The Arkansas banner., 1850-05-21
From the Louisville Jonrnal. FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.
DRESDEN, ls4o.

interests for travellers almost entirely to it's numer- ous curious collections. There is beauty iu the city; the houses, not being flat roOfed in Berlin, expose to view the smoky tiles that cover them, which, added to their diDgy fronts, sadly in want of paint or whi ewash, give general 'sesdy,' de- cayed appearance to the whole city. And although the streets and sidewalks somewhat superior bo | those of Bsrlin, still a universal gloom peFvades them all, little in accordance with presumed activity I of the capital of kingdom. which. although not aRe-fifth the size of Kentucky is neveTtheless kingdom.
 hhas two principal churches, the Catholic, which | is connected with the palace by covered passage thrown across a street, for the accommodations of the royal family, who attend tbat ehurch-and the Protestant church of Our Lady. It is passing strange that, after Luther's having found In the l Electors of Saxony his warmest friendv and sup porters, that in less than hundred years after Fred
 erick was driven from his dominions by the result of the battle of the White Mountain, near Prague,
 in favor of the Catholic party Augustus the Second should have perjured his religion, and become a Catholic, as the Prce oi the crown of Poland, to which he was elected 1897. Thus have Kings and Princes ever made conscience subservient to inter
 est aud bartered 'crowns of glory" for earthly da
 dems of jewels and gold. Actuated by hafy zeal
 for religion, they have in all ages attempted by bloody prosecutions to force their subjects into that road to Heaven which they uayersed. but were themselves always ready to turn of into the first by-way which leads to worldly advancement.
 The church is most gorgeousiy decorated by stat
 ues aud carving, but in its interior presents noth
 ing remark able. The Protestant church has a most elegant dotne of stone, from which the cannon balls | of Frederick the Great, when he bombarded Dres-
 den uthe seven years war. rebounded like gum
 elastic balls thrown in sport against brick wall.
 It was a royal game of "fves' that pitched cannon | balls against such dome for alley.
 | The palace is big, dizzy looking building, en- tirely destitute of ornament, and much resembling | a Lowell cotton mill ia bad state of repair. It's
 suit of apartments as large and comfortess as
 those of any other palace. but the gliding is tar-
 nished, the hangngs faded, and in ali these huge,
 unmeanng halls wear general appearance of deso-
 laton. In weary trudging through them, could
 but think how unintentionally enbematic they | were of the general dlapidaten of royalty in Eu ! rope about the present time. They are all Kings
 and Emperors still. but how shorn of their preroga-
 tives-how impoverished in means-how humbled
 before the kinded spirit of freedom.
 | The large opera house is heap of ruins, having 1 been burned by the people during the late revolu- ton in May, when Prussia had to send assistance
 to his petty Majesty of Saxony theatre, with a somewhat strange ssmi-eircular front, but with
 nothing remarkable in the interior, is the only place
 of amusement of the kind in the city, and
 here saw the other night Don Juan, in an opera
 Of that name. taken nal possession of by the devil, as he richly deserved.
 Tho .'armory" is contained In one side of rather a picturesque old building, with large open court in the centre. in which stands equestrian statue I of Augustus H. surnamed the strong, who is very great man among the Saxon electors. as he had the | good fortune to be selected the King of Poland. The other three sides of the building in ruins, also being the result of the late revolution. The | first room of this museum of ancient aHnor con tains erms especially Co excel; these lofty, fig ured glass jars, called drinking cups, from which | one might readily imagine how naturally and how l he 0l itxt sad and 1 barrel like persons. Next came a room whose hal Is
 were decorated with the various implements of the | chase, that mimic warfare in whose wild dangers
 the hardest spirits find excitement and health
 ful exercise, consisting of boar-s spears, hunting.
 knives, horns, crossbows, dog collars, hunting
 pouches, richly embroidered, all of the most gro
 tesque forms. and the whole psraphernalia of the l stag and boar hunts. Here to be seen the hun
 ting knife and horn of Henry ", of France, the l crossbows of the EIector Maurice and John Frede- l rick. In the gallery of the tournament are long
 line of figures of the electors, clothed in suits of
 armor actually wosn by tine originals in parades and
 tournaments Along the walls is arranged an i'm.
 mense collection of old swords of the sixteenth cen l tury, and among them are to be the enormous
 two-haDded swords seven or eight feet long, which
 are so heavy that they with great difficulty l handled. These unwiedly weapons mignt have
 been exceedingly useful for carving the enemies of the Saxons tn the old times, when snews. not brains
 distinguished tie And if nsne of them was
 now properly rgged with little steam engine, il
 would do some service as pateut chopper of saus- | age-meat, but what other useful purpose 1t could
 be put to in these modern days of degeneration, ex- cepi being looked at, am al a loss to discover. The collection Of armor. shields, and lances, Is | perhaps more complete, including the two kinds, one for battle and the other for the tournaments, than that in the tower of London. But then those historical associations, which render the different suits there so deeply interesting are nearly ato- gether wanting in the arms of the burly electors l Some of tho suits Of armor for tournaments are | magnificent in the extreme. but then the eircum- | ference of the Totand persons whom they were n- tended to fit destroy in them all elegance and grace | of proportion. Two suits l observed especially one of brightly burnished steel for man and horse was covered with gded reliefs, representing most elaboratey the labors of Hercules the golden heece and Theseus aud Ariadne, all eyincing the genias ! of a masterly artist in designing, and the highest skill of the armorer in the execution; and another of copper, richly gilt, having reiiefs in steel of other myihologica subjects, which made for Christian IT, in 1899. Near the end of the room | are two ponderous black suits. used in the duel | These clumsy contriyances. which weigh nearly two hundred and fifty pounds, completely fet- tered the wearer as to make it impossible for hin to turn his head The lance more nearly reseInbied | tho long pole used on hay wagon. with sharp spike in tho end, than anything else can compare iI 10, and was SO heavy to require sort of hook | to support it. And knights thus encased, unable 1 to move or wieid their weapons, were placed on their horses 10 tilt against each other n the bloody trial by combat. The lances used n the ordinary tournament arc made of large poles, but deeply grooved and scalioped as to make them very light they gradually taper toward the end, which Is armed with small iron spikes for taking hold of the and unhersing the opponent.
 | The arms and harness used in battle were much stronger and much less ornameased- Near the end of the line sf armed figures ia .ais room is rsyed in the browa suit of armor belonging to the great hero of the thirty years war; Gustavas Adol
 phus which he eft a Weissenfcls before the battle of Lutzen, where he rashly exposed himself in the hottest part of the fight in suit of buff leather and lost his life perhaps in consequence of this want of armor. Here. too, is to be the scale os the heroic John Sohleski. King of Poiond, worn when hs compelled the Turks raise the siege of Vienna in i6s3. 'Tis a melancholy commsn sntAry upon the gratitude of human nature 10 remember the active participation of Austria in the disnem- bermeat of Poland not hundred years aitsrward. Alter owing her very existence to the dsintsres,ed