File No. 868.00/74

The Chargé d’Affaires in Greece (Whitehouse) to the Secretary of State

Greek Series]

No. 43]

Sir: I have the honor to report that Greece has so far been able to get along without actually issuing the order for mobilization, which was expected at the beginning of the crisis. The Government has however sent up every available soldier to Saloniki and, to replace the garrisons of Athens and other towns in old Greece, has quietly summoned reservists. Short of a general mobilization, Greece is as well prepared for war as she can be.

Public opinion is strongly pro-French and I also hear that the King, although a brother-in-law of the German Emperor, has shown no preference to side with him. The country needs peace to consolidate its new territories and, if war comes, it will be due to Turkish action.

The German officials in the Balkans have been diligently striving to create a friendly feeling for Germany, even if it should be only a lively sense of gratitude for favors to come; but so far they do not seem to have had much success, and the recent Russian victories have done much to quench the warlike ardor of Bulgaria and Roumania. I do not despair of seeing Greece pull through without fighting.

I have [etc.]

Sheldon Whitehouse