The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-13
FINDS VENIzELOS
 MOST PRACTICAL
 AS A STATESMAN
Allen Upward Describes Visit to Notable in
 Island of Crete.

harbor of Canea (Crete), says Allen Upward in the London Daily Mail. A launch came off from the Custom House, draped with Greek flags, and my friends told me that M. Venizelos had sent it to bring me ashore to visit him.
 At that time president of the island government, M. Venizelos had just ac- cepted the offer of the Premiership of the Hellenic kingdom, and stood forth in all mems eyes as the strong man. whom Greece had been looking for so long. Strength, frankness' and simplicity, qualities rare among poli- ticians, rarest of all among the poli- ticians of the south, how did these characteristics come together in a na- tive of that isle of whose inhabitants St. Paul has left such unfavorable testimony?
 The presidents messenger conduct ed me to a modest bungalow just above the town of Canea. No sen- try guarded the approach. The door was opened by a woman servant Tn all likelihood she formed the whole domestic establishment. She led me across the barest of halls into the the Premier-e1ect lying alone, suffer- ing from mild attack of fever, but quite we'll enough to talk.
 More Like an Italian
 A sallow faced, dark haired man of middle age, what struck me at once in the Greek leader was the unlikeness of his features to the Greek Model-if I may except the eyes. He seemed to me what his name suggests he should be, an Italian from the sober north of Italy descended from those Venetians who once held the isle of Crete in fee. The clue to his statesmanship must be sought, I think, in the life of the Italian Cavour.
 No Mazzini is this, no fiery dema- gogue, nor republican, but a state builder, viewing his materials and his opportunities with cool sagacity, and ever judging we'll when the hour is ripe. To quarrel with such a servant the Greek dynasty must have been driven mad by their gods.
 Greece and Bulgaria
 think our conversation must have been in French, because M. Venizelos informed me that he could only read English and had read my book on the Balkans, "The East End of Europe" {" He saw in me, no doubt, representa- tive, however, unofficial. of English public opinion, for which he has al- ways cherished a high respect. In fact he conveyed to me that he wish ed to be taken seriously according to English standards and not to be con- founded with that class of Greek poli- ticians who mistake their vain schemes for practical politics. He put it. as nearly as can recollect, in words like these: & "You won't find me, like so many of the Greeks, taking extravagant views and expecting to achieve the im- ipossible. I am practical man, and look at things as they are. I know that Greece is small and weak country, not so strong as Bulgaria, and I am quite ready to bargain with the Bulgarians on reasonable terms" "
 A former Prime Minister of Greece, Tricoupis, had demanded all Mace donia and Thrace and half of Bulgaria itself as. the rightful portion of Greece. M venizelos' expressed his willingness to concede most of the Bulgarian claims and to. content hfm- self with even less than Greece has since obtained. He proposed that should go to Sofia and privately sound half as to their willingness to nego- tiate an alliance on such lines. My personal distrust of the Bulgarians hn ic- sion.
 In making the proposal M. Venizelos no doubt calculated that his overtures would be received with more respect if they appeared to be endorsed by an English publicist. In this, as in many of his public actions since, the Greek CaVour has shown his disposition to lean on the support of the Liberal Western Powers. He could see clearly enough that the Central Powers aimed at the suzerainty of the Balkan Pen insula and that their chosen topls were Turkey and Bulgaria. It is this which has brought him into most un- welcome conflict with King Constan- tine. The conflict is unwelcomed because M. Venizelos-has no desire to play the part or CapO Q lSlrla. lie could only become a President of a Greek Republic at the expense of that poli- tical stability which Greece so sorely needs and of which the Throne is a guarantee. In effect the King of Greece is there as Consul General of the protecting powers, Russia, France and England, who have actually been paying him a salary of f12,000 a year. The whole wisdom of Greek ruler should consist in developing that bond and relying on it. AS the mandatory of the three Powers Greece might well have hoped to step into the seat of Turkey and become custodian of the keys of the Leva1t.
 From that prospect King Constan- tine has wilfully cut himself off under the influence of a strictly personal ambition to play the part of an auto- crat instead of a constitutional king. For the sake of the country the indi- vidual must go, whether he be re- placed by his son or by a different dynasty. The decision can be in no better hands than those of the patrio- tic statesman who has so well deserv- ed the confidence of his own country men and of the civil;-ed world