Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/254

248, pearls, emeralds, garnets, and other jewels which are fastened to it.

"The attendant left us quite alone in the room with all these valuables the guide said this was the custom, but that we were by no means out of sight. Through holes in the ceiling watchful eyes were said to be peering Ind any attempt to open the cases and remove the valuables would result in serious consequences. How much truth there was in his statement we do not know. We looked at the ceiling, but could not see any peep-holes, but for all that they may have been there.

"You wonder how it happened that the French did not carry away the treasures of the Kremlin when they retreated from Moscow. The fact is, most of the treasures were removed to Nijni Novgorod as the French advanced, and when they arrived there was not a great deal to plunder They carried off many things, which were afterwards recaptured by the Russians during the retreat and restored to their places, but it was not until the French were completely out of the country that the valuables and relics which had been carried to Nijni Novgorod were returned.

"The invaders hacked at some of the frames of the holy pictures in the Church of the Assumption, and the marks of their knives are still visible In the Cathedral of the Annunciation the French stabled then-horses, and the other churches were used as barracks by the troops. The Kremlin was mined in several places, but the explosions did very little damage. Probably the French officers who had charge of the mining were in a great hurry and did not attend properly to their work.

"Our guide was a Russian; and after he had told us about the use of the cathedral as a stable, he led the way to the spot where the cannon captured from the French in the retreat are exhibited. ’There,' said he, ’are eight hundred and seventy-five cannon which were captured in the retreat of the Grand Army; three hundred and sixty-five of them-one for every day in the year-are French, one hundred and eighty-nine are Austrian, and the rest are from the various troops allied with the French at that time Altogether they weigh about three hundred and fifty tons. A Frenchman proposed that they should be melted down and cast into a memorial column, but the Russians think they are better just as they are.

"We agreed with him that it was very natural a Frenchman should make such a proposal and the Russians reject it. An amusing thing is that some of the guns bear the names ’Invincible,' 'Eagle,' 'Conqueror,' ’Triumph,' and the like, quite in mockery of their captive condition.

"Doctor Bronson said he was reminded of an incident that is said to