166 Population of Russia. [March, 



of his Statistics, between 35 and 36; Storch, SG', Sablowski, in 

 his Geograpliy of Russia, 41, and in his Statistics, 44; and, 

 finally, the St. Petersburgh Almanac for 1808 makes the number 

 42 tnillions. One would be tempted to suppose either that govern- 

 ment had not occupied itself with this subject, or that it had con- 

 cealed the results obtained. 



But government has been in the habit of making partial enume- 

 rations for nearly a century, and for above 60 years it has made 

 general ones. The results of these statements constitute the object 

 of the first part of this memoir. 



As to the complaints of the incredible difference of the state- 

 mentr- respecting the totahty of the Russian population, I do not 

 consider them so well founded as is generally believed, as will 

 appear from the inquiry respecting the increase of the population 

 of Russia, which constitutes the subject of the second part of this 

 memoir. 



Part I. 



Result of the partial and general Enumerations made by order 



of Government. 



Partial enumerations of the inhabitants of Russia have been made 

 with great care ever since the year 1720. Those which embrace 

 the greatest number .of the population, and which are executed 

 with the greatest care, are the revisions, the first three of which 

 were partial, and had only a financial and military object in view. 

 By revision, is meant the registering of the names of all the men 

 who paid the direct imposts. These are divided into three classes. 

 The first pay the capitation tax, and supply the military levies : 

 this class consists of peasants. The second, consisting of the inha- 

 bitants of towns, merely pays the capitation tax. The third, con- 

 sisting of the merchants, merely pays an impost upon capital. The 

 statements respecting population have been divided into two com- 

 partments: the first comprehending all those that pay direct 

 in)posts ; namely, the peasants, the inhabitants of towns, and the 

 merchants : the second, all those who do not pay. But the 

 class of peasants is properly understood when we talk of re- 

 visions. Besides these partial enumerations, which regard the 

 great body of the nation, each department is in the habit 

 of t;iking lists of those persons that depend upon it. The 

 clergy are registered in the Holy Synod. The nobility have their 

 registers kept with great exactness in the Russian and German 

 governments, and less correctly in provinces that formerly belonged 

 to Poland and Turkey, The military are enrolled by the Minister 

 at War, &c. Russia possesses likewise general enumerations, first 

 in consequence of the extent given to the 4th and 5th revisions in 

 1781 and 1796, and afterwards by annual enumerations ordered by 

 the ukase of the I7th January, 1800, and repeated on the 8th of 

 September, 1802. 



We cannot say that all these enumerations have been worse done 



