ed officer, who has
abandoned his old parents, his wife, his children, why he is preparing to
kill men whom he does not know; he will at first be astonished at your
question. He is a soldier, he has taken the oath, and it is his duty to
fulfil the orders of his commanders. If you tell him that war--_i.e._ the
slaughter of men--does not conform to the command, "Thou shalt not kill,"
he will say: "And how if ours are attacked--For the King--For the
Orthodox faith?" (One of them said in answer to my question: "And how if
he attacks that which is sacred?" "What do you mean?" I asked. "Why,"
said he, "the banner.") And if you endeavor to explain to such a soldier
that God's Commandment is more important not only than the banner but
than anything else in the world, he will become silent, or he will get
angry and report you to the authorities.

Ask an officer, a general, why he goes to the war. He will tell you that
he is a military man, and that the military are indispensable for the
defence of the fatherland. As to murder not conforming to the spirit of
the Christian law, this does not trouble him, as either he does not
believe in this law, or, if he does, it is not in the law itself, but in
that explanation which has been given to this law. But, above all, he,
like the soldier, in place of the personal question, what should he do
himself, always put the general question about the State, or the
fatherland. "At the present moment, when the fatherland is in danger, one
should act, and not argue," he will say.

Ask the diplomatists, who, by their deceits, prepare wars, why they do
it. They will tell you that the object of their activity is the
establishment of peace between nations, and that this object is attained,
not by ideal, unrealizable theories, but by diplomatic action and
readiness for war. And, just as the military, instead of the question
concerning one's own action, place the general question, so also
diplomatists will speak about the interests of Russia, about the
unscrupulousness of other Powers, about the balance of power in Europe,
but not about their own position and its activities.

Ask the journalists why, by their writings, they incite men to war; they
will say that wars in general are necessary and useful, especially the
present war, and they will confirm this opinion of theirs by misty
patriotic phrases, and, just like the military and diplomatist, to the
question why he, a journalist, a particular indiv