New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1844-03-30

and perform the very finest GEM ot lta!ian anu
> German music with the most perfect execution
1t is thus that the Austrian government survives ~
"takc the captive soul and lap it IN hiysium;
and if the Venetians can be thus sootheo' II Is no
; wonder that stranger is entirely fascinated ny
the UNIQUE mixture of actual enioyments and TO
mantle beauties concentrated in this Piazza d1
San Marco whose mysterious charm attracted
me to it every day of my stay IN Venice and to
which find my memory return otcner than 10
any other spot of my rambes.
The next day we returned to view more IN de-
tail the many interesting objects clustered about
the Piazza. 1t was still most picturesque but
the light Of day showed what had been unnotlced
in the night-a row Of Austrian cannon pointing
upon the square, ready to sweep from 1t the peo-
pie, if their assemblages should offend their Aus
TRAN masters. Worse yet-the odious Austrian
colors-the black and yellow stripcs-were pant
ed upon the very columns of the palace of the
Doges, as if they wished to add insult 10 injury
When their tyranny makes the ?lood .! stran-
ger boil, can the Vcnetans themselves be IN
moved But chained ha1d and f'o' by their
! 49,
Austrian system OF espionage, throughout the
Lombardo. Venetian kingdom, brother IS afraid OF
brother Walls have ears, and ma I-bags have
eyes. A regular department OF tue Post Office IS
that for opening letters, and in 1t are readers
Of every nation, each for his own language. If
this letter were mailed in Venice, il would never
reach New York, and might be invited to leave
the Kingdom within four and twenty hours, as
happened at Milan to an English friend, who was
SO indiscreet as to say what he thought ol the
Austrian Government. That was fair CROUCH,
for when stranger voluntarily enters country
of slaves, he tacitly consents TO be dumb as they
are forced to be; but when country IS enslaved
by brute force as has been the fate of Venice, the
inhabitants may well chalc TO have the bride put
in their mouths as well as The burden on their
backs and feeling their present impotence, and
remembering their former power, well may they
exclaim with the great poet who was so long
their fellow citizen,
g Oh for hour of blind old Dandoo!
Tn octogenaIaG Chief, ByzaAtiuns conquerins fee"
But it is in vain to invoke the memories Of the
past let US rather mount the Campanile, and see
what Venice is at present. There are no steps,
but the ascent is by an inclined plane, running
round the four sides of the tower, like the thread
of square screw. The summit commands a
magnificent view of Venice and It's surrounding
islands, You here see that the city lies in the
centre of lagoon, which is divided from the sea
by the Lido and other islands, precisely as a
closet is shut off by partition from large room.
A. oc ~; ~, c1o no
fugitiyes from Attila founded their infant city,
which subsequently occupied not only the islands,
but the intermediate shadows, leaving only the
channels as water. streets, SO that the canals, IN
stead of being excavations, are only depths left
untitled. Between the two principal islands
chose of the Rialto and of San Marco winds the
Grand Canal, very much in the shape Of the let
ter S., and smaller ones intersect the ctyln every
direction. Every spot is covered with houses, but
in one corner you see a few trees, those of the
Giardino Publco, and their singuary solitary
look first reminds you how rare such things are
in Venice The domes of the many fine churches,
and their believers, are the most conspicuous
objects, both in the city and in the ncghboring
islands, but the most remarkable Of them is San
Marco at your feet with its five cupolas, its
masoue-like minarets, and oriental architecture,
as if it had been bodily transported hither from
Constantinope.
Descending from the Campanilc, you find your
self before the Church, whose mystic splendor is
unparalleled in Christendom. It's front is ncrust-
ed, as it were, with five hundred columns of pre-
cious marbles of every color, black, white, blue,
red, purple, and gold veined; Of every shape,
round, square, polygonal; futed and twisted; and
some with Syrian insert IONS. These are all tro-
phies of Venetian conquest, brought by the vic
tors from the East, and consecratcd by them to
San Marco, the patron saint of the city Scarce
w any two are alike all have their histories; and
those thanking the principal r,rtal are said to
have been brought from the l. APPLE Of Jerusalem
itself Over the doors arc ossal mosaic pic
lures of various sacred Subjects and their colors
are as brilliant as VIXEN they were first exc
cuted. Upon the principal portal stand the ia
NOUS bronze horses which have seen the rise and
fall Of so many mighty empires At first they
were emblems of the power OF the Grecian Isle
of Chios; there they were harnessed to chariot,
which Surnounted the ir'lIaphal arch OF Nero;
Theodosius transferred then from Rome to Con-
stantipope; and the Venetian conqueror of By
zantium brought them lhcnce in 1904 to the
island city, where they long represented her en-
pre, SO that the enemies Of Venice could find no
more expressive threat than that of bridling
these wild horses.' For six centuries they stood
in their present position, b:t when Napoleon over
threw Venice he carrie; Oft The horses to Paris.