4/5 
prove the total number of inhabitants to have 
been 4,688,000. This number increased dur- 
ing the seventeenth century, and was com- 
puted- by Mr. Gregory King to amount in 
1690 to 5,500,000 ; while Dr. Davenant esti- 
mated the population at the same period as 
high as 7,000,000. This disagreement be- 
tween two very accurate writers, shews tire 
great uncertainty which prevailed on this 
subject, and in fact there was scarce any par- 
ticular relating to the state of the country on 
wificn such opposite opinions were held as on 
tin actual number of inhabitants at particular 
periods, and their diminution or increase. 
The point has at length been determined by 
the l'esults of an act passed the 31st of De- 
cember, 1SOO, for ascertaining the population 
of Great Britain, and the increase or diminu- 
tion thereof. From the returns thus obtained, 
it appeared, that the total population of Great 
Britain, including the army and navy, and 
seamen in the merchants’ service, was 
10,942,646; but deducting the proportion of 
soldiers and seamen belonging t,o Ireland, it 
may be more correctly stated at 10,8 20,370. 
Assuming this number as a sufficiently ac- 
curate return of the total population, it may 
not be ver\ difficult to distinguish nearly the 
proportion of those who subsist by the labour 
of others, to those by whom they are sup- 
ported; and of the unproductive, though in 
most instances useful, labourers, to those on 
whose labour the annual produce, and conse- 
quently all additions to the national stock, de- 
pends. 
From several accounts it appears, that, of 
the whole number of persons living, more 
than one-fourth are children under ten years 
of age, who therefore contribute little or no- 
thing to their own maintenance ; for though 
in some few manufactures, children under this 
age are employed, they are more than coun- 
terbalanced by the greater number who re- 
main unemployed (otherwise than in educa- 
tion) for several years beyond the age of ten. 
After deducting 2,705,092, the number of 
these future labourers, it will be found that 
about one in 28 of the remainder, or 289,831 
are incapacitated by okl age or infirmities 
from useful labour, including all persons in 
the different hospitals and infirmaries, and 
most of the inhabitants of alms-houses, and 
other charitable establishments. But of those 
who are supported by the labour of others, or 
by the property of others, which is equivalent, 
there are many who follow a species of em- 
ployment, by which they obtain this proper- 
ty, which employment is, however, of no be- 
nefit to the country, as it is not only unpro- 
ductive, but useless,jand in many instances in- 
jurious to the community ; such are gamblers, 
swindlers, thieves, prostitutes, beggars, gipsies, 
See. whose aggregate number, according to 
Mr. Colquhoun’s estimate for the metropolis, 
probably exceeds considerably 1 50,000. The 
convicts and prisoners confined in the differ- 
ent prisons of Great Britains, and on board 
hulks, are usually about 10,000 persons, 
whose labour is lost to the community, for the 
work which is performed in some of our jails 
scarcely deserves mention. There is also a 
class of a very different description, who are 
supported by the labour of others : this is the 
nobility and gentry, whose exemption from 
labour is considered as a part of their honour 
and distinction ; some, it is true, hold em- 
POLITICAL ARITHMETIC. 
ployments under the government, and a few 
are engaged in agriculture or trade ; but the 
majority, who subsist on the income they 
possess, without following any useful occupa- 
tion, is probably not less than 5000. 
These numbers include persons of hot!) 
sexes, and are all rather below the truth 
than beyond it; they amount together to 
3,159,923 persons, and being deducted from 
the whole population of 10,820,370, shew 
the number of those who work to be 7,660,447. 
But it is well known that of those who gain 
a substance by their labour, many follow em- 
ployments which, though more or less neces- 
sary and useful, do not, in the least degree, 
increase the quantity or value of the produce 
of the country ; the number of these unpro- 
ductive labourers is nearly as follows : 
The army, officers and privates, in- 
cluding half-pay, commissaries, 
__ agents, &c. " - - 200,000 
The navy, ditto . - - 127,000 
Officers and clerks employed in col- 
lecting the revenue, and in other 
offices under government - 6,500 
Clergy of the churches of England 
and Scotland - - 18,000 
Ditto, dissenters of every denomi- 
nation - - - 14,000 
Schoolmasters (exclusive of clergy- 
men) and schoolmistresses - 20,000 
Judges, counsel, attorneys, sheriff’s 
officers, jailors, and all persons 
employed in the execution of the 
laws, except constables, headbo- 
roughs, &c. - - 14,000 
Players, musicians, dancing masters, 
&c. - - - 5,000 
Women supported by their hus- 
bands’ labour - - 500,000 
Female servants of all descriptions 650,000 
Male servants - - 150,000 
Total - - 1,704,500 
It must be confessed that the number of 
some of these classes of persons cannot be 
ascertained with much precision : this, how- 
ever, is of no great importance, if the total is 
not far from the truth, as the object is chiefly 
to shew the proportion of productive to un- 
productive labourers; the latter may be dis- 
tinguished according to the following state- 
ment: 
Merchants, brokers, factors, and 
others depending on foreign trade 25,000 
Clerks to ditto, and in the offices of 
commercial companies - 40,000 
Seamen in the merchants’ service, 
including the coasting-trade and 
fisheries - 144,000 
Lightermen, watermen, &c. - 3,500 
Persons employed in the different 
manufactures - - 1,800,000 
Mechanics not immediately belong- 
ing to the manufactures, such as 
carpenters, bricklayers, masons, 
wheelwrights, shipwrights, boat- 
builders, &c. - - 50,000 
Painters, engravers, carvers, and 
other artists - - 5,000 
Shopkeepers, viz. butchers, bakers, 
publicans, fishmongers, poulte- 
rers, pastrycooks, grocers, chand- 
lers, pawnbrokers, apothecaries, 
& c. . 150,000 
SO 2 
Farmers, graziers, and all other per- 
sons employed in agriculture, in- 
cluding millers, mealmen, farri- 
ers, horse-doctors, &c. - 2,000,000 
Wives and families of most of the 
above classes assisting in their oc- 
cupations, or following other em- 
ployments of profit - 1, 738, 447 
Total - 5,955,947 
T lie whole population of the country will 
thus appear to consist of nearly the following 
proportions: 
Supported by others’ labour 3,159,923 
Unproductive labourers - 1,704,500 
Productive labourers - 5,955,947 
Total -- 10,820,270 
It thus appears that the whole of the people 
depend for subsistence, and all the conve- 
niences of life, on the labour of little more 
than one-half; and the increase or decrease 
ot this number, and of t lie effect produced by 
the individuals who compose it, is the mea- 
sure of the increase or decline of national 
strength. Of the unproductive labourers, or 
those who gain a subsistence by defending, 
instructing, or serving others, the greater 
part are highly useful to the community, and 
in the present state of society a nation could 
not exist without them ; but as they do not con- 
tribute to the production of any of the neces- 
saries of life, or articles of commerce, it is 
evident that they depend entirely on the ex- 
ertions of the productive labourers, who are 
the source not only of the general subsistence 
and of the means of commerce, but of all ac- 
cumulation of stock, which is in fact the sur- 
plus of former produce beyond the consump- 
tion. The power of acquiring national 
wealth, therefore, depends principally on the 
proportion of productive labourers to the 
whole number of inhabitants ; for though the 
population of a country should have greatly 
increased, if it had been chiefly by an addi- 
tion of idle hands, the produce would remain 
the same, and, the consumption being much 
greater, the country must become poorer: 
but it likewise depends, in a great measure, 
on the facility with which labour is perform- 
ed ; for if a country contained only half the 
number of labouring inhabitants, with the 
same number of other persons it had at a 
former period, but this half, by means of 
machinery and other improvements, could 
produce the s;ime effect as the whole num- 
ber before, such a country would become 
considerably richer, though’ the total popula- 
tion was diminished, and the proportion of 
unproductive to productive persons increased ; 
for there would be the same supply and a 
much less consumption: and wherever the 
produce or supply exceeds the consumption, 
there will be an acquisition of stock; for, un- 
less the surplus could be reserved for some 
useful or desirable purpose, it would soon 
cease to be produced, by the supply falling 
to the level of the demand for consumption. 
The surplus reserved or converted into stock, 
is a fund lor supporting an increase of exei* 
tion, or for supplying the means of future 
enjoyment. 
it has been shewn, that the whole number 
of the inhabitants of Great Britain is undoubt- 
edly greater than at former distant periods ; 
but the proportion of unproductive hands* 
