ABSTRACT

During January 1789 Samuel Bentham (SB) was impatient to quit this abominable country' for Siberia. In February 1789 SB set out for Siberia to command two battalions of the Yekaterinoslav regiment, similar to the one he had commanded at Krichev. On 14/25 February 1790 SB wrote to Potemkin a long letter which, as well as considering control of border peoples, included reference to the mapping of Siberia's borders and the charting of the northern and north-eastern seas; discovering and annexing unexplored islands; and the opening of trade with Japan. The merchant-master had been placed in the care of Professor Lachsman, Director of the Mines in Siberia, who for several years past' had been employed to examine that part of the country and whatever regards China, the Russian Islands, Kamtchtka etc'. The Turks agreed terms for a peace which extended the Russian empire south around the Black Sea.