Constantin C. Arion
Constantin C. Arion | |
---|---|
Alexandru Constantinescu-Porcu | |
Personal details | |
Born | Bucharest | June 18, 1855
Died | June 27, 1923 Bucharest | (aged 68)
Constantin C. Arion (also known as Costică Arion;
A young lawyer who supported political reform, Arion moved progressively to the right, and, ca. 1885, became involved with the political club Junimea. As a Conservative policymaker and disciple of Alexandru Marghiloman, he rewrote legislation on education reform and brought the Romanian Orthodox Church under the control of its high clergy. Like Marghiloman, Arion supported the Central Powers during most of World War I, a position which seemed to carry most weight during the 1918 armistice. His participation in the Marghiloman government recovered for Romania the region of Bessarabia, but the subsequent return of Ententist forces made him a political suspect. He spent the remainder of his life as a marginal.
In addition to his presence in political life, Arion was an art patron, university professor, and philanthropist. He was the brother of Virgil Arion, and the father of Dinu C. Arion.
Biography
Early life and career
The Arions were an old Wallachian family, first attested in Brăila ca. 1696, and integrated into the boyar aristocracy in the mid-18th century.[3] Its reputation was stained by two members: Constantin Eracle Arion and Anton I. Arion, who had committed massive bank fraud throughout the early 1870s.[4]
Constantin (born in Bucharest on June 18, 1855) and Virgil C. Arion were the sons of Appellate Judge Constantin Arion and Sevastița, née Urlățeanu.[5] Constantin C. followed in his father's footsteps, graduating in Law from the University of Paris (Doctorate in 1876) and in Political Science from Sciences Po.[5] Upon his return to Romania, he was made Cabinet Secretary of Foreign Minister Vasile Boerescu, then head of Political Affairs, but left in 1881 to set up legal practice.[5]
Two years later, he was also employed by the
C. C. Arion made his debut in politics as a National Liberal, ran in the
By the mid-1880s, C. C. Arion had become jaded with the ideals of liberalism, and was hostile toward National Liberal
In later years, Arion focused on his cultural projects. From 1896, he was president of the national school and public libraries board (Casa Şcoalelor), where he employed the services of poet
Conservative politico
Returning to public life as a "constitutionalist" conservative, Arion joined Junimea and served as Minister of Religion and Public Instruction under Premier Petre P. Carp. His efforts centered on bringing the Romanian Orthodox Church under government control, with the purpose of regulating religious education.[14] He oversaw the collecting and publishing historical documents, edited by Nicolae Iorga.[15]
Arion made significant efforts to reverse the policies adopted by Spiru Haret, his National Liberal predecessor. He sacked Haret's favorites and replaced them with Junimea men, but also introduced legislation which made bureaucratic office incompatible with a teaching position.[16] The two politicians also differed in matters of church policies. Haret had favored the married clergy over the elitist Romanian Synod, creating a Consistory to represent both sides. Arion reversed that reform, and unwittingly prolonged the conflict well into the 20th century.[17]
After the Carp government was dissolved in 1901, Arion returned to academic life. He was still active with the constitutionalist Junimists, worked as editorial adviser for their magazine, Convorbiri Literare, and, in 1907, followed them into their merger with the Conservative Party.[6] Answering Maiorescu's call, Arion and Delavrancea became political journalists for the main Conservative-Junimist daily, Epoca.[18] By also appointing Arion at Convorbiri Literare, Maiorescu was reaffirming his directorial role. Arion and other new staff members were supposed to undermine the editorial policies of Ioan Bogdan and Mihail Dragomirescu. Maiorescu dismissed Bogdan's previous management as a triumph of mârlănie ("churliness"), and hoped to reverse the trend.[19]
This period saw Arion networking and organizing political cabals. He personally intervened to ensure the full-time employment of aspiring jurists, including Paul Negulescu and his own nephew, Ion Peretz.[15] He met and befriended Ion Luca Caragiale, the Junimist political satirist. Together with Caragiale and Delavrancea, Arion could be seen dining at the Ploiești restaurant owned by Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea.[2] From 1909, Arion was also active as a philanthropist, serving on the board of Queen Elisabeth's charitable society, and as honorary president of the Romanian Artists' Society.[6]
Arion was again appointed Public Instruction Minister in 1910, when Carp was named Premier of a Conservative cabinet. He preserved this position after Carp was replaced with Maiorescu, while also serving as head of Internal Affairs and
Arion's mandate witnessed another outbreak of civic disobedience, this time centered on the public cult of liberal symbols, including images of
Arion slowly aligned his educational policies with Haret's principles. The "Arion Law", adopted by Parliament in 1912, established clear criteria for the promotion of teachers and academics, ensuring greater professionalization: teaching positions were granted on the basis of a solid scientific reputation in the respective field of expertise. However, the reform law became especially noted for its loopholes, which allowed senior teachers to reserve academic chairs in advance.[21]
World War I and after
Arion was close to the Conservative leaders Carp and Alexandru Marghiloman, and detested their competitor, Nicolae Filipescu.[15] He became president of the Bucharest Conservative Club just shortly after the start of World War I.[16] Under a National Liberal government, Romania remained a neutral country, a policy that was welcomed by the senior, "Germanophile", Conservatives: Carp, Maiorescu, Marghiloman. They were hotly opposed by another Conservative faction, under Filipescu and Take Ionescu, who demanded engagement on the Entente side.[22] As noted by his Conservative colleagues, Arion was "an optimist" committed to the Entente, but followed Marghiloman's lead.[23]
Eventually, in June 1916, the government announced that Romania had joined the Entente, and a trans-party war cabinet was suggested. Arion refused to be part of this project, declaring his sympathy for the Central Powers, and the Conservative Party split in half.[24] Constantin's brother Virgil and his son, Dinu (who was secretary of the Conservative Study Circle) shared his ideas on national politics.[25]
Following the German advance into southern Romania, C. C. Arion remained behind enemy lines, in Bucharest; the National Liberal cabinet and its Filipescu Conservative backers had relocated to a temporary home in Iaşi. He still represented Marghiloman's Conservative Club: traveling to Focșani, on the front line, he met representatives of the legitimate government and communicated to them the situation in Bucharest.[24] He frequented the Germanophile circle of Raymund Netzhammer and Marthe Bibesco, with whom he discussed the idea of granting the Romanian throne to a Habsburg-Lorraine prince.[26] Virgil Arion was a more radical Germanophile: he agreed to take over as Minister of Public Instruction in the puppet government of Lupu Kostaki, answering to the occupiers.[27]
After the shock of the October Revolution and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Romania yielded to the Central Powers. Marghiloman was appointed Premier, and agreed to sign Romania's withdrawal from the war (May 1918). Arion, as Marghiloman's "second fiddle"[28] and Foreign Minister up until October 24, was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Bucharest.[29] He was privately enthusiastic about the turn of events, since he believed that Romania would recover at the same time some of its irredenta, claimed from the Russian Republic, and the territories held by the Central Powers.[15] In this capacity, he traveled to the Russian breakaway region of Bessarabia (or Moldavian Democratic Republic). Representing Romania, he witnessed the Bessarabian–Romanian union.[24] He also made significant efforts to postpone the ratification of Marghiloman's surrender, allowing Romania to reenter the war on the Central Powers.[24]
While affiliated with Margiloman's Conservative Party, Arion also joined the eclectic anti-liberal movement, or
Arion was asked to explain himself before a university inquiry committee, but he never honored the request.
Notes
- ^ Boia, p.156
- ^ a b (in Romanian) Constantin Țoiu, "Fără șase 1OO (II)" Archived 2013-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 37/2003
- ^ Filitti (I), p.9
- ^ Filitti (I), p.10
- ^ a b c d e f Gheorghe & Șerbu, p.167
- ^ a b c Gheorghe & Șerbu, pp.167, 168
- ^ Boia, p.163
- ^ Filitti (II), pp.10–11
- ^ Gheorghe & Șerbu, p.124, 167, 171
- ^ Ornea, pp.91–92
- ^ Ornea, p.225-226
- ^ "Informațiĭ. Atentatul de la șosea", in Epoca, October 2, 1896
- ISBN 978-973-23-1911-6
- ^ Gheorghe & Șerbu, pp.167–168
- ^ a b c d e Filitti (II), p.9
- ^ a b c d Gheorghe & Șerbu, p.168
- ^ (in Romanian) Paul Brusanowski, "Biserica și constituționalismul. Cum de s-a putut ajunge la schisma bisericească din Ardeal din AD 2005?" Archived 2013-11-05 at the Wayback Machine, in Transilvania, Nr. 1/2006, p.14
- ^ Ornea, p.122
- ^ Ornea, p.129–130
- ^ a b (in Romanian) Andi Mihalache, "Gîlceavă politică în jurul statuii lui Cuza", in Ziarul de Iași, January 24, 2008
- ^ (in Romanian) Cătălin Botoșineanu, "Recrutarea corpului profesoral al universității din Iași la începutul epocii interbelice. Cazul Petre Andrei", in Anuarul Institutului de Istorie George Barițiu, Series Historica, 2008, Romanian Academy, George Barițiu Institute of History, pp.219–223, 233–234
- ^ Filitti (II), p.9-10; Gheorghe & Șerbu, p.168-169
- ^ Filitti (II), pp.9–10
- ^ a b c d e f g Gheorghe & Șerbu, p.169
- ^ Boia, pp.65, 152–157; Filitti (II), p.11
- ^ Boia, pp.181–182
- ^ Boia, p.12, 86, 156–157, 203, 223–224, 360; Filitti (II), p.10
- ^ Boia, p.48
- ^ United States Department of State (1918). Texts of the Roumanian "Peace". Washington Government Printing Office. p. 113.
- ISBN 978-606-8337-29-6
- ^ Boia, p.153; Filitti (II), p.11
- ^ Boia, p.153, 356, 358. See also Filitti (II), p.10
- ^ Boia, p.350
- ^ Filitti (II), p.11
References
- ISBN 978-973-50-2635-6
- (in Romanian) Georgeta Filitti, "Arion (I)", in the Mihail Sadoveanu City Library Biblioteca Bucureștilor, Nr. 5/2008, p. 9-10; "Arion (II)", in Biblioteca Bucureștilor, Nr. 6/2008, pp. 9–11
- (in Romanian) Constantin Gheorghe, Miliana Șerbu, Miniștrii de interne (1862–2007). Mică enciclopedie, ISBN 978-973-745-048-7
- ISBN 973-21-0561-5