328 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA
been particularly bitter against the Orthodox Christians, while the letter from the Tsar is an early symptom of the interest taken by Russia in the welfare of Orthodox communities outside her own territory, an interest, then as now, essentially political rather than religious. In 1743 Pope Benedict XIV. wrote to the Senate encouraging them in their religious refusal to permit the building of Greek churches and to admit Greek priests into the town.
   But another revival in the city’s prosperity seemed to be at hand. Trade, which had been apparently in a hopeless condition, began to show signs of improving. In 1727 Ragusan ships once more extended their voyages beyond the limits of the Adriatic; in that year a vessel went to Smyrna for the first time for many years. The wars between England, France, and Spain in 1739-1750, and in 1755-1763, proved advantageous to Ragusan shipping, and much of the commerce of the Mediterranean passed into their hands as neutrals.
   Ragusa had her last dispute with Venice in 1754, when she complained to the Porte that the Venetians had illegally cut down forests on Ragusan territory, and levied exorbitant tolls on Ragusan vessels. The Pasha of Bosnia acted as mediator, and Venice agreed to renounce the dues, but Ragusa was to pay homage to the Most Serene Republic by presenting a silver ewer and twenty sequins every third year to the Capitano in Golfo, or Admiral of the Adriatic, as compensation for the rights of transit paid to Venice by Ragusa “ da tempi immemorabili fino al presente anno.”
   During the Seven Years’ War Ragusa had a diplo-