366 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



ment took possession of the southern coast, 

 but left the northern and more valuable part 

 of the island for the occupation of Germany. 

 The Tonga, Gilbert, and Solomon islands were 

 also included in the German scheme of a colo- 

 nial empire in the South Sea. Later, a German 

 protectorate was established over the Samoa 

 group. Two German vessels stopped at the Sa- 

 moan islands about the end of December, and 

 their officers compelled the King to sign a treaty 

 turning over the whole authority of the govern- 

 ment to the representative of Germany. This 

 action seems to have been a violation of an 

 agreement made with England not long before, 

 by which the two powers mutually agreed to 

 respect the independence of the Samoan and 

 Tonga islands. The King of Samoa wrote a let- 

 ter to the Emperor William, protesting against 

 the act of the German officers. In February, 

 1885, Earl Derby instructed the English consul 

 in Samoa not to countenance any movement 

 looking toward British annexation. The largest 

 commercial interests in the unoccupied islands 

 of the western Pacific are in the hands of Ger- 

 mans. The German South Sea Islands Trade 

 and Plantation Company almost monopolize 

 the cocoanut-oil trade of the Tonga and other 

 groups, which amounts to 13,000 tons a year 

 and is increasing. The import articles were of 

 German, English, and American production. 

 The plantations of the company in Samoa have 

 an extent of 6,300 acres, and employ 1,152 la- 

 borers. Three German companies exported 

 cotton, timber, tobacco, and rice from the Sa- 

 moa and Tonga islands to the value of $1,000,- 

 000 in 1883. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND (UNITED KING- 

 DOM OF), a constitutional monarchy of western 

 Europe. The supreme legislative power re- 

 sides in Parliament, which must be convoked 

 annually, as supplies are only voted, and the 

 mutiny act renewed, from year to year. The 

 executive authority and the initiative in legisla- 

 tion are, practically, concentrated in the hands 

 of the Prime Minister, who is appointed as the 

 leader of the dominant party, and who selects' 

 his associates to preside over the departments 

 and to prepare with him the schemes of legis- 

 lation to be brought forward in Parliament. 

 Prorogation is the legal death of Parliament; 

 and legislation that is not finally enacted at the 

 close goes for naught. There are no constitu- 

 tional limits to the power of Parliament. 



Victoria I, Queen of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land, and Empress of India, was born May 24, 

 1819, and succeeded her uncle, William IV, 

 June 20, 1837. The heir-apparent is Albert 

 Edward, Prince of .Wales, born in 1841. The 

 next heir is his son, Albert Victor, whose com- 

 ing of age was celebrated Jan. 8, 1885. The 

 present House of Commons first met in April, 

 1880. It is the twenty-second since the union, 

 and the tenth of the reign of Victoria, Unless 

 previously dissolved it will last until 1887. The 

 House of Commons consists of 658 members. 

 In 1884 writs were suspended in six constitu- 



encies, so that the number of representatives 

 was 652. At the beginning of the term the 

 House was divided as to parties into 203 Con- 

 servatives and 286 Liberals from England, 

 8 Conservatives and 52 Liberals from Scot- 

 land, and 24 Conservatives, 19 Liberals, and 60 

 Home-Rulers from Ireland ; together, 235 Con- 

 servatives, 357 Liberals, and 60 Home-Rulers. 



The House of Lords is composed of the he- 

 reditary nobles of England, new English peers 

 created by royal patent, the English bishops 

 who are peers ex officio, 23 Irish peers elected 

 for life, and 16 Scottish representative peers 

 elected for each succeeding Parliament. No 

 new peerage can be created in Scotland, and 

 in Ireland none until three existing peerages 

 have become extinct ; but in England peerages 

 can be created for life or in perpetuity in any 

 number. The House of Peers consisted in 1884 

 of 516 members, of whom 5 were peers of the 

 blood royal, 2 archbishops, 22 dukes, 19 mar- 

 quesses, 117 earls, 26 viscounts, 24 bishops, 257 

 barons, 16 Scottish representative peers, and 

 23 Irish representative peers. Only 37 of the 

 peerages are older than the seventeenth centu- 

 ry, and 315 are not older than the present cent- 

 ury, no fewer than 166 having been created 

 during the reign of Queen Victoria. The Presi- 

 dent of the House of Peers is the Lord Chan- 

 cellor, the Earl of Selborne. The Speaker of 

 the House of Commons is Arthur W. Peel. 



The Cabinet in 1884 was composed as fol- 

 lows : William Ewart Gladstone, Premier and 

 First Lord of the Treasury ; Hugh C. E. Chil- 

 ders, Chancellor of the Exchequer; the Earl 

 of Selborne, Lord High Chancellor ; Earl Spen- 

 cer, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; Baron Car- 

 lingford, President of the Privy Council and 

 Lord Privy Seal; Sir William Vernon Har- 

 court, Secretary of State for the Interior ; Earl 

 Granville, for Foreign Affairs ; the Earl of Der- 

 by, for the Colonies ; the Marquis of Harting- 

 ton, for War ; the Earl of Kimberley, for In- 

 dia ; the Earl of Northbrook, First Lord of the 

 Admiralty ; Joseph Chamberlain, President of 

 the Board of Trade ; G. O. Trevelyan, who suc- 

 ceeded Mr. Dodson in October, when the lat- 

 ter was elevated to the peerage, Chancellor of 

 the Duchy of Lancaster; Sir Charles W. Dilke, 

 President of the Local Government Board. 

 Lords Selborne, Spencer, Carlingford, Derby, 

 Kimberley, and Northbrook are members of the 

 House of Peers, the others of the Commons. 



The Secretary of State for Ireland is Mr. 

 Campbell Bannerman, who succeeded G. 0. 

 Trevelyan in October, 1884. The Vice-Presi- 

 dent of the Education Committee of the Privy 

 Council is Anthony J. Mundella. A new de- 

 partment for agriculture was created in 1883, 

 of which G. T. Brown is the chief. 



Area and Population. The area of the British 

 Islands is 121,483 square miles. For area of 

 the different geographical divisions, and the 

 population as determined by the census of 

 1881, see "Annual Cyclopedia" for 1883. 

 The official estimates for 1884 make the popu- 



