But in the
present situation there is not a word of prophecy which can be uttered
in face of the fact that the most terrible war known to history has
broken out without any of the powers involved in the least wishing it.
It was in Russia first that at the last moment the war party seemed to
have gained the upper hand and to have set in motion the whole bloody
sport. We may rely on it that the statesmen of Austria were of the
honest belief that they could localize the conflict with Servia.
But it is impossible any longer to consider this world war as a
continuation of that conflict. Servia has vanished completely from the
horizon, and in the moment when that end disappeared from view, each
nation found itself suddenly fighting for nothing else save its own
national integrity. The real purposes in this war will not come to the
surface until the balance of the power becomes a little more sharply
defined. Then in the victors' camp all manner of purposes and desires
will suddenly spring up wide awake.
When Everything Is Over.
Meanwhile, little as may be affirmed today concerning the prospects for
the parties in this struggle and the manner of the war's conclusion,
this assertion may safely be put forth; this world will wear a vastly
different appearance when everything is over.
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