LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE SALONIKA LANDING.
[To TRIP EDITOU or rue "SPECTATOR."] San,—An attempt to draw an analogy between the German invasion of neutral Belgium and the lauding of the Allied troops in Salonika and their passage thence through Greek territory to the assistance of Serbia is very like the effort of a litigant at law to set up a purely legal claim against the owners of the "equities" which lie behind it. Qui haeret is liters haeret in cortice is the maxim by which Courts of Equity are guided in dealing with such claims. Technically, Greece is neutral. But what are the "equities"? Is she not the ally of Serbia by treaty when the latter is attacked by Bulgaria ? Is not Serbia the ally of France and Great Britain as against Bulgaria (as well as against the Teutonic Powers) P Did not Greece acquiesce in the landing at Salonika, nay, even invite it (though formally protesting with tongue in the cheek)? When Serbia was attacked by Bulgaria, what was the opinion of the large majority of Greeks as to Greece's duty under its treaty with Serbia ? Are the democracies of the Western nations likely to deny the rights of the Greek democracy as against the autocratic exercise of power by a monarch who has torn up the Constitution of the country over which he (a foreigner) reigns P If King Constantine sees fit to tear up the two " scraps of paper" upon which Greece's treaty with Serbia and the Greek Constitution are written, he may be quite sure that an International Court of Equity (if such a tribunal existed) would also as to this landing tear up Articles I. and II. of the treaty of the Hague (1907) to which you refer in " Some Legal Aspects of the Nato"— the American Note (Spectator, November 13th). If there be in England or in America a Puritan who believes in stick- ing to the letter of the treaty of the Hague quoad this landing in Greece, let him remember that "the letter killeth
but the spirit giveth life" (in this ease to our ally Serbia).
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