‘To be sure,’ said Millbank. ‘We were governed in this country by the Venetian Constitution from the accession of the House of Hanover. But that yoke is past. And now I hope we are in a state of transition from the Italian Dogeship to the English Monarchy.’
‘King, Lords, and Commons, the Venetian Constitution!’ exclaimed Sir Joseph.
‘But they were phrases,’ said Coningsby, ‘not facts. The King was a Doge; the Cabinet the Council of Ten. Your Parliament, that you call Lords and Commons, was nothing more than the Great Council of Nobles.’
‘The resemblance was complete,’ said Millbank, ‘and no wonder, for it was not accidental; the Venetian Constitution was intentionally copied.’
‘We should have had the Venetian Republic in 1640,’ said Coningsby, ‘had it not been for the Puritans. Geneva beat Venice.’
‘I am sure these ideas are not very generally known,’ said Sir Joseph, bewildered.
‘Because you have had your history written by the Venetian party,’ said Coningsby, ‘and it has been their interest to conceal them.’
‘I will venture to say that there are very few men on our side in the House of Commons,’ said Sir Joseph, ‘who are aware that they were born under a Venetian Constitution.’
‘Let us go to the ladies,’ said Millbank, smiling.
Edith was reading a letter as they entered.