GREAT BRITAIN. 



369 



of i lie aristocracy. There remain, in th. n-i 

 distant I'll t n iv. tin- di-i-Mal.lishnient t' tin 

 lisli mid Scottish Churches, and the curtail- 

 jin-nt i.l' -Mime of the rcmainin;,' |>ri\ ilexes of 

 tho aristocrary, nnd (iivat Uritain u ill l>o 

 practically tho freest country in the world. 

 Still, as was to be expected, tho aristocracy 

 rliiii,', witli an almost doatli-liko grasp, to their 

 immunities ami privileges ; and often, when 

 aiv threatened, if tho ministry arc weak 

 or unwary, they manage to secure their ro- 

 i,-n; i.-n I'.v some artilice, which a little boldness 

 would Mitlice to overthrow. Such an instance 

 o.viinvd in the defeat of the Judicature Bill in 

 March, 1876. 



The present sovereign of the United King- 

 dom is Her Majesty Alexandrina Victoria I. of 

 tli.- I'nited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land. Queen, and of the Colonies and Depend- 

 encies thereof, Empress of India, Defender 

 of tho Faith; born May 24, 1819; succeeded 

 to the throne June 20, 1887; crowned June 

 28, 1838; married February 10, 1840; widowed 

 : nber 14, 1861. The heir-apparent to tho 

 throne is His Royal Highness Albert Edward, 

 Prince of Wales, born November 9, 1841. The 

 cost of the support of the royal family and its 

 households was for the year ending March 81, 

 1874, as follows: "Annual grant to Her Ma- 

 jesty for the support of her household and of 

 the honor and dignity of the crown of the 

 United Kingdom," 385,000 ; grants to other 

 members of the royal family out of the con- 

 solidated fund, 142,000 ; revenues of the 

 Duchy of Lancaster, paid to the Queen, net 

 amount after paying all charges, 41,000 ; re- 

 venues of the Duchy of Cornwall, paid to the 

 Prince of Wales, net amount after paying all 

 charges, 62,515, making a total of 630,515= 

 $3,152,575. Aside from this large annual in- 

 come, the royal family receive the income of 

 the royal estates at Windsor, at Osborne, Isle 

 of Wight, and at Balmoral, Scotland, which, as 

 the estates are well managed, amounts to a 

 considerable sum. The real rulers, the mem- 

 bers of the cabinet and their subordinates and 

 clerks, received the same year 1,933,356= 

 $9,666,780. 



The member of the cabinet who fills the po- 

 sition of First Lord of the Treasury, and com- 

 bined with it sometimes that of Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer, is the premier or chief of the 

 ministry, and therefore of the cabinet ; it is at 

 his suggestion and recommendation that his 

 colleagues are appointed; and he dispenses, 

 with hardly an exception, the patronage of the 

 crown. Every cabinet includes the following 

 ten members of the administration : the First 

 Lord of the Treasury, the Lord-Chancellor, the 

 Lord-President of the Council, the Lord Privy 

 Seal, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the 

 five Secretaries of State. A number of other 

 ministerial functionaries, varying from two to 

 eight, have usually seats in tho cabinet, those 

 most frequently admitted being the Chief- 

 Commissioner of Works and Buildings, the 

 VOL. xiv. 24 A 



Chancellor of tho Duchy of Lancaster, the 

 Lord ol' tho Admiralty, the President of 

 ;<mrd of Trade, the Vice-President of tho 

 Privy Council, tho Postmaster-General, the 

 ( h ii-f Secretary for Ireland, and the President 

 of the Poor-Law Board. Tho selection usu- 

 ally falls upon those among the last-men ti< n> d 

 functionaries whose rank, talents, reputation, 

 and political weight, render them the most 

 useful auxiliaries, or whose services, while in 

 opposition, may have given them the strongest 

 claims to become members of the cabinet. It 

 has occasionally happened that a statesman, 

 possessing high character and influence, has 

 accepted a seat in the cabinet without under- 

 taking the labors and responsibilities of any 

 particular office. Although the cabinet has 

 been regarded for at least one hundred and 

 sixty years as an essential part of the institu- 

 tions of Great Britain, it is a singular fact 

 that it is wholly unknown to the law. The 

 names of the members who compose it are 

 never officially announced ; no record is kept 

 of its resolutions or meetings, nor has its exist- 

 ence been recognized by any act of Parliament. 



As intimated in the ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA 

 for 1873, the results of the thorough canvass 

 of his party in the House of Commons in the 

 autumn and winter of 1873 satisfied Mr. Glad- 

 stone, the Liberal premier, that he could not 

 command a working majority in the House at 

 the next session, and accordingly, on the 24th 

 of January, 1874, a dissolution of the Twen- 

 tieth Parliament of the United Kingdom was 

 announced, and writs for a new election of 

 members of Parliament issued, the elections 

 commencing January 81st. The returns from 

 these elections indicated the choice of 350 "Con- 

 servatives, "242 "Liberals," and 60 "Home-Rul- 

 ers." The Conservatives having thus a clear 

 majority over all of 48, Mr. Gladstone at once 

 resigned, and the Queen sent for Mr. Disraeli, 

 the Conservative leader, to form a new cabi- 

 net; and on the 21st of February the following 

 persons were installed as the new cabinet : 



First Lord of the Treasury and Premier. 

 Right Honorable Benjamin Disraeli, born De- 

 cember 31, 1805 ; in Parliament since 1837, 

 three times Chancellor of the Exchequer, viz., 

 March to December, 1852; March, 1858, to 

 June, 1859 ; July, 1866, to February, 1868. 

 First Lord of the Treasury, February 25th 

 to December 2, 1868. A full sketch of Mr. 

 Disraeli's career will be found in the ANNUAL 

 CYCLOPEDIA for 1873, pp. 835, 836. 



Lord High Chancellor. Lord Cairns, for- 

 merly Sir Hugh McCalmont Cairns, born 1819, 

 son of the late William Cairns, Esq., of Cultra, 

 County Down, in the north of Ireland; edu- 

 cated at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating 

 LL. D. in 1842 ; called to the Bar at the Mid- 

 dle Temple, London, in 1844; member of Par- 

 liament for Belfast, 1852-'66 ; and manifested 

 abilities of so high an order, that Earl Derby 

 made him Solicitor-General in 1858-'69 ; in 

 1866 he was appointed Attorney-General, and 



