The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1909. THE TROUBLE IN GREECE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 653, 2 November 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1909. THE TROUBLE IN GREECE.

The causes and ilia' events' leading up to the extra,ordinary little rebellion ,in Grecca, : are much easier to,'understand than the. origins'of. tho'' recent •,military revolutions in , Persia ; and. Turkey,, the success of which Of course ■ encouraged'the Greek Army to mako .its bid for power! Towards tho end of August the leaders, of the Greek/AVmy,. who had established' a " Military League," requested the Premier, M; 'Raliji, to receive a deputation which would urge the, re-organisation of ;tho Army and Navy. . The refusal of'the Premier to receive the deputation was followed by the withdrawal of the troops from Athens and the . Government resigned.- The' new Premier, M. M,vvitoMiCHAEtIs, is in effect tho servant of the League, and under his leadership the Leaguohas obtained most of its desirds. There has long been intense dissatisfaction), amongst the officers of the Army and Navy, at' the i starving ;of tho defences. Thoy particularly resent the conservation of tho high commands and the chief powero;! patron ago for the benefit of ;the Priijees^and,their friends j but they are also indirectly; fighting the battle of those who; rebel against the. corrupt and extravagant administration- of their country's affairs, .. The, I basis of. their, ; demands amounted -to the abolition of royal 1 inflneneq, in i the. Army and. Navy,. accompanied by a forward naval and military programme. . The League successful iii its ifloifqmcnt against the royal domination,; fpi" the King, although deeply affected by the urgency of the feeling against'the Crown Princo, advised tilt withdrawal iof the Princes' from theix posts.' Manifestly the masters of the situation, tho officers were nevertheless emaro regarded, as having beer quite ,sincere'; in''. tjieir , declarationthai thojr motives were noi: anti-dynastic,'' The . extraordinary led',.bj JjiBDTENAOT.';TYpALDqs. appears, ;to, act off a -.law oxtromiijts:: nobody,, appar ently,' not even tho Government, or ,tht Military Leaguo r has any sympathy witf this attempt to obtain/control of the situ. .ation. l One need not bo a Greek to under stand - howi this rash; .officer'- could 'havt ventured upon an obviously hopeless ad venture., : -fThp . flag of " nationalism' wili always inspire some men to madness: even in Australasia wc have had som< evidences of that. In the caso of Lieu tenant- Txpaldos, the particular incite ment was an exaggerated form of- thi Military Leagued desire that Greec< should have a Navy and Army strong onough to preserve tho country fron humiliation at the hands of'Tiirkey. \Y< have- said . that nationalism'', may, sweej oven, a hard-headed Australasian inti folly; the Greek is a far more susceptibh subject. The Spectator'had a good sum mary of tho Greek : character last month which will mako the personal royolutioi that has just been quolled very easily in tplligibje: We.are sincerely ansious not to seo Qrecc ruined by her: national defects of fligbtines and want of.-deliberation. Ini business, th, Greek Ims a remarkable coolness aiid lnngbead cduess. .... Hut thi.i sanity docs rioc 'eve tingo-political; discussion, and the cohq'iics of other . peoples is spoken of;ns though, lik tho famous, killjpg of lCruger, it could b I done with the; mouth.' Tho glorious assq'cia . tions of the Hellenic name are iri'oiie ,\va; -a snare, bcr.auiio tho- modern Greek-' assume that be must bo the worthy descendant of hi reputed ancestors, and that a continuity o splendid' achievement • has . only to .bo deaire* I to be; realised.'. A few years ago when then were riots in .Athens owing to the printini of a Biblo, at Queen's' order, in the ver nacular, the ernlanation was that'the pridi ; of the Greeks, in .their derivation was injured they could riot- tolerate the admission tha there, were Greets with any education whi did not. understand; a form of the langung which is, a strong link with the great pas l For tho, same, reason the Greeks , revel in th, ftneiont elassjcal,"names;:an Athenian; citizei who calls his boy Leonidas sees him,, in, x-isioi folding to the death zone.new Thermopylae. • " The one satisfactory featuro of a ver; troublesome position seems to be the sc 1 purity of the King in the general accept (race of the dynasty. His Majesty ha ' been a good friend of his adopted coun try.j his on the throno is a ; guarantee of European goodwill toward Greece.. The sucoessfnl issue' of, the de mand for the resignation of the Prince; from their commands is certainly-in i measure humiliating, but it is a humilia tion tha,t can- easily be healed., Th( troubles of Greece will begin when foi political corruption' there .is. substitutec purity and military provocatiyenes3. Fo a stronger; Greek army, would not neces ; sarily mean,a stronger Greece—but pvob ably a rasher Greece. It is possible tha iu the success of the 'Military . Leagui are the seeds of Greece's ruin, and of th > ultimate disappearance of one. of, the las - links of modern time with the grea,tos and best legends of the past. For it i 1, evil when in a country with a cdnstitu tional Government' tho military force appear as, ,tho destroyers l of tho estab lished order.