GREAT BRITAIN. 



329 



two or three years (the youngest, probably, in 

 any European army), and he received the com- 

 mand of a division in the numerous armies des- 

 tined to operate against the Anstrians in Vene- 

 tia. At Custozza he commanded the Ninth 

 Division, and was one of the three generals who 

 that day most distinguished themselves, and, 

 by their bravery and skill, and by the steadi- 

 ness of their troops, prevented the defeat from 

 becoming a much greater disaster than it was. 

 If Govone owed a debt of gratitude to La 

 Marmora and that he did so he was ever 

 ready to acknowledge he that day did much 

 toward repaying it. After the war he was for 

 some time in command of the Italian Staff 

 Corps, which had its headquarters at Florence. 

 About the same time he was sent to the Cham- 

 ber as Deputy for Spoleto. In 1869, the Me- 

 nabrea ministry having resigned, Govone be- 

 came Minister of War in the Lanza cabinet. 

 His acceptance of a post at that time particu- 

 larly arduous and ungrateful, was considered 

 by his friends to bo a fresh proof of his readi- 

 ness to sacrifice himself to the service of his 

 country. He never spared himself work, but 

 that was not all he had to encounter. He was 

 made the object of furious and bitter attacks, 

 such as only the most unsparing rancor of 

 party feeling could dictate, and from which his 

 distinguished career, his unquestioned probity, 

 and his amiable character ought certainly to 

 Lave exempted him. Of a nervous, sensitive 

 nature, and with little power as an orator, he 

 was ill suited to stand the rude ordeal of Italian 

 parliamentary life. There seems little doubt 

 that the mortifications bo then encountered 

 contributed to bring about the mental aliena- 

 tion with which ho was afflicted during some 

 of the last months of his life. Small in person, 

 and of fair complexion, he had almost a boyish 

 look when already an old soldier, and to the 

 last looked younger than his age. His coun- 

 tenance and his manners were remarkably gen- 

 tle and pleasing. 



GRANGE. The name given to the organ- 

 ized associations of the members of the new 

 order of PATRON'S OF HUSBANDRY (see PA- 

 TRON'S OF HUSBANDRY). The Granges answer 

 to the Loil/jft of the Masonic order and the 

 order of Odd-Fellows, and the Council* of the 

 order of " Sovereigns of Industry." The word 

 is of English origin, and signifies a small 

 farm or homesteading. As used by this order 

 it is applied to the association of members, 

 and their place of meeting is called "the 

 Grange-Room." There are three classes of 

 Granges : the National Grange, which makes 

 laws for and controls the entire order; the 

 State Grange, which controls the Granges of 

 the State; and the subordinate Grange, of 

 which there may be one or many in each 

 town. 



GREAT BRITAIN, or, the EXITED KINO- 

 DOM op GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Area, 

 121,115 square miles, or 77,630,464 statute 

 acres. Population in 1871, 31,857,338. This 



area and population is, however, but a very 

 small fraction of that of the British Empire as 

 a whole. The possessions of Great Britain in 

 India alone occupy an area of 1,558,254 square 

 miles, and include, according to the latest cen- 

 sus, a population in round numbers of 240,- 

 000,000, while the vast but more sparsely in- 

 habited possessions of Great Britain in other 

 portions of the East, in Australasia, North and 

 South America, West Indies, Africa, and Eu- 

 rope, make np a grand total of 7,788,347 square 

 miles, and a total population for the empire 

 of 283,639,422. The government of this vast 

 empire is a limited constitutional monarchy, 

 consisting of the sovereign, and the Houses of 

 Lords and Commons, without whose joint ap- 

 proval no legislative measure is complete, 

 though a large discretion is left to the Execu- 

 tive. For the proper exercise of this discre- 

 tion the ministers of the crown are respon- 

 sible, as it is a legal maxim that the sovereign 

 can do no wrong. Within the past two hun- 

 dred and fifty years, and indeed within the 

 past seventy-five, the prerogatives of the sov- 

 ereign have been greatly curtailed, until now 

 the reigning Queen (or King, as the case may 

 be) possesses but little more than nominal 

 authority, and may be regarded in all except 

 matters of minor importance as only a gilded 

 figure-head, whose principal duty is to sign and 

 approve snch bills and laws as have passed 

 the two Houses of Parliament, and to perform 

 those merely formal and ministerial acts which 

 require her official sanction. Whatever may 

 be her own private or personal political con- 

 victions, she can have no public views on any 

 political question different frojii those of her 

 prime-minister and cabinet for the time being, 

 the prime-minister being, by virtue of his office, 

 conscience-keeper of the Queen. The real 

 sovereign of the United Kingdom is the prime- 

 minister, who may be, in addition to his office 

 of premier, either First Lord of the Treasury, 

 or Chancellor of the Exchequer, or both, if he 

 pleases. His tenure of office depends upon his 

 ability to retain the confidence and support 

 of a majority of the House of Commons. Fail- 

 ing in this he may either resign at once and 

 advise the Queen to call upon some statesman 

 of the opposing party to form a new cabinet, 

 or may ask for the dissolution of the Parlia- 

 ment, and the issuing of warrants for a new 

 election, thus appealing to the nation. If he 

 finds himself in a minority in the new Parlia- 

 ment, he resigns before its meeting, and leaves 

 the way open for the opposing leader to organ- 

 ize the party and the Government. If, on the 

 contrary, the election results in a majority in 

 his favor, he organizes the new House, making 

 changes if he desires in the composition of his 

 cabinet, but is assured of his position for the 

 time being. 



The present sovereign is her Majesty Alex- 

 andrina Victoria I., of the United Kingdom of 

 Great Britain and Ireland Queen, and of the 

 Colonies and Dependencies thereof, Empress 



