d) 'ALEXANDER JOHN.'

'This has been my wish for a long time,' said the Prince after having
signed; 'but circumstances not dependent upon myself have caused me to
postpone. Spite of all this, I was willing to do it in May.'

* * * * *

After he had signed the act of abdication the conspirators made him
dress, and led him to a carriage where Ch----, in the dress of a
coachman, received him and drove him to the house of M. Ciocarlanu.
Madame ----, on the other hand, was taken home to her own house after
she had habited herself. Immediately after Couza's arrest the bells rang
out a merry peal, a band of music struck up before the theatre, and
masses of people collected before the palace where the Provisional
Government had installed itself, and shortly afterwards issued the
following proclamation:--

'Roumanians,

During seven years you have shown Europe what can be effected by
patriotism and civic virtue. Unhappily you were mistaken in your
selection of the prince whom you called to lead the nation. Anarchy
and corruption, violation of the laws, squandering of the national
finances, degradation of the country at home and abroad, these have
characterised the conduct of this culpable Government. Roumanians,
the princely _locum-tenens_ will maintain the constitutional
government in its integrity. It will uphold public order, and
remove personal ambition from the altar of the Fatherland.

'Roumanians, by the election of a foreigner as Prince of Roumania,
the votes of the Divan will become an accomplished fact.'

Let us add a few words concerning this proceeding. We have heard blame
attributed to the revolutionists, who, as already stated, comprised the
leading statesmen of the country, for using force in order to ensure
Couza's abdication, and so far as the mere legality of the document is
concerned, his signature, thus obtained, was of course valueless. But in
order to be able to form a correct opinion on the crisis and the acts of
the revolutionists, it would be necessary to understand not only the
character of the prince (which would alone have justified extreme
measures, if one half be true that has been written concerning him), but
also to estimate the effect of any delay that might have arisen from a
more pacific and deliberate course of action. The popular leaders had
not forgotten the lessons of 1848, and it was not likel