This evidence of Pierre remained at the time concealed in the bosoms of
the Inquisitors to whom it had been delivered; and no official
declarations satisfied public curiosity as to the cause of the
sanguinary executions which deformed the Capital. A rumour indeed spread
itself abroad, and, although not traced to any certain authority, was
universally credited, that a great peril had been escaped; that Venice
had trembled on the very brink of destruction; and that the Spaniards
had meditated her ruin. Popular fury was accordingly directed against
the Marquis de Bedemar; and so fierce were the menaces of summary
vengeance that the ambassador was forced to protest his innocence before
the _Collegio_, more in the spirit of one deprecating punishment than
defying accusation. He then earnestly solicited protection against the
rabble surrounding his palace; for "God knows," affirmed his pale and
affrighted secretary more than once, "the danger of our residence is
great!" The Vice-doge, who during the interregnum between the death of
one chief magistrate and the election of another presided over the
_Collegio_, replied vaguely, coldly, and formally; and, the application
having been renewed without any more favourable result, Bedemar, justly
apprehensive for his safety, seized a pretext for withdrawing, till a
successor to his embassy was appointed.
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