The _Agence Havas_ reported from Madrid on July 3 that the Spanish Ministry had decided upon the candidature of the Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern, and that a deputation were already on their way to the Prince. This news caused the greatest excitement throughout Paris, and the French Ambassador at Berlin was commissioned to express to the Foreign Office the "painful surprise" caused by these tidings. The Prussian Secretary of State replied that the matter did not concern the Prussian Government. The excitement of the Parisian Press increased from hour to hour, whilst the Duc de Gramont, in an interview with the Prussian Ambassador, declared that the Emperor would never tolerate the candidature of a Hohenzollern Prince; and M. Ollivier, who was also present, expressed the same opinion. Gramont also openly accused Prince Charles of having induced his brother to take this step, and remarked to M. Strat, the Roumanian agent: "As soon as Prince Charles conspires against the interests of France, it is only fair that we should do our best to overthrow him, and we shall at once commence action in the event of a war with Prussia, in order to satisfy public opinion, which has so often reproached the Emperor with having sent a Hohenzollern to the Danube." King William wrote to Prince Charles Anthony on the 10th, mentioning that France was obviously bent upon war, and that he was as willing to sanction Leopold's withdrawal as he had formerly been to assent to his acceptance of the offered throne. Two days later the Hereditary Prince withdrew his name by means of a telegram from his father to Marshal Prim: "Having regard to the complicated interests which appear to oppose the candidature of my son Leopold for the Spanish throne, and the painful position which recent events have created for the Spanish people by offering them an alternative where their sense of liberty alone can guide them, and being convinced that under such circumstances their votes, on which my son counted in accepting the candidature, can neither be sincere nor spontaneous, I withdraw from the position in his name. "PRINCE OF HOHENZOLLERN. "SIGMARINGEN, _July 12th, 1870_." The unexpected and unheard-of demands which Benedetti was forced by his Government to submit to King William at Ems shattered the last hopes of peace, and France declared war against Prussia. In spite of the nationality of their Prince, the Roumanian nation sided entirely with France: "Wherever the banner of France waves, there are our sympathies and interests." The Chamber demanded that the Government should explain the policy it intended to adopt with regard to the belligerent parties, but, though the Ministry adhered to a strictly neutral attitude, a motion was passed to the effect that the sympathies of Roumania would always be with the Latin race.