The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-01-29 00:00:00

' the House should be in possession of it, His ner.
Motion therefore would be—
That there be, laid before do Howse. Copies or Extracts of
any Ariswer to Mr. Freres Note of the 9th Septimber,lao3.
His third Motion, he said, was—.
That there be laid before the I louse, Copies or Extracts of
all Dispatches from the Itth of Sept 711ther to the 3:lth of De'
cember 11103,n-wetting the advance: of money by the Spanish
Government to F,aoce.
His next Motion was—
' That there be laid before the House a Copy or Extract of
the Explanation referred to in Lord Haw kesbuty'a Dispatch of
the 21. t of January 1504, es to pecuniary &Rh:AOC/9 made by
Spin to France, and the instructions sent in consequent.:
thereof.
His next Motion was—
That there be laid berme the House a Copy or Extract of
any Conrentiun,Compact, or Agreement, made between His
Minister aril the Minister of Spain, relative ts the
Neutiality to be obseivul by if • t Power.
Mr. Gut," then mentioned that there was ano-
ther long chasm in the correspondence between
Lord Hawkesbury and Mr. Frere, and that no dis-
patches appeared therein from the 31st January,
Itlo4, to the 111 st of May following, the day on
which his Lordship went out of office. There were
also several intervals in Lord Harrowby's corre-
spondence, in which not a single dispatch apptared
from the 2•22,1 of May to the ‘29th of September ;
and ii, during that time, any had actually passed,
they ought undoubtedly to be laid before the House
on a subject of this importance. His next Motion
would t':-refore be—
That there be laid before the House Clines or Extracts of
any Dispatches between Lord Harroviby and Sir. Frere, from
the t2d of May to the 29th September, lall4.
There were a variety of other papers, which he
thuught necessary to be produced, and his next
Motion would be—
That there be laid before the House Copies or Extracts of
all Ofticial Notes, written by the Spanish Minister to the Mi-
ll ster of His Majesty, relative to any disputes with Spain,
fr ras the commencement of the war with France.
His next Motion was—
Th it there be laid before the Houtre a Copy or Extract of a
L Ate from Admiral Cochrane tothe ttilrui• ally, relative to the
mai,mitts carrying on in the port of Ferrol.
Via, Copies of all Letters from Admiral Cochrane, relined-
th • arming of the Spanish ships, from Sept. 11, to Dec.
3d, IEO4.
He then moved— _

That there be hid bedire the House an account of the pro-
•icions, nasal stores, &c. furnished by the Sponior Govern-
merit to the squadrons of Sir Edwar.l Mew awl Admiral
C x:trane from the Purls of Ferrol and Coruna*, from the
(moment-meat of the war with France to the time of the
rupture.
Mr. Gael, then moved—

That there be laid before the House an Account of the
number of v..ssA, 'alma by the enemy, and carted into and
sold by the enemy in the Spanish Poet of Cuua, in the West-
Inches.
Having gone through the reading of the whole,
Mr. Grey handed them to the Speaker, who read
the first from the Chair as follows :
That there be laid before the Howie Copies or Extracts 0:"
all Letters train the Manner of Spain to the Minister of His
Majesty, from the commencement of the war with France to
the Ist of July 1804, with the Init•ii.:tions sent by Ministers in
consequence thereof.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
—He should beextremely desirous that both the House
and the public should be in complete possession of
every possible degree of information, that, consist-
ently with the safety of the public service, could be
given, on a subjea of so highly interesting and im-
portant a nature, as that to which these Papers relat-
ed. He was, thereforl, after the communication which
had passed between the Hon. Gen-lernan who moved
for them and himself, and from the cursory view he
had been able to give the motions shewn to him,
since he came into the House, extremely willing
that the substance of the information contained in
the several papers moved for, as had aelually been
received, should be given. But, he said, among
so great a variety, it was impossible for him to say,
that such information could be given in the regular
way in which they were mentioned in the motions.
Mr. GREY expressed himself perfellly satisfied
with having the substance of the information.
The question on the first motion was then put
and agreed to.
The SPEAKER then proceeded to read the se-
veral motions as they succeeded each other, and
put the question on each. When he came to that
which mentioned " a copy or extraCl of any con-
vention, compaft, or agreement, respeain‘g the neu-
trality of Spain ;"
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
rose, and slid, he was very willing the substance of
every paper, mentioned in the several motions,
that was now or had ever been in existence,
should be laid before the House ; but, with re-
sped to the present motion, lie must beg leave
to assume the House, that, however, strange it
might appear, yet the fad was so, that there
had never been any writing or instrument, which
could bear the appellation of convention, corn-
paCt, note, or agreement, entered into, between
the two parties. How it had happened, he could
not pretend to say. He supposed it might be, that
the Spanish Am nissador might have used that
word in reference to what was contained on that sub.
jet/ in Lord Hawkesbury's letter ; and our Char;ze
.4trairer had, through inadvertence, used the same
term.
Mr. FOX said, he had no doubt but that such a
thing might happen as that Mr. Frere, or any other
person, might, through inadvertence, use a term just
before spoken by another,if he thought it at all appli-
cable to the subjea ; but he could .Int conceive how
any one could, through inadvertence, use such a
tom, when speaking on a subjeCt to which neither
note, agreement, compailt, or convention, was at all
to be applied.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
said, he could assure the I louse, that every thing re,
lative to what had been termed the Convention, and
related to the neutrality, was already before the
House. There had never been in writing any re-
cognition whatever of neutrality, but merely a
statement of the grounds on which His Majesty's for-
bearance would be continued.

Mr. FOX thought a great deal of explanation
ought to be given on this subjett, more than what
had yet appeared.
Mr. GREY said, it was the more extraordinary
that this term should have been used so often, when
there was no such thing as a convention respefling
neutrality. Ile then r:ad a passage from one of Mr.
Frere's letters, in which he expressly says, " The
ships shall be put on the same footing as they were
by the convention with England."
Ihe several other Motions were then pat and
agreed to.