The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-08-16


down scornfully upon the abodes of com.
mon men aud, contrary to what is tho
case in structures of ordinary dimen-
sions, the nearer we approach the inde-
structiblc mass, the more our wonder in.
creascs. Like the bones of certain gi.
gantic animals, tho Kremlin proves to US
the history of world of which we night
doubt until after seeing the remains. In
this prodigious creation, strength takes
the place of beauty, caprice of elegance:
it is like the dream of tyrant, fearful
but full of power; it has something a.
bout it that disowns the age; means Of
defence which are adapted to a system
of war that exists no longer; an arch-
lecture that has no coDpertion with the
wants of modern civilization heritage
of the fabulous oges; gaol, palace, n
sanctuary, n bulwark against the nations
foes, a bastille against the nation, prop
of tyrants, a prison of people-such is
the Kremlin. A kind of northern Aero
polls, Pantheon Of barbarism this ma.
! tional fabric may be called the Alcazar
of the Sclavonians
Such, then, was the chosen abode OF
the old Muscovite princes; and yet these
formidable walls were not sufficient shell
ter for tho terror Of Ivan ".
The fear of man possessing absolute
power is the most dreadful thing upon
earth and with all the imagery of this
fear visible in the Kremlin, it is mpos-
sible to approach the fabric without q
shudder.
Towers of every form, round, square,
and with pointed roofs, belfries, donjons,
turrets, spires, scutry-boxes fixed upon
minarets, steeples of every height, style
and coler; palaces, domcs, atchtowers,
walls, cmbattlemented and pierced with
loop-holesi ramparts, Notifications of ev-
cry species, whimsical inventions, incom-
prcbensible devices, chiosks by the side
of the cathedrals--cvcry thing an
nounces violation and disorder. every
thing betrays the continual surveillance
necessary to the security of tho singular
beings who were condemned to live in
this supernatural world Yet these in
Vulnerable monuments Of pride, caprice,
voluptuousness, glory, aud piety, not.
withstanding their apparent variety, ex-
press one single idea, which reigns here
everywhere--war maintained by fear.
The Kremlin is the work of superhu-
man being, but that beng is malevolent.
Glory in slavery--such is the allcgory
figured by this satanic monument, as ox-
traordinary in architecture as the visions
of St. John are in poetry. II is hab-
itation which would suit some Of the per.
sonages of the Apocalypse
In vain is each turret distinguished by
its peculiar character and its particular
use all have the same signifoatiun,-
terror armed.
Some resemble the caps of priests
others tho mouth of dragon, others
swords, their points in the air, others the
forms and even the colors of various cx.
otto fruits; some again represent head
dress Of the cEars. pointed aud adornet,
with jewels like that of the Doge of
Venice; others are simple crowns; and
all this multitude of towers faced with
glazed tiles, of metallic cupolas, of en-.
amclled, gildcd, azured, aud silvered
domes, shine in the sun like the colossal
stalactites of the salt mines in the neigh
borhood of Cracow. These enormous
pillars, these steeples and turrets Of ev.
cry shape, pointed, pyramidical. and cir
cular, but always in some manner sug.
gesting the idea of the human form SO IN
to reign over the city and the land. To
see them from afar, shining in the sky,
one might fancy them an assembly of po-
tentatos, richly robed and decorated with
the insignia of their dignity, a meeting
Of their ancestral beings, a council Of
kings, each seated upon his tomb spec
tres lowering over the pinnacles of pal
ace. To inhabit place like the Krcm.
lin is not to reside, it is to defend ones
sclf Oppression creates revolt, revolt
neccssitatos precautions, precautions in
crease dangers, and this long series of ac.
tions and reactions engenders a monster;
that monster is dcspotism, which has
built itself house at Moscow. The gi.
ants Of the antediiuvian world, were
they to return to earth to visit their de.
generate successors, might still find a
suitable habitation in the Kremlin.
Every thing whether purposely OF
not, has a symbolcal sense in its archi
lecture; but the real, the abiding, tina.
appears after you have divcsted yourself
of your FIRST emotions in the contempla
tion of these barbaric splendors, is,after
Ian Anl e