Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-24

BY coup d'etat. the government
Of Dictator Pangalos over the Repub-
lie of Greece has been overturned in
night. Gen. Pangalos. who had sus.
pended the constitution. exiled. his po-
itical enemies and ruled as absolute
dictator, with none to cross his arbi
trary will, is suddenly made a prlS-
oner and threatened with prosecution
for tyrannical usurpation and mis-
rule He had declared that the Greeks
were not able to govern with an elect
ed Parliament, so he centered all pow
err in himself, and, with it, all respon-
sibility for whatever occurred. he
ruled from June %, 1925, until last
Sunday morning.
From the exile of King George. on
December 10, 1923, up to the coup OF
Pangalos, there were Z governments
within IS months, as follows:
December 10, 1928, revolutionary ad-
ministration, headed by Venezelos.
January 2, 1924, Venezelos, as die
tator, for a few days.
Then Kaphandaris. dictator TO
March 10.
Papanastassiou. dictator to July 20.
kaphandaris then attempted to form
a new cabinet, but failed.
Sophoulis, as premier for 10 days
up to July 81.
Acknowledgements as premier. Au-
gust /, 1924, to June IS.
Gen. Pangalos. military dictator,
June 25. 1925, to August 90. 1926.
when he was overthrown by another
military power, Gen. Condylis, former
minister of war, supported by the
Army and Navy. Condylis promises
restoration to the presidency of Ad-
miral Coundoul1otis, who had been de
posed by Pangalos. The constitution
is declared reinstated and parliament
tary government re-established.
X X Y x
What sort of people are the Greeks
that they submit to so many over
throws of their government. following
quarterly review. Foreign Affairs, for
last April Mr.. Charles P. Rowland,
discussed this people:
1.-THE Greeks are energetic and
| lively, have a high degree of intelli-
gence, intense feelings, a very sensi-
tive nervous organization, a constitu-
tional restlessness and habit of dis
putation, are volatile in their political
allegiances and do not possess the
stolidity or the stupidity, a certain
amount of which, according to
Bagehots dictum, is necessary to the
best working of a parliamentary gov
eminent Docile under outside control
and sympathetic to instruction, they
do not like submissiveneSs to each
other and often criticize their SUI
periors in organizations, and their
restlessness makes them the despair
Of disciplinarians."
1.-THE Greeks never had the spirit of
| continuity or of common action which
| characterized the Roman" says
another writer THE Helene. being
| in general free from the spirit of domi-
/ nation, never felt the imperious desire
! for unity What he did have was the
desire to be himself, and to be master
| of himself, and the defect of this quail
| ity was the want of constancy. The
| Greeks never felt the need of subor-
| dinating themselves to the great
whole
In that last statement may be found
| the key not only to the Greek problem
but to that of the entire Orient and
Near East-the absence of national
| lied patriotism. which makes the indi-
vidual fight to uphold his country,
rather than merely adhere to a class,
or party. or religious division. The
| spirit of nationalism has not been nat
ural to the East; it is a graft from the
| Western World. not yet incorporated
into the soul of any of the peoples of
the Near East nor the Far Orient. This
characteristic controls the spirit of the
Greeks today far more than normally
because, since the debacle of King
George in 1928. in attempting to con
quer Turkey, which catastrophe de-
feat of Greece led to the League Of Ma
tons engineering the great exchange
of nationals between Turkey and
Greece, the latter people have alb
sorbed the unprecedented total in
crease of &c percent in Greek popula
tion-people ofsGreek genealogy, OF
Greek allegiance, but whose fore
fathers for 1900 years had lived out
side of Greece.
How could such people feel funda
mental allegiance TO any particular
form Of government to whose land
they were essentially alien, in spite OF
blood ties?
There had come within Is months
no less than 1.150, 900 such refugees
out of Turkey into Greece, to be FED
hx the already ZeE-stzicken 1900 ool