No More Learning

LADY. Quelles blagues! And I thought you were quite serious for once !
GENERAL. And so I am. I can produce witnesses if you like. It was not with my own sinful hands that I killed, but with six pure, chaste steel guns, which poured forth a most virtuous and beneficent rain of shells.
LADY. Where was the good in that, I should like to know?
GENERAL. Though I am not only a soldier, but
in modern parlance a "militarist/' it is needless to
say that I would not call the mere annihilation of a
thousand ordinary men a good act, were they Ger-
mans, or Hungarians, or Englishmen, or Turks. Here it was quite an exceptional case. Even now
I cannot speak calmly about it, so painfully it stirred my soul.
D
? 34 SOLOVIEV
LADY. Please do not keep us on tenterhooks. Tell us all about it.
GENERAL. I mentioned guns. You will then have guessed that the affair happened in the last Russo-Turkish war. I was with the Caucasian army. After October 3rd . . .
LADY. What about October 3rd?
GENERAL. That was the day of the great battle in the Aladja mountains, when for the first time we crushed all the ribs of the "invincible" Hasi- MoukhtarPasha. SoafterOctober3rdweatonce advanced into Asiatic country. I was on the left front at the head of the advance guard engaged in
scouting. I had under me the Nijny-Novgorod dragoons, three "hundreds" of Kuban Cossacks,
and a battery of horse artillery. The country was not particularly inspiring : in the mountains it was
fairly decent, sometimes even beautiful. But down
in the valleys nothing but deserted, burnt-out vil- lagesanddowntroddenfieldsweretobeseen. One morning October the 28th, it was we were de-
scending a valley, where according to the map there was a big Armenian village. As a matter of fact
there was no village to be seen, though there had really been one there not long before, and of a decent size, too : its smoke could be seen miles away. I had my detachment well together in close formation, for reports had been received that we
might run into a strong cavalry force. I was riding with the dragoons; the Cossacks were in advance.
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There was a sharp bend in the road as we neared the village. Suddenly the Cossacks reined in their horses and stood as if they were rooted to the spot. I galloped forward. Before I could see anything I guessed by the smell of roasting flesh that the bashi-bazouks had left their "kitchen" behind. A huge caravan of Armenian refugees had not been abletoescapeintime. Thecrowdhadbeencaught by the Turks, who had "made a good job of it" in theirowninimitablefashion. Theyhadboundthe poor Armenians, some by the head, some by the feet, some by the waist, to the high cart axles, had lit fires underneath, and had slowly grilled them. Dead women lay here and there some with breasts
cut off, others with abdomens ripped open. I need not go into further particulars. But one scene will remain for ever vivid in my memory. A poor woman lay there on the ground, her head and shoulders securely bound to the cart's axle, so that she could not move her head. She bore no burns, no wounds. But on her distorted face was stamped a ghastly terror she had evidently died of sheer horror. And before her dead, staring eyes
was a high pole, firmly fixed in the ground, and to it was tied the poor little naked body
of a baby her son, most likely a blackened, scorched little corpse, with eyes that pro- truded. Near by also was a grating in which lay the dead ashes of a fire. . . . I was com-
pletely overcome with the ghastliness of the thing. D2
? 36 SOLOVIEV
In face of such revolting evidence I could not reason myactionsbecamemechanical. GrimlyI bade my men put their horses to the gallop. We entered the burned village; it was razed to the ground;notahouseremained. Presentlywesaw a poor wretch crawling out of a dry well. He was covered with mud; his clothes were in rags. He
fell on his knees, and began wailing something in Armenian. Wehelpedhimtohisfeet,andpliedhim
witheagerquestions. HeprovedtobeanArmenian
from a distant village, a fairly intelligent fellow. He had come to the place on business just as the
inhabitants had decided to flee. They had hardly started off when the bashi-bazouks fell upon them an immense number, he said at least forty thousand. Hemanagedtohidehimselfinthewell. He heard the cries of the tortured people; he knew fullwellwhatwashappening. Later,heheardthe bashi-bazouks come back and go off again by a
'
They were going to my own village," he groaned, "and then they will do the same terrible things to all our folk. " The poor
wretch moaned pitifully, wringing his hands in despair. At that moment an inspiration seemed suddenlytocometome. Myagonyofsoulseemed suddenly comforted. This world of ours as sud- denly became once more a happy place to dwell in. I quietly asked the Armenian how long it was since those devils had left the place. He reckoned it about three hours.
different route.
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" And how long would it take for a horse to get "
to your village ?
"Over five hours. "
No, it was impossible to overtake them in two
hours. Whatadamnablebusiness!
" Do you know of another and shorter way to
your place? " I asked.
"
I do, sir, I do. " And he became at once excited. There is a way across the defile. It is very short.
And only very few people know it. " "" Is it passable on horseback ?
"
It is, sir. "
"And for artillery? "
"
It would be rather difficult, but it could be done, sir. "
I ordered my men to supply the Armenian with a horse, and with all my detachment followed him into the defile. How we all seemed to crawl there among the mountains ; yet I hardly seemed to notice anythingbytheway. Oncemoremyactionshad become merely mechanical. But in the depths of my soul I felt utter and complete confidence. I knew what I had to do, and I knew that it would be done. My heart was light; I trod on air; I exulted in the certain fulfilment of my plans.
We were already filing out from the last defile, after which we should come to the high road, when I saw our Armenian galloping back and waving his
"" hands frantically, as if to say, Here they are !
I caught up with the advance guard, and levelling
"
? 38 SOLOVIEV
my telescope I could see that he was right. I saw anapparentlyendlesscolumnofhorses notforty thousand, of course, but three or four thousand at least, if not even five. These sons of devils at once spottedtheCossacksandturnedtomeetthem. We were coming out of the defile against their left front. A hail of bullets greeted the Cossacks. These Asiatic monsters could fire their European guns as iftheywerereallyhumanbeings. Hereandthere a Cossack was picked off by a shot. A Cossack
artillery ? We can put them to flight ourselves. "
"
Patience, my dear fellow, for just one little
"
moment," I told him.
would be able to put them to flight; but what would be the pleasure of that? God bids me wipe them out and not drive them away. " Here I ordered two "hundreds" of Cossacks advancing in open order to let fly at the devils, and later, when well in the thick of it, to retreat on the battery. One hundred Cossacks I left to mask the guns, while
the Nijny-Novgorod men were placed in phalanx to the left of the battery. I trembled with impatience.
The murdered child with its staring, anguished eyes camevividlybeforeme. TheCossackswerefalling,
officer rode up to me and shouted :
attack, sir. Why should these beasts be allowed to shoot us like quails, while we are mounting our
I have no doubt that you
God ! what an agony of suspense. . . .
shot !
LADY. And the end?
GENERAL. The end came just as I knew it must.
"
Order the
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The Cossacks engaging the enemy presently began their retreat, yelling wildly in their usual fashion. Those sons of devils came pell-mell after them, too excited even to fire, and galloping en masse on our position. Withinfourhundredyardsofourlinethe Cossacks suddenly scattered, each man seeking
""
cover where he could. At last," I felt, God's
" hour has struck !
covering the guns.
I turned to the squad of Cossacks
"" Cossacks ! wheel !
I shouted.
The covering squad divided, right and left, leaving
the battery unmasked. One fierce prayer to God,
"" andthenIgavetheword Fire!
AndGodheardme. Heblessedfullyandcom-
pletely every one of my six charges. Never in my life have I heard such a devilish yell. The swine
did not come to their senses even when the second volley of shells smote them, cutting red lanes
through and through.
Suddenlythehordewheeled. Athirdvolleyfol-
lowed them up ! What a bloody mess it made ! Have you seen an ants' nest, on which burning matches have been thrown? the ants all rushing about, crushing each other? . . . In a moment our Cos-
sacks and Dragoons had charged them on the left
flank, cutting, hacking, and slicing them like cabbage. Few of them managed to get away : those who
escaped the rain of shells were cut down by the sabres. Some threw their guns away, jumped off theirhorses,andwhinedformercy. ButIwaspast giving orders. My men understood well enough
? t
'
that it was not a time for mercy. So the Cossacks and the men of Nijny-Novgorod sabred them to
a man.
It is a sure thing, however, that if these brainless
Satans, after the first two volleys were fired point- blank into their midst at a range of about 40 to 60
yards, instead of rushing back had galloped on the battery, there would have been an end to all of us
no third volley would have been fired. . . . Well, God was with us. The whole thing was over. And in my soul I felt the joy and peace of an Easter
Sunday ! We gathered our slain thirty-seven good men they were laid them together on the level
groundinrows,andclosedtheireyes. Ihadanold
sergeant in the third hundred, Odarchenko by name,
an earnest student of the Bible and singularly gifted.
In England he would have become a Prime Minister,
I am sure. Now he is in Siberia, banished there
for resisting the authorities when they were shutting
""
up some old-believers' monastery and destroying
the tomb of one of their sainted elders. I called
""
him. Well, Odarchenko," I said, now that we
are in the field there is no time for arguing about
the 'hallelujahs/ so you be our priest and perform the funeral service over our dead. " For him this
"
40 SOLOVIEV
was, of course, a Heaven-sent opportunity.
be only too glad to do it, sir," he replied, and the face of the little beast fairly beamed with joy. There was also a rough-and-ready choir. The ser-
vice was performed with all ceremony. Only the
I shall
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absolution was lacking, but this was not necessary
either : their sins were already remitted by the words
"
of Christ himself about those who lay down their
lives for their friends. " Even now I can see the
ceremony vividly before my eyes. The day had been cloudy, as it usually is in the autumn season, but at that moment the sky was clearing before the setting sun, and above the dark loom of the gloomy defile rose and amber-tinted clouds were gathering like God's own regiments. My soul was still in
ecstasywiththegloryofourfight. Wondrouspeace rested upon me; I felt that all worldly stains were
washed away, and that all the burden of earthly trouble had fallen from my shoulders. I was in Paradise I was feeling God, and there was the end
And when Odarchenko started calling out the names of the departed warriors who on the battlefield had laid down their lives for their faith, their Tsar, and their country, I truly felt that verily there was such a thing as a Christ-loving band of warriors, and that it was no mere official expression, no mere empty
title, as you were pleased to call it. I felt that war, as it was then, is now, and ever will be till the ending of the world, was something great, honourable, and
. . .
holy.
PRINCE (after a short interval of silence). Well,
when you buried your men in your happy frame of mind, tell me, didn't you think at all of the enemies whom you had killed in such great numbers ?
GENERAL. Thank God, we were able to move
of it.
? 42 SOLOVIEV
further before that carrion had time to remind us of itself.
LADY. Ah, now you have spoiled the whole im-
pression.
What a shame !
GENERAL (addressing the Prince). And what would you have me do? That I should give
Christian burial to those jackals, who were neither Christians nor Moslems, but the Devil knows what ? Imagine for a moment that I went out of my senses and ordered the service to be performed over them, together with the Cossacks.
Would not you in that case charge me with intolerance ?
These poor dear fellows, when alive, worshipped the Devil and prayed to the fire, and now after their
death they are suddenly to be subjected to super- stitious and crude pseudo-Christian rites ! No, I
had something else then to worry about. I called all the officers and ordered them to tell the men that not one of them should dare to come within ten yards of the damned carrion. I could well see that my Cossacks' fingers itched to search the pockets of the killed, as was their habit. And who knows
what plague they might have spread as a result? Let the Devil take the lot of it.
PRINCE. Do I understand you correctly? You were afraid lest the Cossacks should begin robbing the dead bashi-bazouks and should carry from them some infectious disease to your force ?
GENERAL. That is exactly what I feared. I think the point is clear enough.
To think of it !
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PRINCE. What a Christ-loving band of warriors ! GENERAL. Who,theCossacks? Theyareveritable
brigands ! They were always like this.
PRINCE. But, really, what is all this? Are we
talking in dreams ?
GENERAL. It seems to me that there must be some-
thing wrong. I can't make out what it is that you really want to know.
POLITICIAN. The Prince is probably surprised that your ideal and all but canonised Cossacks all of a sudden prove, in your own words, to be utter brigands !
PRINCE. That's it.
And I ask you, how can war
be "something great, honourable, and holy," when you admit yourself that it is a struggle between one
group of brigands and another?
GENERAL. Now I see " A of your point. struggle
onegroupofbrigandswithanother. " Butdon'tyou seethattheothersareofquiteadifferentsort? Or do you really believe that to rob when occasion offers itself is the same as to roast little babies before the eyes of their mothers? Well, I'll tell you this much. So clear is my conscience in this matter that even now I sometimes regret with all my soul that I did not die after I had given the order to fire the last volley. I have not the slightest doubt that should I have died then, I should have gone before the Throne of God with all my thirty-seven slain Cossacks, and we would have taken our places in ParadisebythesideofthePenitentThief. Itwas
? 44 SOLOVIEV
not for nothing that the Bible placed him there, was it?
PRINCE. That is true. But you will certainly not find it written in the Bible that only people of our own country or of our own religion can be likened to the Penitent Thief, and not people of all nation- alities and creeds.
GENERAL. Upon my word, you could not place more misstatements to my credit if I were already
PRINCE. But you fail to remember the fact that
the aforesaid Devil's spawn are, after all, human
beings, that in every man you can find both good
and evil, and that every brigand, be he a Cossack or "
a bashi-bazouk roasting babies might well prove to be a penitent thief. And all because you fear to touch evil even with one finger ! To me the important point, however, is not that every man has within him the seeds of both good and evil, but as to which of the two good or evil has taken firmer root in him. It matters little that wine and vinegar are both made from the juice of the grape. What is of real im-
When have I made distinctions among
dead !
nations and creeds? Are Armenians my country- men and co-religionists ? Or have I referred to the faith and nationality of that Devil's spawn which I annihilated by shells?
a bashi-bazouk, might prove to be a
penitent thief. " GENERAL. How am I to take you? At one moment you say that an evil man is like an irre- sponsible beast, at another moment you state that
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portance is whether a certain bottle has wine or vinegar in it. Because, should it be vinegar and
I begin drinking it glass after glass, and treat others to it simply because it happens to be made from the
same material as wine, I am pretty certain that this exhibition of my cleverness will do nobody any good
Why
And suppose I happen to see my brother Cain flaying my brother Abel, and because all men are brothers
I deal out such a blow to my brother Cain as will teach him to give up for ever his bad habits, then you come out and blame me for forgetting that all threeofusarebrothers. Ofcourse,Idon'tforgetit. Why, it is only because I remember this brotherhood that I interfere at all. Otherwise I could pass by and take no notice.
PRINCE. But why those alternatives either pass-
ing by or dealing a blow?
GENERAL. No third issue can generally be found
in such cases. You have been suggesting praying to God that He should personally interfere and by the might of His own right hand bring every Devil's son to his senses. But you yourself cast this idea
aside, didn't you? I admit willingly that prayer is good in all circumstances, but it cannot be sub-
On the contrary, it may ruin good digestions !
at all.
Now,allmenarebrothers. Verygood. Iamglad to hear it. But how far will this take us ? There are different kinds of brothers, you know.
should I then not be inquisitive enough to find out which of my brothers is Cain and which is Abel?
? 46 SOLOVIEV
stitutedforactiononone'sownpart. Piouspeople, for instance, say prayers even before they have their
meals, but they have to do their chewing themselves, and with their own jaws. Nor did I give orders to
my horse artillery without saying my prayers ! PRINCE. Such prayers are blasphemy, of course.
It is not praying to God that is necessary, but acting according to God's will.
GENERAL. For example ?
PRINCE. A man who is imbued with the true Christian spirit will, in the hour of need, find within himself the power to influence a poor ignorant brother who is about to commit a murder or some other evil. By means of words and gestures, and even by his very looks, he will be able to make
such a startling impression upon the mind of the wrongdoer that he will instantly see his error and
will forsake the ways of evil.
GENERAL. Holy saints !
bazouks, who roasted babies, that you think I should
have performed all those touching gestures and said these moving words ?
MR. Z. Words, perhaps, would not have been
quite opportune owing to the distance intervening and to the fact that neither of you understood the
other's language. And as to gestures making a
startling impression say what you will, nothing could have been more fitting in the circumstances
than the rounds of shells fired.
LADY. Really, in what language and with the help
Is it before the bashi-
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of what instruments could the General make himself understood by the bashi-bazouks ?
PRINCE. I have never said that the General could have impressed the bashi-bazouks in the Christian way. What I did say was that a man full of the true Christian spirit would have found some means, in this case as in every other, to awaken in those dark souls the good which lies hidden in every
human being.
MR. Z. Do you really believe in this?
PRINCE. I have not the slightest doubt about it. MR. Z. Well,doyouthink,then,thatChristwas
sufficiently imbued with this spirit?
PRINCE. What a strange question to ask !
MR. Z. I ask it only to learn from you why it
was that Christ could not use the power of His
spirit to such effect as to awaken the good hidden
in the souls of Judas, Herod, the priests of the
Sanhedrim, and, lastly, of that impenitent thief, who
usually remains entirely forgotten when his penitent comrade is mentioned. There is no insuperable
difficulty here for positive Christian thought. But you are obliged to sacrifice one of the two things :
either your habit of quoting Christ and the Bible
as the highest authority, or your moral optimism. Because, the third resource, which has been rather toomuchhackneyed thatofdenyingtheveryfacts of the New Testament as a later invention or a
mere priestly commentary in the present case is entirelytakenfromyou. Howevermuchyoumuti-
? 48 SOLOVIEV
late and sub-edit the text of the four Gospels to suit
your object, what is the principal thing with us in
our argument will remain in it indisputably, namely, that Christ suffered cruel persecutions and the tor-
tures of crucifixion at the hands of malicious enemies. That personally He remained morally above all this spite, that He did not want to resist his enemies but forgavethem allthisisequallyeasytounderstand, both from my point of view and from yours. But why is it, then, that, forgiving His enemies, He
"" to use your own words did not save their souls
from the cloud of ignorance in which they were
enwrapped ? Why didn't He conquer their spite by
the power of His benignity? Why didn't He awaken the good that lay dormant in them, and give
enlightenment and new life to their souls ? In short,
why didn't He impress Judas, Herod, and the Sanhedrim in the same way in which He impressed the single penitent thief ? It follows that : either He could not, or did not wish to do so. In both
cases, however, according to your argument, Christ must have been insufficiently imbued with the true
Christian spirit ! On which conclusion I beg you
to accept my hearty congratulations.
PRINCE. Oh ! I refuse to fence with you in a duel
of words, just as I refused to engage in combat
"
with the General, using for weapons his loving" swords. . . .
Christ-
(Here the Prince stood up, evidently on the -point
of saying something strong enough to flatten his opponent at a blow, and without fencing at all; but
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the bells of a neighbouring church struck the hour
of seven. }
LADY. 'Tis time to have dinner. But a discus-
sionlikethisshouldnotbefinishedhurriedly. After dinner we play whist, but to-morrow this conversa- tionmustcertainlybecontinued. (Addressingthe
Politician^) Do you agree?
POLITICIAN. To the continuation of this discus-
sion? I am only too glad it has come to an end! Don't you think the argument has acquired much of
the unpleasant quality of religious controversy? That is, I must say, altogether beyond justification. Besides, my life is the most precious thing to me.
LADY. It is no good pretending. You must, you must take part in the rest of the discussion. You
ought to be ashamed of yourself a Mephistopheles
in secret, sprawling luxuriously on a sofa ! POLITICIAN. Verywell,then. Ihavenoobjection
to resuming the discussion to-morrow, but only on condition that religion is kept out of it as much as possible. I do not demand that it should be banished
altogether that seems to be impossible. But, for God's sake, let us have as little of it as we can.
LADY. Your "for God's sake" is very sweet in this connection.
MR. Z. (to the Politician). I think the best way to have as little religion as possible would be for you to monopolise the conversation !
POLITICIAN. I will, I promise you, although it is
always more pleasant to listen than to speak, par- ticularly in this "salubrious air. " But to save our
? 50 SOLOVIEV
little company from the contentious struggle which
may perniciously reflect upon the whist too, I am willing to sacrifice myself for two hours.
LADY. How delightful of you ! And on the day after to-morrow we will have the rest of our discus- sion on the Bible. The Prince will by that time
preparesomeabsolutelyirrefutableargument. But you must be ready too. After all, one should learn
at least a little of matters ecclesiastical ! POLITICIAN. The day after to-morrow too?
Oh, no ! my self-sacrifice does not go so far as that !
Besides, I have to go to Nice on that day.
LADY. To Nice? What a transparent pretext! It is useless, I assure you, for we saw through you
longago. Everybodyknowsthatwhenamansays,
"
I have an appointment in Nice," he really proposes
a bit of fun at Monte Carlo. Well, let it be so. After to-morrow we must manage somehow to do without you. Plunge yourself to the neck into
pleasure that is, if you are not afraid of becoming soonaghostyourself. GotoMonteCarlo. Andmay Providence reward you according to your deserts.
POLITICIAN. My deserts do not concern Provi-
dence, but only the provision of certain necessary measures I have carried out for the benefit of
But I admit the influence of luck and the value of a little calculation in roulette as well as in
everything else.
LADY. To-morrow, however, we all must meet
here without fail.
society.
? II
SECOND DISCUSSION Audiatur et secunda pars
? THE SECOND DISCUSSION Audiatur et secunda pars
NEXT afternoon, at the appointed hour, we were having tea under the palm trees. Only the Prince was late ; we had to wait for him. As I did not play cards that evening, I was able to take down the whole of the second discussion from the beginning. This time the Politician said so much, drawling out his interminable and intricate sentences in such a manner that I found it impossible for me to write down his exact words. I quote verbatim a fair amount, however, of what he said, and make some attempt to preserve his characteristic utterance; but more often I shall be found to give only the substance of his speech in my own words.
POLITICIAN.