June 2, National-Democrats held congress at the Romanian Atheneum, braving crowds of opponents gathered outside that building. There as well as in the Senate, Sturdza outlined the National-Democratic platform, which included devolution to Local Assemblies and a plan for the in-depth defense of Romanian territory. Another rallying point for the Beizadeas followers was their opposition to electoral reforms—Sturdza argued that the suffrage was already extensive, and that further enfranchisement would result in a tyranny of the majority. From January 1881, the group also made show of its opposition to the Germanophile line embraced by the Junimists, and thereafter by the Conservatives. Democrația Naționalăs agenda was also poorly reviewed by Pressa who mistrusted its self-designated centrism. Instead, Pressa argued that the National-Democrats stood for "all that is old and extremely old", "reemerging now, after a 50-year rest in the realm of oblivion" as advocates of "Slavic nationalism". In December 1880, Ion Pietraru made an unsuccessful attempt on Brătianu's life, which police presumed to be part of a wider conspiracy implicating Sturdza and Russia—several party members, including Grandea, were arrested, though Sturdza vouched for their innocence. Shortly after, Zamfir Arbore, a Romanian nationalist demographer, argued that Sturdza was sponsoring Grigore Hrisoscoleu to deny Bessarabia's Russification. The Pietraru incident put an end to Democrația Națională, officially because of Sturdza's anger that his journalists had insulted Brătianu and other figures of the PNL administration; the party was also dissolved, in 1881. In that context, Sturdza explained that he had grown fonder of the PNL, which had shown itself open toward a Romanian–Russian alliance. Though briefly detained as an alleged Pietraru accomplice, Captain Florescu resurfaced in public life as a PNL member. Commenting on his reconversion, memoirist Constantin Bacalbașa notes: "It is a well known fact that most of Prince Grigore Sturza's confidants were bought off by government. This is what made this party, which existed only because of Beizadea Grigore's ambition, disappear within 24 hours." According to writer Constantin Gane, Democrația Naționalăs alarmist messages about Romania's standing in Europe pushed the PNL establishment into reestablishing the country as a "Kingdom of Romania"—whether to increase the government's prestige or to "uplift the country". Eugene Schuyler, as the first US diplomatic agent in Romania, wrote on March 26 that there was a chance of Sturdza returning to his "posing as a pretender to the crown. While many families thought their members had rights to be princes,