a6 
be obferved, that an increafe of houfes 
does not imply a proportionate ircreafe of 
inhabitants, as, from a differentimode of 
living, a greater number of houfes are be- 
come neceflary to accommodat¢ the fame 
number of inhabitants thaw they would 
have required a hundred years fince. 
The oficial returns of the total number 
of houfes havealways been incomplete ; but 
it is affcrted, that in many manufacturing 
diftriéts the proportion of omitted houfes 
is of late greatly beyond the practice of 
former times, and that the proportion is 
ftill increafing, from the abfolute neceffity 
which the furveyors and colleGtors of the 
duties perceive of lenity towards the poor, 
whofe inability to fupport their increafing 
burthens is daily becoming more known 
to thefe officers. Tie natural tendency 
of the great increafe of taxes, particularly 
on articles of general confumption, feems 
to be, to reduce to poverty a great num- 
ber of perfons of fmall property, which 
muft caufe an addition to the number of 
the poor; and, in fact, this clafs of the 
community appears to have increafed con- 
fiderably from the poor’s-rate, which in 
1686 was only 665,362]. but in 1776 
amounted to 1,556,804]. arfd at prefent ex- 
ceeds 2,000,000]. The number of houfes 
omitted in the returns is, therefore, pro- 
bably much greater than formerly, which 
is ftrongly confirmed by fome late inquiries 
refpecting the ftate of the poor. 
According to the returns it appears, 
that the total number of houfes in Eng- 
Jand and Wales in 1781, was 1,005,810*, 
which, allowing five perfons to a honfe, 
makes the number of inhabitants 
5,029,050: but as a confiderable addition 
fhould be made for the houfes emitted, 
and on account of the number of iudivi- 
duals refiding in many inftances in the 
fame building, as in public {chools, hof- 
pitals, prifons, and barracks, there will 
be little danger of exceeding the truth, in 
fiating the whole number at 5,500,000. 
The population of Scotland appears by 
accounts recently taken, to have increafed 
confiderably+, and cannot be lefs than 
¥55©0,000 ; fo that the whole number of 
inhabitants of Great Britain is about 
7,000,000. 

* By the accounts prefented to the Houfe 
of Commons it appears, that the number of 
perfons paying the affeffed taxes in 1797 was 
791,802, from which we may conclude, that 
the number of houfes charged to the houfe 
and window duties has increafed fince the 
above period. 
+ See Sir John Sinclair’s Statiftical Account 
of Scotland. 
Mr. Grellier on the National Wealth. 
{ Auenft 1, 
Affuming this number as a fufficiently 
correct eftimate of the total population, it 
may not be very difficult to diftinguifh 
nearly the proportion of thole who fubfift 
by the labour of others, to thofe by whom 
they are fupported; and of the unpro- 
duétive, though in moft irftances uleful, 
labourers, to thofe on whote labour the 
annual produce, and confequently ail ad- 
ditions to the national ftock, depends. 
From feveral accounts it appears, that, 
of the whole number of perfons living, 
more than one fourth are children under 
ro years of age, who therefore contribute 
little or nothing to their own maintenance ; 
for though, in fome-few manufactures, 
children under this age are employed, they 
are more than counterbalanced by~ the 
greater number who remain unemployed 
(otherways than in education) for feveral 
years beyond the age of ro. After de- 
duiing 1,750,000, the number of thefe 
future labourers, it will be found that 
about one in 28 of the remainder, or 
187,500, are incapacitated by old age or 
infirmities from ufeful labour, including 
all perfons in the different hofpitals and 
infirmaries, and moft of the inhabitants of 
alms-houfes and other charitable eftablith- 
ments. But of thofe who are fupported 
by the labour of others, or by the pro- 
perty of others, which is equivalent, there 
are many who follow a fpecies of employ- 
_ment, by which they obtain this property, 
which employment is, however, of no be- 
nefit to the country, as it is not only un- 
produftive, but uielefs, and in many cafes 
injurious, to the community ;fuch are gam- 
blers, fwindlers, thieves, proftitutes, beg- 
gars, gipfies, &c. whofe aggregate number 
probably exceeds confiderably 150,000*. 
The conviéts and prifoners confined in the 
different prifons of Great Britain, and on 
board hulks are ufually about 10,000. 
perfons, whole labour is loft to the com- 
munity ; for the work at prefent performed 
in fome of our jails fcarcely deferves men- 
tion :—if ever the excellent fyftem of the 
*In ‘6a Treatife on the Police of the 
Metropolis,’ there is a detailed eftimate of 
the perfons who are fuppofed tofupport them- 
felves in and near London, by purfuits ei- 
ther criminal, illegal, or immeral, which 
makes their number amount to 115,000. 
From the fituation and abilities of the author 
it may de prefumed this account is as near the 
truth as the fubje€t admits; and, allowing 
even a coniiderable deduétion from it on ac~ 
count of feveral defocriptions of perfons in~ 
cluded maintaining themfelves in part by | 
ufeful labour, it thews that the above num- 
ber cannot exceed the truth for the whole 
kingdom, 
prifons 
