defeated in several attempts to throw off her yoke, and loaded with
heavier servitude after the fall of the short-lived Republic of 1849,--
Venice has always hated her masters with an exasperation deepened by each
remove from the hope of independence, and she now detests them with a
rancor which no concession short of absolute relinquishment of dominion
would appease.

Instead, therefore, of finding that public gayety and private hospitality
in Venice for which the city was once famous, the stranger finds himself
planted between two hostile camps, with merely the choice of sides open to
him. Neutrality is solitude and friendship with neither party; society is
exclusive association with the Austrians or with the Italians. The latter
do not spare one of their own number if he consorts with their masters,
and though a foreigner might expect greater allowance, it is seldom shown
to him. To be seen in the company of officers is enmity to Venetian
freedom, and in the case of Italians it is treason to country and to race.
Of course, in a city where there is a large garrison and a great many
officers who have nothing else to do, there is inevitably some
international love-making, although the Austrian officers are rigidly
excluded from association with the citizens. But the Italian who marries
an Austrian severs the dearest ties that bind her to life, and remains an
exile in the heart of her country. Her friends mercilessly cast her off,
as they cast off every body who associates with the dominant race. In rare
cases I have known Italians to receive foreigners who had Austrian
friends, but this with the explicit understanding that there was to be no
sign of recognition if they met them in the company of these detested
acquaintance.

There are all degrees of intensity in Venetian hatred, and after hearing
certain persons pour out the gall of bitterness upon the Austrians, you