s Po/.Sci A VINDICATION O F NATURAL SOCIETY: O R, A View of the Miseries and Evils arifing to Mankind from every Species of ARTIFICIAL SOCIETY.
In a Letter to Lord **** By a late Noble Writer.
LONDON: Printed for M. Cooper in Pater-nq/fer-Row, 1756.
[Price One Shilling and Six-pence.]
ADVERTISEMENT.
TH E following Letter appears to have been written about the Year 1748, and the Perfon to whom it is ad- dreffed need not be pointed out. As it is probable the Noble Writer had no De- fign that it fhould ever appear in Publick, this will account for his having kept no Copy of it, and confequently, for it's not appearing amongft the reft of his Works. By what Means it came into the Hands of the Editor, is not at' all material to the Publick, any farther than as fuch an Ac- count might tend to authenticate the Ge- nuinenefs of it, and for this it was thought it might fafely rely on it's own internal Evidence.
A LETTER T O A LETTER T O SHALL I venture to fay, my Lord, that in our late Converfation, you were inclined to the Party which you adopted rather by the Feelings of your good Nature, than by the Conviction of your Judgment? We laid open the Foun- dations of Society; and you feared, that the Curiofity of this Search might en- danger the Ruin of the whole Fabrick. You would readily have allowed my Prin- ciple, but you dreaded the Confequences -, you thought, that having once entered upon B thefe thefe Reafonings, we might be carried in- fenfibly and irrefiftably farther than at firft we could either have imagined or wifhed. But for my part, my Lord, I then thought, and am ftill of the fame Opinion, that Er- ror, and not Truth of any Kind, is danger- ous j that ill Conclufions can only flow from falfe Propofitions >y and that, to know whether any Proportion be true or falfe, it is a prepoflerous Method to examine it by it's apparent Confequences.
Thefe were the Reafons which induced me to go fo far into that Enquiry; and they are the Reafons which direct me in all my Enquiries. I had indeed often reflected on that 'Subject before I could prevail upon myfelf to communicate my Reflections to any body. They were generally melan- choly enough; as thofe ufually are which carry us beyond the mere Surface of Things; and which would undoubtedly make the Lives of all thinking Men ex- tremely miferable, if the fame Philofophy which which caufed the Grief, did not at the fame Time adminifter the Comfort.
On confidering political Societies, their Origin, their Conftitution, and their Ef- fects, I have fometimes been in a good deal more than Doubt, whether the Crea- tor did ever really intend Man for a State of Happinefs. He has mixed in his Cup a Number of natural Evils, (in Spite of the Boafts of Stoicifm they are Evils) and every Endeavour which the Art and Po- licy of Mankind has ufed from the Begin- ning of the World to this Day, in order to alleviate, or cure them, has only ferved to introduce new Mifchiefs, or to aggravate and inflame the old. Befides this, the Mind of Man itfelf is too adlive and reftlefs a Principle ever to fettle on the true Point of Quiet. It difcovers every Day fome craving Want in a Body, which really wants but little. It every Day invents fome new artificial Rule to guide that Nature which if left to itfelf were the beft and fureft B 2 Guide.
Guide. It finds out imaginary Beings pre* fcribing imaginary Lawsj and then, it raifes imaginary Terrors to fupport a Be- lief in the Beings, and an Obedience to the Laws. Many Things have been faid, and very well undoubtedly, on the Subje&iori in which we fhould preferve our Bodies to the Government of our Underflanding; but enough has not been faid upon the Re- ftraint which our bodily Neceflities ought to lay on the extravagant Sublimities, and excentrick Rovings of our Minds. The Body, or as fome love to call it, our infe- rior Nature, is wifer in it's own plain Way, and attends it's own Bufinefs more dire<ftly than the Mind with all it's boafted Subtilty.
In the State of Nature, without Quef- tion, Mankind was fubje&ed to many and great Inconveniencies. Want of Union, Want of mutual Affiftance, Want of a common Arbitrator to refort to in their Differences. Thefe were Evils which they could could not but have felt pretty feverely on many Occafions. The original Children of the Earth lived with their Brethren of the other Kinds in much Equality. Their Diet muft have been confined almoft wholly to the vegetable Kind -, and the fame Tree, which in it's flourishing State produced them Berries, in it's Decay gave them an Habitation. The mutual Defires of the Sexes uniting their Bodies and Afte&ions, the Children, which were the Refults of thefe Intercourfes, intro- duced firft the Notion of Society, and taught it's Conveniences. This Society, founded in natural Appetites and Inftindts, and not in any pofitive Inftitution; I fhall call Natural Society. Thus far Nature went, and fucceeded; but Man would go farther. The great Error of our Nature is, not to know where to flop, not to be fatisfied with any reafonable Acquirement; not to compound with our Condition; but to lofe all we have gained by an infa- tiablePurfuit after more. Man found a con- 1 fiderablc fiderable Advantage by this Union of ma- ny Perfons to form one Family; he there- fore judged that he would find his Account pfoportibnably in an Union of many Fa- milies into one Body politick. And as Na- ture has formed no Bond of Union to hold them together, he fupplied this Defedt by Laws.
This is Political Society, And hence the Sources of what are ufually called States, civil Societies, or Governments; into fome Form of which, more extended Of reftrainedj all Mankind have gradually fallen* And fince it has fo happened, and that We owe an implicit Reverence to all the Institutions of our Anceftors, we fhall confider thefe Inftitutions with all that Modefly with which we ought to condudl ourfelves in examining a received Opinion j but with all that Freedom and Candour which we owe to Truth wherever we find it, or however it may contradidl our own Notions, or oppofe our own Interefts.
There There There is a moft abfurd and audacious Me-* thod of reafoning avowed by fbme Bigots and Enthufiafts, and through Fear affented to by fome wifer and better Men 5 it is this. They argue againft a fair Difcuffion of popular Prejudices, becaufe, fay they, tho' they would be found without any reafonable Support, yet the Difcovery might be productive of the moft danger^ ous Confequences. Abfurd and blafphe* mous Notion! as if all Happinefs was not connected with the Practice of Virtue, which neceffarily depends upon theKnow^ ledge of Truth; that is, upon the Know** ledge of thofe unalterable Relations which Providence has ordained that every thing fhould bear to every other. Thefe Rela- tions, which are Truth itfelf, the Founds tion of Virtue, and confequently, the only Meafures of Happinefs, fhould be likewif§ the only Meafures by which we fhoukl diredt our Reafoning. To thefe we fhould conform in good Earneft • and not think to force Nature, and the. whole Order of Hz Hz her Syftem, by a Compliance with our Pride, and Folly, to conform to our arti- ficial Regulations. It is by a Conformity to this Method we owe the Difcovery of the few Truths we know, and the little Liberty and rational Happinefs we enjoy. We have fomething fairer Play than a Reafoner could have expefted formerly; and we derive Advantages from it which are very vilible.
The Fabrick of Superflition has in this our Age and Nation received much ruder Shocks than it had ever felt before; and through the Chinks and Breaches of our Prifon, we fee fuch Glimmerings of Light, and feel fuch refrefhing Airs of Liberty, as daily raife our Ardor for more. The Mi- feries derived to Mankind from Superfli- tion, under the Name of Religion, and of ecclefiaftical Tyranny under the Name of Church Government, have been clearly and ufefully expofed. We begin to think and to a£t from Reafon and from Nature alone.
alone. This is true of feveral, but ftill is by far the Majority in the fame old State of Blindnefs and Slavery; and much is it to be feared that we (hall perpetually re- lapfe, whilft the real productive Caufe of all this fuperftitious Folly, enthufiaftical Nonfenfe, and holy Tyranny, holds a re- verend Place in the Eftimation even of thofe who are otherwife enlightened.
Civil Government borrows a Strength from ecclefiaftical; and arrificial Laws re- ceive a Sanction from artificial Revelations. The Ideas of Religion and Government are-clofely connected; and whilft we re- ceive Government as a Thing neceflary, or even ufeful to our well-being, we fhall in fpite of us draw in, as a necefTary, tho' undefirable Confequeflce, an artificial Re- ligion of fome Kind or other. To this the Vulgar will always be voluntary Slaves; and even thofe of a Rank of Underftanding fuperior, will now and then involuntarily feel it's Influence. It is therefore of the C deepeft deepeft Concernment to us to be fet right in this Point j and to be well fatisfied whether civil Government be fuch a Pro- tedtor from natural Evils, and fuch a Nurfe and Increafer of Bleffings, as thofe of warm Imaginations promife. In fuch a Difcuffion, far am I from propofing in the leaft to reflect on our mod wife Form of Government; no more than I would in the freer Parts of my philofophical Writ- ings, mean to objedl to the Piety, Truth and Perfe&ion of our moft excellent Church. Both I am fenfible have their Foundations on a Rock. No Difcovery of Truth can prejudice them. On the contrary, the more clofely the Origin of Religion and Government, are examined, the more clearly their Excellencies muft appear. They come purified from the Fire. My Bufinefs is not with them. Having entered a Proteft againft all Objec- tions from thefe Quarters, I may the more freely enquire from Hiftory and Experi- ence, how far Policy has contributed in all all Times to alleviate thofe Evils which Providence, that perhaps has defigned us for a State of Imperfection, has impofed; how far our phyfical Skill has cured our conftitutional Diforders; and whether, it may not have introduced new ones, cure- able perhaps by no Skill.
In looking over any State to form a Judgment on it; it prefents itfelf in two Lights, the external and the internal. The firft, that Relation which it bears in Point of Friendfhip or Enmity to other States. The fecond, that Relation it's component Parts, the governing, and the governed, bear to each other. The firft Part of the external View of all States, their Relation as Friends, makes fo trifling a Figure in Hiftory, that 1 am very forry to fay, it af- fords me but little Matter on which to expatiate. The good Offices done by one Nation to it's Neighbour (a)-, the Support given (a) Had his Lordfhip lived to our Days, to have feen the noble Relief given by this Nation to the diftxeftedPortuguefe, given in publick Diftrefs -, the Relief aft- forded in general Calamity; the Protection granted in emergent Danger; the mutual Return of Kindnefs and Civility, would afford a very ample and very pleafing Subr jedl for Hiftory. But alas! all the Hif- tory of all Times, concerning all Nations, does not afford Matter enough to fill ten Pages, though it mould be fpun out by the Wire-drawing Amplification of a Guicciardini himfelf. The glaring Side is that of Enmity. War is the Matter which fills all Hiftory, and confequently the only, or almoft the only View in which we can fee the external of political Society, is in a hoftile Shape; and the only Actions, to which we have always feen, and ftill fee all of them intent, are fuch, as tend to the Deftru&ion of one an- other. War, fays Mackiavell, ought to be the only Study of a Prince; and by a Prince, )e had perhaps owned this Part of his Argument a little •weakened, but we do not think ourfe'ves intitled to alter his Lordmip's Words, but that we are bound to follow him cxadtly.
lie means every fort of State however eon- ftituted. He ought, fays this great poli- tical Do&or, only confider Peace as a breathing Time, which gives him Leifure to contrive, and furnifhes Ability to exe- cute military Plans. A Meditation on the Conduct of political Societies made old Hobbes imagine, that War was the State of Nature; and truly, if a Man judged of the Individuals of our Race by their Con- duct when united and packed into Na- tions and Kingdoms, he might imagine that every fort of Virtue was unnatural and foreign to the Mind of Man.
The firft Accounts we have of Mankind are but Accounts of their Butcheries of each other. All Empires have been ce- mented in Blood; and in thofe early Pe- riods when the Race of Mankind began firft to form themfelves into Parties and Combinations, the firft Effect of the Com- bination, and indeed the End for which it feems purpofely formed, and beft calcu- lated, lated, is their mutual Definition. All antient Hiftory is dark and uncertain. One thing however is clear. There were Con- querors, and Conquefts, in thofe Days; and confequently, all that Devaftation, by which they are formed, and all that Qppreffion by which theyare maintained. We know little of Sejb/lris, but that he led out of Egypt an Army of above 700,000 Men; that he overran the Mediterranean Coaft as far as Colchis, that in lome Places, he met but little Refiftance, and of courfe flied not a great deal of Blood; but that he found in others, a People who knew the Value of their Liberties, and fold them dear. Whoever confiders the Army this Conqueror headed, the Space he traverfed, and the Oppofition he frequently met;, with the natural Accidents of Sicknefs, and the Dearth and Badnefs of Provifion he mud have been fubjedt to in the Va- , rietv of Climates and Countries his March lay through, if he knows any thing, he muft know, that even the Conqueror's Army [i5l Army [i5l Army muft have fuffered greatly; and that, of this immenfe Number, but a very fmall Part cou'd have returned to enjoy the Plunder accumulated by the Lofs of fo many of their Companions, and the Devaftation of fo confiderable a Part of the World. If this was the State of the Vic- torious, and from the Circumftances, it muft have been this at the leaft j the Con- quered, thofe Nations who loft their Liberty, and thofe who fought for it to- gether, muft have had a much heavier Lofs. They muft have loft at leaft double that Number, as the greateft Slaughter is always in the Flight, and great Carnage did in thofe Times and Countries ever at- tend the firft Rage of Conqueft. This Conqueror, the oldeft we have on the Re- cords of Hiftory, (though, as we have obferved before, the Chronology of thefe remote Times is extremely uncertain), opens the Scene by a Deftrudtion of at leaft 1,800,000 of his Species, unprovoked but by his Ambition, without any Mo- tives tives but Pride, Cruelty and Madnefs, arid without any Benefit to himfelf; (for Juftin exprefsly tells us, he did not maintain his Conquefts) but folely to make fo many People, in fo diftant Countries, feel expe- rimentally, how fevere a Scourge Provi- dence intends for the human Race, when he gives one Man the Power over many, and arms his naturally impotent, and feeble Rage, with the Hands of Millions, who know no common Principle of Action, but a blind Obedience to the Paf- fions of their Ruler.
The next Perfonage who figures in the Tragedies of this ancient Theatre is Semi- ramis: For we have no Particulars of Ninus, but that he made immenfe and rapid Conquefts, which doubtlefs were not compafled without the ufual Carnage, We hear of her Army of above three Millions employed in a War againft the Indians. We hear of their having a yet greater 5 and of a War continued with much much much fury, and with various Succefs. This ends in an Account of her Retreat, with fcarce a third of the Troops employed in the Expedition; an Expedition, which at this rate muft have coft two Millions of Souls on her part; and it is not unrea- sonable to judge that the Country which was the Seat of War, muft have been an equal Sufferer. Its Lofs muft in this way of Computation be two Millions more. So that in this War alone, (for ihe had other Wars) in this fingle Reign, and in this one Spot of the Globe, did four Mil- lions of Souls expire, with all the horrid and {hocking Circumftances which attend all Wars, and in a Quarrel, in which none of the Sufferers cou'd have the leaft ra- tional Concern.
The Babylonian, Affyrian, Median, and Perjian Monarchies muft have poured out Seas of Blood in their Formation, and in their Deftrudtion. The Armies and Fleets of Xerxes, their Numbers, the glorious D Stand Stand made againft them, and the unfor- tuate Event of all his mighty Preparations, are known to every body. In this Expe- dition, gleaning half AJia of it's Inhabi- tants, he led an Army of about two Mil- lions to be flaughtered, and wafted, by a thoufand fatal Accidents, in the fame Place where his Predecefibrs had before by a limilar Madnefs confumed the Flower of fo many Kingdoms, and wafted the Force of fo extenfive an Empire. It is a cheap Calculation to fay, that the Perjian Em- pire in it's Wars, againft the Greeks, and Sythians, threw away at leait four Mil- lions of their Subjefts, to fay nothing of their other Wars, and the Loffes fuftained in them. Thefe were theirLoffes abroad 3 but the War was brought home to them, firft by Agejilaus, and afterwards, by Alexander. I have not, in this Re- treat, the Books neceffary to make very exadt Calculations; nor is it neceffary to give more than Hints to one of your Lordfhip's Erudition. You will recoiled his his hia uninterrupted Series of Suecefs. You will run over his Battles. You will call to mind the Carnage which was made. You will give a Glance of the Whole, and you will agree with me; that to form this Hero no lefs than twelve hundred thoufand Lives muft have been facrificed; but no fooner had he fallen himfeif a Sacrifice to his Vices, than a thoufand Breaches were made for Ruin to enter* and give the laft hand to this Scene of Mifery and Deftrudtion. His Kingdom was rent and divided •> which ferved to employ the more diftinc! Parts to tear each other to Pieces, and bury the whole in Blood and Slaughter. The Kings of Syria and of Egypt \ the Kings of Pergamus and Macedon> without Intermiffion worried each other for above two hundred Years 5 until at laft a ftrong Power arlfing in the Weft, rufhed in upon them and filenced their Tumuls, by in- volving all the contending Parties in the fame Deftrudtion. It is little to fay, that the Contentions between the Succeffors of D 2 Alexander Alexander depopulated that Part of the World of at lead three Millions.
The Struggle between the Macedonians and Greeks, and before that, the Difputes of the Greek Commonwealths among themfelves, for an unprofitable Supe- riority, form one of the bloodieft Scenes in Hiftory. One is aftonifhed how fuch a fmall Spot could furnifh Men fufficient to facrifice to the pitiful Ambition of pof- feffing five or fix thoufand more Acres, or two or three more Villages: Yet to fee the Acrimony and Bitternefs with which this was difputed between the Athenians and Lacedemonians; what Armies cut off; what Fleets funk, and burnt; what a Number of Cities facked, and their Inha- bitants flaughtered, and captived; one would be induced to believe the Decifion of the Fate of Mankind at leaft, depended upon it! But thefe Difputes ended as all fi:ch ever have done, and ever will do; in a real Weaknefs of all Parties; a mo- mentary mentary Shadow, and Dream of Power in fome one; and the Subjection of all to the Yoke of a Stranger, who knows how to profit of their Divifions. This at leaft was the Cafe of the Greeks $ and fure, from the earlieft Accounts of them, to their Abforption into the Roman Empire, we cannot judge that their inteftine Divifions, to fay nothing of their foreign Wars, con- fumed lefs than three Millions of their In- habitants.
What an Aceldama, what a Field of Blood Sicily has been in antient times, whilft the Mode of it's Government was controverted between the Republican and Tyrannical Parties, and the Pofleffion ftruggled for by the Natives, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans, yourLord- fhip will eafily recoiled;. You will re- member the total Deftruftion of fuch Bodies as an Army of 300,000 Men. You will find every Page of it's Hiftory dyed in Blood, and blotted and confounded by by by Tumults, Rebellions, Maffacres, Aflaf* filiations, Profcriptions, and a Series of Horror beyond the Hiftories perhaps of any other Nation in the World; though the Hiftories of all Nations are made up of fimilar Matter. I once more excufe my- felf in point of Exadtnefs for want of Books. But I fhall eftimate the Slaughters in this Iflajid but at two Millions; which your Lordfhip will find much fhort of the Reality.
Let us pafs by the Wars, and the Con- sequences of them, which wafted Grecian Magna, before the Roman Power prevailed in that Part of Italy. They are perhaps exaggerated -, therefore I fhall only rate them at one Million. Let us haften to open that great Scene which eftablifhes the Roman Empire, and forms the grand Cataftrophe of the antient Drama. This Empire, whilft in it's Infancy, began by an EfTufion of human Blood fcarcely cre- dible. The neighbouring little States teemed teemed teemed for newDeftrudtion: The Sabines> the Samnites, the Mqui, the Volfci, the HetrurianSy were broken by a Series of Slaughters which had no Interruption, for fome hundreds of Years; Slaughters which upon all fides confumed more than two Millions of the wretched People. The Gauls ruftiing into Italy about this Time, added the total Deftrudtion of their own Armies to thofe of the antient Inhabitants. In fhort, it were hardly poffible to con- ceive a more horrid and bloody Pidture, if that which the Punic Wars that enfued foon after did not prefent one, that far ex- ceeds it. Here we find that Climax of Devaftation, and Ruin, which feemed to fhake the whole Earth. The Extent of this War which embraced fo many Na- tions, and both Elements, and the Havock of the human Species caufed in both, really aftonifhes beyond Expreffion, when it is nakedly confidered, and thofe Matters which are apt to divert our Attention from it, the Characters, Anions, and Defigns figns figns of the Perfons concerned, are not taken into the Account. Thefe Wars, I mean thofe called the Punic Wars, cou'd not have flood the human Race in lefs than five Millions of the Species* And yet this forms but a Part only, and a very fmall Part, of the Havock caufed by the Roman Ambition. The Mithridatick War was very little lefs bloody; that Prince cut off at one Stroke 150,000 Romans by a Maflfacre. In that War Sylla deftroyed 300,000 Men at Cheronea. The fame Commander defeated Mithridates* Army under DcrHaus, and flew 300,000. The fame Prince loft another 300,000 before Cyzicum. In the courfe of the War he had innumerable other Lofles; and having many Intervals of Succefs, he revenged them feverely. He was at laft totally overthrown; and he crufhed to Pieces the King of Armenia his Ally by the great- nefs of his Ruin. All who had Con- nexions with him fhared the fame Fate. The mercilefs Genius of Sylla had it's full full Scope; and the Streets of Athens were riot the only ones which ran with Blood.
At this Period, the Sword, glutted with foreign Slaughter, turned it's Edge upon the Bowels of the Roman Republick itfelf; and prefented a Scene of Cruelties and Treafons enough almoft to obliterate the Memory of all the external Devaftations.
I intended, my Lord, to have proceeded in a fort of Method in eftimating the Numbers of Mankind cut off in thefe Wars which we have on Record. But I am obliged to alter my Defign. Such a tragical Uniformity of Havock and Mur* der would difguft your Lordfhip as much as it would me $ and I confefs I already feel my eyes ake by keeping them fo long intent on fo bloody a Profpeft. 1 fhall obferve little on the Servile, the Social, the Gallic, and Spanijh Wars 3 nor upon thofe with Jugnrtha, nor Antiochusy nor many others equally important, and carried on with equal Fury. The Butcheries of Julius Cczfar alone, are calculated by E fome fome body elfe; the Numbers he has been a means of deftroying have been reckoned at 1,200,000. But to give your Lordfhip an Idea that may ferve as a Standard, by which to meafure, in fome degree, the others -, you will turn your Eyes on Judea-, a very inconfiderable Spot of the Earth in itfelf, though ennobled by the fingular El vents which had their Rife in that Country.
This Spot happened, it matters not here by what means, to become at feveral times extremely populous, and to fupply Men for Slaughters fcarcely credible, if other well-known and well-attefted ones had not given them a Colour. The firft fettling of the Jews here, was attended by an almoft entire Extirpation of all the former Inhabitants. Their own civil Wars, and thofe with their petty Neighbours, con- fumed vaft Multitudes almoft every Year for feveral Centuries -, and the Irruptions of the Kings of Babylon and Jjjyria made immenfe immenfe immenfe Ravages. Yet we have their Hiflory but partially, in an indiflindl con- fufed manner; fo that I (hall only throw the ftrong Point of Light upon that Part which coincides with Roman Hiftory, and of that Part only on the Point of Time when they received the great and final Stroke which made them no more a Nation; a Stroke which is allowed to have cut off little lefs than two Millions of that People. I fay nothing of the Loppings made from that Stock whilft it flood; nor from the Suckers that grew out of the old Root ever fince. But if in this inconfiderable Part of the Globe, fuch a Carnage has been made in two or three fhort Reigns, and that this Carnage, great as it is, makes but a minute Part of what the Hiftories of that People inform us they fufFered; what fhall we judge of Countries more extended, and which have waged Wars by far more confiderable?
Jnftances of this Sort comppfe the E 2 uniform uniform ofHiftory. But there have been Periods when no lefs than univerfal De- finition to the Race of Mankind feems to have been threatened. When the Goths, the Vandals, and the Huns poured into Gaul, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Africa, carrying Deftru&ion before them as they advanced, and leaving horrid Defarts every where behind them. Vajiutn ubique fi~ lentium, fecreti colles; fumantia procul ieEla; nemo exploratoribus obvius, is what Tacitus calls fades Victoria. It is always fo; but was here emphatically fo. From the North proceeded the Swarms of Goths, Vandals, Huns, OJlrogoths, who ran towards the South into Africa itfelf, which fuffered as all to the North had done. About this Time, another Torrent of Barbarians, animated by the fame Fury, and encouraged by the fame Succefs, poured out of the South, and ravaged all to the North-Eaft, and Weft, to the re- rnoteft Parts oiPerfa on one hand, and to the Banks of the Loire or further on the the the other; deftroying all the proud and curious Monuments of human Art, that not even the Memory might feem to furvive of the former Inhabitants. What has been done fince, and what will con- tinue to be done whilft the fame Induce- ments to War continue, I fhall not dwell upon. I fhall only in one Word mention the horrid Effedts of Bigotry and Avarice, in the Conquefl of Spanijh America; a Conqueft on a low Eflimation effedted by the Murder of ten Millions of the Species. I fhall draw to a Conclufion of this Part, by making a general Calculation of the Whole. I think I have actually mentioned above forty Millions. I have not particularized any more. I don't pretend to Exadtnefs -, therefore for the Sake of a general View, I fhall lay together all thofe actually flain in Battles, from the beginning of the World to this Day, in the four Parts of it, only at a thoufand times as much -, a trifling Calculation, allowing for