Scarlat Callimachi adopted new laws and cut taxes for the boyars.

He took measures against the plague, maintained upkeep of wood paved streets, supported Gheorghe Asachi's Romanian-language movement, and introduced potatoes to Moldavia.

In 1819 Scarlat Callimachi was taken to Istanbul to be executed after being suspected of collaborating with the Russians.

He managed to have the sentence cancelled and in 1821 was appointed by the Porte to be Hospodar of Wallachia.

The Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821, and Callimachi died poisoned later that year, under suspicion of being pro-Greek.