74 VITUS BERING. 



distrust which his first expedition inspired in Russia, he 

 was in an insecure and unfortunate position. But he 

 had reason to complain of other things. The gigantic 

 task assigned to him demanded a despotic will endowed 

 with dictatorial power. Bering lacked both, especially 

 the latter. 



The Senate exhausted itself in minute hints, direc- 

 tions, and propositions, instead of issuing definite orders 

 concerning the necessary means. Unfortunately, too, 

 numerous and exaggerated complaints had been made in 

 regard to the suffering which Bering^s first expedition 

 had caused the Kamchatkans, and on this account the 

 government was foolish enough to bind the chief^s hands, 

 while it simultaneously overloaded his shoulders. 

 Through injudicious instructions he was made dependent 

 upon his subordinates. It was bad enough that he was 

 not to be permitted to take any decisive steps in Siberia 

 without first consulting and coming to an agreement with 

 the local authorities, — the governor of Tobolsk, the lieu- 

 tenant-governor of Irkutsk, and the voivode of Yakutsk. 

 On account of the great distances and the wretched 

 roads such proceedings were well-nigh impossible. The 

 government should have known that these authorities 

 only under the most peremptory orders would com- 

 ply with demands liable to exhaust the resources of the 

 country and ruin the thinly-populated and poverty- 

 stricken districts. This was, indeed, bad enough, but 

 matters were much aggravated when the Senate ordered 

 him to take action in all important questions, only after 

 deliberation with his officers, and to refer every leading 

 measure to a commission. Such a method of procedure 



