King Constantine's Reply to President Wilson's Peace Note, December 30, 1916
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King Constantine's Reply to President Wilson's Peace Note, December 30, 19161
I wish to express, Mr. President, feelings of sincere admiration and lively sympathy for the generous initiative you have just taken with the view to ascertaining whether the moment is not propitious for a negotiable end of the bloody struggle raging on earth. Coming from the wise statesman who, in a period so critical for humanity, is placed at the head of the great American Republic, this humanitarian effort, dictated by a spirit of high political sagacity and looking to an honorable peace for all, can not but contribute greatly toward hastening re-establishment of normal life and assuring through a stable state of international relations the evolution of hu- manity toward that progress wherein the United States of America always so largely shares. [Here follows a recital of the trials Greece has suffered from the war.] Such are the conditions in which your proposals find my country. This short and necessarily incomplete recital is not made with the purpose of criticism of the cruel blows at her sovereignty and neu- trality from which Greece has been forced to suffer the effects. I have merely wished to show you, Mr. President, how much the soul of Greece at this moment longs for peace, and how much it appreciates your proposals, which constitute so important a step in the course of the bloody world tragedy of which we are witnesses. CONSTANTINE
1The New York Times, January 1, 1917. For the formal reply of the Greek Government, see post, p. 67.