occupation. The country's Finance Ministry defined Sturdza as an enemy combatant, and moved to confiscate his entire personal wealth—comprising Cristești and Cozmești, which were then sold at auction. In his later career, Sturdza lamented the Principalities' failure to involved themselves on the anti-Russian side, arguing that they missed out on an opportunity that was seized upon by Sardinia. He viewed the conflict as essential in effecting Italian unification, and proposed that a more visible Romanian engagement could have similarly resulted in Moldo-Wallachian unification. Among the revolutionaries, Golescu-Negru viewed Sturdza's presence in Ottoman ranks as indicative that the Porte was favoring conservatives; his cousin Golescu-Albu similarly referred to Sturdza as a "bad memory", also suggesting that he had hampered his group's attempts at propaganda in Europe. Sturdza networked with the pro-Ottoman Wallachian Ion Ghica, but the two split in February 1854. The Beizadea reportedly preferred to associate with the better positioned Ion Heliade Rădulescu. Around June of that year, the Beizadea had permanent contact with other Wallachians, including Gheorghe Magheru—who knew him as Pașoalca ("The Little Pasha"). Reportedly, he tried to intrude in revolutionary affairs, warning Magheru that Ion Ghica was a Russian spy. Also exiled for his participation in the Moldavian attempt, Ionescu de la Brad informed Ghica that the Beizadea was a libeler. Ghica himself had fond recollections of partying with Sturdza in Istanbul. His letters refer to Pașoalcas birthday, which doubled as a celebration of Romanian nationalism: they "listened with our ears and our souls" to a performance by the Lăutari. On the Wallachian front, Sturdza served under Michał Czajkowski, an Ottoman Cossack general and, originally, a member of the Polish revolutionary diaspora. Czajkowski hoped that the war would continue in Bessarabia, and viewed the Moldavian Sturdza as an asset in that scenario, recommending him to serve on the Ottoman General Staff. The Beizadea was forced to resign soon after, for unknown reasons—Czajkowski's correspondence suggests that he was under investigation for unknown reasons: "I was summoned to give in writing where I got to know [Sturdza], who I recommended him to, how he behaved, how he was treated and everything I know about him." Sturdza himself was having "very spirited altercations" with Omar Pasha, and once prepared for a military standoff by having his own tent converted into an arsenal. This resulted in his replacement with Sefer Pasha. Sturdza was then reassigned to a section of the Danube