It was, therefore, with the greatest joy that Prince Charles turned from these sordid affairs and devoted himself for a time to his elder brother Leopold. After a separation of a long and anxious three years the brothers met on April 27, shortly before Easter, at the capital of Moldavia, Jassy. Prince Leopold was thus able to witness a striking episode, which occurred as the venerable Metropolitan quitted the Church on Easter morning to announce, in accordance with traditional custom, to all the world: "Christ is risen." At the same moment Prince Charles stepped forward on the daïs, before which some thirty convicts in chains stood waiting the clemency of the Sovereign, and ordered their fetters to be struck off to commemorate the holy hour. It was an affecting moment! The clatter of the falling chains imparted a bitter-sweet tone of gladness and sorrow amidst the universal rejoicings of the great festival of the Eastern Church.
The visit of the Hereditary Prince was, however, spoilt by the terrible downpour of rain, which prevented most of the festivities in his honour. Many of the smaller bridges were carried away by the floods, and on one occasion the Hohenzollern Princes were in imminent danger of being swept away by a mountain torrent. Prince Otto[12] of Bavaria passed through Bucharest on his way to Constantinople; but, strangely enough, his arrival was announced through the Consul-General of Austria and not by the North German Consul. At a dinner given in his honour the Prince displayed great amiability, but Prince Charles noticed with regret the great melancholy with which Prince Otto's mind appeared to be surrounded.
Prince Leopold, accompanied by his brother, set out on his homeward journey on June 7, and visited Kalafat, Turnu Severin, and Orsowa, where a monument had been erected to commemorate the recovery of the stolen crown of Hungary. After taking an affectionate farewell of his brother, Prince Charles returned, lonely and rather downcast, to his work in Bucharest.
Prince Ypsilanti, the Greek Ambassador at Paris, awaited the return of the Prince to lay before him the draft of a treaty between Roumania and Greece. The proposals aimed at nothing less than the "complete independence of Roumania and the Greek provinces of Turkey" by means of a combined action of the two rulers, which was to take place six months after the necessary arrangements had been settled. The numbers to be employed, and the support of an insurrection in Bulgaria were also touched upon.
Prince Charles, however, adopted the same reserved attitude towards these startling proposals as he had done on a previous occasion, when Prince Ypsilanti, as early as May, brought a letter from the King of Greece thanking Prince Charles for his sympathy in the late crisis, and excusing the delay in replying.
"I have not hesitated to comply with the decision of the Paris Conference on being confronted by the alternative, due to the ill-will of Europe towards the heroic struggle in Crete, of either allowing the insurrection to extend in that island without any practical result, or of commencing a war with Turkey, which was fraught with disadvantageous conditions for Greece." This bitter decision would not have been in vain if it sufficed to prove to the Christian nations of the East that they must first be strong enough to achieve their rights by force before they could attempt to throw off the Turkish yoke.
Prince Charles's reply ran thus:
"You cannot doubt, Sire, that I share with all my heart the sentiments expressed in your letter, and sympathise with the painful impressions which you recall. The community of interests in politics and religion between Greece and Roumania, as well as the identity of their commercial interests in so many points, naturally imposes upon us the duty of endeavouring zealously on both sides to strengthen the bonds which already unite the two nations. This tendency will respond to my dearest wishes."