590 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



The former must have been citizens for four and | 

 the latter for six years. Deputies are elected 

 directly, with provision for minoritv representa- 

 tion, for three years, one member oeing chosen 

 for every 70,000 of the population. 



British Empire. The United Kingdom 

 of Great Britain and Ireland, the nucleus around 

 which the British Empire has been built, was 

 perfected in 1603, when the crowns of England 

 and Scotland were united. The executive power 

 of the empire vests in the sovereign, through his 

 ministers. The real power of the empire, how- 

 ever, is to be found in Parliament, a body which 

 not only has complete legislative power, but 

 which exercises, through the Lower House, 

 much authority in executive matters. Parlia- 

 ment consists of an Upper House of Lords and 

 a Lower House of Commons. It lasts seven 

 years^or until dissolved by the sovereign, and 

 it usually meets annually for a term of about 

 six months. The members of the House of 

 Lords are peers, who hold either by hereditary 

 right, or by crown appointment to the peerage. 

 In 1908 there were 616 peers. The House of 

 Commons consists of members elected from 

 counties, boroughs, and universities 670 in 

 all in 1908. 



The Colonies proper form three classes: (1) 

 The Crown Colonies, which are entirely controlled 

 by the home government; (2) those possessing 

 Representative Institutions, in which the Crown 

 has no more than a veto on legislation, but the 

 home government retains the control of public 

 officers; and (3) those possessing Responsible 

 Government, in which the home government has 

 no control over any public officer, though the 

 Crown appoints the governor and still retains a 

 veto on legislation. 



The established Church of England is the 

 Protestant Episcopal Church, of which the king 

 is the supreme head; but all religions are tol- 

 erated and are equal at law. Public instruction 

 is not compulsory, but the national board of 

 education maintains control of the school 

 boards and requires that accommodations be 

 provided for all children between the ages of 

 five and fourteen years. Secondary education 

 is not controlled* by the government, but 

 the university system is, perhaps, more per- 

 fectly developed in England than in any other 

 country. England, Ireland, Scotland, and 

 Wales each has its graded systems of courts of 

 justice. 



The Parliament. The present form of Parlia- 

 ment, divided into two houses, the Lords and 

 the Commons, dates from the middle of the 

 Fourteenth Century. The members of the 

 House of Commons are elected by popular vote, 

 about one-sixth of the population being electors, 

 and the election must be by secret vote by ballot. 

 The House of Lords is composed of peers, who 

 hold their seats by hereditary right, by creation 

 of the sovereign, by virtue of office (the bishops), 

 by election for life (the Irish peers), and by elec- 

 tion for the term of Parliament (the Scottish 

 peers). 



No one under 21 years of age can be a 

 member of Parliament. All clergymen of the 

 Church of England, ministers of the Church of 

 Scotland, and Roman Catholic clergymen, and 



all government contractors and sheriffs or re- 

 turning officers are disqualified. No English or 

 Scottish peer can be elected to the House of 

 Commons; but non-representative Irish peers 

 are eligible for membership. 



The present Cabinet consists of the following 

 offices : 



1. Prime Minister and (usually) First Lord 

 of the Treasury. 



2. Lord High Chancellor. 



3. Lord Privy Seal. 



4. Lord President of the Council and President 

 of the Board of Education. 



5. Chancellor of the Exchequer. 



6. Secretary of State for Home Affairs. 



7 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. 



8. Secretary of State for The Colonies. 



9. Secretary of State for India. 



10. Secretary of State for War. 



11. First Lord of the Admiralty. 



12. Lord Chancellor of Ireland. 



13. President of Local Government Board. 



14. President of Board of Trade. 



15. Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of 

 Ireland. 



16. Secretary for Scotland. 



17. President of Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries. 



18. Postmaster General. 



19. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 



The right of Edward VII. to the throne of 

 England rests upon the statute by which the 

 succession to the Crown of Great Britain and 

 Ireland was vested upon Princess Sophia of 

 Hanover and "the heirs of her body, being 

 Protestants." 



The present ruler is "Edward VII., by the 

 Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great 

 Britain and Ireland and of the British Domin- 

 ions Beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the 

 Faith, Emperor of India," as his title was de- 

 clared under the Royal Title Act, proclaimed 

 November 4, 1901. 



The Heir Apparent. The heir apparent to 

 the throne is the eldest son of the King, George 

 Frederick, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall 

 and York, and Duke of Rothsay, in Scotland. 



Bulgaria. By the treaty of Berlin, 1878, 

 Bulgaria was constituted an autonomous and 

 tributary principality under the suzerainty of 

 the Porte. In 1885, Eastern Roumelia was 

 united to Bulgaria. The executive power is 

 vested in the prince, assisted by a council of 

 ministers, and the legislative power in a single 

 chamber, the Sobranje, or national assembly, 

 elected for five years by manhood suffrage in the 

 proportion of one member to every 20,000 of the 

 population. There is also a Great Sobranje, 

 consisting of delegates selected in the proportion 

 of one to 10,000 of the population, to which 

 constitutional and other questions, such as a 

 vacancy on the throne or the acquisition of ter- 

 ritory, must be referred. 



California. A Constitution was framed 

 by a convention of delegates assembled in the 

 pueblo of Monterey in the year 1849, but it did 

 not become effective until the Congress of the 

 United States passed the act of admission, 

 September 9, 1850. In 1862 the Constitution 

 received important amendments, and in 1879 



