The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-20 00:00:00

RUSSIAN CORONATION FITES.

Moscow, Sept. 11.—The sight presented at the
the tre this evening was, perhaps, the finest as a
spectacle of the many which the Coronation has
yet offered to us. It had nothing of the stiffness
of a procession or that ultra-artificial look of which
such formal proceedings cannot be divested, and
which is indeed their very essence j but it ‘4,36 at
the same time, a great State ceremony, and there
was quite enough of gold and glitter to satisfy the
eye, and of form and dignity to convey to the mind
an impression of solemnity. The Emperor went
in state to the Opera, and all the foreign Ambas-
sadors Extraordinary, the Ministers and strangers
of distinction, the officers of the empire, the mem-
bers of the Court, the Generals and Admirals,
were invited to attend on the occasion. It was
called the " Spectacle Gala." No theatre iu the
world could have afforded such a coup d'seil, for,
although it is not so deep as the Ficala, the Moscow
salle is broader across, and is said to be Mote spa-
cious ; it displays to perfection all the toilet and
uniforms of the audience, and there is no doubt
but that it would have :been difficult to equal in
variety, richness, and magnificence the very
distinguished and brilliant crowd who attended
this evening by order of the gala. The house
(which is decorated in the richest manner in
white and gold) contains six rows of boxes, or,
more properly speaking, their are six tiers of gal-
leries, open at the front, and without any bar-
riers to the line of seats, but at the back of
each gallery there is an inner row of boxes, into
which the occupants of the seats in front can retire,
if they wish. These boxes are draped with red or
crimson hangings, and the seats and cushions of
the house are of the same colour. There are no pil-
lars, columns, or caryatides to support the boxes,
and thus all the audience sit out, as it were, on
open benches, and can see and be seen all around,
except when they wish to retire into the inner circle
of covered boxes. It began to rain in the afternoon,
but the only effect that had was to make the lamps
used in illuminating the outside of the theatre and
the large square in which it is placed pale their fires
and cause great anxiety to their attendants. At 7
o'clock the whole of this square was filled with car-
riages, which the Cossacks and Gendarmerie bad
difficulty in reducing into order. The lights of
the illumination flashed through the drizzle on a
sea of tossing plumes, feathers, and waving crests,
through which the "eternal Cossack," just as much
at home here as on his old look-out from Canrobert's-
hill, rode like a dolphin. The pillars and the facade
of the house were covered with the ciphers and
honours of the Czar traced in characters of fire.
But it was, for the sternest disregarder of these
things, almost impossible not to give way to a thrill
of admiration and surprise on entering the body of
the house and taking the first look from the pit. A
Roman amphitheatre was probably a grander, but it
could not have been a more brilliant sight. A gorge-
ous and magnificent crowd filled the theatre, but the
arrangements were so good that there was neither
hustling, confusion, nor noise. There were no
ladies in the pit, so that the .effect of the many
splendid uniforms was homogeneous, but the front
rows of the first tier of boxes were occupied by the
mistresses of creation in full dress—such diamonds,
in coronets, circlets, earrings, necklaces, bracelets,
brooches—in all the forms that millinery and jewel-
lery could combine those precious stones they were
present—looking their best, and filling the house
with an atmosphere of flashes and sparks in the rays
of the waxlights. The grand ladies of the Russian
Court—the haughty old haute noblesse—were there,
rich with the treasures won, in ages past, by their
hard pated ancestors from Tartar, Turk, or Geor-
gian. Some of these ladies are very beautiful, but
if there could be any portion of womankind which,
as a rule, could be said not to be exquisite and of
resplendent charms, it might be safely affirmed
that they lived in Russia. The exceptions to
such a remark are very conspicuous. There is one
little head which always attracts any eyes that
may be near it—a baby mignon face, with the most
peachlike colour, enveloped in a wild riotous set-
ting of flaxen hair, which bursts from all control
of band or circlet, and rushes in a flood over the
shoulders. It is such a face as inspired the artists
who operated on old Dresden china, and it belongs
to a young Russian Princess, who has just burst
upon the Moscow world. Another lady near her is
Juno herself—a statelier and more perfect beauty
could not be seen. A little further on there is a
lovely young Moldave, married to a Russian
Prince, who has just been sent off to the Caucasus
—three months after the wedding. There are also
—. But the catalogue—not raisonne, I fear—
must cease here for the present, for the crowd in
the pit increases, and the Emperor may be expected
every moment. In the front rows of the pit are
placed the Generals and Admirals, Privy Council-
lors, Officers of State, Chamberlains, and person.
ages of the Court. Behind these are similar offi-
cers, mingled together with members of the foreign
missions, and the strangers who were invited to be
present. There were not half-a-dozen black coats
in this assemblage of distinguished people ; all the
rest were in full uniform. Lord Granville was
already in his box in the grand row on the left-
hand side of the Emperor's state box. M. de
Morny and the French Embassy were placed in the
box on the right of the Czar's. The other Minis-
ters and Ambassadors were provided with places in
the same row, and the attaches who had no room
above were accommodated with seats in the pit.
It was past 8 o'clock when the Emperor appeared,
and the instant ho was seen the whole of the house
rose as if thrilled by an electric flash, and cheered
most vehemently again and again. The Czar and
Czarina bowed, and every salutation was the signal
for a repetition of the enthusiastic uproar, through
which at last the strains of "God preserve the Czar"
forced their way, and the audience resumed their
places. On the left of the Czar was the Grand
Duke of Saxe-Weimar ; on the right the Empress,
and next to her the Grand Duchess Constantine
and Princess of Leuchtenberg. The Grand Duke
Constantine sat in a demi-box on the left of the
Emperor. As soon as the greeting and the National
Anthem ceased, the orchestra commenced the over-
ture to " l'Elisir d'Amore," and the opera, which
was admirably sung by Bosio, Lablache, and Cal-
zolari, was performed amid a dead silence. It was
followed by " La Vivandiere," in which Elrito
made her appearance.
The other day we went to visit the arsenal in the
Kremlin. It was a fete-day, and every public office
was closed ; but on the Commandant being told
that an English Major-General was with the party,
ho at once came out and accompanied us over the
place. Before the war this arsenal contained
400,009 stand of arms; it now has only 150,000, of
which nearly 100,0)0 are sabres and long swords.
There are many different kinds of firearms here, but
the most remarkable thing is the change which this
war has introduced into the Russian ideas of effi

ciency and manufacture. I recollect we were asto

nishe'd to find that many of the troops at the Alma
were armed with old flint firelocks altered for per-
cussion caps, and that the stocks were of the old an-
tiquated form, very small and narrow at the butt,
which is still preserved in the East. All these arms
to-day were full in the butt and stock and provided
with excellent percussion locks. About 10,000
stand were fitted with an improved sight near the
breech, and were adjusted to fire with precision
up to 600 metres a large conical ball with a hollow
base. About 20,000 stand, perhaps, were rayes,
and had a turn and a half of rifle twist in the barrel

and a Liege sight. Most of these weapons are
made at a town in Siberia, where they find the iron
is better than that at Tula. The riff rms, how-
ever, had originally been muskets, An 1. he barrel
did not look thick enough to bear the rifil g- Many
firelocks of this kind were used at Sebastopol

towards the end of the siege. A few thousand stand
of arms were of the old style—flint locks and small
stocks—others were horsemen's carbines, some sets
of which were long, heavy, and cumbersome. The
new musket weighs 14 livres, with 'bayonet at-
tached; but we saw a new pattern Li:. e rifle which
will weigh only 121 livres (40 Russil - ivres biling
equal to 361 b. avoirdupois). There , also sttb;es
ili
here for nearly 100,000 cavalry, and t. of them
are superior to the weapons we found in rimea.
IF
The swords for the Dragoons and he vairy,
which are exceedingly long, seemed v -good in-
deed, and had
itgtmhahenoc2rdrde4edriisitnaparbTsing and were -better ba-
lanced than is usually the case with Russian arms.
The artillery swords and those of the Cossacks are
in leather or wooden sheaths, and are somewhat
curved and sharp—those of the heavy cavalry are
in steel scabbards, and are straight with sharp
points. The former have no guard to the hilt,
and there has been recently introduced the practice
of wearing them, as we would consider it, back
foremost—that is, with the convex side of the
sheath upwards, the buckles bung attached to it,
so that the concave side of the curve is towards
the ground. They also showed us rather a cum-
brous affair—a sword for the Dragoons,G sroemhaedrieeorusi:
merits of which are in verity still only
a-cheval. Attached to the sheath of the sword is
the bayonet, to be used in case the Dragoon dis•
mounts and uses his carbine as an infantry soldier.
ion of cuirasses for
cavalry There i sa al s
ec o. n s, irdheersaeb leef
tchoel 1 ec tGuard are of brass well
those of the Cuiras-
wlievirelsi e;.bout 16 livres. The
disbanded regimentsgT are carefully kept
sspitaeadrneddeaacrrl
o,d
sae ifoi df steel,w e
most creditable.
l.he.
.IEI evecrayrehtlaalcrei,i
every
fearyll
tilock,hearmsele
is sslwl
clean,iegilsh l y
and without
rust.th the bar-
rels The
Commandant said that every piece was cleaned
and greased three times a year. Hay-
ing thoroughlywalked
through longhalls and galleries filled 1,
with muskets, sabres, and cuirasses, we were glad I

- -
to descend to the ground lloor, where the artille
carriages, caissons, and harness for field guns a•
-kept. Of these there is a very small display
Moscow ; but all the carriages bore the date
1856, and were models of streng th and lightne
as well as of workmanship. The mode of elevatia
and depressing the gun seems more siirple than on a
own—it is by means of a triangle of ;vio°d,Place e
vertically on the carriage below the gun.,
the
apex of the triangle towards the muzzle, an
towards the trail ; this triangle is worked tory: ar
and
or backwards by means of a simple cog wile e 1,,%
handle, and as it moves forward the breech, it.'"i"o
rests on the upper leg of the triangle, is of court
baat
elevated, and when it recedes the breech is lowered'The most noteworthy thing, however, about o
carriages was, that the body on which the gun rem 0,
consists of plates of sheet iron, which form
a boll
ther
and light but -very strong support—whether
are good for service is another thing. Th'e creus;
sians seem to have a predilection for iron callia°
for field and position guns, and the example.l.
we
saw at Yenikale and Kinbourn did not certaJul
,justify it as regards the latter. The harness is Ito
nlitably light and strong, and is beautifully 100
°
the tram for the leading horses are merely of toPe'
well oiled and painted. Here again we heard tba
the " licorne" will be used henceforth in all -R to batteries, but the officer was very anxious
prevent the credit of the introduction of the gun,
being given to the Emperor Napoleon, and insistea,
that it owes its origin to the great Frederick of
Prussia. The carriages we saw were, however, R 3"
Bor 91h. guns. All these carriages are kept morel;
varnished, so that one can examine the fibre an
condition of the wood till they are required for
service when they are painted the usual peagreept
so familiar to us. The open artillery carts, will:,
of which we saw at Mackenzie, are no longer use
as the war proved they were worthless, octa"
paratively.

FINANCIAL POSITION OF TILE

COUNTRY.

(From the Pima' City Article.)
The opinion entertained regarding the favour-
able character of the financial position of the cowl'
try at the present moment appears to require 01311
one additional fact for its confirmation. The
great activity of our export trade, the moderate
and legitimate nature of our expenditure, and,
for the moment, the comparatively prudent
tation of our foreign investments having all
been demonstrated, the sole point .on which
a doubt might yet be suggested as to the pro"
bable COMO of our future pecuniary relgtiotii
must consist in the question whether our exisv
ing of goods on hand stands at a fair aunts
'or her we have yet to incur heavy Parnents
to br fig it up to what might be deemed adeque•
On this subject it is impossible to arrive at any
more than a general inference because the gret'
mass of merchantable property in the country is oln -
posed of items too multitudinous ivid too widelT
distributed to admit of any statistical I.lfornistal_
while at the same time the complication' join :as
nitely increased by such fluctuations in Yorletht
may have occurred between any periods .tha
be selected for comparison. Judging froin,.t'ue;ur.
markable confidence which has been observable rst-
ing the past eight or nine months in every OPte
ment of our national industry, and, on thff -)1 of
hand, taking into account that the averags raltectis-
discount, while it has not been so heavy as, A° "-
courage the manufacturer from bolding ir rair,"to
serve of raw material, has yet been high enougu_io
deter him from venturing upon any spselliatine
accumulations, it would seem reasonable to sgiuto-b
that our operations, on the whole, have beoll-1411,,d
as not merely to maintain us in a position' VT,
as that which we occupied a year ago, but .'to' ha
caused us to recover a fair proportion of the dito_,
nution naturally sustained during the worst pin"
sure of the war. Taking as a test thirteen tif t.";
principal articles of commerce, this expeotatioa
would seem to be corroborated. Subjoined is II
statement of stocks held on the Ist of the resell&
month, as compared with the corresponding Peri°
of 1855 and 1854 :