The Roumanian delegate, Joan Bratianu, arrived at Düsseldorf on Good Friday 1866, to lay the offer of the Roumanian people before Prince Charles and his father. In an audience granted by the latter on the following day, March 31, Bratianu announced the intention of the _Lieutenance Princière_, inspired by Napoleon III., to advance Prince Charles Anthony's second son, Charles, as a candidate for the throne of the Principalities. Bratianu succeeded in obtaining a private interview with Prince Charles the same evening, in order to acquaint the latter with the political situation, and to point out the danger which must inevitably be incurred if the present Provisional Government remained in power. Prince Charles replied that he possessed courage enough to accept the offer, but feared that he was not equal to the task, adding that nothing was known of the intentions of the King of Prussia, without whose permission, as chief of the family, he could not take so important a step. He therefore declined for the moment to give any definite answer to the proposals of the Roumanian Government. Bratianu returned to Paris, after promising to take no immediate steps in the matter. Prince Charles Anthony without delay addressed a memorial regarding this offer to the King of Prussia, and clearly defined the circumstances which had led to his taking this step. A similar communication was forwarded to the President of the Prussian Ministry. A few days later Prince Charles arrived in Berlin, and at once visited the King, the Crown Prince, and Prince Frederick Charles, as he reported in a letter to his father: "The King made no mention of the Roumanian question at the interview, but the Crown Prince, on the other hand, entered into a minute discussion with me, and did not appear to be at all against the idea. The only thing that displeased him was that the candidature was inspired by France, as he feared that the latter might demand a rectification of the frontier from Prussia in return for this good office. I replied that I did not consider that the Emperor Napoleon had thought of such a bargain, but had been induced to take the initiative in this matter by family feeling rather than by any selfish consideration. The Crown Prince, moreover, considered it a great honour that so difficult a task had been offered to a member of the House of Hohenzollern. Prince Frederick Charles also at once started upon a minute discussion of the Roumanian question. He seemed to be intimately acquainted with the issue, and volunteered the opinion that I was intended for better things than to rule tributary Principalities: he therefore advised me to decline the offer." The following telegram, published in the Press, was handed to Prince Charles as he was sitting with his comrades at the regimental mess-table: "BUCHAREST, _13th April_.