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 S'38' 
 
 THE STORY 
 
 v#' 
 
 OF 
 
 KING GONSTANTINE 
 
 As revealed in the Greek White Book 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 ^B MED MSM 
 
 BY 
 
 ], SELDEN WILLMORE 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO 
 
 3Q PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C.4 
 
 FOUKTH AVENUE AND ^OTH STREET, NEW YOMK 
 l^OMI'.AY. CALCrTTV AND MADK A>< 
 
THE STORY 
 
 OF 
 
 KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 As revealed in the Greek IVhite Book 
 
 BY 
 
 J. SELDEN WILLMORE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 'the great crime and its moral," "KULTUR in ROMAN TIMES] 
 
 ETC. 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.G. 4 
 
 FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK 
 
 BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS 
 1919 
 
^ 
 
 6 
 
 ^^i 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 rAGE 
 
 The Situation at the Beginning of the War ... i 
 
 The Growth of German Influence 17 
 
 The Sacrifice of Greek Interests 34 
 
 Treachery to the Allies 54 
 
 The Retribution 73 
 
 B 2 
 

 
 3 * J ^ 
 
 \ , -'A : i 
 
 > > > 1 > 
 
 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 .45 REVEALED IN THE GREEK WHITE BOOK 
 
 I 
 
 THE SITUATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR 
 
 Greece and the Entente. 
 
 WHEN the war broke out there was every reason for 
 supposing that Greece's sympathies would be with 
 the Entente Powers, if indeed she did not determine to take 
 an active part in the hostiHties at their side. To three of 
 them, England, France and Russia, she owes her very 
 existence as an independent State, and this she had always 
 gratefully acknowledged. French and British officers fought 
 for her on the battlefield to deliver her from the Turkish 
 yoke, and in recollection of this she had ever revered the 
 names, among others, of Lord Byron, Colonel Fabvier, Lord 
 Cochrane, and Admiral Codrington, under whose command 
 the AlHed Fleet destroyed the Turkish naval forces on the 
 8/20th October, 1827 ; nor did she hold in less reverence the 
 memory of such statesmen as Gladstone, Canning and Dilke, 
 who championed her cause in England. To Russia she was 
 united by the bonds of a common religion. 
 
 Since these three Powers signed the treaty of February 3rd, 
 1830, which declared that Greece should be an independent 
 State governed by an hereditary monarch, they had never 
 ceased to act as her protectors and foster-fathers, and she 
 had adopted them no less than they had adopted her. In 
 1832, the Bavarian Prince Otto became King of Greece under 
 their aegis. In 1862, when that king was deposed by his 
 
THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 subjects, the same Protecting Powers nominated Prince 
 William of Denmark, who became King of the Hellenes 
 under the name of George I, and throughout his long reign 
 of fifty years retained their friendship as well as the affection 
 of his own subjects. During all that time those Pro- 
 tecting Powers continued to give marks of their sympathy. 
 In 1863 Britain ceded to Greece the Ionian Islands ; in 1881, 
 in agreement with France and Russia, she brought about the 
 union of Thessaly with the kingdom of Greece, and in 1897 
 used her influence, at the end of the disastrous war with 
 Turkey, whose hostile operations were directed by German 
 strategists, to secure favourable terms from the conqueror, 
 and granted her a loan in the following year. Recently 
 EngHsh officers were sent at her request to organise her navy 
 and French officers to organise her army. 
 
 The democratic institutions and economic systems of 
 France and Great Britain had found favour in Greece, and 
 the inhabitants had been brought up in the liberty inspired 
 by the French Revolution, a liberty in harmony with the 
 early institutions of their own race. The vast majority of 
 them had no sympathy with Prussian autocracy ; delivered 
 from the Turkish yoke, they had no desire to put on another. 
 In some of its features the very civilisation of modern Greece 
 may be said to be based on that of France. She has adopted 
 the Code Napoleon almost in its entirety, and the language 
 of the country, at least as far as its Uterature is concerned, 
 is permeated with French modes of expression a circum- 
 stance pointing to similarity of thought. Every Greek with 
 any pretence to education speaks French and reads French 
 literature and, if he acquires a second foreign language, it 
 is generally English or Italian rather than German. 
 
 From their geographical position the Greeks naturally 
 looked to Great Britain, as the prominent sea Power, for 
 protection, the more especially as the principle of the open 
 door was upheld by that Power. Greece is entirely dependent 
 on the sea for her supplies. As M. Venizelos stated in his 
 speech of November 3rd,i 1915, " Greece not only cannot 
 * Where one date only is given it is the Gregorian. 
 
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR 7 
 
 grow but cannot even continue to exist if she finds herself 
 opposed to the Powers that control the sea." In short, to 
 adopt the words of M. Diomedes in a speech recently de- 
 livered in London : " The Greek world through the trend of 
 history, which, working through inscrutable social laws, 
 alone controls the currents which connect or divide the 
 nations, is in the most intimate spiritual, moral and economic 
 contact with the Latin and Anglo-Saxon world." 
 
 Greece and the Central Powers. 
 
 Politically, it was in the interest of Greece to check the 
 growing influence of the Central Powers in the Balkans. 
 She knew that Austria coveted Salonica, and she might be 
 suspicious with good reason of the close understanding which 
 had existed since 1908 between that country and her heredi- 
 tary enemy Bulgaria. The alliance which she formed with 
 Serbia showed that she was not ignorant of the danger of 
 the situation. 
 
 She had every reason to fear that if Germany were 
 victorious in the war, Bulgaria would be strengthened and 
 expanded at her expense. As Venizelos foresaw, it was 
 Bulgaria's aim, with or without Germany's approval, per- 
 manently to increase her territory at the cost of both Serbia 
 and Greece. The object of the Serbian Treaty was to 
 forestall this. Alone, Greece or Serbia could not hope to 
 check her designs, but united they might be able to do so. 
 
 The whole policy of Germany in the East, the Drang nach 
 Osten, was a menace to Greece and incompatible with her 
 interests. But Bulgaria was not the only hereditary enemy 
 of Greece which enjoyed the support of the Central Powers. 
 For long past, it had been Germany's policy to favour and 
 conciliate Turkey, and Turkey could only be conciliated to 
 the disadvantage of Greek interests. It was the desire 
 of Greece to see the two and a half million Greeks, settled 
 in Asia Minor, delivered from the Turkish yoke ; but no help 
 in this matter would come from Germany. On the contrary, 
 she would acquiesce in the oppression to which they were 
 subjected by her vassal. 
 
8 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 The Entente was for freeing the Christian populations of 
 Turkey ; Germany was for exterminating them. She had no 
 sympathy with Greek aspirations. When, some years past. 
 Sir Edward Grey informed M. Venizelos that England would 
 make a naval demonstration in order to enforce the decision 
 of the Conference of London, if Germany consented, Germany 
 refused to co-operate or consent to any unfriendly action 
 towards Turkey. 
 
 There was every likelihood, moreover, that Turkey would 
 be rewarded by the Central Powers for her services by the 
 Greek Islands being again subjected to her dominion. 
 
 How could Germany be friendly to Greece while she was 
 seeking to obtain ascendancy over Turkey and supporting 
 Austrian claims in Albania and Epirus against Greek in- 
 terests ? The victory of Germany would be the destruction 
 of Hellenism in Asia Minor as well as in Macedonia. 
 
 The Greco-Serbian Treaty. 
 
 The object of the treaty with Serbia, as stated in the 
 preamble, was to secure a lasting peace for the Balkan 
 peninsula. Article VI provides that a military convention 
 shall be concluded, within the briefest possible space of time 
 after the treaty shall have been signed, to prepare and assure 
 military measures of defence ; and in virtue of this convention 
 which was ratified 8/21 June, 1913 : *' In the event of war 
 between one of the Allied Powers and a third Power breaking 
 out in the circumstances foreseen by the Treaty of Alliance 
 between Greece and Serbia, or in the event of a sudden attack 
 by considerable forces two divisions at least of the Bul- 
 garian Army against the Greek or the Serbian Army, the 
 two States, Greece and Serbia, promise each other mutual 
 military support, Greece with her whole force by land and 
 sea, Serbia with her whole force by land " (Art. i). At the 
 opening of hostilities, at whatever moment they shall begin, 
 Greece obliges herself to have an army of 90,000 fighting 
 men, concentrated between certain places, and Serbia to 
 have an army of 150,000 fighting men, concentrated in other 
 
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR 9 
 
 districts mentioned. Further, Greece binds herself to have 
 her fleet ready at the same time for action in the Aegean 
 Sea (Art. II). Article X of the Treaty stipulates that it 
 shall not be denounced for a period of ten years. 
 
 Such was the situation in Greece when the ultimatum was 
 presented to Serbia by Austria-Hungary on i2/25th July, 
 1914. The Prime Minister, M. Venizelos, confident that he 
 represented the feelings of his fellow-countrymen, and being 
 a man of honour and high integrity, at once telegraphed 
 from Munich, where he was on a political mission at the 
 moment, to M. Streit, the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 in the following words : 
 
 With regard to our attitude in the event of an armed 
 conflict between Austria and Serbia, while reserving our 
 opinion as to the application of the Treaty of Alliance, it 
 is necessary that no doubt should be left in the mind of any 
 of your interlocutors as to our determination not to remain 
 with our arms folded in the face of a Bulgarian attack on 
 Serbia. It would be impossible for us to tolerate such an 
 attack, seeing that it might result in the aggrandisement of 
 Bulgaria and open up the question of the Treaty of Bucharest. 
 It is not only a question of our duty towards Serbia as her 
 ally, but a necessity imperatively imposed upon us by the 
 consideration of our own self-preservation."^ 
 
 A month later he gave assurances to the Entente Powers 
 that it would be impossible for Greece to look on with the 
 indifference of a spectator at an attack by Turkey and 
 Bulgaria on Serbia, and that, apart from her own interests, 
 her bonds of alliance obliged her to hasten to the assistance 
 of Serbia in the event of an attack being actually carried 
 out.* And this he fearlessly declared, although the German 
 Minister had previously stated that if, in the event of a 
 Bulgarian attack on Serbia, Bulgaria should be attacked by 
 Greece, he would be compelled to ask for his passports. ^ 
 Already on the 11 /24th July, M. Streit had telegraphed to 
 him at Trieste informing him of the pressure which the Ger- 
 man Minister was exercising at Athens to induce the Govern- 
 
 White Book, 14. Ibid. 26. Ibid. 25. 
 
10 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 ment to abandon their Treaty with Serbia,^ and M. Streit 
 himself, a descendant of one of the members of the suite 
 brought into the country by King Otto from Germany, was 
 before long advocating these views. 
 
 Growth of German Influence. 
 
 But at the beginning of the war there was very little 
 pro-German feehng, as might have been expected for the 
 reasons given above. Practically the only supporters of the 
 German cause were found amongst those who were in the 
 immediate entourage of the King or sought the Royal 
 favour and the superior officers in the army, many of whom 
 were trained in Germany and had been taught to believe 
 that the German Army was invincible. Before long, however, 
 a wonderful system of propaganda had been established 
 throughout the country, with its headquarters at Athens, 
 in the offices of the notorious Baron Schenck zu Schweinsburg, 
 who was at first, nominally at least, Wolff's agent in Greece. 
 Previously to his arrival only one of the principal newspapers 
 published at Athens, the Nea Hemera, showed pro-German 
 tendencies, the proprietor of it having been educated in 
 Germany. The Embros represented itself as being indepen- 
 dent, though, perhaps, for personal reasons, it was violently 
 anti-Venizelist. The remainder of the daily Press, including 
 about fourteen papers, were pro- Ally. Before long, half of 
 these succumbed to the temptations put in their way by 
 Baron Schenck and his staff. The Athens correspondent of 
 the Paris newspaper Le Journal of the 15th November, 
 1915, thus describes the condition into which this venal 
 Press had fallen by that date. 
 
 " Disregarding the interests and good name of their 
 country, and openly subventioned by the Ambassador, they 
 spread abroad every morning the poisonous news fabricated 
 in the offices of the Wolff agency. As M. Venizelos said in 
 his memorable speech of October 5th : * We have before us 
 the repugnant spectacle of men who direct certain organs of 
 public opinion and are therefore regarded as the interpreters 
 of a portion of that opinion, but who, nevertheless, have sold 
 1 White Book, 11. 
 
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR ii 
 
 their pens to a foreign propaganda.' ^ Since M. Venizelos* 
 disappearance, the shamelessness of these men has been 
 carried to greater lengths than before. My profession forces 
 upon me the painful duty of a daily perusal of these news- 
 papers. They are marvellous instruments for the poisoning 
 of the soul ! They sully the very name of heroism ; they 
 breathe out suspicion ; they affirm what is false and mis- 
 represent the truth ; they minimise and distort, like the 
 grotesque mirrors at a fair, all the events of the most appalling 
 tragedy ever known to history which is being developed in 
 I Europe. A pernicious and pestilential vapour arises from 
 their columns. Alas for public opinion in Greece ! This 
 Germanised press is Germany's daily emission in Greece of 
 asphyxiating gas." 
 
 As the articles published by these newspapers were in 
 every case written to order, it is clear that they were not 
 in any way representative of public opinion. At the same 
 time, they could not fail to exert a certain influence on the 
 minds of the readers and win over adherents to the German 
 cause. It was not only through the agency of the news- 
 papers that the propaganda campaign was carried on. 
 Every unscrupulous method which we have seen employed 
 by German agents in other countries was soon in vogue in 
 Greece, and very considerable success crowned the efforts 
 of the intriguers, many of whom spent their time in enter- 
 taining frequenters of cafes and other public resorts with 
 false or highly exaggerated stories of Germany's prowess 
 and of the terrible vengeance which she would mete out 
 to their country if it dared to show any inclination to support 
 her enemies. Before long Greece had been practically 
 turned into a province governed by Prussian terrorism.^ 
 
 Nothing could check the influence of the Central Powers, 
 not even the semi-official statement published by some of 
 the pro-Entente papers, on information obtained by the 
 British Legation and afterwards confirmed from German 
 and Bulgarian sources, that Germany had promised Bulgaria 
 
 * The Investigation Committee instances many individual cases of 
 corruption perpetrated by Baron Schenck, such as the payment of 250,000 
 francs to the newspaper Hesperini, 50,000 francs to the Deputy Mouzakis, 
 etc. 
 
 See below, p. 32. 
 
12 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 Greek Macedonia with Cavalla, Serres, Fiorina and Castoria. 
 The extent to which this German influence was finally 
 carried may be judged from the fact that, during one of the 
 subsequent anti-Venizelist demonstrations in Athens, thous- 
 ands of placards bearing the signature of the German 
 General, von Mackensen, were openly distributed in the 
 town, giving the assurance that he would shortly march 
 down and " deliver his friends^ from their oppressors." 
 
 King Constantine's Relations with Germany. 
 
 But the most serious feature of this German propaganda 
 was the attitude adopted by King Constantine, who from 
 the first strongly espoused the German cause. He sur- 
 rounded himself with pro-German advisers ; amongst these 
 was the notorious Metaxas, one of a number of Greek officers, 
 who, at the Kaiser's suggestion, had before the war been 
 sent to complete their military training in Germany. This 
 man had great influence over Constantine. The Queen also 
 /chose a prominent Germanophil as her chamberlain in the 
 person of John Theotokis, the son of George Theotokis, the 
 only Germanophil politician in Greece previous to the war, 
 and the brother of Nicolas Theotokis, Greek Minister at 
 
 (BerUn. This gentleman had himself received no education 
 as a politician, having devoted his time at Moedling, in 
 Austria, to the pursuit of cattle-rearing, and on his return 
 to Greece had founded a model dairy, which, however, had 
 no success. But what caused him to find favour in the 
 royal eyes was his extreme devotion to everything German. 
 He was more Kaiserist than the Kaiser himself, and, by 
 receiving him into her close intimacy, the Queen made it 
 
 * " Friends " who were designated by the wife of the German Consul 
 at Salonica as " that rascally Greek rabble " in a letter to a certain 
 Herr Pfister, which was seized on the expulsion of the German representa- 
 tives from that town. It appears to be the custom of German representa- 
 tives and agents to describe in such terms the people whose friendship 
 they are courting. We have an example of this in the diary of Herr 
 Griesinger recording his secret mission to win over certain oriental 
 countries. He there speaks of "the miserable pack of dirty Turks/\ 
 ** these low filthy swine of Persians," and " these greasy, blackguardly' 
 Bengal revolutionaries"! Another emissary in those parts, Dr. Bekker, 
 characterises his hoped-for Persian allies as " a generation of vipers." 
 
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR 13 
 
 plain from the beginning that she was more anxious to act 
 in the interests of her brother than in those of her adopted 
 country. 
 
 The recently pubHshed Greek White Book ^ and its supple- 
 ment show how determined were King Constantine's efforts 
 and how strong was his desire to place his country, whether 
 his subjects were wilHng or not, at the disposal of the 
 Central Powers, and what encouragement he received in 
 that direction from his imperial brother-in-law. The cor- 
 respondence which he carried on with the Court of Berlin 
 and with German ministers and generals was conducted in 
 cipher by cable and wireless telegraphy, with the assistance 
 of his Government and Greek representatives abroad. It 
 was deciphered and pubHshed in the White Book by order 
 of M. Politis, the present Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 and, as will be subsequently seen, during the whole of the 
 time that he was carrying on this correspondence with 
 Germany, Constantine was outwardly professing friendly 
 neutrality in favour of the Allies. So early as 22nd 
 July /4th August, 1914, he received the following appeal 
 in the name of the German Emperor from M. Theotokis : 
 
 " The Emperor begs to inform Your Majesty that an 
 alliance has to-day been completed between Germany and 
 Turkey. Bulgaria and Roumania are also siding with 
 Germany. The German ships at present in the Mediterranean 
 are about to unite themselves with the Turkish fleet in order 
 that they may act together. From the above Your Majesty 
 will understand that all the Balkan States have allied them- 
 selves with Germany in the struggle against Slavism. His 
 Majesty, in bringing these considerations to Your Majesty's 
 knowledge, appeals to you as a comrade, as a German 
 Marshal of whom the German army was proud when that 
 title was conferred on you, and as a brother-in-law ; he 
 reminds you that it was owing to the support of His Imperial 
 Majesty that Greece definitely retained Ca valla, and he 
 begs you to order the mobilisation of your army, take your 
 place at his side and march with him hand in hand against 
 our common enemy, Slavism. The Emperor added that he 
 
 * This book has been appropriately spoken of by M. Politis as " The 
 Black Book," for it " constitutes what is perhaps the blackest page in all 
 the centuries of Greek history." 
 
14 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 makes this last and urgent appeal to Your Majesty at this 
 most critical moment, and that he is convinced that Your 
 Majesty will not fail to respond to it. If Greece does not 
 range herself on the side of Germany, every link between 
 Greece and the Empire will be broken. 
 
 Finally, His Majesty told me that what he requires of you 
 to-day is the carrying out of all that which Your Majesty 
 and he have so often discussed. He observed to me that, 
 inasmuch as the Bulgarians (to whom Germany and her 
 Emperor had never been very favourable) have placed them- 
 selves on the side of Germany, he can still hope that Greece 
 will do likewise. 
 
 I think it my duty to add that the Emperor appeared to 
 me to be extremely decided in what he said to me."^ 
 
 On the same date M. Theotokis informed the King that 
 he had had a long conversation with Herr von Jagow con- 
 firming the Kaiser's declaration as to the alliance with Turkey 
 and the anticipated adherence of Bulgaria and Roumania, 
 and alleged that there was an undoubted understanding 
 between Turke}^ and Bulgaria, by virtue of which those 
 two countries would be able to proceed in union against 
 any State which did not adopt the same poHcy. Herr 
 von Jagow therefore considered that Greece *s safety lay in 
 marching with the other Balkan States against Russia and 
 Serbia. M. Theotokis added that he had the impression that 
 the German Government " would have no objection to see 
 us expand at the expense of Serbia,'* and begged the King to 
 weigh in all its details the tremendous consequences which 
 would ensue at the moment, as well as in future, from a 
 refusal to respond to the Emperor's appeal. ^ 
 
 The King replies on the 25th July /7th August as follows : 
 
 ** The Emperor knows that my personal sympathy as 
 well as my political opinions draw me to his side. I shall 
 never forget that it is to him that we owe Cavalla. After 
 deep reflection, however, it is not possible for me to see how 
 I could be useful to him by immediately mobilising my 
 army. The Mediterranean is under the control of the 
 united English and French fleets. They would destroy both 
 our navy and our mercantile fleet, seize our islands, and, 
 above all, prevent the concentration of my army, which 
 
 White Book, 19. Ibid., 20. 
 
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR 15 
 
 can only take place by sea, as there is not yet any raDway. 
 Without being of any use to him we should be blotted out 
 of the map. I am compelled to consider that neutrality is 
 a necessity for us, and this might be useful to him, coupled 
 with the assurance that I will not touch his friends amongst 
 my neighbours as long as they do not touch our local Balkan 
 interests. *'i 
 
 This reply of King Constantine is a sample of his whole 
 attitude throughout the events which finally led to his de- 
 position. His actions are guided not by the wishes of his sub- 
 jects, as are those of a constitutional monarch, but by his own 
 personal feeling, and he makes it clear that it is only fear 
 that the Allies may deprive him of his crown that prevents 
 him from immediately acting in accordance with the Kaiser's 
 desire, and not respect for the treaty which he had signed 
 with Serbia only a year before. It was not necessary that 
 his brother-in-law should claim devotion from him on the 
 pretence that he had assisted him to retain Cavalla since, 
 as we shall see' later on, he was just as pleased to hand that 
 district over to the enemies of his country at his brother- 
 in-law's desire as he was before to retain it with his approval ; 
 but it may be mentioned, in passing, that, as a matter of 
 fact, he was indebted to French diplomacy for the acquisi- 
 tion of that district. This attitude of the King had already 
 become so pronounced in the first month of the war that 
 M. Venizelos, oppressed by the lack of harmony between 
 the Crown and the Government, felt compelled to tender his 
 
 * White Book, 21. 
 
 In acknowledging this reply of King Constantine, M. Theotokis 
 telegraphs to him saying " M. von Jagow has told me that he believes 
 the Emperor will understand the necessity pointed out by Your Majesty 
 to preserve neutrality for the moment. The Minister repeated to me the 
 advice he gave the day before yesterday that we should come to an under- 
 standing as soon as possible with Sofia and Constantinople, adding that 
 Serbia constituted at the present moment the skin of the bear " (White 
 Book, 23). On which the Near East (August 24th, 191 7) remarks :- 
 
 " Naturally, but the point is that the telegram admits that this advice 
 had also been given previously by von Jagow. Since the telegram is 
 dated a week after the war broke out, it seems certain that ' the advice 
 that von Jagow had formerly given ' was conveyed before the war broke 
 out. In that case, the last pretext for urging that Germany was taken by 
 surprise by Austria's attack on Serbia vanishes. And this is corroborated 
 by the phrase in the Kaiser's telegram to King Constantine on the outbreak 
 of war as to the policy ' we have often spoken of ' which presumably refers 
 to the same fact." 
 
i6 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 resignation. In the memorandum he addressed to the King 
 on that occasion, he wrote : 
 
 " Why show so much respect for a Power who seeks to 
 strengthen in every way the two principal adversaries of 
 Hellenism the Bulgarians and the Turks ? And why show 
 so much indifference with regard to Powers who, after 
 having created and protected Greece in every circumstance, 
 are again disposed to-day, if we are attacked by Turkey, to 
 bring us their assistance ? '* ^ 
 
 The King has pretended, in various statements that he 
 has made, including interviews with foreign correspondents, 
 that he acted throughout in the interests of his people. 
 Whether he was doing so or whether he forgot that he held 
 his throne on the condition of acting according to the wishes 
 of his people, as expressed by their delegates in Parhament, 
 will best be gathered from a brief summary of the events 
 which took place in Greece during the three years immedi- 
 ately succeeding the outbreak of the war. 
 
 WUte Book (Supplement), 6. 
 
II 
 
 THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INFLUENCE 
 
 Venizelos' Policy. 
 
 IN November, 1914, the Protecting Powers, ignorant of the 
 negotiations which were being secretly carried on between 
 the Courts of Berlin and Athens, and knowing that Venizelos, 
 the Greek Prime Minister, in his belief that his country's 
 place was at the side of the Allies, represented the opinion 
 of the great majority of his compatriots, sounded him, in 
 consequence of the Austrian invasion of Serbia, as to his 
 readiness to intervene, in accordance with the treaty obliga- 
 tions, in support of that country. But, owing to the hesita- 
 tion of the King, no decision could be arrived at, and M. 
 Venizelos, in consequence of this, threatened to resign. No 
 further steps were taken, however, until February of the 
 next year, when M. Venizelos was again approached by the 
 French and British Governments on the subject of Greek 
 co-operation, in return for which they offered to support 
 Greek aspirations with regard to certain territory in AnatoHa. 
 It was proposed that Greece should take part in the 
 Dardanelles expedition with her fleet and one land division. 
 Venizelos was in favour of this proposal and very strongly 
 recommended it to the King, but the latter rejected it on 
 the advice, as he asserted, of his General Staff, who were 
 undoubtedly, like himself, under German influence. M. 
 Venizelos thereupon resigned the Premiership in the behef 
 that the King, as a constitutional monarch, would appeal 
 to the people, on the plea that the ParHament, being of long 
 standing, might possibly be no longer representative of the 
 
 17 c 
 
i8 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 country. The King, however, did not take this step, but 
 appointed M. Gounaris, a personal enemy of M. Venizelos, 
 to replace him. The new Cabinet which was then formed 
 under his Premiership renewed their assurance of goodwill 
 towards the Entente, and M. Zographos, Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs, telegraphed on 28th February /13th March to Nish 
 that Greece continued firmly attached to the Treaty of 
 Alliance with Serbia. ^ The Cabinet even proposed to give 
 military assistance to the Entente Powers, but on conditions 
 which were considered unacceptable by them, and it is 
 questionable whether the proposal was made with sincerity. 
 
 It was at this moment that the German agents redoubled 
 their efforts to influence the mass of the people against the 
 Protecting Powers, availing themselves of the circumstance 
 of the personal hostility entertained towards M. Venizelos by 
 prominent persons in the country, including certain members 
 of the Cabinet, who were jealous of his abilities and popu- 
 larity, apart from political considerations. In short. Baron 
 Schenck directed his efforts towards creating a strong anti- 
 Venizelist party. The ex-Prime Minister was represented 
 as a traitor to his King and country, and advantage was 
 taken of King Constantine's illness, which occurred at this 
 time, to represent him as a martyr King who was thwarted 
 in his efforts to preserve his country from the horrors of 
 war. Baron Schenck's immediate purpose was to influence 
 the new elections which must shortly take place, and prevent 
 Venizelos from being returned to power ; and when, in 
 spite of that influence, the Liberal party under Venizelos 
 obtained a majority of 60 out of 316 Deputies elected, M. 
 Gounaris refused to resign, alleging that the King's illness 
 prevented him for the present from taking steps for the 
 formation of a new Cabinet. 
 
 But on August i6th the King, on his recovery, summoned 
 M. Venizelos to form a Government, and that statesman 
 lost no time in making it known that he was determined to 
 uphold the Serbo-Greek Treaty. In opposition to his 
 views the theory was now started by his adversaries that 
 
 1 White Book, 29. 
 
THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INFLUENCE 19 
 
 the terms of that Treaty did not compel Greece to take any 
 action against Bulgaria, as long as the latter was supported 
 by the Central Powers, since the Treaty merely contemplated 
 a purely Balkan question. However, when Bulgaria issued 
 orders for a general mobilisation, Venizelos was able to 
 persuade the King to issue a decree for the same purpose 
 in Greece, and this measure met with general approval 
 throughout the country. On September 29th, 1915, Veni- 
 zelos announced in the Chamber that the object of this 
 mobilisation was to place Greece in a position to fulfil her 
 Treaty obligations towards Serbia, while the Opposition, 
 under the leadership of Gounaris, continued to argue that 
 that Treaty was not, in the actual circumstances, binding. 
 They alleged, as another reason for this statement, that 
 Serbia was not in a position to place on the Bulgarian frontier 
 the 150,000 men stipulated in Article II. But Venizelos 
 was able to reply that he had already been assured by the 
 British and French Ministers at Athens that their Govern- 
 ments were themselves prepared to supply the 150,000 men 
 on behalf of Serbia, and on October 3rd contingents of 
 Entente troops began to be landed at Salonica. The 
 Opposition set up the argument that Greece was committing 
 a breach of neutrahty in allowing the disembarkation of 
 these troops on Greek territory, and Venizelos himself sent 
 a protest, by way of form, to the representatives of the 
 Protecting Powers, while at the same time he expressed in 
 the Chamber his gratitude to those Powers for their friendly 
 demeanour and repeated his determination to fulfil his 
 country's obligations to Serbia. 
 
 As a matter of fact, however, this action which was 
 taken by the Protecting Powers was fully justified. The 
 Treaty of London of 1827 provides for such a contingency, 
 and the second Treaty of London of 1846 determines the steps 
 which it might be necessary for France, England and Russia 
 to take in case of the intervention of the Protecting Powers 
 on Greek territory. Article VIII of this Treaty stipulates 
 that no troops belonging to one of the Contracting Powers 
 shall enter the territory of the new Greek State without the 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 consent of the two other signatories to the Treaty, from 
 which it results that they alone are the judges as to the 
 propriety of so doing. In any case the troops were on 
 Greek territory by the authority of the people. 
 
 M. Venizelos' policy was endorsed by 147 votes against 
 10 1. In reply to his expressed determination to uphold the 
 honour of his country, a determination supported by a large 
 majority in a recently elected House, the King sent for him 
 and demanded his resignation. Venizelos gave way. He 
 has been taken to task for not refusing to obey this uncon- 
 stitutional demand of the King but, as he has himself re- 
 peatedly stated, he had to consider that the leaders of the 
 Army and not the King alone were now espousing the German 
 cause and that civil war, or at least very serious disturb- 
 ances, would have been the result of his refusal. He pre- 
 ferred to wait for a more favourable opportunity of asserting 
 the will of the people. 
 
 M. Zaimis and the Serbian Treaty. 
 
 His opponents had now to find a means of justifying their 
 contention that the treaty with Serbia was not in the 
 present circumstances binding on their country. And the 
 following reasons for this attitude were set out in a tele- 
 graphic despatch dated 29th Sept ember /12 th October, 
 addressed to M. Alexandropoulos, the Greek Minister in 
 Serbia, by M. Zaimis, whom the King appointed Prime 
 Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs after M. Venizelos' 
 resignation, in reply to a demand from the Serbian Govern- 
 ment for military assistance in case of need and in fulfilment 
 of the terms of the Treaty : 
 
 " The Royal Government deeply regret that they are 
 unable to accede to the request of the Serbian Government 
 thus formulated. 
 
 *' They consider in the first place that in the present 
 circumstances the casus foederis does not exist. In fact, the 
 Alliance concluded in 1913 in anticipation of a Bulgarian 
 attack and with a view to establish and preserve, after the 
 division of the country conquered in common from the 
 Ottoman Empire, an equilibrium of strength between the 
 
THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INFLUENCE 21 
 
 States of the Chersonese has, according to the preamble of 
 the Treaty itself, an entirely Balkan character, such as does 
 not render obligatory its application in the vicissitudes of a 
 general conflagration. In spite of the generality of the terms 
 of their first article, the Treaty of Alliance, and the Military 
 Convention which supplements it, prove that the contracting 
 parties had in view the sole hypothesis of an isolated attack 
 by Bulgaria against one of them. Article IV of the Military 
 Convention itself furnishes the proof of this for, having for 
 its object to determine the amount of assistance to be given 
 by one of the Allies when already occupied elsewhere, it 
 does not foresee any casus foederis except an attack by 
 Bulgaria on the other ally. Nowhere is there any question 
 of a combined attack by two or several Powers. On the 
 contrary, however wide in its terms the general disposition 
 of Article I of the Military Convention may be, it is limited to 
 the hypothesis of a war between one of the Allied States 
 and another single Power. And it could not be otherwise ; 
 it would have been an act of foolish presumption to stipulate, 
 in the event of one of the parties being at war with several 
 States at the same time, for the manifestly impotent and 
 contemptible assistance of the armed forces of the other 
 party. 
 
 *' Now there can be no doubt that this is the very eventuality 
 which presents itself to-day. If the Bulgarian attack, of 
 which the Serbian Government are apprehensive, takes 
 place, it will be the result of an agreement concerted with 
 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. It will be carried 
 out in combination with the attack already undertaken 
 against Serbia by the two Central Empires. It will present 
 the feature of an episode of the European War. The Serbian 
 Government has already recognised that it has this character 
 by breaking off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria in imita- 
 tion of the Entente Powers, their European Allies, without 
 having previously come to an arrangement with Greece, 
 their Balkan Ally. It is thus clear that we shall not find our- 
 selves to be within either the provisions or the spirit of our 
 Alliance. 
 
 " But the Royal Government are not only convinced that 
 in these circumstances they are placed under no contractual 
 obligations. They are, moreover, persuaded that their 
 armed assistance, spontaneously offered at such a moment, 
 would ill serve the common interest of the two countries. . . . 
 By intervening in this case Greece would ruin herself, without 
 the least hope of saving Serbia. . . ."^ 
 
 1 White Book, 34. 
 
22 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 He concluded with the assurance that the Greek Govern- 
 ment, faithful to their friendship, would continue to accord 
 the Serbian Government *' every assistance and facility 
 compatible with their international position ; " but their 
 subsequent conduct left no doubt that these were merely 
 empty words. 
 
 That there was no foundation for the statement that the 
 Alliance had a purely Balkanic character is clear from the 
 wording of the Military Convention finally attached to the 
 Treaty. It was in fact diametrically opposed to the tnith. 
 Perhaps M. Zaimis would not have dared to advance such 
 an argument if he had had any reason to suppose that the 
 Treaty, as well as the Military Convention, both of which 
 were kept secret at the time, would be subsequently given 
 to the world. Clause I of the Convention stipulates, as we 
 have seen, that : " In the event of war between one of the two 
 Allied States and a third Power taking place in the circum- 
 stances foreseen in the Treaty of AlUance between Greece and 
 Serbia or in case of a sudden attack by considerable forces at 
 least two divisions of the Bulgarian army against the Greek 
 or Serbian army the two States of Greece and Serbia promise 
 one another mutual military aid, Greece with all her miHtary 
 forces by land and sea and Serbia with all her forces by 
 land." The Convention, as originally drawn up, did not 
 contain the words *' a third Power," and in a telegram dated 
 May 10/23 M. Alexandropoulos points out to the then 
 Foreign Minister at Athens that the Serbian Government 
 proposed to insert the words which appear in the modified 
 version of the Convention, on which proposal he makes the 
 following comment : 
 
 " The extension of the Alliance against any third Power, 
 instead of confining it to the case of Bulgaria, is prejudicial 
 from a military point of view to our interests, and is favour- 
 able only to the Serbians. These latter have only land 
 frontiers and they have more neighbouring States than we 
 with which they might, at any moment, be engaged in conflict, 
 in which event we should be bound to come to their assistance, 
 whereas, in our case, we can only come into conflict by land 
 with Bulgaria, so that in this contingency alone could the 
 
THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INFLUENCE 23 
 
 assistance of Serbia be of any use to us. In the case of our 
 eventual differences with other Powers which might attack 
 us by sea, Serbia's assistance would be of no avail what- 
 
 In spite of this opinion, however, the modifications 
 demanded by the Serbian Government were accepted, and 
 the Convention containing them was signed together with 
 the Treaty, on 19th May/ist June, 1913, and with the King's 
 knowledge. 
 
 Manifestly, therefore, as the Serbian Government pointed 
 out to M. Zaimis in their reply to his telegram of 29th Sep- 
 tember /12th October : 
 
 " The spirit of the Treaty of Alliance which guaranteed 
 the integrity of the territory of each of the contracting 
 States in case of attack, no less than its text, in which there 
 is no mention of the Treaty ceasing to have any obligatory 
 force if Bulgaria is in alliance with any other Power, proves, 
 in a clear and logical manner, that Greece is bound to come 
 to the assistance of Serbia if she is, without provocation on 
 her part, attacked either by Bulgaria or any other Power." * 
 
 M. Zaimis' pretension that under Clause V of the Military 
 Convention Serbia, by breaking off diplomatic relations 
 with Bulgaria without previously concerting with her Balkan 
 Ally, Greece, had released that Ally from the obligation of 
 intervention was disposed of in the Serbian reply by the 
 remark that " She did not come to an understanding with 
 Greece with regard to the rupture of diplomatic relations 
 with Bulgaria for the simple reason that she had no choice 
 in the matter, and it did not rest with her either to break off 
 or maintain the relations. The rupture was rendered 
 inevitable by the aggressive attitude of Bulgaria." 
 
 Another argument used to justify the breach of faith was, as 
 has been stated, the assertion that Serbia was unable to place 
 150,000 men on the Bulgarian frontier ; but, apart from the 
 fact that Great Britain and France were prepared to send the 
 whole of the 150,000 men themselves, Serbia now declared her- 
 
 ' White Book, 6. Ibid, 38. 
 
24 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 self ready to furnish 120,000, and the remaining 30,000 were 
 already being landed by France and England at Salonica. 
 The fact was that the King and the Germanophil party 
 were merely looking about for means by which they might 
 give some plausibility to their determination to further to 
 the best of their ability the interests of the Central Powers. 
 The telegrams despatched by M. Theotokis from Berlin 
 alone give sufficient proof of this. Even the anti-Venizelist 
 Press, before they had received a definite lead from the 
 Court party, upheld the sanctity of the Treaty. Thus the 
 Embros wrote as late as 3rd/i6th April, 1915 : 
 
 " The part which Greece will play in co-operating with the 
 Serbian army, in case of a sudden Bulgarian assault, will 
 prove not only the sincerity of her purposes, and the useful- 
 ness of such an ally to Serbia, but will also obliterate the 
 odious calumny disseminated against their own Fatherland 
 by those who have written on several occasions that the 
 King of Greece and the General Staff are favouring German 
 designs." 
 
 Every man with any sense of honour in the countr}^ knew 
 that it was a breach of faith. The newspapers which had 
 not been won over by German money were proclaiming this 
 every day. The King's own brother George telegraphed to 
 him from Paris beseeching him, " on his knees," to sustain 
 the honour of his country. Telegrams of similar import 
 were addressed to M. Zaimis by all the principal Greek 
 colonies abroad. From Switzerland came the following : - 
 
 " The abandonment of Serbia by Greece at a most critical 
 moment for both these nations is regarded by a large propor- 
 tion of the Greek people, and indeed by the civilised world, as 
 a dishonourable and, at the same time, short-sighted policy. 
 There cannot be the least doubt that Greece, in assisting the 
 Germans and Bulgarians to win the victory, is at the same 
 time signing her own death warrant ; that by so doing she is 
 bringing about her enslavement and disintegration. We are 
 ashamed that we should bear the name of Greeks when we 
 see official Greece trampling underfoot the sacred obliga- 
 tions of their alliance at the dictation of barbarians those 
 same barbarians who are carrying out the systematic annihila- 
 tion of Hellenism in Turkey and are marching upon the town 
 
THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INFLUENCE 25 
 
 of the great Constantine with the assistance of our mortal 
 enemies, the Bulgarians. 
 
 " That the Germans and German sympathisers who have 
 worked so much evil at Athens should have succeeded by 
 their deceitful suggestions and their treachery in causing 
 so monstrous a crime to be committed is an indelible stain 
 on our national history. No doubt all those who are 
 responsible for this crime will meet with the punishment 
 they deserve at no distant period, but in the meantime the 
 Greek nation will have been irrevocably ruined. . . . For 
 these reasons we have telegraphed to the King, believing 
 that in so doing we are acquitting ourselves of an imperious 
 duty at the same time that we are exercising the undeniable 
 rights of free citizens, without concerning ourselves whether 
 we shall thereby provoke displeasure or not ; for where the 
 independence and very existence of a nation are at stake 
 silence, sycophancy and respect of persons have no place. 
 
 " The withdrawal of the Greek Government at the last 
 moment has already enabled the barbarian hordes to make 
 considerable progress, a fact which will serve to increase the 
 hatred and disdain with which the civilised world is speaking 
 of the Greek Government as distinguished from the Greek 
 people, the great majority of whom condemn inexorably the 
 fatuous and dishonourable conduct of their leaders." 
 
 The Greek residents at Cairo telegraphed to M. Zaimis 
 (November, 1915), expressing their hope that Greece would 
 safeguard her national interests and secure the realisation 
 of her national aspirations by intervening in favour of the 
 Allies and " the heroic Serbians." 
 
 The large colony at Marseilles addressed the following 
 message to him : 
 
 " Feeling that at this fateful hour in the history of our 
 country every Greek representative body has the right to 
 make known its aspirations, the undersigned members of 
 the Greek colony at Marseilles hereby express their hope 
 that Greece, true to her traditions and mindful of her sacred 
 interests, will not hesitate to send her troops to march at 
 the side of the great and valiant army of the Entente which 
 is advancing to the Balkans to fight in defence of right and 
 liberty." 
 
 The Congress of the Hellenic Colonies held at Paris, which 
 included delegates of 35 Greek colonies, representing 
 
26 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 5,000,000 persons, telegraphed (January, 1916) to King 
 Constantine : 
 
 ** By the desire of all the colonies, the delegates take the 
 liberty of assuring Your Majesty that they are prepared, as 
 in the past, to unite their efforts to those of the Mother 
 Country in view of realising the national aspirations. They 
 consider, however, that these aspirations can only be realised 
 by Your Majesty's collaboration, on the basis of the strict 
 maintenance of the Constitution, with the Liberal Party, 
 whose reinstatement the vast majority of the Greek people 
 propose to the Crown. 
 
 " While presenting their respectful homage to the throne, 
 the delegates have the firm hope that Your Majesty will 
 deign to adopt without hesitation the salutary measures 
 which the present critical situation of the country urgently 
 demands, being inspired by the sentiments of the late King, 
 Your Majesty's father, whose name will be handed down to 
 history for many reasons and not least because he did not 
 hesitate to give his support to a great Minister." 
 
 The Athens correspondent of the Temps wrote (21st Oc- 
 tober, 1915) : 
 
 " Venizelos, the great patriot, as the people call him, is 
 becoming more and more the idol of the nation, and thou- 
 sands of telegrams reach Athens every day from the Greek 
 colonies in foreign countries from the four quarters of the 
 globe, from the Cape of Good Hope, India and the two 
 Americas conjuring the King and the Government not to 
 dishonour the nation before history and give the death-blow 
 to Hellenism by refusing to bring aid to the Serbians, the 
 allies of Greece." 
 
 Serbia had proved her loyalty to her obligations under the 
 Treaty. In May, 1914, as pointed out by M. Pachitch, 
 when Greece was threatened by Turkey, Serbia gave the 
 Porte to understand that if war broke out between 
 Turkey and Greece she would not remain indifferent; 
 but it was in the interest of Germany that Greece should 
 break faith with Serbia, and the King was at Athens to do 
 Germany's bidding. He had by this time not only become 
 the leader of a party opposed to his former Prime Minister, 
 who, as we have seen, represented the majority of his 
 
THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INFLUENCE 27 
 
 subjects, but he occupied the honourable position of the 
 German Emperor's agent we might almost say chief spy 
 in his own country. We have already quoted some of 
 the despatches which indicate that he had accepted this 
 position, but a few further extracts from the White Book will 
 make it still more clear what kind of advice he was re- 
 ceiving and willing to accept from the German Emperor 
 as to the demeanour he should adopt with regard to 
 the Treaty. On 25th July /7th August, 1914, M. Theotokis, 
 the Greek Minister in Germany, who had now become the 
 German Emperor's mouthpiece in his correspondence with 
 the King and the Greek Government, telegraphed as follows 
 to the Foreign Minister, M. Streit : 
 
 " The situation in the Balkans will be as I had the honour 
 to represent to you. Bulgaria will march at a given moment 
 against Serbia. She will not be prevented by Roumania, 
 and she will be guaranteed against an eventual attack by 
 Turkey so that, if Germany and Austria are victorious against 
 Russia, it is incontestable that Bulgaria will expand at the 
 expense of Serbia and Roumania at the expense of Russia. 
 That being so, is it in our interest to look on at this expansion 
 which we cannot prevent, without endeavouring to expand 
 ourselves at the same time ? I think not. The only means 
 by which we might obtain success would be to unite 
 with the Bulgarians in an attack on the Serbians, who, if 
 Germany and Austria are victorious, will be reduced to such 
 a plight that they will never be able to rise again. We must 
 endeavour to come to an understanding, with this object in 
 view, with the Bulgarians ; remain neutral as long as they do 
 so, and act when they act. If we try to [here follow some 
 indecipherable words] we shall run the risk of allowing 
 ourselves to be supplanted by all the others. I believe that 
 such a policy would be perfectly comprehensible here, where 
 they have no longer any reason to show consideration for 
 Serbia, who has to-day declared war on Germany. Further, 
 considering the attitude which Italy is adopting towards 
 Germany and Austria, I think that, if an agreement could be 
 come to with Vienna, Berlin would have no objection to 
 seeing us obtain some compensation at the expense of 
 Albania, which, with a non-existent Serbia, would no longer 
 present for Austria the reasons which were taken into con- 
 sideration for creating and maintaining that country. 
 
 ** Of course I am fully aware of the scruples which such a 
 
28 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 policy might inspire in you by reason of the relations which 
 we have had with Serbia, but at the present moment it is 
 a question of our existence and of profiting as much as possible 
 from the general upheaval."^ 
 
 It is not astonishing to learn that " such a policy would 
 be perfectly comprehensible " at Berhn. 
 
 Four days later, M. Theotokis telegraphs that he has had a 
 long interview with M. Zimmermann and that that states- 
 man advises Greece to come to an understanding with Sofia 
 and Constantinople, inasmuch as there is a possibility that 
 Turkey and Bulgaria will together attack Greece if she 
 attempts to prevent Bulgaria from attacking Serbia : 
 
 *' If an understanding can be arrived at we should remain 
 neutral as long as the others do the same, and act the moment 
 they act, having Serbia as the objective."* 
 
 Even later, when M. Venizelos was in power, M. Theotokis 
 advocated the same policy, though in more guarded words. 
 Telegraphing to him i8th/3ist October, he says : 
 
 " As to Bulgaria, M. Zimmermann is of opinion that she 
 will not intervene for the moment, and he expressed the 
 view that, even if she should intervene later against Serbia, 
 we should have every interest not to intervene ourselves. 
 When I observed to him that we have a treaty with Serbia, 
 he replied that in these days treaties have very little value, 
 and cited as an instance the little importance attached to 
 the treaties binding Germany and Austria to Italy and 
 Roumania, as shown by the attitude adopted from the 
 beginning of the war by these two latter Powers. 
 
 * Endeavour,' said the Under-Secretary of State, finally, 
 
 * to render your bonds with Serbia as slack as possible. ' ' ^ 
 
 The arguments adduced by M. Theotokis found a hearty 
 echo in the Athenian pro-German Press which went so far as 
 to pretend that it would be a crime to sacrifice the interests 
 and the future of the country on the altar of a treaty not in 
 harmony with the present situation, whereas, in reality, 
 this breach of faith was no more detrimental to the honour 
 of the country than it was prejudicial to its material welfare. 
 In one of his despatches from Munich, on the outbreak of 
 
 1 White Book, zz, * Ibid,, 24. * Ibid. 27. 
 
THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INFLUENCE 29 
 
 the war, M. Venizelos, holding faith in the loyalty of his 
 King and his colleagues in the Government, said : 
 
 '* We must consider the contingency of a generalisation of 
 the war in order to fix our policy in advance. My feeling, 
 after very ripe reflection, is that in this contingency the 
 Royal Government could not at any price be induced to 
 place itself in the camp opposed to Serbia, and co-operate 
 against her with her enemies. It would be contrary at the 
 same time to the vital interests of Greece, to the integrity 
 of the treaties and to the dignity of the State. Under no 
 pretext will I swerve from this policy."^ 
 
 In his recent speech at the Mansion House during his 
 visit to London, he showed how millions of hves might have 
 been saved, had Greece remained true to her obligations 
 from the beginning. When, long ago, he pointed out to the 
 King the necessity from every point of view of adhering 
 to these obligations, the only reply he received was that it 
 was " not opportune to do so." 
 
 The pro- German Press openly argued that " from the 
 moment that we have decided to remain neutral in this 
 war our treaty of alliance with Serbia is only of value by 
 way of form " ; to which Venizelos replied : " The theory of 
 scraps of paper was inevitably doomed to take root in 
 Athens." 
 
 As has been pointed out, the argument that it would be 
 folly for the Greek armies to give assistance, where they are 
 unable to give it to any purpose, is simply equivalent to 
 saying that treaties for the purposes of mutual aid need 
 only be observed by the Ally who is certain of being victorious 
 while doing so. Even Bismarck maintained that, where 
 the national honour was concerned, it was not the duty 
 of the State to consider too closely whether in going to war 
 it would have the superior forces on its side. 
 
 Had Greece imited herself at the beginning with Serbia 
 to repel the common enemy or at least prepared to do so, 
 it is more than likely that BrJgaria would have remained 
 silent and Roumania would not have been crushed. A 
 
 White Book, 17. 
 
30 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 powerful army might have been formed of English, French, 
 Serbian and Greek troops. The treachery of the King and 
 the Royal party was thus a double treachery. They not 
 only broke faith with their allies but acted to the detriment 
 of their own country in order to advance the interests of her 
 enemies. As will be seen later on, the King was not only 
 striving to find a means of denouncing the treaty, but was 
 actually seeking the best means of assisting Serbia's enemies 
 to attack her. M. Venizelos stated at the Mansion House : 
 " From the very beginning King Constantine had assured 
 the German Emperor that Bulgaria need have no fear in 
 attacking Serbia, for in no circumstances would he permit 
 the intervention of Greece in favour of Serbia." 
 
 Anti-Venizelism. 
 
 When M. Zaimis took office in October, 1915, there was 
 still a strong Liberal majority in the Chamber, but the 
 Cabinet itself included a number of violent anti-Venizelists, 
 and the German cause continued to make progress. The 
 fate of Serbia increased the fear of the power of Germany, 
 and here was another opportimity for the German agents to 
 work upon the minds of the people. The officers of the 
 Greek army were already impressed by what appeared to 
 them to be proof of the invincibility of the troops of the 
 Central Powers, and were ready to encourage the belief 
 that their country would fare no better than Belgium and 
 Serbia, if it dared to throw in its lot with the Entente. Even 
 the offer of Cyprus which was made at this time by Great 
 Britain, in return for Greek intervention, failed to find any 
 response in the quarters now so entirely permeated by Ger- 
 man influence. 
 
 In spite of this, however, a vote of want of confidence in 
 the Government was carried by the Liberal majority on 
 November 3rd, after a powerful speech by M. Venizelos, 
 in which he once more appealed to his coimtrymen to have 
 regard for their honour and awake to their duties. But this 
 did not mend matters or induce the King to return to constitu- 
 tional methods. He accepted the resignation of M. Zaimis, 
 
THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INFLUENCE 31 
 
 but called to power M. Scouloudis, an octogenarian banker 
 who, no doubt at his instance, or at least with his approval, 
 retained the anti-Venizelist element in the Cabinet, and, as 
 one of his first measures, proceeded to raise objections to 
 the retention of the foreign troops at Salonica, and even 
 went so far as to threaten that they would be disarmed if 
 they were forced by the Bulgarians to retire from the points 
 they occupied on the frontier. At the same time, by way 
 of masking his policy, he repeated the assurances, already 
 given by his predecessor to the Serbian Government, of the 
 Greek Government's " sincere friendship '' and readiness to 
 afford them every faciUty and assistance as far as was 
 possible with regard to the vital interests of Greece.^ 
 Finally, when it became impossible for the Government to 
 carry on a policy which was opposed by the majority of the 
 Deputies, the King decreed the dissolution of the Chamber, 
 and new elections were fixed to take place on December 19th. 
 Here, as ever, the King acted in defiance of the Constitution, 
 and on the advice of their leaders, the Venizelists decided 
 to take no part in the elections. 
 
 The holding of new elections was in itself illegal by the^ 
 terms of the Constitution, there being already a liberal 
 majority in the Chamber. Moreover, it was clearly foreseen 
 that steps would be taken by the pro-German mihtary 
 officers to avail themselves of the advantages offered by the 
 mobilisation which had recently taken place. They would 
 have obtained a fictitious majority by refusing leave to 
 their men to go to ballot, or using their influence over them 
 to cause them to vote against the Liberal candidates, granting 
 furlough only to those who were ready to do so. Altogether, 
 between a third and half of the electorate had been mobihsed, 
 and fifty-three Venizelist Deputies were themselves under 
 arms. 
 
 The result of this abstention on the part of the Venizelists 
 was that only 230,000 electors recorded their votes as against 
 720,000 in the previous June. In Athens 7,000 went to 
 the poll out of 30,000 electors ; at Salonica, 4,000 out of 
 
 t White Book. 36. 
 
32 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 38,000. Thus the affairs of the country, including its foreign 
 policy, were left in the hands of a parliament representing 
 considerably less than a third of the electors. 
 
 UAll the members of the late Government were re-elected 
 th the exception of M. Scouloudis who, however, remained 
 in office, and, as may be well imagined, the Germans did 
 not lose this opportunity of still further extending their 
 influence, with the result that the tone of the Government 
 became distinctly unfriendly towards the Entente Powers 
 and their ally, Serbia, and a reign of terror was established 
 at Athens by King Constantine and the mihtary camarilla, 
 which was described at a later period by the Keryx in the 
 following words : 
 
 " The attempt was made to strangle the national soul and 
 to inspire abject terror by any means whatsoever, in order 
 that the people might bow before the deadly results of the 
 policy employed. Whole armies of spies and intriguers were 
 formed, with all their elements eager to sell their very souls. 
 Citizens who had no interest in politics were followed both 
 openly and secretly by detectives, without being able to 
 imagine what political calumny was being hatched against 
 them. Those who met in the public centres of the two 
 cities did not dare to ask each other for the news of the 
 day, in the certainty that among the strangers about them 
 were base spies whose business it was to weave slanderous 
 plots. Those who took places at tables in caf^ and con- 
 fectioners' shops looked around in a frightened way and 
 beheld the respectable person, who was about to sit down 
 beside them, listening to their conversation and addressing 
 them with insolent frankness with the intention of provoking 
 a discussion, and of crying out to these innocent citizens 
 that they were insulting the King. 
 
 " The most respectable citizens were dragged before the 
 courts on slanderous charges ; those who dared to blame the 
 conduct of the Government received menacing letters in 
 which they were warned to look out for their lives. Auto- 
 mobiles and carriages were stopped and their occupants asked 
 who they were, where they came from and whither they 
 were going. In front of many houses detectives were placed 
 keeping count of those who entered or passed out, following 
 like * faithful ' dogs every movement of the occupants. Men 
 of all sorts and of the most peaceful character were searched 
 for hidden weapons, while right before them passed quite 
 
THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INFLUENCE 33 
 
 openly the minions of the Government. Every hangman was 
 armed, every individual that would sell himself was bought, 
 every man devoid of conscience was recruited for this work 
 of espionage, calumny and perfidy. The times of Turkish 
 despotism knew no more dangerous organisations. Janis- 
 sarism lived once more in a di&erent form."^ 
 
 * Quoted by M. Auguste Gauvain in " The Greek Question," translated 
 by Carroll N. Brown, Ph.D., 1918, pp. 52, 53. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 
 
 Surrender of Roupel and Cavalla. 
 
 THE masses, for all this, remained faithful to Venizelos, 
 and on May 6th (1916), he decided to offer himself for 
 election at Mitylene, where a vacancy had occiu*red, with the 
 result that he obtained 14,768 votes out of a total of 15,253. 
 But the superior military officers were with the King, and 
 the King continued to act with more and more zeal in the 
 interests of the Central Powers. Already in March secret 
 negotiations had been going on between Athens and Berlin 
 for the surrender of Fort Roupel, a commanding position 
 on the flank of the AlHed army at Salonica, to the Bulgarians, 
 and it is probable that the two loans of 40,000,000 marks, 
 which were also secretly contracted at Berlin in January 
 and April, were in connection with this transaction. The 
 surrender of this fort, which had been secured for Greece 
 by Venizelos, as a necessary defence of the Strouma Valley, 
 was demanded by Bulgarian and German troops on 
 May 25th, and the Greek officer in charge of it received 
 instructions from Athens to retire and leave it in their 
 hands. 
 
 The circumstances connected with the surrender of this 
 fort will be clear from the following extracts from the 
 despatches relating to it. On 27th April/ioth May, 1916, 
 Major-General Bairas, commanding the Sixth Division, 
 telegraphs to the General Staff at Athens : 
 
 " A Bulgarian major who met one of our officers informed 
 him that, in consequence of an arrangement come to between 
 
 34 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 35 
 
 g j Mackensen and our Government, the Germano-Bulgars have 
 received permission to occupy any point situated within two 
 kilometres of the frontier and considered suitable from 
 a military and tactical point of view and that, relying 
 on this authorisation, and in accordance with an order given 
 by the Conmiander-in-Chief , he had occupied the hills over- 
 looking Lehovo."^ 
 
 On the 29th April/i2th May, M. Scouloudis telegraphs to 
 M. Naoum, Greek Minister to Bulgaria : 
 
 " Bulgarian troops have occupied certain points on our 
 territory to the north of Vetrina and the heights of Lehovo. 
 A Bidgarian major explained to one of our of&cers that 
 the occupation of these regions had taken place in conformity 
 with an agreement come to between Marshal Mackensen 
 and the Royal Government. . . . This is an obvious mis- 
 understanding. The only point to which we gave our 
 consent was that the Bulgarians should no longer be com- 
 pelled on their part to observe the neutral zone of a kilo- 
 metre on each side of the frontier. . . . Consequently the 
 Bulgarian advance to Vetrina and Lehovo, far from being 
 in accordance with the agreement, is clearly a violation of 
 it. . . ."2 
 
 This telegram would appear, however, to have been sent 
 merely for the sake of form, for only eleven days later 
 Count Mirbach-Harff, German Minister at Athens, writes 
 to M. Scouloudis that : 
 
 " In consequence of the aggressive measures lately taken 
 by the troops of the Entente, Germany and her Allies find 
 themselves under the necessity of entering Greek territory 
 in order to secure the free passage of the very important defile 
 of the Roupel ravine. 
 
 " This is only a defensive measure necessitated solely by 
 the movements of the armed forces of the Entente and one 
 that will be restricted to the limits dictated by purely military 
 interests. 
 
 " In accordance with this point of view, the Imperial 
 Government of Germany does not hesitate to give the 
 following assurances to the Royal Hellenic Government : 
 
 ** I. lie territorial integrity of the kingdom will be 
 absolutely respected. 
 
 ** 2. The Allied troops will evacuate the Greek territory as 
 
 1 White Book, 45. 2 /^j^.^ ^7. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 soon as the military reason necessitating the action now 
 taken shall have ceased to exist. 
 
 ** 3. Greek sovereignty will be respected. 
 
 "4. Individual liberty, private property and established 
 religious conditions will be observed. 
 
 "5. Any damage occasioned by the German troops, as 
 long as they remain on Greek territory, will be made good. 
 
 *' 6. The Allies will conduct themselves in a strictly 
 friendly manner towards the population of the country."^ 
 
 An identical despatch was addressed to M. Scouloudis by 
 the Bulgarian Minister at Athens on the same date, except 
 that in No. 5 as above, the words " German troops " are 
 replaced by " Bulgarian troops.*' ^ 
 
 In reply to the German Note M. Scouloudis merely 
 acknowledges its receipt, quoting its words and adding that 
 he takes note of the assurances contained in it, but without 
 offering any form of protest, ^ from which it is clear that a 
 complete understanding had been come to as to the sur- 
 render of important Greek territory to Germany on behalf 
 of her Bulgarian allies. To the Bulgarian Minister M. 
 Scouloudis replies, in acknowledging his communication, that 
 he takes note of all the declarations contained therein.* 
 These latter despatches between M. Scouloudis and the 
 German and Bulgarian Ministers were kept entirely secret. 
 It was only after a long delay, and subsequently to 
 M. Scouloudis's resignation, on the repeated demand of 
 M. Politis, that the correspondence (48, 49) was made public. 
 By way of excuse for the concealment, M. Scouloudis ex- 
 plained that these despatches were marked " Private " by 
 the German and Bulgarian Legations ! 
 
 On the i3th/26th May, M. Theotokis telegraphs to M. 
 Scouloudis : 
 
 " I have reason to believe that we must be prepared for 
 the contingency of an advance within a short time of the 
 Germans and Bulgarians into the Roupel Gorges."^ 
 
 Although, as we have seen, no protest had been made to 
 the German and Bulgarian Ministers against the intentions 
 
 1 White Book. 48. 2 Ibid., 49. ^ Ibid., 50. 
 
 * Ibid., 51. * Ibid,, 32. 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 37 
 
 disclosed in their notes, M. Seoul oudis naturally considered 
 it necessary to forestall the objections which would be 
 raised by the Entente Powers to an invasion of Greek 
 territory by German and Bulgarian troops, with the authorisa- 
 tion of the Greek Government, as a breach of neutrality on 
 the part of that Government. He decided therefore, for 
 the sake of form, to telegraph remonstrances to the Central 
 Powers and to let the Entente Powers understand that he 
 had done so. On the I4th/27th May he addresses a tele- 
 graphic circular in the following words to the Greek Legations 
 at Berlin, Vienna and Sofia : 
 
 " Yesterday afternoon German and Bulgarian detachments 
 crossed our frontier at Coula north of Demir-Hissar and 
 attempted to occupy the Roupel Fort, the garrison of which 
 had recourse to force in order to maintain its position. 
 Other detachments, consisting of 25,000 men, descending 
 this morning from the heights of Tsingueli and Vetrina, 
 occupied the heights in the region of Demir-Hissar and the 
 Strouma bridge. They took possession also of the wooden 
 bridge of Demir-Hissar. The population of this district, 
 seized with panic, is preparing for a general exodus, for it 
 retains the painful recollection of the Bulgarian persecu- 
 tions of 1912 and 1913. 
 
 '* This eruption into Greek territory is contrary to the 
 agreement come to between the German and Bulgarian 
 military authorities and ours, in accordance with which 
 their troops, when no longer compelled to observe the neutral 
 zone established since the mobilisation, were authorised to 
 advance as far as the frontier, but without passing it. In 
 face of the emotion excited by this incursion among the 
 inhabitants of the invaded regions, no less than by reason 
 of the impression produced thereby on the public opinion of 
 the whole of Greece, the Royal Government are bound to 
 address the strongest protest to the Imperial German Govern- 
 ment and to those of their Allies and to insist that orders 
 be sent for the immediate evacuation of the Greek territory 
 invaded by the German and Bulgarian troops.' " ^ 
 
 Two days later another telegraphic circular ^ was addressed 
 by M. Scouloudis to the Greek Legations at Paris, London, 
 Rome, Bucharest, Petrograd, Constantinople and to the 
 
 White Book, 33. * Ibid., 55. 
 
38 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 Consulate-General at Berne, informing them in similar words 
 of what had taken place and adding that, in face of this 
 violation of Greek territory, the Royal Government had 
 addressed a strenuous protest to the German and also the 
 Bulgarian Governments, demanding the immediate evacua- 
 tion of the territories invaded. The representatives were 
 instructed that they might communicate the action of the 
 Central Powers to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs at their 
 next interview, but without making this a special object of 
 a visit or leaving copies of the despatch. 
 
 To the protests sent to the Central Powers no reply was 
 received, and none was expected, for the best of reasons, 
 namely, that the Greek Government was in reality in perfect 
 harmony with them. But M. Theotokis telegraphed on the 
 I7th/30th May : 
 
 " A communique of the General Staff announces only 
 to-day the advance of German and Bulgarian troops into the 
 Roupel Gorges as follows : ' German and Bulgarian forces 
 occupied, in order to secure themselves against surprise 
 attacks which the troops of the Entente intended to carry 
 out, the system of the Roupel Gorges, near the Strouma. 
 The weak Greek garrison withdrew before superior forces. 
 The sovereign rights of Greece have not been interfered 
 with.' " 
 
 Protests were not long in arriving from the Entente 
 countries through the Greek representatives there. 
 
 ** I have seen several personages," telegraphed the Greek 
 Minister at Rome, i7th/3oth May, *' since the telegrams from 
 Greece and Sofia announced the high-handed invasion of 
 our territory by the Bulgarians, occupying our towns and 
 villages, following on the heels of our soldiers who withdrew 
 without fighting. The impression produced here is lament- 
 able. . . . Bulgaria, having at her head a German marshal, 
 who has become her king, has entered Greece under auspices 
 of which she would never have dared to dream, nor will she 
 ever leave it if we have not the power to eject her from our 
 territory, and this power is not to be found either in our will 
 or in our army. If she is conquered, it will be by others than 
 ourselves. If she is victorious, she will fix her standard 
 
 1 White Book, 56. 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 39 
 
 again and firmly on the same places that she has already 
 drenched with the Greek blood which she shed in her former 
 massacres, and it is a very illusive hope that she will be 
 driven out for the benefit of those who have not fought."^ 
 
 The Greek Minister at Paris communicated in a telegraphic 
 despatch of 19th May/ist June the feelings of the French 
 public with regard to these events, saying that they were 
 still under the impression, as he learnt from the Chief of the 
 Political Department, that those events were the result of 
 an understanding between Greece and the Central Powers, 
 and this was made clear by information from a German 
 source. 2 
 
 In Petrograd also there was little doubt that the seizure 
 of Roupel and the advance of the Bulgarians into Macedonia 
 were evidence of the existence of a previous understanding. ^ 
 
 The Greek Charge d' Affaires at Paris, in a further despatch 
 of 24th May /6th June, to M. Scouloudis, calls attention 
 to the conviction of the French Government of the existence 
 of an understanding between Athens and Berlin, based, 
 among other things, on a statement in the Neueste Nach- 
 richten of Munich that an agreement had been come to 
 between Greece and Bulgaria and on a similar statement in 
 the Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung. He pointed out also that 
 their suspicions were confirmed by the mere circumstance 
 that the Greek Government had taken no diplomatic 
 measures even to prevent the invasion, although such an 
 event must necessarily cause great consternation in Greece.* 
 
 Meanwhile on 23rd May /5th June, M. Scouloudis had 
 considered it opportune formally to deny the charge of 
 complicity with the German Government by a solemn 
 statement in the Greek Chamber. He said : 
 
 " Since the suspension of Parliamentary business grave 
 events have taken place in our country, of which the 
 following is a description. On I3th/26th May at midday the 
 Minister of War received from the Commander of the 4th 
 Army Corps at Cavalla a telegram in which the 6th Division 
 informed the 4th Army Corps at 11.45 a.m. that a mixed 
 
 1 White Book, 57. Ihid., 58. Jhid., 59- * Ihid., 63. 
 
40 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 column, composed of Germans and Bulgarians, announced to 
 our detachment at Roupel that it was about to enter our 
 territory. The 4th Army Corps added that, in conformity 
 with the previous instructions of the Ministry, the 6th 
 Division ordered our sections at Roupel to offer armed 
 resistance to the advance of the Germans and Bulgarians. 
 At the same moment (midday) the Minister of War received 
 a telegram from the 3rd Army Corps informing him that the 
 outposts of the company established at Vetrina (in the 
 Roupel defile on the other bank of the Strouma) had reported 
 to him that German detachments, under the leadership of 
 German officers, had surrounded our outposts and announced 
 that they would enter our territory in order to occupy 
 certain important positions. In reply to our men, who gave 
 them to understand that they had orders to resist, the 
 German officer in command of the German detachments 
 announced that he would occupy the heights at all costs. 
 At the same time, other German detachments crossed the 
 frontier accompanied by convoys. At 1.20 p.m. another 
 telegram was received from the 4th Army Corps announcing 
 that two Bulgarian or German regiments were drawn up in 
 line of battle in front of Hodjogo (north of Roupel) and that 
 German troops had entered our territory in the sector of 
 Topolnitsa. ... At 5.40 p.m. of the same day (13th May) 
 the Minister of War received a despatch from the commander 
 of the fortress of Salonica announcing that the Germans 
 and Bulgarians, casting the responsibility of what might 
 take place on the Greek Army, had crossed the frontier line 
 at 2.30 p.m. proceeding in the direction of the slopes of the 
 Roupel Fort. The guns of the fort fired twenty-four rounds 
 at them. . . . Under these circumstances the Government, 
 being confronted by the determination of the invaders to 
 occupy the fort, and foreseeing that the continuation of 
 armed resistance which might at any moment have trans- 
 formed itself into a general battle and brought about the 
 abandonment of the policy of neutrality which it is deter- 
 mined not to relinquish, gave orders through the Minister 
 of War, in the first place to cease the resistance, and secondly 
 to inform the German Commander that, in face of the general 
 advance of the Germans into the Demir-Hissar Pass in which 
 the fort is situated, the garrison of that fort found itself 
 under the necessity of withdrawing, taking with it all the 
 material in the fort. . . . The fort was taken possession of 
 by a German officer of the name of Thiel, who drew up a 
 proces verbal concerning the restoration of the material and 
 the two pieces of field artillery left in the fort. On the 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 41 
 
 I4th/27th May the Government hastened to protest in the 
 strongest terms to the Governments of Germany and her 
 Allies against the events which had taken place. The same 
 day, after this protest had already been despatched, a telegram 
 was received from the Greek Minister at Berlin bearing the 
 date of the previous day (i.e. Sp.m. I3th/26th May) in which 
 he informed the Government that he had reason to believe 
 that we must prepare for the contingency of an advance, 
 within a short time, of the Germans and Bulgarians into the 
 Roupel Gorges. It results from this despatch that the fact 
 of the invasion begun in the morning of the 13th May had 
 not been communicated to the Greek Minister at Berlin until 
 the evening of the same day. . . . 
 
 " These are the circumstances in which the occupation 
 of the Roupel Gorges took place. The narrative which I 
 have given proves how unfounded are the various reports 
 intentionally circulated with a view of defaming Greece 
 as having acted treacherously with regard to the military 
 interests of the Entente, and showing partiality to their 
 adversaries. 
 
 " In face of these reports it is my duty to proclaim and 
 affirm in the most categorical manner that the facts I have 
 related are not the result of an understanding with the 
 Hellenic Government, and that that Government neither 
 accepted nor tolerated them, the proof of which is found in 
 the fact that the Fort of Roupel fired on the invaders. 
 
 ** The reports which have been treacherously put into 
 circulation and according to which the staff or some other 
 service of the State came to an understanding with the 
 Germans and the Bulgarians for the surrender to them of 
 Roupel are not worth denying. They do not even merit 
 a word of reply. No department, either that of the staff 
 or any other, acts on its own responsibility. All depart- 
 ments act under the orders and responsibility of the Govern- 
 ment. (Applause.) 
 
 *' Moreover, I must not fail to add that the character 
 of the action of the Germans and Bulgarians who have invaded 
 Greek territory, according to the statements made on this 
 subject, permits the Government to affirm that we are con- 
 fronted with an act which has a purely military object in 
 view and in no way endangers the integrity or the interests 
 of the country. (Applause.) " ^ 
 
 It has been argued that the delivery of Fort Roupel to 
 the Germano-Bulgarians was no more reprehensible than to 
 
 White Book, 60. 
 
42 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 allow the Allies to enter Salonica, but the Allies entered 
 Salonica at the request of Venizelos, who represented his 
 people, and was the Prime Minister at the time, and Salonica 
 was put into the hands of friends, of Powers who had guar- 
 anteed the integrity of Greece, while Fort Roupel was handed 
 over to the implacable enemies of that country. No one in 
 his senses can imagine that the AlHes thought of remaining 
 on any part of Greece of which they were in occupation. 
 
 The following day M. Scouloudis addresses another 
 telegraphic circular to his representatives at London, Paris, 
 Rome and Petrograd, reiterating his remonstrances against 
 the pretended calumnies and his assurances that his Govern- 
 ment was entirely innocent of any complicity with Germany 
 and Bulgaria. 
 
 " The adversaries,'* he says, " of the Government and 
 foreigners, whose interest it is that the relations between 
 Greece and the Entente Powers should be embittered, have 
 not shrunk from affirming that the surrender of Fort Roupel 
 was a matter previously arranged between the Royal Govern- 
 ment and the enemies of the Entente, having for its object 
 to prejudice from the military point of view the security of 
 General Sarrail s army and the success of its future opera- 
 tions." 1 
 
 As we have seen, however, these repeated protests failed 
 to convince the Entente Governments, and subsequent 
 disclosures have proved beyond all doubt that their suspicions 
 were absolutely well-founded, and that M. Scouloudis had 
 been, from the beginning to the end, attempting to hoodwink 
 the Entente Governments abroad as well as the pubUc in 
 Greece. It has been observed that he makes no reference, 
 in any of his utterances, to the correspondence with the 
 German and Bulgarian Government of the 9th/22nd May 
 and ioth/23rd May quoted under numbers 48 and 49,' 
 which correspondence shows that he already had on that 
 date full knowledge of the Germano-Bulgarian intentions 
 in which, by making no protest against them, he must be 
 said to have acquiesced. He refers only to the despatch 
 
 1 White Book, 61. ^ See p. 36. 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 43 
 
 from M. Theotokis of I3th/26th May/ adding, as we have 
 seen, that " It results from this despatch that the fact of 
 the invasion begun in the morning of the 13th May had 
 not been communicated to the Greek Minister at BerUn 
 until the evening of the same day/' 
 
 But as a matter of fact the Greek Minister at Berlin had 
 been himself for the last six months negotiating secretly on 
 behalf of King Constantine and M. Scouloudis on the one 
 hand, and Germany on the other, the carrying out of opera- 
 tions against the forces at Salonica and the surrender of 
 Greek territory to the enemies of the Entente, partly with 
 that view. He had also been employed to negotiate the 
 secret loans referred to above, ^ which appear to have been 
 a reward for that surrender. On ist/i4th December, 1915, 
 he telegraphs to King Constantine acknowledging the 
 receipt of His Majesty's telegram concerning the advance 
 of forty million marks, ^ and further telegrams follow relating 
 to the negotiations for the completion of the arrangements 
 concerning the two loans. In one of these telegrams, dated 
 8th/2ist December, he informs the King that it is techni- 
 cally impossible to open a credit in Swiss Banks as the 
 German Government has no securities in Switzerland, and 
 it would be impossible to send His Majest}^ 40,000,000 marks 
 in gold. " Besides," he adds, " such a despatch could not 
 remain secret, and this would compromise both Switzerland 
 and Greece."* 
 
 On the i6th/29th December, Theotokis concludes a tele- 
 gram of some length in the following words : 
 
 " It appears that for some da}^ past the opinion has arisen 
 that it may be convenient to renounce for the moment all 
 action against the troops of the Entente at Salonica, and to 
 confine operations to a defensive which might be carried 
 out with relatively few troops and without any sacrifice. 
 I am unable to say whether General Falkenhayn has also 
 been influenced by this inclination, for the data which I 
 
 r>ssess do not permit me to speak definitely. The last time 
 saw the General he appeared, on the contrary, to be con- 
 
 * White Book (Supplement), 52. ^ See p. 34. 
 
 3 White Book (Supplement), 30. * Ibid., 38. 
 
44 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 vinced that German interests compelled them to take 
 action." 1 
 
 On the 8th /21st January, 1916, referring to his former 
 despatch of 4th /17th January, which has not been disclosed, 
 he informs His Majesty of the conditions on which General 
 Falkenhayn told him that action might be taken against 
 the troops of the Entente ; of which conditions one was 
 that Greece should undertake not to admit or tolerate any 
 landing on the part of the Entente either in the Gulf of 
 Cavalla or the Bay of Ekaterini, and to prevent them if 
 necessary by force from so doing. ^ On the ioth/23rd March 
 the King telegraphs as follows to M. Theotokis : 
 
 " General Falkenhayn has communicated to us the inten- 
 tion of the Allied troops to occupy the Pass of Demir-Hissar 
 between the mountains Beles and Tsinguel as a delensive 
 measure in consequence of the action of the Anglo-French, 
 and has requested us to evacuate this sector. We replied 
 that we were waiting until the Imperial German Govern- 
 ment should first communicate to us through their Minister 
 here the declaration which [here follow some indecipherable 
 words]. If they [more indecipherable words] that the step 
 which they intend to take is a defensive one and they give 
 us, at the same time, the assurance that the text of the above- 
 mentioned declaration has been accepted, and will be com- 
 municated to us in its entirety as soon as the advance on 
 Salonica shall have been decided, we shall be ready to accept, 
 though we should not say so, in the hope of obtaining the 
 above-mentioned condition right away ; otherwise, we shall 
 insist on having a brief statement concerning the future of 
 the sector which would be occupied, and in a general way 
 as to the integrity and independence of the kingdom." ' 
 
 On the 5th/i8th May, M. Theotokis sends the following 
 telegram to the King, intimating that it is intended for M. 
 Scouloudis : 
 
 *' With reference to my telegram of ist/i4th inst. [this 
 telegram has not been discovered] I have the honour to 
 inform you that the Chief of the Staff, after receiving the 
 telegram of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, transmitting my 
 
 White Book (Supplement), 40. * Ibid,, 45. * Ibid., 47. 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 45 
 
 last communication, to-day informs that department that he 
 has telegraphed to Field-Marshal Mackensen to examine the 
 situation again in all its details and in particular to control 
 closely the information relative to the movements of the 
 troops of the Entente, on which movements is based the 
 demand for the occupation of the Gorges in question/' ^ 
 
 It would appear from these latter telegrams that M. 
 Scouloudis, so far from being ignorant of Germany's inten- 
 tion to invade his country's territory, was actually assisting 
 King Constantino to induce them to do so, and this at the 
 very moment that he was scattering broadcast his protests 
 against such aggression. 
 
 That preparations were being made long ago for the 
 Germano-Bulgarian invasion is clear also from the instruc- 
 tions issued by the War Minister, M. Yannakitsas, as far 
 back as 26th January /8th February, 1916,2 and again 
 9th /22nd March, 3 to the effect that no resistance should be 
 offered. The instructions sent on those dates to the Com- 
 manders of the Army Corps at Salonica and Cavalla are 
 accompanied with an injunction to consider them as secret. 
 It is true that orders were subsequently given by the War 
 Minister to resist a Germano-Bulgarian advance of more 
 than 500 metres, but these orders were withdrawn; and 
 consequently when the Germano-Bulgarian troops appeared 
 before Fort Roupel and, as was reported, were driven away 
 by its guns, the General in command of the 4th Army Corps 
 telegraphed to the Commander of the Fort to make no further 
 resistance. It is evident that the troops themselves were 
 ready to repulse the invaders, for the War Minister considered 
 it necessary to impress upon them that they must regard it 
 as " a question of military honour to give proof of strict and 
 blind discipline, of dignity and of an exemplary and orderly 
 attitude." " All must understand,'' he said, *' that, dis- 
 agreeable as their situation may appear to them, they should 
 submit blindly to the will of the State, and understand that 
 on their complete submission to this will depend the higher 
 interests of Greece. AU indiscretion with regard to the 
 
 ^ White Book (Supplement), 49. Ibid., 13. Ibid., 14. 
 
46 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 tenor of the present instructions will involve a great prejudice 
 to the supreme welfare of the kingdom. "^ 
 
 A quantity of war material and provisions was given up 
 with the fort, including 2 guns of 15 cm., 2 of 7.5 cm., with 
 800 shells, and 1,200,000 cartridges.* A receipt was given 
 for them and restitution promised. But the German officer 
 to whom they were deUvered, after informing the Greek 
 Commander that he was unable to fix a day for their return, 
 and subsequently writing to fix one, sends a third letter to 
 the Commander informing him that his promise cannot be 
 carried out without an agreement being come to between 
 the Bulgarian and Greek staffs, and nothing further is heard 
 of the subject.* 
 
 The advance of the Germano-Bulgarian troops continued 
 with the approval of the Greek Government. On the 
 7th/20th August, 1916, Colonel Hadjopoulos telegraphs to 
 the Minister of War as follows : 
 
 *' I have the honour to inform you that since yesterday 
 the conduct adopted by the Bulgarians towards our troops 
 is a completely hostile one. Tbe company at Croussovo 
 which, unwilling to submit to the summons to lay down its 
 arms, had resisted the Bulgarians has been, as it appears, 
 annihilated, according to the report of the 6th Division. 
 The men of the raiment of Demir-Hissar are looked upon by 
 the Bulgarians as their prisoners, according to a statement 
 made by them to the same division. Our small frontier 
 posts belonging to the 7th Division, which have been isolated 
 by the Bulgarian advance, are still [detained] by them in 
 spite of their promises. We are in ignorance of the fate of 
 the company at Oxilar as well as of those of the Fort of 
 Idjes and of the station Yenikeui. The companies at Boukia, 
 the Fort of Boukia and at Yenikeui itself are also detained. 
 
 " The Bulgarian columns are followed by predatory bands 
 (Komitadjis) who insist upon the military authorities handing 
 over to them certain Greeks, mentioned by name, in the same 
 way as happened at Plevna. Panic has spread throughout 
 the whole district and the inhabitants of the towns of 
 Serres, Drama and Sarissaban, seized with terror, are taking 
 refuge at Cavalla. 
 " In short, the situation grows worse from one moment 
 1 White Book (Supplement), 14. - Ibid., 25. ^ j^,,-^,^ 28, 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 47 
 
 to another, and the object of the Bulgarians is becoming 
 clearly defined ; it consists in isolating my divisions from 
 one another with the subsequent intention of occupying the 
 whole of Eastern Macedonia without excepting even Ca valla. 
 This is clear from the repeated statements of Bulgarian 
 officers to our men, according to which the Bulgarians will 
 advance in the direction of [Sarissaban] to meet the Anglo- 
 French troops, although they know perfectly well that there 
 are no Anglo-French troops in this direction. Meanwhile 
 a colimin coming from Moudjounos is approaching the line 
 of the forts of Ca valla. I am using every effort in the 
 hope of holding them back, and I have ordered a small 
 part of the forces of the division which remained with me 
 to concentrate with a view to the defence of that fort."^ 
 
 The Colonel concludes his telegram with the request for 
 clear and definite instructions as to the attitude he should 
 adopt in case the Bulgarians should insist upon entering 
 Cavalla. In a second telegram of the same date,* he an- 
 nounces that the Bulgarians have set fire to the Fort of Idjes, 
 that they are pillaging and murdering and have occupied 
 several villages. He urgently begs that, in order that he 
 may be in a position to enter into negotiations with the 
 Bulgarians with some hope of success, he may be authorised 
 to call to the colours the reservists which have been dis- 
 banded, who would respond, he knows, with alacrity to his 
 appeal. Such a measure, he says, is all the more necessary 
 as there is a danger of a rising of the Mussulman population 
 to whom, as it appeared, arms had been distributed during 
 the last two days. He adds that the blockade of Cavalla, 
 as he learns from a sure source, will be complete within the 
 next two days. In a third telegram, also of the same date, 
 he says : 
 
 " Please reply immediately to my request concerning enrol- 
 ment of the disbanded reservists, seeing that the intention 
 of the Bulgarians to occupy Cavalla is becoming hourly 
 more clearly manifested. Should such an event happen 
 the town would be destroyed and the entire army corps 
 made prisoner by the Bulgarians, whose conduct is full of 
 treachery. A deputation of disbanded reservists have 
 
 * White Book (Supplement), 29. Ibid., 30. 
 
48 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 declared to me, on their part, that all of them with the greatest 
 willingness would hasten to rejoin the standard. 
 
 " The immediate despatch of the fleet is a matter of 
 necessity ; its presence alone will be able to arrest the 
 advance of the Bulgarians, to support us ourselves and cahn 
 the population which is in a state of dismay. 
 
 "It is impossible for us from a distance to give you a 
 description of the situation." ^ 
 
 The reply of the Ministry of War, if not helpful, is at least 
 concise : 
 
 " Unwilling to have recourse to force,** telegraphs M. 
 Callaris, on the following day, " we reject your proposal as 
 to the reservists. Calm the population, which is in dismay, 
 and endeavour, in agreement with the civilian authorities, 
 to encourage them. The fleet will not be sent. In the 
 course of the day we hope to give you further instructions." ^ 
 
 No instructions followed, but on the same day General 
 Dousmanis, Chief of the Staff, telegraphs to Colonel Hadjo- 
 poulos, requesting him to bring to the knowledge of the 
 various units of his army corps an official communique of 
 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the effect that : 
 
 ** On the occasion of the new invasion of Greek territory 
 by German and Bulgarian troops, the German and Bulgarian 
 Legations at Athens, by order of their Government, have 
 renewed in writing to the Greek Government the assurances 
 which have been given to it at the time of the first invasion."^ 
 
 The assurances are here repeated and include solemn 
 promises to respect individual liberty and private property 
 and to treat the population with the most friendly considera- 
 tion. On i7th/30th August, the War Office telegraphs to 
 Colonel Hadjopoulos instructing him to inform them of the 
 position of the batteries of the fortress at Cavalla and 
 whether he had yet entered into negotiations with the 
 Bulgaro-German forces for the surrender of those batteries 
 and the removal of the war material to the town.* That is 
 the only further communication shown by the White Book 
 
 1 White Book (Supplement), 31. Ibid., 32. j^id,, 33. 
 
 * Ibid., 34. 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 49 
 
 to have been received from the War Office by Colonel 
 Hadjopoulos, in reply to his urgent messages. 
 
 By the beginning of September the Germano-Bulgarian 
 troops, crossing the Greek frontier, as we have seen, at 
 several points, seized a large tract of important country, 
 including the cities of Drama, Serres and Cavalla with its 
 fort, as well as the Fort of Roupel, carrying, in the case of 
 Cavalla, the garrisons into Germany, appropriating all the 
 frontier works and war material, said to have cost the Greek 
 Government about 8,000,000. Two thousand men, how- 
 ever, of the troops stationed at Cavalla refused to submit and 
 escaped to Salonica, where they joined the army of the 
 Allies, and at Port Phea Petra Major Condilis did his best 
 to resist the advance of the enemy troops. 
 
 Persecution of Greeks in Surrendered Districts. 
 
 The military value of the ports and districts thus 
 surrendered to Bulgaria by the treachery of the Greek 
 Government, districts which had been obtained by the 
 shedding of Greek blood, cannot be over-estimated. But it 
 was not merely the surrender of military positions which 
 stamped their treachery with horror. This surrender 
 involved the delivering up of many thousands of their 
 compatriots to the tender mercies of implacable enemies. 
 Assurances had been given, as we have seen, in the most 
 solemn fashion, that the inhabitants of the occupied districts 
 would be treated with the greatest consideration and 
 concern for their happiness. We have already had some 
 idea from Colonel Hadjopoulos' messages to the Greek War 
 Office as to the manner in which these assurances were 
 carried out. We cannot suppose that the Greek Govern- 
 ment, after all the opportunities they had had of appreciating 
 the value of promises given by Germany and her allies, 
 could have for a moment believed in their sincerity, or 
 imagined that the Bulgarians would show a tender regard 
 for the residents of districts which they considered were 
 occupied by Greeks merely as interlopers. It was clear, 
 on the contrary, that the opportunity would not be lost to 
 
 E 
 
50 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 eliminate the Hellenic element as completely as possible 
 from those districts, and with this end in view they were not 
 likely to stop short of any form of persecution. 
 
 A few quotations from despatches subsequent to that of 
 M. Hadjopoulos will give a sufficiently clear picture of the 
 nature of the persecutions which were, in fact, carried out 
 against the Greek inhabitants of the surrendered territory. 
 On 28th August /loth September, Lieutenant-Colonel Trou- 
 pakis, commanding the Macedonian gendarmerie, tele- 
 graphed from Salonica that the postal and telegraphic 
 communications had been cut off, but he had been informed 
 by certain volunteer gendarmes that the Bulgarians were 
 committing every sort of excess under the eyes of the Greek 
 authorities and were losing no opportunity of giving proof 
 of their hostile disposition as well as of their criminal in- 
 stincts. 
 
 ** The komitadji chief, Panitsa, at the head of a band," he 
 says, ** is over-running the district of Drama, robbing and 
 murdering, etc. All the Bulgarian and Turkish inhabitants of 
 Eastern Macedonia, assisted by the Bulgarian army, are 
 slaying the Greek inhabitants, pillaging and plundering their 
 property ; and these inhabitants, overcome with panic, 
 by reason of the danger which threatens, are flying in the 
 direction of Cavalla, and beyond that in the direction of 
 Thassos, abandoning everything to the will of their butchers 
 and their persecutors, without the Greek authorities being 
 able to give them the least assistance. In this way Greek 
 Eastern Macedonia is left wholly to the mercy of the here- 
 ditary enemies of the race.^ 
 
 The Greek Minister at Sofia telegraphs on 5th/i8th De- 
 cember to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Athens : 
 
 " I learn from one of our minor officials, who has arrived 
 from Serres, that numerous notables of that town have been 
 imprisoned or expelled, and that Bulgarian patrols entered 
 the houses during the night and pillaged them. . . . The 
 roofs of the barracks and of the school of agriculture were 
 carried away to be used in the construction of trenches. It 
 is reported that after the evacuation, for military reasons, 
 of the district of Bairakli-Djoumaya, Bulgarian soldiers 
 
 1 White Book, 69. 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 51 
 
 pillaged by order several houses and carried away their 
 booty no one knows where. The higher part of the town 
 has been completely destroyed by the bombardment, and 
 the population carried away to Pozarevitch. . . . The mayors 
 of the villages have been likewise removed and Bulgarians 
 and Turks put in their place. In some of the villages the 
 churches and schools have been occupied, and the Bulgarian 
 language is already being taught in the latter. Many abduc- 
 tions have taken place, and forced requisitions have been 
 made, no payment being offered. It is reported that the 
 village of Nea-Midia has been completely destroyed and 
 the inhabitants killed . . ."^ 
 
 According to a report by a superior official of Eastern 
 Macedonia : 
 
 " On the 30th August 1916, the very day after the Greek 
 troops of Cavalla left for Drama and Germany, the town 
 was occupied by a Bulgarian company, which formed part 
 of the forces posted along the line of the forts of Cavalla. . . . 
 The Greek flag which floated over the fortress was taken down 
 and torn to pieces by the Turkish population, who, as soon 
 as the Bulgarians arrived, hastened to throw over their 
 allegiance to Greece and to support the cause of the Bulgarians 
 as the allies of the Turks in the present war. A crier warned 
 the inhabitants that they must remain within their houses 
 from sunset until the following morning, all lights being 
 extinguished. . . . Then the Bulgarians and Turks gave 
 themselves over to a systematic plunder of the property of 
 the Greek population. No means were neglected for this 
 purpose. Merchandise found in the Greek shops was 
 requisitioned ; money was extorted ; furniture and other 
 objects found in the houses were confiscated. . . . However, 
 publicorder was maintain ed by the Bulgarian patrol . . . but 
 during the first month of the occupation the Bulgarian 
 authorities adopted an attitude of great mistrust towards 
 the Greeks in general whom they suspected of Venizelism, 
 and particularly with regard to the military. The latter 
 were arrested and imprisoned by the Bulgarians, who, after 
 exposing them to every kind of humiliation, transported 
 them to Drama or Sofia. . . . There ensued a great rise in 
 the price of provisions in general . . . and ten to fifteen 
 cases of death from inanition were reported on the average 
 every day." * 
 
 " The mortality," telegraphed the Greek Minister at Sofia 
 
 White Book, 70. 2 Ibid., 75. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 at a later period (27th March/gth April), "is considerable 
 at Ca valla, Drama and Serres. It is estimated that the situa- 
 tion is the same in the villages, concerning which we remain 
 without information on account of the country people being 
 forbidden to go from one village to another. ... In forty 
 days alone 1,800 persons died of hunger at Ca valla and, 
 according to official information, thirty persons die per day 
 on the average at Drama." ^ 
 
 On ist/i4th June, 1917, the Minister telegraphs that, 
 according to an official report, 6,000 persons had died of 
 hunger at Cavalla by the 15th of April of that year, and 
 that the situation at Drama and Serres was no better. * 
 
 The Minister, M. Politis, in a general Note on the per- 
 secutions of Greeks by Bulgarians, which had been unin- 
 terruptedly carried out in Thrace since the year 1913, 
 refers in the following words to the conduct of the latter 
 towards the inhabitants of the districts occupied in 1916 : 
 
 " The documents recently published in the Greek 'UTiite 
 Book, (1917, Nos. 70-77) expose in a sufficiently dramatic 
 fashion the truly desperate condition of the Greeks who have 
 been the victims of the intolerable conduct of the Bulgarians. 
 Imprisonments, expulsions, murders, hangings and rapes are 
 the order of the day. These crimes are perpetrated at one 
 time by the Bulgarians and at another by their hateful allies, 
 the Turks. The pillage of the property of the Greek popula- 
 tion has been systematically organised. No means have 
 been neglected to make the work complete requisitions 
 of chattels without payment or promise of payment, extor- 
 tion of money, arbitrary confiscation of furniture and other 
 objects for the purpose of transporting them to Sofia and 
 placing them in the houses of Bulgarian officers. For want 
 of provisions, and, in particular, bread, thousands of persons 
 have died of hunger at Drama, Serres and Cavalla. Alleging 
 this scarcity of food, but in reality with a view to a syste- 
 matic extermination of the Greek element in Eastern Mace- 
 donia, and in the hope of changing its ethnical situation, a 
 great part of the Greek population has been carried away to 
 the interior of Bulgaria." ^ 
 
 This was merely a repetition of the persecutions which 
 had been taking place for the last three years in other parts 
 
 White Book, 76. * Ibid., 77. ' White Book Supplement), 35. 
 
THE SACRIFICE OF GREEK INTERESTS 53 
 
 of Thrace and Macedonia, where the Bulgarian population 
 were in the majority, and the rulers at Athens could not 
 possibly have been ignorant that, in surrendering new 
 districts to the enemies of their country, they were delivering 
 up fresh victims to their brutality.^ But this was no de- 
 terrent to the Royal party who had sold themselves to the 
 German cause, and one of the best means of helping the 
 German cause was to weaken the position of the Allied army 
 in Salonica, and expose it to a flank attack ; the surrender 
 of the fortified places on the Greco-Bulgarian frontier would 
 greatly further this object. 
 
 * Even the then Minister for Foreign Affairs at Athens, M. Zalocostas 
 found it necessary, if only to quiet public opinion, to address remonstrances 
 through M. Theotokis to the German Government against the Bulgarian 
 persecutions, begging them to take the administration of the occupied 
 districts out of the hands of the Bulgarians and to confide it to German 
 functionaries (White Book, 71). 
 
IV 
 TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 
 
 Intrigues against the Allied Army at Salonica. 
 
 IT had indeed become the cherished object of King 
 Constantine to drive this army into the sea, and the 
 best means of doing so was the subject of considerable 
 correspondence between him and the Berlin Court. 
 
 On 3rd/i6th December, 1916, the Emperor William sends 
 the following telegraphic message to Queen Sophie : 
 
 " I thank you from my heart for your telegram, the 
 contents of which I learn with profound emotion. . . . 
 The Entente has again distinctly shown what is its object. 
 There clearly remains then for Tino no other course but to 
 revolt openly against his executioners. Tino's intervention 
 with his main forces against Sarrail's west wing will bring 
 about the decision in Macedonia [some indecipherable worck 
 follow]. 
 
 *' The operations in Roumania have been crowned by the 
 capture of Bucharest. Much has been gained by that. So 
 far God has aided us. He will be with us also in the future, 
 and He will aid you too."^ 
 
 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwards a telegram 
 (13th /26th December) from M. Theotokis, the Queen's 
 Chamberlain, to his brother, begging him to communicate 
 it on behalf of the Queen to the Kaiser and also to Falken- 
 hausen. In it the Queen says : 
 
 " The plan which you advise would alone be possible if 
 Sarrail, attacked by you, were forced to beat a retreat, in 
 which case his left wing would penetrate approximately the 
 
 1 White Book (Supplement), 66. 
 
 54 
 
TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 55 
 
 Greek districts occupied by us. At present the distance 
 separating this wing from us being too great, the line of our 
 communications would be too much exposed, and our means 
 in the way of provisions and munitions would not be sufficient 
 for a prolonged struggle. In these conditions a decisive and 
 prompt attack [on your] part, if possible, would procure for 
 Greece, from a military point of view, the opportunity for 
 intervention, and would mean for us delivery from the 
 horrible situation in which we find ourselves."^ 
 
 The King interested himself at the same time in the 
 formation of komitadji bands, whose part it was to harass 
 General Sarrail's troops. In a telegram of 23rd November, 
 6th December, 1916, to the Queen, M. Theotokis reports 
 that : 
 
 " The German attache returned yesterday evening from 
 Headquarters, where he saw the Emperor and explained 
 the situation to him. ... He will leave in ten days for 
 Western Macedonia and the region of the Lake of Prespa 
 in order to re-establish the communications. It is necessary 
 to warn Metaxas and Manos that they should develop as 
 quickly as possible the matter of the bands. Falkenhausen 
 has made sure of the aid and support in this question of the 
 General Staff. Falkenhausen goes to K. to-morrow.'* ^ 
 
 On the 4th /17th December the Greek Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs sends the following telegram to the Legation at Rome 
 for transmission by the post to Berne and thence to M. 
 Theotokis at Berlin. It purports to be addressed to him 
 by his brother M. J. Theotokis, the Queen's Chamberlain. 
 
 " Tell Falkenhausen," he says, '* to proceed to Pogradez, 
 that he may be able to give the necessary impulse in the 
 matter of the bands, and be good enough to reply by express 
 telegram the day of his arrival there. Caravitis will receive 
 instructions. He will wait on Falkenhausen in order to come 
 to an understanding as to the operations. It will be necessary 
 at the beginning to have 5,000 guns with 300 cartridges per 
 gun, six machine guns, and [eleven] field guns with the 
 necessary munitions and 500,000 francs per month for 
 5,000 men. All this equipment must be ready at Pogradez 
 as well as provisions. An action by regular forces in the 
 district of Corytza will furnish a strong support to the 
 
 1 White Bgok (Supplement), 71. * Ibid., 61. 
 
56 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 development of the bands. I have not written to you, 
 having ceased to write since the seizure of our letters by the 
 English/'i 
 
 M.N. Theotokis, telegraphing to Queen Sophie from Berlin, 
 ioth/23rd December, informs her that : 
 
 *' Falkenhausen is still at Berlin ; he is waiting for the 
 decision which will be come to at Athens. ... In any case, 
 it is of the greatest importance to develop urgently the 
 question of Caravitis* bands, as also of other questions 
 relating to them. I beg you to inform me immediately 
 . what is the assistance that you desire, in the way of muni- 
 tions, money and provisions. Caravitis' object must be to 
 cut the Monastir-Salonica railway line and harass Sarrail's 
 rear. It must not be lost sight of that even this unofficial 
 action, by means of bands, will in a very great measure 
 enable Greece at the peace negotiations to lay claim to 
 territorial extension ; and it will be possible for us, as is 
 right, to make much more considerable claims if we take 
 action than if we remain simply neutral." ^ 
 
 On 1st /14th January, 1917, M. Zalocostas, the Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs, telegraphs to M. Theotokis for General 
 Falkenhausen : 
 
 " In case the courier should arrive late at P., please wait 
 
 for him. It is of very great importance that you should 
 
 ' speak personally to the bearer Franghiskos, an officer of the 
 
 reserve, with regard to the organisation of the bands for the 
 
 future." 3 
 
 Ultimatum to Greek Government; Venizelos* Appeal 
 to the King. 
 
 To return to the situation at Athens, this was now 
 becoming intolerable. On June 12, demonstrations against 
 the Entente were fomented by gangs of hired rioters, some of 
 whom collected outside the French and British Legations. 
 On the 2 1st of that month the Protecting Powers were com- 
 pelled to address an ultimatum to the Greek Government, 
 demanding : 
 
 1. The complete demobilisation of the army. 
 
 2. The dismissal of the unrepresentative Ministry and its 
 
 1 White Book (Supplement), 67. * Ibid., 69. ' Ibid., 83. 
 
TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 57 
 
 replacement by one of a non-political character such as 
 would guarantee the maintenance of the friendly 
 neutrality which Greece had previously undertaken to 
 show towards the Entente Powers. 
 
 3. The dissolution of the Chamber and the holding of new 
 elections, as soon as the demobilisation had been 
 carried out. 
 
 4. The dismissal of various police officials who had en- 
 couraged the disorders and the demonstration before 
 the Legations. 
 
 The King accepted the ultimatum and called upon M. 
 Zaimis to form a new Government, upon which Theotokis 
 telegraphed that the German Government " feel intense 
 regret at the departure of M. Scouloudis, who had won their 
 confidence and esteem," ^ as was not surprising ! The 
 demobilisation of the army was taken in hand immediately, 
 but numbers of the disbanded troops formed themselves 
 into Reservist Leagues, determined to uphold the King's 
 cause against the poHcy of the great Liberal statesman. 
 In consequence of this the elections were postponed with the 
 connivance of the Protecting Powers. It was at this moment 
 that the Greek frontier was crossed, as we have seen, by the 
 armies of the Central Powers. On August 27th a great 
 demonstration was held at Athens to protest against the 
 surrender of Greek territory in Macedonia, and M. Venizelos 
 availed himself of the opportunity to make a final and 
 solemn appeal to the King to respect the Constitution. 
 Addressing the crowds assembled before his house, he 
 advised them to summon a deputation to proceed to His 
 Majesty's presence and say to him : 
 
 " Your Majesty, you have become the victim of men who 
 in order that they may overthrow the work of the Revolu- 
 tion, of which to-morrow is the seventh anniversary, and 
 to restore the regime of corruption, have not hesitated to 
 traffic in the reverence for the Crown and the people's 
 devotion to your person . . . You have become the victim of 
 your military advisers who, in the narrowness of their 
 
 White Book (Supplement), 52. 
 
58 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 military perceptions and in their desire to establish an 
 absolute monarchy, which would make them substantially 
 masters of the situation, have persuaded you that Germany 
 will emerge victorious from the European war. . . . Accus- 
 tomed to admire everything German, blinded by the in- 
 comparable German military organisation, you not only 
 believed in the German victory, but you desired it in the 
 hope that you would be able through it to concentrate in 
 your hands the whole authority of the Government, and 
 practically set aside our free Constitution. And to-day we 
 see the results of all these errors. Instead of expanding in 
 Asia Minor, in Thrace, with the addition of Cyprus ; instead 
 of finally settling our difficulties of more than a thousand years 
 with our two national enemies and bringing about a great, 
 powerful and rich Hellas answering to our most ambitious 
 dreams, we see the Bulgarians invading Greek Macedonia, 
 occupying both the open country and our towns and for- 
 tresses and imprisoning the detachments of the Greek army 
 there, although we are not in a state of war, either declared 
 or undeclared, with the invaders, while they mock us with 
 assurances of their friendship. . . . Instead of making our 
 country respected by her friends and feared by her enemies, 
 we see her pitied by the former, and despised, mocked and 
 insulted by the latter. ... As long as you allow your name 
 to be disrespectfully used as that of an opponent of a great 
 political party, what good can come of elections which, in 
 such conditions, are only a veil for the prosecution of an 
 undeclared civil war ? What could the Liberal Party achieve 
 by triumphing at the elections and coming into power, 
 when the national unity, which has been shattered by your 
 interference in the political contests, cannot in any way be 
 restored by the result of such elections. . . . The policy which 
 has been followed, and, above all things, the manner in 
 which it has been applied, has infected the national organism 
 with the severest disease. We do not affirm that this 
 disease is incurable, but the cure requires the concentration 
 and not the disruption of the national forces, and must be 
 undertaken urgently and immediately, for it may be too late 
 to-morrow. 
 
 " Give up the position of the leader of a party to which 
 those who traffic in your dignity are degrading you. Ascend 
 once more the steps of your throne and remain on that high 
 seat. ... 
 
 " Your Majesty will see from to-day's meeting that the 
 Liberal Party is hostile neither to the Crown nor to the 
 ruling house nor to your own person. It is merely the 
 
TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 59 
 
 respectful guardian of the free Constitution from which they 
 do not intend to permit any deviation ; but this also is the 
 true interest of the Crown. Only those who are exploiting 
 the Crown may try to persuade you of the contrary while 
 they are, in reality, your worst enemies." 
 
 " These," said M. Venizelos, " are the things which I 
 suggest your representative deputation should say to the 
 King, and should likewise communicate to the Prime 
 Minister. 
 
 ''We must hope that the voice of the people will be 
 heard. Some propitious signs began to appear yesterday. 
 Let us trust there may be other such signs to-morrow. 
 
 " If, contrary to hope, our appeal is not heard, we shall 
 see then what else we are to do to forestall the disaster 
 towards which we are being drawn. . . . Only one thing 
 is not permissible to us, and that is to become fatalists and 
 look on at the threatening catastrophe without taking any 
 active measures against it. . . . 
 
 " I make yet one more fervent appeal to you, and that is 
 that you disperse at once in perfect order and silence. Let 
 not the least excess of any kind whatever mar the impressive 
 character of your gathering. The meeting of the Liberal 
 Party is a meeting with reform as its object, and it must not 
 depart from its standards." 
 
 The deputation was formed, but was not even admitted to 
 the royal presence. 
 
 Establishment of Provisional Government at Salonica. 
 
 But there were patriots besides Venizelos, even amongst 
 the military, who were determined that, though it be at the 
 risk of civil war, the will of the people should be asserted. 
 On August 30th, Lieut. Tsaconas raised the standard of 
 revolt at Salonica, and a Committee of National Defence 
 was formed there under the presidency of Colonel Zimvracakis, 
 who called upon his compatriots to cease to obey the 
 authorities '* who had destroyed the national honour." Not 
 many days later (September 24th) the Congress of Hellenig 
 
6o THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 Colonies, assembled at Paris, pronounced the deposition of 
 King Constantine and all his dynasty, and subsequently 
 sent a telegram to Venizelos, saying that they would follow 
 him along the path of honour and glory by which he led the 
 Greek race. 
 
 At the same time, the Protecting Powers began to take 
 energetic action. On September ist a Franco-British 
 squadron anchored off Salamis, and the Allied Powers 
 presented a new ultimatum to the Government at Athens, 
 demanding the control of the posts and telegraphs and the 
 expulsion of the mischievous German agents. The accept- 
 ance of these demands by the Government was followed by 
 fresh demonstrations on the part of the Reservist Leagues 
 in the streets of the city. M. Zaimis resigned and a new 
 Government was finally formed under the King's direction, 
 which, although it included two strongly hostile members, 
 was outwardly ready to profess a friendly disposition towards 
 the Entente Powers. 
 
 On September 20th, the King publicly expressed his 
 thanks to his troops at Athens for their loyalty, impressing 
 upon them that they owed allegiance to no one but his own 
 Royal person. 
 
 On the night of September 25th, Venizelos left Athens 
 for Crete in company with Admiral Coundouriotis, and two 
 days later issued a proclamation to the Greek people ex- 
 plaining to them that he had been forced to take independent 
 action in order to restore their authority, and declaring that 
 if the King would not himself defend the cause of his people 
 and preserve his country from disintegration he, Venizelos, 
 would take this duty upon himself. Representatives of the 
 movement were established in Crete and in the Aegean 
 Islands. At Salonica a Cabinet of National Defence was 
 formed responsible to M. Venizelos, Admiral Coundouriotis 
 and General Danglis. 
 
 On October 4th the Government at Athens, which for a 
 few weeks had been placed under the Premiership of M. 
 Nicolas Calogeropoulos, another prominent member of the 
 anti-Venizehst party, resigned, finding themselves unable to 
 
TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 6i 
 
 carry on relations with the representatives of the Protecting 
 Powers, and M. Lambros, Professor of archaeology, who was 
 neither a poUtician nor even a Deputy of the Chamber, was 
 called to power by the King. For colleagues he chose two 
 other Professors and a number of civil servants. 
 
 Meanwhile, events were taking place tending to show that 
 active measures were about to be adopted against the forces 
 of the Entente at Salonica. It was observed that the naval 
 authorities were eliminating from the fleet all those officers 
 who were known to be partisans of M. Venizelos, and troops 
 and artillery were being despatched to Thessaly. Nor had 
 any serious steps been taken with a view to demobilisation, 
 which the Greek Government had undertaken to carry out. 
 On the contrary, it was known that 40,000 new recruits 
 were about to be called to the colours. 
 
 Accordingly, on October loth. Admiral Dartige du Four- 
 net, in command of the Allied Squadron, decided to assume 
 the control of the railway to Larissa, disarm three of the 
 Greek warships, seize the small ships of the navy and re- 
 move the batteries round Piraeus and Salamis. The Govern- 
 ment accepted the ultimatum which embodied this decision, 
 yielding, as they expressed it, to force majeure. A few days 
 later the Admiral insisted that no Greek civilians should be 
 allowed to carry arms in the street ^ and that the corn in 
 Thessaly should no longer be requisitioned for the army. 
 
 Although, as we have seen, the King was manifestly 
 negotiating with Germany for an attack on General Sarrail's 
 forces, he was affecting to be anxious to conciHate the 
 Entente Powers, while those Powers, not fully realising the 
 hopelessness of the situation, were still working for a recon- 
 ciliation between Venizelos and the Royal party. While 
 giving financial support to the Liberal party, they recognised 
 the Government which that party had formed merely as a 
 de facto and not a de jure Government, and made even this 
 recognition conditional upon its not being extended beyond 
 
 * While the King and his Ministers were protesting that this condi- 
 tion had been carried out, a secret order, afterwards disclosed, was issued 
 to provincial commanders to provide the Reservist Leagues with arms. 
 
62 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 those parts of Macedonia and the islands in which it had 
 akeady been established. 
 
 Events of December i and 2. 
 
 In the latter part of October, a French Deputy, M. 
 Benazet, was sent to Athens on a special mission. He was 
 instructed, it seems, to make another attempt to prevail 
 upon the King to return to a constitutional regime. The 
 King outwardly showed M. Benazet every token of friendship. 
 It appears from correspondence read in the Greek Chamber 
 on April i8th, 1918, by M. Pohtis, Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs, that M. Benazet wrote as follows on the 25th October 
 to the French President of the Council : 
 
 " His Majesty received me very amiably, and our conversa- 
 tion lasted more than two hours. ... I suggested to His 
 Majesty that it would be to the interest of himself and his 
 people to give us, without further delay, some solid pledges 
 of his desire to follow a policy of benevolent neutrality 
 towards us. 
 
 " The King permitted me to express myself quite freely. 
 I explained to him that General Sarrail's chief preoccupation 
 was that the security of the Expeditionary Army should be 
 guaranteed, and that the Allied Governments were deter- 
 mined to give him entire satisfaction on that point. . . . 
 The King of his own accord declared himself willing to 
 surrender us all the equipments of his army and fleet, the 
 guns with 1,000 shells each, the fleet with munitions and 
 torpedoes. ' All I desire,' he declared, ' is that France shall 
 demand them while giving me to understand that this is 
 the price of neutrality which I shall remain entirely free to 
 observe, and that, moreover, Greece shall be largely indem- 
 nified for the value of the surrendered material.' 
 
 " I pledged my word for the French Government that in 
 no case should Greece suffer through this arrangement. We 
 ask her not for actual co-operation, but solely to lend us 
 war material, of which we will make no use during the 
 present struggle, and we will be grateful to her."^ 
 
 But nothing was done and, on November 17th, in conse- 
 quence of the renewed unfriendly attitude of the Athens 
 Government, Admiral du Fournet demanded the delivery 
 
 * Times, April 22nd, 1918. 
 
TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 63 
 
 into his hands of a number of field and mountain batteries, 
 machine guns, rifles and ammunition and the expulsion from 
 Athens of the representatives of the Central Governments 
 within forty-eight hours. These diplomatists departed on 
 the 22nd, but M. Lambros' Government refused to comply 
 in full with Admiral du Fournet's demands, and further 
 anti-Venizelist riots were organised by the Reservist 
 Leagues. 
 
 On November 24th, the Provisional Government of 
 Salonica declared war on Bulgaria, requesting the Allied 
 Powers to communicate this to the enemy, but it is not 
 clear whether it was done. 
 
 On the 29th, Admiral du Fournet had a lengthy interview 
 with the King, and General Bousquier also had some 
 conversation with him on the following day. The result of 
 these interviews was that both the Admiral and the General 
 were convinced that no resistance would be made to the 
 removal of the guns demanded, but that the King was 
 anxious that a certain show of force should be made in order 
 to preserve his dignity. He is said even to have given the 
 assurance in writing that no opposition would be made to 
 the disembarkation of troops for that purpose. However, 
 it is quite clear that preparations were made for offering 
 resistance to the troops which were actually landed at 
 Athens on the ist December. Indeed, all the circumstances 
 point to an abominable plot to entrap the troops of the 
 Entente. In accordance with secret orders issued by the 
 General Staff to the officers of the garrison, Greek soldiers 
 took up positions outside the city, prepared to offer armed 
 resistance and fire on the Allied troops should they attempt 
 to carry out their purpose. ^ Greek soldiers took up positions 
 outside the city. More than 10,000 additional men were 
 enrolled and Greek Marines occupied the principal buildings 
 of Athens. 
 
 Before the landing took place the representatives of the 
 Allied Powers gave assurances through the local Press that 
 
 * These orders were published at a later period (Sept. 30, 191 7) in the 
 Athens newspapers. 
 
64 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 no military force would be used to compel the acceptance 
 of their demands, though it might be necessary to disembark 
 troops in order to prevent disturbances. Finally, on the 
 above-mentioned day, a force of 2,000 men was disembarked. 
 No preparation had been made to resist any attack on the 
 part of the Greek army, for none had been expected after the 
 King's assurances. The Allied troops were therefore taken 
 completely by surprise when they were suddenly fired upon, 
 when taking up the position which they had announced their 
 intention of occupying. In the afternoon the Greek batteries 
 also bombarded the French troops, of which small detach- 
 ments had been placed on guard in the Zappeion. No orders 
 were given for the cessation of the firing until the French war- 
 ships fired some shells in the direction of the King's palace. 
 The whole attack was carried out as though definite orders 
 had been given. The Greek troops even fired through 
 windows at those of the Allies who had taken refuge in 
 houses. Of the French, 5 officers and 117 men were killed, 
 7 officers and about 200 men wounded. Of the British, i 
 officer and 9 men were killed and 3 officers and about 
 40 men wounded. In spite of their unpreparedness, the 
 Allied troops were able to offer some sort of resistance, 
 with the result that 4 Greek officers and 50 men were killed 
 and about 150 wounded. After a humiliating arrangement 
 had been come to between the Palace and the representatives 
 of the Entente Powers, whereby the demands were reduced, 
 the troops which had disembarked were escorted back to 
 their ships by Greek troops. 
 
 The following morning, the Venizelist newspaper offices 
 were forcibly entered and wrecked by armed bands ; some 
 of the staff were ill-treated and others arrested. In addition 
 many innocent civilians were shot or otherwise killed, or 
 thrown into prison. In all, according to Venizehst state- 
 ments, about 200 men, women and children were killed and 
 1,500 imprisoned. Many of the bodies were mutilated and 
 plundered. An immense amount of property was destroyed. ^ 
 
 ' The total amount of the claims admitted by the Commission, lately 
 appointed to inquire into these events, was 8,000,000 francs. 
 
TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 65 
 
 The Royalists attempted to excuse this massacre on the 
 pretence that their enemies had collected a store of arms 
 with the intention of attacking them as soon as the foreign 
 troops should land, though no such store was ever discovered. 
 But most of them gloried in the events of those two days. 
 The Nea Hemera wrote : 
 
 " The 1st and 2nd of December have been, we are proud 
 to say, two of the greatest and holiest and most gloricus 
 days in the whole of Greek history. They may be regarded 
 as marking the dawn of the true independence of Greece, 
 delivering her from the most detestable yoke which has 
 ever menaced the existence of our race." 
 
 Speaking in the name of the King, the Greek Minister of 
 War addressed to the troops '* his congratulations on their 
 exemplary conduct during the unforgettable days of the 
 1st and 2nd December." Queen Sophie herself telegraphed 
 the following words through the Theotokis brothers to the 
 German Emperor and to Falkenhausen : 
 
 " By a miracle we are safe after a bombardment of three 
 hours of the palace by the French fleet, which fired without 
 warning. The shells burst quite close. We took refuge in 
 the cellars. Violent encounters took place also the following 
 day in the streets. The Revolutionaries fired from the 
 houses. The army and the people fought magnificently 
 [the day before] and remained faithful. The tables are now 
 turned. It was a great victory over four Great Powers, 
 whose troops fled before the Greeks and afterwards with- 
 drew under the escort of Greek troops. The mayor is in 
 prison. Many arrests have taken place. The panic has 
 subsided. The garrison has been brought up to ten regi- 
 ments. . . . What will be the demands of the Entente ? 
 We are prepared for everything. . . . Please inform us when 
 the Macedonian army will be sufiiciently reinforced to under- 
 take a definite offensive." ^ 
 
 The German Emperor replies to this message ten days 
 
 White Book (Supplement), 62. 
 
66 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 later (3rd/i6th December) in a telegram from which we 
 have already quoted an extract (see p. 54) : 
 
 " I have seen the dangers/' he says, " through which 
 Tino and you have passed, and I admire the courage with 
 which you have resisted during these difficult moments. I 
 recognise also with pleasure the loyal attitude of the army 
 and the fleet and their fidelity towards the Royal House. 
 May God grant that you be delivered at last from your 
 horrible situation."* 
 
 M. Coromilas* Appeal to the King. 
 
 Urgent appeals were again made to the King and his 
 Government at this time to respect the wishes of the people. 
 M. Coromilas, Greek Minister at Rome, addressed a long 
 telegram to King Constantine on 25th November /8th De- 
 cember, in which he said : 
 
 " I returned to Rome at the moment when the terrible 
 events of the 18 th November (ist December) were taking 
 place at Athens. When I read the ingenuous despatches 
 of the Government, giving assurances that they desire 
 to maintain the best relations with the Entente Powers, 
 it is clear to me that they do not appreciate the terrible 
 gravity of the situation, nor the catastrophe to which 
 official Greece is being inevitably drawn. The ambiguous 
 and indefinite policy, which Your Majesty's Govern- 
 ments have followed for more than a year, have brought it 
 about that we have taken up arms against our natural 
 friends, against the Entente Powers to whom we have so often 
 given assurances of our friendly feelings, whilst this same 
 policy has caused us to offer no resistance to the Bulgar- 
 ians, our hereditary enemies, when they came to seize our 
 forts, our towns in Macedonia, the half of our war material 
 and many of our troops besides a thing unheard-of before. 
 Now that blood has flowed, France and England, to whom 
 we owe our regeneration and who have so often given us 
 assistance, have become the implacable enemies of Your 
 Majesty and of the Greece which has remained under your 
 Empire. ... 
 
 " I do not wish to repeat what I have already on sevo-al 
 occasions represented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
 nor that which has been brought to Your Majesty's notice. 
 
 > White Book (Supplement). 66. 
 
TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 67 
 
 Our geographical situation and our national interests bade 
 us to be frank and sincere friends to the Entente, whatever 
 risks that might entail. . . . And to complete the horror of 
 the situation, Greece, in the midst of the misfortunes by 
 which she is overcome, has divided herself into two camps, 
 each wishing death to the other. Hate is in our hearts ; 
 civil war is in our souls as well as in our acts ; we 
 murder and destroy one another while the Bulgarians 
 have taken root on our soil and oppress our kinsmen. The 
 country is in a state of the greatest disorder, of anarchy, 
 even ; atrocious criminal acts have been committed at 
 Athens against the civil population without any interference 
 by the representatives of public order. One part of Greece 
 has disowned the other and separated itself from it by force. 
 It has detached itself from the Government at Athens to go 
 to Salonica to defend our territory which we have abandoned 
 to our enemies. . . . The throne cannot be a political 
 party. ... 
 
 " Listen to the voice of a man who is far removed from 
 any prejudice of passion or hatred and who only trembles 
 for the fate of his country. I appeal to your patriot's heart 
 and in the name of the affection which you have for your 
 country. 
 
 " Whatever may be the issue of this tremendous conflict 
 ^and it will probably be indecisive according to Your 
 Majesty's self Greece must remain the sincere and open 
 friend of the Entente Powers and the enemy of Bulgaria. 
 M. Venizelos and his colleagues at Salonica have perceived 
 this truth. Do not, Your Majesty, refuse to perceive it also ; 
 and since you are King not of the majority of the people 
 but of all the Hellenic world, forget the past, forget the 
 grievances that you may have. Ask for the help of M. 
 Venizelos and of his friends. I have a firm hope that 
 they will give it you willingly. Have a strong Government 
 capable of assuming responsibility and capable of relieving 
 you of it. Take this step. Your Majesty ; you who have 
 brought glory to the national arms, save the soul of Greece 
 from the passions which rend it, save the nation and our 
 race. Greece, united by you, will know, whatever may be 
 the unseen blows which the war reserves for us, how to resist 
 the storm and escape the disasters which threaten. If you 
 do not do this at once, the future of our Fatherland and of 
 Hellenism itself will be terrible beyond all measure. 
 
 ** I pray Your Majesty to excuse my outspoken language. 
 The affection which I bear you compels me to address you 
 thus, for my heart bleeds when I see what you were and what 
 
j 
 
 ^ 
 
 68 THE STORY OF KING C0NSTANTINE 
 
 is threatening. It is my duty to speak to you clearly without 
 any reticence. It is my duty to tell Your Majesty that the 
 policy which has, alas, brought us inevitably to the situa- 
 tion in which we now are, is a disastrous policy, and one of 
 which I disapprove fundamentally. Nothing but the counsel 
 which I venture to give you, nothing but the union of all of 
 us by your royal action, can still save what remains.* '^ 
 
 But King Constantine paid no heed to these appeals. It 
 was sufficient to him that the venal Press of Athens spoke 
 of him as '* the idol adored of the people '* and as having 
 ** the innocence of a sacrificial lamb.** With the approval 
 of M. Lambros' Government, and in commemoration, as it 
 were, of the triumphal slaughter of their enemies, the 
 Metropolitan of Athens was persuaded to pronounce in 
 public a solemn anathema on the head of the great patriot 
 leader, Venizelos.^ 
 
 Forbearance of the Entente Powers ; Continued Intrigues. 
 
 In spite of the gravity of the attack on their troops, the 
 Entente Powers contented themselves with blockading the 
 Greek ports, demanding an apology and reparation for the 
 outrage, dissolution of the Reservist Leagues, the re- 
 lease of the Venizelist prisoners and the removal of the 
 Greek regular troops to the Peloponnesus ; while they 
 still continued to maintain friendly relations with the Athens 
 Government. There were two principal reasons which 
 deterred them from taking further action : the desirability 
 of preventing open hostilities and civil war in the country, 
 and the divergence of view between the British and French 
 Governments on the one side and the Russian and Italian 
 on the other. The Athens Government promised com- 
 pliance with their demands, and on the 29th of January, 
 1917, the AlHed flags were saluted at the Zappeion in 
 
 ^ White Book (Supplement), 94. 
 
 * It is related that while the anathema ceremony was taking place, 
 women of all conditions were offering candles at the picture of the Virgin 
 for the life and prosperity of Venizelos, and garlands of flowers were after- 
 wards placed as a propitiatory offering on the cenotaph of the anathema. 
 (See the speech of M. Diomedes, formerly Greek Minister of Finance, 
 delivered at King's College, February 16, 1917.) 
 
TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 69 
 
 the presence of the diplomatic representatives and the 
 commander of the French army corps. But the with- 
 drawal of the troops was postponed on various pretexts 
 and never fully carried out ; the Reservist Leagues merely 
 transferred their operations to the provinces ; and the 
 formation of bands of brigands in the Pindus mountains, 
 for the purpose of harassing the Entente troops at Salonica, 
 was continued, and the Venizelos partisans were left in 
 prison. 
 
 Meanwhile the intrigues proceeded with Berlin. On the 
 20th December, I9i6/2nd January, 1917, the Greek Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs addresses the following telegram from 
 Queen Sophie to M. Theotokis for transmission to General 
 Falkenhausen : 
 
 " Owing to the continuation of the blockade, we 
 have only enough bread for a few more dajrs. Other pro- 
 visions also are growing less. Therefore, the war against 
 the Entente is now out of the question. ... I consider 
 that the game is lost if the attack does not take place 
 immediately. Afterwards it will be too late.*'^ 
 
 On the 24th December/6th January, the King himself 
 telegraphs, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to M. 
 Theotokis, saying that it is desirable that he be immediately 
 informed if a German attack on the Macedonian front is 
 contemplated, and when it is probable that it will take 
 place. 2 M. J. Theotokis appends the following Note to this 
 telegram : 
 
 " Where is Falkenhausen ? We have not yet received any 
 news from him.'* 
 
 Three days later Queen Sophie telegraphs through the 
 Government to the Emperor William : 
 
 " I thank you heartily for your telegram, but we have 
 not sufficient provisions to last for such an enterprise, and 
 the want of munitions and many other things unfortunately 
 compel us to abstain from such an offensive. You may 
 imagine my condition ! How I suffer ! I thank you 
 
 1 White Book (Supplement), 75. * Ibid., 76. 
 
70 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 from my heart for your precious words. . . . May the 
 infamous pigs receive the punishment they deserve/*^ 
 
 On the 28th December/ioth January, M. J. Theotokis 
 requests his brother at Berlin through the Foreign Minister 
 to communicate another telegram from Queen Sophie to the 
 Emperor, in which she says : 
 
 *' I am grateful and happy to have at least spoken on the 
 telephone to-day with Falkenhausen at Larissa and to have 
 received news from you direct. 
 
 *' I am [here follow some indecipherable words] that the 
 ultimatum should be accepted, but unfortunately we were 
 compelled to accept it, although we desired to be at war at 
 Germany's side both on account of the political advantages 
 which would ensue and on account of our desire to rid our- 
 selves of our determined enemies, and to be in harmony 
 with the sympathy which has already been shown by the 
 Greek people to the German cause. . . . 
 
 ** I hope that you will not lose sight of the fact that 
 Greece, with a view to the consummation of her plans, might, 
 if united by railway, become a useful and precious auxiliary 
 to our beloved Fatherland, owing to its geographical position. 
 Among the people the work of furthering Germany's cause 
 against our enemies will be continued. You may be abso- 
 lutely certain of this, and I am proud that the indescribable 
 suffering and anguish which we have gone through, and will 
 continue to endure, for the sake of maintaining neutrality, 
 have been able to render serious services." ^ 
 
 On 31st December/i3th January, the Queen sends a 
 telegram for transmission to Falkenhausen, saying that : 
 
 " M. Zimmermann was personally for the offensive, but he 
 had to come to a decision in agreement with Field-Marshal 
 Hindenburg. If von Hindenburg's reply had been more 
 favourable and categorical the Crown Council would have 
 decided for the attack . I am heartbroken ! It is too dis- 
 gusting. Mistakes have been made. Cerigo has been 
 occupied by the insurgents." ^ 
 
 On the 5th/i8th January, M. Theotokis informs King 
 Constantine that von Hindenburg announces, on information 
 obtained from Falkenhausen, that the Entente, in spite of 
 
 White Book (Supplement), 77. * Ibid., 79. * Ibid., 82. 
 
TREACHERY TO THE ALLIES 71 
 
 the acceptance of their ultimatum, intend to insist on the 
 surrender of the Greek artillery and war material. The 
 German Staff, therefore, attaching the greatest importance 
 to the prevention of this contingency, desires to know it 
 Greece will be prepared, in case of need, to destroy that 
 artillery and material. In the affirmative case, the Imperial 
 Government will undertake to pay compensation. The 
 Staff requests His Majesty, in case he should accept this 
 proposal, to let them have a detailed inventory of the 
 artillery and other material to be destroyed.^ 
 
 On 6th /19th January, M. Theotokis informs his brother 
 that he learns confidentially from M. Naoum (Greek Minister 
 at Sofia) that the attack will take place on the Macedonian 
 front as soon as the Roumanian campaign is finished, and 
 asks him whether he has had any news of it. In a postscript, 
 a message is sent to Falkenhausen informing him that the 
 Allies appear to be without aeroplanes for some days, on 
 account of breakage, and that they are endeavouring to 
 raise the effectives of the Macedonian Army to 800,000 men, 
 and are sending reinforcements in great haste. ^ This tele- 
 gram also was forwarded by M. Zalocostas, the Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs at Athens, through the Minister at Berne. 
 
 The following day, in a telegram similarly transmitted, 
 thanks are sent to von Hindenburg on behalf of King 
 Constantine for his proposal concerning the artillery, which 
 the King accepts, and an inventory of that material is 
 included in the telegram.^ 
 
 Thus King Constantine and his Government, while still 
 professing outwardly a strict, if not a friendly, neutrality' 
 towards the Entente, were giving their enemies information 
 as to the movements of their troops, and, as is specially 
 clear from Queen Sophie's message of 31st December/ 
 13th January, were actually imploring the Central Powers 
 to drive Sarrail's forces into the sea. The Queen indeed 
 describes herself as overcome with grief that no action has 
 so far been taken in this direction, and the irony of her 
 assertion under these circumstances that she and hers have 
 
 1 White Book (Supplement), 84. Ihid., 85. Ibid., 86. 
 
72 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 gone through untold suffering in their deep anxiety to 
 maintain neutrality can hardly be surpassed. 
 
 At Athens the lawlessness had by February subsided to 
 some extent. Several pro-Venizelist papers were able to 
 reappear in March, and it is noteworthy that the Hestia 
 and Ethnos immediately reached a circulation double that 
 of any paper that had hitherto been published in Greece. 
 The national movement continued to extend in the Islands. 
 A far greater extension would ere now have taken place 
 but for the insistence of the Entente Powers, in their fond 
 belief that a reconciliation with the King might be brought 
 about, that the Provisional Government should not be 
 established in those parts of Greece which had not accepted 
 it before October, 1916. Up to now King Constantine had 
 imagined that he could rely on the policy pursued by Italy 
 with regard to Greek affairs to support him in his resistance 
 to the demands of England and France. But in consequence 
 of the agreement come to between the Italian, French and 
 English Premiers at their meeting on April 19th, he con- 
 sidered it wiser to adopt a conciliatory demeanour, and on 
 the 22nd of that month he removed M. Lambros from power 
 and re- appointed M. Zaimis in his place, believing that he 
 would find more favour with the Entente representatives 
 and succeed in averting a crisis. 
 
 M. Zaimis, who, though he had never been an adherent 
 of Venizelos, had throughout adopted a friendly attitude 
 towards the Entente, may have sincerely desired to bring 
 about a modus vivendi between the National Party and the 
 King, but he was quite unable to cope with the situation. 
 Indeed, it was hardly to be supposed that any form of 
 reconciliation was now possible between the Royalists and 
 Venizelists, the former being entirely pledged to the cause 
 of the Central Powers, while the latter were convinced 
 that the only salvation of their country lay in a close 
 alliance with the Entente. 
 
THE RETRIBUTION 
 
 Appointment of a High Commissioner ; the 
 King's Abdication. 
 
 FINALLY it was decided, as a result apparently of con- 
 ferences held in London and Paris, and with the 
 approval of the Italian Government, to send a High Com- 
 missioner in the person of M. Jonnart to Greece as repre- 
 sentative of combined British and French interests. In the 
 beginning of June, soon after his arrival, the forces under 
 General Sarrail entered Thessaly and occupied the principal 
 places there, being received with undisguised joy by the 
 greater part of the population who had, from the beginning, 
 been in sympathy with the Liberal cause. At the same 
 time French troops landed at the Isthmus of Corinth, and 
 the High Commissioner informed the Prime Minister, 
 M. Za'imis, of the decision of the Powers he represented to 
 demand the abdication of King Constantine, inasmuch as 
 that monarch had proved himself incapable of ruling his 
 country in accordance with the Constitution, on condition 
 of the observance of which he held his crown. He gave 
 him also to understand that Constantine was free to 
 nominate as his successor whom he pleased except the 
 Crown Prince. 
 
 M. Zaimis was wise enough to accept the situation on 
 behalf of his Government, and the next day sent the fol- 
 lowing reply to M. Jonnart : 
 
 " The High Commissioner of France, Great Britain and 
 Russia, having demanded, by your Note of yesterday, the 
 
 73 
 
74 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 abdication of King Constantine and the appointment of his 
 successor, the undersigned, Prime Minister and Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs, has the honour to inform your Excellency 
 that the King, solely mindful as ever of the interests of 
 Greece, has decided to quit the country with the Crown Prince 
 and to appoint as his successor Prince Alexander." 
 
 On his abdication King Constantine issued a proclamation 
 to his people in which he said : 
 
 ** Yielding to necessity, accomplishing my duty towards 
 Greece, and with a view solely to the interests of the country, 
 I depart from that beloved country together with the Crown 
 Prince, leaving my son Alexander on the throne. Even 
 while far away from Greece the Queen and I will ever retain 
 our affection for the Hellenic people. I beg that all will 
 accept my decision calmly and quietly, trusting in God, 
 Whose protection I invoke for the nation. 
 
 " That my bitter sacrifice for my country may not be in 
 vain, I exhort you for the love of God and our country, and 
 for your affection to me, to preserve absolute order and disci- 
 pline, the least relapse from which, even with the best inten- 
 tions, might be sufficient to bring about a great catastrophe. 
 The love and devotion which you have ever shown towards 
 the Queen and myself, in times of happiness and sorrow alike, 
 are a great consolation to us at the present time. May God 
 protect Greece.** 
 
 The tone of this proclamation, in which the King repre- 
 sented himself as a martyr to the cause of his people, pro- 
 duced considerable indignation,^ and M. Zaimis was taken 
 to task for having acquiesced in the wording of it, as he was 
 also for the statement in the proclamation issued by the 
 new King to the effect that, in his grief at being separated 
 from his father, he had but one consolation, namely to carry 
 out his sacred mandate, " following the lines of his brilliant 
 reign with the assistance of the people upon whose affection 
 the Greek dynasty rests." 
 
 On the i6th June, three days after Constantine's 
 departure for Switzerland, M. Jonnart published the 
 
 * M. Gauvain's remark that King Constantine and his son " fled before 
 the storm, carrying with them the curse of Hellas," fairly represents the 
 real situation. 
 
THE RETRIBUTION 75 
 
 following statement in explanation of the action of the 
 Allied Powers : 
 
 TO THE GREEK PEOPLE! 
 
 " France, Great Britain and Russia have worked for the inde- 
 pendence, the greatness and the prosperity of Greece. It is 
 their intention to protect the noble country which they have 
 freed against the combined efforts of the Turks, Bulgarians and 
 Germans. They are here to counteract the manoeuvres of the 
 hereditary enemies of the kingdom. They desire to put an end 
 to the repeated violations of the Constitution and of treaties and 
 to the deplorable intrigues which ended in the massacre of the 
 soldiers of friendly countries. Yesterday Berlin was in command 
 at Athens and was gradually bringing the people under the yoke 
 of the Bulgarians and Germans. It was our resolve to re-establish 
 a real constitution and the union of Greece. The Guaranteeing 
 Powers therefore called upon King Constantine to abdicate. 
 They have no intention to interfere with the Constitutional 
 Monarchy. They have no desire but to secure the regular working 
 of the Constitution to which King George of glorious memory 
 was ever scrupulously faithful, and which King Constantine 
 ceased to respect. 
 
 GREEKS! 
 
 ** The hour of reconciliation has come. Your destiny is closely 
 associated with that of the Guaranteeing Powers. Your ideal 
 and your hopes are the same. We appeal to your wisdom and 
 your patriotism. To-day the blockade is raised. All reprisals 
 against Greeks, to whatever party they belong, will be remorse- 
 lessly repressed. No breach of public order will be tolerated. 
 The property and liberty of everyone will be safeguarded. A 
 new era of peace and of energy is about to open for you. Be 
 assured that the Protecting Powers, mindful of the sovereignty 
 of the people, have no intention whatever to impose a general 
 mobilisation on the Greek people. Long live united, great and free 
 Greece ! " 
 
 On June 26th, M. Jonnart demanded the re-assembling of 
 the Chamber as it stood when unconstitutionally dissolved 
 by the King in June 1915. M. Zaimis thereupon resigned, 
 and the new King, acting upon M. Jonnart 's advice, called 
 upon M. Venizelos to form a Government. The latter 
 returned to Athens on the 27th, and the success of the 
 national movement was henceforth assured. Greece was 
 
76 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 now united by the only means by which it was possible to 
 restore peace and order to the country. 
 
 Right of Protecting Powers to Intervene. 
 
 It has of course been argued in terms of the lowest 
 abuse that the Entente Powers had no right to interfere 
 in the internal affairs of Greece and that, even on the pretence 
 that King Constantine had no regard for the Constitution, 
 it can only be considered a most high-handed measure, such 
 as surpasses any interference even attempted by Germany 
 in the affairs of another country, that we should have inter- 
 vened between the Sovereign and his people. It will be 
 well therefore to review in a few words the treaties on which 
 the action of the Entente is based. It practically results 
 on a consideration of these treaties that, as the Times ^ 
 remarks, the King of the Hellenes is little more than " the 
 High Commissioner of the three Powers, England, France 
 and Russia, put there ' in order to give effect to the wish 
 of the Greek nation.' The three Powers guaranteed that 
 the Greek nation should enjoy what is now commonly called 
 democratic control, and reserved to themselves the right to 
 decide what means should be employed to exclude foreign 
 influences, dynastic or diplomatic, from interfering with 
 the domestic economy of their protege. "^ By the Treaty of 
 November 5th, 1815, signed by those Powers and by Prussia 
 and Austria, the Ionian Islands were placed under the pro- 
 tection of England, France and Russia. When these 
 islands were ceded to Greece, the same Powers signed the 
 Treaty of November 14th, 1863, Article VI of which Treaty 
 says : 
 
 " The Courts of France, Great Britain and Russia, in their 
 character of Guaranteeing Powers of the Kingdom of Greece, 
 reserve to themselves to conclude a Treaty with the Hellenic 
 Government with regard to the arrangements which may be 
 rendered necessary by the union of the Ionian Islands to 
 Greece." 
 
 * November 29, 1916. * See also p. 6. 
 
THE RETRIBUTION 77 
 
 This right then was conceded by Prussia and Austria. 
 The Treaty of March 29th, 1864, between the three Protecting 
 Powers and Greece, recognises the union of the Ionian 
 Islands with which Greece ** shall form a monarchical, 
 independent and constitutional State under the sovereignty 
 of His Majesty King George and under the guarantee of 
 the Three Courts/' The union is recognised by them in 
 this Treaty in their character of signatory parties to the 
 Convention of May 7th, 1832, " in virtue of which the sover- 
 eignty of Greece is placed under the-guarantee of the three 
 Courts " (Art. IV) which are " duly authorised for this 
 purpose by the Greek nation " (Art. I). 
 
 The right of watching over Greece was conceded exclus- 
 ively to them morally, as the creators of Greek indepen- 
 dence, but also legally, and this right has been asserted more 
 than once. When the Conference of Paris was discussing 
 the condition of Greece in 1856, the Earl of Clarendon de- 
 clared that : " The Protecting Powers may agree among 
 themselves upon the remedy which it is indispensable to 
 apply to a system injurious to the country and which has 
 altogether departed from the object which they had proposed 
 to themselves, when establishing there an independent 
 monarchy for the well-being and prosperity of the Greek 
 people.'* Again in 1862, Earl Russell wrote to Earl Cowley, 
 then British Ambassador in Paris, that " The fourth article 
 of the Treaty of London, of May, 1832, gave a guarantee to 
 Greece under the sovereignty of Prince Otto of Bavaria, 
 but no guarantee to Prince Otto personally," and he con- 
 cluded that " a guarantee to maintain King Otto on the 
 throne against his own people and in spite of any faults he 
 might commit " would be entirely inconsistent with " the 
 principles which have ever guided the foreign policy of 
 Great Britain." 
 
 King Constantine, the Greek Nation, and Hellenism. 
 
 Constantine himself, when he ascended the throne, swore 
 to *' observe the Constitution and the laws of the Greek 
 nation and to preserve and defend the national independence 
 
7% THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 and integrity of the Greek State." How little he regarded 
 this oath is clear from the events narrated above, no less 
 than from his own words. On more than one occasion he 
 distinctly declared that he held his throne by Divine Right 
 and was not responsible to his subjects. He dissolved the 
 lawfully constituted Chamber in an arbitrary manner twice 
 in one year in the second case after it had sat for three 
 months only. With regard to this occasion, M. Venizelos, 
 in his great speech of November 3rd, 19 15, said : 
 
 "If you believe that the Crown has the right, after appeal 
 has been made to the people, and the people has expressed 
 its view, not to follow this expressed will of the people, but 
 to proceed to a new dissolution in order to demand the so- 
 called verdict of the people again and again, then this means 
 that you admit that the Liberal regime in Greece, under which 
 we have lived for half a century, has become worse than a 
 scrap of paper, the term which has been used by some people 
 to describe international treaties.'* 
 
 But not only was King Constantine acting as an uncon- 
 stitutional monarch, and thwarting the interests of his own 
 subjects in order to satisfy his personal motives; he was, as 
 we have seen, acting as the agent and spy of foreign countries 
 regarded by the majority of his subjects as deadly enemies ; 
 he was befriending and supporting not only Germany herself 
 but Turkey and Bulgaria, who had long been persecuting 
 the kinsmen of his own subjects and were murdering or 
 deporting them at the very moment that he was arranging 
 with the German Emperor how best he could serve the in- 
 terests of the Central Powers and their Allies. The sufferings 
 inflicted at that time, with German connivance, on the 
 helpless Greek populations of Asia Minor sufferings almost 
 equal to those which the Armenian nation has had to endure 
 are described in the official reports of Hellenic diplomatic 
 and consular agents recently published by the Greek Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs. One quotation from this publication 
 will suffice : 
 
 " The wretched exiles, driven from their villages, were 
 unable even to obtain leave to carry with them the barest 
 
THE RETRIBUTION 79 
 
 necessaries. Barefooted, deprived of food and water, ruth- 
 lessly beaten, insulted and attacked on the road by armed 
 bands, they wandered over the mountains, escorted by their 
 tormentors. Most succumbed to fatigue and suffering ; 
 the dying were left on the road ; women, after giving birth 
 to children, had to abandon them in some lonely spot to 
 follow, as best they could, their companions in misery. For 
 the gendarmes saw that no one lingered on the way. The 
 exiles were forbidden to enter houses in the villages through 
 which they passed, so that they should be unable to obtain 
 food. 
 
 '* The end of their journey did not bring these wretched 
 people the end of their sufferings. For the savage inhabi- 
 tants of some out-of-the-way village usually undertook to 
 finish them off. ... So that all traces of Hellenism should 
 disappear, the villages were set on fire and all sorts of crimes 
 committed." 
 
 As M. Kyriakidis wrote in the Patris,^ " even under the 
 barbarian rule of the Turk the Greeks had maintained their 
 national traits, but under the new regime, organised at 
 Constantinople by the Germans, the Greek element in 
 Turkey is likely to be completely annihilatsd." 
 
 Let the reader study these reports and learn there of the 
 murder, deportation, and compulsory conversion to Islam 
 of the Greeks by the nation with whom the monarch, " adored 
 of his people,'' was willing to ally his subjects. Those who 
 sympathised with him must indeed have been hypnotised 
 by the " Royal Clique " for it was in reality nothing but 
 a clique. How else could they have wished for a union with 
 Powers whose very object was the destruction of Hellenism, 
 since, by the elimination of that element from Turkey, the 
 Central Powers would rid themselves of an important 
 commercial rival ? _ 
 
 The popularity which King Constantine enjoyed in the \ 
 army, and to some extent among the masses, was due in [ 
 great part to the skill with which he brought the Balkan wars 
 to a successful issue, and the common belief that, bearing 
 the name of the last of the Byzantine Emperors, he was 
 
 July. 1915. 
 
8o THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 destined to succeed him under the title of Const ant ine XII. 
 It is difficult to see how any of his subjects could have con- 
 tinued to regard him as such while he was holding out the 
 [^Ji^^nd of friendship to Turkey and her protectors ; but the fact 
 is that the policy to which he committed himself from the 
 beginning of the war was only fully disclosed to his im- 
 mediate entourage. His intrigues with the Central Powers 
 were carried on, as we have seen, with the utmost secrecy, 
 a circumstance which emphasises his complicity with them. 
 He was even ready to avail himself of German assistance 
 to conduct his treasonable correspondence treasonable, 
 that is, in the sense that he was conspiring against his own 
 subjects. M. Theotokis, telegraphing from Berlin, on 
 27th December, igiG/Qth January, 1917, to his brother. 
 Queen Sophie's chamberlain, gives special directions by 
 which secrecy may best be preserved, and adds : 
 
 " The German administration can send by air to Thessaly 
 the material and personnel of a wireless telegraphic station 
 of no little magnitude. Please telegraph immediately if 
 such a despatch is desirable."^ 
 
 Even the horrors enacted by the Bulgarians on their 
 occupation of Cavalla were long kept secret by the King's 
 Government, in order no doubt that the people might not 
 be influenced by them and rendered too indignant. The 
 loans contracted at Berlin were kept secret and not even 
 entered in the Registry, and why ? Because, as Ralli, a 
 member of one of the Cabinets now impeached, confessed 
 in his defence, " the door of the Entente would otherwise 
 have been closed to us." They did not want, that is, to be 
 unable to borrow money also from the Entente and use 
 it to make war against them ! 
 
 The King and his Government, not knowing that the 
 secret correspondence would be one day published, solemnly 
 denied the formation of bands for the purpose of harassing 
 
 White Book (Supplement), 78. 
 
THE RETRIBUTION i 
 
 General Sarrail's troops, and, in a Note addressed to the 
 French Minister at Athens, replying to the statements of 
 the Temps of nth April, 1917, the Hellenic Government 
 protested that " there neither exists nor has ever existed a 
 wireless station at the Palace,*' by which it was evidently 
 intended to imply that the King was not in wireless corres- 
 pondence in any way with Berlin. The messages, as shown 
 by M. Politis, were despatched generally under the signature 
 of a Minister, through the ordinary wireless station at 
 Athens to the installation at Sofia and thence to Berlin and 
 vice versa. 
 
 The King's brother. Prince Nicolas, protested in a letter 
 to the Temps^ against '* the doubt expressed in the Anglo- 
 French Press concerning the good faith and sincerity of the 
 official declarations of our King and his Government, and 
 as to the sentiments of the Greek people with regard to the 
 Allied troops/' " It has been pretended," he said, " that 
 they are exposed to danger on our territory and risk falling 
 victims to an attack on the part of our army. . . . Let me be 
 permitted to say that no suspicions could have more deeply 
 wounded the national amour propre of the Greek people 
 than mistrust of its traditional hospitality and doubt of its 
 Sovereign's word." 
 
 In another letter addressed to Lord Burnham on the 
 24th March, 1916, Prince Nicolas indignantly refutes the 
 assertion that German submarines had bases for victualling 
 in Greek waters; but the evidence given before the Com- 
 mission, charged with the preliminary examination of the 
 impeached Ministers, sufficiently proves the existence of 
 these bases. 
 
 The Triumph of the People. 
 
 When at last the nightmare was lifted and the nation could 
 give free vent to its feelings it did so in no equivocal fashion. 
 
 * Published in the issue of February 9, 19 16 
 
82 THE STORY OF KING CONSTANTINE 
 
 M. Jonnart was almost acclaimed after the King's departure ; 
 "Vive la France, vive la liberte 1" were the greetings he 
 received from delegations of students and representatives 
 of commerce and labour, and addresses reached him from 
 all parts of the country. All quotations immediately rose 
 at the Bourse. The French soldiers who landed after M. 
 Jonnart's interview with King Alexander found the popu- 
 lation eager to fraternise with them. At length, in spite 
 of German gold, distributed profusely by German agents, 
 and of all the subtle methods of German intrigue ; in spite 
 of Const ant ine's machinations and those of his military 
 entourage and of the reluctance or dilatoriness of the 
 Protecting Powers in counteracting them and in taking 
 steps to assert themselves, the Greek nation proved true to 
 itself. When the recruiting for the new army, destined to 
 fight at the side of the Entente, began, the men presented 
 themselves for enrolment with an alacrity that had not been 
 seen for ten years. 
 
 Not a discordant cry was raised by the crowds which 
 attended the ceremony of swearing in M. Venizelos and the 
 new Cabinet. On the contrary, that patriot was received 
 by them with acclamation. In the evening a great mani- 
 festation took place before his house, and the crowd called 
 upon him to appear. He came out on the balcony and 
 addressed the people, recapitulating the events since his 
 retirement. " Down with the Bulgarians ! Long live 
 Serbia ! " shouted the people. 
 
 " In the space of a fortnight,'* he told them, '* all 
 Hellenism abroad and a great part of Greece itself has 
 declared in favour of the new Government. There are already 
 60,000 men, and there will soon be 100,000, prepared to wipe 
 eut the dishonour cast on the nation by the autocratic 
 Government of the ex-King. The Protecting Powers have 
 all lent us their assistance. Guarantors of the constitutional 
 regime, they have determined to demand the re-establish- 
 ment of the national unity and of the truly constitutional 
 Government, which had been abolished from the moment 
 that the ex-King formulated the monstrous pretension that 
 he was responsible before God alone, without taking any 
 count of the will of the people.*' 
 
THE RETRIBUTION 83 
 
 M. Venizelos indeed deserved to triumph. He had had 
 to contend throughout his long struggle against untold 
 difficulties, not the least of which was the unwillingness 
 almost up to the last of the Protecting Powers to give him 
 their full support. Our deepest sympathies must be with 
 his countrymen who have had to see their territory mutilated, 
 instead of achieving their long cherished aspirations. He 
 asked us when he was in England " not to judge the Greek 
 nation as responsible for the personal policy of the dethroned 
 King, nor to consider the violation of the treaty with Serbia 
 as reflecting upon it." " I can assure you," he said, " that 
 during that protracted and painful crisis the great majority 
 of the Greek people never approved of that treacherous 
 policy. The good opinion of your great Empire is a precious 
 asset of the Greek people." Nor is it possible to withhold 
 it. It is, indeed, to the honour of that nation that, under 
 the leadership of its great statesman, it has been able to 
 extricate itself from the web in which it was entangled by 
 the machination of those past-masters in trickery whose 
 agents had flooded the country. Last April M. Venizelos, 
 speaking in the Greek Chamber, said : 
 
 *' If Greece succeeds in convincing the world that her 
 internal organism is healthy and vigorous, that the aspect 
 which she presented to the world during the last three years 
 was not one of internal collapse, but was due to the work of a 
 ruler whose whole policy showed that, though born in Greece, 
 he was never a Greek at heart or in his understanding or 
 aspirations, and of a camarilla which made capital out of 
 his perverse inclinations and weaknesses, then Greece may 
 hope to see the full recognition of her rights. According to 
 our works shall be our reward." 
 
 If Greece lost credit, in the eyes of the civilised world, 
 during the first years of the war, that credit has been more 
 than redeemed by the brilliant victories achieved by her 
 army fighting at the side of the Allies in the Balkans. 
 
 PRINTED tN ORBAT RRITAIN BY R. CL&Y', M^ 'SONS, VtT^.,', 'y 
 BRUNSWICK 8TRSKT. STAMVORD 8TRXBT, i.^', ^ '*f<4> WN^AY, KfVPOLR. 
 

 
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