The Republic of Ragusa: An Episode of the Turkish ConquestVillari, Luigi
History
The Republic of Ragusa: An Episode of the Turkish Conquest
Villari, Luigi
Dubrovnik (Croatia) -- History
enough for Brady, to whom the very name of Jacobin was anathema; he at
once took the Canalesi under his protection, and wrote to the Senate
demanding that their grievances should be redressed. The Canalesi
also sent a memorandum to the Emperor of Austria, complaining of the
increase of the taxes since 1750, of the kidnapping of boys to serve
on board Ragusan ships, and of girls to be used by the nobles for
illicit purposes, and imploring him to free them from Ragusa’s yoke
and take them under his protection. At the same time the Republic sent
two envoys to Vienna to explain the situation from the Ragusan point
of view, and to represent Brady as an accomplice of the Turks and the
schismatics and a protector of rebels; and also an envoy to the Divan,
to say that Austria was meditating an invasion of the Herzegovina.[537]
The Emperor ordered Brady to pacify the insurgents, but without using
force. When the Austrian Foreign Office heard of the mission to
Constantinople it was much incensed, but d’Ajala managed to hush the
matter up. The Senate then redressed the grievances of the Canalesi,
and succeeded in restoring order. But the leaders of the movement were
subsequently punished on various pretexts, and this led to further
trouble in future. The deficit was met by the suppression of the rich
monastery of Lacroma, and the seizure of its property.
These immediate troubles and dangers having been warded off, there
follows a period of five years (1800-1805) which is perhaps the most
prosperous in the whole history of the Republic. All the other States
of the Mediterranean, large or small, were involved in war; Ragusa
alone remained neutral, and therefore enjoyed almost a monopoly of the
carrying trade. Her ships were more numerous than they had ever been
before, and her income enormous. English privateers harried French
commerce, and French ones that of England; Venice was no longer of
any mercantile importance; the Turks plundered all Christian ships
except those of Ragusa. The Senate, with its traditional diplomacy,
kept on good terms with everybody, especially with the Turks. A few
frontier incidents with Austria occurred, but they were settled
amicably. In 1804 Timoni was appointed Austrian consul at Ragusa. His
instructions were to protect Austrian commercial interests, and to
assure the Senate that the Emperor intended to protect the Republic
and guarantee the integrity of its territory. When war broke out
between France and Austria in 1805 Ragusa refused to commit herself,
but Timoni informed his Government that the sympathies of the citizens
were with the French, and when the “bad news” (of Austerlitz) arrived
they did not conceal their satisfaction. Even in the Senate more than
half the members were Francophil. “It appears,” wrote Timoni, “that
this Government, of which the apathy, indolence, and venality are at
their height, will undergo the fate for which it is destined.... I
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