The danger of a breach between the Hungarians and their
King is becoming serious. The compromise suggested by Count Khuen Hedervary on his acceptance of the Premier- ship has been rejected, and M. Kossuth has finally resigned his leadership of the Nationalists. The extremists have, in fact, won ; and their leader, M. Barabas, has obtained from fifty- eight of his followers in Parliament pledges in writing never to cease from obstruction until the Hungarian right to a separate Army is acknowledged. The Emperor-King will not grant this, and the Premier threatens a Dissolution, hinting, more- over, that the extremists are driving straight towards abso- lutism. A coup d'itat would seem the only way out of the impasse ; but the Emperor, who remembers his early years, shrinks from that dangerous course, and it is fortunately not certain that the nation is with the extremists. The object of the latter is not clear, but it is quite possible that they are dominated by what they think patriotism, and a dread of the Clerical and absolutist tendencies ascribed to the Heir-Pre- sumptive. With a separate Army they think their liberties, which are not now threatened, will be safe.
