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Many people felt that this combination would never have been possible without the far-seeing wisdom of of Venizelos. In fact, some historians give him the credit of first planning the alliance. His greatest trouble was with his own countrymen.
The Greek Minister of the Navy Sofoclis Venizelos, and the British Admiral in command of the Royal Navy in the Eastern Mediterranean, provided an honorary escort for the brave little ship that had refused to die. A few months later the snub-nosed L67 joined the fleet of 100 vessels of all sorts which sailed to Greece for the Liberation.
But the fruit which took long to mature ripened at last, and Greece had many of her claims allowed. Thus in reorganizing the communities of the world the personal factor played a predominant part. Venizelos was, so to say, a fixed star in the firmament, and his light burned bright through every rift in the clouds. His moderation astonished friends and opponents.
I wonder why something is not done with Sir George Milne's force at Salonica. Apparently all is not even yet plain sailing in Greece. There is still intrigue going on. I do not think Venizelos is going to have everything his own way, even now King Constantine has gone to Switzerland. Switzerland is now, I think, the theatre of important diplomatic intrigues.
Venizelos, aiming to include in the kingdom of Greece as many as possible of the people of Greek blood, was scheming night and day for the overthrow of the Turkish power in Europe. You have been told how the Russian diplomats astonished the world by inducing Bulgaria to unite with the Greeks and the Serbs, two nations for whom she had no love, in an alliance against the Turks.
But these were merely demonstrations meant merely as indications of popular sentiment for neither Venizelos nor the Kavalla representative had any intention of taking their seats in the chamber, which they considered illegally elected. Meanwhile practically no military activity had been displayed.
With 200,000 soldiers holding down the Arabs, and plenty of trouble elsewhere, neither France nor Britain had the troops to crush Mustapha Kemal a job which the French staff estimated would take 300,000 men. One weapon, however, they still possessed Greece. In return for large territorial concessions, Premier Venizelos offered to bring the Turks to reason.
Venizelos was approached and sounded on the subject. His authority in his country, like that of Bismarck on the eve of his fall, was held to be supreme.
And when the elections were coming on every venal man of influence who could damage Venizelos or help his antagonists was bought with hard cash. In order to defeat some Venizelist candidates whose return would have been particularly distressing, the Baron is said to have spent six hundred thousand francs. And it is held that the results obtained by these means were well worth the money spent.
This put the case squarely up to the people of Greece and they answered by electing to the Greek parliament one hundred eighty men friendly to Venizelos and the Triple Entente as against one hundred forty who were opposed to entering the war. Venizelos, once more prime minister as a result of this election, ordered the Greek army to be mobilized.
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