The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-14

ing of special notice, because it keeps up some ancient observances of the old czars of Museovy. As late as the last quarter of the seventeenth century, the rules for approach to the royal resi- dence were minute and most strictly observed. According to a mans rank was his right to approach within so many fathoms of the door, to ride within such and such a distance, and then dismount. The common people had to take their caps of oil, coming within sight of the palace, and could never dare to so near it. Even foreign ambassadors might not drive up to the entrance, but had to dismount at reg ulation number of yards away from it.
 Similarly, within the palace. even those who were always about the soy- ereign had, strictly marked out for them the thresholds which they might and those which they might not cross. A series of outer halls led to the pri- vate apartments of the sovereign, and within these again were the wemen's apartments, which were kept in truly Oriental seelusion. The present pal ace of the Kremlins in Moscow is not yet sixty years old, though it contains some of the more ancient portions of the older buildings on the same site.
 It consists, beside the actual living rooms of the imperial family, of a range of magnificent state halls, named after the various noble orders of the empire. and decorated and furnished in the colors of the ribbons of each order. The halls open one into another by doors in the end walls, the outermost communicating with the grand stair, :" from the topnnost step of which, from time immemorial, the Czars of Musco- wy and Russia have shown themselves ta the folk assembled below, and which leads down to the cathedral courtyard,
 and so out to the open space beyond,
 where quite recently was erected the splendid monument to the Czar-Libe- rator, Alexander II. The largest of the halls is that of St. George, the walls of which are covered with marble slabs engraved with the names and dates of foundation of all the regiments of the Russian army, together with the names
 of all the officers holding the decora-
 tion of the George, which is the mili-
 tary order flor valor."
 Following the customary etiquette of these ceremonials in Moscow, those who attend the "Sortie' were distribu-
 ted as follows in the range of halls:
 In the first, that of the Order of St.
 Catherine, the nearest to the imperial
 apartments and, of course, the most
 honorable, where the highest officers, of state, the ladies and gentlemen of the
 imperial court. Outside this hall a
 kind of ante-room of considerable size
 intervenes between it and the other
 halls. In this room were drawn up a
 picked body of men of the Don Cos
 sacks, whose want of picturesqueness
 for their uniform is plain and business
 like, was more than made up by the
 very warlike air of these born fighting
 men. The, next hall is that of the Or
 der of St. Andrew, and here all the
 military officers were assembled. The
 splendid variety of uniforms in this
 hall was sight to be remembered.
 Following very old custom of the
 Russnan court, military officers leave
 all weapons behind when attending the
 "sortie." The ladies with right of en- tree at court who reside in Moscow had
 the next hall, that of Alexander News kly,, to themselves, and, perhaps, this
 was the prettiest sight of all. The
 dresses were of the garden party" or der-almest all of white, with hats or
 bonnets. A very few of the ladies had
 elaborate soctumes of extremely pale shades of color, and one or two were
 richly adorned with embroidery in sill
 yer, but simplicity was the prevailing
 note. Next to the Alexander Hall is the largest and finest of the whole
 range, the Hall of St. George, where were assembled the governing officials of Moscow city and province, the mo- bility, the Zemstvo officials, and the
 rest of the civil servants of highest rank of the province. It is in this hall
 that the Russian emperor by long es- tablished usage speaks to his faithful
 subjects. Here Alexander II. made his
 famous appeal to the people on the eve of the Russo-Turkish war, and here, in the moment of nations mourning in 1881, Alexander III. expressed his
 confidence in the layalty of Moscow.
 From the Hall of St. George flight of steps eads to the Hall of Vladimir, the last of the series. The flight of steps
 marks off this hall as destined for the less distinguished subjects of the Czar.
 Here were assembled the deputations of merchants, guilds, trading corpora tions, etc. The Vladimir Hall gives exit on one side by means of colon- made, where the court priesthood were
 assembled, the grand stair'.' which leads down outside the. palace to the
 cathedral courtyard. =. Such was the arrangement of the
 halls and distribution of those privi- legged to attend the "Sortie,'' when, at
 half-past ten, the imperial procession started from the apartments Preceded by chamberlains, marshals of the court, the emperor, with the em- press on his arm, passed slowly down the lines through the various halls. The emperor wore the uniform of a colonel of the Ekaterinoslav@ Grena- diers, while the empress dress was g. white robe with train, cocered with a: very rich, heavy silver net, white bon net with osprey feathers, and white feather boa. The empress led by the
 hand the Grand Duchess Olga, the eldest daughter of their majesties. Be- lio5 ay,,yarny o,,5 a,,,,,ra oa,,oa