GEOGRAPHY. 63 



are numerous Methodists, Independents, Herrnhuters, Lutherans, Quakers, 

 and also other dissenters. The entire kingdom, in 1835, contained fourteen 

 millions of Episcopalians, two millions and a half of Presbyterians, half a 

 million of Methodists, seven millions of Catholics. The number of Jews 

 has been variously estimated from 15,000 to 27,000. 



The productive industry of England far exceeds that of any other nation 

 on earth. Her principal manufactures consist of woollen, silk, and cotton 

 goods, linens, stone ware, porcelain, metal wares and machinery of all 

 kinds, watches, paper, leather, beer, soap, hats, glass, &c. England's commerce 

 extends to every sea, and corresponds in importance to her productive 

 industry. The three united kingdoms possess not less than 24,000 merchant 

 vessels (among them over 1100 steamboats) amounting to a tonnage of 

 twelve millions. The exports, in 1846, reached over fifty-one millions of 

 pounds sterling. The sciences and arts are liberally patronized, and the 

 means of education are abundant and widely diffused, although very much 

 still remains to be done in the cause of popular education. The principal 

 seminaries of learning are the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and 

 London in England, those of Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Saint Andrew's in 

 Scotland, and that of Dublin in Ireland ; these have been mainly founded, 

 endowed, and supported by private means, comparatively Httle help being 

 derived from the state. 



The former three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, are now 

 included in one, of which Victoria I. (born 1819) has been queen since 

 1837. The legislative branch of government consists of a parliament 

 composed of two houses, an upper and a lower. The members of the 

 upper house are the royal princes, two archbishops, twenty-four bishops, 

 and the peers or lords nominated by the crown, and whose privileges, after 

 their decease, descend to their eldest sons. The House of Commons, or 

 members of the lower house, are elected for seven years by such of the 

 people as are entitled to vote either by a property qualification, or by the 

 possession of certain municipal privileges. The entire number of members 

 consists of 658, of which 477 are from England, 23 from Wales, 53 from 

 Scotland, and 105 from Ireland. 



The public revenues amount annually to over fifty millions sterling, of 

 which more than half is applied to paying the interest of the state debt, 

 which exceeds 800 millions sterling. 



The army amounted, in 1848, to about 150,000 men, among them 12,300 

 cavalry, 12,400 artillery, and 6600 guards ; in the East Indies were stationed 

 about 31,000, in the West Indies 3400, in the remaining colonies 5900. 

 The navy included over 600 vessels of war ; among them 100 ships of the 

 line, the same number of frigates, 125 steam vessels, &c. Its armament 

 amounted to about 34,000 sailors and 10,000 marines ; the number of guns 

 carried, about 17,000. 



Divisions. The principal portions of the kingdom in Europe are the 

 kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, each of which is divided into 

 counties or shires. 



A. The Kingdom of England embraces : I. England proper, area 



63 



