he Romans, whom
they never abandoned.
-=-

[end of page #55]

than to any intrinsic strength of its own, did the eastern empire owe its
long preservation.

A new channel for this varying commerce of the East, was opened, as
civilization extended to the north of Europe, and this chiefly on
account of the very small supply that was obtained through the
Mahomedan countries.

Goods were transported by land from Hindostan and China, to
Esterhabad, situated on the south-east corner of the Caspian Sea; from
whence they were carried in vessels to the north-east corner of the
same sea, and from thence by the Wolga and the Don; two rivers
which rise in Russia, and, after nearly meeting together, fall into the
Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea. By ascending the Wolga a short
distance, and descending the Don, with only a few miles of land-
carriage, the produce of India arrived at the Black Sea, and
Constantinople became the emporium of the Indian trade. This was a
great stroke to Venice and Genoa, {51} which rivalled each other in
bringing the Asiatic commodities, for the supply of Europe, through
the old channels. This jealousy of each other, and of Constantinople,
was at its height when the crusades carried most of the princes and
nobles of Europe to Venice and Constantinople. The Venetians,
merely a mercantile people, with little territory or power, neither gave
nor received umbrage from those warlike chiefs; but it was not so with
Constantinople, the seat of a great empire; so that the crusaders and
Venetians united against that power, and the eastern emperors were
compelled to divide their city into four parts: the sovereignty of one
part fell to the lot of the Venetians, who, for more than half a century,
had by this means a decided superiority over both its rivals, and
engrossed nearly the whole commerce of the East. The Genoese and
Greek emperors now found

--
{51} In the chart which I have given, Venice and Genoa are put
together, as if one, though they were rivals, and the prosperity of the
one injured the other; but as nearly situated the same, and neither
being considered as a nation, but merely as an abode of commerce, I
did not think it necessary to distinguish them in the general history
more than the variations that take place between the different cities of
the same country. If, however, I should do the chart on a large scale, I
should certainly separate them, and shew their rises and falls minutely.
-=-