M. Venizelos on the Victories of Peace
[This is the first of a series of articles communicated by our .Special Representative who is making a study of conditions in the Near East.—En. Spectator.] SO well known is M. Venizelos that it seems daring to try to describe him, yet the atmosphere of masked power which surrounds him is so impressive and so explanatory of what he has done and may yet do, that I must record my impressions for .what they are worth. I do not think that he is " the only man in Greece " by any means. M. Kaphandaris was already solving the financial problems and M. Michaelokopulos the foreign relations of Greece with Turkey and Yugo-Slavia when M. Venizelos assumed power. The former, now out of office, has pro- bably the best financial brain in Greece (which is high praise), and the latter, as Governor-General of Macedonia, will certainly contribute to the prosperity of that im- portant province. Further, in M. Carapanos, the Foreign Minister, M. Venizelos has an eminent diplomatist, a great gentleman, and a personal friend. But none of the three has the vigour, the versatility or the seductive charm of M. Venizelos, who combines the graces of Alci- biades with the austerity of Pericles. The country has turned to him by an overwhelming majority because she is. tired of changes of government. With the death of the idea of " Greater Greece," public opinion has definitely -come round to the side of peace and internal reform, and if M. Venizelos maintains his health and his political ascendancy (if he keeps the one he will keep the other) a sane programme of reconstruction will become in all probability the policy of all parties, to the great good of Europe, that can ill suffer one of her nations being infected with the fever of Imperial expansion. • The commercial community know that grandiwe political schemes butter no parsnips. The Royalists, feeling their cause is lost, have many of them voted for M. Venizelos, temporarily at least. The man in the street wants stability at home, and M. Venizelos can give it, with his great following and international reputation. It was Sunday morning and a prayer-book lay on the desk of the small room of the hotel where M. Venizelos received me. He came towards me, shook hands vig- orously, then sat down and waited for questions. He looked so fragile and saintly behind his horn-rimmed glasses that I could hardly believe that this was the Cretan insurgent of the past and the autocratic leader of to-day, whose Ministers have to work half the night to keep up with his behests. His white beard is thin and silky, his white skin has the translucency of porcelain : he looks a delicate man, until one notices his powerful, long-fingered hands—hands that may one day unravel all the tangled skein of Balkans intrigue. He speaks rapidly, in a low, pleasant voice, and when he warms to some favourite subject, such as the League of Nations, a won- derful light comes into his eyes—the fire of an orator who can hold the modern Athenians rapt. " The era of terri- torial aggrandisement has gone for ever in Greece," he said, throwing out those strong lean hands of his in a line gesture of renunciation. " Not only are we definitely against war now and for all time to come " (I cannot convey his earnestness) " and not only are we not committed to the support of war on behalf of others, but I am further very firmly convinced that both Italy and Turkey are as disposed as we are our- selves to maintain peace. " None of us has anything to 'fight about. We in Greece have work to do which will last for generations in consolidating our people, in draining our marshes, in building our- roads_ and _railways, in adorning our cities, . in. bringing water, to athirstv• land. When some sections of the refugees at the recent election which gave me such a signal majority, asked me whether I would give them back their homes, I said clearly that Asia Minor will know the Greek no more, except as a trader. We are done with Smyrna and its hinterland. When there was a chance of winning it for Greece, I took the hazard, naturally enough. But instead of our going to them, our people have come to us. The raison d'être of our hos- tility to Turkey has ceased to exist. I could not have been more plain-spoken, and I believe my declaration had a good effect at Angora. Lately there have been some divergencies of view, but I am confident these can be adjusted."
" Italy, again, has enough to do in land reclamation and public works to absorb her energies and her increasing population for many years to come. Signor Mussolini has personally assured me of this recently, and knowing our own similar problems I can well believe him."
In Rome, Athens, Angora are three strong men, amply supported by public opinion, who are bent on reforms and developments which would be shattered by war. That is a good basis for peace. On such a foundation M. Venizelos intends to build up understandings with Yugo-Slavia and Bulgaria, coming finally, perhaps, and by ordered steps, to a general settlement in the Balkans. M. Venizelos is a " good League man " (as he should be, considering how intimately he was concerned with its inception), but he knows what the League can and cannot do. The Balkans must have time to settle down. At present the pulse of age-old animosities still beats in Zagreb, Belgrade, Sofia, Buda-Pesth, Bukharest. A heart will not stop beating— whether it loves or hates—merely through the force of reason and logic. But time can work wonders and may do so amongst all the complicated racial ambitions North of Greece. At any rate, Greece is not very directly or very greatly concerned in any of those disputes. The Macedonian Revolutionary Committee will leave Greek Macedonia alone. Yugo-Slavia wants more concessions in her free zone at the port of Salonika : M. Venizelos may or may not grant them, but he is personally popular in Belgrade, and his reasons will be accepted there. Bulgaria has long felt a grievance at having no outlet on the Aegean. Greece, I believe, is prepared to offer her facilities at Dedeagatch. The Turks as well as the Greeks have much to gain by a speedy settlement of the out- standing financial problems connected with the trans- ference of their respective populations. In short, there is no question affecting Greece and her neighbours which time and good will cannot solve. One has to live in these —to us remote—parts of the world before one can understand fully the sense of security that the League of Nations is giving to the world. Certainly it is very real here in Athens. Without it, Greece would be increasing instead of diminishing her army and the new " atmo- sphere " which has placed and in all human probability will retain M. Venizelos in power would have been impossible. I return to the hidden strength of the man. Always a student and an idealist, he lived his youth amidst such alarums and excursions that his pacifism has nothing at all theoretical about it. If the Army were to object to the prospect of an era of peace, for instance, I fancy his action would be swift and stern. He learned the English language while our cruisers were bombarding his camp at Crete, memorizing sentences out of a phrase-book to the boom of quick-firing guns. He learned through revolutions and coups d'etat that conciliation is better than force. He learned through a terrible war in which his country was defeated that the Greater Greece of his dreams will arise not out of the ashes of Asia Minor, but in the hearts and hopes of the new settlers in Attica, Thessaly, Crete, Macedonia, Thrace. Of that migration and that settlement I shall write in another article : all Greece is making the dream come true. As M. Venizelos spoke of it to me, of the sufferings the migrants had undergone, of the need of a stable government for recon- struction, and of the magnificent prospect which the industry of these new Greeks has opsned up, he paused for a moment and picked up a flat, black object which lay on his blotting-pad. Unfolding it, he put on his head a curiously shaped silk cap, reminding me of the headgear out of a Christmas cracker. His fine domed head thus hidden, I fancied that I saw for a moment a trace of the rebel leader in the diplomatist. The moustache curled upwards, there was a steel glint in his eye, a cool, in- flexible note in his voice. This was a statesman, but a Spartan too.* Like all men who do great things, M. Venizelos has a background of vigour—ferocity if you will—but subli- mated and restrained by a lucid intellect, a strong will and a consciousness of his own abilities and the traditions of his race. Europe, as well as the Greek nation, has cause to rejoice that such a man holds power in Athens.
Athens, December 10th. F. YEATS-BROWN.
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