word that was
to give definiteness and importance to the impulses that were stirring
in Vienna could not come from Bavaria or Saxony. Much as they might wish
to connect themselves with a German movement, the Viennese could not get
rid of the fact that they were, for the present, bound up with a
different political system. Nor was it wholly clear that the German
movement was as yet completely successful. The King of Prussia seemed to
be meditating a reactionary policy and had even threatened to despatch
troops to put down the Saxon Liberals; and the King of Hanover also was
disposed to resist the movement for a German Parliament. It was from a
country more closely bound up with the Viennese Government, and yet
enjoying traditions of more deeply rooted liberty, that the utterance
was to come which was eventually to rouse the Viennese to action.

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