Mihail Kogălniceanu (; also known as Mihail Cogâlniceanu, Michel de Kogalnitchan; September 6, 1817 – July 1, 1891) was a Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania on October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He was several times Interior Minister under Cuza and Carol. A polymath, Kogălniceanu was one of the most influential Romanian intellectuals of his generation. Siding with the moderate liberal current for most of his lifetime, he began his political career as a collaborator of Prince Mihail Sturdza, while serving as head of the Iași Theater and issuing several publications together with the poet Vasile Alecsandri and the activist Ion Ghica. After editing the highly influential magazine Dacia Literară and serving as a professor at Academia Mihăileană, Kogălniceanu came into conflict with the authorities over his Romantic nationalist inaugural speech of 1843. He was the ideologue of the abortive 1848 Moldavian Revolution, authoring its main document, Dorințele partidei naționale din Moldova.

Following the Crimean War (1853–1856), with Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica, Kogălniceanu was responsible for drafting legislation to abolish Roma slavery. Together with Alecsandri, he edited the unionist magazine Steaua Dunării, played a prominent part during the elections for the ad hoc Divan, and successfully promoted Cuza, his lifelong friend, to the throne. Kogălniceanu advanced legislation to revoke traditional ranks and titles, and to secularize the property of monasteries. His efforts at land reform resulted in a censure vote, leading Cuza to enforce them through a coup d'état in May 1864. However, Kogălniceanu resigned in 1865, following his own conflicts with the monarch.

A decade later, he helped create the National Liberal Party, before playing an important part in Romania's decision to enter the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878—a choice which consecrated her independence. He was also instrumental in the acquisition, and later colonization, of the Northern Dobruja region. During his final years, he was a prominent member and one-time President of the Romanian Academy, and briefly served as Romanian representative to France.

Biography

Early life

Born in Iași, he belonged to the Kogălniceanu family of Moldavian boyars, being the son of Vornic Ilie Kogălniceanu, and the great-grandson of Constantin Kogălniceanu (noted for having signed his name to a 1749 document issued by Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos, through which serfdom was disestablished in Moldavia). Mihail's mother, Catinca née Stavilla (or Stavillă), was, according to Kogălniceanu's own words, "[from] a Romanian family in Bessarabia". The author took pride in noting that "my family has never searched its origins in foreign countries or peoples".

During Milhail Kogălniceanu's lifetime, there was confusion regarding his exact birth year, with several sources erroneously indicating it as 1806; in his speech to the Romanian Academy, he acknowledged this, and gave his exact birth date as present in a register kept by his father. He completed his primary education in Miroslava, where he attended the Cuénim boarding school. It was during this early period that he first met the poet Vasile Alecsandri (they studied under both Vida and Cuénim), Costache Negri and Cuza. At the time, Kogălniceanu became a passionate student of history, beginning his investigations into old Moldavian chronicles.

With support from Prince Sturdza, Kogălniceanu continued his studies abroad, originally in the French city of Lunéville (where he was cared for by Sturdza's former tutor, the abbé Lhommé), and later at the University of Berlin. Among his colleagues was the future philosopher Grigore Sturdza, son of the Moldavian monarch. His stay in Lunéville was cut short by the intervention of Russian officials, who were supervising Moldavia under the provisions of the Regulamentul Organic regime, and who believed that, through the influence of Lhommé (a participant in the French Revolution), students were being infused with rebellious ideas; all Moldavian students, including Sturdza's sons and other noblemen, were withdrawn from the school in late 1835, and reassigned to Prussian education institutions. whose ideas on the necessity for politicians to be acquainted with historical science he readily adopted.

Kogălniceanu later noted with pride that he had been the first of Ranke's Romanian students, and claimed that, in conversations with Humboldt, he was the first person to use the modern equivalents French-language of the words "Romanian" and "Romania" (roumain and Roumanie)—replacing the references to "Moldavia(n)" and "Wallachia(n)", as well as the antiquated versions used before him by the intellectual Gheorghe Asachi; He was becoming repulsed by the existence of Roma slavery in his country, and in his study, cited the example of active abolitionists in Western countries.

In addition, he authored a series of studies on Romanian literature.

Raising the suspicions of Prince Sturdza after it became apparent that he sided with the reform-minded youth of his day in opposition to the Regulamentul Organic regime, Kogălniceanu was prevented from completing his doctorate, and instead returned to Iași, where he became a princely adjutant in 1838. In 1844, as a Moldavian law freed some slaves in Orthodox Church property, his articles announced a great triumph for "humanity" and "new ideas".

Both Dacia Literară and Foaie Științifică, which he edited together with Alecsandri, Ion Ghica, and Petre Balș, were suppressed by Moldavian authorities, who considered them suspect. Together with Costache Negruzzi, he printed all of Dimitrie Cantemir's works available at the time, and, in time, acquired his own printing press, which planned to issue the complete editions of Moldavian chronicles, including those of Miron Costin and Grigore Ureche (after many disruptions associated with his political choices, the project was fulfilled in 1852). In this context, Kogălniceanu and Negruzzi sought to Westernize the Moldavian public, with interest ranging as far as Romanian culinary tastes: the almanacs published by them featured gourmet-themed aphorisms and recipes meant to educate local folk about the refinement and richness of European cuisine. Kogălniceanu would later claim that he and his friend were "originators of the culinary art in Moldavia".

With Dacia Literară, Kogălniceanu began expanding his Romantic ideal of "national specificity", which was to be a major influence on Alexandru Odobescu and other literary figures. One of the main goals his publications had was expanding the coverage of modern Romanian culture beyond its early stages, during which it had mainly relied on publishing translations of Western literature—according to Garabet Ibrăileanu, this was accompanied by a veiled attack on Gheorghe Asachi and his Albina Românească. Mihail Kogălniceanu later issued clear criticism of Asachi's proposed version of literary Romanian, which relied on archaisms and Francized phonemes, notably pointing out that it was inconsistent. Tensions also occurred between Kogălniceanu and Alecsandri, after the former began suspecting his collaborator of having reduced and toned down his contributions to Foaie Științifică. During this period, Kogălniceanu maintained close contacts with his former colleague Costache Negri and his sister Elena, becoming one of the main figures of the intellectual circle hosted by the Negris in Mânjina. He also became close to the French teacher and essayist Jean Alexandre Vaillant, who was himself involved in liberal causes while being interested in the work of Moldavian chroniclers. Intellectuals of the day speculated that Kogălniceanu later contributed several sections to Vaillant's lengthy essay about Moldavia and Wallachia (La Roumanie). This followed the monarch's decision to unite the two existing theaters in the city, one of which hosted plays in French, into a single institution. In later years, this venue, which staged popular comedies based on the French repertory of its age and had become the most popular of its kind in the country,

In 1843, Kogălniceanu gave a celebrated inaugural lecture on national history at the newly founded Academia Mihăileană in Iași, a speech which greatly influenced ethnic Romanian students at the University of Paris and the 1848 generation (see Cuvânt pentru deschiderea cursului de istorie națională). Other professors at the Academia, originating in several historical regions, were Ion Ghica, Eftimie Murgu, and Ion Ionescu de la Brad. Among other things, it made explicit references to the common cause of Romanians living in the two states of Moldavia and Wallachia, as well as in Austrian- and Russian-ruled areas:

<blockquote>"I view as my country everywhere on earth where Romanian is spoken, and as national history the history of all of Moldavia, that of Wallachia, and that of our brothers in Transylvania."</blockquote>

Revolution

thumb|200px|Cover of Dorințele partidei naționale din Moldova

Around 1843, Kogălniceanu's enthusiasm for change was making him a suspect to the Moldavian authorities, and his lectures on History were suspended in 1844. Kogălniceanu was in Paris and other Western European cities from 1845 to 1847, joining the Romanian student association (Societatea Studenților Români) that included Ghica, Bălcescu, and Rosetti and was presided over by the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine. In 1846, he visited Spain, wishing to witness the wedding of Isabella II and the Duke of Cádiz, but he was also curious to assess developments in Spanish culture. It contrasted with the earlier demands the revolutionaries had presented to Sturdza, which called for strict adherence to the Regulamentul Organic and an end to abuse. In its 10 sections and 120 articles, The measures enforced by the prince, together with the fallout from the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War, were to bring by 1860 the introduction of virtually all liberal tenets comprised in Dorințele partidei naționale din Moldova.

Kogălniceanu was consequently appointed to various high level government positions, while continuing his cultural contributions and becoming the main figure of the loose grouping Partida Națională, which sought the merger of the two Danubian Principalities under a single administration. This involved the freeing of privately owned Roma slaves, as those owned by the state had been set free by Prince Sturdza in January 1844.

Prince Ghica also attempted to improve the peasant situation by outlawing quit-rents and regulating that peasants could no longer be removed from the land they were working on. Kogălniceanu encouraged Nicolae Ionescu to issue the magazine L'Étoile de Danube in Brussels, as a French-language version of Steaua Dunării which would also serve to popularize Partida Naționalăs views. By that time, he was in correspondence with Jean Henri Abdolonyme Ubicini, a French essayist and traveler who had played a minor part in the Wallachian uprising, and who supported the Romanian cause in his native country.

Following the elections of September 1857, the entire Partida Națională chose to support Cuza for the Moldavian throne.

He played the decisive part in the Divan's decision to abolish boyar ranks and privileges, thus nullifying pieces of legislation first imposed under Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos. The law had been initiated by Negri. In October 1858, he made a clear proposal regarding the unification, which, as he noted, carried the vote with only two opposing voices (Alecu Balș and Nectarie Hermeziu, the Orthodox vicar of Roman Bishopric), being publicly acclaimed by Ion Roată, the peasant representative for Putna County.

Secularization of monastery estates

thumb|300px|Opening session of the [[Parliament of Romania|Romanian Parliament in February 1860]]

From 1859 to 1865, Kogălniceanu was on several occasions the cabinet leader in the Moldavian half of the United Principalities, then Prime Minister of Romania, being responsible for most of the reforms associated with Cuza's reign. His first term in Moldavia ended during December 1860, when Kogălniceanu became involved in the scandal involving Metropolitan Sofronie Miclescu, who opposed Cuza's secularization of the monastery estates. In 1863, secularization was imposed by Cuza, with the land thus freed being divided among peasants—the land reform of 1864, which came together with the universal abolition of corvées.

Although political opposition prevented him from pushing agrarian reform at the time that he proposed it, Mihail Kogălniceanu is seen as the person responsible for the manner in which it was eventually carried out by Cuza. The changes in legislation came at the end of a lengthy process, inaugurated in 1860, when the institution regulating legislative projects for the two principalities, the Conservative-dominated Common Commission of Focșani, refused to create the basis for land reform. Instead, it provided for an end to corvées, while allowing peasants on boyar estates control over their own houses and a parcel of pasture. Known as Legea Rurală (the "Rural Law"), the project received instant support from the then-Premier Barbu Catargiu, leader of the Conservatives, and the target of vocal criticism on Kogălniceanu's part. On June 6, 1862, the project was first debated in parliament, causing a standstill between Cuza and the Conservatives. As noted by historian L. S. Stavrianos, the latter considered the project advantageous because, while preserving estates, it created a sizable group of landless and dependent peasants, who could provide affordable labor. On June 23, Legea Rurală was passed by Parliament, but Cuza would not promulgate it. According to Kogălniceanu, the Conservatives Arsachi and Kretzulescu were reluctant to propose the law for review by Cuza, knowing that it was destined to be rejected. In late 1862, their revenues were taken over by the state, and, during the summer of the following year, a sum of 80 million piasters was offered as compensation to the Greek monks, in exchange for all of the monasteries' land.

As the Ottoman Empire proposed international mediation, Cuza took the initiative, and, on October 23, 1863, deposed the Kretzulescu cabinet, nominating instead his own selection of men: Kogălniceanu as Premier and Interior Minister, Dimitrie Bolintineanu as Minister of Religious Affairs. Consequently, the Romanian state considered the matter closed. (one fifth to one fourth of the total arable land in the state as a whole).

Cuza's personal regime

In the spring of 1864, the cabinet introduced a bill providing for an extensive land reform, which proposed allocating land based on peasant status. The fruntași ("foremost people"), who owned 4 or more oxen, were to receive 5 fălci of land, or approx. 7.5 hectares; mijlocași ("middle people"), with two oxen—approx. 6 hectares; pălmași ("manual laborers"), with no oxen—approx. 3 hectares. Kogălniceanu read in Parliament the monarch's decision to dissolve it,

The new regime passed its own version of Legea Rurală, thus effectively imposing land reform, as well as putting an end to corvées. This was accomplished through discussions in August 1864 by the newly established Council of State, where the law was advanced by, among others, Kogălniceanu, Bolintineanu, George D. Vernescu, Gheorghe Apostoleanu and Alexandru Papadopol-Callimachi.

More reserved members of the Council asked for the land reform law not to be applied for a duration of three years, instead of the presumed April 1865 deadline, and Cuza agreed.

With Kogălniceanu's participation, the authoritarian regime established by Cuza succeeded in promulgating a series of reforms, notably introducing the Napoleonic Code, public education, and state monopolies on alcohol and tobacco. At the same time, the regime became unstable and was contested by all sides, especially after his adulterous affair with Marija Obrenović became the topic of scandal. In early 1865, Cuza came into conflict with his main ally Kogălniceanu, whom he dismissed soon after. Over the following months, the administration went into financial collapse, no longer able to provide state salaries,

After 1863, relations between Mihail Kogălniceanu and his friend Vasile Alecsandri soured dramatically, as the latter declared himself disgusted with politics. Alecsandri withdrew to his estate in Mircești, where he wrote pieces critical of the political developments.

Carol's ascent and Mazar Pașa Coalition

thumb|220px|Portrait of an aging Kogălniceanu

Domnitor Cuza was ultimately ousted by a coalition of Conservatives and Liberals in February 1866; following a period of transition and maneuvers to avert international objections, a perpetually unified Principality of Romania was established under Carol of Hohenzollern, with the adoption of the 1866 Constitution. Two years later, in recognition of his scholarly contributions, Kogălniceanu became a member of the newly created Romanian Academy Historical Section.

In November 1868 – January 1870, he was again Minister of the Interior under Dimitrie Ghica. In this capacity, he regulated the design of police uniforms, and investigated the murder of Cuca-Măcăi peasants by rogue Gendarmes.

He was at the time involved in a new diplomatic effort: the Ghica government was aiming to receive formal recognition of the name "Romania", as opposed to "United Principalities". The bid was successful, after the Ottomans gave their approval, but marked a slump in Romania's relationship with Prussia—its Minister President, Otto von Bismarck, abstained on the matter. Such tensions were only worsened when Prussian money was attracted by Ghica into the development of a Romanian Railways system: later Romanian governments confronted themselves with the "Strousberg Affair", a volatile combination of investment scheme failure and anti-Prussian sentiment (see Republic of Ploiești). Although generally depicted as Prussian-friendly, the Conservatives were also opposed to such dealings, and their daily Térra referred to Kogălniceanu as the guilty party. Overall, however, the Francophile Ghica and his minister were not only hostile to Prussia, but also tried to help the national cause of Romanians living in Austria-Hungary (Transylvania, Bukovina, etc.). Reportedly, these pitted them against Domnitor Carol, the Prussian-born Germanophile.

Kogălniceanu's term was confirmed by the 1869 election, after which he was able to persuade Alecsandri to accept a position as deputy for Roman.

Even after Cuza left the country and settled in Baden, relations between him and Kogălniceanu remained respectful, but distant: in summer 1868, when both of them were visiting Vienna, they happened to meet, and, without exchanging words, raised their hats as a form of greeting. On May 27, 1873, Kogălniceanu, alongside Alecsandri, Costache Negri, Petre Poni and other public figures, attended Cuza's funeral in Ruginoasa. Speaking later, he noted: "Cuza has committed great errors, but [the 1864 Către locuitorii sătești] shall never fade out of the hearts of peasants, nor from Romania's history". On May 24, 1875, negotiations resulted in the creation of the National Liberal Party—the so-called Coalition of Mazar Pașa. He was however an outspoken adversary of his former collaborator Nicolae Ionescu, who, as leader of the liberal splinter group Fracțiunea liberă și independentă, rejected National Liberal politics. In an 1876 speech in front of Parliament, Kogălniceanu attacked Ionescu and his supporters for their political and academic positions, approval from the conservative literary society Junimea and its anti-liberal gazette Timpul.

Like his political career, Kogălniceanu's tracts focused on condemning Austrian ethnic and territorial policies. Also in 1875, he issued from Paris an anti-Austrian brochure about the Romanian cause in Bukovina. Called Rapt de la Bukovine d'après les documents authentiques ("The Rape of Bukovina, from Genuine Documents"), it reused old texts collected by the Hurmuzachis. The propaganda effort won support from across the floor: Junimea Conservatives (Titu Maiorescu, Theodor Rosetti, Ioan Slavici), National Liberals (D. Sturdza) and independents (Alexandru Odobescu) all signed up to the enterprise.

Kogălniceanu joined other National Liberals in expressing opposition to the trade convention Catargiu had signed with Austria-Hungary, which was advantageous to the latter's exports, and which, they claimed, was leading Romanian industry to ruin. He accepted it while in office, but looked into adopting European-like patent laws, as a measure of encouraging local industries. A National Liberal government would repeal the agreement in 1886. The Russian envoy Dimitri Stuart received instructions to "halt" Kogălniceanu's initiatives, so as not to aggravate the "Eastern Question". With C. A. Rosetti and Brătianu, he supported the transit of Russian troops and persuaded Carol to accept the Russian alliance, contrary to the initial advice of the Crown Council. He also sought advice on this matter from the French Third Republic, who was still one of the powers supervising Romania; Louis, duc Decazes, the French Foreign Minister, declined to give him a reassuring answer, and pointed that, were Romania to join up with Russia, the other powers would cease offering their protection. Also alarming for Kogălniceanu, the official Russian proclamation addressed Romanians as protegés of the Empire.

On May 9, 1877, it was through Kogălniceanu's speech in Parliament that Romania acknowledged she was discarding Ottoman suzerainty. He was rewarded by Carol, becoming one of the first three statesmen received into the Order of the Star of Romania. The Minister also negotiated the terms under which the Romanian Land Forces were to join the war effort in Bulgaria, specifically demanding Russian reparations and indemnities.

Over the following year, he coordinated efforts to have the act recognized by all European states, and stated that his government's policies were centered on "as rapid as possible, the transformation of foreign diplomatic agencies and consulates in Bucharest into legations". Late in 1877, he traveled to Austria-Hungary and met Austrian Foreign Minister Gyula Andrássy. He recorded a mood of opposition to the Romanian military effort, but received guarantees of border security. The main challenge was convincing Bismarck, who had since become Chancellor of the German Empire, and who was very reserved on the issue of Romanian independence.

Congress of Berlin and Northern Dobruja

thumb|260px|Romanian reactions toward the [[Congress of Berlin: in this 1878 cartoon, Romania is robbed of her crown ("Bessarabia", in fact Southern Bessarabia) and weighed down by the addition of Northern Dobruja]]

Upon the war's end, Mihail Kogălniceanu and Ion Brătianu headed the Romanian delegation to the Congress of Berlin. In this capacity, they protested Russia's offer to exchange the previously Ottoman-ruled Northern Dobruja for Southern Bessarabia, a portion of Bessarabia that Romania had received under the 1856 Treaty of Paris. This came after months of tension between Romania and Russia, generated over the territorial issue and the Russian claim to be representing Romania at Berlin: Kogălniceanu's envoy (Eraclie Arion) had even threatened the Russians with a Romanian denunciation of their alliance, and 60,000 Romanian soldiers were prepared for the defense of Southern Bessarabia. The Conference's ultimate decision (Berlin Treaty) was in favor of Russia's proposal, largely due to support from Andrássy and William Henry Waddington, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Russians themselves did register some setbacks by the end of the Conference. Their demands for Romania to allow indefinite military transit through Northern Dobruja were made ineffectual by the opposition of other European states, and Kogălniceanu was able to obtain the retrocession of Snake Island.

As an effect of Waddington's intervention, Romania also agreed to resolve the issue of Jewish Emancipation. The government pledged itself to naturalize all of its non-Christian residents (see History of the Jews in Romania). Kogălniceanu himself made efforts to overturn this decision, and was bitter when the Germans refused to compromise. The resolution was debated inside Romania over the following year, and such a measure in respect to Jews was not introduced until 1922–1923.

This outcome was the subject of controversy in Romania, where the territorial exchange was generally considered unfair, with some voices even arguing that the country could again accept Ottoman suzerainty as a means to overturn the state of affairs. However, in April 1877, Kogălniceanu had explicitly assured Parliament that no real threat loomed over Southern Bessarabia. By that point in time, both the Germans and the Austrians had begun suspecting that Kogălniceanu was in fact a favorite and agent of influence of the Russians, and, reportedly, he even encouraged the rumor to spread. Andrássy reportedly commented: "Prince Carol is really unfortunate to have people like Mr. Kogălniceanu in his service".

Opposition came from both Conservative and National Liberal legislators, who viewed Northern Dobruja as an inhospitable, nonstrategic and non-Romanian territory. Contrarily, with his proclamation to the peoples of Northern Dobruja, Kogălniceanu enshrined the standard patriotic narrative of the events: he asserted that the region had been "united" with Romania, as a "Romanian land", because of the people's wishes and sacrifices. During the heated parliamentary sessions of late September 1878, he helped swing the vote in favor of the annexation, with speeches which also helped transform the public's mood, and which promised a swift process of Romanianization. This had become widely available after the partition of Ottoman estates, the nationalization of land once owned by the Muhajir Balkan, and the appropriation of uncultivated plots (miriè). In January 1880–1881, Kogălniceanu oversaw the first diplomatic contacts between Romania and Qing China, as an exchange of correspondence between the Romanian Embassy to France and Zeng Jize, the Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Upon his return to the newly proclaimed Kingdom of Romania, Kogălniceanu played a prominent part in opposing further concessions for Austria, on the issue of international Danube navigation. By 1883, he was becoming known as the speaker of a liberal conservative faction of the National Liberal group. Kogălniceanu and his supporters criticized Rosetti and others who again pushed for universal (male) suffrage, and argued that Romania's fragile international standing did not permit electoral divisiveness.

After withdrawing from political life, Kogălniceanu served as Romanian Academy President from 1887 to 1889 (or 1890). he spent his final years editing historical documents of the Eudoxiu Hurmuzaki fund, publicizing Ancient Greek and Roman archeological finds in Northern Dobruja, and collecting foreign documents related to Romanian history. Writing to Alecsandri's wife Paulina, he asked: "I could not be present at his funeral, [therefore] you'll allow me, my lady, since I have unable to kiss him either alive or dead, to at least kiss his grave!"

Mihail Kogălniceanu died while undergoing surgery in Paris, and was succeeded in his seat at the academy by Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol. German statesmen were however disinclined to consider him one of their own: Bernhard von Bülow took for granted rumors that he was an agent of the Russians, and further alleged that the Romanian land reform was a sham. At the same time, his connections within Freemasonry, mirroring the conviction and affiliation of most 1848 revolutionaries, were an important factor in ensuring the success of Romanian causes abroad, and arguably played a part in the election of Cuza, who was himself a member of the secretive organization. Kogălniceanu praised Bălcescu's manifestos and activism in favor of the peasantry, indicating that they formed a precedent for his own accomplishments, while deploring the Wallachian uprising's failure to advance a definitive land reform. When faced with the official protests of European states, he replied that the matter was nobody's business but Romania's. He usually referred to the Jewish community in general with the insulting term jidani, and accepted their presence on Romanian soil as a concession to their alleged "too numerous and too powerful presence in Europe". During the 1930s, such attitudes, together with Kogălniceanu's involvement in peasant causes, were cited as a precedent by politicians of the fascist National Christian Party and Iron Guard, who, while promoting rural traditionalism, advocated restricting civil rights for the Jewish community.

Nevertheless, Kogălniceanu's antisemitic discourse was nuanced and less violent than that of some of his contemporaries. According to historian George Voicu, he stood for "a complicated balance in dealing with the 'Jewish question'", one between "antisemitic intransigence" and "concessions". The more radical antisemite and National Liberal Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu expressed much criticism of this moderate stance (which he also believed was represented within the party by Rosetti and Ion Ghica), and he even claimed that Kogălniceanu was a secret "faithful" of the Talmud. Five years later, as rapporteur on naturalization issues, he conferred citizenship upon Marxist thinker Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, who was a Russian-born Jewish immigrant. Shortly before his death, he reportedly endorsed a similar measure for Jewish scholar Lazăr Șăineanu, expressing condemnation for those antisemites within his own party who made efforts to block it.

Cultural tenets

In his polemical history tracing the development of literary criticism and its role in Romanian culture, the 20th century author Garabet Ibrăileanu made ample mention of Kogălniceanu's role in combating nationalist excesses, in particular the post-1840 attempts by Transylvanian and Wallachian intellectuals to change the fabric of the Romanian language by introducing strong influences from Latin or other modern Romance languages. To illustrate this view, he cited Kogălniceanu's Cuvânt pentru deschiderea cursului de istorie națională, which notably states:

<blockquote>"In me you shall find a Romanian, but ever to the point where I would contribute in increasing Romanomania, that is to say the mania of calling ourselves Romans, a passion currently reigning foremost in Transylvania and among some of the writers in Wallachia."

A generation younger than Ibrăileanu, George Călinescu also noted the contrast between Mihail Kogălniceanu and his predecessors, as two sets of "Messianist" intellectuals—in this contrast, Heliade Rădulescu was "hazy and egotistic", whereas Kogălniceanu and others had "a mission which they knew how to translate into positive terms". In some of his works, he claimed that Romanians traditionally practiced endogamy to preserve their purity. His 1837 study of the Romani people (Esquisse sur l'histoire, les moeurs et la langue des Cigains, or "Sketch of the History, Mores and Language of the Cigains") is however still seen as a groundbreaking work in its field. According to historian Viorel Achim, while it "does not reach the standards of scientific research", the book is still "a genuine contribution" to "Romology", and "a work of reference".

As early as 1840, Mihail Kogălniceanu was urging writers to seek inspiration for their work in Romanian folklore in creating a "cultured literature". In 1855, after the Wallachian revolution was defeated and most of its leaders went into exile, he noted that the lighter toll Russian intervention had in Moldavia contributed to the preservation of literature; alongside similar statements made by Vasile Alecsandri, this allowed Ibrăileanu to conclude that, after 1848, Moldavia played a bigger part in shaping the cultural landscape of Romania. Also according to Ibrăileanu, Kogălniceanu and Alecu Russo have set the foundation for the local school of literary criticism, and, together, had announced the cultural professionalism advocated by Junimea after the 1860s. The latter conclusion was partly shared by Călinescu, Tudor Vianu and literary researcher Z. Ornea. Nevertheless, in its reaction against the 1848 generation, Junimea, and especially its main figure Titu Maiorescu, tended to ignore or outright dismiss Kogălniceanu's causes and the attitudes he expressed.

While commenting on the differences between Moldavian and Wallachian literature, Paul Zarifopol gave a more reserved assessment of Kogălniceanu's position, arguing that the emphasis he had placed on "national taste" would occasionally result in acclaim for mediocre writers such as Alexandru Hrisoverghi. Also among Kogălniceanu's anthumous writings was Fiziologia provincialului în Iași ("The Physiology of the Parochial Man in Iași"), closely based on a French model by Pierre Durand and, through it, echoing Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's Physiologie du goût. Kogălniceanu's Notes sur l'Espagne was published decades after his death, and received much critical acclaim. The eldest son, Constantin, studied Law and had a career in diplomacy, being the author of an unfinished work on Romanian history. His line was still surviving in 2001. Ion's son, also named Mihail, established the Mihail Kogălniceanu Cultural Foundation in 1935 (in 1939–1946, it published a magazine named Arhiva Românească, which aimed to be a new series of the one published during the 1840s; its other projects were rendered ineffectual by the outbreak of World War II).

Vasile Kogălniceanu, the youngest son, was noted for his involvement in agrarian and left-wing politics during the early 20th century. A founder of Partida Țărănească (which served as an inspiration for the Peasants' Party after 1918), he was a collaborator of Vintilă Rosetti in campaigning for the universal suffrage and legislating Sunday rest. After the Conservative Party faded out of politics as a result of World War I, she came to support the People's Party. He died in 1904, leaving his wife a large fortune, which she spent on a large collection of jewels and fortune-telling séances. The Kogălniceanu property in Râpile, Bacău County, was sold and divided during the early 20th century. His relationship with the peasant representative to the ad hoc Divan, Ion Roată, is briefly mentioned in an anecdote authored by Ion Creangă (Moș Ion Roată). He is also the subject of a short writing by Ion Luca Caragiale (first published by Vatra in 1894). Symbolist poet Dimitrie Anghel, whose father, the National Liberal parliamentarian Dimitrie A. Anghel, had been well acquainted with Kogălniceanu, authored a memoir detailing the fluctuating relationship between the two political figures, as well as detailing one of the former Premier's last speeches.

Kogălniceanu is the subject of many paintings, and features prominently in Costin Petrescu's fresco at the Romanian Athenaeum (where he is shown alongside Cuza, who is handing a deed to a peasant). In 1911, Iași became host to Kogălniceanu bronze statue by Raffaello Romanelli, purported to have been recast from one of the sculptor's older works. In 1936, the Mihail Kogălniceanu Cultural Foundation commissioned Oscar Han to create a monument dedicated to Kogălniceanu, which was erected in Bucharest during the same year.

The historian's name was given to several places and landmarks; these include downtown Bucharest's Mihail Kogălniceanu Square (near the Izvor metro station, and housing Han's sculpture) and Mihail Kogălniceanu Boulevard, the Mihail Kogălniceanu commune in Constanța County, the Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport (situated 26&nbsp;km northwest of Constanța, and serving that city, the airport also houses a U.S. Military Forces base), and the Mihail Kogălniceanu University in Iași (the first private university in Moldavia, founded in 1990). In Lunéville, a plaque was dedicated to him by the French state.

Notes

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