1796+] ‘ 
confufion and deftruétion among them 
, wan 
when attempting to land. 
ie 
It is not, 
however, by fcattering a few gun-boats, of 
very little force and bad conftruétion, 
upon different parts of our coaft, that we 
can hope fuccetsfully to a an enemy 
who are employing myriads of artificers 
in the building of {mall veffels, and whofe 
fhores, from the Texel to Bayonne, re- 
found withdreadful notes of preparation ! 
But the bef of all, andindeed the only 
ertain way of faving us from the hor- 
rors, or at leaft from the wretched con* 
fequences that may refult from an inya- 
fion, appears tO me, as it appears to 
many others, to be the forming cfa general 
militia of the nation; and the adoption 
of {uch political meafures as may ae 
all parties to rally roundthe government. 
No fteps of that kind feem to be taking; 
and Idamept to fay, that, in the mean 
time, Oe and properties of the Bri- 

tith nation are committed to the winds, 
and to frail compages of boards.. Nawilus 
& onjteus vita popult Romani permiffa eft. 
Sept. 44, 1796. _ PIERRE. 
a : oS 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
S1R, 
N your Magazine for June, a Corre- 
{pendent, who figns himfelf M.H.has 
defended the fyftem of Helvetius, and 
afferted. thatie** nothing can be more 
monftrous and hypothetical, than the no- 
tion of a child (whofe mind having re- 
ceived no impreffion, is a total blank, 
without a fingle idea) being born with 
a power Of difcrimination, a correét 
gudement, &c.., 
The philofophy of Helvetius has be- 
come very fafhionable in Eneland. I, 
however, believe, that all arguments de- 
duced from experience and analogy, 
are dire&tly in oppofition to it.. Two 
individuals—fay the advocates of this 
fyftem, would be precifely fimilar, if 
they received precifely the fame educa- 
tion; that is, if they thould be precifely 
in the fame fituations, and the fame cir- 
cumftances; now. this can never take 
place. Thus, they affert what they 
themfelves acknowledge never can be 
proved. 
Materialifts and Immaterialifs are 
agreed, that the brain is the organ of 
thought; we have no bufinefs now with 
the enquiry what e is that. thinks—a 
Point which never can be proved, and 
of eit the proof, if poffible, would be 
ufelefs. The brain, however, isthe organ 
of thought, as the eye «is the organ of 
vifion; the point, then on which this 
‘fyftem cefts, is, that the organization 
Ou the Philofophy of Helvetius. 
a fentence, 
“covered: the : inclination for mufic. 
/ 
629 
of the brain 1s in all men equally perfeét, 
excepting in abfolute idiots and madmen. 
But is there no gradation from the 
man of ftrong and found intelleét, down 
Be idiot > Has your corcéfponden 
never known perfons, who, though not in 
a ftate of abfolute idiotifm,. are yet little, 


sremoved from it? Who thall.draw the 
ie ES 1a : 
“line where thefe removes.end? As there 
are gradations below the flandard of com- 
mon fente, may. we not reafonably infer 
that there are gradations afcending above 
"The opponents of Helvetius believe 
in innate aptitudes—not innate ideas, 
In the fame emanner as theyjorgan of 
ficht is formed with different degrees 
of ftrength in different perfons, they afs 
fert a difference of. perfection in fhe 
organ of thought. I have known achild 
cateh atune before he could articulate 
ugh his brother never dif= 
Now the educa 
precifely the, 
tung the fai 
infancy. 9" . ae 
The inftance of the Jefuits, which 
Helyetiusadduces, may be applied againft 
jon of their ears, had been 
fame ; for their mother had 
é fongs to both in their 


ts 

try, and he. became a celebrated mathe~ 
Matician. Me ‘a 
Is the brain always cvadtly of the fame 
fize and, fhape? Are the ventricles always 
exactly of the fame fize? Is the medullary 
fubitance always exadéily of the fame con-- 
fiftence—fo that the vibrations may al- ' 
ways be propagated with equal fwiftnefs ? 
Thefe queitions muft all be decided in the 
affirmative, before it can be proved that 
all men are equally poffeffed of intellecs 
tual powers. 
‘Septe ber 2, 17.96. me Se R, 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
i eat) 1 
nt 
SER, .) 4 
"pHERE ig nothing fo effential to the 
character of the hiftorian, as that pow - 
er or the mind which combines and con- 
denfes into one view, tacts. apparently 
different, but which, on a nearer invefti- 
gation, prove to be the component parts 
of a regular fyftem, which developes the 
hidden caufes of things» and unfolds, 
with almoft intuitive aceuracy, the fe- 
cret motives of the moft refined policy : 
yet how few do we fee poffeffed of this 
power? we are either prefented? with 
4L2 a barg 






