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Show , WHEN THE WAR IS OVER. Instances are not rare lately where newspapers heretofore jubilant over every Ilussiau disaster in this war are now found taking the sober tack. They begin to consider the results of Japanese victory and its effect upon the trade and civilization of the world.. The yelkuv peril,, laughed at in the beginning, begin-ning, now assumes gravity. Writers whose vision extends over the day' and the evil thereof, contribute con-tribute articles upon the subject in the better class ' of mcgazincse, American and foreign. Our old friend Judge; Goodwin, in his paper last week, suggested that it would be a. very good plan to build more battleships and hurry up those already in the shipyards. If Japan became the dominating power in Asia, how long would it be before the Philippines and even Hawaii became loot for the brown men ? ( But the war is not over, nor will it cease with the capitulation of p"ort Arthur, even though that is admitted to be the fate of the Russian stronghold strong-hold in the Orient at this hour. The New York Sun is'ot disposed tojet the report telegraphed fom Berlin: thaTthe' German government" is convinced, con-vinced, and is. moulding its foreign policy on the cv:. thPtrRia ;s tbe erased from 4' '-':'y the list of great powers', and to occupy a secondary position for many years to come as a result of her humiliation -in the Far East. The assumption imputed im-puted to German military and civil oliicers is premature. pre-mature. The fall of Spbastopol did not reduce Prussia Prus-sia to the level of a second rate power, although the exhaustion of her resources at the close of the Crunean war was indisputable. If Port Arthur should defy assault or should hold out for a considerable con-siderable time, until, at ail events, Russia's Baltic fleet should have reached Mauchurian waters; it General Kuropatkin should succeed"' in beating on" his Japanese opponents, and in withdrawing the bulk of his forces intact to Harbin; and if the new fleet going from the Baltic should defeat, the Japanese Jap-anese warships under Admiral Togo, or contrive to evade them, and find a refuge in Vladivostok; if these, or most of these tilings, should occur, 'Russia would enter on the next campaign with a better prospect of victory than she has yet possessed, pos-sessed, and she would have lost no prestige which he might not fairly hope to regain. It is true that Events would have demonstrated the extent to which corruption and inefficiency pervade the Russian Rus-sian military and naval systems; but that can have been no secret to the German general staff, who have carefully studied Russia's experience in the last war with Turkey. Not until Port Arthur has been taken, until Kuropatkin has been forced to surrender or been routed, and until Russia's Baltic fleet has been destroyed, captured or reduced to impotence, will it be reasonable to talk about Russia's having dropped, even temporarily, iuto the category of second sec-ond rate powers. |