The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1808-05-21 00:00:00

.1..1 inianswerably to prose the information the late ;overtime:it had receiv,!..l of the nnpre • 11 a. 1,1 in,uffictent state of the Dardanelles at the time it was deemed advisable fir send a naval expedi...lotl off Constautiimple, This information 04* curreboratea by the opinion, not only of the Nlinister at the Ottoman Court, and of Naval Of. ticera on the spot, hut by the concurrent testimony of every Officer iii the navy, with whom, from his ,Itfit'iji Situation, he ha•l the opportunity . of an iater course. i'hat other course Own remained for the late Goveruineut to pursue, but to act upon that in telligence, the sources of which were most authea tic ? And where was it to extrect that authenticity, but from the British Diplomatic Minister ut the Court of Constantinw,ile, and from the Naval Of ficer* acquainted with the stale and condition of its fortresses and marine ? Beside, it was a part of the arrair , ement, that the British squadron, in its pas -14,14'e tlirough the Dimlanelles, should be reinforced by a Russian fleet. And however deficient in r oinptitude the execution of that hope was on the part of Massie, still it was a fact, that. four days after Admiral Duckworth sailed from Constanti nople to repass the Dardauelles, he was Joined by a ltossian squadron of a sail, who had joined hint for the purpose of carrying into effect the projected mea suresagainst the Ottoman Pate. That circumstance at least proved that the attack was arranged in cousequeuce of our connettion with Russia, and was to be effected for the advancement of Russian lute rest'. It had been made a subject of charge by toe Hen. Mover, that there were not in that armament any detachment of troops ; nor were the supplies tent, which Admiral Lows, in his letter to Lord Collingwood, had conceived to be accessary. That a number of troops might, in certain cases, where a naval design was to he carried into effect, prove extremely efficient, and calculated to further the efforts or the fleet, he felt not at ill inclined to dirty. But an inquiry into the actual change winch took place in the state of the preparations on each side of the Bosplroms, and to the time when the letter of Admiral Louts was sent to Lord The means were in tie power of tie Those to es, certain that fact. The . 6000 troop.., which cow- poled the garritouof Alexandria, arrived ei Sira cuae on the 18th of (Y.:toiler. They sliltA under an able and experienced officer Nluar.! for Gibraltar, on the of Octob••r. They coiii left that garrisna on the isth of Novetn:Jer, arrived in 1:1 , ! 2Atit of I)eeeinh.2r. Dri _ . Alioi,tera fed :the nece..Vyor haring a great force collected ta borne, or bad the con'utr; by elia MMUS the pleasinx consolianta of heron; our itolle defence tecnred 4y bud, a con3idetableacee.,i,,i, No such tiiu4 ; for scarce eight days before tiot arrival of the army wider General Moore, au eqq.il . . 'lumber of troops had sailed from British ports, to wand., as the event proved, the neighbouriri...l of Gibraltar. It seemed that they looked at Ceuta; it would have beieu much preferable, if tip:), had looked into it. Since that penod the country ha., not heard of any striking advantage perform ed by that expedition. Indeed it has scarce hard of it, or of the correspondent division that arrived at home. The Hi ht Honourable Member then recapitulated his various arguments, and, with feel ings of self-satisfaction. reviewed the ischniutstnition of the Admiralty during the period he was at the head of that deiiiirtineul. Ile felt conscious that no Act of it had a tendency either to Littlish dic proud character, or impair the strict discipline of the naval service ; and concluded with au eloquent panegyric of hil colleagues at that Board, whose zealous' and active co-operation had given strength and vigour to the weak band of him to whom the honourable duty of presiding over it nos cola witted. Mr. Secretary CANNI no declared, that he bad barites' with markei atte.utiou r<ud respect to the speech of the last speaker. Still he diet not twe that disinclination to recriminate, witk which .that Right Honourable Gentleintit so candidly tam ineaccd. The division of his subject was both um- tural andust, hut it was nut a little surprisiog to tied d efend the political part on the prece deuts of hi 4 predecessors ' and justify the wilitam, by the sets of those who lied succeeded hi in. The ught and duty of trite rferrrece with the Ottoman Porte he has grounded on the treaty of the tripie alliance, executed in the year 179te, between tins conatry, Russia, arid the Ottowan Porte. Thut treaty, which nsierred to an existing ear with Prow., and was, loon the tenor of its provisions awl the whole context of its stipulations, alone z,p plicable to that particular transaction. Its very preamble unfolded that priori- r ile, and that alone. Did the llignt Honouratile Gentleman mean toassert that such a treaty, passed with refer ence to au existing stat• of hostilities, which state was afterwards followed i,y a peace, not the result ornate united act -between the three powers who were parties, but obtained by separate negotiations, sorvived those sabs,••;uaut adjustments? Or did he mean to ssle•ort th• position, that though, by the arrival of i'mace, it lost its operative power, still it lay dormant, liable to be called into reno vated action at and• future. renewal of war, in which any of the original contractim.r parties might be bivalved ? If, during the iatemal of peace, it WAS to flow front out of its •rdinary course, dillused through subternineous chismels, with the power of re-appoating, with all its wonted violence, ou the re-engagement in future wars, r Doris soars seam istarrairosat Imam," what would lie think of the new stipulation of that treaty, which refered to the integrity of the Ottoman tinpire Could he think that such a treaty, with such a atipulation, gave a right, by any. public law or usage of 'taboos, to au armed interference, entlin at an attack on t h e very inte grity of that empire which it welt to guarantee ? tie was far from asserting, that in the progress of public con:"erns, 'melt a state of things might not arise, as would justify a nation, upon principles of great policy, to interfere with a neutral state, mid to demand from that state assurances of its friend ship and strict neutrality ; or that it had not the right to advance the just claims of its allies, mid nrotect the neutral from the grasp and dominion of an enemy riangerousto all. But at least it should interfere in a manlier suited to produce the object which it sought, and not, by a seeming attention to -separate interests, disgust the very ally for whom St pretended to interfere. at the same time that it alienated and rendered hostile the neutral upon whom it made the aggression. Such, at leant, eras the 'principle of the expedition to Copenhagen; it (littered from that of the Darda nelles, by being more undisguiscii iu its object, and successful in its eifects. The lion. Secretary argued in a most ingenious method on the compa rative me:its of the t.vo measures, and [[ i tt iad verted on the policy of his opponents, which, when it. wanted to diameinber an ens i iire, made a treaty of integrity the ground for its hostile interference. The very passage of the Darden...llcl was an art of lio-tility, and it was for the retrograde mammy of the late Government to comiaenee its paeihe inquiry by a direct act of co.item,,htte There were two points that might have bee., oh tamed ; the fortresses of fiestas and hyolo% on the opposite sides of tile Dardanelles; the former. on the European side, it would have been desirable to take and destroy ; the hatter. oil the: Asiatic side. it would have been advisable to take ke. n The letter of Sir Thomas Duckworth repsiscist , d these two fortresses were in a formidable state. lad that if he was to delay only a short tine u, tit.• sea of Marmara, his return throtigh the Streights. be tween these two fortresses, would hr imoracii..able. It surely then would have been a great ultject to take the one, and to destroy the other. It was 'cud, that tlwre were 200,000 oleo in Constantinople.— That might he very Mae ; but then they could not act on the Asiatic side, where the foiaresa a 7 , , mite, which it was desirable to keep. It sale only nc ceasary to destoy the tower on the European where this immense force a as, and that might 'o:ivy been elfeeted by a de maim. In to this, it was said, that t ore acre no troops to spare for this porprise : but he contended that the troops sent to Alexandria me. Ott hive been so employed, and even if Alexandria were an i t isli.aiensiable ob joet, they might have been employed in the Dar danelles, 111 the tirst instance, mid it would have been time enoierh sifter having perforated the service. tier to --weed to their ulterior ob,"iiet in revp:• A force of 5.0110 mon might have beeo sufficient to take one of the*, fortrrsses, awl even that much achieved would have preventel the vations of my Right Hon. Frieud, they must ac count for it upon this ground, that the debate has not turned upon papers in that Right Honourable Gentleman's possession, mod that he cannot dole thetas out, mutilated and perverted, iu bits and scraps, and any mode he likes. lie is not, how ever, without other resources to supply this defi ciency, and compensate for this disadvantage. To make assumptions without proofs, to put words in men's mouths that they never used, to advance assertions unsupported by facts, to impute 'dean that hare been disclaimed, and of this rare combi nation to make a flourish to his friends, without making any impression upon the He/Illie, is u re source of winch be can still avail iiituss . :l; mat in which he has itidulgs-cl not a little this night. On the eoutrary, I de..l its hard and stubborn facts, from which I canaot be debarred ; and ir, applying them to she wild and extravagant reasoning that !louse has just heard, I find any dif ficulty, it is merely because it is difficult to auswer where it is difficult to comprehend. Of this description 1 consider the reasoning of the Right Honourable Gentkman respecting the Treaty. And first, as to the right to enfss re its stipulations : The Right Honourable Gentle Man step, it woes made in time of war, and with reference to a state of things existing at the time of its execu tion. Why, Sir, I beliese that most treaties are made under Bnelcircumstances ; hut the duration of the treaty is generally marked out, 1111t1 IS Lot to determine with the war. The continuance cf a treiey is either contingent, or for a certain tiine. A treaty for eight years is good for that period, and neither subsequent peace or war canaltet it. If it Ise a general treat), it applies to all subsequent treaties within its purview, said if there be new pro visions upon the subject, the old treaty will apply to them alike, and there may be also subsequent treaties,witli which, ascent:Mos% matter totally dif- Iciest, tl:se old has nothing to do. The Right Huu. Gentleman, pursuing Isis wild career, uegt whether it was in virtue of that old treaty we claim ed a right to interfere with Turkey ? I say the violation of that treaty constituted a right which we should not have had in the case of a merely neutral or friendly autism, not bound by any engagement ; for by the violation df that engagement a friend may become an enemy ; whereas, in the case of a merely neutral, there being in, bond to break, there exists no cause of offence. The complaint arises from the violation of the treat!. , and the breath constitutes our right to interfere. This much may be sufficient for this part of the subject. I Aorta have thought that tins style of declamation would not have been resorted to, when it is considered how mach the mind of the Right Honouryhic Gentleman enlist be haunted by what pas ed at Copenhagen. After the miserable attempt in throw upon Denmark the blame of that proceed ing, it was not for men who had acted such a part to have recourse to such a topic. 1 admit mare may be eiretunstaseces of imminent danger and hos titty, when vou would be justified ill taking front a neutral or friendly power the means of offence.— The principle is not disputed. The slidere.,ce arises only sot of the application ; and with reaps ct to oat, every case stands upon its own legs. I cies tea.% therefore, that we had a right to enforce the treytv Isetween the Porte and Russia, and that tee re.: at of interference did not cease to exist, although tie , Right Honourable Gentleman anieds, with his angel extravagance, that by our forbearance we have suffered a hschrs, Isy which we have f silents' oar right. Having how dismissed the right, I come to the poliey 4 , ; * t itC inen.yire. It is said that it was not good polie" t" draw Turkey into a war. That, I say, WA* sot our lineation. The object of one in terpositrui, nu the contrary, was to prevent war; lint is it to lie supposed, that after France had we quirs.d, unfortunately for this country, such an in fluence with the Porte, that after ticbastictii's in tri:,sues had been so successful its Coisstautitiople ; that things were in such a state, we could, pur suing any other course, be at this day, by any possibility, at peace with Tits key ? No man of common sense will suppose that Turkey, left to herself, must not have fallen under the influence and dominion of Frans It. We new come to the means which we used, whieft the Right lionourible Gentleman describes as tse cominencement of war, in a pelagic negocietiois. But who says it was a pacific neveiatioss ? It was an mined mediation, to be enforced by menace, 1 admit, disguised, isut operatitor. The. was the character of air nate:ie. ent-e, and of the mesas wilith we resorted Oh The sufficiency of these meow a next objected to. %°c are told, that • natal force was net adequate to the purpose, a..d that nothiu t could have been done without a cum biased nasal and military force. New, : eve.y i offieer *insulted or engaged in the servile did not ilauk troops necessary. 'I ;Ile *as the opinibit of Admiral Louis, of Aduiiral Daticwunh, and of Mi. 4. both not. Admire; Louis; it is tree, LI the 1 40 0- 6 of. the beau: et, says, he wants iti. ith;,is of the hue asid tratips ; lett on tlBo47ril-Of the precedieg month he says,' 3 ships of the Ilse, width,* creeps, *VIM be sulfa: 4o*. this piogl tsii re *tee of *hangs 'hews that tiibe was more valnable,iiiiiirtiiilitaty force.-- No truups were tie:eatery et 0 time of the sei . • vice ordered.; and it is au rerereece to net time, and riot to stilenpittest eteets, the merit of our conduct is to bejtaLlged. that it has teen saw, we might ease used, in the Dardanelles, the troo:at that went to A!exa:ldrie. 1 lore already ..tat_ i • that the difficulties , increased so fest with the pio- 1 .. 31 greed of thiligs, we coal,' not nweis for thew fbe time was so pressing, Admirel . boats could . nit even wait for the limistants who were it hands A stitrwient number of troops, 1 mean enough to line the *bore, could not be 604,64 to wait ter a woe* number, would only by tier eta had to a greater degree of mischief and (Amiga, than the ationnea of tills smut force could overbalance. All, how ever, that has been tet(tal on the oppwite aide, can wo little tend to est:abbot, the charge, is oepe-. *thou to the opinion of the Officers whose initueS I Lev aneutiutied, Ido not think it necessary to a.:d 'toy thing snore to the very able statement of my lti.ht donna able Friend (Mr. tireaville) upon tLie ?art of the subject. Now as to cri inii,sttuie—iti the first place, so lac as respects the gm-sties et; policy, it was not for eh cutniug into office, to change the course of poncy esta blished witb the Coutiuent. We were onliged to take it as we found it, amid acted upon it accord ingly. As to Alexandria, we do not claim to tiske the future situation of the troops sent there, and found our justification upon it. If a eemmun.ca thin with Rosette was indiapesnable, it would, per haps, be a presumptive proof of impropriety ; but it was not necessary, and there * deemve evideuce that the troops could maintain tieniveliea without it. There *iota force efAlestancitia sufficient ''' to laugh to aeons" any that could be brought against it, and *is not preteided that tlict were diiven away by • , . , ..:. , i pIOVIIMOSh6 'I here are clouds of fete.: -. to tile coutra lndeed, the situation of t!.: I reach , when in apt, is a strong }netnews tiro that such meld not have beeu the fact • but it is not necessary toeely on presumption. We hate the fact itself in our justification. I therefore charge, that the. tinges were utineceioserily with drawn from Alesaiidrta; that the conduct of 1i...e late Ministers, in the affair of the Dardanelles, was guided by juAtice end sound policy , ; and that it failed ant from any fault eft those wit,. seat net the'ci.pildition, but merely /hn the accuteiite of • n rounifee." C.ithnat Worth argued tkit Resin and Turkey were ueresaary to prevent the desire of Boenparte RgAittv't Sim passeVaiintS id India, but tint Alex:l:J -(111a *went* any object to him, and that, therefore the expedition to it was 'unwise. The tionbuothle Geneemaa enlarged open sacral other topics, but the Rinse became - impstient for the % ninitsoh, and itteecbecame impossib:e to bear hiss Illistinctly. Mr. TAY I..UR replied in asp set of rat length, The questiou vets then put en Mr. CASPIINO'II metion.that the et her orders of the daylbe now mod, and wasearried without a division. M....ftpasosine stated, that he weold wish his lions Rsiend, Mr. Lushington, to put off his so tice,,en,the business of the LI Etrusre, for hlon theft to make sow for the discussion on the ques tion of the datilleriee, it being a busluess of a public nature, which occupied the attention of the whole of the landholders of this country. Mr. Luxo said, hie *at afraid that the postpone. merit woidd affect the feelings of the Hoe. Baronet, whom it principelly concerned. After a ceilversation . between Mr. Pantheist, Sir HENRY MILIMAY, Mr. l'iltrßY it, Admiral HARVEY. and lar,:testunexow, it was postponed' to Tuesday. Mr. Ltiel.v.ion gave notice, that he would, on Nlisiiday st:uitight, mice fur leave to bring is a bill to assimilate the pence:thugs ea Courts Mar tial to the Courts of LUw. The second relent of the DeWitt Police Bill was eosteoned to MAiday. The /louse then disposed of the several orchne or the day, and adjeumed at 581.1 POW TaRRS O'CI.00E• i •.• Ent Misealsusenas I nttlLa( ace, see the last pase THE BRITISH PRESS. LONDON, SATURDAY, MAT in. The Gottenburgh Mail, which snived no Thurs day brought no public accounts of the operations of Ur-Swedes in Norway ; but private letters have been received, which state, that they have been entirely defeated, and driven back to their two' froutie,-- The accounts by the preceding Gottetiburgh Mail bad prepared the, public mind fur this ungrateful intelligence. Tbeiliisidish Commander in Chief I stated in his ofEctral Report that the Norwegians had recovered from their panic, and berm to attack the invaders wherever they made their appearance. The squadron under the command of Captain RA1.1.0%41514 consisting of the Tigre. of ge guns, Edgar, 4r7t, Triounpl, of 74, pn4Mioutattr. of 74, was at analog off, the Isle of Widelveven, on the Lath hesitant, watFltiug the motions sof the enemy. The Dutch line of .6attle s; t ips which bad been at Flush irig, were, it W11.41.1l11!trstood, removed up to Ant werp. and thea. i'.l-isilnitled. In the Roads thee, were only two frigatit and three Vi t o. We have received tfutch Paper to the I3th. awl French to Ow Nth' instant. The affairs of Spiti., • .Wholly ete A roso the attention of the writers in Parti, anti fat ulsti the wail, topics of newt Rom that cat}. The oreannt of u probable rupture Ix:tweet , "'lance and Turt:ev. which .%e r cove yesootaisy, is co.volwated by thc at-r:val of a crime; from Palermo., Collingwood, stating the iieceasity of sent iug troops, was ties best answer to such a charge. That commuuicatioa was dated the sth of Febru ary, and there was uo ince who could deny, that if it was thought prudent to comply wield its tenor, the reinforcement could have arrived before one inortle that would be on the sth of April. In the Mean time, the whole line of the Dardanelles. was pot into a state of com plete defence. The French Anthasiador, Selets tarsi, with • number of Freuch °Seers then at Constantinople, had, according to the statement of Admiral 113uckworth, under their direction and command an army of 260,000 men. It' then such an army was not in Constainiunple, there was no necessity fur teems, in order to forward the objects of the expedition. For surely it was not new to the Hunourable Member to know that it was' the distinguiehing characteristic of the gal lant hero who commanded the British nave, to despise the dangers of the most tremendous belt& ries. But if it was true. as wise stated by the gal officer, Admiral Duekworth, then he would ask what could, he effected by one troops, her in.; to oppose the') a forte as eaw the* in C.).)- 4.4011,14 e Were the troops necessary to tutre of the forts at the entrance the' llhrdatselles ? It snrel could not be considered eery judicious to have stet troops for that purpose, with such au hn , tile army wahin fifty miles of them. With respect to the loss ru se:Med. however every man mud sympathise in the fate of the brave flank She had fallen, yet even were the result pre viously ascertaiued, it would be the painful duty to have undertaken the measure. Still the loses on which such stress had been laid did not exceed. in passing the Dardanelles. 10 killed ar..l 77 wounn:e and in re-passing, tf.s killed and 13.5 wounded.— The Hon. Gentleman who has sulenitted the present resolutions, next p roceeded to comment on the expedition to Alexan dria. And on this heart of his head of charge, it was necessary to advert to what had, on a previous case, fallen from the King's Ministsrs, when in defending the attack against Copenhagen, they referred to the expedition against Alexandra as a precedent. To refute such a position, and to deny any thing like a similitude in the two transactions, it was only necessary to adhere to the documents then in the hands of the Members. By these documents the House would sod, that an express order want issued by the late Government to the Hon. General Fox, not to ens bark the five thousand men destined for the expe dition against Alexandria, until he had received positive official advice of the conuneucement of hostilities against Censtantinople, in consequence of the refusal of the Ottoman Porte to give a seta factory security to the remonstrance of the British Minister at that Court. With respect to the polic7 of taking paisessiou of Alexandria, with out any contemplation of following it up by the conquest of Egypt, it was rather a whimsical *ism on that measure, to arraign it because the late Government did not subsequently do that whi• h they had originally determused not to do. let the next point asserted by the Henoumble Mover, whets he attributed its ultimate emessation to the inability of victualling it, he bad to answer, in the most peremptory enanner, that, on the plea of a want of victuals, during the whole time Alexandria was in our possession, there was neither difficulty in keeping it, or a necessity fur its evacuation. To substantiate this us. sertion. he stated a fact, to which he challenged de nial, namely, that during the whole time the Bri tish army was in Alexandria, it was fully and corn pleely victualled. That beside a reserve of rice sufficient for twenty months, and corn for six months for the inhabitants, together with six mouths consumption of provisions for the army, and four for the navy, there had been, by the mu tual consent of the British Commander and the Native Chiefs, greet quantities of rice exported from Alexandria. But CVen had no such plenty existed, from the situations of our fleet Ml' the coa-t of Egypt, and from the position of sonic of our ships of war in the Rosetta and Damietta branches of the Nile, the British army could he provided from the Grecian isles by the resources of our naval means. Why thee have the King's Ministers, allowing for a moment that its original possession was wrong, evacuated it ? Was it to • prevent such a waste of troops, which they (amid employ upou more useful and beneficial service? total disgrace and failure of the British troops. With res pect _ to the trinity of alliance, he disap proved of tli conduct of Government, conceiving that our iiitteference was not likely to produce a salutary eilect. no armed mediation were just and Fudeni, lie denied that it would have been wise to 1-tanr.:•l it in the manner in *lnch it WO* at tempt-'d, and with sc; I: , tra't a demand as that of ti stirrend•T oF t,e To:!c'hh Melt, No danger was ippreiti•nded from that iteet. 'The sole motive and •, yet were, riie eill..nceinent of stipulations in a tietti betwm•Li Turkel and Ricitsia ' and to effect that ptii%tom. our i n diatiwt exhibite d nothing bat vto:•tice ag.titeit Con.tantinople. Admit tiw4,lt I%%cver, tir the sake of argusuent,lhe policy • of t.:e procerdilg to have hero correct, the exestu t;•ci w.N as illiOrtiVe as it coulfl possibly be as it iiiiist b, obvious, that,fur any fleet destined to rliA 3 narrow streight, already strong, awl capable being further fortitied in the most perfect to carry on operations fur some Line ui the interior sea, without having previously made any attempt to secure thut streilht, was an act of military maduess. It had been imputed that the present Ministers had taken a very forward part in this discussion ; but, for his own part, he declared, that, so far from courting it, the introduction of the question eseite I in his mind aome sari - wise. This charge lie could ouly ascribe to the usi‘calculatiou of motives and prim:spies, to which public men were Always liable. There might be a good reason fee urging such inquiries against persons when iu power, but he saw lio use in a vote against men vile no longer held any public situation. The , e he believed, uo Maumee of the kind in Podia ititnitary history. For these reasons lie wished to gct lid of the question, and with that view he should wore, That the &den of the day to now reach" Mr. WINDH4NI—" If the Home should he of opinion with mo., thut the Right Unit. Gentleman has not beck.' sumessful in his answer to the (Amer- t f I 4 4t) ring 1 01.11 a rirc coda Ict 'the •o.s+- 1 anti 'hick `-er►n ut to on of intr. Riot* v ut the r the That Aiort until a «- )Ithe Ilou , ita ris. .!AIICC Gut In, In these o read le , .4