Prince Charles replied to Count Bismarck's letter on January 27, 1871, thanking him for the sympathy he had shown for the ruler of Roumania, if not for the country itself, and assuring him of the heartfelt interest and joy with which the recent military events in France inspired him. He continued: "The situation here is serious; for the present I can avail myself of the Party intrigues to maintain my position as long as I consider it suitable and advisable. I have to act like a ship's captain, who must remain at his post day and night during a storm. The waves now sweep my ship to the skies, now dash it down to the depths, but as surely as God is my helper I will not let it be wrecked! To-day the crew would willingly throw me overboard, but a few of them still possess sufficient intelligence to know that I alone can steer them safely into port. "I will not lose sight of two points; I intend to bring my name clean and unspotted out of this turmoil, but I will not heartlessly and without a conscience leave _le déluge après moi_. This refers, above all, to the finances, the desertion of which might be fraught with grave danger both at home and abroad." The letter already referred to, in which Prince Charles set forth the reasons which led him to think of abdicating, was published in the columns of the _Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung_, and created the greatest excitement in Roumania. A discussion in the Chamber upon the authenticity of this document took place on February 11, 1871, when a Deputy, N. Blaramberg, declared that either the letter was a forgery, or that the Prince was about to abdicate and leave Roumania to the tender mercies of its enemies. "A Prince who quits his country in its hour of danger may be compared to a deserter or a traitor to the State!" The President of the Ministry was unable to deny the authenticity of the document, but assured the Chamber that the views contained in it, if they were ever actually current, prevailed no longer. Cogalniceanu then proposed the following counter-resolution: "The Chamber, deeply moved by the explanations communicated by the Ministry, expresses its devotion to the Throne and Dynasty, guaranteed by the Constitution, and proceeds to the order of the day with every confidence in the future of the country, and in the firm resolve to adhere to the Constitution." An infinitely more loyal tone prevailed in the Senate, where the contents of Prince Charles's letter were also discussed. A resolution was carried with only four dissentients to the effect that the chief duty of the Senate lay in supporting the Sovereign whom the nation had so enthusiastically elevated to the throne, and that the consolidation of the dynasty was indissolubly bound up with the peace, existence, and political development of the country.