Românul (, meaning "The Romanian"; originally spelled Romanulu or Românulŭ, also known as Romînul, Concordia, Libertatea and Consciinti'a Nationala), was a political and literary newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania, from 1857 to 1905. Established as the leading voice of Romanian liberalism (the "Red" faction) in the state of Wallachia, it had direct connections to the radical ideology of Western Europe. Its founder and director was the aristocrat C. A. Rosetti, known as Romantic poet, Masonic promoter and left-wing activist, seconded by the brothers Ion C. Brătianu and Dimitrie Brătianu. Românuls roots were planted in the 1848 revolutionary movement, whose press organ, Pruncul Român, was a direct predecessor.
In its first editions, Românul helped circulate the slogans of the national emancipation ideal, and campaigned for Moldavia to join Wallachia in a union of the principalities, the basis of modern Romania. Although that union was achieved in 1859, Rosetti fell out with the elected Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, censuring his dictatorial inclinations and being in turn censored. Românul men (Rosetti, Eugeniu Carada) helped topple Cuza in February 1866, after which Românul became the expression of radicalism in government. During the early rule of Domnitor Carol, it became noted for bellicose statements favoring the incorporation into Romania of Transylvania, Bukovina, and other regions held by the Austrian Empire; it also supported Romania's full independence from the Ottoman Empire, and the creation of "Red" paramilitary units. This agenda was taken up by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Alexandru Odobescu, and various other Românul writers. Additionally, during brief periods of conflict with Carol, Românul supported republican agitation, most openly so in the troubled year 1870. Its inclinations toward ethnic nationalism and antisemitism were additional topics of controversy.
Românul men consolidated the "Red" opposition, creating the National Liberal Party (PNL), which dominated Romanian politics from 1875 onward. Românul gave enthusiastic backing to the Romanian War of Independence, but was not pleased by the establishment of the Romanian Kingdom. The Rosettists became the far left of PNL, and had socialist sympathies, being identified by the conservative opinion-makers (writers Titu Maiorescu, Mihai Eminescu and Ion Luca Caragiale) with excess, demagogy, or corruption. They also ridiculed Românul for its "macaronic" rendition of the Romanian language.
Românul unwittingly destabilized the PNL by proposing electoral and other reforms during the 1880s, and its leaders, Rosetti included, were pushed into leaving the party. In its final edition, put out by Vintilă Rosetti, the openly pro-socialist newspaper went into steady decline.
History
Background and foundation The Rosetti (Ruset) family, of Greek-Byzantine and Phanariote origin, joined the Moldo-Wallachian boyar class in the 17th century, experiencing supreme political power with the rise of Antonie Vodă (1675), and then with the arrival of Manolache-Giani Vodă (1770).Netea (March 1972), p.21–22 The Românul founder was a collateral descendant of Antonie,Netea (March 1972), p.22–23 and, despite being identified with Wallachia's liberal school, had a mainly Moldavian ancestry.Filitti (2006), p.7 By the time of his revolutionary debut, the various Rosetti branches populated the entire political landscape of the two principalities.Netea (March 1972), p.22–23, 26 Although born into this aristocratic milieu, Constantin Alexandru "C. A." Rosetti was a man of many trades (actor, translator, printer, shop-owner), a Byronian poet by vocation, and a self-confessed friend of the people.Călinescu, p.166–172, 390; Cioculescu (1974), p.179–180; Netea (March 1972), p.23 Already as a teenager, he joined the secretive boyar clubs which subverted the Regulamentul Organic regime, and expanded his circle of acquaintances while studying with fellow Romanian radicals at the Collège de France.Netea (March 1972), p.23 Also then, he joined the Freemasonry's Athénée des Étrangers, becoming Masonic brothers with Ion C. and Dimitrie Brătianu, and with the Jewish revolutionary painter Constantin Daniel Rosenthal.Maria Georgescu, "Praporcicul Ion C. Brătianu", in Magazin Istoric, August 2008, p.82
During the 1848 events, Rosetti and Ion Brătianu organized the tanners and the youth into a revolutionary force, toppling the Regulamentul rule. Briefly imprisoned, Rosetti became Bucharest Agha in just a couple of days, and was instrumental in combating counterrevolutionary activities."Constantinu A. Rosetti" (1884), p.53; Netea (March 1972), p.23–24 He was also among the negotiators who tried to reach a quick compromise with the Ottoman Empire, their liberal suzerain, against the wishes of Imperial Russia, their autocratic supervisor.
Between these assignments, he edited the revolution's first and main gazette, Pruncul Român ("The Romanian Infant"). Although short lived, it enshrined in popular memory the ethical and cultural commands of Wallachian pașoptism ("48-ism").Netea (March 1972), p.24 It is also commonly seen as a direct precursor of Românul."Constantinu A. Rosetti" (1884), p.53; Piru, p.194, 206
Eventually, the Ottomans intervened in force against the Wallachian revolutionaries. After some mishaps, Rosetti joined his former government colleagues in their Western European exile. At that stage, he adopted the left-wing interpretation of revolutionary failure, proposing that, had land reform been enacted and peasants emancipated from corvées, the revolutionary government would have been legitimate and defended. He saw the future Romanian state as a republic, without "princes and boyars, without masters and servants, [...] without protectors and suzerains". At the time, Rosetti had found a new idol in Italy's radical ideologue Giuseppe Mazzini, reading and translating Mazzini's fraternal manifesto Alle popolazioni Rumene ("To the Romanian Peoples").Netea (November 1972), p.13–14 The Wallachian exile took to agnosticism, reading both the Bible and atheistic tracts, and refusing to baptize his children by Maria Rosetti-Grant.Călinescu, p.167, 168, 170, 275 By then, Rosetti and his men were perceived as extremists even among the leftist Wallachian émigrés: Nicolae Bălcescu, a radical, complained that the Rosettists were "communists", and that their supposed critique of property as theft was irritatingly obstructionist.Cristian Ilie, "Anticomunistul Nicolae Bălcescu", in Magazin Istoric, July 2010, p.40
The Crimean War (which placed Wallachia and Moldavia under direct supervision of the Great Powers) meant C. A. Rosetti and Ion Brătianu were allowed to return home. They both became involved with the "National Party", which campaigned for a Moldo-Wallachian Union. Românul was founded in this period of turmoil, when the National Party was slowly eroding the separatist vote in the ad-hoc Divans. Its first issue came out on 9 August 1857, barely a month after Rosetti had been invited back to Wallachia.Netea (March 1972), p.24; Pârvulescu (2011), p.110 According to one interpretation, Românul existed since February 1857, under the title Concordia ("Concord"), and changed it upon Rosetti's arrival to Bucharest. Lavinia Păcurar, "Calendar cultural", in the Central University Library of Cluj-Napoca Bibliorev, Nr. 19 Românul was originally a weekly (twice a week: 1857–1858; thrice a week: 1858–1859), but became a daily in 1859. "Românul", Cronologia della letteratura rumena moderna (1780–1914) entry, at the University of Florence's Department of Neo-Latin Languages and Literatures; retrieved 21 April 2012
The offices were originally located at No. 15 Caimatei Street.Pârvulescu (2011), p.110 Românul then moved into the Pasagiul Român, renting flats from Rosetti's friend and upholsterer Peter Friedrich Bossel (a location later used by Rosetti for his enoteca). Emanuel Bădescu, "Pe când Matei Millo juca la Hanul Bossel", in Ziarul Financiar, 6 January 2011 The newspaper would then move shop to Rosetti's house at No. 14 Doamnei Street, and eventually to No. 2 Academiei Street (by Calea Victoriei).
Struggle for union
In itself, the paper's definitive name showed the patriotic fervor of the 1850s, and especially the cause of Romanian nation-building, when the name "Romanian" slowly replaced references to "Moldavian", "Wallachian" etc. Ioana Pârvulescu, "Bărbat, român, progresist", in România Literară, Nr. 38/2000 At the time, both sides of the National Party, "White" conservatives and "Red" liberals, were engaged in supporting the unionist project. From the start, the paper used the twin slogans Voesce (or Voiește) și vei putea; Luminează-te și vei fi ("Will It and You Shall Achieve; Enlighten Yourself and You Shall Become"). On one level, these mottos reflected Rosetti's belief in popular education by means of the press, but were actually coined by Ion Brătianu,Călinescu, p.171; Pârvulescu (2011), p.27, 110 and probably inspired to him by Masonic lore. Emanuel Bădescu, "Inaugurarea statuii ecvestre a lui Mihai Viteazul", in Ziarul Financiar, 25 November 2011
In its first manifesto, also conceived by Brătianu, the paper exhorted the Romanians of both countries to reflect on their shared lineage: "[the Romanians'] interests are identical, they had to suffer through the same things, and they have the same ideas about what they should do to make things better for themselves."Geran Pilon, p.53 Bibliographer Eugène Hatin notes that, together with the more moderate Naționalul, the "ultra-liberal" Rosettist tribune had "the greatest influence on those events which, in Romania, marked the years 1857 to 1859."Eugène Hatin, Bibliographie historique et critique de la presse periodique française, Firmin Didot, Paris, 1866, p.CVII-CVIII Românul hosted contributions from the archeologist and political agitator Cezar Bolliac, who spoke out against the anti-Wallachian government of Moldavia. Bolliac attacked separatist Nicolae Vogoride for having shut down the unionist mouthpiece Steaua Dunării, and demanded freedom of the press. Z. Ornea, "Cenzura și vocația", in România Literară, Nr. 44/2000 C. A. Rosetti himself was Secretary of the Bucharest ad-hoc Divan, which confirmed the new Moldavian prince Alexander John Cuza as prince of Wallachia. Rosetti then journeyed to Moldavia, as president of the delegation which informed Cuza that the personal union had been effected.Netea (March 1972), p.25 He is also credited with having put together the "Red" contingency plan, that of a "revolution", had the Bucharest Divan opted not to elect Cuza. "C. A. Rosetti. La portretul din nr. acesta", in Familia, Nr. 17/1903, p.200–201 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
Alongside the tightening of Cuza's union, Rosetti's cultural project involved agitation for international cooperation, for Pan-Latinism and Francophilia. In an 1857 editorial for Românul, Ion Brătianu presented the earliest "Red" take on the origin of the Romanians. In his view, the Romanian people belonged to three noble families: the Thracians were its roots; the Romans its political backbone; the Celts its intimate link with France.Boia (2000), p.137–138; Mircea Goga, La Roumanie: Culture et civilisation, Paris-Sorbonne University, Paris, 2007, p.131–132. Românul also preserved a mythical image of C. A. Rosetti's Italian models. The newspaper's office was decorated with the portraits of Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi.Netea (November 1972), p.15 Years later, Garibaldi wrote to thank Rosetti for having regularly sent him issues of Românul.Vasile Stănică, "Înrudiți cu Garibaldi", in Magazin Istoric, October 1972, p.68