The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-02-16 00:00:00

I mu t naturtffl!lie lilame to the original k,
twilit' that ex ; and it behoved every
vidoal colicel= wish fur explanation of
natives ighich aetua a them. With these
rant', he looped tt le House would not
upon him, UP 'be more t xplacit ;n expressing
opinion Julchin; Any individual cola
' the. . 41 iihich he alluded. It w
lie sut; tit r hips to state, that with all the
tin
tention hewr. .able of giving to the subject,
could not'ffwan for whet that expedition we
there; u,4 when there, why it caine so sudde
. away. A that he and the public knew of the se
ject was, that on the iath of January, 1807, the 13
fish Ambassador left Constantinople, and shoe
afterwards a British fleet was sent to attack it, a,
without having effected any thing, came away fr
the Dardanelles. The papers he should theref
move for, were for the purpose of ascertaitii
all the circumstances relating to that expedi •
what intervened when they were there, at
what was the cause of their returning.—'p
Hon. Gentleman then concluded with movie,
" Au humble address, for the production of ;
copy of the Treaty of Defensive Alliance b.twe,i
Great Britain and the Ottoman Porte, signed In
Sir Sidney Smith, upon the :27th January, 1797',
copies of the Treaty between ltussia and the Otto.
man Porte ; copies of the Correspondence with Ili;
Majesty's Ambassador at that Court, in January,
1807 ; copies of the Secret Articles in said Treaty ;
and of the Instructions seat to Admirals IMrd
Culhimgwuod and Duckworth, and hear-Admiral
Sir S. Smith ; and copies of the Dispatches and
Correspondence between the several Admiral
employed upon that Expedition."
Earl TEMPLC seconded the motion.
, _

Mr. CANNING said. he was in hopes that tom.
Gentlemen, who took a lively interest in this gm*.
tion, would have delivered their sentiments. Siace
none had risen, however, he felt himself obliged hv
the dictates of his public duty, to subinit
the !louse his views of the policy and pr-1-
priety of the motion. He begged, in the i;r•t
place, to observe, that he believed this motion had
been made without the concurrence, or any pre-
vious kuwledge, of any political party, or particular
set of men. He had no knowledge of it whatever,
until he heard the notice that had been given a kW'
days ago, end had not the honour of any persol.4
knowledge of the lion. Gentleman. During the:
interval that had elapsed since the notice, ht had
iuvestigated the subject so far as circumstaueis
would allow, and he should now state how far he
Could comply with the motion that had been
With regard to the Defensive Treaty there could
be no difficulty in, producing •it, but with re-
gard to the secret articles sought for, relating to
the mode of passing the Dardanelles, he was not
aware that any-existed, but at the same time be
could not say so with certainty. He could here no
olection to the production of the dispatch of Lord
Elgin. As to the copy of the Raman treaty is
1797, he could not but doubt the propriety of
laying before the House treaties between other
independent powers, except under very peculiar
circumstances, when this country has been an acces-
sary to them. Ile might, however, notice that that
production was rendered uuneceeiary, as the treaty
alluded to was perfectly notorious to the public at
the time it was entered into. The copies of the
correspondence with His Majesty's Secretary et
State were in the office, and might be produced; and
he also presumed that the copies ofthe instruction
to the Admirals might also he produced. As to
dispatches from Sir S. Sisitit. he was not toUi if
any such existed. Now as to the policy or pm-
pnety of this motion for papers, he should
observe, that unquestionably :f there were nai
so:ne individuals in 'the House who felt teem•
selves implicated in the transaction, and who
might wish the inquiry to go on, he sheulii
think that there was no ground of public
good likely to be derived from lastittiting it lathe
present moment. lie thought,. therefore, that sa
attempt to with-hold the information requireJ,
might be liable to misconstruction and misrepre-
sentation. lie should rather. upon the whole, wish
the House to accede to it. Not being aware of the
view which they themselves were desirous of taking
of this transaction. Ministers should not think it
fit to take upon themselves the supplying e lea
might be wanting in the care which the Elotiour-
able Gentlemen might propose to make out. I!
would be for them, after these papers were pro-
duced, to suggest any supplementary document*
they wished, anal he should only say, that if i!te
partook of the nature of those already called fir.
and no public inconvenience was likely to attend
the production of them, they would find an equal
facility in procuring them.
The Right lion. THOMAS Gasirvtudt said, that
some days ago he had had reason to state his sell'.
timelits as to the course most convenient to hr
adopted in regard to the subject of the Dardaisellcs.
He was surprised to find the Right lion. Gentli-
man opposite. after the expiration of five or ax dm*
since the notice had been given, unable to stilt,
what were the papers wanting to make this motion
more complete. He bad taken the opportunity
lately of informing the Honae, that having quitted
the situation of First Lord of the Admiralty, pre-
vious to the expedition in. question, it was quite
impossible for dm to foresee what papers His Ma-
, jesty's Ministers would think themselves justified
and able to produce upon this occasion,, and of
course that he should wait till he. learnt their ia-
teotions, and how far they meant toe/amply- with the
motion. He could out but say that,it was now ab-
solutele necemary for him to crave the indidgenec
of the house upon this sobjeet. Amongtthat psi•erB
moved for. was the correspondence with Mr.Arbutl:-
not. His Majesty's Minister at the Sublime l'ortee
which would be very voluminous, and the other
papers would be of pretty considerable length, ere:e•
they fully produced; but it would be impossible
for him to say how far Ministeis would comply
with giving every information in their power.
lie should therefore rather confine ' himself
npon the present occasion. and he thought the
opinion of the House ought also to be reserved till
the productions were made. He even should hare
wished the I Immutable Illover'had abstained front
some expressions Arabic,' appeared to him to Mrs
somewhat of a stresiger character to the real qui•••
tion, than what belonged to it. till such time as th''
Horse was informed upon the subject. lie had
stated theillualveutages which His biajestv's late