An estimate of the comparative strength of Britain during the present and four preceding reigns; and of the losses of her trade from every war since the Revolution ... To which is added an essay on population / by the Lord Chief Justice Hale.
- George Chalmers
- Date:
- 1782
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An estimate of the comparative strength of Britain during the present and four preceding reigns; and of the losses of her trade from every war since the Revolution ... To which is added an essay on population / by the Lord Chief Justice Hale. Source: Wellcome Collection.
158/210 page 144
![[ *44 ] For, it mtifl undoubtedly have xeqmred a greater number 6f artificers, to produce inerchandiaes for foreigtl exportation, after feeding and cloathing the inha- bitants, to the Value of — £. 14,694,970 — in 1760, than it did to fabricate the value of — — 12,599,112 — in 1750 : It muft have demanded a ftill greater number of hands to work up goods for exportation, of the value of — 16,512,40+ — in 1764, than it did to manufadure the value of — 14,873,191 — in 1761. A greater number of feamen muft furely have been employed to navi- gate —— — 471,241 tons of »<7//5«fl/fliipping, in 1760, than .— 451,254' — D® ■— in 1756: And a ftill greater number to man — 651,402 — D° — in 1765,^ than — 609,798 — D® — in 1750. HAVING thus briefly flated the moral caiifes that, fince the Re- volution, may have either promoted an increafeof population or a gradual decline, if is now time to enquire into the exatfl amount of our increase or declenfion. Could we afcertain the number of inhabitants duriag the prefent reign, with the fame accuracy' as we have eftablithed the probable populoufnefs of the days of King William, as well as of former periods, the queftion ^would be already decided. Let us, in the mean time, remember, that though the comparifon of numbers muft be made between the current times and the age of the Revolution, yet their moral caufes muft have exifted, and produced their effeds, in periods prior to both : and of confequence, that the greater portion of inhabitants exifting in the reign of King William, muft have been born partly amid the diftradion of the civil contells, and chiefly under the irregular adminiftrations of Charles II. and his immediate fucceffor : the great body of the people, who now exift in England, muft have firft feen the light under the more aufpicious period, it furely requires no argument to prove, that there were a greater number of artificers employed in 1760, than there had been in 1755, or in any prior year. [See a moft curious (focument, fliewing the value of woollen goods of every kind^ which were Entered for exportation at the cuftom-houfe, from 1696 to 1780 inclufive; in the Appendix to a pamphlet lately publifhed, entitled “ The propriety of allowing](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28757671_0158.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
