The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-05-27
CROWNED CAR OF
ALL THE RUSSIAS,
Climax of the Great Event
Which the World Has
Awaited.
DAZZLING SERVICES IN
THE CATHEDRAL.
Only the Favored Few Witness
the Coronation of Nicho-
las II and Alix.
CRUSH OUTSIDE THE CHURCH
TO SEE THE RULER.
Voices of the Choir Mingle With the
Many Bells Inside the
Kremlin.
CRUSH OUTSIDE THE CHURCH
TO SEE THE RULER.

MOSCOW. RUSSIA, May 26.-The great
event, for which untold preparations had
been made, is over. The supreme func-
ton was accomplished without a hitch.
| The weather was perfect, and everything
led the people to look forward with hope
to the reign of Nicholas II, the ruler of
millions.
The proclamation issued to-day by the
Car on the occasion of his coronation
prescribes various remissions, of which
the following are the principal:
All arrears of taxes in European Russia
and Poland are remitted, and the land
tax is reduced by kalf for ten years.
The sentences of exiles in Siberia are
materially reduced, political offenders re-
ceiving further remissions. with the res
toration of their civil rights in certain
cases. The ex-Ministers of the Interior
and Justice are empowered to submit to
the Car deserving cases OF those pun
ished after regular trial. Those persons
who shared in the Polish rebellion who
are not guilty OF murder, cruelty, arson or
robbery are exempted from the police
supervision decreed in 1883, and ars
granted full freedom of residence if they
return to their own country and take the
oath of allegiance.
| To-day was the chief day of all those
given up to the coronation ceremonies. The
weather was fine and the sky cloudless.
| The Kremlin, which was the center OF at
traction, was early surrounded by waiting
crowds, who had no possible chance Of
getting inside, but were satisfied 10 see
what they could outside the walls. Troops
headed by bands of music began moving
at o'clock in the morning, marching to
the Kremlin. At z o'clock a saIvo of
twenty-one guns was fired and 80 the
| bells of the cathedral began to peal
| Assembled in the halls of the Kremlin
Palace were all Of the personages forming
the Cars cortege, the ladies of the court,
noted dignitaries, officers in uniform, etc.
All of the accesses to the palace and the
cathedral, as well as the route of the i'm
perial eortege, were guarded by double
lines of troops, and round and within the
courts of the palace were squadrons of
cavalry. Crowds thronged the streets at
an early hour, and those who were fortu-
nate enough to possess cards of admission
to the small Cathedral of the Assumption.
where the coronation ceremonies were
solem nized, were early at the Kremlin,
seeking their places.
| A definite place had been allotted to
each, as the space within the cathedral is
exceedingly small, and no one outside of
members of the imperial family, the for
eign sovereigns, princes or their repre-
sentatives, the diplomatic corps and a
favored few were able to enter the sacred
precincts. mass of people filed the
great Red square. No one was allowed
within the Kremlin walls without ticket
until the ceremony began, as even here
thousands had to be accommodated who
1 k-y@ 10
ITSELF but only the accompanying cere-
monies which took place without the
cathedral.
The famous red staircase leading up by
the side wall of the Granovitaya Palace
into the Kremlin Palace. down which the
royal party came, was covered with GRIM
son cloth. The Cathedrals of the Assump-
ton, the Annunciation and the Arch
angel were connected by means of a wide
wooden path carpeted with crimson cloth,
stretching from the red staircase and
branching off to the doors of the cathe-
draIs and to the entrances of the large
square of the Kremlin. through which
their Majesties would pass on making the
circuit of the cathedrals and the Ivan
Tower, after being crowned, in order to
show themselves to the populace. Within
the inclosure formed by the pathways
were deputations from various regiments
and civil deputies from the provinces.
Just before it was time for the Gear to
appear at the top of the Red Square the
broad spaces of the Kremlin were denselY
packed with perhaps 100000 people, pre- ss-
ing closely up to the very fence of the
inner square between the cathedrals.
AT little before O'Clock the special
correspondents were allowed to view the
interior of the cathedral, as only few of
the representative correspondents could
be accommodated at the ceremony itself.
The cathedral, with its white sandstone
exterior, surmounted by its five golden
domes, presented most brilliant appear.
ance within.
The available room within the cathedral
is about eighty feet square, and this is
broken by enormous circular pillars and
some monuments distributed throughout
the church. The Ikonstas, which, like a
screen, divides the chancel from the
nave, is covered with repousse work of
beaten gold and hung with ecclesiastical
paintings, some of which are very ancient,
and more than one nas miraculous powers
ascribed to it. Plates of gold cover the
walls, and there is scarcely any space that
is not coated with precious metals or
stones. In one shrine covered with gold.
silver and precious stones is an image OF
the Virgin of enormous value, under which
lie the bones and ashes of the venerated
saints.
Between the four pillars in the center OF