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

CORONATIOIf OF TSB EMPEROR

ALEXAN DER.

(From the Times.)

In Western Europe pageantry may be said to be pas-
sing out of date, for neither is it felt nor is it required.
We have to travel two thousand miles towards the rising
sun, to penetrate frontiers almost sealed to the traveller,
to plunge into barbarous tribes, and find ourselves in
the heart of an ancient serfdom, in order to see in full
force the old language of human magnificence. The
cavalcade which ten days ago conducted the Emperor
of All the Russias into his ancient palaoe is a fit successor
of the old Roman triumph. In this country none ever
saw its like ; none ever will ; and were the States of old
Esrope to become even greater and wealthier they
would neither have the materials nor the sentiment for
such a display. No doubt they who gazed on that
rushing stream of silver and gold and jewels, of the
finest horses and men, the most singular races, and the
quaintest costumes in the world, extending five miles
in length, and who also knew that in all that multitude
of observed and observers there was probably not
one who was not ready to die for his youthful Em-
peror could hardly but feel him to be the greatest
Sovereign in the world. We shall not question it. For
such titles there is no contention in these days. The
subjects of Queen -Victoria count three to one for those
of the Ow ; their wealth, their freedom, their arts, the
grandeur of their traditions, their historical antiquity,
are even greater in the scale of comparison. Neverthe•
less we need not dispute that there is no such potentate,
SO autocratic, so exalted, so magnificent, as Alexander
Wicolaievitch ; and that he is the only one of the sons
of men whose position entitles him to such a procession
as that described in our columns this day. No one but
he combines with Asiatic magnificence European policy,
organisation,and wealth. No one but he holds the greater
part of two continents, and occupies the shores of two
oceans, and two great inland seas. No one but he is
absolute lord of sixty millions of men, still retaining the
hardihood and prowess of ancient barbarism. Nations
are fused into the ranks of his army, and history
may explore the roll of his procession. When he
enters the famous Kremlin, it is a portion of the human
race that conducts him ; and the roll of names reminds
one of those which heralded the earliest conquerors of
mankind.

Yet the slightest reflection is enough to remind us
that, whatever the meaning and virtue of this pompous
cavalcade, it denotes not unbounded power, paramount
testimony, immutable institutions, or anything beyond
the common lot of humanity. Let marshals, and cham-
berlains, and masters of ceremonies do as they will, they
cannot fix for ever the type of human events, even those
of the most arbitrary and artificial cbaraeter. In all its
circumstances, even those which contribute to its gran-
deur, the coronation of Alexander 11. is a very different
thing from that even of his father thirty years ago.
In that difference we read the law of progress, to
which even Imperial institutions must bow. But what
are these circumstanses which forced themselves on the
notice, even amid th• roar of artillery, the clash of bells,
the braying of trumpets', and the shouts of awe-struck
multitudes i What are the events even more striking
than the wild costume and caparisons of Calmucks, and
Mingrelians, and Circassians, and Imeritians—more
impressive than the now familiar names of Russia's
powerful yet devoted aristocracy i In the unparalleled
magnificence of the present ceremonial, in its enormous
cost (computed at a million sterling), we see the
growth of that wealth which has laws of its
own, and which changes institutions even while
adorning them. If this occasion is grander than
the last, then it is so far another thing than the
last, and who shall tell what the next change shall
be 1 Sixteen hours brought Alexander with perfect
safety and comfort from the shores of the Neva to the
walls of Moscow. Who could have dreamt of that in
the year 1826 1 Yet the railway from St. Petersburg to
Moscow is only the first link in a fretwork which is to
cover the whole empire. By the electric wire some par-
ticulars of the actual coronation reached this city yester-
day, and might have come in less than a minute. In the
representatives of the British press, and the numerous
other strangers at Moscow, we see the forerunners of a
vast influx, which cannot but be beneficial to Russis,
and to the general interests of the world. All this por•
tends change, for improvement is change, though seldom
without some sort of sacrifice. But who could forget,
even while gazing on that spectacle of glory and
might, that but one year before Russia had been
compelled to abandon the vast port and arsenal she had
prepared for the extension of her empire further into the
heart of three continents ! This mighty pomp, so full of
traditions of the past, and bursting upon us like the very
climax of Imperial splendour, comes indeed at the mo-
ment when Providence has pronounced the doom "Thus
far, and n• further." Henceforth all these nations and
tribes will have other employment than to augment their
muster-roll. The list is complete. The work of con-
quest is done. In that vast human column we read the
working of a great policy, but we read it to the end.
Such is the true reading of that gorgeous living inscrip-
tion. What shall we read when next the roll is opened !
But these are not the thoughts of an envious rival. It
is Russia's best interest to give up a dream which, at the
best, is one of misery, bloodshed, and injustice, and to
escape the inevitable retribution that hunts down the
conqueror. Russia's own statesmen knew this, and they
are preparing to divert and concentrate a'l those mighty
energies and all those fresh impulses to the internal and
social improvement of those sixty millions. Unassailable
within her own frontier, secure of the implicit obedience
of her people, Russia would be without excuse were she
still to convert the strength of all that people and all that
soil into the means of destruction. The war itself has
happily brought to light the want of internal commu-
nications, and the disadvantage any State so condi-
tioned must lie under in comparison with its wiser
and more fortunate neighbours. The few miles of rail-
way we have laid on Russian eoil are a hint which she
will improve a thousandfold. So all those numerous
tribes that figure in Alexander's long triumphal escort,
though 30 years ago they might be a warlike demonstra-
tion, to-day only celebrate the triumphs of peace, and
st,le for the universal extension of its benefits. They
represent how much is to be done, and what duties de-
volve on the man who claims the lordship of so vast a
territory, and the obedience of so many races and tongues.
The Government that can muster all these men, to march
in one column to one solemn measure, can do more.
It can give them all leisure, opportunity, and encourage-
ment for those works of peace which even savages and
soldiers love better than war, when the choice is offered
them.

SALE OT TILE " AGE" NEWSPAPER AT MELBOURNE.
—The goodwill and plant of the Age newspaper, the
Melbourne Leader, the Weekly Age, and the Ilift job-
bing office, were sold by Mr. M'Combe, Collins-street.
The property comprised the whole of the type—about
8,5001b5. ; th• printing machines, steam•engines, &c.,
used in getting out the paper. The terms were cash.
The biddings were by NO/. at a time. The first offer
made was 7001., the next 9001., then 1,5001., to 1,6001.,
up tl 1,9001., when there was a pause of some slight
duration, enlivened by the pseudo witticisms of those
who frequent auction rooms as speculators. 2,0001.
were then bid by Mr. E. Syme, and the property was
knocked down to him for that amount. The whole
proceedings did not occupy more than ten minutes.
The auction-room was densely crowded.

IMPORTANT TO SHIP CAPTAINS—LIVERPOOL, Monday.
—A decisioa of great importance to the shipping interest
was given in the Police-court to-day. It will be remera•
bored that in July last the New York packet ship Isaac
Web'', from this port to New York, with emigrants, was
driven ashore in a gale of wind at Amlwch, on the
Welch coast, two days after leaving Liverpool. After
being ashore for a considerable period, she was floated
off, and brought back to Liverpool. Upon her arrival
here, it was discovered that after she had passed the in-
spection of the Government officers at this port. when
she had a full crew shipped, she landed some of them,
and put to sea short-banded. The men were hired for
the purpose of passing the vessel through the Govern-
ment office. A prosecution was at once instituted by
the Board of Trade, and the case heard before Mr.
Mansfield and Captain Schomberg, who announced
to-day their intention of inflicting a fine of 250/. ur4sa
the captain (Bryer). The fine would have been much
more severe but for its being the first case in which
the law has been enforced, and the captain admitting
Ma liability.