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VENICE 299 English, 92 Italian, and 3 Dutch), tonnage 275,236, and 2,205 sailing vessels, tonnage 190,158; the departures were 440 steamers, tonnage 276,966, and 2,232 sailing vessels, ton- nage 197,567. Venice was a free port for a considerable period prior to Jan. 1, 1874. The unfavorable results anticipated from the change have been in a great measure warded off by the general increase of prosperity owing to agricultural improvements in the interior, to the revival of old branches of industry, and to the greater transit and direct traffic with Egypt, India, China, and Japan, and other countries. In the early part of the 5th cen- tury the Roman territory of Venetia (see VE- NETIA) was inhabited by a peaceful, prosper- ous, and commercial people. Aquileia, its capital, was one of the most flourishing cities of Italy, and it contained others which almost rivalled the capital. In 452 Attila in- vaded the country, burned its towns, massa- cred many of the inhabitants, and utterly de- stroyed Aquileia, which was rebuilt at a later period. (See AQUILEIA.) The fugitives from the cities settled on the islands in the lagoons and the gulf of Venice, and, together with the few earlier settlers, supported themselves by fishing and the manufacture of salt. Though professing allegiance to the western empire, they were practically independent, and were governed at first by three consuls elected by themselyes. About 457 tribunes elected in the same manner were substituted for the consuls, a change more nominal than real, and the number of these was gradually increased to twelve. The islands, safe from outward at- tack, were frequently involved in quarrels with each other, until in 697 Cristoforo, patriarch of the island of Grado, proposed that in place of the twelve tribunes one common ruler should be elected for life with the title of duke (in the Venetian dialect doge), in whom all power should be vested. In March, 697, Paolo Luca Anafesto was chosen first doge. The families of the twelve deposed tribunes constituted a kind of aristocracy, and subsequently became such by law. The successive changes in the government of Venice, which ultimately de- generated into a terrible oligarchical rule, are noticed in the article DOGE. The seat of gov- ernment, after being repeatedly changed from one island to another, was permanently fixed in 810 on the island of Eialto, which became a celebrated centre of trade, and it was speed- ily connected with adjacent islands by wooden bridges. After the fall of the western empire Venice at different times acknowledged alle- giance to the Gothic kings, the* eastern em- pire, and the emperors of Germany, but vir- tually she was independent. In 829, according to tradition, the bones of the apostle St. Mark were transferred from Alexandria to Venice, and he became the patron saint of the repub- lic, which was often styled the "republic of St. Mark." The influx of pilgrims to the shrine of the saint added to the wealth of the city ; her commerce increased, and from this time until the beginning of the 16th century she continued to grow in population, wealth, and refinement. Previous to the first crusade in the latter part of the llth century she had, by conquest, by voluntary submission, or by cession from the eastern empire, acquired ter- ritory on the mainland of Italy and in Dalma- tia, Croatia, and Istria, on the opposite shores of the Adriatic, and had established com- mercial relations with the principal nations. Throughout a great part of the 'eastern empire her traders were exempted from all duties and imposts, and most of the carrying trade of the world was in her hands. In 1098 she sent a great fleet to the assistance of Godfrey of Bouillon ; but it contributed more to the ex- tension of her trade and the securing of com- mercial privileges in the East than to the res- cue of the holy sepulchre. She joined the Lombard league against the German emperor, and in 1177 gained a great victory in defence of Pope Alexander III. over the fleet headed by Otho, son of Frederick Barbarossa. In gratitude for this victory the pope gave the doge Ziani a ring and instituted the ceremony of " marrying the Adriatic." Frederick was forced to consent to a congress at Venice, at which peace was concluded. In 1202 the sol- diers of the fourth crusade assembled at Ven- ice. Unable to pay in money for their trans- portation to the East, they consented to assist the Venetians in suppressing an insurrection in Dalmatia, and then under the lead of the doge Enrico Dandolo stormed Constantinople, to avenge Venice for the deprivation of some of her commercial privileges. (See DANDOLO.) The fairest portion of the eastern empire, in- cluding parts of the Peloponnesus, Crete, Eu- boaa, and other islands, now fell under the sway of Venice, and she was the most splen- did city in Europe. The spoils and the trade of the East enriched the city, and especially the nobility, who erected magnificent palaces filled with the choicest works of art. In 1289 the inquisition was established, but it was always kept in subjection to the civil power. After some minor conflicts with Genoa, a seri- ous war broke out on the occupation of Con- stantinople by the Palseologi with Genoese aid (1261) ; and until near the end of the 14th century the two republics were often engaged in desperate struggles, and Venice was once brought to the verge of ruin. (See GENOA.) Among the internal convulsions dnring this period, the conspiracy and execution of the doge Marino Falieri in 1355 is chiefly remark- able. (See FALIERI.) But Venice soon re- covered from her losses, and on the death of the doge Tommaso Mocenigo in 1423 she had reached the climax of her prosperity. During the period of her struggles with Genoa, she had made herself mistress of Treviso and other territories on the Italian mainland, and after the peace of 1381 also of Vicenza, Verona, and Padua. Under Mocenigo's successor Frances-