[ 88o ] 
all its fupplies from ' them, and from Scotland and 
Ireland. 
The number then 8250 may be confidered, at the 
utmoft, as the yearly increafe of the fencible men ; 
from which all our public Ioffes in our ordinary com- 
merce at Sea, and in our wars by Land and Sea, and 
by our Colonies, are to be deducted. And ic is plain, 
if in all theie ways our Ioffes are annually equal to 
about 8000 men, there can be no increafe at all of 
our fencible men ; and confequently no increafe of 
our people, which muff always be in proportion to 
them ; but if our Ioffes are more, we muff be in a 
decrealing date. 
To make a juft and moderate eftimate of our 
Ioffes it will be proper, that we take fifty or fixty 
years at an average to avoid any uncertainty. And 
if we begin at the year 1690, which is 66 years ago, 
we fhall find, that during that time, in our com- 
merce at Sea, and in our wars by Land and Sea, we 
cannot have loft lefs than 450,000 men. 
To drew this it may be obferved, that in all bodies 
or armies of fencible men, which confift generally 
of thofe between 1 8 and 56 years of age, there dies 
annually about one in 54, by the natural decreafe of 
life, as appears from Dr. Halley’s Table. And there- 
fore, if there are 80000 feamen or more, as is faid 
in Britain and Ireland, the natural decreafe, which 
is not here to be confidered, will be about 1480 or 
1500 annually. But the number muft be much 
greater that is loft, by the various contingencies of 
the Sea, by wreck, fcurvy, and the inclemency of 
different climates, &c. ; for fewer cannot be fup- 
pofed to be deftroyed by fuch incidents, than the 
double 
