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Cosmin-Ștefan Dogaru
With all the political regime’s lacks and difficulties, Romania had managed to
chose a plain road to Europe and Charles I, its architect, gradually supported the productive
actions, no matter if they came from the liberals or the conservatives.
3.3. A new era in the political regime – establishing the conservative government and
achieving political stability
The conservative government marked a period of political stability in Romania, a moment in
which the conservative groups, as well as the liberal ones, began to consolidate and to design
a possible structure that involved two great modern political parties, a development which
happened a few years later: the forming of the National-Liberal Party – in 1875, and of the
Conservative Party – in 1880.
The monarch played the role of mediator between the two political forces, and the
hereditary constitutional monarchy became gradually an important pylon of the Romanian
state. In this regard, Charles I was starting to be regarded as a balance factor in the struggle
for power, as a constitutional, neutral and objective monarch. The conservative P. P. Carp had
the same opinion when he said: “if I were to look at our political past and I would wonder
who was more personal, the Crown or the governments, surely I will say that the governments
were more personal than the Crown” (Carp, 2000, p. 322). On the other political spectrum, the
liberal I. G. Duca made some remarks about Charles I: “he brought a Western spirit in a time
when the country was trying to launch itself in the great vortex of Western civilization”
(Duca, 1992, p. 114). The government formed in March 1871 under the leadership of Lascăr
Catargiu succeeded in gradually ensuring a steady environment that enabled reforms –
measures, which were vital for the consolidation of the young Romanian state.
Charles I described to his father, Karl Anton, on June 17/29 1872, the results of
his government and the need to keep it in power: “you can feel every day the uses of a steady
government which can alone assure the progress and the country’s development” (Neagoe,
1993, p. 237).
The relationship between Charles I and the political elite gradually changed. In
this remark, the liberal and conservative political leaders began to understand the monarch’s
role in the political regime, becoming more flexible in the political arena and the state’s
affairs. On
the other hand, Charles I managed to impose a normal behavior in the political life,
with Western values and principles, which were very useful for the state’s modernization, and
he became a factor of balance, keeping the distance from the politicians, be they liberals or
conservatives: “he was the man of duty, working without passion and paying attention only to
the interests of the country. He had no friends and therefore no camarilla and no partisans”
(Tzigara, 1999, p. 62).
4. Results
The rise of the foreign prince on Romania’s throne produced big changes in all fields:
political, social, economical, cultural etc., but was also met with resistance due to the
mentality of some politicians. From the beginning, Charles I wanted to develop a constructive
collaboration with the political leaders, liberals and conservatives alike, with the purpose of
leading the country towards modernity; the obstacles were due to some politicians’ trivial
interests.
On one hand, the monarch left his country in 1866 and came to a foreign country,
which was totally unknown to him and had very different habits from his original
environment, but regardless, his concern was to strengthen the Romanian state’s institutions.
25
The German Prince and the Romanian Political Elite
In this regard, Charles I also had a very strong personality, which helped him over time carry
out his intentions. On the other hand, the liberals and the conservatives had to give up for the
moment, in May 1866, the differences between them and to make all that was necessary to
reach a compromise: the local prince was an option which was no longer viable. Thus, the
foreign prince was a common point for the Romanian political elite that was just forming at
that time.
The second important stage in this relationship – between the ruler and the
political elite – was the creation and the promulgation of the Constitution in 1866, a moment
in which, during the intense and useful debates, some dissensions between Charles I and the
political
leaders appeared, but, in the end, a bridge was created for everyone’s benefit.
The third episode is Carol I’s first years of reign (1866-1871), a moment in which
the governmental succession had more negative aspects than positive ones, both for the
political regime as well as for the Romanian society as a whole. The climax was,
undoubtedly, the threat of abdication, but reason won and the conservative government, led
by Lascăr Catargiu, succeeded in gathering around him all the conservative groups and to
attain the stability which was so precious to the prince and to the country. Regarding the
relationship between Charles I and the political elite at that time, the political and cultural
limits were overcome from both sides with the purpose of strengthening the Romanian state.
Undoubtedly, important is the idea that, in the monarch’s relationship with the
political class: “in the internal politics, he (Charles I) had to fight back the party interests /…/
a constitution which was made after the model of the most lax Western fundamental law – the
Belgian constitution – and the wrong assumption of many men of state who put their party’s
interests and sometimes, unfortunately, their own interests above the interests of the nation,
and had to make a huge effort to gradually put some order in these affairs” (Tzigara, 1939, p.
95).
5. Conclusion
The institutional and constitutional framework adopted in May 1866 allowed the creation of a
new political regime; also, the relationship between Charles I and the political elite underwent
gradually many changes, and a lot of political and cultural borders were crossed from both
sides of the power game. Even so, in March 1871, the prince and the Romanian political elite
found the common points which allowed the forming of the conservative government, which
finally led to the consolidation of the liberal political regime, on its way to democracy.
6. References
Bacalbașa, C. (2014).
Bucureştii de alt dat (Vol. 1). [Bucharest in the Past].
Bucharest:
Humanitas.
Bălăceanu, I. (2002).
Amintiri politice și diplomatice 1848-1903 [Political and Diplomatic
Memories 1848-1903]. Bucharest: Cavallioti.
Berindei, D. (2007). S
ocietatea rom neasc n vremea lui Carol I. 1866-1876 [Romanian
Society in the Age of Charles I. 1866-1876]. Bucharest: Elion.
Bulei, I. (2011).
Rom nii n secolele XIX - XX. Europenizarea [The Romanians in the 19th
and the 20th Centuries. Europeanization]. Bucharest: Litera Internațional.
Cantacuzino, S. (2013).
Din via a familiei Br tianu: 1821-1891 [From the life of the Brătianu
Family: 1821-1891]. Bucharest: Humanitas.
Carp, P. P. (2000).
Discursuri parlamentare [Parliamentary Discourses]. Bucharest: Grai și
Suflet - Cultura Naţională.