"In the event of an unsatisfactory solution, they are determined in Berlin to intervene by means of a Collective Note which will dictate to us what rights we are to concede to the Jews. Such a step would, of course, arouse national excitement, and only further increase resistance; but this might become a great danger to the country apart from the humiliation which it includes. The question is whether execution would follow intervention, and what shape the execution would take? Italy contents itself with the removal of Article VII. of the Constitution, and likewise England, with the naturalisation of a few Jews. Waddington, however, demands a radical solution, and Berlin insists on the re-purchase of the railways under the conditions imposed by her bankers. The German Chancellor is opposed to us, and all the goodwill of the Emperor is of no avail."
Prince Bismarck informed the Roumanian Government through Count Andrassy that he placed no confidence in their good faith, and that, in his opinion, Roumania was still a dependent State. In the event of her resisting the resolutions of the Berlin Congress he intended to treat with the Suzerain at Constantinople! Count Andrassy in vain represented the difficulty of the Roumanian situation, for Prince Bismarck was armed with the argument that he considered the honour of the German Empire pledged in this matter, whilst England proposed a Collective Note to be executed by the Austrian Cabinet. Yet, despite the threatening aspect of affairs, the Roumanian Chambers became more and more obstinate, and refused to hasten a solution of the constitutional questions involved.
The marriage of the Prince's youngest brother, Frederick, with Princess Louise of Thurn and Paris, took place at Regensburg in June 1879, and the German Emperor and Empress celebrated their golden wedding at Berlin. The same month, however, brought the terrible news of the death of the unfortunate Prince Imperial, who had volunteered for service with the British troops acting against the Zulus. In reply to Prince Charles' letter of sympathy the Empress Eugenie wrote:
"Chislehurst, August 19th, 1879.
"You recall to me the days of happiness, and by recurring to the present you share my illimitable grief.
"Everything has fallen from me, and only two tombs are left of all I loved. I rest near them, and here my isolation seems less great. I have known both extremes and the want of stability of human fortunes. We are wrong in not always fixing our eyes beyond this life on that one where nothing changes, and where we shall rejoin those whom we love to all eternity.
"I beg that you will thank the Princess for the sympathy which my recent and overwhelming misfortune has elicited from in her.
"EUGENIE."
The death of the German Crown Prince's third son, Waldemar, at the early age of eleven, gave occasion to the following letter:
"Potsdam, July 27th, 1879.
"Your kind and sympathetic letter, no less than Elisabeth's deeply touching verses, were very welcome to my poor wife and myself. You both feel with and for us, for God decreed a like trouble for you, and even though your fate was much harder, still we all have to bear the heavy destiny of surviving our children.
"We endeavour to bear God's decree with resignation, but we cannot even now become reconciled to the loss of another son from the happy circle of our family, a son, too, who justified our highest hopes, and already displayed character at an early age. It is so difficult to accustom ourselves to everyday life without our most dearly loved child, for every step reminds us that he will never appear again, and that we must learn to live without our companion.
"... Our life, which, moreover, has never been a tranquil one, had already become gloomy by the moving incidents of last year; with this sorrow it has lost what remaining joy it still had to offer us, and we can only gather satisfaction from the execution of our tasks and duties.
"You very rightly lay stress upon the fact that such grief causes us more than ever to sympathise with others in their sorrow and to seek their society. Many other things are first apparent to us in our time of mourning, and it is certainly through the medium of this chastening that we are to be prepared for a higher calling, which appears dark and mysterious to dwellers on earth. It is not for us to inquire 'Why?' and yet we do so; we are but human beings, to whom the work of Divine justice is hidden here, but will be made clear to us there."
The chivalrous Prince Alexander of Battenberg, who had been elected Prince of Bulgaria, experienced the greatest difficulties in taking over the reins of government, as the following letter shows:
"I am now passing through the same stage as you did last year: devoted with my whole heart to the Czar Alexander, I am anxious to do nothing that can be called anti-Russian. Unfortunately the Russian officials have acted with the utmost want of tact; confusion prevails in every office, and peculation, thanks to Dondukow's decrees, is all but sanctioned. I am daily confronted with the painful alternative of having to decide either to assent to the Russian demands or to be accused in Russia of ingratitude and of 'injuring the most sacred feelings of the Bulgarians.' My situation is truly terrible; I reject everything opposed to my conscience, and therefore have to write daily to the Czar in order to obtain a hearing before the calumnies of the Russian officials shall have had time to reach him. I will tell you everything shortly on the occasion of my visit."