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.
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![Wales, during the year 1777, i>587,9i5 dwellings, inftead of 952,734'. While we cannot allow, either to Mr. Howlet or to Dr. Price, that mere calculations from difputable data amount to deciiive proofs, let us do juftice to both : they merit the praife due ^ Though there appears to have been a new furvey of houfes made in 1780, yet the Commiffioners of the Tax-office feem to have given in officially the return of to the parliamentary Commiffioners of Public Accounts in January 1781, becaufe the general aggregate of this document agrees with the total fum of that. As this paper is now printed, we are thereby enabled to examine with a little more atten- tion its contents. It profefles to give, in a diftindf column, “ the number of inha- bited houfes chargeable to the window duties Yet, the return of Briftol is 3947 : though there had been found in that populous and wealthy town, 13,000 houfes in 1751 ; and when Anderfon perambulated “ that largeft city except London,” in 1758, he had difcovered not only new foundations, but even entire new flreets. [Com. vol. ii. p. 421.] The return for Liverpool is however 3974; whence we ou^ht to infer, contrary to truth, that Briftol is lefs populous than Liverpool : yet there has been found in it, by enumeration, 6340 dwellings. The return for Carlifle is 430 ; though an enumeration fhews it to contain 891 houfes. The return for Chefter is 1244; yet an enumeration has found in it 2,883 houfes. The return for Nottingham is 1533 5 enumeration has difcovered 3267 dwellings. [Thefe returns are ftated from the before-mentioned official report to the Com- miffioners of Accounts: the enumerations, which feem to have been made in 178#, were taken from Mr. Howlet’s Examination.] Though that official report pro- feffes “ to diftinguifli the number in each city and town, wherein there are four hundred houfes and upwards, chargeable to the duty on houfes and windows,” yet it does not diftinguifli Prefiury in Chefter county, which contains 2883 houfes, and was once returned for 1366. It does not diftinguifli Portfea in Hants, which contains 2883 houfes, and was once returned for 1540. It does not diftin- guifli Old Swinfordm Worcefterfliire, though it contains 1579 houfes, and had once been returned for 414. And opportunity is only wanting to difcover a greater variety of fuch imperfeftions. One groflhefs of error is too remarkable to be omitted ; It returns for the whole county of Gloucefter, including the city and towns, 20,465 houfes, which, multiplied by Dr. Price’s multiplier of five, the fup- pofed number of perfons in each dwelling, would difcover, in that flourifliing county, no more than 102,325 fouls. Now, “ Mr. Rudder has fliewn, by a minute detail of its feveral pariflies, that the whole county of Gloucefter has raifed its numbers, even fince the commencement of the prefent century, from about 105,000 to almoft 150,000.” [Mr. Howlet’s Exam. p. 129.J This evinces an increafe of nearly one-third, which correfponds with the reafonings in the text. But, can there be a ftronger demonftration of the utter inaccuracy of the furveyors retur/is and of the fingular infufficiency of Dr. Price’s boafted mode of indudion, which was to give proofs to tho world equal in decifivenefs to the evidence of enumerations ? X](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28757671_0167.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
