GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



401 



one state against another, and the theory of a 

 balance of power became untenable; yet he 

 could not adapt himself to a new policy. Rus- 

 sia came to need a great Minister of the Inte- 

 rior more than the most skillful of foreign diplo- 

 matists ; but Gortchakoff had studied Europe 

 more closely than his own country, took no in- 

 terest in the problems of finance, of industry, 

 or of Nihilism, and even bore no part what- 

 ever in the great revolution by which the serfs 

 were freed. 



He was a classical scholar, a master of the 

 French language, and an enlightened patron 

 of the arts. His diplomatic circulars were 

 models of clear diction, ingenious argument, 

 and a logic which always seemed to attain its 

 object by putting his adversary in the wrong. 

 He left two sons, Prince Michel and Prince 

 Constantin, both of whom are in the diplo- 

 matic service. 



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. Dur- 

 ing the past three reigns little has remained of 

 the royal authority but the forms. During the 

 same period the hereditary senate of the Peers 

 has been driven to relinquish practically its 

 share of the legislative authority, while the 

 basis of representation in the House of Com- 

 mons, or elective assembly, has been extend- 

 ed. By the Reform Bill of 1867-'68 the fran- 

 chise was conferred upon all rate-payers and 

 occupants of real estate of 10 annual value in 

 the towns and cities, and 12 in the country. 

 The executive authority and the initiative in 

 legislation 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 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 which is not finally 

 enacted at the close therefore goes for naught. 

 There are no constitutional limits to the power 

 of ^Parliament. Victoria I, Queen of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India, was 

 born May 24, 1819, and succeeded her uncle, 

 William IV, June 20, 1837. The heir-apparent 

 is Albert Edward, born in 1841. 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 pre- 

 viously dissolved it will last until 1887. The 

 House of Commons consists of 652 members. 

 In 1882^writs were suspended in thirteen con- 

 stituencies, so that the number of representa- 

 tives was 639. At the beginning of the term 

 the House was divided as to parties between 

 203 Conservatives and 286 Liberals from Eng- 

 land, 8 Conservatives and 52 liberals from 

 Scotland, and 24 Conservatives, 19 Liberals, 

 and 60 Home-Rulers from Ireland ; together, 

 VOL. xxui. 26 A 



235 Conservatives, 357 Liberals, and 60 Home- 

 Rulers. 



The House of Lords is composed of the 

 hereditary nobles of England, new English 

 peers created by royal patent, the English 

 bishops who are peers ex officio, 28 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 peer- 

 ages have become extinct; but in England 

 peerages can be created for life or in perpetui- 

 ty in any number. The House of Peers con- 

 sisted in 1882 of 516 members, of whom 5 were 

 peers of the blood royal, 2 archbishops, 22 

 dukes, 19 marquesses, 117 earls, 26 viscounts, 

 24 bishops, 257 barons, 16 Scottish representa- 

 tive peers, and 28 Irish representative peers. 

 Only 37 of the peerages are older than the 

 seventeenth century, and 315 are not older 

 than the present century, no fewer than 166 

 having been created during the reign of Queen 

 Victoria. 



The Government. The Prime Minister, W. E. 

 Gladstone, on forming his ministry in 1880, 

 took the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 in addition to his regular duties as First Lord 

 of the Treasury. After the close of the extra 

 session in the autumn of 1882, the Cabinet was 

 reconstituted. Lord Derby entered the Cabi- 

 net as Secretary for the Colonies, Lord Kim- 

 berley taking Lord Hartington's place in the 

 India Office, and the latter Mr. Childers's place 

 as Secretary of War, while Childers received 

 the Chancellorship of, the Exchequer, relin- 

 quished by Gladstone. Sir Charles Dilke ob- 

 tained a, seat in the Cabinet as President of the 

 Local Government Board, Mr. Dodson becom- 

 ing Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 

 The Cabinet consisted in 1883 of the follow- 

 ing fourteen members : 



William Ewart Gladstone, First Lord of the 

 Treasury; Lord Sel borne, Lord High Chancel- 

 lor ; Earl Spencer, Lord President of the Coun- 

 cil; Baron Carlingford, Lord Privy Seal; Hugh 

 C. E. Childers, Chancellor of the Exchequer; 

 ,Sir William Harcourt, Secretary of State for 

 the Home Department; Earl Granville, Secre- 

 tary of State for Foreign Affairs ; the Earl of 

 Derby, Secretary of State for the Colonies; 

 Early Kimberley, Secretary of State for India ; 

 the Marquis of Hartington, Secretary of State 

 for War ; Lord Northbrook, First Lord of the 

 Admiralty ; Joseph G. Dodson, Chancellor of 

 the Duchy of Lancaster ; Joseph Chamberlain, 

 President of the Board of Trade ; Sir Charles 

 W. Dilke, President of the Local Government 

 Board. 



The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland is Earl Spen- 

 cer, who succeeded Earl Cowper May 3, 1882. 

 The Secretary of State for Ireland is G. O. 

 Trevelyan, who has not a seat in the Cabinet, 

 as the Viceroy holds a Cabinet office. 



The Committee of the Privy Council for 

 Education has Anthony J. Mundella for vice- 

 president. A new department of the Govern- 



