ace of a beloved commander.

And now the singular strength of the Republic and the perfection of the
machine of government was evidenced, as, without a moment of indecision,
the officers proceeded to discharge the duty allotted to the hour,
according to the forms prescribed in those endless volumes of the "Libri
Ceremoniali," which provided for every function of life or death of the
punctilious Venetian court.

No leader, however loved and revered, was individually great, but only
as he contributed to the greatness of Venice--the one deathless entity;
her noblest were content to give of their greatness and be themselves
nameless; and against the less great, for whom self-effacement was
impossible--men strong in gifts and eager for power--the jealous
Republic had provided a system of efficient checks, based upon an astute
understanding of the fears and claims of self-interest. Venice knew no
hiatus in rule; all were leaders to point the way of that inviolable
constitution when the supreme voice was temporarily silent, for it was
the voice of an impersonal prince, and not of the man--who had
absolutely put off individuality when he assumed the insignia of
royalty.

In this hour of adversity the men of Venice rose to their greatest,
forgetting their rivalries and standing breast to breast in phalanx
around their vacant throne, that Venice might meet trouble with
increased strength when the eyes of the world were curiously turned upon
her.

Inexorably, though no voice had been raised against Grimani, they
appointed that commission of inquisitors to review every official act of
the last wearer of this crown which now lay idly waiting on the golden
cushion; as sternly elected, those five "correctors" of the coronation
oath so soon to be administered to a new wearer of the ermine, and
without pause for praise or strife, proceeded to the cumbersome choice
of the ducal electors whose word should suffice to create a new Venetian
prince.

Meanwhile, against the barred doors of the Council Chambers, where those
grave Signori were balloting and re-balloting with exemplary patience
for the golden balls, the nuncio knocked again, breathless with his
latest message sent in haste from the Holy See: "_The election of a new
prince would be void, being made by a people under censure_."

But the law of Venice was ready with its decorous shield, and the
message could not pass beyond. The punctilious Signoria might give no
audience in