A SINKING CITY.

Press, Volume XVIII, Issue 2553, 7 July 1871, Page 3

A SINKING CITY.

Ifc is ascertained upon the most reliable information that, according to present indications, the great city of the Czar of all the Russias, St. Petersbur", in fifty years will have ceased to exist. Startling as this may sound, the fact is based upon reliable scientific examinations of the soil upon which the city is built, which ie found to be sinking, imperceptibly to be sure, but with premonitory and fearful regularity. So fully is this fact established, that already steps are being taken prior to the permanent removal of the Court. Moscow, from its central position, would seem to offer the most preferable future location, for the Seat of Government; 'nut there are many for believing {hat a preference mtay'Ke shown for the fortified city of Ken', which has the advantage of climate, ia near the Black Sea, and is a step forward towards the Mecca of Russia's Czar, Constantinople.

Jt may be that, it was this anticipated removal of the Court that recently led the Czar to elevate Kiev, or Kiew, to the dignity of the third capital of Russia in Europe. Although not bo centrally situated as Moscow, being 670 miles south of !St. Petersburg, and 490 miles south-west of Moscow, it is beautifully situated on the banks of the Dnieper. It is an ancient and extensive city, with a noble University, and the venerable cathedral of St. Sophia, and is at present the official residence of the Governor of Little Russia, a district including eight provinces, wilh an aggregate population of 13,000,000. Yet the suggested future capital of Russia, Kiew, has only a population of 50,000. While objected to only on account; of its geographical position, it must, be borne in mind that the present capiial ia even still more remote from the centre of the Empire, being situated in the north-western extremity. The cause of this gradual sinking of the great city is easily accounted for from the pages of history, which tells us that ifc was built in the reign of Peter the Great, upon piles driven into a swamp.