254 EUSSIA IN EUEOPE. 



Few cities of modern times have had a more chequered history ; yet Warsaw 

 has never ceased to grow in size and population. Were it freed from the lines of 

 fortifications and semicircle of custom-houses by which its development is hampered, 

 there is no doubt that, lying nearest as it does to the geometrical centre of the 

 continent, it would soon rank amongst the first cities in Europe. Although crossed 

 by one of the main continental lines of railway, its local railway system is still 

 inadequate to the requirements of its trade. It is also frequently threatened by 

 the floating ice on the Vistula, and the suburb of Praga, the gardens and villas on 

 the river, often present a scene of ruin and desolation. 



Built in crescent shape on the western slope of the stream whose waters and 

 wooded islets it commands from a height of about 100 feet, Warsaw has at its 

 central point the old royal palace, surrounded by terraced gardens, rising imme- 

 diately above the river bank. From this palace, now containing a library and an 

 art collection, the main avenues, flanked b}^ palatial residences and public buildings, 

 radiate in various directions. The old town, with its narrow streets, stretches 

 northwards, encircled, so to say, by the numerous barracks adjoining the castle and 

 citadel. On the south are the new quarters, pierced by broad thoroughfares. A 

 railway viaduct and a magnificent bridge of seven arches cross the yellow waters 

 of the Vistula, connecting the city with the suburb of Praga, which has become 

 so memorable from the sanguinary assaults of Suvarov in 1794, and Paskievitch 

 in 1831. 



The University, founded in 1816, and closed after the insurrection of 1830 and 

 1831 till 1861, contains, besides a library of 313,000 volumes, extensive collections 

 of all sorts, an observatory, and a botanic garden. Pussian is the medium of 

 instruction, and it lacks many privileges enjoyed by other imperial Universities. 

 Other educational establishments are the School of Arts and a conservatoire of 

 music. The chief museum is that of the Society of Fine Arts, and the finer 

 quarters are adorned by statues, amongst which is that of Copernicus, erected in one 

 of the handsome squares " by his fellow-citizens." 



Warsaw is distinguished for its industrial and commercial activity. Numerous 

 spinning and weaving mills, tobacco factories, distilleries, breweries, tanneries, 

 soap works, foundries, hardware, furniture, and piano factories yield an annual 

 produce estimated at nearly £3,000,000 in 1877, and employing about 10,000 

 hands. The neighbouring factory of Zyrardowska, so named in honour of Philippe 

 de Girard, almost monopolizes the manufacture of table-linen in Poland, producing 

 about £160,000 worth yearly. 



The trade of Warsaw is chiefly in the hands of the Jews, who are here more 



numerous and increase more rapidly than in any other city in the world.* One of 



the staples of trade is wool, the sale of which amounted in 1879 to £112,000. But, 



with all its wealth, many quarters of the city are verj^ unhealthy, and inhabited by 



a squalid and sickly population, though even these are surrounded by pleasure 



* Relative number of Jews and Christians in Warsaw : — 



I860 .... 118,000 Christians; 43,000 Jews, or 38 per cent. 

 1869 .... 121,000 „ 68,000 „ 36 „ 



1877 .... 206^300 „ 102,250 „ 33 „ 



