The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-01-03
THE FALL OF PORT ARTHUR.

Gibraltar itself has been shaken by
the fall of Port Arthur. There is no
longer such thing as an invuiner-
able fortress. Given an active, a
numerous, a powerful and well-direct-
ed enemy. able 10 shut all means OF
egress for garrison, to hold its posi-
lions and to keep the offensive and
the besieged place mu inevitably sur
render. Port Arthur with its lofty
hills. its fifty and more forts, its high
powered modern guns, its auxiliary
feet and its resolute garrison, was a
multiplied Gibraltar; yet it has not
been able to hold out year. Nor has
it succumbed to the inert patience OF.
a siege Assault after assault carried
its outworks, broke it's inner lines OF
forts, destroyed its supply depots and
feet; and the decentralization of a gar
rison compelled to live over the ex-
piosive tunnels of the enemy did the
rest. Gibraltar itself could be tunnel
ed and destroyed. Given a point OF
2ppFOdcn, SecuTAly from SoA eiC7 CO..
from a relieving force and the sapper
and miner would have his way.
1t is a day of moral triumph for
General Dragomiroff. who long ago
declared that the fertilization of Port
Arthur was mistake; that the place
could not be held and was not worth
holding and that, in the event of war
with a power able to invest it by land
and sea, Port Arthur would be the
Sedan of Russia. Dragomiroff was
right and the Russian General staff,
srho forced his retirement, were wrong.
It would have been better to center
on yIadiyostok as a naval base-a
place not easily blockaded OR besieged,
secure in winter. and with interior
railway connections not easily cut;
pert which, with modern ice-breakers,
nay be kept open for war ships or,
L a naval enemy attacks in superior
force. may be closed by merely per
hitting the mouths of the bay to
freeze.
The results of the fall of Port Ar
hur will be far-reaching. StoesseI.s
surrender must lower Russia's pres
ige so much as to affect the spirits of
Ter troops in the field and her credit in :
he money markets of the world. Cor
espondingly it viii increase the
aorale and credit of the Japanese. A
orps of veteran troops long engaged :
n the siege will be released to go
.orth and re-enforce Oyama. Rod
feet may suffer change
& plan; at any rate it's original pur-
ose, the. relief OF Port Arthur, has :.
cen checkrnated China, having found
he Rus ians Vulnerable on what was :
eiieved to be their strongest military ;,
round, may now be persuaded to &C.
reilly assist Japan with money and
uppIies for troops; though an open
Iiance can hardly be expected until
.ussian sea-power has been so far re- :
uced as to render Chefoo and shang- :
al safe from attack.
The war is now nearly eleven
,cnths old. In that time Korea has =
cen cleared of Russians: Kuropat- : :
ms army, SUCCESSFULLY defeated in :
reat battles. has been driven 200 :
niles from the place of its first stand;
he Russian Pacific squadron has been :
estroyed and Port Arthur taken. No
,ore brilliant campaign than this
marked the career of Napoleon Bona
arte. Tt compares with his invasion y
Italy, the most notable in its o
airing, originality and success of all Il
is great feats of war. r