Propaganda in England on behalf of the Rumanian exiles of 1848 is chiefly associated with the name of Dumitru Brătianu. But the revolutionary politician and historical scholar, Nicolae Bălcescu, also played a part in it. His activities, which are here studied on the basis of the correspondence published by his friend, Ion Ghica (the first Ambassador of the Kingdom of Rumania in London), are especially interesting because they brought him into contact with Cobden and Palmerston.

Bălcescu had been one of the leaders of the 1848 revolution in Wallachia. After his mission to the Hungarian revolutionary government, he escaped from Transylvania and, coming by Pest and Vienna, reached Paris on October 16, 1849. Within a few days he had seen the other Rumanian émigrés there, and on October 26 he suggested to Ion Ghica, who was in exile at Constantinople, that he ask on his behalf for a post as an attache or secretary at the Turkish Embassy in London.