the balance of power—so viewed and strenuously resisted by the clear-headed Venetians, with much deference of form, whenever practicable—as became loyal sons of the Church; but occasionally, when nothing might be expected from temporizing, with a quiet disregard which proved their consciousness of strength.
From time to time, as the informal summary progressed, there was an outburst of indignation.
\"Could an aggression be more palpable than that Index Expurgatorius demanded by Rome in 1596, when the ruling doctrine of exclusion involved no question of morality or irreligion, but solely concerned books upholding rights of consciences and rulers!\"
\"It was a contest honorable to Venice, and one which Italy will remember,\" responded a secretary of the Senate, who was a regular member of this ridotto. \"I am proud that it was my privilege to transcribe for the records of the Republic the papers relating to that Concordat which secured so great a measure of freedom for our press.\"
There had been a short truce between Rome and Venice since the accession of Paul V, who had been so immediately concerned with a certain prophecy foretelling the death of a Leo and a Paul that his fears were only set at rest by a further astrological announcement, judiciously arranged in the palace of his eminence the brother of the Pope, to the effect that \"the evil influences were now conquered.\" Whereupon Paul had undertaken in earnest the work which he conscientiously believed to be the highest duty of a sovereign pontiff, had recalled all nuncios not in full sympathy with his views of aggrandizement, and had replaced them with envoys whose notions of authority were echoes of his own; and, as an opening move, had made the demand, so resented by Venice, that the new Patriarch Vendramin should be sent to Rome for examination before he could be allowed to take possession of his prelacy.