Foreign Correspondence

Bkussels, June 6, 1873. We settled up all our just iudebtedness for bod, board, and purchases, and took tickets for Brussels on the 4th of June, having decided to omit London and instead take a trip through Belgiuin and Holland. Staiting from station du Nord, the ilnost in Paris and more resembling a magnificent palace externally than a railway station, we once more passed by the familiar Montmartre and in a few minutes through St. Denis, and finally lost sight of the great city and see only the smaller stations which accommodate the thickly settled rural districts which for mauy miles surround the capital, but smggesting familiar associations by their names. We passed Amiens but without stopping- as the station is remote from the city and the cathedral is about all of interest that is to be seen there. Arras is apparently a very pretty place and it has given its name to a kind of tapestry once uianufactured there andmuch prized. Valenciennes is also a name familiar to nost ladies who think it necessary to wear lace in order to be comfortable ; but though this fabric may be very beautif ui the place itself is said to be a dirty specimen of a city, with some 20,000 inhabitants, and not at all attractive unless on account of the brave old chronicler, Froissart, who was born there. We were now nearing the frontier and the oharacter of the country was beginning to indícate some of the peculiar industries of thepeople. The tall smoke stacks of manufactories began to be visible where linen ttleaching, &c, was carried on. At Quievrain, the first Belgian station, we were invited to take our hand pareéis into the douane, as the custom house is alled, for examination, and the perfect farce was gone through just as if there wai some huge joke about it. In the dozen or more times that we have been compelled to be thus disturbed when all snug and comfortable in our places we have seldom been required to open any of our pareéis or trunks, and if opened there was no real exainination ; yet this territorial f ight of search seems to be one that they do not yet feel inclined to give up. Mons is au active, thriving place of 25,000 inhabitants and claimsan origin from the time of Ceesar's campaigns against the Gauls. The numerous cars standing uoar the depot for the transportaron of coal sufiïciently evidenced the leading industry of the vicinity. The character of the country superficially became more interesting for lome diltance, being less flat; bef ore reaching Brussels.ho we ver, the wide tracts of level meadow lands spread out in all directions, and the chimney stacks of the linen bleaohers and manufactories became frequent, with here and there a windmill, whose huge arms revolve with a sort of 5ant strength and deliberatness indicati ve of their roal utility. We were glad to reach the capital of Belgium - the " Paris in miniature " as it has been called - after our ten hours ride, but we cannot say that we found it quite eual to onr expectations. It is a city numbering with its suburbsnearly 300,000 inhabitants, has some fine public edifices and palaces, s very excellent park oí limited extent.a few more monuments and some attractive streets, but on the whole there il no comparison between it and Paris in any important respect, though we feel it but justto add, that the Hotel de Ville is one of those noble buildings whioh deserves favorable mentionjkt all times, for it is one of the finest structures of the kind we have seen anywhere. lts facade is very remarkable for its sculptures and rioh decorations, and bears unmistakable evidence of the skill of those who managed its construction in the löthcentury. [ndeed the whole vast front of the edifice is a beautiful arrangement of arcade and balcony, of statues, canopies, pinnacles, mouldings, columns and tracery, - the whole surmounted by a graceful tower 564 feet in height, upon which stands the statue of the archangel Michael, in gilded bron ze. Indeed the Grand Place as it is oalled is surrounded with many grand and peculiar looking buildings, found no where in such perfection as in Belgium, Holland, and some parts of Germany, very high, with tall, pointedgables upon the square, sometimes reaching eight or ten stories in aggregate height. Among these are the Guild Hall of the Brewers, the hall of the Boatmen - the gable being made to resemble the stem of a vessel, the hall of the Archers, the hall of the Butchers, the hall of the Carpenters, and the old hall of Weights and Measures, each having significant devices. Besides these, are several others making the square the most interesting in the city, It was also here, in front of the so-called Halle du Pain, that Count Egmont Philip de Montmorency and twenty-three other nobles of the Netherlands were beheaded in 1568, by the direction of the notorious Duke of Alva, and upon the spot thus desecrated by this murderous barbarity a fine monument has been erected to their memory. The colossal figures of Counts Egmont and Hoorne stand upon a square pedestal of the Gothic style, and an inscription records the injustice of their execution. With the exception of some portion of the boulevards there is little attractiveness in the architecture of the city. It lacks the quaintness which is characteristic of many of the Dutch and Belgian cities, and has not succeeded in assuming the nobler styl of Pariaian edifices. We visited the Palace of Justice, once a Jewish Monastery, and being admitted into the Hall. of thé Court of Cassation had the pleasure of seeing two most remarkably meritorious modern pictures one the " Abdication of Charles V.," by Galloit, is a very finely executed work and contains several portrait figures of cotemporaries of the Emperor; the other, the "Compromiso of tho Nobles," by E. de Biefve, is also a historical composition and of nearly equal merit as to its eiecution, while in some respecta it presents a treatment some more satifaotory. The Museum, is also a most interesting collection of pictures by the older masters, though oontaining no work of groat celebrity. The paintings are almost entirely by the Germán and Dutch masters, most of whom are represented by their works of more or less merit. Though the charming genre pictures of this school are not well calculated to niake any particular work of world-wide fame, yet the general impression they leave is of the most agreeable kind. Oue of the most instructing monuments of Bussels is the Equestrian statue of the famous old crusader Godfrey de Bouillon, which represents him carrying aloft in his right hand the banner of the cross and forms a very exprossive group. It ia said to be erected upon the spot where, in 1097, he made one of his stirring appeals to induce theinhabitants to share in the glories of the anticipated conquest. The most conspicuous and largest of the public monumonts is the Column of Congress, erected to commeuiorate the separation of Belgium f rom Holland, in 1830-31. It is a Dorio column, 175 feet in height, bearing the statue of the king in bronze, by Gufs, the most famous 'of Belgian Artists in this department. Ainong the numerous emblematic figures which stand about the pedestal, those upon its four corners represent the Liberty of the Press, Liberty of Education, Liberty of Public Worship, und Liberty of Association. It occupies the brow of a hill overlooking the older portion of the city and is a fine work by several of the best native artists. The city is very well ornamented by numerous statues located upon the public squares and sculptures in the vicinity of the park and the palaces ; but the fame of one singular production of art led us into a street several blocks in rear of the Hotel de Ville. It is called from its small size the Mannikin, and upon all gala days is duly dressed in costume and plays a prominent part. In short, it is said that a regular valet is appointed for this favorite of the common class at a salary of 200 pounds per annura, and that its waidrobe is quite extensiye and carefully preserved for use upon great occasions. When we reaehed the quiet corner in which it stands we found it to be a very pretty small fountain figure about 2 1-2 feet in height, which would pass without exception as a mere work of Art, but as arranged for spouting water, is simply indelicate. We did not find the shops of Brussels to vie at all with those of Paris. Not even the " Passage of St. Hubert," which is G50 feet long, 55 wide, and 60 high, can compare with whole miles far more attractive in the French capital. The Gaïïery at Milan is a much more grand and impressive as well as inviting resort for trafh'c. Of course we could not be in " Belgiuni's capitol," where the " beauty and her chivalry were gathered " in June 1815, without a desire to visit the world fained battle field of Waterloo. We devoted a day to the trip and enjoyed it supremely, Taking the cars to Groenendael and thence an omnibus to Mont St. Jean, about four miles over a road as straight as an arrow and through a delightful forest most of the dietanee, we were landed about 1 1 A. m., at the little straggling village, in sight of the.historic field of blood. We lost no time in wending our way out into the more immediate scène of the great conflict. The vast mound which has been thrown up artificially to a height of 200 feet, upon which standg the huge Belgian lion, 27 tons in weight, occupies the very spot where the Prince of Orange was wounded, and to mark which has occasioned a diminution of some of the eminences which are spoken of in acoounts of the battle : but in the main the whole región is as it was and not difficult to trace with the eye, owing to its peculiar conformation. A long and wide depression, with gentle slopes upward, allowed the hostile armies to occupy positions not two miles apart, in long and nearly parallel Unes, ready for the " tug of war." There, nearly in the bottom of this valley still lies Hougomont, with its battered encircling walls of brick and the old orchard. Farther along to the east is La Haye Saints, and upon the higher ground La Bellie Alliance, while the villages Geappen, Plauceemois, Frichemont, La Hoye, Papeloti, Sinoukau and others are seen more distantly in the several directions. The history of the battle has been written so oft and read so much that it is needless to sketch it here. There are but few monuments ereoted here : the Hanoverian, to those who feil from that Kingdorn, a plain short obelisk of granite with naines of officers, &c., inscribed ; a fine shaft of marble to Col. Gordon opposite, both quite near La Haye Saints ; the Belgian Lion referred to, and a few others farther from the field. Wide fields of grain were growing over the changed scène, and the smiles of peace seemed far more befitting the quiet beauty of the beautiful country around, than the carnage of war. Relie Boilers abound, but whether all thoy offer is genuine - quory ! But once moro good-bye. Ever yours,