"It is with a view to avoiding such misunderstandings that my august master is sending his aide-de-camp, General Count Ignatieff, to Bucharest. He will explain to you the views of the Imperial Cabinet, with the general tendency of which your Excellency is already acquainted. You know that we desire to do everything for Roumania that is possible in the field of diplomacy. But your Excellency knows also that we have interests and rights to guard which we cannot forego. What we expect from the Roumanian Government is a just and rational appreciation of its situation and ours. This is the way in which the traditions which unite Roumania to Russia may be perpetuated and consolidated. Your country owes its past to us, and I believe that it will also find in us its most solid support in the future. I reckon on the keen intelligence of your Excellency and of the President of the Council to see to it that high and statesmanlike views shall prevail over party passions at a moment which may be decisive for the relations between our countries." Count Ignatieff did not mention the proposed cession of Bessarabia to Prince Charles until the latter questioned him on this point. The Prince then declared his inability to accede to this exchange, which he felt convinced did not emanate from the Czar, but from his Majesty's political _entourage_. The Russian envoy subsequently touched upon the possibility of Prince Charles being elected to the throne of Bulgaria, and even asked what would be his attitude should such an offer be made. The Prince, needless to say, answered evasively, and at once turned the conversation. The Roumanian Agent in Paris reported on the 25th that neither M. Waddington, Lord Lyons, nor Prince Hohenlohe were informed of the Russian demands on Bessarabia, and that he had come to the conviction that the question of the proposed cession excited very little interest amongst the Powers, whilst not even Germany was expected to protest against the action of Russia. The papers relating to the recent diplomatic correspondence were laid before a secret sitting of the Chamber and the Senate on February 4. Amidst the greatest excitement, the representatives of the nation declared that Roumania would preserve the integrity of its territory to the last, with armed force if necessary. A resolution embodying the claims of Roumania to the consideration of Russia, and referring to the guarantee of the Powers, as well as to the promise contained in the Convention of March 4, 1877, was adopted unanimously by the Chamber and by a large majority in the Senate.