ing the House. The premier, M. Zaimis, thereupon declared that,
in the opinion of the Government, the war minister's conduct had been
perfectly correct and he demanded a vote of confidence from the
assembled deputies.

M. Venizelos replied by delivering a strong attack on the Government's
war policy, which, he said, was not supported by a majority, deploring
that Bulgaria was being allowed to crush Serbia, that she might fall
on Greece later.

As a result of the vote that followed this discussion, the Chamber
refused to express confidence in the present Government by a vote of
147 against 114, in consequence of which the premier, Zaimis, was
compelled to resign. The king, however, still persisted in his
opposition to the policy of the Venizelos party and immediately called
upon M. Skouloudis, one of his own partisans, to form a new cabinet.
To avoid any more expressions of disagreement with the king's policy
on the part of the Chamber, the new premier, only a week later,
ordered the dissolution of that body, his pretext being that the
country at large should have an opportunity of expressing itself
through a general election. This was a move which Venizelos had always
opposed; for, he pointed out, so long as the Greek army was mobilized
and Greek soldiers were excluded from casting their votes, the true
opinion of the people could never be determined. And even if the
soldiers were allowed to vote, they would be under the influence of
their officers, who always supported the king's policy.

This high-handed procedure on the part of the Government created a bad
impression in France and Great Britain. What added to that was the
dispatch which announced, only a few days before, the arrival in
Saloniki in a special train from Sofia of four German officers: Baron
Falkenhausen, Colonel von Erbstner, General von der Goltz's A. D. C.,
Prince von Buelow's son, and another. After a short stay in Saloniki
they departed for Athens in a Greek torpedo boat, accompanied by Greek
officers of high rank. It was just after the arrival of such a mission
in Sofia that Bulgaria had made her agreement with Germany, promising
her support in driving out the Serbians. And meanwhile Premier
Skouloudis, doing as Radislavov, the Premier of Bulgaria, had done,
was protesting daily that Greece had no intention of going against the
Allies.

But incidentally he also expressed the opinion publicly that Greece's
"benevolent neutrality" did not extend