The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-12-02


from the MoOrs and covered her arms with military
glory. Industry and wealth aboundcd throughout
the state, and the nation respected and feared
abroad The gold which Hooded the country with
the conquest brought with it Incidence and supinc
ness. The vigor of the State departed. One after
another of her colonies spUrned her control and
achieved their freedom. And she stands a
warning to nations who prefer the iDsatiate thirst
ior gold to the practice of the stable pursuits
of commerce. Her glory has departed. and she
now exists by suferance, too weak and insignificant
to awaken any other feeling than that Of pity
Our country is now to the nations of the earth what
Spain was then-the Minerva OF States, encumbercd
! by no swaddling bands, but armed to the teeth,
ready ard able to protect her rights. lie would
indulge in no gloomy torehodings. Let the exam
pies of the past be warning for the future Let
not the thirst for gold blight the fair prospects be-
fore uSsO full of promisCSO brilliant with antici-
patton. Let not her end be like that of SPAIN Let
her sons be true to themselves and all that the f-
| ture promises will be fulfilled. Her career will be
one OF magniicence and brilliant beyond all former
precedent.
BAYARD TAYLOR'S LECTURE
Mr.. Bayard Taylor lcctured before the Mercan-
tile Library Association on Tuesday evening last at
the unversast Church. on Calvert street, taking
for his subject description of ''Moscow' and its
people.
He commenced by citing an Arab legend of a
wonderful city built in the desert, whose domes
were of beaten gold and which, though
destroyed in burst of divine wrath is still said to
loom up, in the far distance, in all its mysterious
beauty before the eyes Of the traveller, though no
one has ever been permitted to traverse its Won
drous courts, to penetrate its gates. After tray
cling for hundred miles over monotonous coun-
try, all the central part of which ia a land of
marshes, the appearance of the city of Moscow is
like enchantment. From the Beresina to the Dnei-
per- all is terrible monotony. When your cndu-
rance is exhausted, when you begin to believe there
is nothing but birch and fir, those forests of north
ern birch which, though beautiful in the fall, in
summer are of cold silvery green; when there is
nothing around you that announces your approach
to the old Russian capital, you mount the brow of
hill, behind you is crescent Of dense forests at
your feet small river, and before you-Moscow,
with its hundreds Of gildcd domes sparkling like
stars, and flashing in your face. 1t comes upon you
like dream with its sudden burst of colOrs and its
wondrous beauty. Whence comes, you ask, all this
wilderness of grass green roofs, whence all those gill
ded and svered dOmes? 1t can be city of trade, it
must have been built by the genii while the lamp
was yet in Aladdin's hand. From the hill referred
to the army ofBonaparte once behcld it and shouted
"MOscOw All this is yours" said Napoleon; but in
the sequel all the punder that reached Paris would
not have made porter's load. The Russian statement
of the destruction of Moscow must not be taken too
Bovards and hundreds of fantastic churches were
destroyed but much remained unconsumed, and
Moscow is still a type OF the far-reaching Rus
sian Empire. One best understands people by
visiting their large cities. To know Paris is to know
the French; London symbolizes the English
Boston New England, and although the lecturer
would not say that New Y ork fairly represented
American nationality, even there might be found
many OF its more salient features. Moscow is pre-
eminently the index to Russia. Its interest as a
city is almost wholly historical or national. Since
the building of ST Petersburg, Moscow has lost its
advantage as capital, but it still remains the HOLY
CITY of Russia. Its iibres of commerce branch
eastward. The race that founded it came from the
East Its rcligion-that Of the Greek Church
came from ConstantinOpe, and on every one of the
thousand domes gitterS the southern Crescent o.
Madame de Stae, with her fondness for striking
phrases, exclaimed, on beholding Moscow: " Be
hold the Tartar Romcw Its Oriental character is
rs strongly marked as Constantnople. 1t is, never
theesS, the Strangest compound Imaginable. In
Moscow, Europe and Asia is iUmbed together. 1t
called up "reminiscences Of every place the lecturer
had ever seen. There were TEMPLES resembling
those of Lucknow-French cofes-Chinese tea-shops
-lager-beer cears--in short. every nation in
the world found representative in Moscow
No city in the world is so picturesque and
fantastic as Moscow 1t stands alOne-Occupying
an immense area, and every where around it is a
belt of thick forest. Its circumference is from
twenty-five to thirty miles, and confuscs the ordi
nary ideas of distance. Close ut hand with the
people of Moscow means, not unircquently, mile
Off and near neghbors an hours walk. A traveller
easily loses in his way in Moscow, for the character
of even the new portion Of the city is labyrinthine
The sites of the old city being rebuilt upon, the
streets seem laid ont like some of the earlier ones
in New y lork which were said to have followed the
cattle tracks. Moscow is full of marvellous sur
prises from its immense extent and the irregularity
of its construction. ou step from thrnnor nf
palaces suddenly into a country place,
thence into a thronged markct-pass rows .'
Of }fi modern character, and find yoqrseifi
still preserved. Red is the favorite colo
Russian serfs. Green occupies the second
in taste. Many of the domes of the churt
dark blue green, studded with stars
The houses of the mobiles and of the
classes are chiefly of brick and stucco-whmc many
of the humble tenements are of wood. The only
tools used by the Russian carpenter are the adze
and saw, and the skill with which he uses
those simple tools is perfectly surprising. His
work is squared with great accuracy, yet all the
smaller lengths are measured by the eye. Peter
the Great excelled in everything he undertook
with one exception, in which every serf is prof.
cent-he never succeeded in making pair of Rus
sian boots.
The Cathedral of st. Basil is the elimination of
the grotesque and the fantastica When first
seen the gazer is in doubt whether it is church or
pavilion, or a strange collection of architectural
toys. All the cOlOrs of the rainbow are there.
There is no such bewildering structure in the
world 1t is not beautiful, but its profusion Of col
ors saves it from being accounted ugly. Its chief
- - ;o;Li T lLo,na J latt, EnL
tn .,oIo.o1s . obonoIf dI-o+od 70 +ro ,,or
~; of ,,ot;oI,Inp co;nt Tboso oboroi
PII sup ~, +lP pa iI. h aaffI5
+b anotLooSi nftnn1bs Tb ion ~ airo cSIors
o,opc tbo Rrssians i; on instinct fo. thn Iyorn,nr
anrns frr, ,rbonca +bo, Mosoo, rrittars in
trorica freS and coInrs Wr ToTIor n"vf nroceod
cd r. rive an elaborate ond nctnTeso,a dascrintion
of the Kremlin which occnnips tbn most central
noint in tha city II has now hacon,n sort of ma
tional altar On the hin If the KrcmIin was first
nlanted that MIGHTY tree whose branches over
shadow two continents. The Russians are eminent
Iv reIipious peonIc The shrine most in reputa is
that of the Virgin known as the lberian Mother
The orthodox color of the Saviour and his mother
is a dark brown. The Emperor Nicholas sought to
have them painted light colored but met with so
much opposition from Priests and deyotees that he
abandoned the idea The Russian peasants could
not conceive the possibility that the VIRGIN and her
child should have been of their own color. Mar
veous stories are told of n picture of ST Nicholas
! to whose miraculous interpostion it is alleued
that the safety of the Kremlin from the as
saults of the Tartars and the French is wholly due
Mr.. Taylor spoke of the profound religious devo-
ton of those who are attached to the Greek Church
The serf would sooner die than violate his RELIGIOUS
| observances Every house in Moscow has its
shrine with n lamn burnino before IT, and every
| room IFS devotional nicture The four GREAT fasfs
are kent with nainiul strictness On Easter day
| the five thousond bells of Moscow ring ont in inv
ous cIanUor All who meet whether hiph born or
! lovlv n0blc or serf saIute each other with kiss
accompauird by the words "Christ is risen" All the
members of the household kiss each other even tbe
adias iss tbeir norters their coachmen and al tbe
intnrnondiate domestics down to the boot black The
/ En,naror kisses tbn sentinel at his gata In tbe
L,,rob +boro ;s n ,erroct dar,ocrotioo oo,oIit oh
| sorved-Iadias officers old vronen sbdnk kac;nars