The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-03-18

The administration of the least des
potie of all the Cars ought to be pref.
ty well tempered by this time, although
from the beginning his reign has been q
mild one and fraught with measures in
tended TO promote the happiness and
freedom Of his people. 1t is said that
at one time he actually intended to
grant a Constitution to the Empire, but
was persuaded that it was impractica-
BILE. Accounts of the private life and
habits of the Gar differ greatly, for al
though no other European sovereign is
regarded by his people as occupying
such an intimate, paternal, patriarchial
relation, and as standing so close to
them, in reality no other one is so mac
cessible and surrounded by such mystic
rious secrecy. There is always great
deal eftalk all over Russia, among all
who have the least grievance, of going
to St. Petersburg to lay the matter be-
fore the Czar--but nobody ever seems
to 90. There are very few of those lit
tie semi-domestic anecdotes related
about the Car that are told of other
sovereigns. According to some people,
he is an incarnation of evil; has passed
his life in the widest dissipation, and is
now almost crazed with remorse for
crimes that are darkly limited at, while
others state with great positiveness that
he is of noble nature, rather above
the average morality of sovereigns, un-
destinations, and very plain and simple
in his ways of living.
Franci Stanley, the correspondent of
the Manchester Guardian and the St.
Petersburg GOlOS during the Russo
Turkish war, saw the Emperor at Gorny-
Studen, surrounded by the evils of a
battlefield, a badly-constructed tent, a
wet day, and highly-smelling camp.
He says: Notwithstanding that all
these evils were heaped together on the
day that saw the Emperor, he struck
me first as being superior man; Sec
ondly, as being every inch King. He
has both the reserve attached to his
position and a kindly temper, which,
without ever trenehing on 6onhonaie,
lends a charm to his rather melancholy
disposition easily ac-
counted for if the prophecy in regard to
the Romanoff family has any weight
with him; for that prophecy runs that
no 'Romanoff doth the years of sixty
see.'" .e
In the great square of Alexander, on
the left bank of the Neva, facing the
river, stands the Winter Palace, one of
the most spacious and imposing of the
royal residences in Europe. In front
stands the grand column of Alexander.
According to Theophile Gautier, the
place presented the following aspect of
a winter evening: "The trees of the
diamonded with frost, had
the appearance of great white plumes
fixed in the ground, and the red granite
of the triumphai column was coated
with ice. The moon, rising pure and
clear, flooded with its pale radiance all
this whiteness of the night, gave blue
tint to the shadows, and made the mo-
tionless equipages-whose ice-covered
lanterns, like polar glow-worms, dotted
with points of yellow light the immense
expanse-suggest the figures of phan-
In the background the
colossal Winter Palace famed through
all its windows, like mountain pierced
with holes, and ignited by interior igni-
tion.o
1t is an immense structure of four
stories in height, with a frontage of $50
feet The Erimitage, the palace built
BY Empress Catharine, and containing
he magnificent art galleries, is con-
1ected with the Winter Palace by
arcades, so that the Imperial residence
has frontage of 800 feet.
It is said that 5000 people live within its
walls, and tales are told of sheep, and
even cows, that are kept on the roof.
The principal entrance is from the river,
by stately flight of marble steps. The
thief state apartments are the throne
,oom of Peter l., the Hall of st. George,
he White Hall, the Alexander Hall, and
he Gallery of the Field Marshals. The
Hall of St. George is magnificent
apartment, 140x60 feet in size. The
Field Marshals' Hall contains portraits
If the Russian Field Marshals and
Generals who distinguished themselves
n the war between the allied powers
md France in the war of 1894. In
he Alexander Hall are many battle
pictures of the Russian army and navy.
In one room are the crown jewels.
Among the treasures it contains is the
yreat Orloff diamond, 1914 3-4 carats.
It receives its name from Count Orloff,
who presented it to Catharine III. 1t is
set in the top of the Imperial scepter.
It is the largest of the crown diamonds
If Europe, and is perfect, with the ex-
,eption of two slight flaws. The I'm
oerial crown and the coronet of the
Empress are respondent with jewels of
value.
The drawing-room of the Empress is
l gorgeous apartment with gilded walls
md ceiling. The effect is most striking
when lighted at night with hundreds of
wax tapers. The rooms inhabited by
he Imperial family face the Neva and
he Admiralty Square, and are very
beautiful. General Moltke, who visited
St. Petersburg to attend the coronation
If the Gar, wrote to friend that the
and sculpture were the most
costly productions of all countries. The
arge windows command magnificent
view. The suite of apartments termi-
hates in the famous winter garden, which,
while arctic SHOWS are piled without.
the eye with luxuriant tropical
the air is filled with fra
france of rare flowers and the music of
FLASHING fountains. - - -
Above, in the third story, are the
apartments of the Emperor, very CON-
but plainly furnished. Here he
treasures his most cherished trophies
md keepsakes, mementoes Of his fire.
Iuent visits to the capitals of Western
Europe. On the ground floor of the
palace, in the northeast corner, is lit
lie vaulsed room, where the father of
ha 1,resent Gar the great Nicholas.