48 CEREMONIAL. 
drawn by eight horses, and escorted by a troop 
of guards in handsome uniforms, arrived at the 
principal church. A number of carriages, con- 
taining the suite of the Imperial pair, followed, 
all at a slow pace, that the people might have 
more time to enjoy the spectacle. 
At some distance from the door, the Emperor 
and Empress alighted, and entered the church in 
procession, surrounded by the Knights of the 
Southern Cross; they were met by the Bishop and 
the whole body of the clergy, and conducted with 
great pomp to a throne erected at the right side of 
the altar, which the Emperor ascended, while his 
consort took her place in a pew on the left. After 
the service, performed by a good choir to ex- 
cellent music, the Bishop came forward and de- 
livered a very long discourse, descriptive of the 
various virtues of the Emperor, comparing him to 
Peter the Great of Russia, and pointing out how 
he ought to administer the government for the 
good of his subjects. | The comparison he was 
pleased to institute between the monarch and his 
illustrious namesake is only so far just, as, in 
the uncultivated state of the two nations, both 
have had similar materials to work upon. Whe- 
