(3) The special regulations as to the march of the Russian troops to form the subject of a special treaty.
(4) The Roumanian Government to obtain the ratification required by the Constitution, and to proceed at once to the execution of the stipulations of the treaty.
The Turkish reinforcements of the forces at Rustchuk and Schumla caused the greatest excitement in Bucharest, indeed in the whole of Roumania. Public opinion, influenced perhaps by the recent failure of the Servian army in the field, declined to place any confidence in the military efficiency of the Roumanian troops. The incessant and exaggerated rumours of Turkish raids and passages of the Danube created something like a panic in the capital, and several over-anxious inhabitants quitted the country rather than run the risk of experiencing the horrors of a Turkish invasion. Prince Charles, however, had every trust and confidence in the ability of his army to prevent the Turks from crossing the Danube.
CHAPTER IX
THE ARMY
By no means the least of the Prince's tasks was the reorganisation and training of the Roumanian army, which at the time of his accession was in the most deplorable condition. Moulded on the pattern of the French army of 1859, and trained by a French mission militaire, it reproduced many of the defects of the army, which failed so utterly in 1870, and yet missed those qualities which saved the Imperial army of France from dishonour in the field. The young Prince was fully aware of the potent influence for good that a well-disciplined army exerts upon the welfare of a nation, and determined from the first to employ the highest moral and material resources of his country to establish an army which, if not formidable in numbers, should at least be worthy of respect in point of quality. His nine years' service in the Prussian artillery and cavalry had given him a thorough knowledge of the minutiæ of military routine and discipline, whilst his active service on the staff of the Crown Prince in 1864, and his familiar intercourse with the leaders of the Prussian army had helped to train him in the art of command. Prince Charles realised that a weak State like Roumania, surrounded by its powerful neighbours, Russia, Austria, and Turkey, must place its army, on a thoroughly satisfactory footing, unless it were content to play the unsatisfactory part of being forced to side, possibly against its will, with whatever State was first to mobilise its forces, whilst its very weakness might be the cause of a war. The safety and welfare of Roumania, he was firmly convinced, rested on a sound military constitution, by means of which its independence would some day be achieved on the field of battle. No pains, therefore, and no exertions were too great to devote to the training of his troops, who soon learnt to look up to him as their example in all that a soldier should be. His absolute impartiality and justice, his care for their well-being, and his knowledge of every detail of warfare, made him as popular with his officers as with his men.
From the outset Prince Charles endeavoured to mould the spirit of his officers on that to which he had been accustomed in Prussia. Shortly after his accession, he received a round robin from the officers of the army, desiring that those officers who had taken part in the Revolution of February 23, 1866, should be dismissed from the army. Prince Charles received the deputation in the Palace and addressed them as follows:
"I have accepted your address, first, because I respect the feeling which has dictated this step; and secondly, that I might have an occasion of informing you of my views upon military honour and the duties of a soldier.
"An address is apt to assume the appearance of moral pressure, such as no soldier can be permitted to exercise over the supreme head of the army.
"The soldier's oath demands absolute obedience. Neither the acts of the head of the army, nor the motives which lead to them, admit of criticism; politics must have no influence on the soldier, whose sole duty it is to defend with his last breath his Sovereign and his country against every enemy.
"I am fully convinced that you share my views, and recognise that your action is from every military standpoint inadmissible. It is on that account that I desire you to trust to my military judgment, and to leave to me to act in all that concerns the army according to my own conviction and sense of duty.
"At the same time, I repeat, I appreciate the honourable feeling on which this address is based; but I also again urge that I demand at all times devotion and unreserved obedience from each one of you.
"I have been and am still a soldier by inclination; and it is for that reason, as well as on account of the importance to the country of a well-disciplined army, that one of my most cherished aims will be to secure for it the position to which it has every right to aspire. I shall endeavour to become well acquainted with the army and its leaders, that I may be able to decide according to merit and justice, by utterly rejecting all party or personal interest.
"Reckon confidently on this promise, and remember that I have come to create a future, and not to rely upon the precedents of a past which I ignore, and of which I would even prefer to remain ignorant."