Greece and the Allies | Page 2

an account of transactions
hitherto obscured and distorted by every species of misrepresentation
and every known artifice for manipulating public opinion.

The volume is not a hasty essay produced to exploit an ephemeral
situation. It embodies the fruit of investigations laboriously carried on
through six years. A slight account of the earlier events appeared as far
back as the winter of 1916 in a book entitled, Turkey, Greece, and the
Great Powers: that was my first effort to place the subject in its true
perspective. The results were interesting. I was honoured by the
reproaches of several private and by the reprobation of several public
critics; some correspondents favoured me with their anonymous
scurrility, and some bigots relieved me of their acquaintance. On the
other hand, there were people who, in the midst of a maelstrom of
passion, retained their respect for facts.
I pursued the subject further in a weekly journal. Two of my
contributions saw the light; the third was suppressed by the Authorities.
Its suppression furnished material for a debate in Parliament: "This is a
cleverly written article," said Mr. John Dillon, "and I cannot find in it a
single word which justifies suppression. All that one can find in it is
that it states certain facts which the Government do not like to be
known, not that they injure the military situation in the least, but that
they show that the Government, in the opinion of the writer, made
certain very bad blunders." The Home Secretary's answer was {viii}
typical of departmental dialectics: "It is inconceivable to me," he
declared, "that the Government would venture to say to the Press, or
indicate to it in any way, 'This is our view. Publish it. If you do not, you
will suffer.'" What the Government did, in effect, say to the Editor of
the National Weekly was: "This is not our view. Publish it not. If you
do, you will suffer."
With an innocence perhaps pardonable in one who was too intent on
the evolution of the world drama to follow the daily development of
war-time prohibitions, I next essayed to present to the public through
the medium of a book the truth which had been banned from the
columns of a magazine. The manuscript of that work, much fingered by
the printer, now lies before me, and together with it a letter from the
publisher stating that the Authorities had forbidden its publication on
pain of proceedings "under 27 (b) of the Defence of the Realm
Regulations."

And so it came about that not until now has it been possible for the
voice of facts to refute the fables dictated by interest and accepted by
credulity. The delay had its advantages: it gave the story, through the
natural progress of events, a completeness which otherwise it would
have lacked, and enabled me to test its accuracy on every point by a
fresh visit to Greece and by reference to sources previously
inaccessible, such as the Greek State Papers and the self-revealing
publications of persons directly concerned in the transactions here
related.
I venture to hope that so thorough an inquiry will convey some new
information respecting these transactions even to those who are best
acquainted with their general course. If they find nothing attractive in
the style of the book, they may find perhaps something useful,
something that will deserve their serious reflection, in the matter of it.
For let it not be said that a story starting in 1914 is ancient history.
Unless one studies the record of Allied action in Greece from the very
beginning, he cannot approach with any clear understanding the present
crisis--a struggle between Greeks and Turks on the surface, but at
bottom a conflict between French and British policies affecting the vital
interests of the British Empire.
G. F. A.
5 October, 1922

{ix}
Besides information acquired at first hand, my material is mainly
drawn from the following sources:
Greek State Papers now utilized for the first time.
White Book, published by the Government of M. Venizelos under the
title, "Diplomatika Engrapha, 1913-1917," 2nd edition, Athens, 1920.
Orations, delivered in the Greek Chamber in August, 1917, by M.

Venizelos, his followers, MM. Repoulis, Politis, and Kafandaris, and
his opponents, MM. Stratos and Rallis. The Greek text ("Agoreuseis,
etc.," Athens, 1917) and the English translation ("A Report of Speeches,
etc.," London, 1918), give them all, though the speech of M. Stratos
only in summary. The French translation ("Discours, etc., Traduction
de M. Léon Maccas, autorisée par le Gouvernement Grec," Paris, 1917)
curiously omits both the Opposition speeches.
Skouloudis's Apantesis, 1917; Apologia, 1919; Semeioseis, 1921. The
first of these publications is the ex-Premier's Reply to statements made
in the Greek Chamber by M. Venizelos and others in August, 1917; the
second is his Defence; the