The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-08
By NOEL VANCE

in Greece before he took any personal part in the affairs of this country. His entry was made at a dramac:c moment. In 1909, a powerful section of the Greek army iebelled against the administra- tion of the crown prince. It was widely claimed-and of the truth of the charge there was little doubt-that the Greek army was in a rotten condition. All though there was a compulsory service law, the troops were never called to the eolors because of the lack of money and although the crown prince had been ap- pointed comma nder-in- chief with the un- derstandng that foreign officers were to be called in to put the army on a fight ing basis none of these experts had put in an appearance.
 That was the situation when General Zorbas, at the head of what became known as the Military League" de- handed not only the dismissal of the crown prince. but his temporary banish- ment from the country So strong be- came this movement that King George found it expedient to give way to it's de- mands, sent the crown prince and his German wife on a holiday accepted the resignation of NJ Theotokis, the then prime minister and entrusted the govern ment to the ruthless hands of General Zorbas and his friends.
 It was at this moment that Venezelos appeared on the scene to direct the new movement. Zorbas asked him to come to Athens and act as advisor of the Military League, and Venezelos imme- diately became the biggest figure in Greece. With what adroitness he man aged the whole affair subsequent devel- opments demonstrate. When he first ar rived here, he was probably the most unpopular man in the country. looked upon by the general people as an inter loper. by the crown prince as his ban isher by the king grave danger to his crown. Today the Military League is no more, the crown prince is again lead ing the Grecian army in glorious cam paign, the king is happy in the possession of one of the cleverest, if not the clever est, prime minister in Europe. and NJ. Venezelos runs the whole Grecian gov. ernment almost single handed-the real uncrowned king of the country.
 All these miracles were worked in the short space of three years. For. al- though Nenezelos was the brains behind the several prime ministers who ran the government under the direction of the Military league, 1t was not until No- vember. 1909, that he took office as prime minister himself Then he attempted re- forms that met with the utmost opposi- ton. He was widely denounced as q traitor and anthematized by the clergy At the end of four days he resigned. In the following month he had his revenge for when the elections were over 1t wes found that he had been returned to power by an overwhelmins majority
 His appointment seemed to act like magic upon the moribund public affairs of Greece. A terrific worker he insist ed upon filling three of the cabinet po- sitions himself-that of minister of war minister of marine and president of the council. It was exactly as if, in addi- ton to being president. Woodrow Wilson should insist upon filling the posts of secretary of war and secretary of the navy at the same time. It was in the administration of the army and the navy of Greece, however, that the chief weak ness lay and it is typical of venezelos that he should have tackled them him. self
 In two years a wonderful change had been worked. He cleaned the civil serv- ice, stamped out corruption in almost every public department, made politics d high and honorable callng-a duty to king and country instead of a mere business of dollars and cents-and. by his support. rendered it possible to put the army and the navy in the high state of efficiency and readiness that enabled it to defeat the Turks with the regular ity and ease that marked the recent struggle. To accomplish this feat-to make an effective fighting force out of