Connecticut western news., 1917-06-14

 QUITS THRONE
King of Greece AbdiCatss as
 French Seize Food.
PRINCE ALEXANDER TO REIGN

Second Son, Educated In England, Re-
 garded as Pro ally - Crown Prince
 George Not Acceptable to Entente to
 Succeed Father-Allies Now Control
 Food Administration of Kingdom.
 King Constantine I. of Greece, broth. er-in-aw of the kaiser, has abdicated in favor of his second son, Prince Alex ander.
 This was announced soon after France took control of the food admin istration of the kingdom and stationed troops at strategic points.
 King Constantine was born Aug. 3, 1868, and ill March, 1913, succeeded his father George, who was killed by an assassin at Saloniki. His mother was Grand Duchess Olga of Russia. In 1889 he married Princess Sophie of Prussia. sister of the kaiser. Prince Alexander is twenty-four years old. He was educated in England and is re- garded as pro-English.
 It was understood today that Con- stantine would leave the country on a British warship and proceed to Swift zerland by way of Italy. ElassOna has been occupied by the allied troops. There was no resistance. No disorder in Athens has been reported.
 Details of the circumstances leading up to Constantine's abdication are lacking. Cable dispatches from Lon don and Paris indicate, however, that the immediate cause was the demand of the entente powers for the control of the harvest of Thessaly, one of the kingdom's most fertile territories.
 .a. Long Saved by Czar.
 England, France and Russia are the protecting powers of Greece. It has been long an open secret that the chief reason for the failure of the French and British governments to apply. to Greece the "sterner policy" vOciferous- ly demanded in the parliaments was the opposition of the Russian govern ment. King Constantine and ex-Czar Nicholas were devoted friends.
 Dispatches have not made it clear precisely how the new Russian govern ment stands with regard to Greece. It is probable that, in view of its own muddled internal situation, it has had neither occasion nor influence to take any stand and that France and Eng land have taken matters in their own hands.
 There is every indication that the abdication was not voluntary, but is more in the nature of a dispOssession. Crown Prince George, as pro-German as his father, shared the 1atter's fate.
 Chief interest now attaches to the Greek army, which, when fully mobiliz- ed, is between 150,000 and 100000 strong. The army is known to be abso- lutely loyal to King Constantine. It is demobilized, however, and it is to be assumed that measures have been talk en by General Serrail to see to it that 1t will remain so.
 Army Was Loyal to King.
 It was this army that was the prin- cipal object of the intricate game of diplomacy played at the court of Athens by the two groups of belligerents since the outbreak of the war. The allies wanted it on their side. When their expedition had been launched in Mace donia it became imperative that the Greek army should be prevented from attacking the allies in the rear. It be- came more than desirable that it should join the allies in the attempt to cut the communication between Germany and her eastern allies, which was the ex- petitions main purpose.
 As long as the Greek army was loyal to Constantine the menace to the allied rear remained. But his army's loyalty was all that was left to Constantine as the last semblance of kingly power. Practically all of the Grecian islands are occupied by entente troops. Her fleet is in the allies hands. Her ports are blockaded, and her capital con- stantly menaced by landings from the allies warships. Constantine's politi- cal independence, Greece's integrity as nation, have been nil ever since the entente force came to Saloniki in the autumn of 1915.
 For the allies it has long since be- come a question of either giving up the Macedonian expedition entirely like the Dardanelles enterprise, or to gain an unshakeable military grip on the whole of Greece, so as to establish a | firm strategic base for the expedition.