INTHODUCTIOX. 7 



niiule. The political situation of Russia, even })re- 

 vious to the dreadful war of 181^2, 1813, rendered 

 it indeed quite impossible, even for the govern- 

 ment, to undertake such an enterprise: the Count, 

 however, did not give up the idea of it, and, in or- 

 der to obtain for himself more information on the 

 subject, as well as to acquaint the captain, to whom 

 the command of the projected expedition should be 

 confided, with all the attempts of preceding navi- 

 gators, to find a northern passage, as well as with 

 the opinions of those who had particularly studied 

 the subject, I undertook, according to his wish, to 

 draw up a view of all the Polar Voyages since the 

 first attempt of the celebrated Sebastian Cabot, in 

 the year l^O?* to the last voyage of Cook. From 

 this view it was evident, that a passage in the 

 north was more than doubtful, but that another 

 attempt, either from the west to the east, or from 

 the east to the west, might perhaps not be a vain 

 enterprize. As soon, therefore, as the war with 

 England was concluded, Count RomanzofT resolved 

 to proceed to the execution of the plan at his own 

 expense. 



With respect to the possibility of the success of 

 such an enterprise, so much has been said both for 

 and against it, on occasion of the expedition to 

 the North Pole made by order of the English 

 government, that it seemed unnecessary for me to 

 repeat the arguments. According to my view of 

 the matter, a passage to the north seems impossi- 



B 4 



