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escaped convict. The natives of Siberia feared him
and called him Martin Petrovich Kosar, or in
ironical praise, “Batushka” (old fellow). He had many
enemies. Complaints and accusations were showered
upon him, but it would most certainly be wrong to
ascribe to them any great significance. Siberia is the
land of slander. All Russian officials were
corruptible, and the honest men among those who stood
nearest to Peter himself could literally be counted
on one’s fingers. While in Siberia, Spangberg is
said to have acquired the possession of many horses,
valuable furs, and other goods of which the
authorities had forced the sale. When the Senate, after
his great voyage of discovery to Japan, had treated
him unjustly, he left Siberia arbitrarily in 1745,
and, without leave of absence, set out for St.
Petersburg, where he was summoned before a
court-martial and condemned to death; but this was finally
commuted to his being reduced to a lieutenant for
three months. He remained in the service and died,
in 1761, as a captain of the first rank. In Okhotsk
he was accompanied by his wife and son.[1]
But his opponent was a still more remarkable
man. Major-General Pissarjeff had been a favorite of
Peter the Great, director of the military academy,
and a high officer of the Senate. He had received a
careful education abroad, and moved in the very
highest circles of society. In a quarrel with
Vice-Chancellor Shafiroff, in 1722, however, he had incurred
Peter’s wrath, whereupon he was for a time deprived
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