The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1915. KING CONTANTINE'S QUANDARY.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 December 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1915. KING CONTANTINE'S QUANDARY.

The interview given liy King Constantine to the correspondent of the American Associated Press shows up, the Creek monarch in a light which he evidently did not intend. The dominant note of the whole statement is fear. 11 is a pitiable spectacle when a sovereign is so placed that whichever way lie (urns he is face lo face with the danger of falling into Soylla while trying lo avoid the perils of Charyhdis. At one moment, the King blatantly asserts his supremacy, even over (he will of ihe people, while at another he is ■ making the flimsiest excuses fur his attitude. fie jnofrssos friendship for the Allies, and especially Britain, but asserts that he will neither be forced nor cajoled out of neutrality. The fear of the Teutons is ever before him, while he dreads to Anticipate what may happen if ho falls

I'oul of the Allies. lie prates of gratitude Id awl sympathy with the Entente Powers, hul in the same breath taunts them with having delayed too long their campaign to assist Serbia, conveniently ignoring the. (act. that lie alone was responsible lor the delay by preventing his I'rhne Minister (M. Venizelos) carrying nut the only policy that was expected of (ireeei—active, intervention. King Constantino has proved himself an adept in the art of quibbling and proimsiiimting—also in duplicity. He may have been, and probably was, acting under Herman instructions, especially is this evidenced by his refusal to withdraw his troops from Salonika and the. Creek frontiers. His reason for that refusal -that it would leave the population unprotected against the Bulgarian coinitadjis, and that they would experience all the horrors of the Belgian devastation in the event of the Allies being driven back—is a worthy specimen of special pleading that should commend itself to his Bulgarian and Herman friends. The very fact that the statement implies that liulgaria and Germany would deal out to Greece all the horrors committed in Belgium should, if the King is sincere in what he says, have impelled him in the first nstance to have 'attached himself to the Allies, whom lie knows very well lie can trust to se« Greece through her difficulties. All his subterfuges will not avail to explain asvay his manifest leaning towards Germany, and he ostentatiously asserts that Germany has promised to respect the integrity of Greek territory. Has lie so soon forgotten that OV-rmany was under a similar pledge to Belgium? Does he justify the observance of that undertaking, for only such a period as suited Germany's purpose? He must know that there is no reliance to be placed in German promises, and yet he is ready to lick the hand of the fiend who would not hesitate to grind his nation to powder if Greece stood in the way of the carrying out of the Kaiser's programme. Tt is in this fact that the crux of the position is lo be found. King Conatantine is more afraid of the Herman eagle than uf the British lion—si> much afraid that it has caused him to ignore that Greece was pledged to help the Serbians and has left them to their fate, while the Allies, who were not so pledged, but. have merely the interests of the smaller nations at heart, are doing the work that Greece should have done and gone to the assistance of Serbia. One fact is perfectly clear, and that is the Allies must now no longer place any reliance in King Constuntine. They must go forward and do and dare in spite of the Greek sovereign. It will mean more men and a larger expenditure of money, hut at all costs Germany's Balkan designs must be thwarted, and her bribery and corruption checkmated. Unfortunately for Greece, King Conatantine has a very restricted perspective, otherwise he would be enabled to sec further ahead than his immediate surroundings. The Allies now know how lliey stand with regard to Greece, and tliey will, doubtless, act accordingly. It is certainly hard on Serbia, but her day will come.