The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-02-18
Tells the Associated Press Of His
Gratitude For Aid and Sym
pathy Given His Stricken
Country BY United States
KING AGED AND BROKEN
BY MONTHS OF CONFLICT
Assured American Peop'e War
Is But Last outburst Of An
cient Spirit Of FeudaIism
Against Modern Love of Liberty
(Asscciated Press by Federal wirelss. 4

NAssSelAtea Fress " FEDERAL Wirelesa.)
n EDEPSoS ISLAND, Euboea,
a February ls.-The war between
the Central Powers and the Allies
is the last effort Of feudalism to break
down the constantly encroaehing ad-
vances of freedom. @
Such was the statement of old King
Peter V, the infirm and almost blind
monarch of ruined Serbia, to a CORE
spondent for The Associated Press here
yesterday. For one thing that the war
has brought him he is thankful, added
the fallen ruler. That one thing is the
better understanding of the American
spirit. To the people of the United
States he sends his warmest thanks for
their help and sympathy for his striek-
eu country in its fight against disease
and death. " 49, 49,,
Aged Monarch III .f." 80 n 4. 3.
although il was a eOnstW { eeIeEt of
his Eill nidne that eaallea Sin ) tax
to the newspaperman, King Peter main
tanned a cheerful attitude throaghout
the interview, which laste,t for more
than an hour, Physically broken, ne is,
by his experiences Of the last two
years, and to all intents and purposes
stone blind, but still bravely facing the
future and declaring that he hopes and
expects to live to see the ultimate vie
tory Of the Allies and the restoration
Of the Serbia he loves to its former
place among the nations. .s.'"
"The Americans have done so much
for me and for my country he said,
that I hardly know where to find the
expressions for the heartfelt gratitude
l feel towards your countrymen. II
seems to me that Americans devined
somehow, for they have been fed with
lies about US, that Serbia 5 fight was
just fight, that we Serbs were and are
animated by the same sacred FIRE that
sent your forefathers out of the homes
they had always known into the wild
erness of a new and rough land, TO
gain the freedom their hearts desired.
Real Reason for War
"And yet, doubt very much if the
American people as a whole know the
real reasons for this war; the underly-
ing reasons, I mean, that are back Of
the economic ones--the state reasons.
the selfish reasons on both sides. 1
wonder if Americans know that this
war is the last futile outbreak Of the
feudalism from which their fathers
fed, and against which their fathers
struggled until they were free9
"Yet, in its last analysis that is just
what this war is. 1t Is the same fight
that Washington and Lincoln fought, the
same battle that sent La Fayette to
America to help the colonies TO battle
for freedom. That battle started along
the line of the River Danube, the d.
viding line between freedom, or the
will for freedom and feudalism, or the
complete, willing submission 10 author
ity, no matter what form that authority
might take. y. T..
Border Land OF Tyrany r1 49,"
"On the Danube feudalism aud the
love for freedom were too esOse. 10
has always been the case that these
two principles can not live in harmony
close to one another. They will cons
fiict, and because of this this war was
inevitable .+
The King, in speaking of the over
running of his country by the TeutOns,
blamed no one, least of all his Allies
or his people.
81 have no reproach for our Allies"
he said. "They came 10 our assistance
as fast as they could and II was mOu
their fault that they came too late"
King Peter has no raneOr in his
heart against Bulgaria.
No Blame For Bulgars
81 do not blame the Bulgars for
the part they have taken. They are
led by "A man whose ambition it is to
exercise a hegemony over ali of the
Balkan states. 1t Is an obsession which
possesses him al | from him it has
spread to his people. 1t is an aDsurdi-
tv, of course, but in sense they are
blameless. They have but played their
game as they saw it."
But for Greece and the Greeks, King
Peter has no forgiveness
"They have left undone their solemn
duty to their. friends, " he said. Tho
German wife of their king has govern
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