slogans. The Divan's first session saw enthusiastic speeches, including one by Rosetti which ended with shouts of Trăiască România! ("Long Live Romania!"). It subsequently organized itself: two committees were set up to validate the deputies and come up a parliamentary procedure; one was chaired by Grigore Gr. Ghica. Metropolitan Neofit was, ex officio, the Divan's president, and tacitly endorsed the union, with N. Golescu elected vice president by a large margin. The Divan's secretaries included D. Brătianu (elected with 85 votes), C. A. Crețulescu, Rosetti, Scarlat Turnavitu, Ștefan Golescu, and Bosianu. Iancu Ionașcu oversaw the official printing office. Divan resolutions and disputes In Moldavia and Wallachia alike, the unionist camps of all hues agreed on the core agenda, with demands which they presented to the overseeing powers: the unification under the name of "Romania", with the election of a foreign hereditary Domnitor; increased autonomy toward the Ottoman Empire, with the (re)introduction of Capitulations; a new Divan with a fuller democratic mandate. Bibescu openly supported the election of Westerner, but for particular reasons: he argued that a European prince could not only pacify tensions between the classes, but also instill a greater political ideal. A main issue of contention between conservative and radical unionists was that of electoral law and philosophy: radicals such as Rosetti felt themselves bound by an imperative mandate, or "dutiful program", whereas conservatives rejected such notions as impinging on individual freedom. Persuaded by Concordia leftists, a majority of the Divan agreed on the notion of unicameralism, viewing upper houses as a throwback to the Regulamentul era. News of the deputies' vote on union were received with much enthusiasm in both Bucharest and Craiova; the celebrations were witnessed by Aman, and are the source for one of his other political paintings. The four principles were drafted into a motion, carried by unanimous suffrage on October 21 (November 2). Its consultative function fulfilled, the Divan only survived to late December 1857, closing some days after the Moldavian assembly. By then, as the attention moved to social issues, the conservative and liberal factions were again emerging, and clashing. Robescu and other right-wing unionists signaled this by asking that positive references to the peasant revolt of 1821 be erased from the Divan's addresses. In October, Bibescu warned that party politics were the sordid future of the post-union era, "making this forsaken country of ours into an arena, collecting all her strengths