The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-28 00:00:00

TlmES.—Prince Charles Eitel Frederick Zephyrin
Louis of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen seems to, have
been born under a particularly benignant star. A
younger son in a family reigning, over one of the
most diminutive German Principalities, he passed
at once from the 2d .Regiment of Prussian Dra-
goons, where he filled the rank of supernumerary
Sub-Lieutenant, to the throne of the Danubian
Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, now to
be known as Roumania, a country with above
4,000,000 inhabitants,—very nearly as many as
Bavaria, more than any of the other minor Ger-
man Kingdoms, defunct or extant,—and surpassing
them all in virtual independence, as well as in the
prospects of future growth and importance. By
what secret agency the exaltation of this fortunate
youth was originally promoted will, perhaps, never
be quite clear to the world ; but nothing could be
more propitious than the combination of circum-
stances which subseiueutly favoured it. The vote
of the Roumans and the acceptance of their Prince
Elect were announced as an almost simultaneous
event. It was not at first acknowledged as an ac-
complished fact. It was hardly made a subject for
deliberate comment or diplomatic explanation. It
was simply set aside as an insignificant episode, lost
in the magnitude of the drama which was just then
filling the European stage, and left to find its de-
nouement either in the general catastrophe or in some
separate settlement after it. The war of Bohemia
was neither one day too short nor one day too long
for Prince Charles of Hohenzollern. It called away
public attention from his affairs while it lasted, and
brought about at its close that exhaustion which
disposes great Powers to concession and compro-
mise. Prince Charles may now " congratulate
himself on the good state of his international re-
lations." He has just come back to Bucharest
laden with honours and presents fro:n his nominal
Suzerain, the Sultan. Russia assures him of all
the sympathy which " his descent and the first
acts of his Government" enlist in his behalf.
Austria proposes that a protocol for the recognition
of his hereditary rights should be drawn up by all
the Powers which signed the Treaty of 1856; and
as for France and England, if we had any doubt as
to their mind on the subject, we have the testimony
of our Bucharest Correspondent to the effect that
the good understanding between the Porte and its
Royal vassal was mainly due to the "cordial and
united action" of the Western Powers. On the part
of Prussia we fancy no insuperable objection to a
Hoheuzallern's promotion need be apprehended.
The Moldo- Wallachians have thus obtained at last
what they for a long time wanted—a "Heaven-sent"
Sovereign. Roumania had to long au experience
of Hospodars chosen among its native Boyards to
expect under them either order within or respect
from without. So long as the Porte had only to
deal .with a subject, it hardly realised to its full ex-
tent the downfall of its supremacy in its Danubian
Provinces. But even that poor Sigmaringen purple
gave the Prince born in it the right to feel at home
in the Sublime Presence. We have seen how much
Rnesia is willing to allow for " descent," and any.
deficiency in the late Sub-Lieutenant's Princely title
was more than made up by the distant cousinship of
King Wiliam of Prussia, and possibly by the more
immediate goodwill of Count Bismark. Besides
these adventitious qualifications, it seems that Prince
Charles recommends himself by intrinsic merits. lie
is new in his 27th year, "handsome and chivalrous,"
distinguished by a firmness of purpose tempered by
a conciliatory manner quite surprising in one so
young." He enters heart and soul into the dis-
charge of the duties of his new position. His zeal
for the regeneration of his adopted country is dis-
played in his anxiety to attain local knowledge and
experience. He has established a strong and some-
what stern discipline over himself and his re-
tinue. An Italian, who has been his Mentor since
his accession, having made him aware of the bane
that women have always been in the _Roumanian
Councils, prevailed upon him to "banish the ladies
from Court." That Court, " formerly so charming,
so filled with allurements, intrigues, and fascina-
tions, has become more austere than a Western
cloister—a place of business worthy of Germany."
In despite of this rebuke to their levity and self-in-
dulgence, the most frivolous nobles have not fallen
away from the Prince, while " a genuine loyal en-
thusiasm has sprung up in his favour among the
people throughout the length and breadth of Rou-
mania." It would be rash to foretell what may
prove to be the sequel of a reign that begins under
such cheering auspices. The corruption among the
nobility and the degradation of the populace render
the experiment of self-government in the Principali-
ties extremely hazardous. The proclamation by
which the new Hospodar forbade the interference
of the Government authorities in the late Parlia-
mentary elections has been but indifferently attended
to, and the new Legislature can hardly fail to be the
scene of those factious disorders by which former
Roumanian Assemblies have been invariably cha-
racterised. Faction and strife, however, must needs
be the lot of every nation in its birth-throes. The
Roumanians, like other people, must live and learn.
The rise of their nationality, meanwhile, is a suffi-
ciently significant fact in the Eastern world. It is
a first step towards the practical solution of that
Eastern question which has been for so many years
a riddle no less than a bugbear to European politi-
cians. Wherever the flood of Turkish barbarism
recedes thegerms of Christian civilisation burst forth.
Already the independence which Roumania has in-
disputably attained awakens the emulation of Ser-
via, whose Prince, we are told, asserts " equal rights
with the Hospudar of Roumania," and offers to buy
off the Turkish garrisons by the payment of three
years' tribute in advance. Those four million Rou-
mans, those million Servians, are little more than
nebulm, destined, perhaps, to attain the consistency
of a cluster of stars upon the final extinction of the
rapidly waning Ottoman luminary. 'There can be
no good reason, as we have already said, for wishing
either to hasten or to retard the catastrophe which
is to drive the Turk across the Straits. If the old
Empire dies hard, the new States struggle but slowly
into life. However gloomy and ominous may sound
the anticipations of imminent troubles in the East,
we do not, think that Turkey has anything to fear
at present from the alleged machinations from her
colossal neighbours.; and against her disaffected
subjects she seems to hold her own with sufficient
vigour. However strong the inventive faculties of
Corfu and Athens may be, there seems little doubt
that the struggle iu Candia is reduced to. mere
guerrilla skirmishing, and the Greek Government
will not so far exceed the limits of discretion as to
proceed from words to deeds. For the
.sake of
Greece, no less than of Roumania, of Servia, of all
other rising Eastern nationalities, it is, we believe,
highly desirable that the " explosion of the general
crisis in Turkey" may be put off for a few years
longer. It is not by goading or spurning " the sick
man," not by fretting and plotting and exaggerat-
ing their grievances, that the Eastern Christians
will recommend their cause to the sympathy of the
West. It is by showing to what use they are able