The courier., 1903-03-28


are fired from the fortress Of ST. Peter
and st. Paul. in order to warn the oc-
cupants of the cellars and Easements to
seek refuge upstairs, while the naval au-
thorities set to work to establish a sys-
tenn of boat patrols for the rescue of
those in danger of drowning in the flood
ed streets. There are some who declare
that St Petersburg is destined some day
or other to be completely engulfed by the
waves. and to be swallowed up by the
waters of the gulf Of Finland. But, al
though the city has been subjected to
innumerable inundations, some of an ex-
tremely disastrous character, 1t has sur
vived all dangers to celebrate its two
hundredth birthday. and may therefore
look forward with a certain degree of
confidence to an existence of at least two
more centuries
OF course the swampy character Of its
site has from the very outset rendered
ST. Petersburg extremely unhealthful. es-
pecially at certain seasons Of the year.
In fact, there is no capital in Europe
where the death rate is so high. 1t has
been only by the most wonderful perse-
verance that the material obstacles and
difficulties presented by the marshy ma
ture of the soil have been overcome, and
until recently a law enacted by Peter the
Great was still in force. requiring every
vessel arriving at St Petersburg to bring
a quantity Of stone commensurate with
her tonnage, for use in paving the
streets and in forming the foundations of
buildings, esplanades, etc. Another law
enacted by Peter the Great and which.
of course. has long since become obsolete,
was that exacting of all proprietors Of
mere than five hundred serfs in any por-
ton Of the Russian empire to build q
house at st. Petersburg, and to spend the
winter there.
Peter actually went to the length of
issuing a ukase prohibiting, under the
most dreadful penalties, the construc-
tion of stone houses anywhere in his do
minions, save at St Petersburg, and
commanding all provincial authorities to
dispatch every stone mason on whom
they could lay hands to the new metro
polls. Not content with this, he caused
tens of thousands of his subjects to be
conveyed, without any regard to their
wishes or interests, from their homes in
even the most remote portions Of his do
minions, to his city at the mouth Of the
Neva. depopulating for the purpose
whole villages and towns. For a long
period forty thousand men were drafted
annually from other provinces to st.
Petersburg, and employed in construct
ing the new capital, Peter superin-
tending the work in person, and making
his home in a small cottage, which is
believed to have been the first building
in st. Petersburg. and which il still pre-
served on its original site and in its
pristine condition in the island citadel Of
St Peter and st. Paul, carefully protect
ed by another structure built over and
ar01nd it.
The erection Of this house was followed
by that of the fortress, which received
the name Of Petersburg, and two months
later, in June, 1908, the car laid the
foundations Of the present cathedral Of
st. Peter and st. Paul, in which all the
sovereigns of Russia, with the exception
of Peter H., are entombed, the bodies be-
ing deposited under the floor Of the ca
thedral, the marble tombs above only
marking the site of the graves. No one
will ever know the immense number of
lives sacrificed in the construction of st.
Petersburg during the reign Of Peter the
Great. Untold thousands must have
perished. For, in spite Of the enormous
numbers whom he had brought to the
city, its population at his death did not
exceed one hundred thousand 1t has
grown to-day to near a million and a
half inhabitants, in spite Of the disad-
of every kind to which 1t has
been subjected, and to its terrible NOR
tality
Two things have contributed to retain
for st. Petersburg its rank as metropolis
Of the empire. The first has been the