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Bering’s character, and, as matters now stand, it is
impossible to draw any tenable line between the errors and
delays that were necessarily attendant upon such an
overburdened enterprise, and those that were due to the
possible inefficiency of the leader. By the authority of the
Senate the expedition was not a monarchical unit under
Bering, but a democratic association under an
administrative chief. It is not difficult to collect from the literature
of that day a series of expressions which accuse Bering of
cruelty, imperiousness, and military arrogance. Of a
hundred leaders in Bering’s position ninety-nine would
undoubtedly have thought it wise to leave the whole
expedition. Steller has with far more delicacy and skill drawn
the main lines of his mental physiognomy. “Bering
was,” he says, “a true and honest Christian, noble, kind,
and unassuming in conduct, universally loved by his
subordinates, high as well as low. Every reasonable person
must admit that he always sought to perform the work
entrusted to him to the best of his ability, although he
himself confessed and often regretted that his strength
was no longer sufficient for so difficult an expedition.
He deplored the fact that the plans for the expedition had
been made on a much larger and more extensive scale than
he had proposed, and he expressed a desire that, on account
of his age, he might be released from this duty and have
the task assigned to some young and active Russian. As
is well known, he was not naturally a man of quick
resolve, but when one considers his fidelity to duty, his
cheerful spirit of perseverance and careful deliberation, it
is a question whether another, possessed of more fire and
ardor, could have overcome the innumerable difficulties
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