Crémieux, the well-known politician and founder of the _Alliance Israélite_, interviewed the Prince on June 14, 1866, to try to obtain an alteration in the laws enabling Jews to hold land in Roumania, and, acting on the time-honoured maxim of _do ut des_, offered in return for this privilege a loan of £1,000,000 at a low rate of interest. The Prince informed him that the Government had already remembered the condition of the Jews in the draft of the Constitution, since the following paragraphs had been inserted: "Creed is no impediment to naturalisation in Roumania," and "So far as the Jews at present domiciled in Roumania are concerned, a special law will provide for their gradual admission as naturalised citizens." However, as soon as these proposals were laid before the Chamber, a wave of dissent swept over Moldavia, where the anti-dynastic party sought to create trouble by appealing to racial hatred. They succeeded only too well, for a riotous mob destroyed the recently completed synagogue at Bucharest in June 1866. The obnoxious paragraphs of the Constitution were withdrawn owing to the representations of the Jews themselves, who feared further excesses, if the Government persisted in them. The foreign Press eagerly seized the opportunity for spreading the report that, owing to the weakness of the Government, the paragraphs had been withdrawn in obedience to the wishes of the mob. The liberally minded Prince, to show his displeasure at the action of a section of the populace, and at the same time to prove his toleration in matters of religion, subscribed 6,000 ducats from his own purse for the restoration of the wrecked synagogue, but at the same time the Chamber, by passing the clause: "Only Christians can become Roumanian citizens," denied the Jews the possession of any political rights. In April 1867 the Minister of the Interior, J. Bratianu, addressed a circular to all prefects, ordering them to proceed against all "vagabonds" in their districts; as, owing to the abolition of passes, the number of paupers had increased to such an extent as to add seriously to the already enormous difficulties of the Government in feeding the starving inhabitants. England, France, and Austria protested vigorously against this measure, which was chiefly directed against immigrant Jews, and the Emperor Napoleon addressed the following telegram to the Prince on this subject: "I must not leave your Highness in ignorance of the public feeling created here by the persecutions of which the Jews of Moldavia are said to be the victims. I cannot believe that the enlightened Government of your Highness authorises measures so opposed to humanity and civilisation. "NAPOLEON." To which the Prince replied at once: