men, who, owing merely to a misunderstanding of the authorities (a misunderstanding which will probably soon be corrected), are placed in the same position as tho most criminal soldiers.
I understand that you cannot take upon yourself to correct the mistake or misunderstanding of the higher authorities, but that while on service you have to fulfil the duties involved. This is certainly so; but beside the duties of a service which you have voluntarily taken upon yourself, duties obligatory for you only during the small period of your life,—you have, like every man, duties not temporary but eternal, which have been laid upon you independently of your own will, and from which you cannot liberate yourself.
You know who these men are and wherefore they are suffering; and knowing this, you may, without overstepping the limits of your rights and duties, refrain from leading them into fresh disobedience, and from subjecting them therefore to punishments; you are in general able to have compassion for them, and as far as possible to alleviate their lot; as you are also able voluntarily to shut your eyes to the distinction between these men and the other prisoners, and to torture them to death, as has been the case in the Voronege penal battalion with an ex-schoolmaster, Drojin, whose case is now generally well known, he dying a martyr to his Christian convictions.
In the first case, you would receive the gratitude and blessings of the sufferers themselves, of their mothers, fathers, brothers and friends, and above all, you would find in your conscience the incomparable joy of a good deed. In the second case (I do not speak of the prisoners themselves, because I know that they will find consolation in the consciousness that by their death they are confirming their faith), what dreadful accusations against yourself you will arouse by your cruelty, from the parents, relatives and friends of those who may perish under your command; and above all, you would yourself incur such rebukes of conscience as would not leave you the possibility either of joy or peace.
You could indeed say: "I do not know, and do not wish
