“If this is a correct view of the meaning of the Article in question, there can be no difficulty on the part of the Porte in giving such an explanation thereof as will remove all misunderstandings; and the Porte might say, that is the intention of the Sultan that this right of selection shall in all cases he exercised in favour of the next male heir to the deceased Pacha, unless, by infancy or by physical incapacity, such male heir should be incapable of taking charge of the administration of the province, in which case the person next in relationship to the deceased Pacha would be appointed in his stead. The Sultan might, at the same time, make it to be clearly understood, that it is his intention that Ibrahim shall succeed to Mehemet.” Lord Palmerston was also of opinion that it would not be difficult to settle the affair of the tribute, and that the Allies had purposely abstained from entering into the question; and that relative to the appointment of the officers, could be easily arranged. On the 16th of March the Allied Ministers in another conference[111] conceiving the Eastern Question settled, engaged the French Government to rejoin the European family, and they initialed a Convention recognising the right of the Porte to shut the passage of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus against ships of war of all nations. The Protocol was as follows:— “The difficulties in which His Highness the Sultan was placed, and which decided him to apply for the support and the assistance of the Courts of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia, being now removed, and Mehemet Ali having made towards His Highness the Sultan the act of submission which the Convention of the 15th of July was designed to bring about, the Representatives of the Courts, parties to the said Convention, have considered that, independently of the execution of the temporary measures resulting from that Convention, it is of essential importance to record in the most formal manner, the respect which is due to the ancient rule of the Ottoman empire, in virtue of which it has at all times been prohibited for ships of war of Foreign Powers to enter the Straits of the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus. “This principle being from its nature one of general and permanent application, the respective Plenipotentiaries, provided with the orders of their Courts to this effect, have been of opinion that, in order to manifest the agreement and union which regulate the intentions of all the Courts in what concerns the maintenance of the peace of Europe, it would be proper to record the respect which is due to the above-mentioned principle, by means of an arrangement in which France should be invited to concur, at the invitation, and agreeably to the wish, of the Sultan.