n the region of
Justice all cases of treason and coining, and certain cases of outrage
on public morals, came before the Ten; and it was always open to the
College to remove a case from the ordinary courts to the Ten, when State
reasons rendered it expedient to do so. In the Police department the
Esecutori contro la Bestemmia, and in Finance the Camerlenghi, were
officers of that Council. In the War Office the artillery was under
their control; and in the arsenal certain galleys, marked C.X., were
always at their disposal.

These five great members of the State, four regular and one irregular,
formed the political and legislative departments of the Venetian
Government. It would require too many details to give a similar account
of the Judicial, Educational, and Religious machinery.

One of the most remarkable features in the Venetian constitution is the
infinite subdivision of government, and the number of offices to be
filled. Nobles alone were eligible for the majority of these offices,
and if we consider how small a body the Great Council really was, it is
clear that the larger number of Venetian noblemen must have been
employed in the service of the State at some time in their lives. The
great political and administrative activity which reigned inside the
comparatively small body that formed the ruling caste, as compared with
the absolute stagnation and quiet which marked the life of the ordinary
citizen, is one of the most noteworthy points in the history of Venice.
Every noble above the age of twenty-five was a member of the Maggior
Consiglio; every week that council had to fill up some office of State,
had some new candidate before it. The tenure of all offices, except the
Dukedom and the Procuratorship of St. Mark, was so brief, rarely
exceeding a year, or sixteen months, that the fret and activity of
elections must have been nearly incessant. This constant unrest bore its
fruit in perpetual intrigues, and the censors were appointed to check
the rampant canvassing and bribery. But the main point which is
impressed upon us is the universality of political training to which all
the nobles of Venice were subjected. No matter how frivolous a young
patrician might be, he would be obliged to sit in the Great Council; he
would be called upon to assist in electing the Ten, whose omniscience
and severity he had every reason to dread; he might even find himself
named to fill some minor post. It was impossible, under thes