RUSSIA.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXI, Issue 76, 6 September 1862, Page 4

RUSSIA.

Incendiarism still prevails, not only at St. Petersburg, but in other cities of Russia. Advices from Odessa state that on the night between the sth and Bth instant various large conflagrations took place. Storehouses of grain and other produce were destroyed, and great consternation prevailed. These fires are attributed to political motives, and supposed to be caused by the secret societies that do not think the Imperial Government is advancing rapidly enough in the path of reform. The measures taken by the Government tend to confirm the suspicion. The governors of provinces are authorised to declare martial law against incendiaries, and to sentence them without appeal to the Emperor. A special decree empowers them to punish with sentence of death any person or persons found guilty of murder, pillage, or attempt to destroy the crops. St. Petersburg, June 22. — The Invalide Russe, publishes an Imperial decree, closing all the military Sunday schools, on account of their having inculcated seditious principles. Attempts having been made to induce the troops to break their oath of allegiance, the admission of strangers to the barracks is prohibited.

A correspondent of the London Examiner, writing from St. Petersburg on the 10th June, gives the following interesting account of the destructive fires in that city :—: —

Within the last fortnight, no less than twenty-seven large fires have occurred, each of them more destructive and complete than the other, culminating the day before yesterday in one of the most extensive and destructive fires of modern times. The centre of the city is, or was, occupied by an immense market place or bazaar, with many other marts for merchandise in close proximity. In the morning, at twelve o'clock, all these were in full operation, with their countless crowds of buyers and sellers, and well stocked shops and warehouses, stalls, and booths. At twelve o'clock next day not a vestige of them remained but smouldering ruins and burning ashes, the thousand houses of all sorts (the principal one being the great Government building occupied by the Minister of the Interior), standing on 35,000 sajeens (a sajeen, seven feet square) of ground, and, at a low computation, fifteen million of roubles worth of property were all totally and irretrievably destroyed in lees than ten hours. As very little of all this was insured, many thousands are ruiued ; the loss falling on landlords and tenants, shopkeepers, and those merchants who supply them with goods. Imagine a place three-quarters of a mile square, closely packed with houses, booths, shops, warehouses, teeming, as it does continually, with ten thousand human beings amusing themselves or doing business, blazing and crackling, foaming and crashing, as the gusts of wind came roaring through the frail tenements with the force of a thousand blast furnaces, and all at nearly the same time. Imagine the streets in the neighbourhood piled up with valuable goods thrown out at the first alarm, these also blazing and burning, and setting fire to the houses beside them ; groups of hundreds of house- [ leBB, ruined, burned-out wretches making their beds on the hard flags in the adjoining squares and porticops of churches ; hundreds of magnificent equipages, with armorial bearings and silver mountings, brought out and ruthlessly thrown into the Fantanka Canal, to save them from the fire 5 barges laden with the houseless destitute floating in the canal ; processions of priests going round witli their golden crosses, muttering prayers and uselessly crossing themselves ; the Emperor himself going amongst the heart-stricken crowds of paralyzed sufferers, weeping tears of pity and compassion, and helplessly looking on at the dreadful havoc. See all the carts and vehicles of Petersburg, loading and carrying away the half-burnt wet and muddy goods thrown into the streets, the firemen and engines only adding confusion to the awful scene, the houses around the market-place burning on all its four sides, and the market-place itself, as far as one can see, a vast fiery furnace, seven times heated ; the inhabitants of the city crowded spectators of the conflagration from every available point, and the city beyond silent as the grave. That was something like the scene from ten till two o'clock, when the fire, simply for the want of material, and the wind failing, began gradually to lessen ; and, towards six o'clock gave sure signs of coming exhaustion. This is the third day since then, and in places it is still burning. Five houses, large ones, in another locality, near the horse market, were consumed yesterday, and two fires of some magnitude have taken place to-day. The city is in a state of panic. Polish incendiarism is spoken of as the cause of all this fire : many arrests have been made. The great market place, where the most stylish shops are, called the Gostino dvor, is closed to all but those connected with it ; the doorkeepers and keepers of court yards are ordered to keep all the gates closed day and nighr, and to admit none but known persons ; extra sentinels are placed at all public and Government buildings, and the proprietors of houses have placed watchmen specially to give the alarm of fire. Not a soul in Petersburg goes to bed but with the fear of being aroused by the Braell and roar of this terrible enemy before morning. It is positively asserted, but I cannot vouch for it, that letters were sent to several of the merchants that this great fire was to take place at the time it did, and that the Gostino dvor and others would follow in three days. At one period, while the wind was high, appearances indicated a general conflagration all over

the city ; tho fire leapt the Fantanka canal, seized on the first house and a timber yard, and in two hours swept clown two streets on both sides ; at this time the whole of the fire engines in Moscow (500 miles away), and all tho towns within telegraph reach, were ordered to Petersburg ; these arrived next day, only to be hurried back to Moscow, to attend four fires that had taken the liberty to break out in their absence. The scene of this fire is worth a few words of description, I mean what it was ; now, we can only say it does not exist. I visited it to-dny, and a scene of more utter ruin and desolation I never saw, and certainly never wish to see again. The Apraxin dvor, the Tarkoochy Renic, or as the English here characteristically called it, the Loose market, was an open square, covering perhaps fifteen acres, and surrounded on all sides by houses, shops, warehouses, and magazines. It was closely packed with lines of wooden booths, running in all directions, with narrow passages, turning, winding, and twisting in the most confused and disorderly manner, many a stranger has found it easier to get in than get out"; in fact, without a guide, the labyrinth nt Hampton Court is nothing to the Tarkoochy. Here was to be found almost everything under the sun but an honest man. Some of the wealthiest native merchants in Petersburg had their- establishments here and in the adjoining warehouses, and certainly some of the poorest also, who transacted business on a stock of two old handkerchiefs, an old coat, two pairs of boots, and a red umbrella. The dealers, rich and poor, are a set of the most arrant bargaindrivers in the world, and this is the place where the light-fingered gentry most did congregate. The feat said to take place occasionally in a certain street in London where you miss your watch or handkerchief at one end, and find it tiaketed for sale by the time you reach the other, was here a performance of everyday occurrence. Here, also, came the household servants of St. Petersburg, and those employed in factories and workshops, to dispose of pilfered goods. If one happened to lose any pet household article, he went to the Tarkoochy, and could buy it back for a trifle. I have books witli my own name upon them, and I have some with the name of Lord Wodehouse, the English Ambassador, on them, bought there. Did you want one hundred tons of lead, or an anchor for a seventy-four ; steam-engines and all their connections, power-looms or spinning-jennies, furniture of every description in vast variety, feathers, mattresses, pillows, carts, carriages, droskies, bar iron, or needles ; pictures or perfumery, furs or clothes of any age and make, old iron, joiners' tools, kitchen utensils, stoves, musical instruments of any class, from the bagpipe to the pianoforte, tons of old and new nails, chisels or weighing-machines, together with any number and size of smavoras (tea-urna), castor-oil, tea, turpentine, train-oil, or treacle ; books in immense loads in every language since Adam ; music by the hun-dred-weight; silks, satins, calicoes, and linens by the ton, these, and ten thousand other articles, were all heaped in the stalls, booths, and shops of the bearded rascals who there drove a roaring trade in buying and selling amongst the middle and poorer classes of the community, in the very centre of that great and varied market, closely adjoining the principal Joss, or image, who must have been napping at the moment when the fire began. Of course, as in all other market places in Russia, no fire was ever permitted here, no smoking, no match ; and yet, on Monday evening, I saw all this mass of varied materials one entire heap of burning lava, the iron (old and new), copper, zinc, lead, brass, and steel, melted and fused into one mighty field of fire.

The following letter from St Petersburg, of the 14th inst, announces further incendiary nres: — " A despatch from Novogorod of the 11th instant informs us that, on the Bth, half the town of Borovitchi had fallen a prey to the flames. The cause of the fire had not been ascertained. Another despatch from Tchernigov, the chief town of the government of that name, dated the 12th, states that an alarming fire had taken place during the night, by which many houses, and shops were reduced to ashes. A report was current here that incendiary fires had taken place in Moscow, but fortunately the rumour was unfounded. It appears certain that the calamity which has befallen St. Petersburg was the work of incendiaries. A corps of volunteers, to the number of 50,000 men, has been formed in this city for the purpose of assisting the firemen, and of preventing any further catastrophe. A committee of assistance was formed after the first fire to supply the victims of the calamity with the necessaries of life. The Emperor and the Royal family have subscribed 54,000 roubles. The most absurd reports are current as to the cause of the fires. The students of the University of St Petersburg, which was closed some months since by order of the Government, are accused by the lower classes. I need not tell you that there is no pretext for such an accusation."