Star. — London, England, 1801-03-28 00:00:00

' .._ ...--.—. •- .: ce .1.-= ....:_. - -, -- • the moll fit place for fuch a fubjelt to be entertained I in and decided upon, he had aot ptefumed to quef: tion the legiflative power s of the Houle, or to treat them with the flightuft thirefpeCi. His Lordfhip took notice of what had fallen from the Reverend l'relate (the Bishop of Exeter) who had been patiently littered to while he delivered a long (le t:1:, the greater part of which, he mull fay, ap peared not at all relevant to the cafe before the roafe, and carried with it a colouring that amounted to fomething like a palliation of the crime. With regard to the eholfe, he had intro duced it in the fhapc of a Bill Jail year; but it was tar from being a licitly infeht kit a: hill to die upon the table ; in fait he was not the parent of it, but a more relpeetable and more learned charac. ter, a Right Reverend Prelate, who, in 1770, in troduced the fame Ma of Bill, which, it was to be recollefted, had in that and another inilahce, palled that Houfe unanimoutly, but had been 101 l in the other. Let the fate of the pi-dent chtlifc, however, be what it might, it was impoilible that the quef tion of Divorces by Bill could be luffered to re• rosin as it Ilood at prefent ; and if the other Houk fri. , uld throw out the Bill, the injury done to Mr. Taylor would be done by them and not by their Lorclthipc, who would have the comfort of having done their duty, and as far as in them lay, provi ded a protation and guard to the purity of mar riage, which might be confidered as the clemen• tary principle of religion, morality, and bell and molt feriousipterells of the people. The Duke of BEDFORD complained of great in difpotltion, and raid, if he did not (peak at that period of the debate, he fhould not perhaps be able to argue the fubjeCt at all. The Duke then entered into a dikuilion of the merits of the elanle ; but protelled againft the whole field of argument which had been entered upon by the Noble Marquis \ % hi ) begat the debate, and had !ince been gone over by molt of the Noble Lords who had fpoken afar him ; becatife he thought it quite out of the quef tion. The tingle queltion appeared to him to left on two points :—Was the claufe likely to check Adultery ? or, was it not more likely to encou rage the commiflion of that crime ?—And, was it :lull and candid to put the petitioner (whole cal: had been fully made out, and a moll atrocious cafe it was) in the aukward and injurious lima tion in which the advocates and fupporters of the claufe would place him, if they fucceec:d in fend. to down the dance to the Ileac of Commons? The Duke briefly argued thefe two points, and contended, in the fira place, that the claufe would operate as an additional punifhment on the mutt innocent party, the adulterefs, who did not appear to Mei ve it, from what the Houle had heard ii ~m a Reverend Prelate, who gave the Houle fuch full information on the fubjeft before the Noble Mar quis, oppolitt to him, role to move that the Order of the Day fhould ibe read. He faid, the party moil to be reprobated was doubtlefs the adulterer; and yet by the clank the Noble Lords who fup ported it would cover the wolf in fheep's cloath ing, infread of branding him with infamy, and letting his fhame be for ever his companion. With refpea to the lunation in which lie would be placed, if the claufe went to the other Houle and came up from thence with an amendment, it would be in jurious in the extreme. The Loan CHANCELLOR left the Wooltaek, merely to fpeak to the law points mentioned by his Noble and Learned Friend, who, lie faid, though he perhaps purfued his lludies and inqui ries into the decifion of the Law Courts, and the laws themfelves, with better advantage than he had, yet undoubtedly had not had quite fodong an experience of both, as he had poffeffed. His Lordfliip explained what was done in refped to the Canons of the Church immediately after the Reformation, and faid the prejudice that at that time prevailed from an opinion that the Church was arrogant arbitrary, oppreflive, and intolerant, which charafter had properly belonged to the Ro anifh Church, was early corrected, and by degrees done entirely away, by the meek and mild man• ners of the ecchfiaffics of the eflablifhed Proteftant Church, the moderation of their difcipline, and the piety of their dot:trines and praftice. With re gard to marriage being a civil contraft, it un doubtedly was a civil contraft, but his Noble and Learned Friend mull recolleft that it was in the whole view of it, and even in the ritual itfelf, de clared to be a divine ordinance, and had ever been In confidered by the Miniflers of the Church of England, and by all polemical writers. His Lord fhip laid, he orly rote to explain thefe points. The Earl Of DARNLEY rote chiefly to prctea againll the affumption of thole who fupported the attire, that other Noble Lords who oppofed it, did not hold the crime of Adultery in., as much deteflation as they did. The conclufion lie aifert ed to be equally unfounded and unwarrantable. He raid, be was perfnaded that the claufe would operate in a way direftly contrary to the expeilla tions of thofe who fupported it, and for that rea fon he would vote againff in The Bifhop of Roca tsrsa, in explanation, faid, marriage was not merely a civil contraft, but of Gan himfelf, was declared by llatute„ becaufe it was fo exprefsly pronounced in the prayer-book, and that was a flatute. Load Ce ARC laid a few words alto in explana• Lion, but adhered to h:s opinion that marriage was ever fince the Reformation a civil contra& and nothing more.—At length the Houle divided. Contents 29 ; Non-Contents 56. The clank was therefore rejeCted. Lord SUFFOLK'S motion was put off to a fu ture day. HOME OF COM•.IONS. A Meffage from the Lords informed the Houfe of their Lard thir' art to Conceal Private BOW. A Committee was appointed to enquire into the caul • of thc .I , ld, or the e It-el ion nra Burgers for the Borouth of CoLington, ler a Writ had boat ;lied tome nrer. 1 be He if ., Art-rt threAs% a Comrll- , -. on p:11 to r e, rongraCt Pn•atncis tip ( -.mown aza' tv .11 c !Ands; foes elauf.s were .14"..d, .od ti.e riper! ordered 1 , 1 be received or Mand TM Houk rtPavxl into 1 6.lll ll littee nn ti.e NS If 1,7 - Cntleettnn of the Pow R ,tes. Tho ei • r Abfervations tern str W. E. • 3 .1:14 I . • I/ • se.. re wad is; Asti sic etrAt adored to be I.v:tinsel on 14054111. On the metion et the irifh Chancellor of the Exchequer, an account WAS laid before the Houfc of the Exports and Im ports of Ireland for the year t1;oo. Lord SUE IFILLD prcfrnted an account of the Income and Expenditure of the Board of Agriculture. The Order of the Day for the Houle to take into cenfidera tion the ath retort of the Committee on the High Price of Pm. vdions was, on the motion of Mr. RIMER, deferred to Monday. The Poor Children's Indenture Bill was reported, and ordered to be read a third time on Monday. The Scotch lmportatlon Spirit Duty Bill, was read a fccond. time, and committed for Nlcnday. NOTICES OF MOTIONS. Mr. Hositousz rofe, feting a Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Dundis) in his place, to give notice of his intenti.nt of fpetdily !wing* forward a motion for laying before the Houfc a Copy of the Communications which had taken place b:tween Ruffia and the EVA Government, refpeeting :Walt Mr. 'I it RNEY laid, that it was hi, intention to move an Addrefs to his Majefly, that the letter of his Royal Highnefs the Commander in Chief to the Ex-Minitler of War, dated February 2S, 1800, fhould be laid before the Houle. If there was no objeEtion to this motion, he fhould propofc it then; if the contrary, he fhould give notice of fome fu ture day on which he fhould bring it forward. Mr. Du N ons laid, that as the Hon. Gentleman and the Home were already in poffefiion of the purport of that letter, he Law no neccEity for the motion. Mr. PITT objaled to the production of the let ter alluded to, unlefs the Hon. Gentleman would slate the uf.: :sc designed to make of it : he cer tainly would feel little delicacy in refilling the motion altogether, as he could not conceive the ufe of it. As another fubjett flood for this even ing, which was likely to produce debate, he hoped the Hon. Gentleman would not pi cfs his motion at prefent. Mr. TitreNEY Aid that upon that letter he in tended to found a charge again!} the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Dundas.) The CHANCELLOR of the EleaF.Q2isa expreffed his hope that the Hon. Gentleman wa-uid fix feline convenient day for his.motion, as it was intended i,n 'Dina(lay next to move for an adjournment to Monday fe'nnight : yet if any prelling bufinefs fhould offer, it might be expedient to lhorten the adjournment. Mr. TILRNEY fixed on Thurfday. Mr. Pirr f.:d that the very day fixed on for the adjournment was rather an awkward day to ap point. Mr. TIERNEY named the firfl day after the re ccfs. Mr. GREY Paid he underflood it was intended to lay before the Houfe force papers refpeding the difpute with the Northern Powers. He wiflied to know from the Right Hon. Gentleman (the Chan. cellor of the Exchequer) wheelie; fuch was his purpore ? The CHANCELLOR Oldie EXCHEIVER raid, that in the prefent Rage of the bufinefs he did not feel it advifable to lay any fuch papers before the Houfe At a more advanced ['age it was his in tention to do fo. Mr. Ho aHOoss wifhed to know if it was meant to include in tae papers, the Right Hon. Gentle man limed his purpofe to lay before the Honk, any thing refpetling the communication of Mini-' Iters with Ruffin on the fubjea of Malta: if fo, the motion of which he had given notice would be come unneceffary. The CHAhCELLOR 02 the ExcesoVlß Paid he bad no inftruaions relative to the communications alluded to. He did not think diem at all con neaed with the fubjea in difpute with the Northern Powers. At prefent, however, he could gi v e the Hon. Gentleman no deci fi ve anfwer. Mr. GREY Paid, that he fhould wait for the pro duaion of the Papers promifed by the Right Hon. Gentleman : but that if they fhould not contain fatisfaaory information, he fhould bring forward a motion on the fubjed, as he willed for the fulleft expofition of that bufinefs. Lord HAWICESBURY allured die Hon. Gentle man Minifters had no defire whatever to conceal any information he wifhed for, but from motives of propriety, which the lion. Gentleman mutt be aware of. Mr. SHERIDAN Paid, that it was his intention to bring forward the motion of which he had given notice on the third day after the adjournment. Mr. PITT did not recoiled precifely the notice to which the Hon. Gentleman alluded. He re. membered when he was in office, the Hon. Gentle man mentioning his intention to move an addrefs to his Majetly to difmifs his Minifiers, he fuppofed it could not be that—(4 lase.) Mr. SHERIDAN replied that the Right Hon Gentleman's mirreprefentation arofe from the lit tle attcni ion he paid to any notice of motions from that fide of die Houfe, probably confiding in the facility with which he could defeat them. He had never mentioned any intention to bring forward a motion for the difmiffal of the Ex.Minifler ; ano cher Gentleman had, indeed, done fo—but he was Paved the trouble, for they had prevailed on his Mirjelly to accept their re fi gnation, as they termed it, tut he believed they were aatially turned out. The objed of the motion he propofed to fubmit to the Houle, would be to fhew that the prefent pe rilous Rate of the Empire had been produced by the obflinacy, incapacity, inattention, and i - norance of the Right Hon. Gentleman and his colleagues. 'ONVENTIONOT L-ARTSCH. Mr. Jones role to make his Motion in purftiance of the notice he had given. He firli took notice of intcrccptedcorrcrpondence,which, he laid, had been fci zed on by Ministers with the molt extraordinary Avidity ? that a preface of a molt extraordinary nature had been put to it; and what did it (late ? no lets than that the part or remnant of the French army which hid efcaped the attacks and fire of the Egyptians, the Beys, the Mamelucks, and other &Jeri' lions of troops which oppofed their pro. grcis, were failing a daily prey to difeafe, and were in a manner totally annihilated. This very UhcicLpted correlporalence and preface, as pub. liked in rims ei.uar—,., had made its way to France, nd nac CAnt by flonapArte to the Army of - Egypt, where its perobil had produced the effen of mon , eilinr; All animolitics, conciliating all difLrences, an.] rcu,:cring the French army more united and formi !able tl• trr ever from this he portended the ' 4 , 4 1, 1 ,1,11'0t . t h e Ottoman Empire, and, &lay, he ;as afraid of or East-India podeffions. the breach of the treaty of El-Arifch had, he Paid, been produdive of the moltinexpeeted and important confequent es—it had laid proarate the mon colof fal Minifter that ever rule&--had overturned the Emperor, and fhaken the Government of India— added to all this, it had confirmed the bondage of the human race. His Majeny's Minifiers by the breach of the Convention of El-Arifeli had abfo lutely fecured Egypt to the French, and this breach has been blamed by all Europe. Hitioi y, lie laid, relied on fads. The Hon. Gentleman then read a letter from Sir Sydney Smith to the Secretary of State, dated the 26th October, 1799, from which he Paid he meant to argue that Sir Sydney Smith had power to treat; for it Rated that England ailed not as an auxiliary but as a principal, and at the end of it he figned himiclf Minifter Plenipotentiary of this country. He then read another letter, dated 9th January, tfloo, which Dated that he had no power to treat for a general Peace, but had full powers to treat flit- this convention, and he was certain had it not been for the Minifter's letter to Lord Keith, we lhould now have been at peace. If he was a Miniller Plenipotentiary before this tonPention, how could he all at once become a pri vice perfon after it, without any powers, as had' on a former occafion been timed by the Ex-War- Mininer ? He then read another letter from Sir, Sydney Smith, dated Bth March, iBOO, to General Kleber, where he mentions having thefe powers. i From all thefe circumfiances, lie thought lie had proved that Sir Sidney Smith had powers, or at leaft thought himfclf that he had powers from the Miniflers of England. Mr. Jones then quoted Vat-1 tel and Grotius to ffiew that by the law of nations,l if he had powers from Miniffers to enter into a treaty they were. bound to abide by it, and as a General Officer, if he entered into a Treaty, they were alfo obliged to abide by it, efpecially as he was at fuch a diftance from his country as not to allow him to fend for freth inftrudions or fur ther powers than thole he originally rarefied. — The book publifhed by Vattel on this fubjed, he had borrowed, and there was fomething written in it, which he declared he had never read till fence he now entered the Houfe, and it was this—" that in the year 179.1., Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox had both laid in the Houfe of Commons, that this was the bell book that bad ever been written on the fob jed of treaties." This Convention having thus been broken, and as the war feemed to him to be but jug beginning, he willied to know bow in fu ture Britifh officers can be nulled as to any treaties which they may have occafion or winted to enter into ? He then read an extract from the lag pro clamation of Bonaparte acctifing us of the breach of a treaty again& all the rights of humanity re fpeding the feizure of the French fifhermen. He contended that he had proved—ill. That Sir S. Smith had powers to treat from Minifters ; idly, that as a General Officer he hadpowers by the law of nations; and, 3dly, that he had powers by the laws of humanity. He afked if Minifters had not impofed on the nation by firfl, giv ing him powers and then denying it ? And what, Laid he, have been the confiquences of this breach of faith ? We have now an expe dition under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, confining of B.orto men, he had been told, the flower of the Britifh Army. -He lamented to think thefe men were obliged to brave all the dangen of that noxious climate, as well as thofe ofwar, to ob tain that which we might have had long ago, but for that breach of faith of which he complained. It was Paid, there were ro,ooo men alfo to land at Suez, in order to co-operate, but he was afraid this number would not turn out, in fad, to be more than 6000 men—but fuppofwg it to be ro,ooo, it ought to be remembered, that there men had to march 7o miles through the Defart, and would have the greatelt difficulties to en counter. The corps of Conde, he laid, had been tried for this expedition, but it had been fouqd they refufed, add would not ftir a peg in our fer . vice. The Albanians, he underftood, were ex peded to give us affiftance, but this, he feared, was a broken reed. The plague had broke out in the camp of the Grand Vizier, fo that little or no affillance could be expeifted from them. If the French were not driven out of Egypt, he thought the two Hon. Gentlemen oppofite to him, fliould not fit in that Houfe, for they alone had pre vented it. He underilood befides, that between fix and (even thoufand frefh troops from France, with a quantity of arms and ammunition, had fafc ly readied Egypt, and would enable General Me nou to meet and give battle to our army with one much fuperior even of French foldiers ; betides three times the number he had of Copths, Greeks, and other feds. It had been faid that .Boraparte would give up Egypt ; but he never could believe fuch an idle fuppofition. He has heard, faid he, of thofe lacks of rupees which have been fo much boaßed of. He has teen perhaps the words of a certain Member of this Houfe, now dead, who defcribed the influence that thefe rupees had in this country, when the Nabob of Arcot returned no lefs than (even Members to that Houfe; and the influence of a borough had been found valua ble in the centre of the Carnatic. He had earth ed a great deal of information from the Directors of the India Company, and he hoped to extraft a great deal more on this head. He then mention ed the new Members of the Treafury Bench. He would not, as a Noble Lord had done, call them " Shreds and patches," or tag rag and bobtail ; but he hoped they would fpeedily tile their utrnoll endeavoursto conclude a peace. He adverted to die prefent Rate of the country, and allied what it midi be when a Committee in the Commons Houle of Parliament had to long been lining on the fubjed of famine ? The crefled crown of Aut . - tria, he faid, had been humbled to the very, dull, and would not be able to go to war again there ten years. Bonaparte without a fleet, has made a con. quell of three parts of the globe ; and lie begged , the Houfe to look at the man who had a ilimilated and identified his character with that of Alexander the Great. If h; fhould join the Emperor Paul, and they thould chute to march to India, who can Rop them ? 4.1 /arch from Mr. Pi/es fide of Me Houfs.). The Hon. Gentlemen might laugh, he (aid s but it (truck him in a much more ferionvoint of view. He then gave a defeription of Alexan der's march to India, by paffing down the Caf pian Sea : and about feventeen centuries after him, that Tamerlane, at the head of 90,000 Turks, in two divifions, had marched to and taken poffetlion of the capital of the Mogul's empire, and feized the throne of Delhi. He hoped this would never take place with refpea to our poffeflions in India, but he much feared it would. Tamerlane by one battle had gained the capital : we had done the fame in the expedition againa 'rippoo Sultaun, at Seringapatam. Bonaparte• was at this moment the conqueror of Sardinia—of Naples—of Italy, and of Egypt ; and what was there not to be dreaded from a man who had proved that there was united in himfelf the chara6lers of Alexander and Hannibal. He fincerely thanked the Houfe for the patience with which he had been heard, and concluded by moving, that a Committee he ap. pointed to enquire into the carafes of the breach of the Convention of El-Arifch. Mr. Dosnits faid, he was much inclined to ad mire the houeft warmth difplayed by the Hon. Genticman,but the high founding language of that Hon. Gentleman relative to the breach oldie Con vention of El Arifch, would have no effea upon him, fence the fat was, there was no breach what ever of any Convention. At the period Sir Sidney Smith went to Egypt as a Naval Commander, Mr. Spencer Smith was fent as Minifter Plenipotentiary fo Conflantinople, it was therefore thought advife. able to join Sir Sidney Smith with the latter Gen tleman in commiflion, for the purpofe of negotiat ing that Treaty. This bufinefs being finally fet tled, the powers of Sir Sidney Smith, as a Minifler Plenipotentiary, totally ceafed, he only remained a Naval Commander. It appeared, however, front the French papers upon the fubjea, that Sir Sid ncy Smith, in the negociation with General Kle ber, had afrunied the charaaer of the Reprcfeina tive of Great Britain, and had, as Minitler PiLl:i -potentiary, acceded to the Convention of El At if. It was merely a queftion of fat, and therefore, he wilted to fpeak clofely to the paint. Account% had been received in this country in January, 1799, that a Treaty would probably be concluded be tween the. Grand Vizier and the French General, for the evacuation of Egypt. His Majefty's Mi nifters, fully aware of the impolicy of fuffering . the French army in Egypt to be brought again into aaion upon the theatre of Europe, immediately rent out orders to Lord Keith not to allow the execu tion of any fuch capitulation.—ln the mean time, however, Sir Sidney Smith, without any powers for that purport, acceded on the behalf, and in the name of Great Britain, to the Convention of El Arifch, for the evacuation of Egypt by the French army. The moment his Majefty's Minifters found this to be the cafe, In far from breaking the Con vention with which they were charged, they im mediately fent out orders to execute it, inexpedient, impolitic, and difadvantageous as it was, merely hecatire Britt& faith had - been pledged, though without authority for its execution. He was anti. ens this country fhould be vindicated from the charge alledged again ft it by France, of a breach of public and he would readily move foe the produaion of all the papers relating to the fubjea, in order that fuch juftification might be complete and fatisfaaory. _ _ _ Mr. SH La IDAN laid, fince the Right Honourable Gentleman was not to oppofe the motion, he fhould ti efpafs but for a very few minues on the attention of the Houle. He could not help, however, re marking, how extraordinary it was that the Right Honourable Gentlemen fhould now volunteer what, not many months ago, they had obllinately refuted. It was then laid, that the produttion of thole papers was quite unneceffary, and would be highly dangerous. But they had been then in office—now they mutt lower their tone—Pritit aintwilas et fifguiterkdio verba.—The Right Honour able Gentleman had fpoke much of the warmth of his Honourable Friend. He did not know whether his Honourable Friend was always/semi ter in made, but certainly he was alwaysfortiter is ,r. Of all the reprehenfible alts of the late adminiftra- Lion, this he maintained to be the vileft and Molt foul, the molt difgraceful, to the national honour, and the molt productive of public calamity. The Right Honourable Gentleman had complained that his Honourable Friend had given information to Bonaparte. It was, to be lure, a molt atrocious aelion to add to the geographical knowledge of the poor, ignorant, pitiful Bonaparte, and to inform him that there had been filch men as Alexander and Tamerlane. He bad heard of many State teems, but that the route from Syria to Indoitan was a State fecret he never before could have con. joflured. Mr. Sheridan then went into a jultifi cation of the conduct of Sir Sidney Smith. It molt be prcfumed, be laid, that he had aged agreeably to his initruaions till it was proved that he had tranfgretted them. That he had not was evident from the penfion which had been lately conferred upon him. What ! reward a man who had entrapped the enemy, who had incenfed our allies, who had difhonoured the Britifh name, and brought innumerable calamities upon his country! If Mtnifters had been in the right, they would not have been flack in laying the blame upon him ; - but they knew that they theinfelves were anfwerable for all that had happened. He mutt have had thefe powers : all our Commanders, both in the Ealt and Weft-Indies, have podded and exercifed them. It was univerfally believed that he seed under them at home and abroad ; and Minifters mutt have been aware that he might have concluded fuch a conven tion : but a raft: prv.fumption was excited in their minds by the intercepted correfpondence. After reprobating the preface Mr. S. adverted to the Rate ' ments of this publication, many of which he laid, had turned out to be extremely ill-founded. Among M other things it was Paid that M. Tallies had loft an eye ' • hut Gentlemen mutt now be convinced that he had a pair of very good eyes jaifesiv ts ard'gr wanner in which Member: bad So ski Gogery I gaze rpm skis celebrated/ranger.] There could be no doubt that Kleber would have temps:lmlay ful filled the Convention on his put. He probably would have lot his head upon his return to France: but fuel: was his tcyupulous regard to honour that he would have adhered to his engagements what ever might have been the confequeos. The fob. t ,~