The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1854-06-23
From fAs London Daily Teps.
THE ICE.BURST on THE NEVA.

4 4x46 S&s 4ASs 49,
The crises of tho Bal;io enterprise seems
near at hand. Under dats Of Sd Of May we
hear of bitter cast winds and thick.nlling
snow; Of ihe 9Th, Of Stockholm steamers
running, With crowds Of oitissns to SEQ the
Aeet; on the 5th Of fog 90 thick that the
ships could not stir. In Finland, meantime,
the season l. mild, and Vegetation 10 rapidly
advancing. The month OF May 10 always
tho season for suspense at st Petersburg
tho time whom IT'D said the restless Gar,
who sleeps unly by suatches, looks out or
GOES farth, alninst beiore anybodr else 10
stirring, to observe the aspec, of his watery
realm, nnd see whirh wny the wind is The
suspense 10 about the wind and even now.
in this most solemn spring season Of all the
| tifty.seven he has known, the movements oi
the wind IL Of more consequences to Nicholas
than even those Of The allies. A long con-
tinuation Of strong east winds would do moro
for him than all the preparations hs ean
mako. A rush of west wind would ruin him
more speedily and thofouyhiy than all his
united enemies could without its help. Th"
suspense 10 about this. The fog Is The token
that the crises 10 at hand The fog precedes
the breaking up Of the ica in the Neva and
il will be succeeded by those singular twi-
light nights, ofunequalled beauty, which are
the only charm Of the desolate region in
which ST. Petersburg stan ls. While the
fog lasts the sentinels ON the watch-towers in
tho city look out in vain, some towards Lake
Ladosa. some up the Neva, some toward The
sen. They c,n lear something, but sec
nothing. So it is with the Car, listening
in his balcony and with the commandants
ut Sw"aborg and at Cronstadt, and perhaps
with our Charley walking he deck and
talking to himself. What he j. listening for
is the arrival Of The French squadron. which
will enable him to proceed to his work when
the fox curtain rises. What the Russians
are listening for is, FIRST, the wind. 10 some
it comes, signing over the peatv plains which
stretch to the margin OF the gull whence they
look like mere DRIFT upon the waters
Over that barren bleak expanso the wind
comes sighing through the rushes. with M
occasional ba k Of The wolf. or bursts OF the
din of the waterfowl in the pools which are
already melted. To o,hers the wind comes
vibrating like mournful music through the
pine forests. which. surrounding tho capital
with their black belt, nowhere further III than
twenty miles, approach much nearer in some
directions.
There are sounds which come to The car
in Mny nights when the wind is from my
point Of the compass for there nre swamps
and pine forests everywhere. 1t is the voiee
of the wuters that the watchers listen for
with hearts that stand still. As long Us the
hollow moaning 2oes on, The moaning OF
the imprisoned winds below the ice, the sus
pense is complete: Sooner or later comes
the cIack which tells thai the hour OF crises
has come. The cracks of the ice are natu.
rally the most impressive aud sound the
oudesl in the night. The Car and his sen.
tries are on the watch but now the citizens
rise, and look out in vain through the fog.
Soine dress and go to the wharves, though
il Is much too soon to conjecture how high
tho waters will Iise. Next comes the crash
Of the ice, driven up in heaps in tho river,
or against the wharves: and then The more
anxious sound-the swash Of the driven wiz
tcrs.-The thing most desired is u moderate
east win1-and this is what usually happens.
A violent east wind brings down tho inland
ice much too fast. and every inch that the
water rises above the iron rings in the gran
ito cmbankment is 81 much danger. But
The fearful thing is strong west wind,
turning back the food On its way to the
Gulf.
There is less The swash Of waters pouring
down than the roar of tho sea coming in
and when the tides meet, the consequence is
what the world saw in 1894. The vessels
that were not capsized by the meeting of the
floods. were carried over the wharves and
stranded on the sands (which were arabic
fields the day before. The nine rivers and
seven canals on which st. Petersburg is seat
I'd, all overHowed at once, and the flood
poured into the upper chambers Of tho best
houses in the capital. At Cronstadta large
vessel was drifted into The main street in the
town, and left there. Every successive year
adds 10 the peris Of such chance for CIV.
cry year does st. Petersburg settle lower
III the swamp.
Amid the stagnant silence maintained
there about all disagreeable facts, this very
disagreeable fact is we'll understood. The
malleI is heard driving new piles incessant.
ly-that is sound that cannot be mualed.
The blocks Of granite settle unequally; that
is an irregularIty which The marinet Car
himself canno' prohibit or punish. The walls
of palaces crack, and novels sink down end.
WAYS into the bog, and all the world may
$40 them melt down OF he shored ub. The
destruction will be horrible some day and
ey ry inhabitanl knows il, and only hopes
that the place may last this time. But II al
west should carry up-not the sea only, but
those who ure now riding that sea-what
Them Thisis what the Car is listening
for the one other sound-the bo0m OF can.
non-which might for once rival in terror
the roar Of the sea. From Cronstadt, l6
miles off, The spire Of the Admiralty and
the @ ittering cupalos Of St. Petersburg may
be seen on clear day. Cronotadt is nearer
10 St Petersburg than Gravesend Is to Lon-
don. From st. Petersburg the boom Of s,ch
cannon ns we have sent there may he heard
from Cronstadt, if we have tho west wind
for our herald OF approach. BY that time
The fog will be gone aud the transparent twi.
light Of that latitude will have set in. The
admirals will then have no more time for
Listening like the Gar. Such chance as
TIM, wind would fil The channels for thom.
and obyiate their chief difficulty. A very
few hours Of such tito would suffice for
their attempt upon Crunstadt. The gun.
boats Of the enemy. ambushed among the
islands. and watching with intense curiosity
and awe the great Coating forti6cations that
we have sent against their stationary ones,
must not In such case. come out, unless
they would he run down, and the scntries
on the bastions at Cronstadt would see with
dismay how rapidly the ordinary watermarks
are disappearing Such wind would be
the best Of allics. But without Il, wo arc
disposed to believe that Cron.tadt is, as Is
now limited from the scene Of action, not
impregnable." We hear much Of the shal.
lows there; but It is certain that the largest
Russian ships Of war are built at St. Peters,