GREAT BRITAIN' AND IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM OF. 



3*7 



numbers 48 vessels. In the British navy there 

 are live vessels capable of steaming at a .speed 

 greater than 2o knots an hour, and o7 capable 

 of making between 15 and 2'J knots. 



The vessels in process of construction were 

 the " Blake " and " Blenheim," each ot 

 tons displacement, which are designed tor a 

 maximum speed of 22 knots; the " Vulcan," 

 which is calculated to attain 20 knots; and 

 seven small vessels of about the same speed. 

 The armament of the navy in 1837-'83 in- 

 cluded 1,281 breech-loading cannon, 790 quick- 

 firing guns, and 1,818 torpedoes. In 1888-'89 

 2.i'>'59,089 are to be expended on new \ 

 hulls, and machinery. The hull of the " Sans 

 Pareil," a sister ship to the "Victoria." which 

 was launched in April, was completed in Sep- 

 tember, 1888. She has a displacement of 10,- 

 470 tons, armor 16 and 18 inches thick, a 

 single turret constructed of compound 1S- 

 inch plates, mounting a 10-ton gun, and coal 

 space for a voyage of 7,000 miles at 10 knots, 

 while her maximum speed is 17 knots. The 

 "Medea" and the - Medusa," the first of five 

 twin-screw second-class cruisers of identical 

 build, were launched in the summer, and the 

 ' Melpomene '' in September. Of 2.800 tons 

 displacement, they have engines of 9.000 horse- 

 power, capable of giving a speed of 20 knots, 

 and will be armed with five breech-loading 

 guns of 6-inch caliber, besides quick-firing and 

 machine-guns and torpedo tubes. They have 

 no side-armor, depending on the position of 

 their vital parts, their speed, and the ease witli 

 which their guns can be manipulated. 



The Admiralty are spending 750,000 on 

 ships and guns for the special squadron in 

 Australasia, which is to be maintained by joint 

 contributions of the Imperial and the Colonial 

 governments. During the years 1887-'88 there 

 were 18 vessels completed and made ready for 

 commission, with an aggregate of 64,650 tons. 

 of which 41.000 tons are iron-dads: and in 

 1888-'89 the new vessels number 29, of 100.- 

 000 tons, of which 60,000 tons are iron-dads. 

 The programme laid down by Lord North- 

 brook in 1885 has been completed in three 

 years, instead of in five, as was calculated. 

 The " Nile " and the " Trafalgar," the heaviest 

 ships ever built in England, were launched 

 within two years after their keels were laid, 

 and were nearly completed in 1888. The 

 policy of completing as rapidly as possible the 

 ships that are begun is pursued, but the efforts 

 of the Admiralty have been hampered through 

 the slowness of the War Office in supplying 

 guns. There were eight finished iron-clads in 

 1888 that were useless for lack of ordnance. 



Naval manoeuvres were conducted in the 

 summer of 1888 on a scale of unprecedented 

 magnitude. A supposititious hostile fleet, con- 

 sisting of 9 armored and 12 unarmored v 

 and 12 torpedo-boats, under the command of 

 Admiral Sir George Tryon, was blockaded in 

 the two Irish ports of Berehaven and Lough 

 Swilly by a fleet of 13 armored and 13 unar- 



mored vessels and 12 torpedo-boats, command- 

 ed by Admiral Baird. Mimic war was de- 

 dared on July 23. The passage of the fleets 

 to their rendezvous revealed the unseaworthi- 

 >th of the torpedo-boats and the torpedo- 

 catchers. On August 2 a cruiser escaped un- 

 observed from Lough Swilly ; on the following 

 night the "Wai-spite," a powerful steel-clad 

 cruiser, the "Iris," and the "Severn" j. 

 by the blockading squadron at Berehaven in 

 spite of electric lights and rockets; and on the 

 night of the 4th three other vessels ran the 

 blockade at Lough Swilly. Some of ti. 

 caped vessels attacked Aberdeen, Leith, and 

 Edinburgh, and preyed on the commercial 

 shipping, and when Admiral Baird sailed in 

 pursuit Sir George Tryon went to Liverpool 

 and took possession of the harbor and the iron- 

 clad left to defend it. while another squadron 

 levied tribute on the ports of the east coast of 

 England. The experiments demonstrated the 

 difficulty of sealing up a hostile fleet as power- 

 ful as that of France in its own harbors with 

 the present naval force of Great Britain, and 

 led to the conclusion that in the event of war 

 with a first-class naval power the entire coast 

 and all the commerce of England except what 

 is in the mouth of the Thames would be at the 

 mercy of the enemy's fleet. 



Finances. For the year ending March 31, 

 1888, the revenue was 88,135,000, and the 

 expenditure, 87,846,295. The principal items 

 of expenditure were as follow : Charges on the 

 consolidated fund, 27.928,000; expenses of 

 the army, 18,393,900; of the navy. 12.201.- 

 508; collection of customs and of inland rev- 

 enue. 2.715.727; post-office, 5.42 . 770 ; tele- 

 graph service, 1,950.248; packet service, 

 699.341. The treasury receipts for the year 

 ending March 31, 1887, were 13^.364,759, and 

 the issues, 132.414.652. leaving a balance of 

 5,950,107. Of the total receipts from cus- 

 toms in 1887, amounting to 20,312,886, the 

 amount realized from tobacco, tea, spirits, and 

 wines was 19,334,193, leaving less than a 

 million pounds for the other articles on the 

 list. During the ten years from 1878 to 1887, 

 the total expenditure of the Government ex- 

 ceeded the total revenue by 9,102,135. On 

 March 31. 1887, the national debt was ffi 



vided as follow : Funded debt, 637,- 

 637,640; terminable annuities, 81,123,148; 

 unfunded debt. 17.517,900. The annual 

 charges on the debt are 27,958,023. A treas- 

 ury minute of May 25, 1887, proposes, by a 

 permanent annual charge of 26,000,000 to re- 

 deem the funded debt in about fifty-six years. 

 A large scheme of conversion was successfully 

 carried out by Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 Goschen in April, 1888. The new 3-per-ceut. 

 stock, amounting to 166,000,000, which v, ;i s 

 redeemable without notice was exchanged for 

 2|-per-cent. consols, and consols and reduced 

 3-per-cents. were converted into the same 

 stock, the holders, who were entitled to a 

 year's notice, being induced to take it by a 



