The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-16
UNEASY LIES HEAD THAT WEARS GROWN King Peter Is Least EnviabIe of
 MOnarChS A PARLIAMENT TARY CRISIS Pigs Blood Is Sold to Credulous Peas ants in Germany as the Blood of
 Dead Murderers-Great
 Remedy.
BY MALCOLM CLARKE.

Berlin. August liking Peter of Ser via. who has long been the least enviable of European monarchs, Is now in an in tolerable position. Either abdication or a coup d detat-that Is the dilemma that confronts him, for he has utterly failed to rule as a constitutional monarch. Since the recent cabinet crisis no Ser Vian statesman has consented to form a new ministry, although five attempts have been made As the King is appar- ently not strong enough to establish him. self as an autocrat, it is likely that he will either appoint a dictator or aDdlcate Meanwhile the garrison is kept in con- stant readiness for emergencies or to en- force the threatened coup detat.
 Recently King Peter held birthday reception which is described as pitia- ble farce King Peter. looking weary and forlorn. without premier, ministers or parliamentary dignitaries, received the good wishes of the diplomatic corps, and complaining of the heat, hastened to his private apartments. The King shows the effect fthe great strain to which he has been subjected since the beginning of the parliamentary crisis.
 For the criminal quackery'' of selling pigs' blood to credulous peasants as the blood of executed murderers, with cura- five powers in all ailments Charles AL brecht has been sentenced to three years penal servitude at Brunswick.
 When Albrecht recommended the blood of dead murderers as a universal reme dy. there was an enormus demand for the gruesome medicine" Albrecht sold hundreds of bottles of pigs blood at S3 each. and. of course made handsome profits while the stuff was eagerly taken fin the belief that it was the miraculous blood of dead murderers, which would cure every i'll.
 The tragic struggle of reform and reac- ton in Russia moves forward in its slow, numbering way, crushing it's many vic tins like the Car of Juggernaut An archy struggles with anarchy. The wild anarchy of the desperate revolutionaries is opposed by the calculating anarchy of corrupt officials and drumhead court martial Wild-eyed dreamers and en- thusiasts, reformers, patriots, oppress- ors governors and tyrants perish to- gether The assassins knife and the hangman's rope daily claim thelr Vle- tins
 From the midst of this terrible strife there comes a passionate entreaty that these things shall cease. On the startled ears of reactionaries and revolutionaries alike fall the powerful accents of the courageous old man, Tolstoy, who still dares to preach and to practice before an incredulous world the fundamental maxims of Christianity
 How shall the long agony of Russia be endured? From Tolstoys hermitage comes the same answer as came centuries ago from Galilee: If a man smite thee on one cheek, turn to him the other"
 Impossible and impracticable idealismi many will exclaim after reading Tolstoy' s noble manifesto against government by execution in Russia Jesus of Naza- reth was despised and rejected not only by the Romans, but also by the Jews, and it is Tolstoys fate to be both hated by the reactionaries and rejected by the revolutonaries.
 He plainly tells the revolutionaries that "besides being terrible they are also stupid, because of the bloodthirsty meth ods they adopt-all these bombs and tun nelings and these revolting murders and thefts of money" Force is no remedy on either side.
 That Is the essence of his gospel. You cannot make men free by such external processes. It is in their heart that the change must be wrought, and 1t is to the heart and conscience of the nation, of governor and revolutionaries alike, that Tolstoy makes his appeal.
 His vivid pictures of the horrible real ities of the present situation, of all the sordid and hateful details of execu- ton, stir one with shame and remorse even thousands of miles away. The highest official must blush to find his own direct responsibility for the hang mans work so clearly revealed, and the most comfortable citizen must grow rest less as he realizes that these deeds are done professedly on his behalf
 For the moment the physical force revolutionaries hate been beaten down, but Tolstoy is kindling a greater revolu- tion in the hearts of his fellow country men of all classes.
 A young revolutionary woman, Witold Habelman, was hanged in the courtyard at the, prison at Flock for the murder of the photographer Gavalinsh and his wife the other day.
 Gavilinski figured as one of the most active members of the revolutionary par ty at Flock until the revolutionaries dis covered that he was in reality a police