In 1834 a conspiracy, extending widely through Siberia, was organized at Omsk.  M. Piotrowski gives an account of it, from which I abridge the following: 

It was planned by the Abbe Sierosiuski, a Polish Catholic priest who had been exiled for taking part in the rebellion of 1831.  He was sent to serve in the ranks of a Cossack regiment in Western Siberia, and after a brief period of military duty was appointed teacher in the military school at Omsk.  His position gave him opportunity to project a rebellion.  His plan was well laid, and found ready supporters among other exiles, especially the Poles.  Some ambitious Russians and Tartars were in the secret.  The object was to secure the complete independence of Siberia and the release of all prisoners.  In the event of failure it was determined to march over the Kirghese steppes to Tashkend, and attempt to reach British India.

Everything was arranged, both in Eastern and Western Siberia.  The revolt was to begin at Omsk, where most of the conspirators were stationed, and where there was an abundance of arms, ammunition, supplies, and money.  The evening before the day appointed for the rising, the plot was revealed by three Polish soldiers, who confessed all they knew to Colonel Degrave, the governor of Omsk.  Sierosiuski and his fellow conspirators in the city were at once arrested, and orders were despatched over the whole country to secure all accomplices and suspected persons.  About a thousand arrests were made, and as soon as news of the affair reached St. Petersburg, a commission of inquiry was appointed.  The investigations lasted until 1837, when they were concluded and the sentences confirmed.

[Illustration:  FLOGGING WITH STICKS.]

Six principal offenders, including the chief, were each condemned to seven thousand blows of the plette, or stick, while walking the gauntlet between two files of soldiers.  This is equivalent to a death sentence, as very few men can survive more than four thousand blows.  Only one of the six outlived the day when the punishment was inflicted, some falling dead before the full number of strokes had been given.  The minor offenders were variously sentenced, according to the extent of their guilt, flogging with the stick being followed by penal colonization or military service in distant garrisons.

It is said that the priest Sierosiuski while undergoing his punishment recited in a clear voice the Latin prayer, “Misere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordium tuam.”

On approaching the Irtish we found it bordered by hills which presented steep banks toward the river.  The opposite bank was low and quite level.  It is a peculiarity of most rivers in Russia that the right banks rise into bluffs, while the opposite shores are low and flat.  The Volga is a fine example of this, all the way from Tver to Astrachan, and the same feature is observable in most of the Siberian streams that reach the Arctic Ocean.  Various conjectures account for it, but none are satisfactory to scientific men.