11 AUGUST 1860, Page 2

The favourable reply of Austria 'to the proposal that Spain

should be admitted to the Councils of the Great Powers has been followed up by a conditional assent from Prussia ; the condition being that Sweden should be admitted to these Councils. If Sweden why not Holland ? If Holland why not Belgium, Portu- gal, " Sardinia " ? And if Powers so limited in territory, why not all the independent courts of Europe ? The proposal appears to us but the first germination 'of a plan for holding a Council of Europe periodically, or at least whenever occasion should require—the first step towards the establishment of a European tribunal with a European law.