The Emperor of Austria held on July 22nd a "Grand
Council" of a singular kind. It was a conclave of political spectres. There was the Kaiser himself, who had just resolved to resign all hopes of the true Creaarship, the Imperial Crown of Germany ; and the --" King" of Hanover, a fugitive from his dominions; the " King " -of Saxony, now a mere general of division in the Austrian army ; -the Grand Duke of Hesse Darmstadt, whose capital has just been entered; the Prince of Wurtemburg, with his army in full flight ; three Austrian Ministers ; Mensdoeff, whose policy has just broken .down; Frank, whose reputation disappeared at Sadowa ; and Ester-hazy, whose country has just refused to volunteer for a last -battle ; Platen, the Hanoverian Secretary, expelled for ever ; and Baron von Pfordten, of Bavaria, just about to proclaim as his programme that he would join neither Austria nor Prussia, but -remain in mid-air, like any other mist. It must have been a happy half-hour, that Council ! Imagine how petty claims would be pressed, how each Prince would talk as if his sovereignty was the "tortoise on which the world is upheld.
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