438 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. (AREA AND POPULATION.) 



GREAT BRITAIN AIKT) IRELAND (UNITED RING- 

 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, to a great extent, 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 de- 

 partments and to prepare with him the schemes 

 of legislation to be brought forward in Parlia- 

 ment. Prorogation is the legal death of Par- 

 liament ; and legislation not finally enacted 



SIB HAKDINOE GIFFORD, 



Lord Chancellor of England. 



at the close goes for naught. There are no 

 constitutional limits to the power of Parlia- 

 ment. 



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, bom in 1841. 



The House of Lords is composed of the he- 

 reditary nobles of England, new English peers 

 created by royal patent, the English bishops, 

 23 Irish peers elected for life, and 16 Scottish 

 representative peers elected anew for each suc- 

 ceeding Parliament. Members of the House 



of Commons are elected under a household and 

 lodger franchise. Every male citizen of full 

 age who has occupied a house as owner or ten- 

 ant for twelve months, and has paid his rates, 

 and every lodger who has occupied lodgings 

 for a year rented at not less than 50 per 

 annum, unfurnished, is entitled to a vote. Un- 

 der the act of 1872 that expired in 1880, but 

 has since been continued from year to year, 

 voting is secret and by ballot. The law passed in 

 the second session of 1884 extended the bor- 

 ough franchise to the counties, making electoral 

 qualifications uniform in both classes of con- 

 stituencies and the same in Ireland as in Great 

 Britain. The same act introduced a service 

 franchise, conferring votes upon 

 persons occupying houses or lodg- 

 ings in virtue of their employ- 

 ments. In 1883 the total number 

 of electors in the United Kingdom 

 was 3,152,910. In Great Britain 

 there were 1,066,371 county elec- 

 tors, 507,480 as occupiers, and 

 558,891 as owners, and 1,862,521 

 borough electors, 1,777,038 as 

 householders, 22,241 as lodgers, 

 and 63,242 as owners. In Ire- 

 land the total number of electors 

 was 224,018, or one to 23 inhab- 

 itants, while in Great Britain the 

 ratio was one to 10 inhabitants. 

 The Reform Act of 1884 was ex- 

 pected to add 2,000,000 voters to 

 the electoral roll of the United 

 Kingdom. In the session of 1885 

 a redistribution bill was passed. 

 The number of seats was in- 

 creased from 658 to 670, Eng- 

 land and Wales being represented 

 by 499 members instead of 493, 

 Scotland by 68 instead of 60, and 

 Ireland by 103 instead of 105. 

 Clergymen of the English and 

 Scotch established churches, and 

 of the Roman Catholic Church, 

 sheriffs and returning officers in 

 their own districts, and English 

 and Scottish peers are ineligible. 

 Area and Population. The area 

 of the United Kingdom is 120,83! 

 square miles. The population in 

 1881 was 35,241,482, comprising 

 17,254,109 males, and 17,987,373 females, dis- 

 tributed as follows : 



In 1831 the population of Ireland constituted 

 31-8 per cent, of the total population of the 



