Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-09-30

K we'll be known to history as the Great
n Abdicator For the second time with
In little more than five years he has re-
nounced the throne, under shadow OF dis
grace and threat Of revolution. Out OF the
skies came this demand for his going-a
manifesto dropped from an airplane hover
ing above the royal palace, while fast ran
the rumor of mutinous soldiers speeding by
motor toward Athens.
It seems but yesterday that the King re-
turned from his first exile. His triumphal
entry into the city whence H. had fled. on a
night of early June, back in 1917, is pic
turesquely described by an Italian reporter
who witnessed it. "All along the route of
the procession" he writes, little affairs had
been set up in front of the houses, on which
wee placed such beautiful objects as the
owners could gather together; and these
were adorned with festoons OF colored paper,
if no more elegant drapery Z afforded.
With p-ous care the poorest displayed their
simple little heirlooms, cleverly disposed so
as to hide blemishes or defects. On the
huablest huts, as on - est palaces were
hung pictures of the These were of all
possible types, from the cheapest postcards }
veritabIe portraits. He was depicted in adj
mir; :. or in generals uniform, or in court
dress; and either alone, or with the Queen
and royal family. On all sides (the city was
crowded to overflOWing) arose the rapturous
shout, Ton efera mel eve have him back!D
And this where Plato's Republic" was
writ!
In truth they had him back" Venizelos,
the greatest mind of modern Greece, departed
like another notwithstanding that never
80 ong as the line of Constantine was on the
SnlOne would he return. If the Kings adj
venture against the Turks, launched soon aft
er his resumption of rule, had met with good
fortune, he would now be the hero of the
Hellenes, instead of crestfallen wanderer.
That the people were sincere when they ar
IDENTIFY welcomed him home, there can be no
manner of doubt. Like his nationally la
mented father, whom he succeeded in 1913,
he had the knack Oh popularity; and il he had
also the German Kaisers sister for wife, that
was not spoken to his censure by hoi polloi.
In fact it is said that multitudes in Greece,
when they surveyed the ruin OF Serbia and
Rumania's ills, were exceedingly grateful %
their King for having kept them out of the
World War "a quite human, il not he
roic, reaction. But Constantine, undeniable
though his virtues may have been, confound-
ed them most egregiously. He was discreet
when he should have been valorous, and
reckless when he should have been prudent.
Tht honor of Greece and, as it turned out
her interests also required fufillment of her
treaty obligations to Serbia and fidelity to
her traditional friends, the Allies. Yet
against the urgent counsel of Venizelos and
OF nearly all the most discerning of his coun-
trymen, the King not only hung back from
Serbia and the Entente in their time of sore
need, but also connived, if indeed he did not
consplre, to aid their foes. The least that
criticism can say of that policy is that it was
lamentably lacking in statesmanly vision. It
or1xy rook To-
wards hitch certainly would have been hers
had her course been wisely steered but also
1ncalculably in prestige. No wonder there
came day when Constantine found it ex-
pedient to depart.
Some sage has remarked that if Cleopatra's
nose had been tilted, the whole course Of his
tory from her time to this would have been
different. Certainly if it had not been for a
monkeys bite, the history of Greece would
have followed different and doubtless happier
lines these last few troublous seasons. Bit
ten by pet simian, young King Alexander
son and successor of Constantine died. Some
weeks afterwards his father then tarrying in
Switzerland, was given to understand that
his return to Athens and to the throne would
be'welcome. He came: Venizelos went Dis
tlnctly TO the Allies disrelish was this move.
Whatever may have been their previous in
tentions of financial aid and moral support
TO Greek aspirations, none was Forthcoming
after Constantine's temperance upon the
stage. Despite lack of sinews, however, he
plunged into war against the Turk If he
had only won! The world then could have
forgotten If not forgiven his philandering
with Hohenzollernism, while his devoted
c1t1zen-subjects would have hailed him as a
happier Agamemnon home from a more glo-
r1ous Troy. But he lost, and in the losing
grew 1ntolerable to the Greek army and
navy; wherefore, he abdicates again.
May the future of Greece be happier than
her stormful present, and that of Europe less
perilous!