He said that he deplored the fact that
Serbia was being left to be crushed by Bulgaria, Greece's hereditary
enemy, who would not scruple later to fall on Greece herself. He spoke
of the King in a friendly way, criticizing, however, his position. He
had been twice removed from the Premiership, although he had a majority
behind him in the Greek Chamber.
"Our State," he said, "is a democracy, presided over by the King, and
the whole responsibility rests with the Cabinet. I admit that the Crown
has a right to disagree with the responsible Government if he thinks the
latter is not in agreement with the national will. But after the recent
election, non-agreement is out of the question, and now the Crown has
not the right to disagree again on the same question. It is not a
question of patriotism but of constitutional liberty."
When the vote was taken the Government was defeated by 147 to 114.
Instead of appointing Venizelos Premier, King Constantine gave the
position to M. Skouloudis, and then dissolved the Greek Chamber by royal
decree. Premier Skouloudis declared his policy to be neutrality with the
character of sincerest benevolence toward the Entente Powers. The
general conditions at Athens during this whole time were causing great
anxiety in the Allied capitals, and the Allied expedition were in
continual fear of an attack in the rear in case of reverse.
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