1794, these cities urged their respective counties to reach an agreement, while Pest tried to keep the institution. Most of the clerical elite, the conservative aristocrats, and the gentry's deputies wanted to see it removed. On 23 October 1795, the referral reached the governing council. The governor himself followed entirely the public opinion. The first problem he solved on his own was an outbreak of plague in Syrmia County, worsened by hurried and inconsistent countermeasures. Joseph ordered a lockdown of the infected area, leading to a revolt by the population of two villages who let out their quarantined neighbours and attempted to break through the cordon sanitaire, protected from the outside by armed civilians from the nearby uninfected villages and supervised by the military. The governor appealed for an arms shipment to the martial council in Vienna, which generally opposed arming civilians in fear of a rebellion. Joseph stood his ground, obtaining the necessary weapons after negotiations, and prevented the disease from spreading to other parts of the country. Besides these larger matters, the king mainly occupied Joseph with policing dissenters and uncovering suspected conspiracies. In smaller debates on religious tolerance (which he enforced despite being a devout Catholic), wine export (which he supported), or giving refuge to French priests (which he refused to do as he feared that they would be too much of a burden and keep local priests from advancing), he proved to be a level-headed and caring leader. Palatine of Hungary Palatinal election Contrary to the hopes of the reactionary party, most members of the aristocracy and the gentry wanted to see Archduke Joseph as elected palatine, a view that was only strengthened when they met him personally. However, the body to elect the palatine was the Diet of Hungary, which Emperor-King Francis had no intention of allowing. As he needed the assistance of Hungarians in fighting the French Revolutionary Wars he could eventually be convinced to gather a diet with the sole purpose of electing a palatine. After much negotiation, during which the governor tried to convince the king that a diet and a palatine were necessary to afford the required aid with Izdenczy argued against him, Francis conceded to Joseph. On 8 November 1796, the diet had its first session in Pozsony (today Bratislava, Slovakia), Archduke Joseph was elected palatine on 12 November and inaugurated on the 14th. Work as palatine 1796–1802 After his