ATTITUDE OF GREECE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16178, 15 March 1916, Page 8

ATTITUDE OF GREECE.

CONSJANTINE'S statement, NOTwpRAID Of Bulgaria. .The Athens correspondent of the Berlin newspaper Lokal-Anzeiger has been accorded ■~. an -. interview by the King of Greece,.who is quoted as having declared: ; "Ifam quite free; no personal interest binds me. ,I.only desire the welfare of my people. ,1 am of opinion that Greece must remain neutral. Were our homes and our liberty menaced, then we should call our men up. It has been, said that we are afraid of the Bulgarians, but that is not . true.''•? If they should threaten our interests I should not hesitate to resist them, but to me ,it seems "that such is not. the case at present I. do not know whether the problems of the Balkans will be solved by the. European war. "Nobody can foresee whether new and bloody wars will or will not arise here before a solution is reached of the difficult and complicated {roblems of nationality.: I. hope this may ex.prevented. Our intervention in this world-war would be no mere Balkan question,, but intervention in a . worldconflict,; whereas we have interests in the Balkans only. As a small, free,. but also historic nation, Greece has the right to . have great national dreams. . and ideals, but one's policy in a: difficult moment should i not be based on dreams." . The King. went, on to deny that he had acted contrary to the Constitution. ■; ■' ■ -• '.' I do not suffer myself," he said, "to be led by sympathies or. antipathies or. other feelings of that kind,. I have only my duty—the interests of my people—to take, to heart/ TJp to the present Germany and .Austria have acted correctly towards Greece. . I do not desire .war. ■ ; I want to reinforce my array, and I hope that at the conclusion of the war the army will be strong and completely fresh. This is of the greatest importance to' my country, because, it will then be a more important factor during the conclusion of peace." ■-■'. . ' ■""'