THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

The British Empire consists of :

I. THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. II. INDIA, THE COLONIES, PROTECTORATES, and Dependencies.

Reigning Queen and Empress.

Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India, born May 24, 1819, the daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George III., and of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg, widow of Prince Emich of Leiningen. Ascended the throne at the death of her uncle, King William IV., June 20, 1837; crowned at Westminster Abbey, June 28, 1838. Married, Feb. 10, 1840, to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ; widow, Dec. 14, 1861.

Children of the Queen.

I. Princess Victoria (Empress Frederick), born Nov. 21, 1840; married, Jan 25, 1858, to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (Friedrich I. of Germany), eldest son of Wilhelm I., German Emperor and King of Prussia; widow 1888.

II. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, born Nov. 9, 1841; married March 10, 1863, to Princess Alexandra, eldest daughter of King Christian IX. of Denmark. Five children: Albert Victor, born Jan 8, 1864; George, born June 3, 1865; Louise, born Feb. 20, 1867, married to the Duke of Fife, July, 1889 ; Alexandra, born July 6, 1868; Maud, born Nov. 26, 1869.

III. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, born Aug. 6, 1844; married Jan. 21, 1874, to Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, only daughter of Emperor Alexander II. Five children :-Alfred, born Oct. 15, 1874; Marie, born Oct. 29, 1875; Victoria, born Nov. 25, 1876; Alexandra, born Sept. 1, 1878; Beatrice, born April 20, 1884.

IV. Princess Helena, born May 25, 1846; married, July 5, 1866, to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Four children: -Christian, born April 14, 1867; Albert John, born Feb. 26, 1869; Victoria, born May 3, 1870; Louise, born Aug. 12, 1872.

V. Princess Louise, born March, 18, 1848; married March 21, 1871, to John, Marquis of Lorne, eldest son of the Duke of Argyll.

VI. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, born May 1, 1850; married, March 13, 1879, to Princess Louise of Prussia, born July 25, 1860. Three children :-Margaret Victoria, born Jan. 15, 1882; Arthur, born Jan. 13, 1883; Victoria, born March 17, 1886.

VII. Princess Beatrice, born April 14, 1857; married, July 29, 1885, to Prince Henry, third son of Prince Alexander of Battenberg, uncle of Ludwig IV., Grand Duke of Hesse. Three children :-Alexander Albert, born Nov. 23, 1886; Victoria Eugénie, born Oct. 24, 1887; Leopold Arthur Louis, born May 21, 1889.

Cousins of the Queen.

I. Prince Ernest August, Duke of Cumberland, born Sept. 21, 1845, the grandson of Duke Ernest August of Cumberland, fifth son of King George III.; married December 21, 1878, to Princess Thyra of Denmark, born September 29, 1853. Six children.

II. Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, born March 26, 1819, the son of Duke Adolph of Cambridge, sixth son of King George III.; field-marshal commanding-in-chief the British army.

III. Princess Augusta, sister of the preceding, born July 19, 1822; married, June 28, 1843, to Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of MecklenburgStrelitz.

IV. Princess Mary, sister of the preceding, born Nov. 27, 1833; married, June 12, 1866, to Prince Franz von Teck, born Aug. 27, 1837, son of Prince Alexander of Würtemberg. Four children ::-1. Victoria, born May 26, 1867. 2. Albert, born Aug. 13, 1868. 3. Franz Josef, born Jan. 9, 1870. 4. Alexander, born April 14, 1874.

The Queen reigns in her own right, holding the crown both by inheritance and election. Her legal title rests on the statute of 12 & 13 Will. III. c. 3, by which the succession to the crown of Great Britain and Ireland was settled on the Princess Sophia of Hanover and the heirs of her body, being Protestants.'

The civil list of the Queen consists in a fixed Parliamentary grant, and amounts to much less than the incomes of previous sovereigns. Under George I. this sum amounted at times to 1,000,0007. sterling, but in 1777 the civil list of the King was fixed at 900,0007, and the income over and above that sum from the hereditary possessions of the Crown passed to the Treasury. Under William IV. the civil list was relieved of many burthens, and fixed at 510,0007.

It is established by 1 & 2 Vict. c. 2, that during her Majesty's reign all the revenues of the Crown shall be a part of the Consolidated Fund, but that a civil list shall be assigned to the Queen.

In virtue of this Act, the Queen has granted to her an

annual allowance of 385,000l., of which the Lords of the Treasury are directed to pay yearly 60,0007. into her Majesty's Privy Purse; to set aside 231,2607. for the salaries of the royal household; 44,2407. for retiring allowances and pensions to servants; and 13,2007. for royal bounty, alms, and special services. This leaves an unappropriated surplus of 36,3007, which may be applied in aid of the general expenditure of her Majesty's Court. The Queen has also paid to her the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster, which in the year 1888 amounted to 86,2851., and the payment made to her Majesty for the year was 50,0007.

On the Consolidated Fund are charged likewise the following sums allowed to members of the royal family:-25,000l. a year to the Duke of Edinburgh; 25,000l. to the Duke of Connaught; 8,000l. to the Empress Victoria of Germany; 6,000l. to Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein; 6,000l. to Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne; 6,000l. to Princess Henry (Beatrice) of Battenberg; 3,000l. to the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; 5,000l. to Princess of Teck, formerly Princess Mary of Cambridge; 12,000l. to George, Duke of Cambridge; and 6,000%. to Princess Helena of Waldeck, Duchess of Albany.

The heir-apparent to the Crown has, by 26 Vict. c. 1, settled upon him an annuity of 40,000l., and by an Act passed in 1889 receives 37,000l. annually in addition for the support and maintenance of his children. The Prince of Wales has besides as income the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, which in the year 1888 was 90,0221., exclusive of 8551. of arrears, the sum paid to the Prince being 61,9717. The Princess of Wales has settled upon her by 26 Vict. cap. 1, the annual sum of 10,000l., to be increased to 30,000l. in case of widowhood.

The following is a list of the sovereigns and sovereign rulers of Great Britain, with date of their accession, from the union of the crowns of England and Scotland :

I. THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

Constitution and Government.1

I. IMPERIAL AND CENTRAL.

The supreme legislative power of the British Empire is by its Constitution given to Parliament. Parliament is summoned by the writ of the sovereign issued out of Chancery, by advice of the Privy Council, at least thirty-five days previous to its assembling. On a vacancy occurring in the House of Commons whilst Parliament is sitting, a writ for the election of a new member is issued upon motion in the House. If the vacancy occurs during the recess, the writ is issued at the instance of the Speaker.

It has become customary of late for Parliaments to meet in annual session extending from the middle of February to about the end of August. Every session must end with a prorogation, and by it all Bills which have not been passed during the session fall to the ground. The royal proclamation which summons Parliament in order to proceed to business must be issued fourteen days before the time of meeting. A dissolution is the civil death of Parliament; it may occur by the will of the sovereign, or, as is most usual, during the recess, by proclamation, or finally by lapse of time, the statutory limit of the duration of the existence of any Parliament being seven years. Formerly, on the demise of the sovereign Parliament stood dissolved by the fact thereof; but this was altered in the reign of William III. to the effect of postponing the dissolution till six months after the accession of the new sovereign, while the Reform Act of 1867 settled that the Parliament 'in being at any future demise of the Crown shall not be determined by such demise.'

The present form of Parliament, as divided into two Houses of Legislature, the Lords and the Commons, dates from the middle of the fourteenth century.

The Upper House consists of peers who hold their seats— 1st. By virtue of hereditary right;

2nd. By creation of the Sovereign ;

3rd. By virtue of office-English bishops;

4th. By election for life-Irish peers;

5th. By election for duration of Parliament-Scottish peers.

For additional details see YEAR-BOOK for 1886, p. 209 et seq.

The number of names on the 'Roll' was 401 in 1830; 457 in 1840; 448 in 1850; 458 in 1860; 503 in 1877; and 554 in 1889. About two-thirds of these hereditary peerages were created in the present century. Excluding the royal and ecclesiastical peerages, the 4 oldest existing peerages in the House of Lords date from the latter part of the thirteenth century, while 5 go back to the fourteenth and 10 to the fifteenth century. In 1888 2 new peerages were created, in 1889 none. There are besides 5 peeresses of the United Kingdom in their own right, and 3 Scotch peeresses, and 18 Scotch and 63 Irish peers who are not peers of Parliament.

The Lower House of Legislature has consisted, since 49 Hen. III., of knights of the shire, or representatives of counties; of citizens, or representatives of cities; and of burgesses or representatives of boroughs, all of whom vote together. To the House of Commons, in the reign of Edward I., 37 counties and 166 boroughs each returned two representatives; but at the accession of Henry VIII. the total number of constituencies was only 147. The additions from Edward VI. to Charles II. were almost entirely of borough members. In the fourth Parliament of Charles I., the number of places in England and Wales for which returns were made, exclusive of counties, amounted to 210; and in the time of the Stuarts, the total number of members of the House of Commons was about 500. The number of members was not materially altered from that time until the union with Scotland in the reign of Queen Anne, when 45 representatives of Scotland were added; and in 1801, 100 Irish representatives. The number of members of the House thus averaged about 650, till the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 raised the total number to 670.

By the Reform Bill of 1832, the English county constituencies were increased from 52 to 82; and 56 boroughs, containing a population of less than 2,000 each, were totally disfranchised, while 31 other boroughs, of less than 4,000 each, were reduced to sending one representative instead of two. On the other hand, 22 new boroughs received the franchise of returning two members, and 24 that of returning one member. In Scotland the town members were increased from 15 to 23-making 53 in all; while the Irish representatives were increased from 100 to 105.

The next great change in the constituency of the House of Commons, after the Act of 1832, was made by the Reform Bill of 1867-68. By this Act England and Wales were allotted 493 members and Scotland 60, while the number for Ireland remained unaltered, and household suffrage was conferred on

For details see YEAR-BOOK for 1885.