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* Ｑ＆Ａから：「徴兵反対協会（徴兵反対同盟）の機関紙（The Tribunal)について」
第一章 第一次世界大戦
私は,仲間の囚人たちにかなり興味を持った。彼らは他の一般の人々と比較して,少しも道徳的に劣っていないように思えたが（参考：ラッセル「犯罪者は一般人より悪人か？」），捕まってしまった事実からもわかるように,概して一般の知的水準より少し低かった。第一部門以外の部門に入っているどの囚人にとっても －－特に読書や執筆を習慣としている人間にとっては－－ 刑務所での監禁状態はひどく厳しく恐ろしい処罰である。しかし私の場合は,アーサー・バルフォアのおかげでそうではなかった。私は,彼の政策の全てに対して激しく反対していたけれども,彼が間に入ってくれたことに,感謝しなければならない。その刑務所に到着した時,入所のための調書をとらなければならない入口の看守によって,私は大変愉快な気分を味わった。彼が私の信仰している宗教は何かと尋ねたので,私は「不可知論者」(agnostic)だと答えた。彼はその語はどのように綴るのかと尋ねた。そうしてため息をつきながらこう言った。「まあなんというか,宗教はたくさんあるけど,全ての宗教が同一の神を拝んでいると思いますね」。この一言が,その後の約一週間,私を愉快にしてくれた。ある時,私がリットン・ストレイチーの『著名なヴィクトリア朝時代人」を読んでいるとき,余りに声高に笑ったので,その看守が大笑いするのを止めさせるためにやって来て,刑務所は処罰の場所だということを忘れてはいけませんと言った。（また）別の機会に,漢詩（中国の詩歌）の翻訳者であるアーサー・ウェイリー（Arthur Waley, 1889-1966）は,当時まだ出版されていなかった「赤い鸚鵡」（'The Red Cockatoo'：冠毛が動かせるオウム類の汎称)という訳詩を送ってくれた。それは,次の詩である。（注：この詩のなかの鳥籠の中の'オウム'は,ラッセル自身を象徴している。即ち,政府の連中はラッセルを丁重に取り扱い,籠（監獄）の中に入れてしまった！ そう,それが彼らのやり方なんだ,と。） 安南(ベトナム中部の都市)から贈られてきた |
Left: A Photo of Brixton Prison : From ©Google Satellite, c.2006. Right: A Map of Brixton Prison: From ©Google Satellite, c.2006. 
At the time, however, of the crime for which I went to prison, I had finally decided that there was nothing further to be done, and my brother had caused the Government to know my decision. There was a little weekly newspaper called The Tribunal, issued by the No Conscription Fellowship, and I used to write weekly articles for it. After I had ceased to be editor, the new editor, being ill one week, asked me at the last moment to write the weekly article. I did so, and in it I said that American soldiers would be employed as strike-breakers in England, an occupation to which they were accustomed when in their own country (The full text is reproduced on pages 308-310). This statement was supported by a Senate Report which I quoted. I was sentenced for this to six months' imprisonment. All this, however, was by no means unpleasant. It kept my self-respect alive, and gave me something to think about less painful than the universal destruction. By the intervention of Arthur Balfour, I was placed in the first division, so that while in prison I was able to read and write as much as I liked, provided I did no pacifist propaganda. I found prison in many ways quite agreeable. I had no engagements, no difficult decisions to make, no fear of callers, no interruptions to my work. I read enormously; I wrote a book, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, a semi-popular version of The Principles of Mathematics, and began the work for Analysis of Mind. I was rather interested in my fellow-prisoners, who seemed to me in no way morally inferior to the rest of the population, though they were on the whole slightly below the usual level of intelligence, as was shown by their having been caught. For anybody not in the first division, especially for a person accustomed to reading and writing, prison is a severe and terrible punishment; but for me, thanks to Arthur Balfour, this was not so. I owe him gratitude for his intervention although I was bitterly opposed to all his policies. I was much cheered, on my arrival, by the warder at the gate, who had to take particulars about me. He asked my religion and I replied 'agnostic'. He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh: 'Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God.' This remark kept me cheerful for about a week. One time, when I was reading Strachey's Eminent Victorians, I laughed so loud that the warder came round to stop me, saying I must remember that prison was a place of punishment. On another occasion Arthur Waley, the translator of Chinese poetry, sent me a translated poem that he had not yet published called 'The Red Cockatoo'. It is as follows :
Sent as a present from Annam -  |
