his office were his travels to the Russian Empire. In 1798 and 1799, he visited Saint Petersburg twice to finalise marriage plans with Emperor Paul I's daughter. During the negotiations, he suffered many humiliations because of the diplomatic mistakes of the Viennese court, which led to him to view his brother's administration with a more critical eye. Prior to 1798, he mostly served to execute imperial will in Hungary, and during his short first marriage, he worked little. After the loss of his beloved wife, though, when his focus shifted towards public matters again, he approached them very differently than before, with an opinion of his own. Already on 9 June 1801, the day after his daughter's birth and death, he wrote a referral to his brother asking him to release the remaining political prisoners of the Martinovics uprising, including author and language reformer Ferenc Kazinczy. He also urged the emperor to gather a diet, allow a reform of public education, establish a second university, and boost trade. He was concerned what a 'relatively sparse population' the 'vast, abundant area' of Hungary supported (different estimations give between 8,1 and 9 million inhabitants for an area of 282,870 km2/109,220 sq mi in 1790) and at what a 'backwards stage of culture, among what primitive economic conditions' these people lived. The report of 1801 On 17 June 1801, Joseph submitted a report to Emperor-King Francis, explaining his view and opinions on Hungary. He characterised public opinion and morale as mostly high, save for a few 'atheistic and freethinking' young people. While he was mostly satisfied with the work of priests, he would have preferred to have less parishes but all of them with good pastors. He criticised members of the aristocracy for not striving for knowledge and useful occupations, that few of them ran for public office and most of these people neglected their high calling. He proposed that in the future, only those should be promoted to the rank of chamberlain or court councillor who had proved themselves in public office. Joseph also emphasised the importance of the lower nobility and that the court should show more appreciation towards them. In detailing his view on all classes of Hungarian society, he was the most dissatisfied with the bureaucracy, faulting them for a lack of zeal and diligence and not keeping classified information secret. His proposed solutions focused not on oppressing opposition