The result of the Paris Conference was that Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was chosen as Hereditary Prince of Roumania, much to the consternation of the Turks, who saw in this practical abandonment of their suzerainty, the approaching disintegration of their Empire, and therefore began to threaten an occupation of the Principalities. This they were dissuaded from attempting, and the efforts of British diplomacy were directed towards obtaining a recognition of Prince Charles on reasonable terms, a task which was not facilitated by the Sultan's sudden dismissal of the capable Grand Vizier, Fuad Pasha, or by the refusal of the Roumanians to behave with even decent courtesy towards the Porte. A prodigious amount of negotiation and correspondence passed with reference to the Investiture of the Prince by the Sultan, and that the fault lay with the Roumanians is shown by the following extract from a letter[7] written in August: 'The Turks have been wonderfully yielding and moderate about the Principalities, and if there had been anything of the same spirit at Bucharest, Prince Charles would have been invested long ago. There is a hitch now, and there will be at least more delay.' In this troublesome matter the English and the French Governments worked together in order to arrive at a satisfactory solution, and the much-denounced M. de Moustier seems to have done something to help his colleague.
Lord Lyons to Lord Stanley.[8]
Constantinople, Sept. 12, 1866.
M. de Moustier sets out for Paris this day week. He and I have been very good colleagues. Since Lord Clarendon decided to advise the Porte to recognize Prince Charles, M. de Moustier and I have worked cordially together to settle the Principalities question in that sense, and I hope the thing may be done before he goes. A stable honest government in the Principalities is the best thing for all parties, and the recognition of Prince Charles is the obvious means of arriving at this. Whether he will prove a success or a failure will depend upon his character and his ability to govern through the constitutional forms, for the Hospodar must in fact for some time be a Cæsar or he will soon be nothing.
M. de Moustier is not at all liked by his other colleagues here, and he has inspired the Turks with more fear than love. As he and I have not differed on any serious matter (except just at first about the Suez Canal), I cannot very well say how I should have liked him as an opponent.
The Turks seem horribly afraid of Benedetti as his successor. I wish the mantle had fallen upon Mercier, with whom I got on so well at Washington.
It is strange to learn that Prince Charles, who has since developed into a model constitutional monarch, produced at first the impression of being a perfect firebrand, full of ambitious schemes, and actually credited with the design of eventually establishing himself as 'The Charlemagne of the East.' Mr. Green, the British Minister at Bucharest, thought it desirable to give him some paternal advice, upon his own responsibility, telling him that the Roumanians had no intention of putting up with a mere show Prince; that he would have to work hard; that great mistakes had been made since his arrival in the country, that these would eventually be visited upon his head, and that he should take warning from the fate of Couza. 'He was very polite,' added Mr. Green, innocently, 'but I don't think he half liked what I said, or that he quite understood it. It was probably the first time he had heard the truth since he has been in the country.'
Foreign princes who undertake to govern Balkan States, however, often have to put up with worse things than unpalatable truths, and the conduct of Prince Charles and his advisers with reference to the question of investiture was of a nature which not only justified strong language, but necessitated strong pressure from France and England. After bargaining and haggling for several months, and obtaining all sorts of concessions from the Porte, the Roumanians actually proposed that 'in order to meet existing difficulties' the Prince should be invested at Constantinople without any conditions at all. The chief stumbling block appears to have the phrase 'partie intégrante,' in the Declaration, and it was not until it had been made clear that neither France nor England would recognize the Prince unless this condition was complied with that the sacramental words were agreed to. Eventually more reasonable views prevailed at Bucharest, and Prince Charles at last proceeded to Constantinople for the ceremony of Investiture. The Turks, as is their wont, received him with great courtesy, and the impression he created was of the most favourable kind, the only person who exhibited dissatisfaction being the Russian Minister.