Austria-Hungary. This view was popularized by means of his literary club, and support for the Central Powers was also voiced by Arghezi at Seara. In September 1914, a German consortium purchased the paper (together with Cantacuzino's other gazette, Minerva), and Bogdan-Pitești was kept on as a simple columnist. Throughout the interval, Bogdan-Pitești was himself an outspoken Germanophile. His circle, which was already hostile to the National Liberal cabinet of Ion I. C. Brătianu, welcomed the diverse groups who were alarmed by Romania's probable entry into the war: the pro-German Conservatives, the supporters of proletarian internationalism, and the committed pacifists. The artistic clientele was also represented in the Germanophile group at large, but, Cernat's writes, did so for sheer dependency rather than actual convictions. Suspicions soon arose that Bogdan-Pitești had become a veritable agent of influence. According to Zambaccian, it was Bogdan-Pitești who actually dropped a hint that his support for Germany was a lucrative employment. Through various notes in scattered diaries, most of which have been lost, Caragiale reputedly accused Bogdan-Pitești taking Germany's money to promote her interests in Romania, and to assist her foreign propaganda effort. Such assessments, like Caragiale's allegation that Bogdan-Pitești was not knowledgeable in art, reflected conflicts between the two figures, and their overall reliability remains doubtful. It is however possible that Caragiale himself borrowed, and never returned, some 10,000 lei, siphoned out of the German propaganda funds by Bogdan-Pitești. Libertatea and propaganda wars Between October 1915 and June 1916, Bogdan-Pitești managed another press venue, Libertatea ("Freedom"). Its political director was retired statesman Nicolae Fleva, later replaced by Arghezi. In February 1916, Galaction and Arghezi launched Cronica, another review with a pro-German agenda, and which may itself have been published with discreet assistance from Bogdan-Pitești. Although Bogdan-Pitești, Domnica and Caragiale paid a mysterious visit to Berlin in early 1916, they were never listed as foreign spies by Siguranța Statului counter-intelligence. Bogdan-Pitești's name then surfaced in a February 1916 conversation between German statesman Matthias Erzberger and Raymund Netzhammer, the Catholic Archbishop of Bucharest. Erzberger asked if the Vlaici landowner could ever help advance the Germanophile cause; the Archbishop, a loyal German subject, replied that Bogdan-Pitești was unreliable. Allegations later surfaced that Bogdan-Pitești was one of the men receiving payoffs from the German spy Albert E. Günther, manager of Steaua Română company. The dossier attesting this was lost, but secondary sources have it that Bogdan-Pitești alone received 840,000