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

'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
'4,41,1,1,11'0t. the 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
(aids 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
Igaze 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.