Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1802-06-15
HOUSE OF COMMONS.
May 8.
THE DEFINiTIgE TREATr.

now to any final deciiion upon the merits OF
the De6nitive Treaty Of Peace, which has
been laid on the table; bur fmply tomoye
day for taking it into confederation. As
one of the perfons who have the misfortune
to differ from his Majeiy's miniiters, I
do NOT conceive there can be any objec-Y-
tion to this propoial. His NJ. miniiters
think that no difcdfion is necedary upon
the De6n. Treaty, the preliminaries hav-
ing met The appreciation Of the Houfe, and
consequently they have declined to intro
duce any motion refpeaing it. Whether
this be an invariable cuRom, or one that
would be /" more honoured in the breach
than the Observance, lhall not fay to
enquire. If there. be precedents that do
not render any fuch proceeding necehary,
they mult be founded upon the prefamPtion
that, by its APPRECIATION ofthe Prel. Trea-
", the ,Houfe has faneioned the Defni-
tive. Now | think it is quite the contra
ny in the prelent cafe. lthink that the
queRion is completely open, and that there
may be perfectly good grounds III. giving
different Judgment upon the Def. Trea-
ty from that which the Preliminaries have
received. The belt order in which TO con-
Gder this fubjea, will, / think, be under
the four following heads i fhall frit take
the circumstances. which did exit, but
were not known in this country previous
to the preliminaries. zdly, Thofe points
which took place in the interval between
the Prel. and Def. Treaty. 3dly, The
variation OF certain points N the De6ni.
tive from their fate in the preliminaries !;
and 4thly, Thole points in the Dehnitive
which do not exit 10 any fhape in the
preliminaries, yet may not be con6dered
as departure from them.
As to the 6ra clals, namely, the cir
cumaances which did exit, but were not
known before the preliminaries, there are
three principal ones : Firf, the cellion OF
the lille of Elbe; iecondly. the limit of
French Guiana; and thirdly, the cefion
of Louifana. The cefion of the Elbe has
been already mentioned and, when the
neceGary papers fhall be laid before the
HouGe, it will be the proper time TO enter
into it fully. hall now touch on the
manner ofceHion only, leaving it to the
houfe to judge the value of the acquiGtion
TO the French, as an excellent fation, an
impor tant harbour, and an impregnable
fortress. The argument by which our al
TENT is fought to be obtained for this advan-
tage given the French, is the immenGty Of
objects ofeqaal ifnot greater value, which
deRroys its Jingle Importance that is, we
are told, why continue the war for the
fake of the lille of Elhe, when 70 many
points of greater value have been iurrender-
ed Without dwelling then on its value,
I ihall conhder the manner, which is in
my mind more important than the thing
itieif. There is in it fuch tricking and
chicanery, as requires confant explanation;
and the more it is examined, the more o.
dious is the light in which it appears
The Houie will recolletf that by the Trea-
ty of Munich, by which transfer was
made of the Duchy of Tufcany, it was
expressly Stipulated that Porto Ferrajo
fhould remain as it was before, attach
ed to the Dukedom of Tulcany. Now
what do the French? They have recoude
70 that fort of algebraic calculation by
which an algebraitt would proceed to ex-
terminates quantity that he withed to get
rid Of they transferit to another peslon
they leave it with TIE Duke of Tuicany.
But as if they were playing game of chefs,
they remove the Duke and put a King in.
his place. They take King ofthe 1oufe
of Spain, and, having placed him in the
Dukes iead, they negotiate with the
Court OF Spain, that it lhall not remain
with Tufcany, but be transferred TO France.
This was not known at the time when the
prellmlnaries were Ggnel. II comes out
then that the real fate of Porto Ferraio.