 Against Știrbei's own recommendations, he supported keeping peasants under a system of leases which closely resembled indentured servitude.As Știbei's "Vornic" or Interior Minister in 1849–1850, Cantacuzino introduced more leniency toward imprisoned liberals, assessing pleas for amnesty and reporting on revolutionary Tănasie Macovei's sufferings from scrofula.However, he also recommended that the agitator Teodor Borcănescu be arrested and exiled to Poiana Mărului Monastery.