To facilitate the work of the National Assembly in reaching an unbiased decision on the future constitutional regime, the Gonatas Cabinet decided to ask King George and Queen Elizabeth to leave the country. A bonus of 1,000,000 drachmas and a pension of 1,500,000 drachmas a year were voted to the King.
The Cabinet came to this decision after receiving the following resolution from a group of Army and Navy officers under general Pangalos : 1) That the gulf dividing the Hellenes is due to the Glucksburg dynasty; 2) That the same dynasty, for the sake of its family relationships, prevented Greece from making a timely entry into the late War on the side of the Allies, in spite of the opinion expressed by the people in the elections in 1915;
3) That, owing to King Constantino's personal insistence on the adoption of a treacherous policy in violating the treaty with Serbia, Greece was dishonored;
4) That the surrender to the Germans and the Bulgars of Fort Rupel in East Macedonia with one army corps resulted in the death of 80,000 people;
5) That King Constantino's return, in spite of his knowledge of the consequences, resulted in the Asia Minor calamity;
6) That the honor of the Army and Nation was sacrificed in Asia Minor for the sake of an ignominious crown;
7) That the same dynasty through the present King engineered the recent fratricidal movement endangering the nation simply to strengthen its tottering throne. (This was officially denied by Premier Gonatas.)
The British Charge d'Affaires, C. H. Bentinck, called upon the Premier and announced that while his Government had no intention of interfering in the internal politics of Greece, it could not remain indifferent to the personal safety of King George, a near relative of His Britannic Majesty.* Premier Gonatas assured him that there was no cause for anxiety.
In reply to the Cabinet's invitation to quit the country, King George stressed the fact that he had always kept aloof from politics and that he could not see that by staying in the country he would in any way embarrass the National Assembly. In deference to the wishes of the Cabinet, however, he agreed to leave Greece temporarily, declaring his "deep conviction and warmest wish that the judgment of the National Assembly of the Greek people will be guided by sentiments of love toward the fatherland and national interests."