Complex sentence: Besides his political distinction Ion Ghica earned a literary reputation by his "Letters to Alecsandri", his lifelong friend, written from London and describing the ancient state of Romanian society, fast fading away.
Split into simpler sentences: Besides his political distinction, Ion Ghica earned a literary reputation by writing his "Letters to Alecsandri", his lifelong friend. In these letters, concepted and written during his residency in London, he described the ancient state of the Romanian society, fast fading away.