"It pains me to be able to give no other counsel to your Highness and to offer you no better hopes. But I know that your patriotic sympathy and hearty joy at the successes of our German army, and at the glory which surrounds the revered head of our King, will not be affected even by the painful experience your Highness has endured, and I conclude with the hope that your wishes for an honourable and safe peace may soon be fulfilled." The letter addressed to the Sultan, which had been delayed until an answer was received from the British Ambassador, was eventually forwarded by the Prince with a voluntary explanation of the delay. Ali Pacha in reply expressed the concern with which the Sultan had heard of the critical situation of affairs in the Principalities. At the same time Prince Charles was informed from a trustworthy source that in Constantinople, as well as in other places, his position was considered untenable. "The Government of Prince Charles is universally recognised to have had its day, and the representatives of the Powers here are more occupied in considering what may happen after the departure of the Prince than in any scheme for prolonging his rule. Sir H. Elliott goes furthest of all, and already speaks of commissaries who must be sent to the Principalities, and whose departure he wishes to take place at once...." The same writer, Count Keyserling, also adjured the Prince to hope for no outside aid. "The only choice, therefore, lies between the continuance of the present _régime_, to which even your Highness's worst foe could not advise you, and a separation from a country and a nation which, oblivious of the fact that their Prince has shown an almost superhuman devotion to his duties, have sinned a thousand times against the person of their ruler, whom they themselves elected, and to whom they took the oath of allegiance and obedience. "The Grand Vizier asked me in a very significant manner: 'Do you think that, after Prince Charles's experience, another Prince of a reigning house could be found for Roumania?'--and then answered his own question: 'Except, perhaps, Prince Napoleon, I can think of no one; and we desire to have nothing at all to do with him--as little as with a republic.'"