Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1855-09-25
vol. TII.--NO. A.
NiTI0AAL EAGLES

j Mr. Macintire, IN his curious and H.
teresting work entitled The Cross and
Crescent as Standards in War says
Eagles have been tortured iLto ex.raor-
| diuarv attitudes and the most extraVa-
CANT looking monsters, have been made
out of that bird But there appears to bo
in those animals, as represented on the
standard Of great nations. something sig
niGcant, and may be prophetical The
/ North American Eagle 5 strong, healthy
looking bird, flying at full stretch Of wing,
with the branch of tree in his right tai
on. and buudle of arrows ted up in his
left The European eagles are unnatural
| monsters. generally with two heads, or IN
strained attitudes, with outstreached
wings The bayonet wearing nations
| the Austrian. Russian, and Prusslan-
have the black eagle, holding the cross
crowned globe, the sceptre, aud the sword.
! Russia aud Austria have double-aeaded
| black eagles on yellow field. The stan
dards are so much alike as at the first
glance not TO be distinuished from each
other, bat there is, however, marked
difference between them The Russian
eagle holds his sceptre in his right talon,
and the globe in his left. The Austrian
eagle is reversed ed-namely, the globe IN
| its right talon, and sceptre and sword
are in its left The Austrian bird is In .
/ perilous position; the sword and sceptre
/ in the Left talon are held out at an eleya-
| tion Of forty five degrees and manifestly
| too heavy for the strength of the animal,
and those emblems of imperial and mill
tary power are pictorially falling from its
grasp We are describing accurately
heraldgic representation of Austrian pow
er. and it would be consolatory to suffer-
| ing humanity were the hierogllphical ex-
preston to be realised by the fact 7 The
| Russian standard he pronounces to be
mere banner of pretence The Russian
! standard of the doub.e-headed eagle he
says. is banner of pretence, aud this
is very important to be remembered IN
/ the present war between Russia and Tur-
| KEY 1t Is dyuastic and hereditary pol
lev of Russia to get Constautinople and
establish in that great city the seat of i'm
perial power The Russian double-head-
ed eagle was the armorial bearing of the
Greek Emperors, and was assumed by
John Vlsilovich li67, fourteen years at
ter the capture of Constantinople by tho
Turks on bis marriage with Sophia, the
heiress Of the Greek Emperors. Besides
the double headed eagle, the Russian BAN
ners are also inscribed with the figure Of
the Gross Saltier, so that in the present
conflict between the Russians and the
Turks the Cross and the Crescent are in
terrible ooliision.
The ancients had as high an opinion OF
the eagle as is entertained by the mod
erns. The standards Of the eagle says
Mr.. Macintyre, was first used by tho
= Ia haI1
on the top of long lance and on march
ing to the battle of Sardis, the orders Of
the army were to have their eyes fixed on
the ensign and the watchwords given for
that decisive engagement were these re-
markable words Jove, our Saviour and
leader although this is the first notice,
we believe, If the figure of the eagle being
used as a military standard, we know that
there is in that bird-in its form, in its
lofty and daring fight, and its habit, some
thing that powerfully affects the imagina-
ton and the eagle has been used in the
prophetic Scriptures as an emblem of tho
great military powers which from Assyria,
l}abalon, Persia and Egypt, were to ecn-
quer the Jewish nations and trample un-
der foot its shree colored banner, Of blue,
of purple and scarlet.
The military standard OF the eagle thus
becomes the symbol of the various people
of the vast plains watered by the Eu-
pirates, the Tigris and the Nile; and
those people acted prominent parts on the
great theatre of the aucient world Ev-
er since the age of the great Cyrus, the
eagle. as national Symbol, or as stand
a.rd in war, has been very generally used
In various countries of the world, down
to the present time. The most celebra.
ted Of the standards under that sign, was
the DICTIONARY eagle, and hence Agula,'
the name of the bird, was given to that
division Of the Roman army; but it was
not until the Republic was tottering to
its fall under the social wars which led
to the establishment of imperial power
under the Caesars that the eagle was first
consecrated by Marius, to be the sole
standard at the head OF every legion and
hence, it became the ensign of the Ro-
man empire. Previous to the adoption
Of the eagle, there had been four animals
represented on the Roman standard-the
minotaur. the horse, the wolf and tbs
Boston Tunes
IL Leigh Hunt says 'God made
both tears and laughter, and both for kind