BO 0 K S.
M. VENEZELOS.* BY far the best thing in this book is the introduction by the well-known Roumanian statesman, M. Take Joneseu. He praises M. Venezelos for the right reasons, and, as his own principles have always resembled those of M. Venezelos, lie praises with the sympathy of perfect understanding. Not that Dr. Kerofilas praises M. Venezelos for wrong reasons, but he falls short by a long way of the art of biography. He never illuminates his subject, and though he uses strong words, they do not result in strength or vigour. Still, his rather pedestrian performance is sure to interest English readers, for it'supplies all the essential facts in M. Venezelos's remarkable career. We cannot hesitate to say that M. Venezelos is the greatest statesman the Balkans have produced. Greece used to talk of M. Trieoupis as her greatest man, but compared with M. Venezelos he was a pygmy. M. Venezelos alone in the Balkans has had the vision and the courage to take the long view of things. The Balkan States have been sacrificed for generations to their own jealousies. It is easy to say that these jealousies were petty, for so they undoubtedly were, tested by the great objects which would have been gained by their removal; yet we must remember that they represented terri- torial claims which tradition had indicated as essential for the future of the various rival nations. M. Venezelos • Elofthorios Venixelos: his Life and Work. By Dr. C. Keroillns. With an Introduction by U. Take Jonescu. Translated by Beatrice Barstow, London 1 John Murray. [Se. Sd. net,] was the first man to see that the combination of the Balkans was an indispensable preliminary to getting rid of Turkish power, and that any and every temporary sacrifice was worth while if such a combination were achieved. The settlement of the jealousies could follow later. Turkey had triumphed by encouraging each Balkan State to remain in bitter rivalry with some other State. If we may use a vulgar comparison without any disrespect, the Balkan nations were like the numerous fleas of which a man said that if only they had combined they could have pulled him out of bed. M. Venezelos brought about the general alliance which had seemed impossible. And, as M. Take Jonescu points out, the characteristic part of his achievement was the fact that he persuaded Bulgaria to join the alliance without agreeing with her in advance as to what her share should be of any con- quered territory. Of course, if M. Venezelos had once begun discussing the details of a partition with Bulgaria, he would have fallen into the mistake of all previous Balkan statesmen. Some cause of jealousy would inevitably have seemed more important than the ultimate Object:. The proposal of an alliance would have been instantly wrecked. Here M. Venezelos showed nothing less than genius. -He left the partition to take care of itself after the war, and the tragic course of the dispute when the time came proves absolutely his wisdom in avoiding it as long as he could. M. Take Jonescu says that, except M. Streit, no one shared the opinion of M. Venezelos. "Everyone wanted to forMulate beforehand with the Bulgarians the conditions of future partitions."
Of course the wisdom and power of seeing into the future which M. Venezelos has displayed are capable of being dis- sected into constituent qualities. Among the chief of these qualities is restraint. Daring as be has often been—when he was a Cretan revolutionary, for example, and defied all the Great Powers in concert—he never mada a dangerous use of his opportunities. A good instance of his restraint was his refusal to allow the Cretan Deputies.to take their seats in the Greek Chamber, though to short-sighted, and even to ordinary- sighted, people he seemed to be throwing away the one object to which his whole life had been dedicated. He was accused of cowardice and treachery. But events proved that he was right. Yet another example was when he was made a sort of dictator by the Military League at Athens. The Athenians hung on his words. He was their saviour. He could have done anything he liked. The passion of the mob was for a constituent rather than a revisionary Assembly. They wanted a body that could rewrite the fundamentals of the Constitution, not one that would merely revise non-fundamentals. But M. Venezelos was for hastening slowly. He knew the disastrous pitfalls of colossal changes offered to a people-unprepared to work a new system effectually. He said that there must be a revisionary Assembly. The people thought he had spoken the word by a slip of the tongue. " Constituent! Constituent I" they corrected. "I say revisionary !" repeated M. Venezelos. Nothing could induce him to accept the perilous joy of being borne along on the wings of popular favour when he foresaw how unhappily for his country the flight would end. Yet this man's support was nothing but the favour of the people. Surely he appraised his own character accurately when he said in explaining his success " I have always told my countrymen the truth, and the whole truth, and I have always been quite prepared to lay down my power without regret." Since those words were spoken he has twice laid down his office "without regret," because he could not be in any doubt as to his duty.
There is a phrase, surprising and gratifying, which stands out in M. Take Jonescn's appreciation of his friend. After describing the manner in which M. Venezelos was "bullied" by his Balkan colleagues during the negotiations which ended in the Treaty of London, he says that M. Venezelois never spoke a word against his Bulgarian allies, and adds: "The former Cretan revolutionary behaved like an English gentle- man." Those are pleasant words for any Englishman to read. But they do no more than express the character of the feeling which has invariably guided both M. Take Jonescu and M. Venezelos. They understand British diplomacy, and they respect it.- They know that, though it may be unimaginative and possibly lethargic, it never descends to sharp practice or disloyalty. Bktain has often been a candid friend in the Balkans, but has always tried genuinely to be a friend to every small nation. Everything that British diplomacy has been, German diplomacy has not been, and that is why M. Take Jonescu and M. Venezelos are heart and soul with the Entente.
When we reflect on the proved caution of M. Venezelos- always traceable, as it is, in what seem to be his boldest acts—when we read his letters to King' Constantine setting forth the necessity for siding with the Allies, and when we note how much of what he says has even in a short space of time come true, we wonder the more at the self-confidence which inspires King Constantine and his present Government to oppose such a man. It is as though they were trying to extinguish their lucky star. If the King mistrusts M. Venezelos for dynastic reasons, and remembers that it was he more than any other man who upset the High Com- missionership of Prince George in Crete, he might also remember that it was M. Venezelos who supported, and probably saved, the dynasty when he apparently had it in his power to destroy it. It was M. Venezelos who restored the Princes to the Army whence they had been banished by the Military League.
Dr. Kerofilas allows little credit to the German Emperor (who has taken much to himself) for the fact that, the Greeks obtained Kavalla by the Treaty of Bucharest. It is well knewn, he says, that the French Minister at Bucharest deter- mined the French policy on this subject, and it was owing to French representations that Russia ceased to demand that Bulgaria should have Kavalla. Where Ihen, he asks in effect, did the German Emperor come in P The account of the tenacity with which M. Venezelos fought for the retention of Kavalla by Greece makes us appreciate all the more the magnanimity he showed When recently be proposed the cession of this "fair daughter of Greece," as King Constantine called the place, to Bulgaria. We sincerely hope that in the present anxious crisis M. Venezelos may even yet be able to guide his country in the path of honour and wisdom. But we aro sure that if he fails Greece will learn to lament the day when she refused to listen to the most gifted voice whioh has prophesied in South-Eastern Europe.
Previous page
