Inside the Imperial Palace, Delhidetails

Here, as at Agra, the Imperial Palace is within the walls of the citadel. It is in complete preservation, and is an additional monument of the exquisite taste and munificence of Shah Jehan, the builder of the Taj. Its prominent parts are one greater and one lesser “audience-hall.” Each of these is of polished white marble, entirely open in front, and placed at such a height as to afford the emperor, sitting on the throne, not merely a view of the surrounding audience, but also a view of the procession of his vassals as they entered the great palace-gates, with all their gorgeous displays of music, soldiers, camels, and elephants. A polished white-marble throne, in each audience-chamber, is raised on a dais, six or seven feet high, of the same material. A pure white-marble canopy, supported by delicate Saracenic pillars, lends this structure a peculiar grace.

[...]

Can any one conceive a nobler spectacle than an inauguration of a President of the United States, under the eastern portico of the Capitol? Does any one know any thing in the world more shabby than the broad staging of plank and scantling on which the august ceremony is performed ? The silver ceiling and the "peacock-throne" have been removed from the throneroom at Delhi. We would rub oif now the gilding and the frescos on the walls. Having thus reduced the magnificent room to its original simplicity, we would commend it to the Congress of the United States as a model stage for the inauguration-ceremony. Bayard Taylor, more fortunate than we, saw the Mogul palace while it yet was the residence of the last of the successors of Akbar. The mutineers of ’57, inflated with their first success, proclaimed the restoration of the empire. That stipendiary yielded to ambitious persuasion. He was quickly overthrown, stripped of allowances, state, and possessions ; and we find that his heirs, loyal to the British Government, are now content with the honor of showing us, as guides, the splendor of the halls and tombs of their ancestors.

(p. 411)