The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-27 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTH, JULY 25.—The Sybilie frigate,
Commodore Collier, C.B. captured, on the coast of
Africa, on the 29th April, a Spanish schooner with
291 slaves on board. The number of slaves takei,
by this frigate, with her tender (independent of
those captured by other ships under the Comma-
(lore's command), within 23 months, is 3,970
The Sybille's ship's company were in good health.
The Pallas, 42, Captain Fitz-Clarence, arrived at
Plymouth, on Saturday, from Portsmouth, on her
way to Calcutta, with the Earl of -Dalhousie (ap-
pointed Commander in Chief of the Forces in the
East Indies), and the Bishop of Calcutta.
The Galatea, 4G, Captain C. Napier, ('.8., which
left this port on the 19th of June, arrived at Ma-
deira on the 4th of July, on her passage to Jamaica,
having experienced very boisterous weather.
The Athol, 28, Captain Gordon, destined to join
the squadron on the coast of Africa, after landing
Mr. Drummond Hay, the Consul-General and
British Government Agent at Tangiers, will go out
of harbour on Monday.
The Favourite, 18, Commander Harrison, will go
out of harbour on Tuesday, and shortly afterwards
proceed to the Mediterranean.
We have been told that one of the vessels com-
posing our squadron on the coast of Africa recently
sent into Sierra Leone, a French vessel with slaves
on board, and that on her arrival there the, Captain
of a French frigate lying in the river demanded her
restitution, a demand which was resisted by the
prize master. Upon this the French frigate manned
her boats, by force of arms recaptured the slave.
and instantly proceeded to sea with her, having the
slaves and the English prize crew on board.
The Briton, 46, the Hon. Captain Gordon,
weighed yesterday morning from Spithead, and
went round Bembridge Ledge for gun practice. She
anchored off Culver Cliffs, at a distance 0' nine hun-
dred yards, and fired at a mark made by a boat's
crew, with a tar-brush, on the Cliff. After firing
several broadsides in the presence of the Com-
mander-in-Chief (Admiral the Hon. Sir Robert
Stopford), with admirable precision, she returned
to Spithead.
Lieutenant G. N. Wesley is appointed Agent of
the Sylvia transport, fitting at Deptford.

The Thames, with IGO convicts on board, will
sail in a day or two for Van Diemen's Land. The
Surrey, with two hundred convicts on board for the
same destination, has been obliged to come into har-
bour to be docked, having been on shore on the
Goodwin Sands. She has transferred her convicts
to the York hulk.

The free trader, Lady Flora, Fayrer, is hourly ex-
pected at Spithead, to embark her passengers for
Madras and Calcutta.

The depot of the 28th Regiment is ordered to
Cork from Haslar Barrack, and will proceed in the
Lord Wellington transport ; which ship will then
take part of the 34th Regiment to Halifax.
The 83d Regiment, now at Forton Barracks, is
under orders to remove to Scotland.

The Viscount Melville, Sir Georue Cockburn,
Mr. Secretary Barrow, and the Hon. Captain
Dundas, were expected at Plymouth on Thursday
evening, on an official visit.

ST. PETERSBURGII, MAY 10, 1829.

STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT, &C.

I now purpose giving you a slight sketch of
some of the principal buildings and public works
of St. Petersburgh, and as the statue of Peter
the Great is in a central situation, I shall com-
mence with this as a starting point. This ex-
traordinary monument of labour and ingenuity
was erected in 1782, by the order of the Em-
press Catherine, who entrusted the execution of
her gigantic undertaking to a Frenchman of the
name of Falcourt ; a man no less celebrated as an
engineer than as a sculptor of the first-rate talent.
M. Falcourt commenced his operations by a care-
ful examination of the environs of St. Peters-
burgh, and after considerable research, discovered
a stupendous mass of granite, half buried in the
midst of a morass. The expense and difficulty of
transporting it were no obstacles to Catherine ;
by her order the morass was immediately drained,
a road cut through a forest, and carried over the
marshy ground, and the stone which, (after it
had been somewhat reduced,) weighed 1500
tons, was removed to St. Petersburgh ; this was
accomplished by a windlass, and large friction
bails alternately placed and removed in grooves
fixed on each side of the road ; in this manner it
was drawn about four miles to the banks of the
Neva, then it was embarked in a vessel con-
structed on purpose to receive it, and thus con-
veyed to the capital. When landed it was 42
feet long at the base, 36 at the top, 21 thick,
and 17 high, a bulk greatly surpassing in weight
the most boasted monuments of Egyptian or
Roman grandeur. The statue is of bronze, of
a colossal size, and represents Peter the Great
in the attitude of mounting a precipice, and
trampling on a dragon ; the design is masterly,
the attitude of the horse is particularly bold and
spirited. But extraordinary as the thing really
is, the same effect might have been produced at
an infinitely less cost, and Catherine would have
derived more real glory had the money and
labour been expended on a work of real utility,
than has been acquired by the mere conveyance
of a huge and shapeless mass of granite from the
morass to the capital, for this, after all, is the
principal merit of the undertaking ; it is altoge-
ther an enterprise of idle parade, a much auo
about nothing ; but the Russians are fond of
these things, and are anxious that all their public
works should be on a colossal scale of grandeur
—this is particularly exemplified in the magni-
ficent

CHURCH OF ST. ISAAC,

Now building at the further end of the open
space before the Admiralty, and consequently
close to the statue of Peter. According to pre-
sent appearances this church will far eclipse the
splendid cathedral of the Casan, and so far from
being a building of an ordinary nature, must be
considered as an archjtectural enterprise un-
equalled in the present age. Some idea may be
for:tied of the prop: iety of this remark, from the
fact that there are to be four porticoes, each
consisting of sixteen columns, whilst each column.
is to consist of a solid block of granite, fifty feet-
long and six in diameter. A host of workmen
have been employed for nearly three years on
this stupendous undertaking, but so slow has
been the progress of the work, that the founda-
tions are barely visible ; nearly the whole time
has been consumed in the preparation of the
columns alone, about twelve of which are now
placed upon their pedestals, and support a tem-
porary pediment constructed of wood, that the
Emperor may form some idea what the portico
will be when completed. I hardly know which
'to admire most, the skill of the engineer, the
*strength and solidity of the scaffolding, or the power

of the machinery, which can raise such immense
'locks to such an elevation. Extensive buildings
ire erected to receive the rough masses of granite
.vhich are brought from Finland, and I saw the
men at work on some blocks, nearly thirty in-
dividuals were engaged ; so hard is tie material,
hat the pregre:;s is indescribably slow ; the
granite bears a remarkably flue polish, is of a red
colour, and when finished resembles marble. A
.lilireli intended to be built entirely of marble
was begin) in Catherine's reign, and was finish-
ed in brick by the Emperor Paul, but as in this
age of improvement the building, though ham%
some, was not considered sufficiently grand for
this splendid quarter of the capital, or in chamf—
er with the architecture of the vicinity, orders
.were issued for its demolition, a part only now
remains, the materials of which will of course be
employed in the new building ; there is a story
connected with the old church, which I believe
is a fact, though it is almost incredible that such
circumstance could- have occurred in Europe
ind during the nineteenth-century :—ln the reign
of Paul, who finished with brick what his prede—
cessor had begun with marble, a squib was cir-
culated, in which were sown silly allusions to
the Emperor, and a comparison instituted
between the Empress Catherine and himself,
in which the author had the imprudence to
hint that the character of the two Save-
Tips differed as much as the materials of,
which the respective works were composed; the
tyrant was so incensed, that he ordered the cul-
prit to have his tongue cut out, and then to be
exiled to Siberia. The facade of the senate
house forms the western side of St. Isaac's place ;
there is nothing very remarkable in the exterior
of this building, which is of a deep yellow colour;
the pillars.? and decorations are white, as' usual.
St. Isaac's. place was the principal scene of action
during the disturbances of 1826, and the senate,
and other houses, even now bear evident marks
of the briskness of the cannonade. I observed
six shot-holes in one tin water-pipe. Wo
now come to the Admiralty, which, if not the
most magnificent, is unquestionably the most
pleasing structure in St. Petersburgh ; the body
of the building is of a stone colour, with white
columns and decorations, and the architecture is
light and pleasing throughout ; it is generally
supposed that the centre wants elevation, but,
this defect is amply compensated by the extreme.
beauty of the steeple. A slender and exceedingly
lofty spire, richly gilt, rises from a square tower,
which is immediately over the grand entrance ;
the sides of' this tower are ornamented with 32
small columns of the lonic order, each cohunn
supporting a statue. The angles of the building
are also much admired, as are the two archways
fronting the Neva ; the statues, bas relief,;, and
other decorations, have all some reference to the
purposes for which the building is intended.