26S Population of Russia. [April, 



ment of the interior was particularly propitious to the progress of 

 population. The organization of the governments in 1775 vvas the 

 great political institution which procured the inhabitants a greater 

 degree of security and happiness. The maniie^to in 1/82 respect- 

 ing the liberty of working the mines, the establishment of normal 

 schools in 1783, the rights granted to the nobility in 1785, the 

 improvement of the great roads in 17)^6, and especially the esta- 

 blishment of the Bank in the same year, were all calculated to 

 promote the happiness of the subjects, as much as that depended 

 upon Government. The bank from its commencement had a very 

 happy etfect upon the progress of agriculture. This great Empress 

 removed several difficulties which stood in the way of the happiness 

 of her subjects, as the want of liberty to be industrious, the want 

 of communications, the want of knowledge, and of a medium of 

 circulation. 



The population of Russia has more than doubled during the 

 eighteenth century. Have we reason to exptct the same progress 

 during the 19th? 



If we consider only the extent of the surface capable of cultiva- 

 tion, which is supposed to amount to 80 millions of square miles, 

 we shall conclude that Russia is capable of supporting 960 millions 

 of inhabitants, or almost as many as at present exists on the earth. 



If we consider the surplus of births as a total gain to the popula- 

 tion, this surplus, amounting at least to half a million annually, 

 would in 32 years amount to GO millions, in 56 to SO millions, &c. 



But experience shows us th^t the progress of population does not 

 depend solely upon the extent of soil capable of cultivation. There 

 are spots left uncultivated in the countries in which agriculture has 

 made the greatest progress, even in England, Flanders, and Lom- 

 bardy. This progress depends still less on the surplus of births. 

 Every where the number of births exceeds that of deaths. The 

 population is always proportional to the state of national wealth. 

 Hence the most decisive proof of the prosperity of a country is the 

 increase of the number of its inhabitants. In Russia the population 

 has more than doubled in S4 years. Hence we may conclude that 

 its agriculture, the principal branch of its industry, has also 

 doubled. In France, during the reign of Henry IV. in 1593, there 

 were 16 millions of inhabitants ; and during the time of Louis XV. 

 in 1723, there were 25 millions. Its population has not even 

 doubled in 130 years, because the state of its agriculture was lan- 

 guishing (see Arthur Young and Du Pradt), and its commerce 

 cramped by England. Great Britain, on the contrary, had in 1758 

 S millions of inhabitants,* in 1794 the population was reckoned 



* It is needless to point oat (o the English reader that this statement applies not 

 to England but to Great Britain and Ireland. If the author's reasoning be correct, 

 Ireland is the country that has been the most flourishing in Europe during the 

 Course of the lastceoiury, for its population has certainly increased at the greatest 

 rate.— T. 



