y seen,
he and the Allies had reason to regret and to elude the test which they
had exacted. It was, therefore, not surprising that M. Venizelos should
stipulate, with the concurrence of the Entente Ministers, that the
elections now imminent be postponed to the Greek Kalends.[4] By
accepting this condition, M. Zaimis obtained a promise of support; and
straightway (2 Sept.) proceeded to sound London and Paris.

Before making any formal proposal, he wanted to know if the Western
Powers would at least afford Greece the money and equipment which she
required in order to prepare with a view to eventual action. England
welcomed these overtures, convinced that thus all misunderstandings
between Greece and the Allies would vanish; {116} but, before giving a
definite reply, she had to communicate with France. France manifested
the greatest satisfaction; but M. Briand urged that there was no time for
negotiations: the vital interests of Greece demanded immediate action:
she should hasten to make a formal declaration without delay; after which
he would do all that was necessary to provide her, as soon as possible,
with money and material. M. Zaimis in his very first dispatch had said:
"Unfortunately the state of our finances and of our military organization
does not permit us to think of immediate action: we need a certain delay
for preparation"; and all the exhortations of M. Briand to leap first and
look afterwards failed to move him. Besides the matter of equipment--a
matter in which the Entente Powers, owing to their own necessities, had
been the reverse of liberal to their small allies, as Belgium and Servia
had already found, and Rumania was about to find to her cost--there was
another point Greek statesmen and strategists had to weigh very carefully
before committing themselves: would Rumania co-ordinate her military
action with theirs? Unless she were inclined and able to divert enough
forces from the Austro-Hungarian to the Bulgarian frontier, her entry
into the War could not be of any help to them. So, after nine days'
correspondence, we find M. Zaimis still writing: "When the English answer
arrives, the Royal Government will take account of it in the examination
in which it will engage before taking a definite decision--a decision
which will be subordinated to its military preparations and to the course
of war operations in the East." [5]

Directly afterwards (11 Sept.) M. Zaimis resigned "for reasons of
health