ESTABLISHED 1860. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 1916. VENEZELOS, THE GREEK PATRIOT-STATESMAN.

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 1, 3 January 1916, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1860. The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 1916. VENEZELOS, THE GREEK PATRIOT-STATESMAN.

W,hen the history of the Avar' conies to be ■.written.-'the aiamo of Venezelos will be prominent amongat the men who have played parts i n th c state'cradEt and diplomatic strategy which :liiave; been so important a feature' of, the great struggle. Outside that, comparatively small section of news^;p;;.l'i>r a-eaders which, before the war, foi owed Continental politics with Special' attention, the now famous patriot and statesman was but Jlifctle ;khdwn to the British public. .Even ttb*day, despite the prominence vrtf ifhe -role played by Venezelos in the H<juitiou,4}y 'baffling drama, which is still 'being ipls^efi ■on the Athenian stage, xlhe imajouity of people are, still in ignorance of his past careei\ This being , so, a '.1 ittle bibgraph y b f My Venezelos which haw recently been, written by Dr Jyerofilas, a compatriot of the ex-Premier of Greece, is specially welcome at the present time. The biographer, whose work is prefaced b^y an introduction from the pen of the Roumanian statesman, My.Take Joneseu, vvho*i.s well known ak ;jv ."warm supporter of Roumanian /tHter^imtioli" • oil 'thp ' side or the Entente-,-., tells us that during the ten years" 1896-1906 Venesieios, who'is a native of the island of Crete,' was practically the 'soul ■ and most energetic head of the struggle of his fellow-countrymen for freedom from the 'Turkish despotism and tyranny from-which-.'tlie Cretans Buffered, and tv warm :advot'a.te;c of; ivmon with „Greece. In turn negotiator, insilrgent, and administrator, Venezelos won ', the oonfidemie riot only of ( his bellow islanders, but o* the Consular representatives of the Powers. When, after the Greek military revolution of J909, the army leaders at Athens at 'that' time objecting to.•.■royal interfereneej • Venezelbs was. .called '-to Athens to save the situation,, he i-jsked'his popularity by offering steadfast opposition to the ' demands of the crowd-—indeed, it was the revolutionary who became, the prop of the dynasty, much, so it is said, to the astonishment of the dynasty itself. If, says the Times critic of' Di Kero-1 filas's book, ■, King Constantine rules iii Greece to-day, he owes his throne, sis his father did-'before.-him;'"to'.the' straightforward patriotism of Venezelos. ■ 'Hie '•' very iirmy .with which King Oohstantine, as Crown Prince, won bis victories in . the first and second Balkan wars was, so it is well to remember, reorganised by French officers at th© instance of Venezelos, and,'.the'.' new .'.frontiers.' secured .by Greece under the Treaty of Buelmrest are t'?<)se for which 'Venezselos sucoess- • ully :;fought in the- Roumanian rja.pital: From the .sorry Balkan peace conferences m London, Vene- . a>elos was, says Che Times reviewer, the one man who emerged with enhanced reputation. As the conference proceeded the arrogant and bombastic Bulgarian delegate, M. Daneff, who semed at first to bestride the Balkan world1 like a Colossus, subsided into discredited insignificance, while the patient and OQi>rteoii& Veliezelos, with his imperturbable calm and enigmatic smile, gradually .'fcequired the prominence which Daneff had lost. M. Take Joneseu .records the answer given him when lie asked M. Venezelos,for the secret of his success: "T have always' told my. fellow-countrymen the truth and-' the whole truth; and I have always been quite prepared to lay down my power without' regret." As our readers know, Venezelos haw taken up , a strongly anti-German' attitude over sine© the possibility of Greece being involved in the wai* first came into prominence. It would .-ortainly seem that the Greek patriot has been treated with singular inI •rratitude by the monarch to whom, in 1909, he rendered such disinI twented and valuable assistance; but the Queen of the Hellenes is reputed to be of a very dominating per--fonality, and the unsatisfactory, not to say treacherous, behavior of Greece towards her old ally; Serbia, may probably'be correctly put down to her influence over n king who is, on his own admission, far move of a. soldier than p. political .strategist. Be this ;js it lnoy, the influence, of V<;nezelos, V'hich. immediately after the last general elections in Greece, seemed I'lostined to be paramount in Athens, ''aded away iri a manner almost incxplina<)le. to tho outside world. Tlift lavish, distribution of German gold nip.y no doubt httve been a contribuiiiiii'; influence in the strange reversal vhicli the ex-Premier, encounttfred in ihe mv.v I'arliairient; but Court intrigues' no donbt hastened «ji the patriot-statesman's resignation. For Hi<> tinio beimj VcJie^olos is in the

background of Greek politics.i , It would i)e unwise, however, to regard bi'm .as a spent force—indeed, it is quite likely that it we could only have some "inside track" information as to the .cxaot canses of the Greek King and Government giving way before some at least of the demands of the, Allies it would be found that S renezelos has played no unimportant r>art .in /nrcmnventing the 'unscrupulous' plans of the pru-Germa n party.' TltQ day may yet come, and come more1 speedily than, has been thought, when Y Tenezelos will once more be. a dominant controlling ■ force in the direction of Greece's foreign volicy. Needle&s to feivy-. the advent of that day would be very welcome to flrofib Kiitaiii and her Allies.