ing radical reforms, and more especially the reorganization of the army and navy, the exclusion of the royal princes from their military commands, and the bestowal of the two Ministries of War and Marine upon officers. The former of these posts was conferred upon Colonel Lapathiotes, a member of the league, whose chief at the same time protested its devotion to the Crown. Popular demonstrations in different provincial centres expressed support of the league's programme; and the trade guilds of the capital appealed to the people to support it as the best means of ending 'political corruption'. There was, however, a strong opposition in the Chamber, which manifested itself when the Government, at the bidding of the league, proposed the removal of the princes from their commands. The league threatened to occupy the legislative building by force; but the intervention of the King, who desired his sons to resign their commissions, anticipated this act of violence. On the morrow the Chamber passed the Bills for their removal, and for the abolition of the Crown Prince's post of commander-in-chief, together with twenty-three other measures, without debate.

The success of the Military League emboldened the junior naval officers to demand the removal of many of their seniors, and the readmission of a sub-lieutenant, who had been punished for insubordination during the war of 1897. On the refusal of the Government, Commander Typaldos, the leader of this second agitation, seized the naval station at Salamis, and, with the aid of three small vessels, resolved to show fight. The engagement lasted less than half an hour, and cost only six lives; the Government was victorious, and Typaldos and his supporters were sentenced to prison but subsequently pardoned. The league became more and more exacting. Its repre

sentative in the Cabinet plainly told the deputies that they were there only to obey its orders; and, although Colonel Zorbas ordered the dismissal of this unparliamentary minister, two officers of the league shortly afterwards appeared in the Chamber, and demanded the immediate adoption of the Budget with twentyseven other Bills, and the recall of the Greek representatives from four European capitals. The Chamber, coerced by the knowledge that the troops were under arms, accepted these demands, and 160 laws were added to the statute-book in fifty-five hours! Still the league was not satisfied, and it insisted upon the dismissal of the Minister of the Interior, who had incurred its displeasure.

At this moment a new and powerful figure arrived upon the stage of Greek politics. Several officers of the league had made in Crete the acquaintance of M. Venizelos, the Cretan chief. Long before the birth of the league, M. Zaïmes had prophesied that, if M. Venizelos could be induced to collaborate with the royal family, he would become the saviour of Greece. The league accordingly invited the Cretan politician to Athens as its political adviser; and from his arrival the marvellous regeneration of the country is usually dated. No better choice could have been made, for the new-comer's strength lay in his great force of character, his complete detachment from the old parties, and the independence of mind which made him refuse to flatter the people. He saw that the anomalous state of affairs could not continue; he therefore proposed the summons of a National Assembly to revise the Constitution. The politicians accepted this proposal, on condition that, as a corollary, the league should be dissolved; the King, after some hesitation at the convocation of a National Assembly without the elaborate forms provided by the Con

stitution, reluctantly consented. A veteran lieutenant of Trikoupes, M. Stephen Dragoumes, accordingly became Premier at the end of January 1910, with General (as he had now become) Zorbas as his Minister of War, and with a mandate to summon the proposed Assembly. The league stifled all expressions of public opinion hostile to this plan; the Chamber passed the necessary Bill, and, after 'purging' the university, ended its labours. The league thereupon, in a manifesto to the nation, declared the interference of the army in politics to be over, and announced its own dissolution.

The National Assembly, composed of 358 deputies, was opened on September 14. Among those elected were M. Venizelos and four other Cretans; and the Porte at once protested against their election. M. Venizelos and one of his colleagues were, however, technically Greek subjects; and they accordingly entered the Assembly, resigning their positions in Crete, where M. Venizelos was then chief of the provisional Government, while the other three patriotically declined the seats offered them, so as not to embarrass the Greeks. The Assembly was at once divided by the question whether it was a constituent or only a revisionary body. The difficulty was too great for M. Dragoumes, who resigned; and on October 18 the King took the bold step of appointing as Prime Minister the famous Cretan, hitherto chiefly known at the palace as the opponent of his son. Of the many services rendered by King George to Greece this was not the least. From that moment he gave his whole confidence to his first minister, who immediately pronounced in favour of the revision of the non-fundamental articles of the Constitution. Five days later, however, the abstention of the old parties and the advocates of a constituent Assembly left him without

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letters to King Ferdinand and M. Geshoff, his Premier, urged the need, and pointed out the future possibilities, of this agreement. For months, however, Bulgarian caution and distrust delayed the acceptance of the Greek offer. It was only on May 29, 1912, that the Greco-Bulgarian treaty of alliance was signed at Sofia.1 It pledged both parties to mutual aid, should either be attacked by Turkey, to secure the peaceful coexistence of the Greek and Bulgarian populations of Turkey, and to co-operate in securing the rights of those nationalities. It was to remain in force for three years, and, unless denounced six months previous to that date, was to be considered as automatically renewed. Its contents were to be kept secret. An rannexe provided that, in the event of a Greco-Turkish hwar arising out of the admission of Cretan deputies Elto the Greek Parliament, Bulgaria should merely or preserve a benevolent neutrality.

or

The events of the two Balkan Wars of 1912-13 are too fresh to need recapitulation in detail. Greece showed

that she was no longer the Greece of 1897. On October Į 14, 1912, M. Venizelos admitted the Cretan deputies to the Chamber, and four days later against the inclinations of King George, who, bowed, however, to the opinion of his minister, as a constitutional king-declared war on Turkey. The Greeks obtained a victory at Sarantaporon in Southern Macedonia on October 22, took Preveza, Metsovo, and Khimara in Epeiros, hoisted their flag over Mt. Athos, and prevented the Turkish fleet from leaving the Dardanelles and the Turkish transports from crossing the Aegean. They also took possession of most of the Turkish islands in the Aegean, including Mytilene and Khios, but not of the Southern Sporades (the so-called Dodekanese '), which had been 1 For the full text of this treaty see Appendix XIII to Eastern Question, No. 15 of this series.

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occupied by the Italians during the Libyan War—an event which caused much apprehension among the Greeks, who regarded these islands as part of their national claim in case of the dismemberment of the Turkish Empire. Samos declared its union with Greece; Crete, whither M. Dragoumes was sent as General Administrator, furnished volunteers to the national cause. A two days' struggle (November 1-2) at Yenitsa, by the Vardar, ended in another Greek victory; and on November 8, the festival of its patron St. Demetrios, the Crown Prince anticipated the Bulgarians by entering Salonika and ending the Turkish domination of 482 years over that city. Even after her three Allies had signed the armistice at Chatalja on December 3, Greece continued hostilities, although participating in the Balkan Conference, which met in London on December 16. Outside the Dardanelles the Greeks defeated the Turkish fleet; in Epeiros they took Parga, ceded under such tragic circumstances to Turkey in 1819. On March 6, 1913, Yanina, Turkish since 1430, surrendered to the Crown Prince ; a little later a Greek force officially occupied Samos, and a Greek army entered Argyrokastron. But in the midst of these triumphs, on March 18, King George's assassination at Salonika threw the whole Hellenic world into mourning. His loss has since proved to be a disaster not only for Greece, but for ourselves, for, had that wise and constitutional monarch lived, Greece and the Entente Powers would have been spared the disgrace and the uncertainties of 1915-17. King George, as he showed in his political testament, realized his son's autocratic and obstinate character.

The Treaty of London, which ended the war of the Balkan Allies against Turkey, was at last signed on May 30, 1913. The Sultan ceded to them all the Turkish territories west of the Enos-Midia line, except