" The Sovereign plainly said that the Council and Senate are estates of the realm, he said that the government must rest not on authority but on secure bases.
The Emperor said that the fiscal system must be reorganized and the accounts published," recounted Bitski, emphasizing certain words and opening his eyes significantly.
"Ah, yes! Today's events mark an epoch, the greatest epoch in our history," he concluded.
Prince Andrew listened to the account of the opening of the Council of State, which he had so impatiently awaited and to which he had attached such importance, and was surprised that this event, now that it had taken place, did not affect him, and even seemed quite insignificant.
He listened with quiet irony to Bitski's enthusiastic account of it.