were many foreign merchants settled in Venice, for from the first the
republic had encouraged strangers to take up their residence there, and
had granted them several privileges and advantages.

Between Venice and England there had always been good feeling. Although
jealous of foreigners, England had granted the Venetians liberty to
trade in London, Southampton, and some other towns as far back as the
year 1304; and their relations had always been cordial, as there were
no grounds for jealousy or rivalry between the two peoples; whereas the
interference of France, Germany, Austria, and Hungary in the affairs of
Italy, had frequently caused uneasiness to Venice, and had on several
occasions embroiled her with one or other of the three last named
powers. France had as yet taken a very minor part in the continual wars
which were waged between the rival cities of Italy, and during the
Crusades there had been a close alliance between her and Venice, the
troops of the two nations fighting together at the siege of
Constantinople, and causing the temporary overthrow of the Greek Empire
of the East.

The rise of Venice had been rapid, and she owed her advancement to a
combination of circumstances. In the first place, her insular position
rendered her almost impervious to attack, and she had therefore no
occasion to keep on foot any army, and was able to throw all her
strength on to the sea, where Genoa was her only formidable rival. In
the second place, her mercantile spirit, and her extensive trade with
the East, brought in a steady influx of wealth, and her gold enabled
her to purchase allies, to maintain lengthy struggles without
faltering, and to emerge unscathed from wars which exhausted the
resources, and crippled the powers, of her rivals.