HC Deb 01 May 1860 vol 158 cc456-7
MR. SEYMOUR FITZGERALD

Sir, I observe that in "another place" the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs is reported to have said that the Conference respecting the Savoy question is postponed. That does not quite agree with the answer given by the noble Lord (Lord John Russell) last Friday, and perhaps he will state whether the Conference has been postponed, and whether the bases on which it will meet are Arranged.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL

Sir, I do not think my noble Friend can have said that the Conference is postponed. What he may have said, and what I believe he did say, was that the time of meeting had not been fixed. The French Government have always said that they did not think the Conference ought to meet until after the vote of the Sardinian Parliament had been taken upon the Treaty, because if that vote were for the rejection of the Treaty, the whole negotiation must fall to the ground. The time of meeting is, therefore, not fixed, and will not be fixed until the result of the vote is ascertained.

MR. SEYMOUR FITZGERALD

The noble Lord has not answered the latter part of my question, as to whether the bases of the Conference are arranged.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL

I cannot say that they are arranged, because there has been no agreement among the Powers of Europe with regard to those bases.