"May God give His blessing to your now independent Government and bless you, your consort, and your country!
"Your sincere Cousin and Friend,
"WILLIAM."
From Prince Bismarck, May 20th, 1880.
"I share your Royal Highness's regret that the acquisitions resulting from the peace, apart from the dissolution of the relations to the Porte, were not in proportion with the achievements and valour of your Royal Highness's army; but, having regard to the dignity and weight of the Powers by which Roumania is surrounded, and also to the difficulty of securing a modus vivendi amongst them, which would give us peace for the time being, I do not know of any possible means by which greater advantages could have been obtained for Roumania.
"The difficulty of the historical situation is that on the far bank of the Danube there are no national points d'appui to strengthen Roumania, and, on the other side, the population belongs to the two great neighbouring Empires. To live in peace with these is necessary for the consolidation of affairs, and to select at least one of them as a certain ally will always be the object of Roumanian policy. In this historical situation the acquisition of the Dobrudscha was a pis-aller, whose favourable aspect—the possession of the sea-coast—will increase in value during the further development of your resources."
In reply to his father, who urged him to fulfil his promise to return home after an absence of six years, Prince Charles wrote:
"The still incomplete negotiations about the Arab-Tabia question will unfortunately cause a slight delay in our departure for abroad. The reason why the Powers delay so long in completing a matter which has reached its last stage is unintelligible. In order partly to give way to Russia, they intend to grant Bulgaria a territorial compensation. An exchange of notes has arisen on this point, and we have directed our Ambassadors to express the expectation that the frontier defined by the International Commission will be adhered to. However, in the end it will be Roumania qui payera les pots cassés—i.e., they will give us with one hand what they take away with the other!"