The Arkansas banner., 1843-10-14

Stockholm.-The situation of Stockholm is the most picturesque that can be imagined. Built, as it's name imports, upon islands, {the termination holm signifying Island, and upon the narrow strip of land which divides the Malaren from the Baltic, 1t is a city of the waters-a second Venice-or, as 1t is sometimes called, the Venice of the North; but with this difference, that the Venice of the Adriatic lies upon low flat Islands, while the Venice of the Baltic is built upon hills in the midst of the sea. Rocks of granite rise out of the water some of them as na- ked as at the creation, and the rest covered with trees, or crowned with buildings. The interior of the city does not altogether cor respond with the unrivalled beauty of its sit uation Though there are many public buildings, bridges, squares, and monuments, which are in the best taste; though their fine churches, noble quays, and the grandest of royal palaces, give to the city an air of mag nifcence, the private houses are, in general, of very ordinary appearance. In the central part of the town, as in the nucleus of all European cities, the streets are narrow, crooked and dirty; but in the other quarters, straight and broad. The royal palace is an immense quadrangular pile, of simple and ehaste architecture, in the centre of the city, and conspicuous from all quarters. Europe can boast of fewer edi6ces of any kind, whose architecture is so noble, and whose general aspect is so impressive. When seen from the water,p the effect of its massive white walls is very imposing, and the palaces, spires and towers q :,.o city, clustering around the vast old pile, form no inapt illustration of the constitution of the countryside monarch being the centre of the system, of whick4 the arabic part. The population of the town is about 80,000, including the persons of all de- scriptions in the employment of the govern ment, and the nobility drawn nither by the court. The people are we'll dressed, orderly, and civil, and more respectable population in appearance it would be difficult to find. From the port, the city looks like an amphi- theatre, rising before you from the quay, street above street; and whichever way you move in town or its environs, you have some new prospect to admire-a prospect of hill, valley, island and water; on one hand, |" the Salt sea, " as they call 1t, with its burden of shipping, and on the other, the lake, alive with steamers, boats, and water-crafts of all kinds Though the Baltic washes the quays of the city, it is only after having passed myriads of islands like those that gird the whole eastern coast; so that the open sea is eighty miles distant. Here, as at Venice, boats are in constant use, not like the gon- dola, but broad, open boats, rowed by wo- men, who wait at all the quays, and who seem to have the exclusive privilege of con- yeying passengers by water. l have often admired their quiet, modest department, sit ting in their boats, waiting for employment, and employing the intervals ill knitting, or some such woman's work. Nothing can be more agreeable than row about the waters Of Stockholm. l have dreamed away many an hour, floating among the islands, amid the most pleasing scenery, natural and artificial, rapidly succeeding each other, and exhlara- ted by the clear, elastic atmosphere of north ern summer. Conceive the beauty of bright, sunny day, in the Malaren, the sky without a cloud, or moonlight scene, the light falling softly on the masses of foliage, and the in- tervening waters, all so still as to seem to sleep,
 Crossing the bridge near the palace day or two after my arrival, met an open car .riage and four, with postillions and outriders: : fat old lady occupied the back seat, and, as the carriage passed, all the people turned so as to face it, and stopped; the women curt sled, and the men took off their hats, and bowed. Such, it seems, is the etiquette to be observed towards any of the royal family, and this was the Queen, the wife of Berna- dotte, once Mademoiselle Clery, the mer- chants daughter of Marseilles.
 The King, her husband, was at the time indisposed, and did notg go out In his busy and eventful life, he has seen hard service enough to bend man of fewer years but years alone are sufficient to bow him down, at the age of seventy-fve. Of all the French commanders of the Republic and the Empire, he has been the most permanently fortunate ]; he still retains the highest place to which his fortunes ever lifted him; and he alone, of all that numerous and giant progeny to ] which the French revolution-proli6c moth- er-gave birth, is still in the possession of sovereign power.