The Express.
London, England, 1851-06-04 00:00:00

gentlemen and ladies, most of them in tall cos-
tume. Almost immediately after the arrival of the King,
the prime minister, M. Manteulfel advanced towards his
Majesty, and after an address, asked for permission
to unveil the statue. The permission being given,
certain strings were cut, the covering fell, and re-
vealed about the must splendid work of art that
ever the summon eye or the eye of a connoisseur rested
on with delight. At this moment all the belle of the city
rang out at the same time, the military and some of the I
'spectators in the immediate vicinity of the King hurrahed,
and a salute of 101 guns was fired. The ceremony—the
great national solemnity—was now over. The King took
up his station in the Place de PUniveniite, and the troops
defiled before him, whilst the spectators were all going
quietly to their respective homes.
1 am afraid my description of this great national seams-
nity is a dull one; but it eon hardly be so dull as was the
scene itself. The statute is about 40 feet high, ra-
ther of a pyramidal form; is divided, one may
say, into two stun •' having two bases. At the
pinnacle is the colossal equestrian statue of Frederick,
which, though emoted with astonishing force and
life, is by no means the most attractive part of this
marvellous monument. Round the lower base, at its four
corners, are four other equestrian statues, of the Prince of
Peewee, the Duke of Brunswick, and Generals Siedlitz
and Ziethen, three of whom were the most illustrious cap-
tain. of the great king, though Duniouries afterwards
plucked his laurels from the Dime of Brunswick. Between
the four corner statues are, in the most animated haut-relief,
other figures, on oneof the broadsides, Winterfeldt,Dieskau,
Prince klugene of Waetemburg, and Temenzien ; and on
the opposite side Leopold Max von Dessau, %Veda War-
temberg von Got: and Geiger. Oa the front basement
are the figures of Generale Lestwits, Prittwits. Vun Bal-
een Marshall Keith, and the Hargrave of Brandenburg.
The hinder slab is devoted to literary men and artists, and
there we see Kant, Lefoiag, Count Carmer, Fink Wile-
brendurf, and Gratin. Every figure is a striking likeness,
and all the d,fferent groups come out so vividly and boldly
that one can hardly—at a first inspection at least
draw outs attention from these beauties of detail to con-
template the grand colossal figure at the summit. The
, whole monument, however, strikes one as the grandest
and richest, the mast costly in art, the most lavishly OCCO-
' rated, the most massively splendid ever seen. 'fliers are
four wooden pillars erected temporarily behind it, on which
are four colossal images of the ancestors of the great
Frederick. These have been erected, or stuck up, only to
try their effect; and their effect is very bad ; they make
glory too cheap; they degrade it. Besides, they disturb
the attention of the eye ; they break the light in an ugly
way, and sometimes are even obtrusively in the way of a
full and fair view of the magnificent work, which, from
their superior height, they seem to look down upon.
The first stone of the equestrian statue was laid in the
last year of the reign of the late King. It has been in the
hands of the sculptor, H. Rauch, who has inimortalieed
himself by its execution, fur eleven yews.