THE FUNERAL OF THE LATE CZAR.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3085, 17 May 1881, Page 4

THE FUNERAL OF THE LATE CZAR.

(As told by George A. Sala.)

It was a most wondrous sight, to behold that black sea of hats and caps, transformed into an immense expanse of pale upturned faces. The funeral car was a bier of ebony and silver on wheels, with heavily carved silvered spokes ; a superstructure of black and silver, the whole canopied by superb material, encircling the columns of the bier. The coffin of the illustrious deceased was almost hidden by a golden pall lined with white satin, and the vast car itself was drawn by eight horses, completely shrouded in sable draperies. . Alone, behind the bier of his murdered sire, walked his son, the Emperor Alexander 111.

The centre of the nave of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul was filled by a huge catafalque of cloth of gold, lined with ermine, rising to the very roof of the edifice. Beneath this was a dais of three grades, covered with crimson velvet, while the surrounding pillars of the catafalque were shrouded alternately in draperies of. cloth of gold and cloth of silver, bearing the monogram of tho lamented Czar - In accordance with Russian custom, black draperies are but scantily employed in the interior of churches; so that a stranger, on entering the Cathedral at noon to-day, might almost have imagined that the preparations made ■were intended for a wedding, arid not for a funeral. On all sides, from walls, columns, and doors, sprang gilt sconces of many branches, enriched with tne Imperial arm* and filled with lighted tapers. Bishops, priests, and deacons, in their capes of. sable velvet, stiff with silver embroidery, choristers and acolytes in their cassocks of black serge. now stood in readiness, expectant and immobile, and there was dead silence. Then mutely filed into the church a great body of officers of superior rank, bearing on cushions, decorations, crosses, badges, crowns, sceptres, and diadems ; but all intermingled in such glittering, glistening confusion, that I can only liken it to some swollen river, full of gold and silver, fresh flowing into a sea of lapis lazuli and diamonds. First the Imperial regalia were ranged in order upon the topmost steps of the dias ; and then followed tbe body of the deceased Czar, in a sumptuously gilt coffin, which was borne by the Grand Dukes Constantino. Nicholas, Vladimir, Paul, and Bergins, and his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, was reverently placed exactly beneath the centre of the dome of the catafalque. The Emperor and his brothers having removed the lid of the bier, the face and upper part of the body of the dead Czar, attired in the uniform of the Preobraejenski Guard regiment were exposed to view. The Emperor Alexander 111, placing himself with the Empress and the Imperial children at the head of the coffin, Ihe priests and choristers intoned the lugubrious dirges of the Russian funeral service, while the Metropolitan handed to each person present a lighted taper, and the deacons asperged the church with holy water. The scene was one of great splendour. At the lectern stood a blackrobed priest reading the words of the Gospel in the sonoi'ous Sclavonian Russian liturgy. At the four, corners of the catafalque stood as many aides-de-camp general. Motionless on the steps of the dais were guards of the military cadets. In the midst of all splendour lay the murdered sovereign with a ghastly upturned face and folied hands. The lower part of the body was completely hidden under a heap of fresh flowers deposited by loving hands. When the service was concluded, Alexander 111., kneeling on one knee, kissed the hand of his dead father. The Empress followed his example. Then, bowing slightly to the persons in the vicinity, the Imperial couple left the cathedral. The Duchess of Edinburgh and the Grand Duchesses present were successively conducted to the coffin to pay their last tribute of love and reverence to the murdered Sovereign. Then followed all the Imperial and Koyal mourners, the foreign Princes, and the members of the Corps Diplomatique. They gazed awhile afc the features, which although altered, were yet easily recognisable. Then stooping, they kissed with reverence the hand that had signed the liberation of 40,000,000 serfs. There the corpse will lie in state until -afcurday in the shadow of the christened columns that stand about the plain-topped tombs of white marble. Beside the tomb of the late Empress is a vacant space where, according to his expressed •wish, will repose the remains of Alexander 11. for ever.

Sala sends a ghastly description of the late Czar's appearance after embalming, as shown by the photographs offered for sale in St. Petersburg. He says that the features are seen in profile, the left side of the face exposed. The sparse hair has been carebi'Ushed from the temples, and the grizzled moustache and whiskers carefully trimmed and kempt; but the eyes are mere sunken wreoks, and theje seems to have been a dire wound on the cheek, the marks of which have been partially concealed by art. The bead reposes on a pillow of white satin. The body is clothed in a green uniform tunic of the Preobraejenski Guai'd, with massive epaulettes of gold bullion. The right hand is partly bent, and rests peacefully on the breas l , close to the medallion of some image sacred to the Russo-Greek communion. But with this head and torso ends, they say, all that remains of the "mortal coil" of Alexander 11., there being nothing more of the shattered form for craftsmen of tho old Fgyptian mystery to work their gloomy skill upon. From the trunk downward the destruction caused by the explosion has been thorough. Another correspondent gives the following details relating to the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh : —The Duchess of Edinburgh bears her great loss with characteristic fortitude. On her arrival last week, and after visiting the chamber of death, she was greatly overcome, and sleep refused to assuage her grief. Next morning, however, she visited tho. Princess Urifatt and remained more than an hour. In the evening, the Duke and Duchess, incognito, paid a visit to the spot when the fatal bomb struck the Emperor. r,, his is now enclosed and planted with cyprus trees at each corner, the intervening space being covered with memorial wreaths, with an ikon or sacred picture placed at one end, a silver lamp before it. Here the Duchess remained praying for some minutes. The people standing near seeing a lady in deep mourning kneeling in the snow, were much moved. The spot, as might be expected, is visited by crowds daily It may be from natural or morbid curiosity on the part of some, but also of unaffected reverence and esteem on the part of others. The municipality has decided to build a memorial church on the spot, in accordance with the wish of Alexander 111.