The record-union., 1896-05-27
CROWNS UPON THE
CAR And CZARINA.
The Great Event Which All Russia Has
Looked Forward to Takes Place.
Impressive Ceremonies Attending the
Coronation.

The Emperor, Upon Receiving the
Crown From the Metropolitan of
ST. Petersburg, Places 1t Upon His
Head, and After Occupying the
Throne a Few Seconds, Places
Upon the Empress Head Her Own
Crown.
| MOSCOW, May 26.-The great event
| fer which untold preparation had been
made is over. The supreme function
was accomplished without hitch. The
weather was perfect, and everything led
the people to look forward with hope
| to the reign of Car Nicholas H., the
ruler of millions.
| The proclamation issued to-day by
| the Car on the occasion of his coro-
nation prescribes various remissions, of
which the following are the principal:
All arrears of taxes in European Rus
| Sia and Poland are remitted, and the
land tax is reduced by half for ten
years. The sentences of exiles in ST.
| IBERIA are materially reduced political
| offenders receiving further remssions
i with the restoration 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 punished after a 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 are 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 attraction, was early sur
rounded by waiting crowds who had no
possible hope of getting inside, but were
satisfied to see what they could out
| side the walls.
! Troops headed by bands of music be-
| gan moving at o'clock in the morn
ing, marching to the Kremln. At Z
o'clock a salvo of twenty-one guns was
fired, and at Z 80 o'clock the bells of the
cathedral began to peal.
Assembled in the halls of the Kremlin
Palace were all of the personages form
ing the Cars cortege, the ladies of the
court, noted dignataries, officers in uni
form, etc.
All of the accesses to the palace ana
the cathedral, as we'll as the route of
the imperial cortege from the palace to
the cathedral, 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 admis-
sion to the small Cathedral of the AS
sumption, where the conservation cere-
monies We're sOlemniZed, were early at
the Kremlin seeking their places A
definite place had been allotted to each,
as the space within the cathedral is ex-
ceedingly small, and no one outside OF
members of the imperial family, the
foreign sovereigns, Princes or their rep
resentatives, the diplomatic corps and
a favored few were able to enter the
coveted precincts.
A mass of people filled 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 accom-
modated who could not hope to see the
coronation act itself, but only the ac-
companying ceremonies 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 COW
cred with crimson cloth. The Cathe-
drals of the Assumption, the Annun-
citation and the Archangel, were con-
nected by means of wide wooden
path, carpeted with crimson cloth,
| stretching from the red staircase and
branching off to the doors of the
Cathedrals, and to the entrances of the
large square of the Kremlin, through
which their majesties would pass after
being crowned, in order to show them
selves to the populace. Within the in
closure formed by the pathways were
| deputations from various regiments
and civil deputies from the provinces.
Just before it was time for the Czar
to appear at the top of the Red Square
the broad spaces of the Kremlin were
densely packed with perhaps 100 600
fence of the inner square between the
Cathedrals.
At a little before 8 o'clock the special
| correspondents were allowed to view
the interior of the Cathedral as only
few of the representative correspon-
dents could be accommodated at the
ceremony itself. The Cathedral, with
it's white sandstone exterior sur
mounted by it's five golden 6iomes pre-
sented a most brilliant appearance
within. The available room within the
Cathedral is about eighty feet square,
and this is broken by enormous circu-
lar pillars and some monuments dis
tributed throughout the church. The
Ikonostas, which like rood screen di-
vides the chancel from the nave is
1 covered with repouSSe work of bat
tered gold and hung with ecclesiastical
paintings, some of which are very an
cient and more than one has miracu-
lous 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 Vir-
gin of enormous value, under which lie
the bones and ashes of the venerated
| saints
Between the four pillars in the center
| red velvet bordered with heavy gold
| trimmings, embroidered at the corners
with eagles, were two thrones facing
the Ikonoistas. Upon this dais, which
is six feet high and approached by
10,