228 City of St. Peterſburgh, andthe Ruſſian Trade.[O&-

now candidly tell you that what I have heard, obſerved, and experienced, in buſineſs ſince my arrival in this city, fully con- firms me in that ſentiment. N

The import“and export trade is here at this very time ex- tremely briſk. Britain was in extreme want of a variety of Rufſfian goods at the time when the peace was negotiated. On the other hand, as neither Ruffians nor Germans had capital to keep the manufa@ures,&c. of Ruſia alive during-the ceſſation of trade with Great Britain; the wonted goods were not to be had here at the time when the trade was again opened, and Britiſh capital poured in. Hence an incredible buſtle of manu- faQuring induſtry, throughout the weſtern and ſouth-weſt pro=-“ vinces of Ruſfia,—nor leſs în the vicinity of Archangel; anda vaſt expence on the part of the Britiſh merchants, in order to obtain the cargoes which they want of Ruffian goods, even on any conditions. It is alſo true, on the other hand, that the Ruſſians, at the moment of the peace, ſtood much in need of the wonted ſupplies of Britiſh goods. At“the laft great fairs in Germany, few merchants- from Ruffia could be preſfent,—ſuch' were the embarraflments under which the Emperor Paul had laid bis ſubjeQ@s in their commercial intercouſe with all their neighbours. The ſhops and warehouſes were empty of cottons, &c.&c. A ready fale and large prices have certainly been ob- tained for 2 part of thoſe goods with which the Engliſh have Jately, with ſo much impatience, filled the Ruffian market. But‘then long credit muſt, per force, be given; and the Ruſ- ſians have their own prices for their own produce.

It is only of St. PETERSBURGEH that I can particularly ſpeak from my own perſonal knowledge. What would you think to ſee on the Thames, no other bridges than fuch as thoſe by which the people of Peterſburgh croſs the Neva? They are bridges of boats, moored and. faſtened together, uniformly co- vered on the decks, and having at intervals draw-bridgecs to be raifed for the paſſage of boats. Theſe bridges are annually broken up in winter when the riven is frozen over. In the ſpace of two hours, any one of them may be decompoſed: when the ice(ets in, and the river is thawed at the return of ſummer z the bridges can be, within four or five days, replaced.

The ſituation of St. Peterſburgh is extrèmely low. Digging into the ground, they find the ſoil to be at the ſurfáce of a marſhy nature; undér which are ftrata of ſea-ſhells intermixed With ſm:l] water-worn ſtones,&c.

The ftreets vary in width, from fix to fifteen fathoms. Moſt of the houſts‘are of wood; and they are commonly built on con- tral, or purchaſed from maſter-builders, whò have eréCted them on ſpeculation. Glafs for the windows is often imported from Feith, in‘Scotland. The more ſumptuous houſes for the nobi- licy are of granite or marble.‘À garden, of greater or ſmaller