ST. PETEESBUEG. 335 



On the shores of Ladoga the two Lirgest places are Novnija Lfid(>ga, at the 

 mouth of the Volkhov, and Schlmselhurg, at the outflow of the Neva, both 

 connected Avith each other not only by the lake, but also by two navigable canals 

 skirting its south coast, the former dating from the time of Peter the Great, the 

 latter recently completed on a much larger scale and without locks. The Putilovo 

 cliffs, on the south side of these canals, consist of sandstone rocks, whence 

 St. Petersburg drawls a large quantity of the material used in the building of its 

 houses, monuments, and thoroughfares.* AW the craft j)lying on the lake and 

 canals pass under the guns of Schliisselburg, formerly Orekhoviy, founded by the 

 Novgorodians in 1323, held by the Swedes till 1702, and now one of the most 

 dreaded State prisons in the empire. Standing on the left bank of the Neva at 

 the outlet of the canals, Schliisselburg is a sort of advanced suburb of the capital 

 on the lake, though little has been done to improve the navigation of these Avaters 

 since the Novgorod and Swedish tenure. 



No conqueror ever showed more daring than did Peter when he removed his 

 new capital 360 miles from the old metropolis to a quagmire surrounded by dreary 

 wastes, and the very foundations of which had to be fixed by whole armies before 

 a sinjïle buildino' could be erected. These w^orks w^ere for all Russia the 

 beginning of an organized system of forced labour, and in the four years between 

 1712 and 1716 over 150,000 workmen Avere transported to the Neva marshes, 

 AA'here most of them perished of fever, hunger, and various epidemics. In order to 

 drive all stonemasons throughout fhe land to seek employment in St. Petersburg, 

 the building of stone edifices was elsewhere forbidden under penalty of confiscation 

 and banishment. All nobles also, owners of not less than thirty serf f\xniilies, 

 received orders to raise metropolitan mansions for themselves on plans and scales 

 determined according to the rank of each. The treacherous ground on A^'hich 

 Peter thus planted his capital in defiance of man and nature had only been just 

 torn from the enemy, and, by the very fact of taking his stand in foreign territory 

 over against SAvede and German, he became committed to a ceaseless aggressive 

 struggle. Nor was he satisfied with " opening a window on the AA'est," but also 

 seized the lands stretching in advance of his new edifice. In order to change into 

 a natural equilibrium the artificial equilibrium created by this step, the conquest 

 of Finland, Esthonia, Livonia, Kurland, Lithuania, and Poland became a necessity 

 of State, and this is the reason why the policy of Peter has been so faitlifully 

 adhered to by his successors. 



In other respects also this city was a necessary element in the organized 

 development of the empire. It was, so to say, the city of Novgorod removed to 

 the mouth of the Neva, but, except in regard of its climate, enjoying natural 

 advantages far superior to those of the inland emporium. Standing at the head of 

 a deep inlet and on the delta of a considerable riA^er, it commands both the sea and 

 the interior through all the natural routes converging here from the VolkhoA-, 

 Upper Volga, and Neva basins. Of all the vital points on the Russian seaboard, 

 * Yield of the Putilovo quarries (1875^, £80,000. 



