Extraordinary difficulties met him at once in the beginning of his reign. Russia regarded him with an unfriendly eye, Austria treated him as an enemy, and Turkey found fault with all he did. Added to this the lax discipline of the army, the untrustworthiness of the officials, low finances, persecution of the Jews, and a crisis in the ministry! The ruler of this land, thus shattered by the strife of parties, had need of a firm will and unshaken confidence in the success of his enterprise if he would restore it to order. But Prince Charles had undertaken the position with a true sense of his heavy responsibilities. In a very short time he realised the grave difficulties of the task. Every affair of State or question of law, and even the practical affairs of the country, were submitted to his careful judgment. Restlessly active himself, he demanded much work and great perseverance from his ministers. In order to understand the wants of the people and the faults of the administration, Prince Charles constantly travelled through the length and breadth of his country. With a discerning glance he sought to find those men from amongst his subjects who combined a knowledge of the affairs of their country with true patriotism. He could consequently be assured of their help when he called them to his side as councillors. In order to unite Roumania with the rest of Europe new roads of communication were opened, the teaching in church and school improved, and the reforms in the army begun on a large scale. Prince Charles steadily pursued his plans of reform, though his endeavours were misconstrued by those who wished him ill, and he had often to face the greatest difficulties because many of his ideas did not succeed at once. He well knew that many years must go by before Roumania could be radically improved, and that his reforms must be progressive and slow. He awaited a time of lasting success with the wisdom and perseverance of a true statesman. He might well say: “I stand here alone at this distant post as sentry facing the East. And as a captain on a stormy sea must stand by his ship by night and day, so must I keep watch and ward.” True to his oath, he identified himself with his people from the moment that he undertook the government of the Danubian principalities. He had done this with a high sense of duty and the conscientiousness of a true German.