Chargé d’Affaires of Russia. In all that relates to the general question the views of my Government cannot differ from those of the three other Courts, its Allies; my instructions are founded on that principle. In the special question which forms the object of this Conference, the existing documents ought to point out to us the course and the rules to be observed; now this course and these rules appear to me to be already laid down by the Memorandum of the Conference of London on the 14th of November, and by Lord Palmerston’s despatch of the 15th of October. The Memorandum had not yet reached me from my Government; it is the Internuncio who has had the goodness to communicate it to me; I have only received Lord Palmerston’s despatch, which is mentioned, and I conceive that I shall conform to the meaning of these documents, by joining, under existing circumstances, in the vote pronounced by the Internuncio.
Ambassador of England. The question, I repeat, appears to me to depend upon the fact of the submission of Mehemet Ali, and the Sultan appears to me to be the sole judge in such a question: he alone has the right to decide. If the Sublime Porte informs us that the Sultan has accepted Mehemet Ali’s submission, that he is satisfied with it, the orders of my Government enjoin me, in such a case, to advise the Porte to grant to Mehemet Ali the hereditary government of Egypt. Until that time, until the Porte communicates to us the decision of the Sultan, I must abstain from giving any advice, any opinion.
Minister for Foreign Affairs. There are different kinds of submission. Mehemet Ali might, for example, have come himself, according to our usages, or have sent some one to implore his pardon; but that is not what we mean. The Memorandum requires that Mehemet Ali should restore the fleet, that he should evacuate certain countries. He writes that he will do all this; if he accomplishes these promises, the Sublime Porte will be able to credit his submission, but the letter cannot of itself alone be considered as a real submission.
Internuncio of Austria. The letter is a commencement of submission. If the Sublime Porte demands the delivery of the fleet, if Mehemet Ali restores it, and if he evacuates the countries specified in the Memorandum, his submission will certainly be then complete.
Chargé d’Affaires of Russia. It is certain that we shall not be able to consider the submission of Mehemet Ali as completed until he shall have restored the fleet, and evacuated the Holy Cities, as well as the other places specified in the Memorandum; but for the present we should abide by the text of the Memorandum and of the instruction addressed by the Admiralty to Admiral Stopford, wherein mention is made of a letter to be delivered by Mehemet Ali to the officer commissioned to notify to him the decision of the Conference of London.
Internuncio. What more could Mehemet Ali do? He must begin by saying that he submitted, and he could not, at the same instant, carry into effect all the conditions of his submission.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, alluding to what the Ambassador for England had said, observes, that up to the present time there had been no question of hereditary succession.
Internuncio. I am not at this moment called upon to discuss that point, on which I have no precise instruction; but, the case occurring, I shall conform myself altogether on that matter to what the Ambassador of England shall do.
Ambassador of England. For my part, I have precise orders to advise the Porte to grant hereditary succession to Mehemet Ali, so soon as it shall apprize us that the Sultan is satisfied with the submission of Mehemet Ali; but such advice can only be conditional; I have not the right to judge of the reality of the submission, and I must wait, before giving it, for the Sultan to pronounce himself on the fact of the submission.
Internuncio. As for me, I must repeat it, I look upon the letter of Mehemet Ali, as a first step towards his submission.