And though Metternich was still disposed to dispute that view, though he still held to the opinion which he had uttered in August, 1847, that "Italy was a mere geographical expression," he yet felt the shock of the Sicilian insurrection, and was willing to secure friends in other parts of the Austrian dominions by more important concessions than those which he had made to Lombardy and Venetia. _The_ most important, or at least the most obvious, of these popular victories had been gained in Hungary. There, indeed, Metternich had ingeniously contrived to defeat his own purpose, to weaken that division which had been gradually growing between the different sections of his opponents in Hungary, and to throw into the hands of Kossuth far more power than he had previously possessed. At the close of the Diet which had met in 1843 these elements of division were more various and more prominent than at any other period of the struggle. Besides the quarrel between Magyar and Slav, there had grown up a difference of opinion between the Magyar champions of reform. For while Kossuth was advocating the strengthening of the county governments as the great hope for Hungarian liberty, Baron Eötvös was urging the necessity for making the central parliament stronger at the expense of the local bodies. But Metternich, as if determined to consolidate the various elements of opposition against him, shortly after the dissolution of the Diet, took a step which, while it seemed to justify Kossuth's belief in the importance of county governments, silenced at the same time all those who were opposed to Kossuth, whether on grounds of race or party, and roused the dislike to Metternich's system to a height not previously known in Hungary. Mailath, the popular Chancellor of Hungary, was removed, and his successor, Apponyi, was directed to supersede the Hungarian County Assemblies by administrators appointed by himself.