Un conservator sub semnul nestatorniciei: Lascăr Catargiu – ministru de interne al Moldovei (27 aprilie − 21 septembrie 1859)
A CONSERVATIVE IN AN AGE OF TRANSIENCE: LASCĂR CATARGIU – MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR IN MOLDAVIA (APRIL 27 − SEPTEMBER 21, 1859)

Summary/Abstract: Lascăr Catargiu was the only conservative in the cabinet Manolache Costache Epureanu, the third Moldavian government of Alexandru Ioan Cuza. He was nominated as minister of the Interior (a position usually reserved to the prime minister) because of his influence on the parliamentary majority. Like his predecessors, Vasile Sturdza and Ion Ghica, Costache Epureanu led a minority government, and could not survive without making concessions to the conservative group, the most important in the Elective-Legislative Assembly. As minister, Catargiu played a significant role in the establishment of the Moldavian statistics bureau and in the organization of the 1859 census. He also elaborated a project of reorganization of the Moldavian gendarmerie, which was approved by the cabinet and by the Prince Cuza, but was never enforced because of the political instability in the country. Lascăr Catargiu left the cabinet on September 21, 1859; his resignation was motivated by the weakening of his position among the Moldavian conservatives, displeased with the policies of the government Costache Epureanu, and by the deterioration of his relationship with other members of the cabinet and with the entourage of the Prince. Catargiu did not hold another ministerial position until after the fall of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, in 1866.

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