The readiness of the nobles to accept the purely verbal concession offered by Metternich in the matter of the “Administrators” had shown Kossuth [Footnote:  Louis Kossuth, the famous leader of the Hungarian insurrection of 1848, was at this time about forty-six years of age.  The sovereignty of Hungary had been in the hands of the Hapsburgs since 1687.—­ED.] that there could be no further peace.  But he still knew how and when to strike the blow; and it was not by armed insurrection so much as by the declaration of a policy that he shook the rule of Metternich.  On March 3d a Conservative member of the Presburg Assembly brought forward a motion for inquiry into the Austrian bank-notes.  Kossuth answered that the confusion in the affairs of Austrian commerce produced an evil effect on Hungarian finances; and he showed the need of an independent Finance Ministry for Hungary.  Then he went on to point out that this same confusion extended to other parts of the monarchy.

“The actual cause of the breaking up of peace in the monarchy, and of all the evils which may possibly follow from it, lies in the system of government.”  He admitted that it was hard for those who had been brought up under this system to consent to its destruction.  “But,” he went on, “the people lasts forever, and we wish also that the country of the people should last forever.  Forever too should last the splendor of that dynasty whose representatives we reckon as our rulers.  In a few days the men of the past will descend into their graves; but for that scion of the House of Hapsburg who excites such great hopes, for the Archduke Francis Joseph, who at his first coming forward earned the love of the nation—­for him there waits the inheritance of a splendid throne which derives its strength from freedom.  Toward a dynasty which bases itself on the freedoms of its people’s enthusiasm will always be roused; for it is only the freeman who can be faithful from his heart; for a bureaucracy there can be no enthusiasm.”

He then urged that the future of the dynasty depended on the hearty union between the nations which lived under it.  “This union,” he said, “can be brought about only by respecting the nationalities, and by that bond of constitutionalism which can produce a kindred feeling.  The bureau and the bayonet are miserable bonds.”  He then went on to apologize for not examining the difficulties between Hungary and Croatia.  The solution of the difficulties of the empire would, he held, solve the Croatian question too.  If it did not, he promised to consider that question with sympathy, and examine it in all its details.  He concluded by proposing an address to the Emperor which should point out that it was the want of constitutional life in the whole empire which hindered the progress of Hungary; and that, while an independent government and a separate responsible ministry were absolutely essential to Hungary, it was also necessary that the Emperor should surround his throne, in all matters of the Government, with such constitutional arrangements as were indispensably demanded by the needs of the time.