“The second class was the bourgeoisie, the industrious part of the population, for it included the sea captains, men of great honesty, sailors, and agents in foreign countries. Their wives were not received by the nobility, and might only go to the parterre of the theatre; but at the promenade they shone by the elegance of their figures and their wealth. The men spent most of their lives at sea, and when they had accumulated a fortune they often retired to foreign lands, as they had no consideration at home.
“The peasants were serfs, and attached to the land and sold with it. But their master could not kill them, and if he ill-treated them they could go to another.
“In 1805 the nobles were usually estimable men, and among them were many littérateurs of great merit. The religious Orders, who had produced Banduri, Bosković, Zamagna, and other men of letters and science, kept alive the sacred fire.... The cittadinanza contained many rich families, and the merchants owned over 3000 ships, which carried nearly all the trade of the Mediterranean. The peasants did not complain of their lot, and, the men being much better than the laws, the State was flourishing.... The peasants were splendid fellows, but absolutely obedient to their masters. It was the ancient respect for a caste which, being unmilitary, was peaceful and debonair. There was no secret police, no gendarmes. In 1805 the first capital sentence in twenty-five years was pronounced; the city went into mourning, and an executioner had to be sent for from Turkey.... The Ragusan serfs are extremely brave. They are in perpetual war with the Montenegrins, who are savage and without honour. There was a constant blood-feud, and the book of blood was preserved by the Senate to remind the Ragusans of their duty. When a feud had gone on for a long time, and too many murders had been committed on both sides, a composition was agreed to for a small sum.”
In spite of its defects, which French writers, imbued with the ideas of the eighteenth-century philosophers and of the Revolution, would naturally tend to exaggerate,[501] the Republic of Ragusa very favourably impressed an Englishman, Thomas Watkins, who visited the town in 1879. “Of the Ragusans I cannot write too favourably, especially of the nobles and superior order of citizens, who, generally speaking, possess all the good qualities that virtuous example and refined education can bestow, without those vices which prevail in countries more open to foreign intercourse, and consequently more practised in deception. They have more learning and less ostentation than any people I know, more politeness to each other, and less envy. Their hospitality to strangers cannot possibly be exceeded; in short, their general character has in it so few defects that I do not hesitate to pronounce them (as far as my experience of other people will permit me) the wisest, best, and happiest of States.”[502] Later the author compares the condition of the Ragusans to those of the Dalmatian subjects of Venice, very unfavourably to the latter. “I discovered that the wretched Government of Venice had, by sending out their Barnabotti or famished nobility to prey upon the inhabitants, rendered ineffectual the benefits of nature. What a contrast between them and the citizens of Ragusa, who live protected and exempt from all taxes, while they can scarcely subsist upon the rich lands they inhabit, being harassed by every species of extortion that avarice can devise and power execute.”[503] The picture is somewhat idealised, and, as we have seen, even the Ragusans had taxes to complain of; but there is no doubt that they were far better off than the Dalmatian Venetians, or, indeed, than the citizens of most other States at that time.
During the protracted wars between England and France, and between England and America, Ragusan trade revived to an unexpected extent, and the prosperity of the inhabitants increased a hundredfold. In 1779 there were 162 ships flying St. Blaize’s banner, of 10 to 40 guns each, and 27 more lay at the wharves. The land trade also flourished, and the old routes became alive with caravans once more. By the year 1797 the fleet had increased to 363 ships of over 15 tons, valued at 16,000,000 piastres, bringing in an Income of 2,400,000 piastres to the owners, and a revenue of 152,000 piastres to the State. The coastwise trade employed 80 boats, worth 400,000 piastres. The tax on oil brought in 27,000 piastres; the exports by sea were valued at 420,000 piastres, the imports at 1,800,000 piastres; the exports by land at 1,500,000 piastres, the imports at 900,000 piastres. Agriculture was very flourishing. The population had again risen to 35,000, and their income increased every year by 700,000 florins.
The Republic maintained an ambassador at Vienna (Count d’Ajala), a Minister in Rome, political agents in Paris, Naples, and Constantinople, and consuls at Venice, Alexandria, and various other towns. At Ragusa there was a French and an Austrian consul; Naples and Russia were represented by Ragusan merchants.
CHAPTER XIII
ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358
After the departure of the last Venetian Count from Ragusa in 1358, although Hungarian political supremacy succeeded to that of Venice, the artistic and civilising influence of the Most Serene Republic survived, and its impress in the town is unmistakable to this day. The pointed arches in the Venetian Gothic style, the carved balconies, the two-light and three-light windows, the general character of the stonework and sculpture, in spite of certain distinctive features, bear witness to the strength of Venetian example. Venice was the nearest centre of civilisation to Ragusa, and the fountain-head of art. In spite of the jealousy and suspicion which the little Republic always felt towards its powerful neighbour, many Ragusan artists received their training in Venice, while many Venetians came to execute work on the public and private buildings of Ragusa. Venice was not, however, the only city which thus influenced Ragusa; other Italian towns, such as Ancona, Florence, Padua, and Naples, contributed towards her artistic development, in which even Hungary had some small share.