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over which the curse of the exile-system has rested like a
nightmare for nearly 300 years, has from first to last been
due to the exertions of exiled prisoners of war, sectarians,
and politicals.
In 1657 200 Polish prisoners of war were sent to the
Amur country, and the Russian author Pypin tells us that,
as late as the last century, travellers in Siberia found entire
Polish villages, which were distinguished by their higher
enlightenment and morals. Similar opinions have repeatedly
been expressed by travellers and others on the colonies of
exiled sectarians.
It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that the first impulse
to civilisation in Siberia was given by the Swedish officers
of Charles XII., who after his defeat at Pultawa in July
1709, were sent to Tobolsk and other places in Siberia.
Standing on an immeasurably higher level of general culture
and knowledge than even the highest military and civil
officers in Siberia, and animated by strong religious feeling,
these brave warriors of Charles XII., deprived of their
carnal weapons, now seized the arms of the spirit and with
the same energy devoted themselves to warfare against the
powers of darkness and ignorance. They established schools
to which the better-class Siberians sent their sons from
distant quarters to be instructed in Latin, modern languages,
mathematics, geography and history, etc. In Tobolsk they
built a church, where Lutheran services were held in the
Swedish language. Both the prudent Tsar, Peter I., and
his cunning governor of Siberia, Prince Gagàrin, who at
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