The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-03-18
The Homo Of the Car.

potlc OF all the Cars ought to be pref
ty well tempered by this time. although
from the beginning his reign has been a
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 impractical
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 50 close to
them, in reality no other one is so mac
cessible and surrounded by such mystic
rious secrecy. There is always great
deal of talk 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 60. There are very few of those lit
tie semi-domestic anecdotes related
about the Gar that are told of other
sOvereigns. According to some people,
he is an incarnation of evil; has passed
Wis 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
ne IS OF noble nature, rather above
the average morality of sovereigns, I'M
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 tie Emperor at
.Gorny-Studen, surrounded by the evils
of battlefield, badly-constructed
tent, wet day, and a highly-smelling
camp. He says: Notwithstanding
that all these evils were heaped to-
gether on the day that l saw the EN-
peror, he struck me first as being a SUI
perior man; secondly, as being every
inch King. He has both the reserve
attached to his position and kindly
temper, which, without ever trenching
on bonhom,e, lends charm to his
rather melancholy disposition-a dispo-
sition easily accounted for if the proph-
ecy in regard to the Romanoff family
has any weight with him; for that
prophecy runs that no 'Romanoff doth
the years of sixty see.'"
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
Admiralty, diamonded with frost, had
the appearance of great white plumes
fixed in the ground, and the red granite
of the triumphal 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 Recovered
lanterns, like polar glow-worms dotted
with points Of yellow, light the i'm
mense expanse-suggest the figures of
phantasmagoria. In the background
the colossal Winter Palace famed
through all it's windows. like a mount
ain pierced with holes, and ignited by
interior ignition"
1t is an immense structure of four
stories in height, with frontage of $50
feet. The Erimitage, the palace built
by Empress Catherine, and containing
the magnificent art galleries, is con-
nected with the Winter Palace by ar
cades, so that the Imperial residence al.
together has frontage of 800 feet. 1t
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
chief state apartments are the throne
room of Peter L., the Hall of St. George,
the White Hall, the Alexander Hall, and
the Gallery of the Field Marshals. The
Hall of St. George is magnificent
apartment, 14Ox60 feet in size. The
Field Marshals' Hall contains portraits
of the Russian Field Marshals and
Generals who distinguished themselves
in the war between the allied powers
and France in the war of 1884. In
the 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
great Orloff diamond, 194a carats. 1t
receives its name from Count Orloff,
who presented it to Catherine II. 1t is
set in the top of the Imperial scepter.
1t is the largest of the crown diamonds
of Europe, and is perfect, with the ex-
ception of two slight flaws. The I'M
perial crown and the coronet of the
Empress are respondent with jewels of
immense value.
The drawing room of the Empress is
a gorgeous apartment with gilded walls
and ceiling. The effect is most striking
when lighted at night with hundreds Of
wax tapers. The rooms inhabited by
the Imperial family face the Neva and
the Admiralty Square, and are very
beautiful. General Moltke, who visited
St. Petersburg to attend the coronation
of the Gar, wrote to a friend that the
painting and sculpture were the most
costly productions of all countries. The
large windows command magnificent
view. The suite of apartments termin-
ates in the famous winter garden, which,
while arctic SHOWS are piled without,
enchants the eye with luxuriant tropic-
al vegetation; the air is filled with fra
GRANGE of rare flowers and the music of
FLASHING fountains.
| Above, in the third story, are the
apartments of the Emperor, very COM
fortably but plainly furnished. Here he
treasures his most cherished trophies
and keepsakes, mementoes of his fire.
quent visits to the capitals of Western
Europe. On the ground floor of the
palace, in the northeast corner, is a lit
tie vaulted room, where the father of
the present Gar, the great Nicholas,
lived, and where he died of broken
heart because of the disastrous result of
the war brought on by his will. The
room has been religiously left as the
Emperor last saw it. Here is his little
iron camp bed, with the same sheets,
the coarse Persian shawl and the cloak
with which he covered himself. All the
little toilet articles, the books and maps
of Sebastopol lie unchanged; even the
old-timc slippers which he wore twenty
eight years, and were repeatedly mend
ed. The almanac, which was set every
day, marks the day of his death.-Bos-
| ton Herald.
| Gfwo~nn fvn~c~S~~n-