gh, on the plea that the island would resent being
replaced under King Constantine's yoke, it was made temporarily
autonomous.[1]

Soon, however, these pledges went the way of all words. Between
February and May, Cephalonia, Zante, and Corfu {178} were converted one
by one: everywhere the apostles from Salonica preaching, "Be our
brethren or die of hunger"; and everywhere having behind them the guns
of France and England to enforce respect for their gospel. The
instance of Leucas, the last of the Ionian Isles to be gathered into
the fold, will suffice as an illustration. In the middle of March a
French vessel, carrying a consignment of maize, rice, and Venizelist
missionaries, called at the island and invited the inhabitants to come,
buy, and be saved: they answered that they would never touch food
brought by traitors. Towards the end of May, the French Admiral
commanding the Ionian Reserve was able to announce that the Leucadian
population had joined the National Movement.[2]

To secure his authority over these maritime possessions, the Cretan
obtained from his patrons some of the warships of which they had robbed
the King.

A similar propaganda was simultaneously going on in the "neutral zone"
and in the lands to the south of it--particularly Thessaly--whose
immunity from emancipation the Allies had also guaranteed. Only, as
this region lay nearer to the base of the Franco-Venizelist Mission, it
benefited more severely from its influence. General Sarrail's patrols
raided the villages, harrying the peasants and sparing not even the
honour of their women. Anyone who knows the Greek peasant's fierce
views on feminine chastity can imagine the indignation which such an
outrage would have aroused in any case; but in this case their horror
was deepened by the circumstance that the assailants sometimes were
African semi-savages--the Senegalese whom France brought to Greece, as
to other parts of Europe, oblivious of the most rudimentary dictates of
decency and sound policy. On one occasion (22 Feb.) the coloured
libertines paid for their lust with their lives: a patrol of a dozen of
them was surprised and massacred.[3]

Summary executions were among the methods of {179} military tyranny in
which General Sarrail rejoiced without scruple and with a certain
brutal pride. When once he found himself obliged to justify his
conduct, he wrote: "The six inhabitants of Dianitza, who were shot,
were _Comitadjis_. There is