The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-05-21
1ou;llosonoi(lc Gb1cf.
st. Petersburg and Moscow.
lCDrrespon lence Of the CHEF.
Two Dollars a Year.

CUrrespOn lence OF the CHIEF.J
Among all the wild things talked about
In st. Petersburg society during theSfort-
night Of agitation and CONSERVATION I'M
meliatcly following the assassination OF
the Emperor, there were few SO Wild as
the fantastic project Of disestablishing
St. Petersburg as metropolis, ana
transferring the seat of government to
Moscow-the air of which ancient city
was, according to enthusiastic loyalists,
too pure to be brcathed by Nihilists.
There are four artificial capitals in the
civilized Notwithstanding, Berlin, Wash
ington and st. Petcrsbnrg-an the last
has, perhaps, the smallest amount of
3aison d'etrc of them all. That may be
freely granted. Peter the Great, whose
character seems to have been an odd
compound OF u savage Calmuck chief
and a shrewd Dutch bnrgomaster, APP
pears to have been guided in Ills selec-
ton Of the site for the capital Of which
lie intended to make ga window looking
into Europe" by some whimsical pre-
objection for the physical geography Of
of Batavian towns. The canals which
intersect St. Petersburg closely remind
YOU Of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and
the architecture OF the fortress cathedral,
with the adjoining buildings, is alto
getlcr Dutch.
Alexander 1 and Nicolas continued
with energy the great public works of
their predecessors, and not gradually,
but rather "by leaps and bounds" there
arose an astonishingly splendid ano lux
urious city, which, its splendor and lux
nry notwithstanding, is, from roof to
basement, a slam, i'll supported, as it is,
Ivy dccaying piles, in the center of a
lporass, surrounded by a barren and in
hospitable tract Of marshy territory. On
the acerbity Of the climate in winter and
the intolerablc dustiness of the streets in
summer, the EMBELLISHMENTS to for
eigncrs Of the water Of the Neya and the
virtually chronic prevalence of cholera
and tyrhus among the ill-fed and filthy
housed masses, it is needless to dilate.
With all these disadvantages st.
Petersburg has Il thoroughly metropoli-
tan cachlt and, were the curse of the no
litical deadlock lifted from it, would be
far more agreeable capital than either
Berlin OF Madrid. Moscow, on the con-
trary, although possessing population
exceeding 100000, and although clamor-
orously assertive of its rank as Il metrop-
oils, is only very large, handsome
provincial town, and | should say that
il would be about as practicable to re-
store the city of the kremlin to its an
Gent supremacy as the capital of the
aoninions Of the "Grcat Duke of Mus
covy" us it would he to compel the Rus
sian nobility to revert to the long boards
and curiously furrcd and embroidered
caftans and kalpacks worn hy the old
Boyards. If the Imperial Court, the
museums and picture galleries, the Uni
versity and Academies Of Arts and
Sciences, the National Bank and the
other departments of State, and, in par
ticnlar, the barracks and riding schools
Of the lmrc'ia l Guard, were all removed
I" Moscow, st. Petersburg would proba-
bly, in a very short time tumble to
pieces, and nobody would find it worth
his while to build it up again.
But 1T is extremely questionable
whether Russian politicians, with only
Moscow for a capital. would be quite
satisfactory. They might be yet hank
eling for "a window looking into
Europe There is such a window to be
found, looking both into Europe and
Asia, at certain place called Scraylio
Point, on the Sea of Malmora
\ march of the Russian "system" to
Moscow would practically mean an adj
vance of Russian ideas towards Coustan-
tln"plr.