im with the Grand Cross of the Bath.[4] Whether
his conduct entitled him to a decoration, his character should
certainly have saved him from disgrace; for of all the men engaged in
these transactions, he seems to have been the most respectable. No
impartial reader of his book can fail to see that he blundered because
he moved in the dark: it was never explained to him what political
designs lay beneath the pretended military necessities; and the
constant incongruity between the avowed aims of his employers and the
steps dictated by his instructions tended to bewilder a mind devoid of
all aptitude or appetite for diplomacy.

Admiral Dartige gone, the blockade was carried on by his successor,
Admiral Gauchet. The Greeks took it as an accustomed evil. "This
measure," wrote one of their {165} leading journals, "cannot terrify a
population which has faced with serenity and fortitude much greater
dangers. The Hellenic people did not hesitate, when the need arose, to
come into collision with four Great Powers in defence of its
independence and honour. It did so without hate, without perturbation,
but calmly, as one performs an imposed and unavoidable duty. It
deliberately chose to risk annihilation rather than see its fatherland
disarmed and enslaved. It preferred a hopeless struggle to
degradation. To-day it is threatened with the spectre of famine. It
will face that spectre with serenity and fortitude. The menace is
aimed at its stomach: very well, the people will tighten its belt." [5]

At the same time, Paris, London, and Petrograd were vigorously
discussing the demands which were to be enforced by the blockade; but,
owing to the wide divergences of opinion existing between the various
Cabinets, decisions could only be reached by degrees and dealt out by
doses. Not until 14 December did the Entente Governments deliver
themselves of the first-fruit of their travail: Greece was to keep the
arms of which she could not be despoiled, but she should remove them,
as well as her army, from the northern regions bordering on Macedonia.
The Hellenic Government was given twenty-four hours in which to comply;
refusal would constitute an act of hostility, and the Allied Ministers
would forthwith leave Athens.[6]

To show that they were in earnest, the French and British Ministers
embarked on two ships moored at the Piraeus, where they awaited the
Hellenic Government's reply; and, before the time-limit expired, the
French