1809.] 
printed copies of the agreements made 
by the navigation board, with the several 
navigation companies, which were laid 
before the House of Commons, and 
printed by their order. ~ But, as the cir- 
culation of these documents is limited, it 
niay not be improper to observe in this 
place, that, independent- of the works 
carrying on, under the immediate orders 
of the Navigation Board, they are under 
engagements to several navigation com- 
panies as follows: fo bed, 
To the Royal Canal Company, 
for the reduction of their 
tolls, and for the execu- 
tion of the works of their 
Cabal (Skis; Uitaeie ih 9ag866nancdO 
To the Barrow Navigation 
Company, for the same 
PURPOSES. ciel. Poets -- 47,500 0 0 
‘To the Grand Canal Company, 
for the execution of the 
works for making the rie 
ver Shannon navigable, 
between Lough Derg, and : 
Loven Ree. oc ete 54,634 18 7 
To the Corporation, for pre- 
serving and improving the 
port of Dublin, for build- 
ing the Quay Walls of 
the iriver Liffeys occzziex 15,000 0 O 
Of the balances remaining payable upon 
which several agreements, the before-menti- 
oned sum of 174,270/. 10s. 84d. is formed. 
_ With regard to the inveterate propen- 
sity to jobbing, alluded to in the para- 
giaph above quoted, I can only observe, 
that however such an inveterate propen- 
sity may have prevailed, and to whatever 
extent sch propensity may at present 
exist, in Ireland, I cai by no means trace 
zt in the printed correspondence an- 
nexed to the Report, made by the com- 
mittee on the tolls of the Grand Canal 
in Ireland, in the year 1805, which cor- 
respondence passed between the Naviga- 
tion Board, and the two most considera- 
ble companies in Ireland; but, on the 
contrary, a careful perusal of that cor- 
respondence will cohvince any unpre- 
judiced reader, that the dispensers of 
the public money have, in this instance, 
acted with zuflerzble integrity. 
The advocacy of the cause of those ia - 
office, is, at the present day, by no 
means a popular undertaking; and. the 
charge of imterest will, doubtless, be 
urged against him, who has thus volun 
tarily stood forth therein. That I am 
interested in the general welfare of Ire- 
tand, by the extension of inland naviga- 
tion, I admir; for, where the treasure is, 
there will the heart be also; and ase 
Vindication of the Principles of Dr. Reid. 
359 
Briton, I am still more interested, that 
the application of the means intended for 
the improvement of this country, a great 
imperial concern, should not be openly 
misrepresented, or by inference insinu= 
ated to be sacrificed, to an invetcrate 
propensity to jobbing. Your's, &c. 
Dublin, JEGIg. 
May 24, 1809. 
SN 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
‘OTHING is more desirable, than 
to have correct ideas of things, 
more particularly of those in which our 
happiness is nearly concerned. The 
only difficulty 13 to know, what are core 
rect ideas, as what are deemed so by one 
set of philosophers, are judged the con- 
trary by another. I have been led to 
make these observations, from the perusal 
of a work lately published, entitled, 
“ Metaphysical Essays,” in which an at- 
tempt is made to revive the opinions of 
the celebrated Bishop Berkeley. The 
author, Richard Kirwan, esq. so well 
known in the philosophical world, after a 
preliminary essay defining terms, pros 
ceeds to treat of the human mind, and 
its modifications; and of the “ existence 
and attributes of the Supreme Being ;” 
and combats throughout the existence of 
matter, to which, like his predecessor, 
Berkeley, he ascribes the doctrines of 
atheism, materialism, &c. 
Whether there be.mitid only, as 
Berkeley and his -fellowers maintain; 
whether there be matter only, as Dr. 
Priestley, Mr. Belsham, and others stp- 
pose; whether there be both mind and 
matter, as is the general belief; or whee ' 
ther there be neither mind nor matter, 
but only. impressions and ideas, as is the 
opinion of Mr. Hume, and the Honour- 
able Mr. Drummond; I shall not stop to 
enquire. My design being, not to enter 
into any disquisition, either of scholastic 
pneumatology, or of physilogical me- 
taphysics, an idle waste of time and 
genius; but to vindicate the principles of 
Dr. Reid, from the charge of Jeading to 
scepticism, and to offer a word or two in 
behalf of the brute creation. 
Mr. Kirwan, in his second Essay, page 
$33, says, ‘I think the principles of the 
doctor, as: exposed and concentrated by 
_the learned professor,* lead directly to 
the most dreary scepticism; for the pro- 
fessor tells us, ‘that the mind is -so 
* Mr. Dugald, Stewart Professor of Boral 
Philosophy, in the University at Edinburgh. 
formed, 
