Constantin Cantacuzino (died 1877)

Constantin G. Cantacuzino, also known as Costache Cantacozino or Costandin Cantacuzino ( transitional Cyrillic: Кonстanтin Кanтaкozino; 1790s–1877), was the ''Caimacam'' (Regent) of Wallachia in September 1848–June 1849, appointed directly by the Ottoman Empire. A member of the Cantacuzino family, he had emerged as a leader of the conservative boyardom during the ''Regulamentul Organic'' period. As a commander in the Wallachian militia, he organized in 1831 the first elections for Bucharest's Town Council, and subsequently served as one of the Bucharest Governors. He first played a major part in national government from 1837 to 1842, when he served Prince Alexandru II Ghica as ''Postelnic'' and ''Logothete''. During that interval, he clashed with his own brother Grigore Cantacuzino, who sided with the liberal current.

Falling out of favor with the Russian Empire, Cantacuzino was deposed ahead of Ghica himself, and was an unsuccessful candidate in the princely election of December 1842. After years in self-imposed exile, Cantacuzino returned with the Ottoman Army in September 1848, helping to quell the 1848 Revolution—although his own son, Ion C. Cantacuzino, had been active within the revolutionary movement. Supervised by Fuad Pasha, Constantin sent the revolutionary leadership, including his immediate predecessors, into exile. He then oversaw the imprisonment and mistreatment of various others, being allegedly responsible for the death in custody of writer Ion Catina. He also disarmed the rebel forces, while restoring both ''Regulamentul'' and its symbols of power, as well as reintroducing slavery.

Cantacuzino resigned when Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei took over as Prince, but remained active within Știrbei's successive governments, being granted the office of Great ''Vornic''. He opposed the Prince's views on agrarian reform, taking an ultra-conservative stance which favored indentured servitude for Wallachian farmers. Throughout the early 1850s, Cantacuzino actively sought the crown of Wallachia for himself, championing Ottoman loyalism. His in-law Nicolae Mavros also attempted to make him ruler of both Danubian Principalities.

Cantacuzino's final moment in power was in late July 1854, during an interregnum caused by the Crimean War. He became the president of an Administrative Council created by Mikhail Dmitrievich Gorchakov just before the Russian withdrawal from Wallachia. The Ottomans then recognized him as head of a caretaker government, jointly with Constantin Năsturel-Herescu, although both resigned after Știrbei's second return that September. After rallying with a larger conservative coalition, he served a final ministerial term in 1856, became a minor contender in the princely election of 1859, and was Vice President of the resulting Ad hoc Divan. In this capacity, he streamlined the election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as ''Domnitor''. While the ''Caimacam'' spent the remainder of his life abroad, his sons Ion and Adolf remained active in the administration of the United Principalities. Constantin was the father-in-law of General Gheorghe Manu, as well as the grandfather of microbiologist Ioan Cantacuzino and of poet Scarlat Cantacuzino.

Biography

Early life

Of distant Greek origins, the Cantacuzinos had reached prominence in both Wallachia and Moldavia, which were governed as tributary states of the Ottoman Empire. According to diverging accounts, Constantin was born in 1791, 1793, or "about 1798". His father was the ''Clucer'' Gheorghe (Iordache) Cantacuzino (1747–1803), grandson of Constantin I Cantacuzino; through his two paternal great-grandparents, Constantin descended from Michael Kantakouzenos Şeytanoğlu and Prince Radu Șerban. Constantin was born from Gheorghe's marriage to Maricuța, daughter of '' Ban'' Ștefan Pârșcoveanu. The couple had another son, Grigore (1800–1849), who also served as Wallachia's ''Vornic''.

Cantacuzino's involvement with the Wallachian administration began during the late stages of the Phanariote era, when both Principalities were being Hellenized. He first became a titled boyar in 1813, under Prince John Caradja, when he was appointed ''Serdar'' of the Wallachian military forces; in 1820, he was an ''Aga'', or head of Wallachia's police. In 1821, following the Greek War of Independence and the anti-Phanariote uprising, he and his family took refuge in the Austrian Empire, joining a colony of boyars in Corona (Brașov). An anonymous letter, tentatively dated to April 1821, cites him as one of the boyars attracted into the anti-Phanariote faction of this diaspora, alongside Grigore Brâncoveanu, Scarlat Rosetti and Alexandru Vilara.

The ''Aga'' had returned home by 1822, the probable year of his marriage to Zoe Slătineanu, from whom he had his four children. In 1828, under Grigore IV Ghica, he issued the first-ever decree regulating Wallachia's police, which also marked a first step in its transition to modern metropolitan law enforcement. That year, he was also appointed as the first ethnic Romanian to serve as ''Efor'' (Curator) of the Wallachian theaters. Cantacuzino's political climb was accelerated during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828, when he welcomed the Imperial Russian Army and became a protege of Governor Pavel Kiselyov. Following the Treaty of Adrianople, both Principalities became protectorates of Russia under Ottoman suzerainty. In 1831, Cantacuzino was ''Vornic'' of the Wallachian Police in Bucharest. In this capacity, together with Gheorghe Bibescu he organized the very first elections for the Town Council, which took place in November 1831. When this was convened, he also presented himself as a candidate for an executive function (''mădulăr''), failing to obtain an absolute majority but advancing to the second round. He ultimately earned endorsements from 56 out of 80 councilors, and, after validation by Kiselyov on November 28, emerged as one of five town governors. Still serving as ''Aga'' in 1832, Cantacuzino was directly involved in the hunt for brigand Ioniță Tunsu. Kiselyov also assigned him to committees which supervised the paving and beautification of Bucharest's streets; his colleagues were Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei and Alecu Filipescu-Vulpea. With Iancu Văcărescu and Costache Golescu, he also collected funds for the establishment of a national theater. His own townhouse, located outside Lipscani, was fitted with a bathhouse—one of the few private ones existing in 1830s Wallachia.

In parallel, Cantacuzino also ran in Wallachia's first legislative election, taking one of the 19 Ordinary Assembly seats reserved for the high-ranking boyars. After the election of 1836, there were protracted debates between the National Party and the conservative boyars. A ministerial crisis was finally ended in June 1837, when Cantacuzino agreed to enter a cabinet that also included his rival Știrbei. He served as ''Postelnic'' or Secretary of State, and was also ''Logothete'' or Justice Minister. He contributed to the pacification of Brăila in July 1841, signing Prince Alexandru II Ghica's proclamation to the rebellious Bulgarians. Acting on Ghica's behalf, he welcomed at Calafat the Ottoman inspector, Hüseyin Pasha, with whom he discussed means of tackling Russian intrigues in Wallachia.

By 1842 ''Logothete'' Cantacuzino had been received into three orders of chivalry by Wallachia's protective powers: he had the Order of Saint Anna, Second Class; the Order of Saint Vladimir, Fourth Class; and the Ottoman Order of Glory. His friendship with Kiselyov afforded him a say in the legislative framework of Wallachia, codified as ''Regulamentul Organic''. From within the Ordinary Assembly, Cantacuzino supported tagging the controversial "additional article" to ''Regulamentul'', and thus revealed himself as a vocal backer of Russian influence in the Principalities. This pitted him against the National Party, whose leaders included Emanoil Băleanu, Ioan Câmpineanu, and his own brother, Grigore Cantacuzino.

Constantin was still a member of the Assembly following the election of 1841. However, on May 20, 1842, Russian commissioner Alexander Osipovich Duhamel obtained that he be deposed as ''Postelnic'' and replaced with Știrbei. Cantacuzino presented himself as a candidate in the princely election of December, but only managed 41 of 188 votes; the winner was Bibescu. Initially, Bibescu promoted him, assigning him office as an ''Efor'' of the Wallachian schools, jointly with Filipescu-Vulpea and Mihalache Ghica. Like his brother Grigore (who sat in the Assembly's committee for educational review), Constantin was a reactionary who objected to educational reform. Still present in the Assembly in 1843, he soon rallied with the anti-Bibescu opposition, blocking his legislative projects. He later chose to expatriate himself, although his family remained behind. His eldest son, Ion C. (Iancu), was married from 1846 to Maria, daughter of the numismatist and Russian spy Nicolae Mavros. This made Constantin in-laws with politician Ion Ghica and with the Kotzebue family.

1848 takeover

In June 1848, Wallachia's liberal revolution toppled Bibescu and installed a Provisional Government. Two of Cantacuzino's three sons, Ion and Grigore, were enthusiastic participants in the events. The former served on the Regeneration Club (which grouped the most committed radicals) and its Central Electoral Committee. In the early stages, both Constantin and his Mavros daughter-in-law helped the radical Nicolae Bălcescu evade police round-ups at Telega. On June 11, the day of revolutionary victory, he wrote to Bălcescu a congratulatory and "rather humble" letter. During the subsequent weeks, the new regime sought to obtain recognition from the Sublime Porte. The Cantacuzino home was also where the Provisional Government, represented by Ioan Voinescu II, welcomed Suleiman Pasha in August.

In September, following its radicalization, the revolutionary movement was repressed by an Ottoman–Russian expedition; at the time, Cantacuzino Sr had again fled for safety to Corona. On September 21, he rode back to Bucharest, presenting his services to the Ottoman Army under Fuad Pasha; reportedly, he had been called back by Duhamel. Favored by both Russian and Ottoman overseers, he was subsequently appointed ''Caimacam'' by Fuad, on September 22. The short ceremony was witnessed by Ion Cantacuzino, who reportedly shouted out: "Father, do not accept this sort of offices!" In early October, Fuad communicated to Cantacuzino the guidelines he had been issued by Abdulmejid I: "his imperial majesty the sultan has persistently recommended that I erase all trace of the revolution."

Constantin's ascendancy led to the mass arrest of revolutionary leaders, who were then kept under armed guard at Cotroceni Monastery. His acts became the topic of a protest, submitted to Âli Pasha, the Ottoman Foreign Minister, by revolutionary agents Ion Ghica and Abdolonyme Ubicini. According to Ghica, Âli informed them that Cantacuzino had only been appointed ''Caimacam'' because Reshid Pasha had mistaken him for his more reformist brother. By then, the Revolution's triumvirate of Princely Lieutenants had dispersed: though Christian Tell and Nicolae Golescu suggested armed resistance, Ion Heliade Rădulescu resigned and retreated to his home, leaving the palace to be taken by Ottoman soldiers.

On September 24, Fuad and the ''Caimacam'' issued a deportation order for some of the core figures of the previous regime. The list included Bălcescu, Heliade, Voinescu II, and Nicolae Golescu, alongside Costache Aristia, Cezar Bolliac, Ion C. Brătianu, Dimitrie Brătianu, Ștefan Golescu, C. A. Rosetti, and Ioasaf Znagoveanu. Cantacuzino's other preoccupation as ''Caimacam'' was an investigation into looting and arson by rebellious peasants, for which purpose he founded and led a specialized boyar committee. In tandem, he and Fuad ordered Neofit II to expel revolutionary sympathizers from the ranks of his Wallachian Orthodox Bishopric. Assigning the direct supervision of education to Băleanu, Filipescu-Vulpea, and Petrache Poenaru, he initiated the purge of radical teachers, and, on November 1, personally ordered for all schools to be shut down.

Ordering the remnants of the revolutionary army, under Gheorghe Magheru, to disband, Cantacuzino took hold of the arsenal of weapons collected by the deposed Lieutenants. He sent these arms to the Transylvanian Saxons, who used them in battle against the Hungarian State. Magheru later claimed that his own estate in Gorj County had been devastated on orders from the "Phanariote" ''Caimacam'' and from his regional commissioner, Nichita Formacu. During January, Duhamel reportedly asked Cantacuzino to send in the Wallachian military forces to assist in the invasion of Hungary, but he refused to comply. Instead, the ''Caimacam'' made sure the border with Hungary to be fully closed, in hopes of preventing revolutionary exports; his orders resulted in the arrest and expulsion of Magheru's wife, who had attempted to return to Wallachia. By May 1849, Cantacuzino had allowed Austrian soldiers fleeing Transylvania to recover on Wallachian soil. This decision was met with a note of protest from the British consul Robert Gilmour Colquhoun, who found that it breached the London Straits Convention. It also endeared Cantacuzino to the Austrians, who presented him with the Order of Leopold. An Austrian spy, Captain August von Wimpffen, suggests that his was the most valuable assistance provided to the beleaguered soldiers.Bușă ''et al.'', p. 685

The ''Caimacam'' stood accused of orchestrating the ransacking of Heliade's home and of various acts of cruelty, including being seen as responsible for the prison death of poet Ion Catina, which his regime tried to conceal. Catina's brother was allegedly forced to deny that was the case, in a newspaper notice which also addressed thanks to the Russian army. According to a Heliade disciple, Nicolae Rusu Locusteanu, the new regime imposed an "executioner" in each Wallachian county. Though he endorsed additional clampdown measures, Cantacuzino was a moderate in this respect: Colonel Grigore Lăcusteanu, who organized the round-up, recalls that Fuad ordered him to limit the scope of his investigations, and also to submit to the ''Caimacam''s every command.

Tolerant mood and Știrbei's rise

Both of Constantin's sons remained engaged in subversive activities, of which he may have been aware. In November 1848, Ion Cantacuzino was arrested by Cossacks in the Russian service. He was eventually released from Cotroceni, and then successfully intervened to free another revolutionary, Nicolae Crețulescu. In March 1849, Grigore organized a theatrical representation at Momolo's in Bucharest, with proceedings going to Hungarian revolutionaries in exile. Though this event went against Russian and Ottoman edicts of censorship, the ''Caimacam'' "pretended not to notice the revolutionary character and scope of the party", allowing it to run its course. A month later, however, Cantacuzino was preparing judicial procedures against all those who had protested against the Ottoman invasion—as reported at the time by Colquhoun, this would have resulted in sentencing for a great many Wallachian youths. Archival research has uncovered a June 1849 letter by Cantacuzino to the authorities of Romanați County, demanding them to be on the lookout for anyone who wished to commemorate or reignite revolution.

On September 28, 1848, ''Caimacam'' Cantacuzino and Fuad annulled the abolition of slavery, ordering the emancipated Romanies to return to their masters. During February 1849, a commission led by I. C. Borănescu reported that the revolutionary government had unlawfully spent 1.4 million thaler; Cantacuzino ordered this deficit to be covered by confiscating the revolutionaries' private property in Wallachia. The ''Caimacam'' also had a direct say in Wallachia's industrialization when, in March, entrepreneur V. G. Browning presented him with designs for a large gristmill and bread factory. Additionally, Cantacuzino set aside funds for the restoration of Bucharest's Monument to the Russian Soldiers, which had been nearly completely vandalized during the Revolution. His municipal policies blended with repressive measures when he demoted Alexandru Orăscu, previously Bucharest's council architect, and promoted Xavier Vilacrosse. He also staged an inquiry into Iacob Melic's activity as a revolutionary architect, ordering him to pay back sums he owed to the city government of Bucharest and to ''Clucer'' Barbu Catargiu, and sequestering some of his assets. He also made sure to reemploy Catargiu at the Justice Department, noting that "his honesty and competence demand his participation in the most serious affairs of state". Lăcusteanu's attempt to arrest Melic's father-in-law, Hagi Nazaretian, was curbed by a riot of the local Armenians.

As argued by military historian Theodor C. Văcărescu, Cantacuzino "governed in name only", with real power being exercised by Fuad and, to a lesser degree, by Russian commissioner Alexander von Lüders

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