The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-09-01

The reign of Constantine /. as king OF
the Hellenes was brief, dating only from
March IS, 1918, when his father, George
l., was assassinated in Saloniki.
Born on Aug. 8, 1868, he was educated
largely by private tutors from Leipsie,
which was said to have stamped upon
him a permanent German influence. His
military education was furthered by at
tendance at maneuvers in Germany. He
became brother-i -in-l law of the German
emperor by marrying the latter's sister,
Princess Sophia, in 1889.
His alleged pro-German leanings, thus
indicated, were not always popular with
his people, and strong party antagon-
istic to his desire to have Greece preserve
neutrality and in favor of joining the al
lies, precipitated a cabinet crisis which
was weathered with difficulty.
When Constantine came to the throne
it was said he aimed to restore the for
rner grandeur of the ancient Hellenic
empire, and that he was believer in the
old national prophecy that under the
reign of a Constantine and Sophia the
eastern empire would be called into life
again and the cross restored on st. So
phia at Constantinople in place of the
crescent.
BY the peace treaties signed after the
Balkan wars, Greece added consider
able stretch OF Turkish territory to her
domain and in December 1913, the long
desired annexation of the islands of Crete
was carried out, King Constantine him
self hosting the Hellenic flag over the
fort.
With the entrance of Turkey into the
European war the question of the inter
vention of Greece soon became to be Sc
riously considered but King Constantine
insisted upon strict neutrality. The cab
met. headed by Premier Venizelos, which
was for war on the side of the allies,
finally tended its resignation. The Greek
attitude, at least so far as the war party
was concerned, was largely to the effect
that If Greece had no hand in the war.
her interests might suffer when peace
was arranged.
The Athens correspondent of the Lon |
don Morning Post on March %. 1915, at !
tempted 10 explain the situation in let |
ter in which he said that in the second 1
month of the war the Greek premier had /
intimated to the eftente powers that /
Greece would join their cause actively if /
the necessity should arise, and with the
commencement of the operations against 4
the Dardanelles the government believed /
the time had come for Greece to abandon /
her neutrality. The king, however, re-
fused to eountenance this plan. II was
argued that sending forces to the Darda
nelles would dangerously weaken Greece's
defense on the Bulgarian frontier, and
since Greece had received no formal in
vitation from the triple entente her en-
trance into the war would be undertaken
without sny guarantee from the powers
as to the Greek position on the main
land.
The kings refusal to consent 20 the
war policy said The Post correspond
ent, "was undoubtedly actuated in all
good faith by patriotic consideration Of
the military difficulties. Unfortunately,
his entoursge Is known to hold strong !
pro-Gernan sentiment. The principal Of
fcers Of the general staff are pupils of
the Berlin KrisEsskademie. and are frm- ]
" convinced that Germany must ulti-
na.ely win this var, This, and not fear