GREECE AND BRITAIN

Taihape Daily Times, 15 February 1918, Page 7

GREECE AND BRITAIN

The Greek estimate or the xJritisn Empire was reconi:y expounded by M. Venizelos in a speech ai Loiiadn, hi which he showed mat the ii*uenic "neutrality" was due solely to the pro-German sympathies of the deposed King "I ask the people of this great country not to judge the Greek nation as responsible for the personal policy of the dethroned King, nor to consider the violation of the treaty with Scrvia as reflecting upon, us,' he said, "I can assure you that during that protracted and painful crisis the great majority of the Greek people never approved of that treacherous policy. The good opinion of your great Empire is a precious asset for the Greek people. All the great statesmen worthy of that name have been unanimous in their belief that the edifice which has been reared by the genius of the British people, the British Empire, is the grandest political creation in the life of man. It is an edifice which, while holding the mastery of the seas, not only has never abused that power for selfish ends, but has brought security and has spread civilisation to the farthest ends of the earth, has developed the means of communication, has multiplied the value of the lands this opened up, and has dealt fairly with its own competitors —so fairly as to leave that policy open to doubt and to the criticism of many an English I economist. It is only by such a complete victory a victory that will abolish ibfutal force and will establish justice, that real peace can be secured —a peace that must not be a mere truce, during which the world would continue to be crushed with military expenditure, -and after a few years find itself, out of breath, faced with the horrors of a fresh war; but a peace that will establish the community of nations, and will create a new world, a better world than that in which the will of a single man was sufficient to plunge humanity into this unprecedented catastrophe. Towards the new edifice which has thus to be raised. Greece can contribute but a few minor blocks of stone. Yet she will be proud to know that, in the midst of dire difficulties and in spite of the disastrous consequences of the absolutism of her King, she remained to the end faithful to her and to accept the dogma of 'scraps of paper/ "