The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1922. THE EASTERN CRISIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 230, 28 September 1922, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1922. THE EASTERN CRISIS.

for the caute thai lacks aesitiance For Mc wrong thai -,eedi rcsislance, tOT th<. futuri in the dijrocioe, Ard the good thai we omi do.

Tho must interesting of fresh developments in the Near Kasi i= the abdication of the King of (.reeve. I his has naturally followed as v logical coiidc<]uenve on the failure of UreeceV "great adventure" in Asia Minor. It must not be formation tliat, up to a certain point, tho military operations which lonstan-! tino undertook there met with .the full approval of tiw Allies. By the treaty of Sevres, .Smyrna, with itH hinterland, was aJlotte.d to Oreece, and after the treaty was signed the Allies notified (Greece tliat shu miglit ttikv poesesaiim of the territory which now boi»ntfe<l t» her. This constituted a favourable opening for Oonstantine, whose hold on the throne was very insecure, because of the strong hostility of tho VenizelUUt, and the very dubious policy which the King had followed during the war. Constantim- seized eageriy at the chance of winning popular favour an<l t-onfirin-ing hLs, power by waging a successful war against the Turk, and at first evenythinji seemed to prosper for him. Then, elated 'by his victories, carried off his feet by popular plaudits, and inspired by a natural ambition to restore the ancient g-lnrios of (irpet-e, Constantine adopted the triumphant tone of a conqueror and the militarist** at Athens began to talk a-; if Coiutantinople «ere already in tlieir grasp. This arrogant self-«iti(idence n< the natural prelude to a crushing; defeat; and a.~ I'onstantine's temporary popularity was based chiefly on his aggressive programme, the Midden and complete collapse of the Greek forces in Asia Minor has been the ■signal for a reaction of public se.ntiment against him and has prepared the way for his fall. Few peop-Ie outside fireece will regret the disappearance of Constantine from the scene. The fact that, influenced by hie Hohenzollern wife and by his personal friendship for the Kaiser, ho was definitely pro-Uernian during tiie war : could hardly be counted against him. .-o long as he wiw working only in thw interests of bis own country and re--: niainnd faithful to the pledgee that he had given the Allies. Hut, quite apart from his desertion of Serbia, his policy at the most rriticsil stage of the war was so shifty and tortuous that it completely destroyed the confidence of the Allies, and seriously compromised their position in the Xear Ra-st. All this, coupled with the dismissal of Venizelos, the great statesman who has always been loyal to the Allies and true to the best interests of Greece, has naturally prevented the Allies from sympathising with (onstantiue and his people in their far-reaching schemes of territorial aggrandisement. further, it iiua been largely instrumental in preventing France, and to some extent Britain, from bringing any adequate pressure to bear upon the Turk- s O as to compel them to observe the Treaty ~f Sevres. " As a consequence we may expect to find that the Allies, when once Constantine is out of tl>e way. will he inclined to take the. demands and the interests of fJrecce more seriously than before, and will be prepared to insist that adequate justice shall be done to her claims in the final settlement with the Turk. Considering Constantino's antecedents, nnd his discreditable rcoircl during the war, it may be fairly said that the Allies erred on the side of generosity in permitting him to resume the Crown. If, like the Kaiser or the Emperor Karl, he had been deliberately excluded from the throne, he would have had only himself to blame; and now that he is gone a dangerous and incalculable factor has been eliminated from the problem of the Near Bast, and the whole situation is much simpler and less precariou-s than before.