United States or Marshall Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Her voice took on a higher key in her excitement, and the Admiral laid his hand lightly on her arm to quiet her. "Dear Dama Margherita," he said, "we have been in conference with His Excellency the Signor Mocenigo a very remarkable mind and the Provveditore Vettore Soranzo; and the vacancies in Her Majesty's Council have been filled with men, whom may Heaven keep more loyal!
The command was entrusted to Vettore Pisani, who was invested in the church of Saint Mark with the supreme command of the fleet by the doge himself, who handed to the admiral the great banner of Venice, with the words: "You are destined by God to defend with your valour this republic, and to retaliate upon those who have dared to insult her and to rob her of that security which she owes to the virtue of her ancestors.
The Venetian Admiral Mocenigo, god-father to the little prince, had followed close upon the coming of Vettore Soranzo, and they had lost no time in examining into the causes of the difficulties and in fixing the responsibility for the treachery where it belonged: disloyal officers were replaced by men in sympathy with the government, men of weight and character were sought for to fill the vacancies in the Council of the Realm, and it seemed that days of sunshine were dawning for Caterina, guarded by the affection of her people and the invincible arm of Venice.
"I saw our Consul yesterday, who seemed not overanxious from what I told him therefore I told him not all I trust he hath not been tampered with by this most wily 'Council to the Queen! but before the night had fallen, I sent a letter of warning to Mocenigo who, with his fleet, will be at anchor off the coast of Rhodes to pray that he will come, or will send our Provveditore Vettore Soranzo to await the need."
The air was still ringing with the loyal shouts of the multitude when Vettore Soranzo with that eagerly expected Venetian fleet, weighed anchor in the port of Famagosta and with his men streamed through the unresisting gates of the Fortress into the Piazza San Nicolò, where the young Queen still stood radiant.
It was not that they objected to the new captain general, who was a popular nobleman, but every man felt that something more than this was required, in such an emergency, and that the best man that Venice could produce should be at the helm. The sailors of the port were the first to move in the matter, and shouts for Vettore Pisani were heard in the streets.
Word Of The Day