page_title: Free and Independent Faction
section_title: Republicanism
hierarchical_section_title: Free and Independent Faction / Republicanism
caption_attribution_description: English: Massacre by troops loyal to the Epureanu Government, alleged to have taken place in the city of Piteşti, during the 1870 elections. This cartoon, published in the oppositionist newspaper Ghimpele, accuses government officials of having purposefully aimed for the hearts of Piteşti protesters. Their leader is the gibbon "Scarlat", holding up a baton; he personifies the monarch, Carol I (as per Silvia Marton, "Republica de la Ploiești" și începuturile parlamentarismului în România, pp. 167–169. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2016. ISBN 978-973-50-5160-0).
context_page_description: The Free and Independent Faction or Free and Independent Fraction was a nationalist and national-liberal party in Romania, regionally centered on Western Moldavia. Originally informal, and defined by its adversaries, the Faction mainly comprised pupils and followers of the philosopher Simion Bărnuțiu. During most of its existence, it had as its recognized leader the academic and polemicist Nicolae Ionescu.
  Consolidated during the election of Carol I as Domnitor, the Faction opposed his rule, favoring either an elective monarchy with a native prince or a republican system. Secondary Factionalist leaders included Dimitrie Tacu, Alecu D. Holban and Nicu Ceaur-Aslan, who had varying levels of involvement with Western Moldavian separatism in 1866. The group's nativism bordered on violent xenophobia, endorsing economic antisemitism and anti-Germanism. The party also stood for democratization, including radical land reform and a reshaping of the census suffrage, while its regional ethos resulted in support for federalism, then communalism.
context_section_description: As noted by historian Silvia Marton, the marginalized "Reds" first began talking of republicanism in the early months of 1869—"chipping away at Carol's strength and authority" despite their setbacks. While Ionescu attended official functions honoring the Domnitor well into 1869, the Faction discarded its early project for a native dynasty (which it now deemed "the imperialistic regime") and embraced republicanism. Nevertheless, Factionalist deputies such as Ion Codrescu still expressed a hope that the throne could stand for "the country as a whole", and reaffirmed their conditional support for Carol. As reported by Gazet'a Transilvaniei in early 1869, republicanism remained "of little value in Europe"; the only journal to match the Factionalist platform outside Moldavia was Electorulu Craiovei, which exercised some influence in Oltenia.
  A republican drift was accentuated during the elections of May 1870. These were entirely manufactured by Carol, who was arguably overstepping constitutional bounds. They took place in a climate of violence and uncertainty, with riots in Bucharest, Giurgiu, and Pitești. In his editorial of June 3, Hasdeu called Epureanu a "butcher", but warned that "a nation is like iron: the more you strike at it, the more it will harden."
  Epureanu managed to set up a "Hen and Fledgling Cabinet" that included Junimist Carp at Foreign Affairs. This was an early sign of the success of anti-Factionalism in Moldavia, where Junimea was growing into a political movement. The election, however, produced 34 deputies who, according to Hasdeu, stood for the "independent current, whose banner, the one it raised only yesterday, has managed to overwhelm with its vigor the authoritarian school." Alongside Ionescu, I. Codrescu, Fătu, Gheorghiu, Alecu Holban, Negură, Suciu, Voinov, and Tacu, these were: Stroe Belloescu, Constantin Bosianu, Alexandru Lăzărescu-Laerțiu, Gheorghe Lecca, Costache Negri, Nicolae Gr. Racoviță, Nicolae Rosetti-Bălănescu, George D. Vernescu, I. Adrian, Ion Agarici, N. Bossie, Costin Brăescu, D. Comănăsceanu, Leon Eraclide, E. Filipescu, I. Gâlcă, M. Ganea, P. Georgiade, Vasile Holban, Dumitru Lupașcu, George P. Mantu, L. Moldoveanu, Constantin Scafesu, G. Sefendache, G. Vucenicu. This count may include "Red" sympathizers: according to Marton, the Faction only had 25 deputies, and the "Reds" 32—at 57 seats, their alliance actually had a slim majority; government was backed by neutral "Whites", and by a slim majority of senators. Moreover, the caucus of various liberal groups and tendencies was especially weak, ridiculed by outsiders as a "perfectly undecided" legislature.
  In Chamber, Voinov had verbal duels with moderates such as Constantin Boerescu over suspicions of electoral fraud by political bosses. During such bouts, he insisted that the Civic Guard had moral a duty to "rise up and protect" the people. There were other calls for a revolution in Wallachia, all sparked by popular support for the French Empire during the Franco-Prussian War—while Carol and some of his ministers favored the German coalition. In radical circles, despite an awareness that France was under an illiberal regime, the war was depicted as a struggle "between freedom and despotism." After some reluctance, with Ionescu noting that nobody in Europe cared about Romania's positioning, the Francophile tenets were also taken up by the Factionalists. In Chamber, Ionescu and Gheorghiu spoke against neutrality, asking Epureanu and Carp to at least express moral sympathy for France, and proposing that Chamber be put in control of foreign policies.
  By August, Wallachian radicals became involved in the incident known as "Republic of Ploiești", which ended in a police round-up of prominent "Reds". Several were tried for sedition, but acquitted by a sympathetic jury. Dreptatea condemned the "ridiculous rebellion", arguing that its instigators were inconsistent democrats, and dwelling on the older critique of Wallachian centralism; the "republic", Ionescu theorized, would only have reinforced the subjugation of Moldavian communes, whi
caption: June 1870 caricature in the "Red" gazette Ghimpele, showing the Epureanu cabinet (including Petre P. Carp) shooting down protesters in Pitești; the gibbon "Scarlat", a stand-in for Carol I, is shown ordering the alleged atrocity
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