BOOK As in this calculation are not included the nobles and gentry, tlie
, clergy, the army, the navy, the Siberian coflacs, the tribes of wandering
Calmucs, the Laplanders, the Saymoyeds, the inhabitants of the provinces
■ ceded to Ruffia by the Turks, and others, who are exempted from the poll-
tax, we may fairly add for all thefe 4,000,000 ; and the average population
of the whole empire will amount to 2?,,838,510.
-I cannot avoid in this place taking notice o f an objection
which has been made to this mode o f calculation. It is urged,
that although at the laft numeration in 176 4 the perfons
paying the poll-tax amounted to 7,363,348, yet, that lince
that period, their number has been coniiderably diminifhed
by the Turkilh war, the campaigns in Poland, the rebellion
of Pugatchef, and by the plague which;raged with great violence
at Mofcow, and in the fouthern parts o f the empire :
from thefe circumftances, the author o f the Effai fur le
Commerce de Ruffie has reduced the population to 14 millions
*. It is very difficult to anfwer an objeilion which
does not arife from particular, but from general fatts ; and
which, while it ftatesthe diminution, does not at the fame
time pay any attention to the acquilition o f new fubjedts.
The arguments drawn from conjecture may feem to make
: it, probable, that the ravages o f war and o f the peftilence
have occafioned: the lofs o f about 600,000 fubjedts ; while
thofe deduced from matters o f fa it pofitively prove, that
the increafe iince the laft numeration has greatly exceeded
. this diminution.
By the acquilition o f the provinces difmembered from Po-
land, at leaft 1,500,000 fouls have been added to the inhabi-
. * “ L e dernier dénombrement de 176 4,
Û a p u d o n n e r u n t o t a l d e 17 à i8 'm iI lio n s
¡ “ d ’habitants des deux fe-xes, tou t compris :
** mais ce c a lcu l, l'an s dou te exaét à c e tte
“ ,ép o qu è, ne p eu t l’ être depuis la gu e rre de
- la P o logn e .& de; la T u rq u ie , depuis la
“ derniere ré vo lte , & fu r -tou t depuis la
** pefte. N ou s croyons donc p o u vo ir avan-*
“ ce r q u ’ il n ’y a plus que 6 millions d ’hom-
“ mes en R iiflie ,” & c . EiTai fur. le. commerce
de Ru iïie, p. 3 1 .
tants
tants of the empire. Befide the new fubjedls o f the d iftr iils1
bordering upon the Black Sea, which were ceded by th e '
Porte, .many thoufaiul Greek and Armenian families have
migrated from Grim Tartary, and help to colonize feveral
new towns and villages which line the banks o f the Dnieper
below the cataradts; and it muft be remarked, that fince the
folid eftabliihment o f peace throughout the empire, the ie-
curity and order derived from a more ftable legifl at.ure, the
eftabliihment o f phylicians .and furgeons in the new,governments,
the additional privileges which the emprefs has conferred
upon the merchants, burghers, and peafants o f the
crown, the population has coniiderably augmented * in many
parts of her extertfive dominions.’ All thefe confiderations
mult furely overthrow any objedliohs to the general calculation
of between ¡22 or 23 millions t for the average population
o f the Ruffian empire.
* I can la y b efo re th e 're ad e r -th e 'fo llow ing
undoubted inftances o f this au gm en ta tion.
T a b le o f the b ir th s 'an d deaths fo r 17 76
and 17 7 7 in th e government o f T v e r .
B ir th s . D e a th s . B ir th s . D e a th s ,
Males 870.7
Females 6 137
3 71S
3066
9S°9
6726
3740
3 *9 3
I am
3613 79 2 8 . T h e inc reafe, th e re fo re , o f
th e b ir th s fince 17 76 amounts to 6 1 1 7 j and.
th e exce fs o f th e ^births in th e fingle y e a r
1780 o\^r th e d e ath s, 13 *03 3.
. In -the gOYernment o f N o vo go rod for 1 7 7 7
v;ere..... , B ir th s . ; D e a th s .
M a l e s ’ 8536 42 16
F em a le s 6625 3641
14844 6781 16235 693
T h e reader-will pro b ab ly ©bferve, w ith as
much aftoniihmen't as I did, th e fu rp r iz in g
excefs o f th e b irths above th e de aths. I f
we compare th e two tab les, w e ih a ll find,
that in 1777 there were 1291 births more
than in 1776.
Ac cording to. a¡-lift in th e Journal o f St.,
Peterlburgh fo r 1 7 8 1 , publiflied b y au th o rity,
we lin.d the b ir th s in th e gove rnment
« f T v e r amounted in 1780 tp males 1 1 ,9 4 8 ,
females 9013 =2 20961 : th e marriages to
6074 ; the deaths, males 4 3 15 , females
V o l ..II,
In
15 16 1
779 the lift was.
B ir th s .
M ales 9337
F emale s 7129
7857
D e a th s ,
3965
3*89
16466 72.54
B y com p ar in g thefe tw o lifts, th e excefs o f
b ir th s in 17 79 over thofc o f 1 7 7 7 was 130 5,.
and the decreafe o f deaths 693 5 which gives
an increafe o f p opu la tion fo r that y e a r o n ly
^908 fo u ls .,.
f B u fch in g , in his Erd b efch re ib un g , efti-
F 1 ; mates