[18] In a letter written in 1900 to a friend (_Further Letters_) Tolstoy complains of the false interpretation given to his doctrine of non-resistance. "People," he says, "confound _Do not oppose evil by evil_ with _Do not oppose evil_: that is to say, _Be indifferent to evil._ ..." "Whereas the conflict with evil is the sole object of Christianity, and the commandment of non-resistance to evil is given as the most effectual means of conflict." [19] _The End of a World._ [20] Tolstoy has drawn two types of these "Sectators," one in _Resurrection_ (towards the end) and one in _Three More Dead._ [21] After Tolstoy's condemnation of the upheaval in the Zemstvos, Gorky, making himself the interpreter of the displeasure of his friends, wrote as follows: "This man has become the slave of his theory. For a long time he has isolated himself from the life of Russia, and he no longer listens to the voice of the people. He hovers over Russia at too great a height." [22] It was a bitter trial to him that he could not contrive to be persecuted. He had a thirst for martyrdom; but the Government very wisely took good care not to satisfy him. "They are persecuting my friends all around me, and leaving me in peace, although if any one is dangerous it is I. Evidently I am not worth persecution, and I am ashamed of the fact." (Letter to Teneromo, 1892, _Further Letters.)_ "Evidently I am not worthy of persecution, and I shall have to die like this, without having ever been able to testify to the truth by physical suffering." (To Teneromo, May 16,1892, _ibid._) "It hurts me to be at liberty." (To Teneromo, June i, 1894, _ibid._) That he was at liberty was, Heaven knows, no fault of his! He insults the Tsars, he attacks the fatherland, "that ghastly fetish to which men sacrifice their life and liberty and reason." (_The End of a World._) Then see, in _War and Revolution,_ the summary of Russian history. It is a gallery of monsters: "The maniac Ivan the Terrible, the drunkard Peter I., the ignorant cook, Catherine I., the sensual and profligate Elizabeth, the degenerate Paul, the parricide Alexander I. [the only one of them for whom Tolstoy felt a secret liking], the cruel and ignorant Nikolas I.; Alexander II., unintelligent and evil rather than good; Alexander III., an undeniable sot, brutal and ignorant; Nikolas II., an innocent young officer of hussars, with an _entourage_ of coxcombs, a young man who knows nothing and understands nothing." [23] Letter to Gontcharenko, a "refractory," January 17, 1903. (_Further Letters._) [24] Letter to a friend, 1900. (_Correspondence_.) [25] To Gontcharenko, February 2, 1903 (_ibid._). [26] To the Doukhobors of the Caucasus, 1898 (_ibid._). [27] To Gontcharenko, January 17, 1903 (_ibid._). [28] To a friend, November, 1901. (_Correspondence_).