GREEK EXECUTIONS

Evening Star, Issue 18139, 1 December 1922, Page 4

GREEK EXECUTIONS

LAST MOMENTS. HOW THE VICTIMS DIED. Pnm Association- -'By Telegraph—Copyright ATHENS, November 30. (Received December 1, at 9.15 a.m.) All the victims were shot against tho wall of the civil hospital near the Royal Palace and tho foreign legations, M. Gounaris was carried from his bod in the hospital to a motor car. He was hardly able to breathe when ha was lifted from the car and propped against the wall by the executioners. Hb died with, his hands in his overcoat pockets and -a smile on his worn, won face. Tho other Ministers were led l from tho ecllsj where they had received the Communion, and were forced to wakh the final humiliation of General Hadjanestis. Tears relied down the general’s face as ho was degraded. M. Baltadzi (late Foreign Minister), tho dandy of tho party, who was a ’bon viveur and was fond of the gambling table, adjusted his monocle as he faced the firing party of thirty. The near relatives were allowed to take farewell of the ex-Ministers in the prison. They then went to the cemetery to await tho bodies, which were carried there by parties of soldiers. Semi-official explanations absolve General Gonatas and the new Government from all responsibility for the executions. They assert that they were carried out by virtue of a revolutionary decree countersigned by Colonel Pllastyras.—A. and N.Z. Cable. FEELING IN ITALY. ROME, November 50. (Received December 1, a.t 9.50 a.m.) TTio newspapers are unanimous in _ condemning tho Greek executions. Signor Tittoni and Signor Revel. (Minister of Marine) in the Senate condemned the executions, and were vigorously applauded.— A. and N.Z. Cable. DISCUSSED IN HOUSE OF COMMONS LONDON. November 50, _ Captain Wedgwood Benn (Liberal), in tho House of Commons, drew attention to tho Greek ex-Ministers’ statement that they were encouraged by the Foreign Secretary and other British Ministers. He asked Mr Bonar Law to table the relevant correspondence. Mr Bonar Law said he would consider the request. Mr Noel Buxton drew attention to tho report that M. Gounaris was dissuaded by members of tho British Government from withdrawing the armies in Asia Minor before the Greek defeat. Ho asked tho Prime Minister to clear 'the late Government of this grave charge. Mr Bonar Law said ho knew nothing of such a report. Lord Robert Cecil asked for precedents for tho -withdrawal of tho British Minister. Mr Bonar Law instanced Serbia. Load Robert Cecil: Serbia was a case of murder, not execution. Mr Bonar Law said he would consider whether there were precedents. It seemed to him that the justification for Mr Lindley’s withdrawal was that the executions were not the work of the Government, ■but of the Revolutionary Committee. It was a barbarous atot which the; British Government tried to prevent,—A. and N.Z. Cable. CABINET CONSIDERING POSITION. LONDON, November 29. Cabinet is considering the situation arising out-of the Greek executions. It ia understood that the reason .for Mr Lindley’o journey to Athens is to protest against tiro executions.—A. and N.Z. -Cable. LONDON GREEKS RESENTFUL. LONDON, November 29. Greek commercial and financial circles in London resent Mr Lindley’s withdrawal, which is regarded as a gratuitous interference with Greece’s internal affairs. They argue that but for listening to the British Government’s sympathetic overtures in the first place Greece; 'would not have been in her present humiliating position.—A. and N.Z. Cable. BRITISH MINISTER’S WITHDRAWAL. LONDON, November 30. *R eceived December 1, at 9.10 a.m.) In the House of Commons Mr Bonar Law said that in withdrawing Mr Lindley the Government did not act in concert with tho Allies, but it had dealt with the question on its merits. He thought that the Government had taken the right action.—A. and N.Z. Cable. THE NEW KING, PRISONER IN THE PALACE. ATHENS, November 50. (Received Decoupler 1, at 8.50 a.m.) The new King wanted to leave the country after the executions, but tho Government would not consent, and is keeping him a prisoner in the palace.—A, and N.Z. Cable. , NOT POPULAR. Prince George, Duke of Sparta, who succeeded to tho throne of Greece on tho abdication of his father, is tho eldest of the three sons horn to Constantino and Queen Sophie. He is now in his thirtythird year. Ho is a major in tho Greek array,'as well as a captain in the Greek navy, and has acted as military aide-de-camp to his father. When King Constantino first abdicated in 1917 Prince George went with him into exile, while his younger brother. Prince Alexander, was placed on the throne. When King Alexander died in 1920 the Greek Gvernment invited not the ex-Crown Prince, but his youngest brother, Prince Paul, who waa then in Ins teens, to accept the Crown. Prince Paul was also asked to agree to the exclusion of his father and eldest brother froni the succession. Prince Paul’s rejection of tho invitation was followed shortly afterwards by the restoration of his father. 'The Crown Prince’s good looks and manner rendered him very popular in Greece at the time of the Balkan wars. On the outbreak of the European Wqr both the influence of his family and. tho circumstances of hie education led him to side with tho Germans, and he got tho reputation of being more pro-German than his father, but without having hi® father's brains. Ho, together with his undo, Prince Nicholas, was the leader of the opposition to M. Yenizolos while that statesman was in power, and thus it was „thab ho accompanied his father into exile in 1917.

Since his return to Greece his marriage with Princess Elizabeth of Rumania has been one of the most important events in the Balkans. It took place in February, 1921, at Bucharest, and was the outcome of a pre-war romance which was suspended during the war, when the Greek Diadock did not seem, a cashable son-in-law. It was a current rumor at the time, both in Greece and Rumania, that in’order to obtain the consent of the Sovereigns of Rumania, who rightly viewed with misgiving the attitude of the Entente toward Constantine, the I'gtter personally promised King Ferdinand that immediately after the marriage he would abdicate in favor of his eon, and So Princess Elizabeth would at once become Queen of the Hellenes.

Whether it is true or not that this promise was given anc} broken, it is certain that the relations between the two Courts nave been strained for some time past, and that the Rumanian Court several times advised King Constantine to abdicate. Princess Elizabeth during her residence in Athens has become very popular indeed. Twenty-eight years of age, she is of roglly remarkable beauty, and charms everyone with whom she comes in contact. In March she was smitten by typhoid, which was farther complicated 'by lung trouble.

Her Wo for a long time was despaired of, and her mother and father hastened to Athena to be by her bedside. Tho Greek people, even the most humble,- took an anxious interest in her illness and recovery. But while the Princess was conquering all hearts in Athens her consort, was not equally lucky. While in command of a I'arge section of tho troops in Anatolia ho was popularly accused of having had them massacred without any need and of treating his soldiers in the regular Prussian manner as cannon fodder. This unpopularity culminated at the end of last year, when gt a review of a largo body of troops in .Asia Minor the soldiers are said to have thrown discipline to tho winds and to have received tho Prince with hisses and hostile cries.

The attitude of the army obliged him to leave Asia Minor, and since then, on account of his wife’s illness, lie has taken but little part in politics. He is much distrusted By the Venizelist Party, who consider him a.- weak character dominated by his uncle, Prince Nicholas.