Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1904-07-22
Tolstoi on the War.

Verted the attention OF the Russian
press from the war itself, and the
echoes of the anathemas editorially
launched at the head of the aged phi
Iosopher have not yet died away Even
Iolstofs friends are deprecating his
.pldness In lifting up his single voice
tgainst a war to which l30,OOO,OOO OF
his countrymen are madly committed
The Tolce of once great intellect
debauched by senility." the Novoe
Nremya calls II, and yet the analytic
skill. the perfect command of material,
the subtlety. the realistic grasp upon
the elusive phenomena of national pas
sion, and, above all, the magnificent
idealism of this great writer, have
never been more wonderfully display
ed. AS mere literary production 1t is
| impressive. In Peace and War" Tol-
stoi gives us an unrivaled account of
the psychology of an army in battle.
He lays bare the complex motives, the
brutalities and the mistaken aspirations
which drive a people into the horrors
Of the field of battle. The whole Is SO
remarkable as to have drawn from
such a brother in letters as Thomas
Hardy this glowing tribute:
Making all allowance for extrava-
gance of detail and occasional incoher
snce, surely all DIRECTORS should be
hushed by his great argument and
every defect In his particular reason
lngs be hidden by the blaze of glory
which shines from his mastery indict-
ment Of war as modern principle,
with all its illogical and senseless
crimes"
Yet in his daring Tolstoi is perfectly
safe. No Russian official would dare
lift a hand against him. His moral
elevation is so great that it is posses
sion of the whole world. His sincerity
and his willingness to suffer for the
truth defend him from all assault He
would go without murmur to the
convict camp of Siberia rather than be
silent when he felt called upon to
speak. He has the serene courage to
face unreasoning unpopularity as
soldier would storm an intrenchment.
He knew well what he was doing
when he spoke of the ear, at time
when that monarch was the object of
the frantic alteration of all Russia, as
the unfortunate and entangled young
man." and again as Nicholas Roman
off, with Alexei Kuropatkin, decided
10 kill thousands of deluded Russian
peasants in support of those stupidities,
robberies and every kind of abomina
lion accomplished in China and Korea
by immoral, ambitious men now sitting
peacefully in their palaces"
The diplomatists who by their blum
lering and lying policies brought on
he war are the special targets of Tol-
;toi's winged shafts. The journalists
who at first deceived the people, then
excited them to fury and urged them
On to death, while they themselves
stayed securely at home coming money
out of the blood Of their fellows, he
lenounces In unmeasured terms. he
,hastises the great mobiles and the con-
cessionnaires In the far east with a
,courge Of scorpions. He holds up to
,corn the soldier who "seeks the bubble
,eputation at the cannon's mouth"
Cutting his savage instincts and hop
ng all the while for the death OF his
superior that he may win promotion.
In his depictions Of the onset OF the
war mania, however, the great reallst's
)en is sharpest. He sweeps away all
the pretenses of the war party. In a
moment of madness, he says, all that
.aises us above the beasts is thrown
away. The whole work Of civilization,
the progress of science, the teachings
Of religion, are forgotten. He forces
lome with terrible truth the futility of
armed conflict, its tendency to national
suicide and ultimate anarchy.
To the arguments of those who see
n the growth Of ornaments and the
Increasing deadliness of implements Of
war prophecy of universal peace he
replies with marked irony. Yet his
own remedy, in the light Of the practi-
cal, seems little better His remedy
les in idealism. Let men reflect on the
meaning of life, on the love Of God
and on the brotherhood Of man; then
hey will go to war no more. Though
hat doctrine has been taught for nine
teen centuries by the disciples of the
Son of God, the world Is not yet ready
70 accept it. But, however far from tne
millennium we may be, we cannot
question the justice and the awful We
.acity of Tolstoi's arraignment. His
word picture of war as it Is should be
preserved with the canvases OF We
,eschagin, the great soul who, by de-
,icting with terrible realism the battle
inlds of Russias past sought to avert
shch another cataclysm as that In
which he lost his life.
If the newspapers would let Dowle
alone it would be decided relief to