Democratic Standard

BURIAL OF A KING.

There is a very graphic letter in the last New York Mirror, from the pen of our excellent writer, Theodore Fay, the American Secretary of Legation at Berlin, descriptive of the celebration of the obsequies of the late king of Prussia.—The view which the writer had, was fortunately obtained, probably by "court courtesy," from a lofty portico overlooking the immense square of the Lustgarten. We subjoin a few paragraphs from the letter.—Madisonian.

The edifice, in the magnificent portico on which I was standing, formed a portion of the spectacle still more striking. For brilliancy and beauty of architecture it equals almost anything I ever saw, and impresses one with a sense of grandeur that makes him imagine himself in ancient Rome. It is constructed for a picture and sculpture gallery, in which are preserved most of the valuable paintings owned by Prussia, and was founded and completed by him whose last earthly remains, on their way to the tomb, we were presently to see from its lofty steps and beneath its golden roof.

At about twelve the cortege began to issue from the gate of the Schloss, and was received with a becoming silence. First came a mass of clergymen, uncovered and moving slowly; then troops appearing and marching by with a solemn and perfect order, and apparently without end. Company after company, first of infantry, and then of cavalry, come on, till, from the height and distance where I stood, it seemed like a great river flowing forth, wave after wave, into the light, to the deep and thrilling tones of the music marching slowly before the church door, where all the clergymen waited uncovered. They were wheeled round as they advanced, and silently disposed in the square till it was entirely filled with these brilliant troops. I believe, from fifteen to twenty thousand defiled before the door, and were then drawn up in silent array to receive the body of their king, beneath whose just and beneficent sway by far the greatest portion of them were born, and to whose wise and virtuous love of peace and sensible indifference to the dear bought tinsel of military glory, the whole country owed its long and happy exemption from bloody and brutalizing war.

Among these troops were a Russian regiment, of which I think the Emperor is colonel, and another wearing the uniform of the guards of Frederick the Great.

At length, in a black and lofty hearse, drawn by eight black horses, covered to their hoofs with black cloth, and with a baldakin of black velvet held above by—I could not distinguish how many hands—closely followed by the king and queen, raised to their new dignity by a sorrow which I sincerely believe has at least for a time shown it of all its gay beams, the emperor and empress of Russia, the princes and princesses of the royal family, the Princess Liegnitz, (the wife of the deceased,) the hereditary grand duke of Russia, the grand duke of Mecklenberg, Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, and other relatives, all on foot; then by a long and dense crowd of individuals, royal and noble, of rank, literary and scientific celebrity, or attached in some way to the court, or government; then came all the domestics of his majesty's family. I believe, the thousands and thousands who witnessed the passing of this sad procession, and looked upon the car beneath whose sable covering and golden ornaments lay the venerable and excellent monarch whose brief military salutes every passer by had received daily, as he took his drive through the streets—I believe scarcely an individual of these multitudes looked upon the closing scene with other than sincere sorrow, for a better sovereign Death has scarcely taken in many a day.