Eventually, on January 2, 1872, the Chamber decided to offer the bondholders two alternatives:
(a) To take over the rights and obligations of the first concession, to complete the railways in three years with an annual grant of nine millions towards the coupons; the payment of the last year's interest, and the restitution of the deposit to be obtained from Strousberg.
(b) To transfer all their rights to the Roumanian State, which pledged itself to pay off the bonds (to be exchanged for State papers) in forty-nine years' time by an annual payment of eleven millions.
Three weeks later the Prince had the satisfaction of informing his father that the vexed question appeared to be solved at last.
"You can hardly imagine what I have lived through during the last weeks of the old year! Excitements, anxieties, and hopes changed with every day. Day after day passed without any result, or any hope of solving the unfortunate railway question: such a strain on the nerves might have caused the strongest man to give way. At first weeks passed before the matter reached the order of the day, then the preliminary debates lasted fully four days; the result was by no means certain the first two days, as the Opposition brought all its batteries into action. I breathed again on the evening of the fourth day, and the city also calmed down at once from its former feverish excitement. The agitators are afraid that the settlement of the railway question, which they had made a dynastic one, has robbed them of their last dangerous weapon....
"The Opposition used Von Radowitz's declaration in Constantinople—that the Emperor was directly interested in an arrangement—with much skill and perfidy, drawing the deduction that the House of Hohenzollern was mixed up in this dirty business. It is much too hackneyed and ridiculous to be even annoyed about!"
The expense of the many reforms initiated by the Prince also contributed to the chronic want of money. For instance, a report by M. Jepureanu on June 9, 1874, showed the existence of a floating debt of fifty-seven million francs, which was out of all proportion to the resources of an agricultural country, where a failure of the crops occurred about once in six years. It was further stated that of late years, in spite of all the new taxation, the expenditure had always exceeded the receipts.
To Prince Charles Anthony, January 26th, 1875.
"Only a few days ago I was confidently looking to the immediate future, and hoped that the Roumanian railway system, which I had achieved for the country after such severe struggles, would soon be opened for traffic. I believed that this intolerable affair, which has cost me several years of my life, was finally settled, and looked forward to enjoying the fruits of my labour. But no! To-day the railways are again the disturbing element. After great effort I had achieved the stability and peace so necessary for the development of the country: domestic affairs had become consolidated, and abroad we enjoyed respect and confidence. All this may again be at stake.
"... The Berlin Company must raise a loan of seventy-five million francs to pay the debts incurred in construction; in so doing they want our support, and ask for a law giving this loan preferential rights in the annuities. This is, of course, out of the question, as the former creditors must always have the first claim.... We do not conceal the seriousness of the situation, the more so since the German Government urgently requests us to give way to the entreaties of the company, and so prevent a catastrophe which would principally be felt by the shareholders. In the event of our inability to regulate this affair the German Government would in future be compelled to withhold the exercise of its benevolent interest in Roumania!