1232-01 A VENETIAN STORY. BY FENIMORE COOPER, AUTHOR OF THE PILOT, THE SPY, LIONEL LINCOLN, &c., &c. PARIS, BAUDRY'S FOREIGN LIBRARY, RUB DU COQ-SAINT-HONORÉ. SOLD ALSO BY THEOPHILE BARROIS, JUN., RUE RICHELIEU ; TRUCHY, BOULEVARD RUE NEUVE SAINT AUGUSTIN. 1831. PREFACE. Ir is to be regretted that the world does not discriminate more justly in its use of political terms. Governments are usually called either monarchies or republics. The former class embraces equally those institutions in which the sovereign is worshipped as a god, and those in which he performs the humble office of a mannekin. In the latter we find aristocracies and democracies blended in the same generic appellation. The consequence of a generalization so wide is an utter confusion on the subject of the polity of states. The author has endeavoured to give his countrymen, in this book, a picture of the social system of one of the soidisant republics of the other hemisphere. There has been no attempt to pourtray historical characters, only too fictitious in their graver dress, but simply to set forth the familiar operation of Venetian policy. For the justification of his likeness, after allowing for defects of execution, he refers to the well-known work of M. Daru. A history of the progress of political liberty, written purely in the interests of humanity, is still a desideratum in literature. In nations which have made a false commencement, it would be found that the citizen, or rather the subject, has |