Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/261

Rh ever been witnessed. The corps of cadets, four regiments of guards, and ten thousand of the troops composing the garrison of St. Petersburgh, were drawn up in a line from the imperial palace to the Church of St. Alexander Newski, where the remains of Peter III. were deposited. The Emperor, with all his family, betook himself thither at a very early hour; and as soon as the day dawned, that is to say, at ten o'clock, the procession began. It was opened by a detachment of horse-guards, then came a detachment of the cadets, and four companies of guards; after them the different departments of government, each having its minister at its head, followed by sixty heralds, armed cap-a-pie, each leading a caparisoned horse, entirely covered with black cloth; each of those heralds represented one of the governments or provinces of which the Russian empire is composed; the horses wore escutcheons or coats of arms. With what sorrow did I perceive the escutcheons of the provinces lately wrested from Poland! Those heralds proceeded in a file, one after