THE GREEK ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16265, 26 June 1916, Page 4

THE GREEK ELECTIONS.

I The German suggestion that King Constantine may use the Army to defeat the decision of the Greek j electors is entirely in conformity ! with the political ideas impressed I upon the German people by the Prussian system. The claim of the Kaiser that he rules by divine right, I and his notorious declaration that | at his command soldiers must shoot their fathers and their brothers, expose the vital difference between German " Kultur" and western democracy. The Kaiser's brother-in-law has already done his best to govern, on German lines, the kingdom which he is pledged to govern constitutionally. He is being foiled by the inability of the Central 'Powers to give him that military support upon which he counted, and by the antagonism of the majority of the Greeks to German methods. The recognition by Hellenic proGermans that a free election will be fatal to their hopes is the most striking comment possible upon tlbeir policy. Whether Germany would be less dangerous to civilisation under a democratic constitution than under the Hohenzollern tyranny is an open question, but it is certain that no other race or nation would voluntarily submit to the rule of Berlin. As for a coup d'etat by King Constantine, should the elections give M. Venizelos a majority, as is extremely probable, it is indicative of the ignorance in Germany of the course of events that this should be considered possible.