The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-08-27
GREECE TRODDEN
 UPON BY ALLIES IS CLAIM MADE
Former Minister From Ath- ems Government to U. S. Makes Statement on
 Wrongs of Nation

1 Athens, August 0.-(Correspondence of l the Associated Press) - Agememnon Schleiman, member of the Greek Cham | Der of Deputies, and former Creek min
 ister to Washington, after a conference
 with the leaders of the late government, has issued a statement addressed to the
 Associated Press and embodying the point of view of the Greek conservative party regarding the recent intervention of the powers in Greek affairs. The statement is issued in English.
 lew have been profoundly humiliated l that those whom we have always con- | sidered the protectors of our national life
 and of our independence should have suc- ceeded, by threatening the use of brutal force, in intervening in the internal af- fairs of our country.
 Strong in the conviction of our right | it is our duty to point out the cold facts
 as they are, not only to the great neutral
 powers of the world among which Amer ica holds so prominent place, but also through the medium of the American press, to point out some of the same facts to the conscience of the liberal people of Great Britain and to the gallant French 1 nation so imbued with the immortal prin- 'ciples, of 17S9 We cannot believe that the people of these two countries have a full knowledge of the attempt upon our constitution, our national liberty and our independent political existence made by the government of France and Great Britain and their accredited representa- tives in Greece.
 When two years ago Austria, by her ultimatum to Servia, demanded in ad- dition to other claims that representa- | lives of her judiciary sit beside the Bel grade judges in investigating the crimes of Serajevo, the whole world cried that Servian freedom was being abolished, and a world war seemed justified by this trampling of small nations rights by one Of the great powers of Europe. When later on Belgian neutrality was vio- lated, Great Britain thought herself jus- tlfied in talking arms against Austria s ally in defense of the rights of weaker nation.
 Throughout this colossal carnage all the neutral nations have been repeatedly told that this is war for the liberation Of mankind from the threat of German | mlitarism, for the protection of smaller | peoples from the encroachments of the stronger and more greedy nations. How then, is it possible that the people of Great Britain and France or that the great American people should approve the I hlgh-handed methods by which the liber-
 ties and independence of the Hellenic peo- pie were abolished by a few strokes of the pen of the allied ministers in Athens?
 FORCED NEW ELECTIONS The demands of the three powers sig | natory to the note of June 21, are known Chief among them are the dissolution of the Greek Parliament and the proclama- Va oEc constitutional a people that even while protesting against the manner in which these new elections have been forced upon us, we would nevertheless respect the national verdict of the polls if, as is stated in the entente ultimatum, the elec- tons take place after the Greek electors have returned to normal conditions of l life.'
 But we ask the impartial judgment of America if foreign naval and military occupation of over half of Greece and martial law declared and maintained throughout Macedonia constitute such l normal conditions of life as will permit
 the free electors of Greece to perform their duties as citizens uninfluenced hV the presence in Greece of the allied troops, or If deputies chosen under these circum.
 stances can honestly represent the will ot the nation expressed unhampered by
 the influence of foreign bayonets. Would not elections held in Bel glum today, under the heel of Ger
 man soldiery, or in Servia, under the control Of the Austrians and the Bull garians, be hailed throughout the
 world as farcical? How, then, is the
 case of Greece any different from these?
 GREECE IS NEUTRAL Since the beginning of the war Greece has been benevolently neutral towards the allied powers-not just simply neutral One might say without fear of exaggeration that Greece has done everything but fight on the side of the allies! But it is not enough that the allied powers have established ma. val and military bases on every foot of Greek soil that they have deemed necessary or useful to them; nor that they maintain an army 300,000 strong
 on Greek territory in defiance of every principle of neutrality; nor that they exercise freely the right of search in
 Greek ports and Greek territorial wa ters; nor that they tamper, not alone
 with the foreign, but also with the domestic, mails of Greece--they now seek to take a hand in the purely internal concerns of Greece. It is just as if Great Britain, on the ground | that the United States were once an English colony were to demand that , the Congress be closed, new elections held-and the dismissal of the chief nf .1-f