would serve the interests of Hungarian Jewry were made in the past, they were unheeded by the authorities. However, the 1867 Austro-Hungarian Compromise changed that. The new Hungarian government, now granted full autonomy, intended to grant a full emancipation for the Jews. On 25 February 1867, a group of delegates from the Pest Jewish community visited the new Minister of Religion, József Eötvös, to greet him. The delegates, headed by president Ignac Hirschler, discussed also the numerous clashes within the Jewish communities, for which there was no internal arbitration mechanism and which forced the authorities to intervene directly. The new government did not separate the church and the state, but pursued a policy of establishing "national synods" to oversee the different religious groups. Eötvös requested the group to present him with a solution to the problems raised. In April, they answered with the proposal to create a unified administrative body for Hungarian Jews, to represent them before the government and manage their internal affairs. In order to determine its character, a national congress of community envoys should be convened. Eötvös accepted. The Orthodox immediately perceived the new scheme as a plot to subjugate them to Neolog control. Even the moderate Hildesheimer shared this view. Pest was the latter's stronghold; As they were far more susceptible to its Magyarization policies, they also enjoyed government support. By the end of April, a group of conservative Jewish activists in the capital launched a petition to the Minister, voicing their fears that in the planned Congress all matters will be decided by the Neologs. The petitioners formed the basis of the "Guardians of the Faith" (Hebrew: 'Shomrei ha-Dos"), the party that would spearhead the struggle against the Congress. Most of its members were supporters of Hildesheimer's line and quite modern; Rabbi Schlesinger even condemned them as "Shomdei ha-Dos" ('destroyers of the Faith'). Silber commented "it was ironic" that the schism, which was championed by Schlesinger and his milieu for several years, was "ultimately realized by their Neo-Orthodox archrivals." The Guardians' manifest, signed by three of the most prominent rabbis – Ksav Sofer, Jeremiah Löw and Menachem Eisenstädter – signaled the quick turnabout in Orthodox politics. Since the 1848 Hungarian Revolution, the Pressburg rabbinate adopted a pro-Habsburg line while the Neologs allied with Hungarian patriots. The three rabbis' proclamation echoed the need to demonstrate complete loyalty and embrace Magyarization: they commended the Guardians' commitment to