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560 David Laven

Eugène Beauharnais, Napoleon’s stepson and viceroy of the Regno
d’Italia, he wrote his Histoire abrégée de la république de Venise .
67
Labaume was a not unsympathetic historian of Venice, and clearly
used his work to make occasional, far from oblique criticisms of
aggressive foreign policies and imperialist ambitions – Napoleon
was the obvious target. Labaume saw Venice as a nation in its own
right, albeit one that based its success on openness to immigration
and an outward-looking mentality. In common with all the histori-
ans I have mentioned, Labaume believed the twin threat of France
and Austria central to Venice’s undoing. He identified the loss of
Candia as pivotal to Venice’s decline, not because of the marginal-
isation of Venice as an eastern Mediterranean presence or loss of
trade, but because it led to a demilitarisation of Venetian policy and
society: «Dès-lors on licencia les troupes, et l’amour de la paix et du
commerce devint l’unique objet des vœux de la nation». This led to
Venice’s drift towards neutrality .
68
Defeat at the hands of the Turks encouraged doges not just to
retrench finances but also «à faire goûter au peuple les douceurs de
la paix», altering «le caractère de la nation» . Labaume almost im-
69
mediately contradicted this in recounting Morosini’s successful
campaigns, and the victories of Alessandro Molino who won
«l’amour de la Nation, en triomphant des Turcs, et sur terre et sur
mer» . But such victories were transitory. When in 1714 the Vene-
70
tian ambassador was imprisoned in Istanbul, the Venetians had no
choice but to appeal to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI to me-
diate for them: «Son long assoupissement ne lui présageait que dé-
faites: sans argent, sans soldats, elle ne savait comment soutenir
la guerre» . The loss of Morea and the wider legacy of Passarowitz
71
signalled a «paix humiliante»: Venice could no longer aspire to gran-
deur,«et mit en plein jour sa faiblesse et son impuissance» . Hence-
72
forth, the smallest Turkish attack was

[...] un sujet de crainte et de terreur; entouré d’ennemis puissans, qui tous
lui faisaient la loi, il était obligé de tout endurrer sans se plaindre. Les uns
violaient son territoire, d’autres luis ravissaient ses colonies; et cette an-
tique souveraineté du golfe, jadis si respectée, et à laquelle Venise semblait

67 E. Labaume, Histoire abrégée de la république de Venise, 2 vols, Le Normant, Paris,
1811.
68 E. Labaume, Histoire abrégée de la république de Venise cit., vol. ii, p. 405.
69 Ibidem, p. 406.
70 Ibidem, p. 415.
71 Ibidem, pp. 418-19.
72 Ibidem, p. 422.

Mediterranea – ricerche storiche – Anno XIX – Dicembre 2022
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)