Emanoil Băleanu


Emanoil Băleanu, was a Wallachian statesman, soldier and industrialist who served as Caimacam in October 1858–January 1859. Descending from an old family of boyars, he was one of two sons born to Ban Grigore III Băleanu; the other, Nicolae, was a career bureaucrat, and the State Secretary of Wallachia in 1855–1856. Although prone to displays of Romanian nationalism, the family was prominent under the cosmopolitan Phanariotes, and young Băleanu was educated in Greek. Prince Alexandros Soutzos welcomed him at the court and became his father-in-law. At that stage, Băleanu's participation in the spoils system was signaled by his highly controversial claim to ownership of Târgoviște city, and also by his monopoly on handkerchief manufacture. His father hoped to steer the anti-Phanariote revolt of 1821, but both he and Emanoil were driven into exile when Bucharest fell to the rebels.
In exile, Băleanu Jr began gravitating toward liberalism, before becoming curious about utopian socialism. Under the Regulamentul Organic regime, he was made Polkovnik in the Wallachian military forces and served two terms in the Ordinary National Assembly. He and Ioan Câmpineanu emerged as leaders of the "National Party", which mounted the opposition to Alexandru II Ghica and uncovered constitutional irregularities. Băleanu was sent into internal exile in 1841, but reinstated following interventions by his friends in the Russian Empire and the Wallachian Church. He ran in the princely election of 1842, but conceded defeat in favor of his friend Gheorghe Bibescu, who then made him his Postelnic. As such, Băleanu contributed directly to the modernization of Wallachia, and also to the early stages of abolitionism—though he himself remained a slave owner to 1855.
Băleanu joined the conservative camp during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848. For a few days in June–July of that year, he proclaimed himself Caimacam, heading a reactionary administration alongside Metropolitan Neofit II. Before being deposed and driven out of Wallachia, he gave the order to destroy revolutionary symbols, including the "Statue of Liberty". Returning with the Ottoman Army, he was again promoted under Prince Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei, and especially during the late stages of the Crimean War, which removed Russian tutelage. His focus fell on obtaining a close alliance between Wallachia and the Austrian Empire.
Băleanu's second, internationally recognized, term as Caimacam was within a triumvirate that also included Ioan Filipescu-Vulpache and Ioan Manu; alongside the latter, Băleanu instituted a repressive regime, directing censorship and intimidation against the National Party. They organized the legislative elections of 1859, but were outmaneuvered by liberals and nationalists, who managed to push through their agenda. Băleanu was brutalized and shunned during events leading up to the establishment of the United Principalities, which put an end to his political career. His only literary work was a manuscript chronicle, which was later exposed as plagiarized.

Biography

Early life

The Băleanus, whose history is linked to an an eponymous estate in Dâmbovița County, belonged to Wallachia's older lineage of boyar nobility, and claimed kinship with the ancient House of Basarab. The family patriarch was Udrea Băleanu, who served as Ban of Oltenia in the 1590s. His nephew, Ivașco I Băleanu, emerged as a powerful player in 1630s Wallachia, having backed Matei Basarab for Wallachia's throne; his son, Gheorghe Băleanu, similarly endorsed and fought alongside Constantin Șerban. He was prominent into the 1670s, when he and his family feuded with the Cantacuzinos; their conflict came to an end in 1679, when Gheorghe's son, Ivașco II, was sent into exile.
Emanoil was Ivașco II's great-great-grandson. He was born in 1793 or 1794 as the son of Ban Grigore III Băleanu and his wife Maria, née Brâncoveanu. On his mother's side, he was a collateral descendant of Wallachian Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu; Maria's brother, also named Grigore, was the last male of the Craiovești-Brâncoveanu family. His maternal grandmother was a member of a Moldavian clan, the Sturdzas. Emanoil's siblings included a sister, Zoe. In 1811–1815, she was married to the aristocrat Matei Ghika, but divorced when he fell ill with tuberculosis. One contemporary account suggests that she the then became the wife of Dimitri Caragea, a relative of Prince John Caradja. Zoe's last husband was entrepreneur Ștefan Hagi-Moscu. Zoe and Emanoil had a brother, Nicolae, as well as two other sisters: Elena, married to Constantin Năsturel-Herescu; and Luxița, whose husband was writer Nicolae Văcărescu.
Emanoil's childhood and youth coincided with the closing stages of the Phanariote era, during which Wallachia and Moldavia were more closely integrated with the Ottoman Empire, and Greek immigration became more significant. Father Grigore was involved with the Phanariote administration of Bucharest and owned houses just west of Turnul Colței. He was first propelled to the high office of Spatharios and Logothete during the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812, when he supported occupation by the Russian Empire, receiving the Order of Saint Anna. A patron of literature, he regularly donated from his collection of books, paid for a translation of Condillac's essays, and reportedly began writing a Romanian dictionary. In 1816, he sponsored Pete Efesiul's print shop—Wallachia's first publisher of sheet music.
Emanoil was home-schooled in the city by the Greek tutor Kirkireu, who introduced him to the Phanariote court. Although one late record suggests that he was also raised in Germany, Greek remained his favorite language of expression even later in life. At some point in his youth, Emanoil produced a chronicle of documenting the history of Roman Dacia and the Early Middle Ages. The manuscript was much later exposed as plagiarized version of a similar work by Theodoros Photeinos, which in turn may have copied a since-lost book by Dionisie Fotino.
Historian Radu Crutzescu proposes that Emanoil's political rise was in large part owed to his kinship with two families: the Văcărescus and the Soutzos; he was uncle of Marițica Văcărescu, who was to become Prince Gheorghe Bibescu's wife, and, through his marriage with Catinca, son-in-law of Wallachia's last Phanariote Prince, Alexandros Soutzos. A Wallachian comedy of ca. 1820 shows Ban Grigore trafficking in influence to benefit his in-laws. Phanariote favoritism was also noted by memoirist Ion Ghica. He mentions that Emanoil's Greek education is what drew Prince Soutzos' attention. Upon his wedding to Catinca, Băleanu received ownership of Târgoviște, which the Prince had abusively claimed as his own; when news of this deal reached the sparked city, the rioting citizens placed a jinx on Soutzos' house. Catinca's dowry also included a monopoly on the manufacture of handkerchiefs, which came with additional tax privileges and the right to employ 30 foreign laborers. This included ownership of the textile mill at Mărcuța Church, which Băleanu immediately leased to a Russian immigrant.
Catinca died in childbirth one year into her marriage, in what was seen by contemporaries as proof that Băleanu was under the "Târgoviște jinx". Despite his son's matrimonial arrangement, Grigore Băleanu was one of the more independently minded boyars, who was made unassailable by his acceptance into a Janissary corps and his employment of a personal guard. Proud of his Romanian roots, and "in touch with tradition", he reportedly organized street parades that "made Greeks quiver." Soutzos' death in January 1821 sparked a political crisis, making Wallachia into a theater for the Greek War of Independence. In parallel, there was an anti-Phanariote uprising in Oltenia, which Grigore may have personally have encouraged: he is alleged to have staged Soutzos' poisoning alongside members of the Filiki Eteria, after which he returned as Spatharios.

Post-Phanariote period

Băleanu Sr is additionally cited as one of the boyars who reached out to the rebel leader, Tudor Vladimirescu, and invited him to act on their behalf. His son-in-law Năsturel-Herescu joined the Eteria, and was consequently a soldier in the Sacred Band. The revolt was soon uncontrollable, and intrinsically anti-boyar in scope. The mill of Mărcuța was looted and rendered inoperable. Escaping the threat of a full-blown civil war, the Băleanus took refuge in the Austrian Empire, joining a colony of boyar expatriates in Corona. It was here that Emanoil was inducted into a secretive group of exiles, the "Brașov Society", whose founding members included his father. He was subsequently initiated by the Freemasonry.
On May 24, following a showdown between Vladimirescu's men and the Eteria, members of the latter called on Grigore to return and seize control of Wallachia. Later in 1821, the Ottoman Army invaded and restored the old regime; Nicolae Băleanu, who had "some part to play in the insurrection", fled with the Eterists and made his way to Hermannstadt. Grigore IV Ghica took over as Prince in Bucharest, making Grigore his Minister of Internal Affairs, or Vornic. Nicolae and his Greek tutor Mavromati spent this interval in the Kingdom of France, where the former was supposed to further his studies. Both were seen as dangerous suspects by agents of the Sûreté.
This period was ended by the war of 1828, which again saw both Principalities invaded by the Russian Empire. The Russians and Ottomans reached a compromise on joint rule, and granted a charter, called Regulamentul Organic, which codified fundamental laws in Wallachia and Moldavia. This document was partly co-written by Grigore Băleanu and Iordache Filipescu. The throne in Bucharest was assigned to Alexandru II Ghica, who presided over an era of Westernization. In 1830, formally renouncing Ottoman clothing, Emanoil Băleanu was integrated within the restored and modernized Wallachian military forces. He was one of the last boyars to be granted automatic advancement based on high birth, and almost immediately received the rank of Polkovnik. He was first assigned command over the 1st Infantry Regiment at Craiova, serving under Russian commanders. His own subordinates included two future conservative polemicists, Grigore Lăcusteanu and Dimitrie Papazoglu. Băleanu was stationed in Bucharest in 1831, when Wallachia was hit by the second cholera pandemic. According to Lăcusteanu, Russian overseer Pavel Kiselyov held Băleanu and Ioan Odobescu responsible for the poor hygiene at Filantropia Hospital. Both were "arrested inside the hospital" and only released following its complete sanitation. According to Lăcusteanu, they relied on take-out food and slept at a local pub.
While his father was a sponsor of the conservative poet Grigore Alexandrescu, Băleanu was sympathetic to Wallachian liberalism, and welcomed in his home Teodor Diamant, who actively campaigned in favor of Fourierism. The Băleanus were otherwise still committed to the preservation of traditional institutions, including slavery. In January 1837, Grigore sold off a family of Romanies to a Stavrache Iacov.
Băleanu Jr first rose to high civilian office in 1831, taking over as Wallachia's Great Hatman; simultaneously, in the election of 1831 he acquired a seat in the Ordinary National Assembly. Băleanu, Ioan Câmpineanu, Grigore Cantacuzino and Iancu Ruset presided over a liberal faction sometimes labeled as "National Party", and by 1834 produced designs on how to rewrite Regulamentul into a set of reformist policies. By then, Băleanu had also helped set up a Philharmonic Society, which promoted culture along with liberal ideas. In 1832, Băleanu married Alina Bagration, daughter of a Russian officer and Bagratid descendant. She had a public affair with Kiselyov, and went with him to Russia in 1834. Băleanu consented to a divorce in 1836, after which Alina moved in with Kiselyov and his wife Zofia Potocka.
He held on to his Assembly seat following the 1836 election, which saw his father taking over as chief minister. According to Ion Ghica, the Nationals' "four-man party" controlled a majority of the Assembly seats, earning backing from Ilarion Gheorghiadis and other hierarchs of the Wallachian Church. As members of the Assembly, both Emanoil and Grigore supported the state religion and opposed attempts by the regime to infringe upon its liberties and privileges. From June of that year, Băleanu Jr, Câmpineanu, Ruset and Alecu "Căciulă-Mare" Ghica joined the Regulamentul revision committee. While researching the matter, they discovered that Russian officials had forged Regulamentul, tying to the original text an "additional article", which indicated that the legislation could not be modified by the Wallachians alone. Although the article remained in place and was recognized as valid by the Ottomans, the scandal was helped to consolidate Romanian nationalism and anti-Russian sentiment throughout Wallachia.

"Additional article" and 1842 election

By 1838, Băleanu, Câmpineanu, Ruset and Costache Faca were members of the Assembly's financial board, questioning government's spending practices and attempting to draw more funds into education. In 1839, Prince Ghica appointed Băleanu as his Minister of Justice, or Great Logothete, although he subsequently reassigned him to Internal Affairs, as Vornic. He joined the anti-Ghica faction, which by then included brothers Bibescu and Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei among its leaders. Speaking at the closure of the Assembly in December, the monarch made disgruntled allusions to Băleanu and Câmpineanu, claiming that both had lied in petitions they sent to foreign governments. However, in 1840, he appointed Băleanu as one of the efori of Wallachia's schools, alongside Apostol Arsache, Ion Heliade Rădulescu, and Alecu Ghica.
On January 29, 1841, after noting his "disrespectful statements" in the Assembly, Ghica ordered Băleanu into internal exile. Sources give his place of banishment as Varnița or Bolintin. By then, his Fourierist friends were also targets of repression: Diamant's Scăieni Phalanstery had been forcefully closed, and his attempts to contact Băleanu were thwarted. However, this clampdown proved to be a miscalculation of Băleanu's support by Russian diplomats and Church officials alike: Metropolitan Neofit II and consul Iakov Dashkov pressured him to withdraw the order, which Prince Ghica did on February 3. Băleanu remained the central figure of the opposition. In March 1841 he oversaw a ceremony for Kiselyov's retirement. Kiselyov was granted Wallachian citizenship on the occasion, prompting speculation that Băleanu was grooming him for the princely throne.
During its final months, the Ghica regime still relied on support from the elder Băleanu, who served as Vornic in June 1842. Following Ghica's ouster, Băleanu Jr presented himself for the princely election, also serving as an elector; his father was also listed as "fit to be Prince", but died of coronary artery disease before the electors convened. Băleanu Jr took most votes in the third section. However, he redirected these toward his "intimate friend" Bibescu, who emerged as the winner. On June 29, 1843, Băleanu entered the princely cabinet as State Secretary, or Postelnic. His office unified the attributes of a civil registrar, censor, and Foreign Minister. In this capacity, Băleanu countersigned orders to expand and modernize the port of Brăila and protect insolvent farmers, as well as publishing a firman confirming free trade between Wallachia and the Ottoman Empire. His brother had by then established himself as one of Wallachia's leading textile manufacturers, using Austrian know-how to set up a modern factory in Tunari.
In 1844 the Postelnic dealt with the issue of French counterfeiters in Wallachia, which, despite protests from consul Adolphe Billecocq, were slated for extradition and execution in the Ottoman Empire. From January 1845, he was involved in the beautification of Bucharest, and sketched a project for building new roads between all Wallachian towns. In 1844, the Assembly appointed him, together with Alexandru Vilara and Alecu Filipescu-Vulpea, to oversee the charity known as Așezămintele Brâncovenești. This had been set up for Bibescu's estranged wife Zoe Brâncoveanu, whom the prince had declared insane, and who was Băleanu's cousin.
On April 19, 1845, Băleanu married his third and last wife—Elena, daughter of Constantin Bălăceanu. In May of the following year, Bibescu took him to Ruschuk, where they paid homage to their sovereign, Sultan Abdulmejid I. For a few days in September 1846, while Bibescu and Vilara inspected Oltenia, Băleanu was effectively the leader of the country, and ad interim Minister of Justice. On February 11, 1847, Bibescu and Băleanu urged the Assembly to debate on the issue of slavery. The result of this deliberation was a partial abolition, namely the release of all Romanies held captive by the Wallachian Church.
Băleanu helped Bibescu to dissolve the Assembly on March 11, 1847. Fifteen days later, he was involved in disaster relief following a devastating fire in Bucharest, overseeing the reallocation of funds. His own family home had been destroyed by flames. On March 31, he signed his name to the customs union between Wallachia and Moldavia. However, in the government reshuffle of May he lost the position of Secretary, which went to Constantin Filipescu; on May 11, he became an honorary Vornic, alongside Vilara. From August, he was again efor on the national school board. Băleanu returned as Minister of Justice in December 1847, when he ordered a clampdown on frivolous litigators and the clarification of mulcts. By January 1848, he and Ioan Filipescu-Vulpache sat on a committee tasked with constructing a National Theater, but the entire project was shelved before taking off.

1848 Revolution

Initially, Băleanu and Bibescu were open toward the nationalist and liberal groups: by 1845, both had subscribed to Nicolae Bălcescu's literary review, Magasin Istoric pentru Dacia. Within three years, the two camps had come to oppose each other openly. Early June 1848 witnessed the eruption of a Wallachia's liberal Revolution, which first limited Bibescu's authoritarian rule, then deposed him. After the abdication, the boyars assembled and elected Băleanu as Caimacam, or co-regent, alongside Neofit and Ban Teodor Văcărescu-Furtună; they were deposed after attempting to reverse the revolutionary trend.
Later that month, generalized panic was created by rumors of a Russian incursion in Wallachia, and the revolutionary administration abandoned Bucharest for the more secluded town of Rucăr. On June 29, Neofit seized the opportunity and established another conservative government. Băleanu became Caimacam, alongside Filipescu-Vulpache and Văcărescu-Furtună. According to Lăcusteanu, in public perception Băleanu held the "reins of government"; his army colleague Odobescu was the Minister of War. During his short interval in power, he dismantled and destroyed revolutionary symbols. These famously included a Statue of Liberty, possibly by Constantin Daniel Rosenthal, but also a composition depicting "free Romania".
On July 3, the Bucharest bourgeoisie stormed into the army barracks and disarmed Odobescu's men, forcing the government to resign. Neofit, captured by the crowds, declared that the coup had been instigated by Băleanu and Iordache Zossima. This prompted the revolutionaries to vandalize Băleanu's home and lynch as many of his partisans as they could find. The revolutionary gazette Pruncul Român depicted Băleanu himself as a vandal, calling attention to his earlier artistic purge. The incident was also noted by the far-left radical Bălcescu, who insisted that government make its resolutions into permanent laws. According to Bălcescu, Băleanu was to be prevented from ever returning to Bucharest.
By then the deposed Caimacam he had again fled to Corona, joining a conservative faction in exile. It also included Scarlat Ghica, Ioan Slătineanu, and Nicolae Suțu. In September 1848, the Ottomans invaded and occupied Wallachia, which was again placed under a conservative regime. With Constantin Cantacuzino as Wallachia's new Caimacam, Băleanu, Filipescu-Vulpea and Petrache Poenaru returned as efori, and staged a clampdown on revolutionary teachers. His brother Nicolae was appointed a Logothete, and served in the post-revolutionary administration of Bucharest. In October, he networked between the city guilds to ensure that the city and the Ottoman Army were properly supplied with bread.
Știrbei was afterwards crowned Prince, more fully restoring the Regulamentul regime. On August 24, 1850, he made Emanoil his Minister of the Interior, within a cabinet of "relatives and intimate friends". He also returned as chairman of the Assembly. Nevertheless, for several years after the Revolution's defeat, Băleanu failed to impose himself in political life: the newspaper Vestitorul Românesc dismissed him as "entirely unremarkable". He had by then returned to his activities as an industrialist, with a new textile factory, which employed as many as 200 workers, opened in Dragomirești. He stood out among conservatives for opposing all attempt at implementing land reform, and also for resisting the projected reductions of boyar privilege. Băleanu also remained a slave-owner and, in May 1850, had a runaway Romani family returned to him by the authorities in Dolj County.
The Regulamentul period ended during the Crimean War, which was a clash between the Principalities' Russian and Ottoman protectors. Știrbei left Wallachia, without abdicating, in October 1853 and his cabinet continued to function. In April 1854, Spatharios Năsturel-Herescu sought to integrate the Wallachian army into Halim Pasha's Ottoman troops; on August 23, Omar Pasha instituted martial law, and on August 31 set up a new government, headed by Năsturel and Cantacuzino. By then, Austria had effectively occupied Wallachia, and the Ottoman presence was symbolic. In that context, Nicolae Băleanu was involved in state-sponsored abolitionism, serving on a financial committee that also included Ioan Manu, and later as Chairman of the Wallachian Treasury.

Triumvirate and downfall

Știrbei returned as an Austrian protegé on September 23, creating himself a new cabinet, with Nicolae Băleanu serving as State Secretary. Emanoil also returned as Interior Minister. On December 14, 1855, both brothers, alongside Câmpineanu, Filipescu-Vulpache, Alexandru Plagino and George Barbu Știrbei, signed the decree which emancipated all of Wallachia's 200,000 slaves. Emanoil then oversaw the effort to count and register the newly freed Romanies. Meanwhile, Austrian occupation was giving way to a shared custody of Wallachia and Moldavia by a consortium of European powers, backing Ottoman suzerainty. Prince Știrbei finally resigned on June 25, 1856: from Pitești, he declared Secretary Nicolae Băleanu as the highest authority in Wallachia. On July 4, he resigned in favor of his brother's enemy, Alexandru II Ghica, who took the title of Caimacam.
Ghica turned increasingly liberal, and was regarded by his Austrian supervisors as "almost child-like"; the Băleanus, meanwhile, endured as conservative leaders. That year, poet Dimitrie Bolintineanu characterized Emanoil as a figure out of Molière's comedies and an ultra-reactionary: "he wishes to preserve all titles, honors, privileges, has protection from Russia and Austria". While similarly noting Băleanu's Austrian sympathies, Franz von Wimpffen cautioned that he was also lazy, unintelligent, and corrupt. With this platform and backing, Băleanu ran in the September 1857 election and took a seat in the Assembly, which had been reconstructed and enlarged as an "ad hoc Divan".
On October 21, 1858, Emanoil Băleanu, Manu and Filipescu-Vulpache were formally appointed as Caimacami. The firman confirming this arrangement specified that Băleanu oversaw Internal Affairs, while Vulpache was Logothete and Manu chaired the Divan. Băleanu's return was especially controversial: he was now regarded as a leading adversary of the National Party, which sought to obtain a union between Wallachia and Moldavia. He and Manu clashed with the more liberal Vulpache as early as October 29, when they promoted their political friend Slătineanu as Minister of Education.
The two conservative Caimacami were in a position to control the new elections for the Divan, and were widely suspected of intending to manipulate results. Threats were posted on their townhouse gates, describing them as the "bandit brothers" and hinting at popular revenge. An incendiary device was reportedly thrown into Manu's home. In December, after the breakdown of negotiations between foreign diplomats, the issue of electoral fraud became an international scandal. Revelations had also emerged that the Caimacami had denied eligibility to some of the leading National-Party candidates, including Vasile Boerescu, Cezar Bolliac, and C. A. Rosetti. Such restrictions relied on different readings of the suffrage qualifications: while Manu and Băleanu argued that candidates needed to own landed estates, Vulpache offered a dissenting opinion, with no restrictions for burghers or industrialists; this created a definitive schism within the regency, and pushed Vulpache closer to the National Party. Though they went back on some of their more controversial decisions, the other two Caimacami proceeded to govern by increasingly dictatorial means, suspending judicial independence, generalizing censorship, and ordering troops to mobilize in areas of the country that showed vocal support for unionism. The regency also restricted all forms of electoral propaganda.
The elections doubled as a contest for the princely throne, with both Bibescu and Știrbei entering the race. Although Băleanu himself was a client of both former princes, he registered as a candidate, with his new title of Ban, also running against his father-in-law Bălăceanu. On this second attempt, he was credited with minimal chances, being an "unexpected" contender. The elections produced unintended results for all of the conservative groups: backed by radicalized crowds, the National Party was able to pass resolutions in favor of union, and to invalidate seven deputies. As reported by Alexandru G. Golescu, "that swine Manu" and "that idiot Băleanu" had to leave the Divan's hall and were heckled and threatened as they returned to their homes. He also suggests that Băleanu begged the crowd for forgiveness, but was merely derided.
Eventually, the Divan elected Alexandru Ioan Cuza as Domnitor. Having already carried the Moldavian election, Cuza was positioned to create the United Principalities, initially as a personal union. Băleanu left Wallachia during the union process, and in June 1858 had reached the Grand Duchy of Baden. He died in 1862, and was buried at Bolintin-Deal. Ion Ghica was appointed executor, in which capacity he demanded a survey on the estates of Corbii and Vânătorii; in 1866–1867, his land dispute with the local peasants led the latter to riot. Emanoil's widow Elena died in 1865. He was also survived by his brother Nicolae, by his sons Emanuel, who served in the Senate of Romania, and George; and by daughters Maria and Elena. His niece Zoe Hagi-Moscu was the wife of politician Constantin N. Brăiloiu.