Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1910. THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, THE TOlLSTOI AWARD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 7 November 1910, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1910. THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, THE TOILSTOI AWARD.

IN the selection of Count Tolstoi as the recipient of the Nobel Peiace Prize for 19-11, the committee administering the will of the late Mr Alfred Nobel again have selected a writer. They have thereby acknowledged, that the most effective ■method of influencing nations—that is, the mass of the people, who in the long run govern—is through the propaganda of literature and journalism. If an era of universal peace ever dawn for humanity, it must be conceded that the mind of humanity must be prepared for it by the writings of those who have thought most deeply and felt most keenly on the subject, and are able to communicate their own thoughts, feelings, and convictions t-o all who read their works. The Nobel prize, which is awarded to the person who best promotes the cause of universal ■peace, was allotted in the first year to an Austrian lady, the Baroness von Suttner, author of a novel entitled "Throw .Down Your Arms," which had a wide vogue in Europe. It was an impassioned appeal to the nations, and it was fortified by accounts o.f horrors which the author described from her own personal experience. .Similarly, Count Tolstoi's qualifications as a recipient of this prize depend entirely upon his powerful literary advocacy of the cause of peace, an advocacy which has attracted the attention of the whole civilised world byreason of the glowing enthusiasm and remarkable personalityi of the w-riter. • * » • » The conversion of Count Tostoi to the cause of universal pea-.ie may be traced to his own experiences in the Crimea:? war. As a combatant officer in the Russian Army the horrors of Sevastopol made a • profound imiprcssion on him, and from that day, over 55 years ago, lie has never ceased to preach with dramatic passion the doctrine that war in any circumstances is a hideous n.nd utterly unjustifiable iniquity. The great majority of mankind by the actions of their Governments and rulers apparently regard Tolstoi's ideal of universal peace as a mere dream. Yet the aged moralist, now in his 87th year, and on the of (he grave, still sends forth his exhortations and denunciations from his home on the estate of Yasny Poliana. o: which he has formally divested himself, but which still affords lvm shelter and an a.ustere livelihood. His is a figure that must strike selfish civilised humanity as not less praiseworthy than picturesque. Ala.s ! he will write little more. Ihe becrinning of the en.J has already been foreshadowed n the illness which seized him suddenly by means of a fainting fit at -\lo3cow the other day, and ere the

Bel Prize reaches his hands, to be expended for the good of humanity., lie may have passed away to his reward. The wished for era of perennial and universal peace has nol arrived., and is still far off. despite the pleadings of the Baroness von Suttner and Count Tolstoi. But the advances made towards a system of international arbitration represent a substantial gain for the cause of peace and of humanity. It is incontestable, says a recent review of current eve nits, that since the introduction of that system Great Britain more than once has been saved from war without sustaining any loss of material interests or national prestige. The arbitration decisions on the Alabama claims at the close of the American Civil War, and on the Dogger Bank incident during the Russo-Japanese war, undoubtedly prevented a war between Great Britain and the United States in one instance, and between Great Britain and Russia in the other. Moreover the temper of Governments appears to have undergone a radical change since the middle of the lastcentury, and incidents which in Palmers>tcn's time would have plunged the whole Empire into war are quietly ignered or else referred to arbitration under the Asauitli regime. „-« » • • All the same, the only recognised method and means of maintaining that "delusive fiction," the international status quo, is iby being prepared for those who would set it aside. Notwithstanding Count Tolstoi's proclamation that the only rule of Christian life is a literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, the earth nowadays is not inherited by the meek, but by the strong, the self-reliant, and the aggressive. The nations that feel the need of "expansion" at the expense of their neighbours will not restrain themselves ill consequence of the exhortations of Tolstoi, or the invitations of an international arbitration tribunal. The only effective restraint of aggression is by combined force of the non-aggressive., and thus is the balance of power main tained. But Tolstoi's life, now drawing to its clcse, may be regarded as a magnificent protest against the savagery of civilisation, and the Nobel prize could net have been awarded to anyone who had worked harder to promote the cause of peace among the nations.