THE PRINCE AND THE MAID OF HONOUR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 211, 5 September 1891, Page 4

THE PRINCE AND THE MAID OF HONOUR.

(National Observer, July 11.) Ten yearß ago Karl von Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, who had ruled the united principalities ot Wallachia and Moldavia uuder the modeßt but genteel tide of prince, wi\s proclaimed King of Roumfi.nia 5 and oenturieß of misrule and unrest— the result partly of Turkish suzerainty, partly of Bubsion aggression, and partly of the rivalries of the leading families— have been succeeded by a period of comparative calm under King Carol. What was the wretched cause of the Crimean War haß ceased to interest or embarrass European statecraft. The Treaty of Paris recognised the independence of Wallachia and Moldavia, and permitted them to unite under one ruler, and in 1859 a native gentleman named Oouza was elected " Hosjpo-* dar," But, seven years of jealousies and intrigues havingoulminated in therevolutionof 1866, by whioh Couza waa forced to abdicate, the leading men determined that the only way to seoure freedom from domestic faction was to ohoose a foreign sovereign, The House of Hohenzollern, of oourse, produoed the suooeßßful candidate ; and Carol I, who is not destitute ot the Kingly qualities ot his raoe, has given general satisfaction. He married what the Pall Mall Gazette would oall a " lady poet "—the gified and restlees being indeed who has attained to notoriety under tho name of Carmen Sylva. She was a princess of the mediatised house of Neuwied an insignificant family with a castle well-known to them that journey in the caravans of Mr Cook. The marriage having failed to provide for the continuance of the Hohenzollern in Roumania, the succession to the throne waa settled upon Carol's nephew, Ferdinand, and this young gentleman's love affairs have thrilled Bucharest to the coreno less. , A certain nobleman, Wadaohian or Moldavian, named Varoaresco, has represented King Carol at Vienna for Borne time; his daughter, meanwhile, has been a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth— for that is Car« men Sylva's professional name ; and Prince Ferdinand, forgetting that even in these modern days who would be kings mußt love according to the rules of the Foreign Office, fell desperately in love with Mademoiselle Varcaresco. Had King Carol and Prince Ferdifland been left to settle the matter between themselves, probably no harm would have come of ifc, and the Prince might well have found in travel, not merely distraction, but an alliance with the House of Guelph. Carmen Sylvia, however, was anxious to be more than a Queeu and a lady poet ; she determined to play the part of a dynastic destiny, and of course she came to utter grief, A marriage between King Carol's heir and the daughter of a leading Roumanian House would result— King Carol's advisers holdin replunging the country into those domestic feuds and broils from which it is but now in course of deliverance ; and so it has come to pass that, despite the production of touching photographs of the Queen with the lovers at her royal and poetic feet, and deßpite the frequent appearance of her Majesty in places of publio resort, accompanied only by the prince and the maid of honour, publio policy is in the ascendant; Carmen Sylva has taken to her bed ; while Varcaresoo pere is no longer ambassador at Vienna. Prince Ferdinand is in despair, and King Carol (whose opinions as to the merits of his consort's poetry would just now be iwell worth having) wishes he could keep order in his own family. The Roumanians claim descent from Trajan's colonists. It is a crime to suggest that many of these gentlemen left Rome at the expense of the Empire for the Empire's good ; just aa it is ocoa sionally indiscreet to look too closely into ancestry in New South Wales. But, however descended, and however mixed his race (and mixed it certainly is), the Roumanian noble has something of Roman pride and something of Roman dignity about him still ; and to raise to the purple the daughter of one whose descent from Trajan's colonists is Jess clearly proved than that of some of hie neighbours were to visit Roumania with a revolution. As ifc is, this piece of very German schwarmerei has raised a European difficulty, and it will take all King Carol's statecraft to counteract the effeclß of his talented consort's oraving for romance. Roumania is as large as England ; it com» mands the Danube ; its army is some 20,000 strong, not counting the reserve, which is large, bufc probably useless ; and it is on tbe marches of Russia. Internal peace is therefore absolutely necessary. For such a revo« lution as might eaßily ensue from Carmen Sylva's impertinent interference in matters beyond her province and concern would give Russia an opportunity. And, in spite of railways, the lower reaches of the Danube are still a territorial prize.