GREAT BRITAIN. 



hundred and tifty human being?, from the man 

 of eighty to the new-born babe, were drowned 

 in their beds, or in trying to escape, or were 

 crushed beneath the ruins of their dwellings. 



On the 1st of June the Ionian Islands were 

 finally made over to Greece. On the 6th of 

 August the long and destructive warfare which 

 had been maintained with the Maories (the 

 aboriginal tribes) of Xew Zealand, was brought 

 to a close by their almost unconditional submis- 

 sion. The revolt was punished only by a for- 

 feiture of a small portion of their lands. 



A terrible riot occurred in Belfast, Ireland, 

 continuing, with an intermission of two days, 

 from the 9th to the 19th of August. The riot 

 occurred between the Orangemen and the Ro- 

 man Catholics of that city, and was induced by 

 the act of the Orangemen in burning the effigy 

 of Daniel O'Connell, on the occasion of the in- 

 stallation of his statue in Dublin, and the next 

 day burying the ashes with many solemnities in 

 a Roman "Catholic chapel. This exasperated 

 the Catholic party, who retaliated by breaking 

 the windows of Protestant chapels ; and as the 

 more violent of both parties became excited 

 street fights occurred and houses were plunder- 

 ed and destroyed ; and the police and soldiers, 

 though there were one thousand of the for- 

 mer and three thousand of the latter in the 

 city, were unable to stop the rioting, though 

 many of the ringleaders were apprehended and 

 the mobs fired upon repeatedly, and several 

 killed and many wounded. There was a sus- 

 pension of the riots from Saturday, Aug. 13th, 

 to Tuesday the 16th, when they broke out more 

 fiercely than ever, and continued till the 19th. 

 Xiue persons were known to be killed and 

 one hundred and seventy-six of the wounded 

 were attended in the General Hospital, beside 

 many who were treated privately at their 

 homes. 



On the 1st of Oct. there was a terrific explo- 

 sion of two gunpowder magazines in the Plum- 

 stead Marshes, near London, at a little before 

 7 A. :,r. The magazines contained from 120,000 

 to 150,000 Ibs. of powder, and occasioned the 

 death of ten persons and injured as many more. 

 A gap of 100 yards was made in the river em- 

 bankment, and fears were entertained of an 

 extensive and disastrous inundation, bnt by 

 great exertions on the part of engineers, sap- 

 pers and miners, the breach was repaired suf- 

 ficiently to keep out the rising waters. On the 

 5th of the same month there was a cyclone of 

 extraordinary violence at Calcutta, by which 

 two hundred ships were blown from their moor- 

 ings in the Hooghly, some wrecked, and many 

 driven ashore. The city was also greatly in- 

 jured, its churches being greatly damaged, the 

 trees blown down, and the botanic garden 

 uprooted. It was computed that more than 

 two thousand lives were lost in consequence of 

 the storm. 



During the autumn there were many heavy 

 failures in Liverpool and London. These, in the 

 former city, were largely connected with the 



checking of the blockade-running by the efforts 

 of the blockading squadron. 



Some of the most important statistics of the 

 United Kingdom for 1863 and '64 are subjoined. 

 The revenue for the year ending Dec. 31, 1803, 

 was 70,433,620 5s., and the expenditure for 

 the same time 67,810,987 lls. lOd. For the 

 year ending Sept. 30, 1864, the revenue was 

 70,373,944. The imports of the year ending 

 Dec! 31, 1863, were in value 248,980,942; the 

 exports for the same period 146,489,768. The 

 shipping movements were, inward, British, 30,- 

 151 vessels, with a tonnage of 8,430,146 tons; 

 and foreign, 24,757 vessels, tonnage 4.825,917. 

 Outward, British vessels, 29,933 ; tonnage, 8,- 

 589,246; foreign vessels, 25.450, tonnar 

 893,424. 



The amount expended for poor relief hi Eng- 

 land, in 1863, was 6,527,036, and the number 

 of paupers relieved was 1,079,382, or 5.3 per 

 cent, of the estimated population. The amount 

 expended in Scotland the same year was 736,- 

 027. and the number of persons relieved 197.329. 

 In Ireland the expenditure was 716,523, and 

 the number relieved 317,194. The number of 

 births in England,in 1863, was 729,399, of which 

 373,077 were males, and 356,322 females. Dur- 

 ing the same year there were 173,388 marriaire-. 

 and 475,582 deaths, of which 243.249 were 

 males and 232,233 females. The number of 

 persons who emigrated from the United King- 

 dom in 1863, was 223,758, of whom 129,480 

 were males and 94,278 females. Of the total 

 number 61.243 were English, 15,230 Scotch, 

 116,391 Irish, 7,833 foreigners, and 23,061 not 

 distinguished. Of the whole, 146,813, or 65.6 

 per cent., went to the United States ; 18.033, 

 or a little more than 8 per cent., to British 

 Xorth America; 53,000 or 54,000, or nearly 24 

 per cent., to Australia and Xew Zealand, and 

 5,808, or 2.6 per cent., to other places. 



The expenditure for public education in Eng- 

 land, in 1863, was 721,391 ; and the amount 

 appropriated for 1864 was 705,404. For pub- 

 lic education in Ireland 316,770 was appro- 

 priated, and about 290,000 was appropriated 

 to other purposes of science and art, of which 

 92,127 was for the British Museum. The ex- 

 penditure on the British Museum for the year 

 ending March 31, 1864, was 95,500. 



The amount of claims filed in the Foreign 

 Office by the 1st of May, against the United 

 States, amounted to 451. 



They may be divided into two classes : one 

 for injury to persons by imprisonment or other 

 means, and the other for injury to property by 

 seizure of ships or cargoes, chiefly on the ground 

 of breaking the blockade. 



The number of cases of personal injury corn- 

 plained of is 73. These include cases of im- 

 prisonment, unlawful arrest, ill-treatment on 

 board vessels seized, ill-treatment in prison, 

 alleged forced enlistment, ill-usage while serv- 

 ing on the Xew York police, murder in the 

 case of Gray, killed by Lieut. Donovan, of the 

 United States navy, on board the Saxon and 



