Dimitrie Cariagdi

Dimitrie Cariagdi (also Careagdi, Cariagdis, Cariagdy, or Kariagdi; 1815 – 10 October 1893) was a Wallachian, later Romanian, politician and lawyer.

Biography Early life and political debut Cariagdi had several siblings, including a brother who was dead by 1877."Adunarea Deputațilorŭ. Ședința de Vinerĭ, 25 Februariŭ, 1877", in Romanulu, 27 February 1877, p. 189 Another brother, named Ioan, was also Dimitrie's colleague at Ioan Haviarà's school in 1828.Nicolae Iorga, "Prenumeranți la 1828", in Revista Istorică, Vol. XXIV, Issues 4–6, April–June 1938, p. 124 The self-styled Princes were of Greek origin, and Dimitrie was reviled as such by his nationalist adversaries. One of these was poet-journalist Mihai Eminescu, who once described him one of the country's most odious "Phanariotes".Dumitru Velea, "Eminescu azi. Eminescu — despre geniul național al poporului român", in Vatra, Vol. XIX, Issue 223, October 1989, p. 10 As a youth, he completed his education at the University of Paris. Returning home in 1838, Cariagdi joined the magistracy, eventually becoming state's attorney.Dimitrie Rosetti, Dicționarul Contimporanilor, p. 46. Bucharest: Editura Lito-Tipografiei "Populara", 1897

Of the Cariagdi brothers, Ioan achieved public notoriety during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848. An administrator of the salt mines in Slănic, he supported the revolutionary agenda, but warned the Wallachian government that his subordinates were quitting their jobs to join the national guard, and thus jeopardizing salt extraction."Studii documentare. Începuturile mișcării muncitorești și socialiste în România", in Anale de Istorie, Vol. XXVII, Issue 4, 1981, p. 139 By 1852, he had become perennial administrator of the salt mine in Telega, which was also used for imprisoning Wallachian criminals, and which he reformed into a more humane facility.C. Craciunu, "Istoriculu salineloru din Romani'a. III. Salin'a Teleg'a", in Gazeta Transilvaniei, Issue 10/1871, p. 3 A decade later, Ioan was politically active in the newly formed United Principalities. In the 1864 election, he was sent to the Assembly of Deputies by the town of Câmpina."Romania. Deputatii aleşi la 25. Noemvre de câtra colegele de orasie", in Concordia, 10 (22) December 1864, p. 398

In June 1865, after several years of political involvement, Dimitrie Cariagdi was named Justice Minister, in office until the following February; for the same duration,"Miniștriĭ de culte și instr. publică și secretariĭ lor. De la 1862 și pănă astăzĭ", in Timpul, 19 (31) March 1893, p. 1 he was also the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, in which position he was involved with the secularization of monastery estates. That policy had been favored by the Romanian Domnitor, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, as a step toward land reform. Following the secularization, Cariagdi and Cuza were accused of having illegally granted the Kretzulescu Church to the Prime Minister, Nicolae Kretzulescu.G. S., "Domnule Redactore!", in Romanulu, 17 March 1866, p. 102 In mid-1865, the minister encouraged Aromanians from Salonica vilayet to look to Romania for national guidance, by granting them scholarships and by creating a "Macedonian Institute" in Bucharest.Victor Papacostea, Mihai Regleanu, Nicolae Șerban Tanașoca, Ștefan Vâlcu (eds.), Documentele redeșteptării macedoromâne (Izvoare privitoare la istoria romanității balcanice, I), pp. 18–19, 23–24. Bucharest: Institute of South-East European Studies & Editura Predania, 2012. His mandate also came with the institution of compulsory education, announced in Cariagdi's decree as a function of Christianity and Romanian nationalism: so that each man may learn how to pray to God as a good Christian, and how to be a decent human being, and how to take care of one's forrow, one's hut, one's life, with a mind that's without bias, and to know how to preserve them and protect these from all things wicked and evil, and especially so that every man knows that he is Romanian and how great the Romanian country is, and how each one of us is bound to love it and its Domnitor, because when we are stripped of our own country, there can be no justice or good left for anyone, as Romanians say: "O Lord, please protect even my enemies from the mercy of strangers."Const. D. Ionescu, "Gânduri de toamnă", in Gorjanul, Vol. XIV, Issues 38–39, October 1937, p. 3

Creditul Urban and PNL For a short while in November, Cariagdi was additionally interim Finance Minister."Telegramme. (Mittags eingetroffen.). Bukarest, 4. November", in Die Debatte und Wiener Lloyd, 7 November 1865, p. 3 The three executive functions made him part of the last ministerial team to serve under Cuza, who was ousted by the "monstrous coalition" in a bloodless coup.Ioan Mitrea, "Cuza Vodă în amintirea poporului român", in Steagul Roșu, 24 January 1969, p. 3 He resumed his career under the new Domnitor, Carol I, serving numerous terms as deputy and senator. Thus, in the election of May 1870, he took a senatorial seat for the Second College in Prahova County, with 75 votes from a total 78."Telegrame. Ploiescĭ, 5 Iuniŭ 1870", in Romanulu, 10 June 1870, p. 494 In December 1870, he was again Justice Minister, included in the third Ghica cabinet, remaining until March 1871.

Cariagdi was also secretly close to the exiled Cuza. In January 1872, he was at Naples alongside the conspirator Alexandru Candiano-Popescu. From here, he wrote a letter to Cuza, inviting him to return to Bucharest and "put an end to our misfortune." In February 1875, Cariagdi established Creditul Urban, a credit union which sought to bring in funds for the development and beautification of Bucharest. It obtained its first financing, of 100 thousand lei, from the Romanian state (represented by Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, the acting Finance Minister)."Creditulŭ Fonciarŭ Urbanŭ", in Romanulu, 17–18 February 1875, pp. 149–150

In June 1875, Cariagdi became an inaugural member of the National Liberal Party (PNL)."Alegerile colegiuluĭ I.", in Romanulu, 6 June 1876, p. 493 He stood in the elections of June 1876, winning a First-College deputy seat at Prahova (beating Theodor C. Văcărescu 50 votes to 36)."Bucurescĭ 4/16 Cireșiarŭ", in Romanulu, 5 June 1875, p. 487 In his twin capacities as elector and deputy, the Prince made efforts to impose stricter voting regulations, including voter identification laws. He reported that, though his college was the smallest, he rarely met his fellow voters, and claimed that his deceased brother had been registered as casting votes in three successive elections. These efforts were interrupted by the Romanian war of independence, severing the country's remaining links with the Ottoman Empire. Cariagdi supported the Romanian Army, donating two horses for the front in April 1877."Oferirĭ de caĭ pentru armată", in Romanulu, 15 April 1877, p. 336 In September 1878, Carol I gave him special dispensation to wear the Order of Saint Anna, Second Class, as awarded to him by the Russian Empire."Scirĭ d'ale d̦ileĭ. Din capitală", in Romanulu, 24 September 1878, p. 884

As Mayor Cariagdi ran for the Bucharest City Council in November 1878, taking one of the four seats in contest for the First College,"Resultatul alegerilor col. I comunal", in Steaua Romaniei, 8 November 1878, p. 3 as part of a National Liberal sweep. Soon after, Constantin Bosianu handed in his resignation as Mayor of Bucharest. Cariagdi was voted in by the council to replace him, and Carol signed their wish into a decree on 19 December."Scirĭ d'ale d̦ileĭ. Din capitală", in Romanulu, 19 December 1878, p. 1262 This did not interrupt his other mandate as deputy: May 1879, he presided over an Assembly session, standing in for the more senior Gheorghe Magheru (who was ailing)."Cronica internă. Adunarea Deputaților. Sesiune estraordinară. Ședința de Marți 22 Mai, 1886", in Curierul. Foaea Intereselor Generale, 25 May 1879, p. 2

Cariagdi's chief achievement as Mayor was a public works project for managing the Dâmbovița River. He expanded on initial work done by a previous interim mayor, I. P. Dumitrescu, who had borrowed some 15 million lei in 1877.Aniela Nine, "Râul Dâmbovița a fost o problemă pentru Capitală. Cariagdi a dat de cap inundațiilor", in Jurnalul Național, 2 June 2004, p. 13 Cariagdi and the chief engineer Dimitrie Matac (who was also his nephew) approved of a plan, and selected the subcontractors in October 1880; the mayor himself launched the works in November, at a site in Vitan. Cariagdi's other focus was on culture and education: in one sweeping move, he instituted linguistic protectionism, with fines for all shop signs in languages other than Romanian.D. Teleor, "Lupta cu franțuzismele", in Minerva, 5 June 1913, p. 1 He contributed, more seriously than his predecessor Gheorghe Manu, to the city-funded program of school-building—with five new schools erected under his mandate."Învățământul public din București", in Minerva, 13 January 1909, p. 2

Cariagdi served during the formation of the Kingdom of Romania. In August 1880, Carol I, as the reigning King of Romania, made him and the Police Prefect, Radu Mihai, Grand Officers of the Order of the Crown."Ministerul afacerilor străine", in Curierul. Foaea Intereselor Generale, 2 (14) August 1881, p. 2 That December, Carol also granted him special permit to display the Belgian Order of Leopold, of which Cariagdi was a Commander."Decorați", in Curierul. Foaea Intereselor Generale, 17 (29) December 1880, p. 2 By then, Cariagdi and Calinic Miclescu, the Metropolitan-Primate, had been named executors of Răducanu Simonide's last will. As such, they helped build a Simonide wing for Filantropia Hospital, by selling off land that the deceased had owned in Gogoșari."Diverse. O donatiune frumósa", in Gazeta Transilvaniei, Issue 47/1881, p. 4

The Prince finally stepped down from his city-hall office in November 1883 (making him the longest-serving mayor of the Romanian capital until the 1930s).Monica Iordache, "78 de edili la Primăria Capitalei", in Jurnalul Național, 1 June 2004, p. 13 His Dâmbovița works had been under scrutiny since August 1881, when a city engineer, Nicolae Cucu Starostescu, warned that the project was overpriced and suboptimal. The whistleblower was well received by the Deputy Mayor N. Manolescu, during a time when Cariagdi was at a spa; the Mayor returned in September, furiously silencing Cucu Starostescu, and then demoting him.Nicolae Cucu Starostescu, "D-luĭ redactor al d̦iaruluĭ Romanul", in Romanulu, 27 September 1881, p. 856 Criticism became more widespread: he was ultimately brought down by an alliance between the Conservative Party and some of Cariagdi's National Liberal allies."Reorganizarea Inalteĭ Curți de Compturĭ. II", in Timpul, 28 October 1893, p. 1

Old age and legal troubles The leading PNL tribune, Voința Națională, openly sided with Cucu Starostescu, describing him as a savior of Bucharest. The same newspaper claimed that Cariagdi's favoritism toward the Swiss engineer Arnold Bürkli had squandered public resources on "insane projects"."Alimentarea Capitaleĭ cu apă", in Voința Națională, 16–17 September 1884, p. 2 In 1897, the Conservative daily Opinia summarized the Dâmbovița sanitation scheme as having "enriched the family of Mayor Cariagdi"."Scandalul de la Consiliu. Robiĭ Banuluĭ", in Opinia, 20 July 1897, p. 1