ght join the Allies had been left to the King instead of
to Venizelos, Greece now would be with the Entente.
Or, if Greece remained neutral, no one could better judge whether
neutrality was or was not best for her than Constantine. In the three
years before the World War, he had led his countrymen through two wars,
and if both, as King and commander of her armies, he thought they needed
rest and peace, he was entitled to that opinion. Instead, he was
misrepresented and abused. His motives were assailed; he was accused
of being dominated by his Imperial brother-in-law. At no time since
the present war began has he been given what we would call a "square
deal." The writer has followed the career of Constantine since the
Greek-Turkish war of 1897, when they "drank from the same canteen," and
as Kings go, or until they all do go, respects him as a good King. To
his people he is generous, kind, and considerate; as a general he has
added to the territory of Greece many miles and seaports; he is fond of
his home and family, and in his reign there has been no scandal, no
Knights of the Round Table, such as disgraced the German court, no
Tripoli massacre, no Congo atrocities, no Winter Garden or La Scala
favorites. Venizelos may or may not be as unselfish a patriot. But
justly or not, it is difficult to disassociate what Venizelos wants for
Greece with what he wants for Venizelos. The King is removed from any
such suspicion. He is already a King, and except in continuing to be a
good King, he can go no higher.
How Venizelos came so prominently into the game is not without
interest. As long ago as when the two German cruisers escaped from
Messina and were sold to Turkey, the diplomatic representatives of the
Allies in the Balkans were instructed to see that Turkey and Germany did
not get together, and that, as a balance of power in case of such a
union, the Balkan States were kept in line. Instead of themselves
attending to this, the diplomats placed the delicate job in the hands
of one man. At the framing of the Treaty of London, of all the
representatives from the Balkans, the one who most deeply impressed the
other powers was M. Venizelos. And the task of keeping the Balkans
neutral or with the Allies was left to him.
He has a dream of a Balkan "band," a union of all the Balkan
principalities. It obsesses him. And to bring that dream true he was
willing to make concessions which King Constantine, who considered only
what
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