368 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



1836; but, amid the engrossing labors of his 

 various professorships, and other literary and 

 scientific pursuits, the subject grew to propor- 

 tions too vast for him to be able to do full 

 justice to it, and the work was never com- 

 pleted. In 1836 he became joint-editor, with 

 Dr. R. B. Todd, of " The Cyclopedia of Anat- 

 omy and Physiology," and was active in other 

 literary undertakings. Prof. Grant was an 

 admirable scientific lecturer, a very skillful and 

 careful anatomist, and generally an accom- 

 plished scientist. He was a member of most 

 of the British and Continental scientific socie- 

 ties. 



GREAT BRITAIN, or, THE UNITED KING- 

 DOM OP GREAT BEITAIN AND IRELAND. Area, 

 121,115 square miles, or 77,828,829 statute 

 acres.* Population in 1871, 31,628,338, ex- 

 clusive of men in the army, navy, and mer- 

 chant service abroad. Estimated population 

 in 1874, on the basis of the registration re- 

 ports of births and deaths, the same classes 

 being excluded, 32,412,010. This is probably 

 about 120,000 less than the actual population, 

 and the increase is confined to England and 

 Scotland, Ireland constantly diminishing in 

 the number of its inhabitants. This population 

 and area constitute but a small portion of the 

 British Empire, which with its colonies and 

 dependencies embraces about one-third of the 

 surface of the globe, and nearly a fourth of its 

 population. For a more complete statement 

 of these, see GREAT BRITAIN, COLONIAL POSSES- 

 SIONS AND DEPENDENCIES OF. The government 

 is a limited constitutional monarchy, consisting 

 of the sovereign, and the Houses of Lords and 

 Commons, without whose joint approval no 

 legislative measure is complete, though a large 

 discretion is left to the Executive. The exec- 

 utive government of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land is vested nominally in the crown, but 

 practically in a committee of ministers, com- 

 monly called the qnbinet, which has come to 

 absorb the functions of the ancient Privy Coun- 

 cil, as well as those of "the King in Council." 

 The members of the cabinet, bearing the title 

 of Right Honorable, are sworn "to advise the 

 sovereign according to the best of their cunning 

 and discretion," and " to help and strengthen 

 the execution of what shall be resolved." 

 Though not the offspring of any formal elec- 

 tion, the cabinet is virtually appointed by Par- 

 liament, and is essentially a creature of the 

 House of Commons, its existence being depend- 

 ent on its being sustained by a majority in 

 that body. As its acts are liable to be ques- 

 tioned in Parliament, and require prompt ex- 

 planation, it is essential that the members of 

 the cabinet should have seats either in the 

 House of Lords or the Commons, where they 

 become identified with the general policy and 



* The variations in the number of statute acres in the 

 area are not ours, but exist in the official statements 

 made from year to year. We are unable to account for 

 them. The difference between the statements in 1S73 

 and 1874 was nearly 200,000 acres. 



acts of the Government. As the members of 

 the House of Lords are by virtue of their rank 

 entitled to seats in that body, there is no oc- 

 casion for the members of the cabinet who 

 are peers, to appeal to the people at their 

 entry into the cabinet; but it is the custom, 

 sanctified by prescription, for those cabinet 

 officers who are members of the House of Com- 

 mons, to resign their seats when they accept 

 office, and pass, at least, through the form of a 

 new election. Thus in the last resort, the 

 actual ruling power in the United Kingdom, 

 from which all government proceeds, is the 

 House of Commons. The power of the sov- 

 ereign is almost wholly nominal; whatever 

 may be the private or personal views of the 

 Queen on matters of public policy, she must be 

 governed by the opinions of her ministers, and 

 they can only remain in power so long as they 

 sustain the views of the majority in the House 

 of Commons. "Whenever a vote expressing, 

 either directly or indirectly, lack of confidence 

 in the ministry, passes the House of Commons, 

 that ministry must resign, or dissolve the ses- 

 sion of Parliament and appeal to the people by 

 means of an election; if in the election a ma- 

 jority of members of the Commons are elected 

 who are opposed to the ministry, the Queen is 

 obliged to call the leader of the opposition to 

 form a new ministry, to whom the government 

 shall be intrusted. There are indeed many 

 privileges and vested rights belonging to the 

 aristocracy, which make the government of 

 the country in some sense an oligarchy ; and 

 suffrage, though much more extensive than it 

 was fifty or even ten years since, is still far 

 from being universal; there are also many 

 abuses, and special burdens and wrongs, to 

 be abolished before the Government of Great 

 Britain can be justly considered in the largest 

 sense a free and popular government ; but, so 

 far as the sovereign is concerned, her power is 

 far- more restricted and controlled by her min- 

 isters and Parliament than is the case in most 

 republics. The President of the United States 

 has. much more actual power than the Queen 

 of Great Britain; and the American Congress 

 cannot exercise nearly as much control over 

 his action as the House of Commons does over 

 the Queen. This Condition of affairs is mainly 

 of modern growth. While some of the privi- 

 leges and rights of the House of Commons 

 date as far back as Magna Charta, the greater 

 portion have been wrung from the rulers at 

 the cost of revolutions. Large additions were 

 made to the powers of popular government at 

 the dethronement and execution of Charles I. ; 

 and larger still at the revolution which re- 

 moved James II. from the throne.. In the 

 present century, the passage of the Reform 

 Bill in 1832, and the enlargement of suffrage 

 in 1868, have added much to the influence of 

 the House of Commons; and the Irish Church 

 Disestablishment Act, the prohibition of traffic 

 in army commissions, and the vote by secret 

 ballot, have materially abridged the privileges 



