Deák obeyed the summons, and was ushered into a room in which he saw the Emperor alone, absorbed in thought. After a short silence, a short dialogue passed between them:— “Well, Deák, what does Hungary demand?” “No more than she demanded before Sadowa—but no less.” “And what have I to do now?” “Your Majesty must first make peace, and then give Hungary her rights.” “If I give Hungary a constitution at once, will the Hungarian Parliament vote me money to carry on this war?” “No, your Majesty, the Hungarian Parliament will do nothing of the kind.” For two reasons: because Hungary had no quarrel with Prussia, and because the hour of Francis Joseph’s embarrassment was the hour in which it would be easiest to bargain with him. So Francis Joseph realised that Deák had him at an advantage. He remained silent for a few moments, and then said simply: “Very well. I suppose it must be as you insist.” That was the quiet origin of the present Austro-Hungarian constitution—the system known as Dualism. It solved one Austrian problem with a stroke of the pen; but there were a good many other problems which it left unsolved. Notably it left unsolved the pressing problem of the Slavs, whom the Hungarians, no less than the Austrians, regarded as inferior people, only fit to be oppressed. What the Hungarians had wanted—and now obtained—was not equal rights all round, but an invitation to go into partnership with the oppressors, and Magyarise one-half of the Empire while the Austrians were Germanising the other half. Whereupon there came a furious protest from a Slav historian:— “If it is decided” (wrote Palacky) “to reverse the natural policy of Austria; if this Empire, composed of a medley of different nationalities, refuses to accord equal rights to all, and organises the supremacy of certain races over the others; if the Slavs are to be treated as an inferior people, and handed over to two dominant peoples as mere material to be governed by them; then Nature will assert herself and resume her rights. An inflexible resistance will transform hope into despair, and a peaceful into a warlike spirit; and there will be a series of conflicts and struggles of which it will be impossible to foresee the end. We Slavs existed before Austria; and we shall continue to exist after Austria has disappeared.”