Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1852-1852, 1852-04-09
ST. Petersburg.


commanding the entrance to Lake Ladoga, it was
military position of some Importance, and the
Swedes had long maintained there fortress, the
possession of which had been often unavaillngIy
contested by the Russians, nip to l1O3, when
Peter the Great made himself master OF 1t. lie
determined to found upon this desolate spot the
future capital of his vast empire and atonce COM
menced the task, without waiting for peace to
confirm the possession of the Site lie assem-
h.cd a vast number of the peasantry from every
.,uarter of his empire, and pushed forward the
work with the energy of an iron will armed with
absolute power. The surrounding country rava-
ged by long years of war; could furnish no sup
plies for these enormous masses, and the conveys
which brought them across Lake Ladoga were
frequently detained by contrary winds. LII fed
and worse lodged, aboring in the cold and wet,
multitudes Welded to the hardships, and the
foundations of the new metropolis were laId at
the cost of hundred thousand lives, sacrificed in
less than six months.
With Peter to will was to perform; he will
ed that capital city should be built and inha-
b;ted. and built and inhabited it was. In April,
17l4, a ukase was issued directing that all build
ings should be erected in a particular manner;
another, three months later ordered large num-
Der of mobiles and merchants to erect dwellings
in the new city. I'm few months more another
ukase prohibited Che erection of any stone man-
sion in any other portion of the empire, while the
enterprise of the capital was in progress and that
the lack of building materials should be no OBJ
stacle, every vessel, whether large or small, and
every peasants car which came to the city, was
ordered to bring certain specified nunbar OF
building stone. The work undertaken with such
rigid determination, and carried on with such re-
morseless vigor by Peter, was continued III the
same unfinching spirit by his successors; and
the result was the present St. Petersburg, with
its aspect more imposing than that of any other
city on the globe, but bearing in its bosom the
elements of its own destruction, the moment 1t
is freed from the control of the iron will, which
created and now maintains "a fitting type
and representative of the Russian Empire.
The whole enterprise of founding and main
tanning st. Petersburg was and is a struggle
against nature The soil isa marsh so deep and
spongy that a solid foundation can be attained
only by constructing subterranean Seattoldng
of piles Were it not for these the city would
sink into the marsh like 4 stage ghost through
the trap door Every building Of any nlagn-
tude rest ON lies; the granite quays winch hne
the Neva re S on pile. Th4 very foot pave
ments cannot be laid upon the ground, but must
be supported by p les. A great commercial city
is maintained, the harbor of which is as nacces
sible to ships, for six months in the year. as the
c,nt of the DIS ,rt of Sahara. In the ne shbor-
ing country no part produces any thing for hu
man sustenance save the Ncva, which furnishes
ice and fish, The severity of the climate is most
destructive to the erections of human hands;
and St. Petersburg, Notwithstanding its gay sum-
mer appearance, when it emerges from the win
ter frosts, resembles superannuated belle at the
close of the fashionable season; and can only be
put in proper visiting order BY the assiduous ser
vices of hosts of painters and piasterers Leave
the capital for half century to the unrepared
ravages of its wintry climate, and it would need
Layard to unearth its monuments.
But sure as are the wasting inroads of time
and the climate, St. Petersburg is in daily peril
of an overthrow whose accomplishment would re-
oure but few hours. The Gulf Of Finland
forms vast funnel pointing eastward, at the en-
tremity of which stands the city. No portion OF
the city is fifteen feet above the ordinary level Of
the water A strong westerly wind, blowing di-
rectly into the mouth of the funnel. piles the wa
ter up so as to lay the lower part Of the city un
der water. Water is as much dreaded here, and
as many precautions are taken against it, as i'll
the case of fire in other cities. In other cities
alarm signals announce a conflagration; here
thev give notice of an nundation. The firing
of an alarm gun from the Admiralty, at intervals
Of an hour, denotes that the lower extremes Of
the islands are under water, when flags re hung
out from the steeples to give warning Of danger.
When the water reaches the streets, alarm guns
are fired every quarter more and more freq lent,
until minute guns summon boats to the assis-
tance Of the drowning population.
So much for the lower jawof the monster that
lies in wait for the Russian capital; now for the
upper Lake Ladoga, which discharges its wa
tiers through the Neva, is frozen over to an cnor-
nous thickness during the long winter The
rapid northern spring raises its waters and loscns
the ice simultaneously; when the waters of the
Gulf are at their usual level, the accumulated
ice and water find an easy outlet down the broad
and rapid Neva. But let strong west wind
heap up the waters of the Gulf Just as the break
ing up of Lake Ladoga takes place, and the. wa
ters from above and below would suffice to inun-
date the whole city, while all its palaces, monu-
ments, and temples would be crushed between
the masses of ice, like Captain Ahab's' boat
in theivory jaws of 'Moby Dick Nothing is
more probable than such a coincidence. 1t often
Al c -