Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-06-27


| the granite embankment is so much danger
But the fearful thing is strong west wind, turn
ing back the flood on its way TO the Gulf. Then
il Is less the swasb If waters pouring down than
the roar of the sea coming upland when the tides
meet, the consequence is what the world saw IN
1924. The vessels that were not capsized by the
meeting of the floods were carried over the
wharyes, and stranded ON the lands which were
arabic fields the lay before.
The nine rivers and seven canals on which st.
Petersburg is seated all oyerhowed at once, and
the food poured into the upper chambers OF the
best houses of the capital. At Cronstadt large
vessel was drift into the main street of the
town and ldh thers. Every successive year adds
to the peril of such chance; for every year does
St. etersburg settle lower in the swamp. Amid
the stagnant silence maintained there about all
disagreeable facts, this very disagreeable facts
well understood. The maet is heard driving
new piles incessanty-that il sound that can
not be muhled The blocks of granite settle un-
equally, that is nm irreguarity which the marti-
net Car himself cannot prohibit or punish
The walls of palaces crack. and novels sink down
cndwnys into the bog, and all the world may see
them melt down or be shored up. The dcsiruc-
ton will be horrible some day; and every nhabi-
tant knows it, and only hopes that the place may
last his time.
But if n west wind should carry up-not the
Y,
what then! This is what the Gar Is listening for;
the one other sound-the boom of COMMONWEALTH
might for rival in terror the roar of the sea-
From Cronstadt, l6 miles off, the spre of the
Admiralty and the glittering cupoas of st.
Petersburg may be seen on a clear day. Cron-
stadt is nearer to St. Petersburg than Gravesend
is to London. From st. Petersburg the boom of
such cannon we have sent there may be heard
from Cronstadt, if we have the west wind for
harnl I.Nf,., al, 4l..t T.
will be gone and the transparent twilight of that
latitude will have set in. The admiral will then
have more time for listening like the Car.
Such chance as that wind would fill the channels
for them, and obyiate their chief difficulty. A
very few hours of such tide would suffice for
their attempt upon Cronstadt. The cun-boats
of the enemy, ambushed among the islands. and
watching with intense curiosity and awe the great
floating tortltcatonssthat have sent sganst
their stationary one, must not, in such a case,
come out unless they would be run down, and
the sentres on the bestions at Cronstadt would
sec with disnay how RAJ idly the ordinary water
marks are disappearing. Snch wind would be
the best of allies. But, without it., we are dis
posed to believe that Cronstadt is, as is now limited
from the scenes of action, ''not impregnable." -
We hear much of the shadows there; but it is
certain that the largest Russian ships of war are
built at st. Petersburg, far as the hus are
concerned, and then brought into the Cronstadt
harbor to be finished.
They brought by the old fashioned machin-
cry of ''camels'' down the river, and then by
means of the great ship canal at Cronstadt, into
tire heart of that place. That canal-The one
running from the middle Harbor-hods ten large
ships of war at once. the shadows before Acre
were thought to be an insurmountable difficulty
before ). &. Napier made wreck of that marvel
lous fortfcaton. We shall soon see whether,
with the added resources of fourteen years of ma
val Improvement he calnot deal with the shall
lows of Cronstadt. The Gar permits no sound
ing of the Neva To sound the Neva is death to
Russian subjects; but it is given out that the
age depth is nine feet on the ban, and twelve with
in. We all know what Russian figures are worth,
and we may be that the shallowest depth
that can be believed will be the one reported. We
know, too, that the range of difference between
the highest and the lowest water is very great.
and that the period of highest water is just at
| hand. Charley knows all this. and very much
mere, and while he is walking the deck and talk
ing to himself, he has his own plans for making
wind and tide serve him, we may be sure. Eve
rythng is said to the Napiers, las it gene
rally serves other people,) when they at their
work.
And the watcher at the other end of that Gulf,
who knows all this, and very much more; how is it
with him! Thus far in life, he has never heard
the truth on ethical subjects--has never doubted
his being albeit he chose his time we'll to do what
he would in and with the world Is the transpa-
rent twights of the spring night the time when
| the reality of his own mind and life is to dawn
upon him! As the fog draws,is it carrying away
the mists of passion aud dalusion which have hith-
erto clouded his mindl In that dim light do the
ghosts of his evil deeds rise before him. and prom
Use to sit heavy on his soul to- morrow Do the
hanged come down from tt 9 gallows,& the knout-
ed up from the depths of the mine; and the exil-
ed from the shores of the Polar Sea! Are the
women of Warsaw there. demanding their chill
dren with heart broken voices! Do the insane
shake their chains at him! Can noble and serf
for once speak their minds to him! Does the ''sick
man." not dead, come and show him his brawny
arm! Is this the vigil that the despot keeps while
listening for the boom of our cannonl If he is
calling all his saints and diviner beings than
saints,are but ghosts also To so great a sinner
in the hour when fear brings conviction, there is
nothing present but his sns-the whole array of
them promising to "sit heavy on his soul"