Page:Tolstoy - Christianity and Patriotism.djvu/19

 square. "Vive la Russie! Vive les Russes!" shout the hundred thousand spectators, doing their utmost to get a good view of their precious visitors, stretching out their hands to them and expressing their affection in every way.

Another correspondent writes that the enthusiasm of the crowd bordered on delirium. A Russian journalist who was in Paris at the time describes this procession of sailors as follows:

They say truly—it is an event of world-wide significance, astounding, moving us to tears, lifting up the soul and making it quiver with that love which sees brethren in its fellow-men, and which hates bloodshed and forcible annexations, the tearing of children from a beloved mother. I have been in a kind of delirium for some hours. It was amazing; it was almost more than I could bear to stand at the Gare de Lyons among the representatives of the French Government in gold-laced uniforms, among the members of the municipality in dress-coats, and to hear the shouts: " Vive la Russie! Vive le Tsar!" and our national hymn played several times in succession. Where was I? What had happened? What magic current has blended all this into one feeling, one comprehension? Is not the presence of the God of love and brotherhood perceptible in this, the presence of something higher, ideal, that descends upon people only at exalted moments? The heart is so full of something fine and pure and elevated that the pen is not equal to expressing it. Words are pale beside what I saw and what I felt. It was not enthusiasm—the word is too banal—it was finer than enthusiasm. More picturesque, deeper, more joyful, more varied. What took place