More on Siberian-bound convicts; Rev. Baird describes their crimes

Rev. Robert Baird, temperance campaigner 

The wagons now brought up the rear of the band, and to the sound of a military drum, these poor creatures commenced their march to a place from which the majority were never to return.  We saw them leave, surrounded by his Majesty’s   [31] troops, and long after they had departed we could hear the clanking of their chains which made a proper accompaniment to their helpless march.-----I met on this ground the Rev^d Mr Baird of Paris, and he gave us some of the various crimes—among them we saw some few in other respects like their fellows excepting their chains, and these we were told were Nobles, a singular distinction made for their stile.   There were some few in this band who were convicted of murder, but the majority were sentenced for some trivial offence, a petty theft, or an attempt to rebel against some demand of their owners.  These latter were sent to what is called the nearer Siberia for colonizing, and the former to the mines.