It was stipulated, however, in the agreement, that if no permanent settlement of the questions involved should have been reached by the end of the year 1902, either party to the _Ausgleich_ should be free to dissolve the Customs Union that formed part of it after 1904, provided that said party should have formally denounced the compact prior to January 1, 1902. The formal notice or denunciation was given accordingly by Austria, whose government gave notice that it would end the Customs Union unless better terms from Hungary could be secured. In Hungary the Independence party led by Ferencz Kossuth, the son of Louis Kossuth, was eager for the break, desiring no union with Austria beyond that of the two crowns on one head. The tariff question seemed insoluble, because Hungary wanted protection for its agriculture, which Austria believed to be greatly disadvantageous to herself. {36} The prime ministers of the two Governments came to an agreement which was submitted to the two parliaments early in 1903, but obstruction in both bodies prevented any effective action. On other questions the antagonism was no less pronounced. The Hungarian Independence party was resolute in determining to separate the Hungarian from the Austrian army, making it distinctly Hungarian, under Hungarian officers and using the Hungarian word of command. This drew from the Emperor, in September, a public announcement that he must and would hold fast to the existing organization of the army. At length, in December, Kossuth agreed, for his party, to abandon obstruction on condition that Parliament should proclaim, as a principle, that "in Hungary the source of every right, and in the army the source of rights appertaining to the language of service and command, is the will of the nation as expressed through the legislature." But though obstruction from the Independence party ceased then it was continued by a Catholic party, on grounds of personal hostility to the Protestant Premier, Count Tisza, and the Government, deprived of authority to recruit the army, kept in service the men whose term had expired. An almost equal deadlock of legislation prevailed in Austria, where the struggle over language questions between Czechs and Germans went fiercely on; while Croatia was full of rebellious spirit, excited by the Magyarizing policy of its Hungarian governor. Twice, during 1903, the Hungarian administration underwent a change, the Szell Ministry giving way in June to one headed by Count Kuen Hedervary, he, in turn, being displaced by Count Tisza in October. The latter was a son of Koloman Tisza, who had formerly held the reins in Hungary for many years. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1903-1904. Concert with Russia in submitting the Mürzsteg Programme of reform in Macedonia to Turkey.