a deficiency in any of his former taxes; what he had faid, was, there was no fund in existence, that could be applied towards the payment of the intereft of the fix millions of Navy Debt, that the Right Honourable Gentleman had laft #year attempted to provide for. With regard to Lord John Cavendish's Taxes, which the Right Hon. Gentleman had fo unneceffarily lugged into the debate, he had again and again faid, they were Taxes unavoidably brought forward, when there had been but a very fhort time to confider them previously to their being propofed, and that all the circumstances of the cafe confidered, it was eafy to account for their being deficient.

Mr. Medley condemned the tax on Female Servants and recommended a tax on Gentlemen of the Bar and on Solicitors in lieu of it. He approved of the propofed abolition of Hawkers and Pedlars, who, he declared, were a nuifance to the country, deftroying the trade, of country fhopkeepers, felling damaged goods, tak ing away the money that ought to be fpent in each town, and doing other mischief.

Lord Mahon faid, he could not help differing from his Right Honourable Friend about the propofed Female Servant Tax, but a way had occurred to him of removing all objection to the meafure, and even of converting the objections that had been urged against it into arguments in its behalf, and that was, to make an exemption in favour of families who had above a certain number of children, and to relieve them from the payment of one half of the tax. It was, his Lordship obferved, impoffible to do this in taxes upon articles of confumption, or articles in a manufactured ftate, fuch as leather, &c. but it was eafy to do it in the prefent cafe, where the tax food open, feperate, and diftinct.

Major Grant made a few obfervations on the different taxes, and greatly com mended the new regulations intended to be adopted, with regard to the Tax on Male Servants; that alone, would, he thought, nearly produce fufficient, to make up the fum, the tax an Female Servants was given for. If not, a tax by way of licence, to be taken out by fuch, as chofe to indulge themselves in wearing hair powder, would make up the defi ciency. Mr. Grant faid, the Post-horfe Tax wanted regulation greatly.

At a

distance from London, it was collected of the fubject regularly enough, but little or none of it found its way into the

coffers of the Public Treasury, it being funk by a connivance between the innkeepers and the turnpike-men: he recommended that the mode of collecting it fhould be changed, and that it fhonld in future be collected wholly at the turnpikes, and the Commiffioners made refponsible for it.

Mr. Powys faid, there was much to be praifed in what had fallen from the Right Honourable Gentleman that day; little to be doubted, and ftill lefs to be cenfured. Mr. Powys did not approve of the propofed tax on Female Servants.

Mr. Le Meurier in rather a long fpeech, commended the defigned abolition of hawkers and pedlars, though he said, they little affected the place he represented. He thought the propofed tax on fhops, the part of the Budget moft exceptionable and used fome arguments to prove that the tax on Female Servants was not fo exceptionable as Gentleman had imagined. It was a tax, he obferved, that would be equally dtributed throughout the kingdom, and would be always paid by the mafter of the family, and not fall on the fervants themfelves, and he was perfuaded no married man would keep a woman fervant the lefs on account of fuch a trifle as the tax. If, when the Bill came in, Dairy Maids fhould be exempted, as fome Gentleman had advised, he declared he would rife' and propofe the exemption of another fort of Dairy Maids, very useful in all families where there were children, viz. Wet Nurfes.

Mr. Alderman Sawbridge reprobated the propofed Tax on Female Servants, intimating his aftonishment, that the Right Hon. Gentleman fhould be hardy enough to have ventured at the propofing of fuch a tax. He reminded the Committee that it had been fuggefted by an Hon. Baronet two years ago, and was then treated with ridicule by all parts of the Houfe, and it had kept the Hon. Ba-" ronet an object of public ridicule without doors ever since. Mr. Sawbridge condemned the propofed Tax on Shops as a moft partial propofition that would bear harder upon the inhabitants of the metropolis, than other parts of the kingdom.

Sir Richard Hill faid, he muit once' more make a propofition that he had for two years paft made in vain, viz. that a tax be laid on places of public diverfion. It was, he obferved, a difgrace to great Britain as a Proteftant country, not to draw fome revenue from the money fpent in diffipation. Above five hundred thou

fand

fand pounds, he understood, were spent in places of public entertainment, and furely a fifth part of it might be spared towards the exigencies of the ftate. Every other country in Europe made their places of entertainment contribute, and we ought to follow the example. The very paying down the money to enter the Theatre, or Ranelagh, or Vauxhall, was he faid, a tacit declaration, that we could fpare the money, and it was a strong proof of the declenfion of an empire, to be raifing a revenue from taxing the neceffaries of life, and at the fame time to be afraid to touch our pleasures and the

diffipation of the times.

Several other Gentlemen fpoke in the courfe of the couverfation, and one of them fuggefted a tax upon Hair Dreffers, who, he laid, ought in his opinion to be obliged to take out a licence.

At length the firft Refolution was agreed to and then the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved a string of Refolutions, containing all his ftated taxes. After which the Houfe was refumed, and the Report ordered to be brought up this day. The Houfe adjourned at nine o'clock

IN the laft war between the Ruffians and Turks, in which the arms of the former were every where fuperior; after having deftroyed the Turkish fleet in the Archipelago, they threatened to force the channel of the Dardanelles and to attack

Conftantinople itself. In this great emergency, the Porte folicited the Baron de Tott to undertake the defence of these caftles, at that time (as it will appear) in the most ruinous and defencelefs ftate: infomuch, that had their weak condition been known to the Ruffians, the channel muft have been forced without difficulty and Conftantinople laid in ashes.

My firft care was to examine the ftate of the caftles; but it was enough to caft an eye on the foldiers entrusted with their defence, to conclude that there was no more dependance to be placed on the defenders than on the fortifications. The panic had fo far taken poffeffion of their minds, that they talked loudly of abandoning the batteries on the first cannon-fhot.

The established permanence of the Turkish garrifons converting every foldier into a domicilated citizen, furnishes him with too many foreign objects of attention not to divert him from the fole defence of the citadel wherein he is placed; his cares extend without the walls; the Turkish difcipline, always fevere, and never exact, is not fufficient to detain him. One has only to throw a fingle glance on the confiruction of the Dardanelles, to perceive the caufes of this defertion. Dry walls, raffed more than thirty feet above the bat teries on a level with the water, threaten

and

ed to crumble to pieces on the guns the gunners, on the firft volley from the Ruffians. The nature of this defence became more dangerous for the Turks, than even the attack of the enemy.

An artillery formidable in appearance, from the largenefs of the bore, but little to be dreaded after the firft fire, from the flowness with which thefe enormous fwivels could be ferved, formed the principal batteries of the caftles of Europe and of Afia, the fire of which croffed each other at the Dardanelles, but fcarcely met at the two caftles at the entrance. This artillery, entirely of brafs, without carriages, and without trunnions, on flanting pieces of wood, whilft a heap of ftones propped up the breeches, and hindered the recoil. number of other pieces, lying on the fand, as well as feveral mortars, feemed to refemble more the ruins of a ficge, than difpofitions to ftand one. Such was the ftate of the Dardanelles when I arrived, and the Ruffian fquadron of feven fhips of the line, two of which were three-deckers, and two frigates, had only to avail themselves, unquestionably, of the favourable wind which enabled them to block up the mouth of the ftreight, to attempt an enterprize, from which Mr. Elphinfton looked for fuccefs, and against which the Turks had nothing to oppofe.

The channel of the Dardanelles, fituated at fifty leagues weft of Conftantinople, between the Archipelago, and the little Sea of Marmora, ftretches from the coast of Troy, as far as Gallipoli, oppofite to Lampfacus. This fpace of about twelve

leagues

leagues, unequal in breadth, affords different points of view, where the lands of 13 Europe and Asia, feparared by this chan nel, approach each other within three or four hundred toifes *. It is on the narroweft part of the channel, three leagues from the entrance, on the fide of the Archipelago, that the cafiles, called the Dardanelles, are built, from whence the thot eafily traverfes from one fide to the other. This point of defence has been a long time the only barrier for the fecurity of Conftantiaople. Alarined, at length, but ft as ignorant as ever, the Turks have built two cattles at the mouth of the streight, at the ditance of about fifteen hundred toiles which renders the fhot uncertain, and the defence infufficient.

I have already fpoken of the two Turk ifh fhips of war, which the delay of equipment at Conftantinople had prevented from failing with the fleet, and faved them from the catastrophe of Tchefme'. Thefe veffels were anchored between the two cafties, but they were anchored fo far out, that they might easily have been carried off by the enemy's fquadron. My first care was to give orders to thefe fhips to enter, that they might bring their broadlides to bear, fo as to fupport the batteries of the caftles, by narrowing the opening of the channel. On an infpection of the officers and crews, however I was forced to fufpend that order, which they appeared to me incapable of carrying into execution. The wind, although favourable, was not fufficient to extricate them from their dangerous pofition; and this pofition became exceffively critical the third day after my arrival.

C

Whilst I was at the European caftle, fituated at the ftreight's mouth, the Ruffian fquadron coming in a line out of the Gulph of Efnos, hawled along the coaft of Europe towards the point of the caftle, and had the appearance, by this manoeuvre, rather to intend falling upon the two fhips, to carry them off, than to attempt forcing the paffage. Either project was very cafy of execution. A fingle frigate would have met with no more refiftance from the two fhips of the line, than the whole fquadron would have encountered from the caftles. The only remaining advantage we poffeffed, and which it was of the utmost importance to perferve, was the enemy's ignorance of our extreme weakness. The manœuvre of their squadron, showed that

A toife is fix French, confequently, famething more than fix English feet.

they were afraid of expofing themfelves to the fire of heavy batteries; I had, however, to oppofe to them only one iron culverin, bored, indeed, for a ball of fixty pounds. The Turks had abandoned, rather than placed this piece without the caftle : it was fupported bp two thick planks, and pointed perpendicularly towards the courfe of the fquadron.

A promontory, one hundred toifes forward, on which were placed fome cannon of fmall bore, concealed this culverin, which could not, in this pofition, be difcovered by the Ruffians, until the moment of their quitting the Gulph, and at the very inftant when they would be exposed to its fire; but the cape leaving the crest of the walls, as well as the houfes in the neighbourhood of the fortress, exposed, the fquadron gave us their broadfides; and this brifk, but ineffectual cannonade, might have produced the good effect of accuftoming the Turks to fire, had they not been utterly incapable of difcipline. They difappeared at the first fhot, and I had the utmost difficulty to keep with me feven or eight men to ferve the culverin, the only means of defence I was mafter of. Still it. was neceflary to wait till the enemy placed themselves in the line of its fire: this piece was immoveable, but that very immobility enfured the fuccefs of the firft shot, which was fired at a frigate belonging to their van. This frigate immediately fell aftern, and the fecond hot was ready for the following veffel; but the cannonade of the Ruffians continued beyond the cape, and the fleet went about, after having fired eight or nine hundred fhot over our heads. I obferved that feveral of thefe balls burst in the air, and they brought me fome fhells which had not burst. This attempt, repeated three fucceffive days, in the fame order, and at the fame hour, by obliging me to defend this poft, prevented me from preparing more efficacious means of defence; but I tried an experiment which appeared to me likely to drive away the enemy from the coaft. With this view, on my arriving in the evening at the Dardanelles, I made them draw out a fimall piece of cannon, taken from the Venetians, and, after having made them heat fome balls, and loaded the piece, I gave the fpectators, who always followed me in crowds, a fmall fpecimen of red hot bullets. The Pacha, and the Turks, who faw this experiment, already imagined the Ottoman empire avenged for the burning of its fleet. Grates, and coals, and bellows, were preparing during the night, at H the

the battery on the cape, which the Ruffians had always perferred cannonading; but if the Turks ftrove eagerly to execute the orders I had just given, fome Greeks took as good care, no doubt, to acquaint the Ruffians with it: their fleet approached the coaft no more, and they feemed to limit their future projects to the fiege of Lemnos.

The first use I made of the tranquillity I had juft procured myfelf, was to make fure of the two fhips, which appeared to be the bone of contention. Iioft no time in fending them about four hundred Jews, whom we collected at the two caftles, and who, in fpite of the fabbath, laboured to tow thefe veffels out of danger. This operation, too, taking them out of the line of the currents, a fresh wind, which blew a few days after, brought them up to the fecond caftles where their artillery' was more necessary.

The fuperfluous waters which fall into the Black Sea, and which it is unable to evaporate, poured into the Mediterranean by the Thracian Bofphorus, and the Propontis, form fuch violent currents at the Dardanelles, that fhips, with all their fails fpread, can scarcely ftem them. Befides, the pilots must obferve, when they have fufficient wind, to fhape their courfe in fuch a manner, as to prefent the least posfible refiftance to the force of the water. The ftudy of this is neceffarily founded on the direction of the currents, which, driven from one point to another, form obftacles to the navigation, and would oc cafion the greatest risks to the mariner, if proper attention were not given to this hydrographical knowledge. This was moft affuredly the only fort of inftruction the pilots of the two Turkifh fhips were capable of affording me; and I derived, from their courfe, a very useful infight into the fituations which appeared to me the most advantageous for the defence of the channel. I faw, in fact, that a battery, placed on the Pointe des Barber's, (Barber's

Point) between the first and second castles, by making a crofs fire with another battery, which might be erected at a proper diftance, on the promontory, on the European fide, would give the Turks the advantage of battering the ftem and ftern of fuch veffels as might attempt to force the paffage; whilft the enemy, to return both their broadfides, must lay their fide to the currents, a manœuvre which would infallibly compel them to drive with the ftream. This difpofition would also give the Turk ifh artillery the additional advantage of employing bar-fhot, with effect, against their fails, at full ftretch, from the freth wind, neceffary for attempting the paffage, which muft foon be fhattered, and unfit even to fecure the vessels against being wrecked upon the coast. Another powerful motive, decided me to adopt this fyftem of defence. These batteries commanded the anchorage of the Taches Blanches t, (the white fpots.) They would keep up a fire, almoft uninterruptedly, to the Dardanelles; and it was clear to me, that this difpofition must ensure the fafety of Conftantinople, if the Turks would but tolerably serve the artillery I was about to place. Another point, nearer the caftles of the Dardanelles in Europe, called la pointe des Moulins, (the Mill Point,) being likewise capable of crolling the fire from the battery of the Barbier's, and the Afiatic cattle, feemed proper for the construction of another battery, and I determined to establish a fourth, on the banks of the Simois, to serve by way of epaulement to the fortrefs which joins it and which, for the reason I have already given, was not tenable.

+ A Creek in the channel, on the coaft of Afia, between the first and fecond caffles. This is the only anchoring ground of the channel, where the enemy could have attempted to establish themselves, after for、 cing the passage of the first gui.

fical influence of climate, fituation, and foil. The theory was too well adapted to the genius of his country not to be im plicitly followed; and, in its fupport, the advocates for materialism among our.

felves have lately favoured us with fome ponderous volumes.

The arguments for this hypothefis are chiefly drawn from the apparent effects of climate, atmosphere, and food, upon the individual. Cold, fay these authors, contracts the fibres, renders them rigid, and diminishes their fenfibility; heat, on the contrary, relaxes and debilitates, difcolours the fkin, renders the body tender and obnoxious to difeafe. On fudden tranfations from heat to cold, or from cold to heat, we experience fomething like thefe effe as extended to the mind. A inoift or dry atmosphere has a fenfible effect upon the firits; and the alterations produced by thefe in our bodily health, may contribute ftill to their influence upon the intellectual faculties. The effects of diet, they add, are confiderable. Not only gluttony and intemperance blunt the underftanding, and deftroy the finer feelings, but particular kinds of food, taken even in moderation, are faid to produce this effect more than others. It has been affeited, that those who subfift on flesh are commonly ferocious and crue!; and that thofe, on the contrary, whofe chief fupport is vegetables, are of milder and lefs warlike difpolitions.

Notwithstanding thefe fpecious arguments, there are fome reafons which incline me to queftion the influence of phyfical caufes upon the human mind, and to believe it, on the whole, a very uncertain criterion of national character.

Firft. It is very little understood, how far the mind is connected with the body, and dependant on it. It is certain that pain diftracts the attention, and fick nefs enfeebles the understanding; but we are hardly juftified in affirming, that imbecillity of mind is the natural concomitant of a relaxed or weak habit of body. Some of the strongest minds have exifted in very frail bodies; nay, under the immediate oppreffion of fick nefs, pain, and infirmity; on the other hand, it is not at all uncommon to meet with ideots of a found and healthy conftitution. Perhaps what we experience on tranfitions from cold to heat, may be the effect only of a temporary fever; and as foon as recovered from the first fhock, which the mind, from its union with the fenfes, recives by fuch diforder in the external frame, it will exert its ufual faculties, whatever may continue to be the ftate of the atmosphere. On the fame principles, the effects of excefs in eating and drinking may be accounted for, being attended with a species

of difease. But, that particular kinds of food have any power or influence over the mind, further than the moral confequences attending an increase of bodily health, is utterly deftitute of proof; and is contradicted by fo many facts, that there is no reafon to believe the hypothefis founded only on a fantastical analogy.

Secondly. If it were granted, that the mind is in many refpects dependant on the body; yet the latter is endued with an accommodating power, and has a difpo fition to retain its natural temperament in all climates. I apprehend there are no proofs, that, while the body continues in health, the mind can be phyfically injured; now, health and vigour are enjoyed in almost all climates, though it requires fome time to season and habituate the body to a different climate,

climate

Thirdly. The difference o could only affect favage nations; for its effects among polished nations may be. and generally are, counteracted. There are means of preferving the body tempe rate in hot countries; and a cooling regimen, more fruit and vegetables, are made ufe of there, and lefs of intoxicating or ftrong liquors, than in those regions that approach nearer to the poles. I fpeak of countries that have been long inhabited by the fame race of people; our colonies abroad are not fair examples, they being too lately fettled to defert the manners of the parent country. On the other hand, in cold climates, the use of fire, and warm clothing, are fubftitutes for a dry atmosphere and a genial fun. Thus an inhabitant of Britain may live as luxurioufly in his own country, as at Conftantinople or Bengal.

Fourthly. The phyfical principles that have been enumerated, can only be confidered as predifpofing causes at most. They cannot give ideas; now ideas are, as it were, the parents of each other. All our reafoning confifts in comparing, all our fancy, in combining, ideas. The most potent of the paffions, avarice, and ambition, depend on these combinations of ideas, and thefe are directed by education and fashion. Phyfical caufes, on this account, can have little effect on the manners and customs; they can only reduce the mind to a state more proper for receiving certain ideas than others: but the first inventions, and firft principles of fcience introduced into a nation, however introduced, will in reality influence the national genius.

H 2

Mr.