THE ABDICATION.

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 June 1917, Page 6

THE ABDICATION.

: ■. • ■ A TROUBLOUS iTEIGN. CONSTANTINE OF GREECE. • After a troublous reign of just over four years—he succeeded to the crown on the assassination' of his. father on March 18, 1913—Constantine the Twelfth, King of Greece, has abdicated in favor of his. second son, Prince Alexander, who i 8 barely 24 years of age, DEPOSED ONCE BEFORE. This isi the second time on which Constantine lias been deprived of power. In 1909 the military forces of Greece set aside the constitutional government, for which they substituted a, Military League. The- Military Leaguers declared that their agitation was not aaiti-dynastic, but they insisted that the tenure of military command!) by the royal princes, was fatal to'the best interests of the army. Crown Prince Constantine. and Prince Nicholas were placed upon the retired list, and Prince Christopher and Prince George were given prolonged leave to enable them to pursue their studies in Germany, hx truth, Constantine could scarcely have earned a good military .reputation. In 1897,. when Greece'want only made war upon Turkey, the Greek army, then under Constantino's command, was soundly thrashed by the Turks, and it was only the intervention of 'the Tsar, which wwed Athens from the victorious Turks. However, . Constant hie managed to get back into military power. Later in the year 1909 the junior officers of the navy tried to get rid of their senior officers in the same wnv as the army had got rid of the royal princes..But'the Military League and the junior naval officers quarrelled, Hie military despotism overreached itself, and at length M. Veni. zclos persuaded (he Military League to dissolve and permit the re-estab-lishment of constitutional government. So Constantine came back into place, and it was an army under his command which occupied Salonika in the first Balkan war, in 1912-13. But in the second Balkan, war Constantino's military reputation was again saved from .Wreckage b v the intervention of an outside Power. He had forced, the Bulgarians to retire to the Rhodope mountains, but they counter-attacked and enveloped both wings of his army. It was.the intervention of the Roumanians which, compelling ffuj Bulgars to seek an armistice, saved CongtantWn army from discomfiture. One wonder*h<>w much gratitude Con. stantine has felt towards Russia and ltoumania! THE GREEK DYNASTY. The present Greek dynasty was established by Cheat Britain, France, and Rusuia. It was George Camvng, British Foreign Minister, who, 90 vears ago, induced France and Russia to join Great Britain in freeing the Greeks, then lighting fruitlessly for independence. The Allied Fleet destroyed the Egyptian Fleet at Navorino'in 18:52, and Greece became a political entity under the protection of the three Allies, who; among other things, agreed to assist Greece financially and to contribute toward the maintenance of a Sovereign in suitable state. One of the terms of the agreement was that whatever ruler was chosen should not be a member of the British, French, or Russian royal families 1 . The first king way Otto, a son of King Louis I. of Bavaria. But he \ya s deposed by a national assembly, following a, military revolt in 180:2. Then a, plebiscite of the Greeks elected the Duke of Edinburgh. Sanction to that was refused by the British Government, as it was contrary to-the agree, ment with France and Russia. Then the Greeks offered the throne to the Karl <>f Derby, grandfather of the present Earl, but he declined it. The British Government suggested the Danish" Prince William George of Schleswig-Holstein-Londerburg-Gluchs-burg, and Greece accepted him. This new sovereign, George 1., was Constantine's father. REPUDIATING A TREATY. The history of Greece during Hie reigns of George and Constantine has not hhown a notable degree of gratitude to the protecting Powers, nor any great degree of national honor in the doings of the two kings- For instance, in 1593 Greece defaulted in her national obligations. Passing over subsequent occurrences, one oomes to the repudiation of the treaty with Serbia, At the close of the second Balkan war, Greece and Serbia, expecting that Bulgaria, would seek revenge sooner or later, had entered into a secret treaty providing that each would assist the other. When Serbia, now an ally of Great Britain, France, and Russia, was attacked in the rear> by Bulgaria, while she herself was confronting Austria-Hungary, she called on Greece to fulfil the terms of the treaty. The Yenizelos Government, then in power, stated to the three guaranteefng Powers that Greece desired to assist Srbia, but her resources were insufficient to make intervention effective. If Britain and France would assist her with, 150,000' men, Greece would take 'the field against Bulgaria.. Britain and France agreed to this, and the first instalment of French troops was landed at Salonika. But Constantine, playing the game of his brother-in-law, Kaiser WUhelm, decide.d that in- the circumstances of a general European war Greece was not bound by the treaty with Serbia, and he dismissed Yenizelos. Since then, Constantine has reigned as an absolute monarch. Everyone, of course, is familiar with the course of events from the dismissal of Yenizelos until n. few months ago. But latterly there has hem a dearth of "inside" information about Grecian affairs, and it is difficult to estimate exactly what }v»si brought about the abdication of' Constantine. ' ,