Twice he had asked
to be allowed to resign. Twice successors had been sent from Russia;
but one died on the way, and the other was shipwrecked. It was easy
for malignant tongues to rouse suspicion that Baranof's desire to
resign sprang from interested motives, perhaps from a wish to conceal
his own peculations. Though Baranof had annually handled millions of
dollars' worth of furs for the Russian Company, at a distance from
oversight that might have defied detection in wrong-doing, it was
afterwards proved that he had not misused or misappropriated one dime's
worth of property; but who was to believe his honesty in the face of
false charges?
In the fall of 1817 Lieutenant Hagemeister arrived at Sitka to audit
the books of the company. Concealing from Baranof the fact that he was
to be deposed, {336} Hagemeister spent a year investigating the
records. Not a discrepancy was discovered. Baranof, with the
opportunity to have made millions, was a poor man. Without
explanation, Hagemeister then announced the fact--Baranof was to be
retired. Between voluntarily retiring and being retired was all the
difference between honor and insult.
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