The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-16 00:00:00

The Marriage of the Cesarewitch.

(From the Times' Berlin Correspondent.)
ST. PETERSBURG, Nov. 10.
At five o'clock yesterday afternoon the Imperial
family, with their Royal guests and the highest dig-
nitaries of State, sat down to dinner in the Hall of
St. Nicholas. During the banquet vocal and instru-
mental music, chiefly of Russian composers, was
executed by Italian and other artists. The several
toasts proposed to the health of the Emperor, the
newly-wedded couple, the Imperial family, the King
of Denmark, and the clergy and all faithful sub-
jects, were quickly taken up by the artillery on the
walls of the fort. The Corps Diplomatique were
not present. Besides the members of the first three
classes in the official hierarchy and the ladies of the
Court, the invitations had been limited to the
foreign Princes and their suites, the special Ambas-
sadors from the Courts of Denmark and Greece,
and the Mistress of the Robes of the Danish Court.
The governess of the Royal bride had likewise the
honour to sit down to dinner with her late pupil.
This family repast, as it may be termed, the num-
ber of the guests being restricted to a few hundreds
only, was succeeded by a more public ball in the
evening. As early as 8 o'clock a large and elegant
gathering crowded the Hall of St. George and the
adjoining suite of State apartments. It was the
same superb sight as in the afternoon, only, if pos-
sible,
more brilliant, the ladies having reserved the
full blaze of their jewellery for this, the gayer part
of the day's festivities. The bright colours of the

gems adorning the fair sex were reflected in the
light of a thousand candles. Heavy silks rustled,
and female beauty vied with taste in charming the
eye. The hall itself appeared to greater advantage
than in the pale light of day. Like many other
State rooms in the Imperial Palace, it is too white
for the sun to be able to do justice to it. But when
the monotony of its hue is relieved by the yellowish
tinge produced by the paper, when its fluted columns
and the gilded pedestals on which they stand are
brightened by the mellow radiance of wax and gas,
the cold aspect of the room is lost in the warmth of
artificial illumination.

In this superb succession of halls, throne-rooms,
and portrait galleries were seen moving about the

representatives of the various Powers, the Ministers,
chamberlains, chiefs of the Judicial and Administra-
tive Boards, and the whole host included in the vast
category of personnes distinguees. Many Generals
and military officers of every rank and degree like-
wise attended, the Emperor's commission, in accor-
dance with the military traditions of the realm,
being a free passport to the Palace on this auspi-
cious day. There were more Circassian uniforms
noticeable now than in the afternoon, and, in a
crowd of dark-visaged and ferocious-looking stran-
gers, Schamyl was pointed out to me by an obliging
chamberlain. Once the lion of the Caucasus, he is
now a feeble old man, with hollow cheeks and a mild
expression on his regular but not very striking fea-
tures. He was clad in a white tunic, covered with a
wide caftan, and wore on his head a white turban,
with a rim of black sheepskin just skirting his fore-
head. As he sat there among his followers—he
alone of the whole assembly had been accorded a
chair—and listlessly passed the beads of his rosary
through his fingers, his person formed an ornament
of thefeast than which few grander, one would think,
can be imagined, even by a Czar of all the Russias.
On his left stood a gentleman in Russian diplomatic
uniform, whose face denoted him to be of Eastern
extraction. He acted as his interpreter, and seemed
to be on the most friendly footing with the aged
chief. On the right, a son of Schamyl, one of the
companions of his honourable captivity, leant on
the chair of his father. He was in the well-known
Circassian dress, with an immense kolpak—a sort

of grenadier's cap, only that instead of bearskin it

is of white lamb's wool—on his head. Very
much like his father, he has one of those
peculiar countenances which, at once languid and
threatening, bear an uncanny resemblance to a
slumbering volcano. But he will hardly ever have
an opportunity for the free display of his passions
except on a regular battle-field and under the
Russian Imperial standard. The days are gone
when he could have thought of roving about, trinjal
in hand, at the head of his clan. Evidently, too,
he is more civilised than he looks. On his moun-
taineer's blouse, right over the cartridge folds on his
breast, dangled a pair of elegant eyeglasses which
every now and then he would handle with the easy
grace of an exquisite. His hands, which, had not
his father been unfortunately vanquished, would
now be employed in killing infidels, were encased in
the tightest of Paris gloves ; and when an officer
of the Guards accosted him in the language of the
country, he bowed, smiled, and replied in the most
unexceptionable style of social courtesy. A little
Circassian boy of eight or nine years, his head
buried in a black kolpak, and some other entirely
Russianised mountaineers in chain-armour, com-
pleted the interesting group. In close proximity,
General Grabbe, who has won his military renown
in the Caucasus, and a beautiful young lady whose
husband fell in the war against the mountaineers,
formed a striking contrast to them.
At length the pleasant notes of a polonaise were
wafted from a distant hall. Preceded by mare-
chaux and chamberlains, the Emperor, leading the
Empress by the hand, moved by to the music. The
Cesarewitch with his bride, the Prince of Wales,.
the Crown Prince of Prussia, and the Crown Prince
of Denmark, dancing with Princesses of the blood,
followed. Then came the other members of the
Imperial family, and a very few dignitaries with
aristocratic ladies for their partners. Thus the
stately procession walked four times through the
whole suite of rooms, being successively received
by the music of different orchestras stationed in
the various saloons. The ladies and gentlemen
forming the lane through which they passedbowed
low, the Emperor and Princes acknowledging the
salutations with friendly smiles, and a few words
addressed now and then to familiar acquaintances.
Schamyl had risen from his seat, and, beating his
breast with his right hand in token of respectful
reverence, inclined his head before the Czar. Alex-
ander kindly uttered a few syllables, which for a
moment lightened up the old man's face with a smile
of gratitude. Grand Duke Constantine, a Prince
whose countenance shows uncommon intellect and
resolve, also spoke to him with the familiar manner
of an old acquaintance, and elicited a similar reply
from the Patriarch. It was evident the great chief
had not only been caught, but also tanned, and,
perhaps, converted into a well-wisher.
The Polonaise lasting for a little time afforded

an opportunity for penetrating to the farther apart-
ments, and viewing one of the most brilliant Corps
Diplomatique of the world in full strength. The
- Duchess of Ossuna, the young bride of the Spanish
Ambassador, who has but lately arrived at St.
Petersburg, at the side of her husband, attracted
general attention. The Baroness de Talleyrand-
- Perigord and Baron de Talleyrand, the French
- Ambassador, conversed with Lady and Sir Andrew
Buchanan. Countess and Count Revertern had just
returned from Vienna, to be present on the occa-
ion• Count Redern, the Prussian Ambassador, and
Baron Plessen, the Danish Envoy, were there,
the representatives of the two Courts closely related
to the Imperial family. From Washington
we had Ghoe.nienral Clay ; from the Hague Baron
G evers ;
Dresden Baron Konneritz ; Flo-
rence had sent Count _ Lannay ; Stockholm Gene-
ral Bjornstjerna ; "-exi
co M. Lavraiuzar ; and
Brussels the Count Errenbault de Dudzeele. The
Viscount de Moira, Portuguese Main(iister, offered the
n
congratulations of his Sovereign
country to the
• Marechaux de Cour ; Baron Pergler vouPerglas, the
Bavarian envoy, and Herr von Abel, the Wurtern-
burgian, were the deputies of Southern Germany,
Conemenos Bey, charged to look after the interests
of Turkey at a place where his Sovereign has been
long pronounced an unnecessary encumbrance, did
not seem to be particularly embarrassed by the pre-
sence of Gen. Colocotroni, the special ambassador
of Greece, at-once his co-nationalist and his national
enemy. Le Chevalier Vianna de Lima, from Brazil,
the son and representative of another hemisphere,
and Abdourrakhn Khan, despatched hither by the
Persian Shah, introduced an exotic element into the
• formal and urbane company. The ladies of all the
ambassadors, Lady Stuart, and Mrs. Mitchell graced
the diplomatic circle.
AS if to guard the entrance to this sanctum sanc-

orum, a company of gigantic grenadiers were drawn
up near the door. They are one of the several body
guards of the Court, old men who have seen hon-
ourable service, and in reward been placed in a
troop whose duties are all but nominal. Tall they
certainly were, but as a rule I believe diplomats re-
quire younger and more able-bodied assistants to
carry their plans into execution.
In another half hour the ball was over, and, the
Court having retired, the company parted. Soon
after the newly-wedded couple repaired to the
Anitchaine Palace in the Nevaski Prospect, as-
signed for their residence. Excepting the religious
ceremony, this perhaps was the most interesting
feature of the day. The whole Imperial family
saw them home. The Emperor and Empress, in an
enormous gilded coach, drawn by eight milk white
horses, sat opposite their children to accompany
them to their own house. The second coach con-
tained their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales,
the Crown Prince of Prussia, and the Crown Prince
of Denmark. Many other carriages, equally costly
and gorgeous, conveyed the members of the Impe-
rial family to Anitchkine House. With them rode
the Prince Alexander of Hesse, brother of her
reigning Majesty, Prince Alexander of Oldenburg,
and the Princesses Hermann of Saxe-Weimar and
August of Saxe-Altenburg, who, I believe, have all
been expressly despatched to St. Petersburg to offer
the felicitations of their Sovereigns. The Imperial
personages were escorted by Cossacks of the Guard
and Circassian Horse. A cloud of equerries, pages,
and other noble attendants surrounded the cortege.
They had hardly left the Winter Palace, and amid
the glare of the illuminations begun crossing the
square, when they were almost stopped by the crowd
flooding the thoroughfares and cheering enthusias-
tically. The people thronged toward the equipage
of his Majesty, and, with loud and hearty acclama-
tions, greeted him and his son on this short and joy-
ous journey. The devout reverence the Russian pays
to his Monarch is tempered by a confident fami-
liarity which on such occasions finds its happy ex-
pression. These were not the measured hurrahs of
western lands ; the crowd actually shrieked with joy
as the Czar passed by.

At the portal of their new house the Prince and
Princess Alexander were received by the Grand Duke
Constantine and Grand Duchess Alexandra, their
uncle and aunt, who offered them the crucifix and
bread and salt. The one they kissed, imploring the
protection of the Deity on their new household ; of
the other they partook, adding, according to the beau-
tiful custom of the country, the bodily food of the
spiritual at this important moment of their lives. The
escort which was drawn up in the hall of reception
during this ceremony remained there until the return
of the Imperial family and Royal guests from the
inner apartments.
On the day of the marriage a solemn Te Dettin
was celebrated in all the churches of the capital,
and the bells of their domes rang a chime for hours.
The deep boom of the Big Bens—there must be
several here deserving the name—and the merry
tinkling of their smaller brethren were distinctly
audible, even over the noise and clatter of the Nevski
Prospect. The ships in the river dressed, and stand-
ards in the national colours were displayed on pri-
vate and public buildings. The War-office showed
the black,white, and yellow of the military cockade,
while the Admiralty exhibited the white and blue,
and the white, red, and blue which represent Russia
at sea.

As a noble marriage gift the Empress, in her capa-
city as lady patroness of the metropolitan charities,
addressed an official letter to the bride, requesting
her to undertake the supervision of an asylum for
poor children. The Emperor, too, celebrated the
day as only an Emperor can. A comprehensive
amnesty has been granted to political and other
offenders. Criminals sentenced to hard labour in
Siberia, if their punishment has already lasted for a
year, have the fourth part of their term remitted.
Those doomed to the same fate for life, if they have
already completed two years of their term, shall be
set at liberty after 12 more. Offenders sentenced to
be colonists in Siberia, if their exile has lasted five
years, may remove to some villages, and become free
inhabitants of the.same ; while those who have been
there 10 years will be allowed to take up their abode
in the towns, without, however, becoming members
of the "higher classes of society." Offenders that
have been merely sent to live in Siberia or the eastern
provinces of European Russia have the term of their
exile reduced to one-third, another class detained in
Siberia being allowed to petition for removal to the
provinces just mentioned. Offences against the
forest laws and a variety of other minor derelictions
are to be more leniently treated than the law pre-
scribes, or entirely overlooked. Certain arrears of
taxes are remitted ; for instance, capitation taxes
on noble estates which ought to have been paid
prior to Jan. 1, 1861, and the same taxes in
cities due to July 1, 1863, will not be de-
manded. An especial concession of this kind, en-
eluding some other imposts, is made to Poland, and
a number of military offences either pardoned or the
penalty reduced.

The happy day has been also marked by numerous
favours showered on the military. General Berg,
who 30 years ago assisted in the taking of Warsaw
and but lately coerced the unruly city again, has
been made a Field-Marshal. The elder General
Grabbe, whose deserts go back as far as 1805, when
he already fought Napoleon I. on Austrian terri-
tory, and who subsequently distinguished hinpelf
in every Russian war, is made a Count. General
Besak, the late Governor of Orenburg, who now
presides over the south-western provinces, and
General Kotzebue, the Commander in Bessarabia,
are decorated with the Order of St. Andrew, the
highest in the realm. A large number of General
and Staf officers are promoted.
Yesterday evening and to-night the official build-
nags and the private houses in some of the larger
thoroughfares were illuminated. Though not very
general, the
display was not without its brilliant
points. The Bourse and palace of Prince Michael
stood in a blaze
opposite the Winter
of
magical effect, were still a
light, and the Staff buildings
Palace, although having a less
d :
' btheesireesneminietihreeowlaorl rof the 700 windows of
sight that is not often to
front was bordered with lamps,
each
and an electric sun shed its rays from the chariot of
the colossal Victory overtopping the arched centre
e Admiralty of the edifice. The base of th Ad •
ralty spire was
adorned with lighted globes of ground glass, while
the lanterns in front of the building had fantasti-
cally shapen burners screwed on, producingfiery
pents and other curious figures. On the Cadet-house,
facing the northern front of the river, a fiery foun-
tain was exhibited, throwing a volume of light on
the dark river running beneath. This and some
hotels were the lions of the evenings. The great
the streets presented the ordinary majority of ap-
pearance, others showing little more than isolated
• •
A's and M's—the initials of the Emperor and
Empress, as well as the Cesarewitch and his bride.
with
Little glass jars,
liahted wicks floating in
tallow, were placed now and then on the kerb-
stone, a style practicable only in the wide prospects
of this capital, and even here dangerous to limb and
life.
'
As a supplement to yesterday's account of the
marriage it may be stated that the crowns held over
the heads of the bride and bridegroom during the
latter part of the ceremony were first sustained by
the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandroviteli and the
Crown Prince of Denmark, and subsequently by
the Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch and Prince
Nicholas of Leuchtenburg. The Archpriest Baya-
noff, confessor to her Majesty, assisted at the cere-
mony, the Metropolite being a monk, and under
the rules of the Greek Church prohibited from com-
pleting the sacred act.

November 12.

Yesterday, as the day before, was spent by the
Court in a quiet way, the grand levee and other fes-
tivities having been put off indefinitely. It being
Sunday, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,
accompanied by Sir Andrew Buchanan, Lord
Hamilton, and the members of his suite, attended
Divine service in the spacious and elegant chapel of
the English residents in St. Petersburg. The church
was completely filled, the congregation including
many Russians and Germans, in addition to the
members of the English colony. The presence of
his Royal Highness was respectfully acknowledged
by the English and foreigners present. This morn-

ing a deputation of the English residents, headed
by the treasurer of the English factory, solicited
permission to wait upon his Royal Highness and
presented the following address :
"To HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS ALBERT EDWARD,
PRINCE OF WALES, K.G., &c.

"May it please your Royal Highness,--We, the under-
signed members of the British factory and British residents
at St. Petersburg, impressed with feelings of devotion to
our Sovereign and attachment to our country, are desirous
of presenting to your Royal Highness our tribute of repect-
ful homage on the occasion of your visit to the Court of St.
Petersburg.
"The auspicious event which has brought for the first
time in the annals of history an heir to the throne of Great
Britain to Russia is one in which our heartfelt sympathies
are enlisted. Grateful for the many advantages we enjoy
under the Government of the beneficent Emperor who rules
this land, we gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity now
afforded of giving expression to our earnest wishes for the
happiness and prosperity of the Imperial family, while we
bail with satisfaction an event which, by uniting the Heir
Apparent to the Throne of All the Russias to the Royal
House of Denmark, establishes in the person of the august
Consort of your Royal Highness a tie between Russia and
Great Britain of the happiest augury for friendly relations
between the two countries.

"As residents in St. Petersburg, interested for the most
part in commerce and manufactures, we are in a position
to appreciate the manifold advantages which extended trade
cannot fail to afford to both countries, for it is no imagi-
nary bond that draws the two nations together, but a com-
munity of interests, based upon an interchange of services
which the greatest agricultural people and the greatest
manufacturing nation of Europe are capable of rendering
to each other.

" We recognise the happy influence which the many im-
portant social and administrative reforms inaugurated
during the present reign must inevitably exercise upon the
development of the internal resources and foreign trade of
this empire. We know that these signs of a coming pros-
perity `;•ill be as gladly welcomed by our countrymen in
England as they are by the British residents in St. Peters-
burg, and the friendly feelings of our most gracious Sove-
reign towards Russia evinced by the visit of your Royal
Highness to this country will be as fully appreciated by
Englishmen as they doubtless are by the Russian people.
" St. Petersburg, Oqt. 20 (Nov. 1)."
_

His Royal Highness made a gracious reply, the
exact wording of which I hope to be able to send
by to-day's post.
The following proclamation, just divulged, an-
nounces the marriage to the people of Russia :
" We, Alexander, by the grace of God, Emperor and
Autocrat of All the Russias, King of Poland, Grand Duke
of Finland, &C., announce to all our faithful subjects, as
follows :

"With the blessing of God the marriage of our beloved
son and successor Cesarewitch, Alexander Alexaudrovitch,
with the Grand Duchess Maria Feodorowna, daughter of
the King of Denmark, has been solemnised to-day in the
cathedral church of the Winter Palace, in our presence,
and in that of an assembly of secular and ecclesiastical per-
sonages.

"Confiding destinies of the newly wedded couple to
the guidance of Providence, we announce an event su gra-
tifying to our paternal heart to all our faithful subjects,
and call upon them to join in our fervent prayers fur the
welfare of the beloved couple. We pray God Almighty to
bless, in His all-wise mercy, their Royal Highnesses with
the enjoyment of full, lasting, and unalloyed happiness, to
our joy, and to the joy of our most beloved Consort the
Empress Maria Alexandorowna, of our whole Imperial
House, and of all Russia.
"Given at St. Petersburg, on the 28th day of October
(November 9), of the year 1866 since the birth of Christ,
in the 12th of our reign.
" ALEXANDER."

A special favour, which, while it benefits a consi-
derable portion of the inhabitants, is, at the same
time, an important political act, has been conferred
upon Poland. In a manifesto, bearing the date of
his son's marriage, the Emperor abolishes all the
various taxes, rents, and imports hitherto paid by
the townspeople of Poland for the usufruct of the
lands cultivated by them. It appears that the
townspeople of that country, under the feudal insti-
tutions still prevailing in it, have been so long obliged
to rent the greater part of the land allotted to them.
Though the land allowed them in olden time could
not be taken away, they were, on the other hand,
prevented from purchasing it, or from entering into
new and more favourable contracts with the owners.
The latter, consisting of the nobility and the Crown,
had, in the times when arbitrary oppression was the
order of the day, exacted a large variety of imposts
from their urban farmers no less than from the
peasantry, properly speaking, which had become
permanent, and, though liberated for a long time
past from the grossest obligations of personal serf-
dom, the large proportion of townspeople living by
agricultural pursuits were in every other respect not
better off than the rural retainers of the King and
the magnates. For the last two years their condi-
tion has been even less advantageous than that of
the peasantry, the latter having been allowed to
acquire their lands very cheaply, while the former
remained in their old relations. By the new mani-
festo the favour conferred upon the villagers is now
extended to the other portion of the inhabitants also
—an act whose bearing will be better understood
when I say that one-fourth of the inhabitants dwell
in towns, and that one-fourth of all townspeople
derive their only means of livelihood from tilling the
soil. Of the 452 towns among which they are dis-
tributed the Crown and nobility have a pretty equal
share. The Crown now renounces all its rights and
privileges on this score without Any compensation
whatever. Of the annual payments due to other
landed proprietors one-fourth is cancelled, the
remaining three-fourths, multiplied by 16!, consti-
tuting the capital accorded them in lieu of the
former rent. This capital will be partly liquidated
in cash and partly in stocks, bearing interest, to be
paid by those benefited, but transmitted by the
Government. It is evident from the above that
the measure will be viewed in a different light by the
various classes of society whom it concerns ; but, as
the nobles are hostile to Russia and the lower orders
more or less indifferent to politics, this Government
believes it has the less reason to delay a reform de-
sirable on economical grounds.
The Emperor has given 10,000 roubles to the
poor on the occasion of the late auspicious event.