CHAPTER II.

Europe. Its extent and boundaries. Population. Feudal system. Principles of its government. State religion. Standing armies. Public debt, and revenue. Balance of power. Great Britain. Extent and population of the British empire. Number of ships, and seamen employed in its commerce. Imports and exports. Public debs and revenue. Army and Navy. Government. Meaning of the term constitution, as applied to Great Britain. Parliament; how it ori. ginated. Its constituent parts. Magna charta. Bill of rights. Powers of the king and the Parliament. Judiciary. Courts of Chancery. Trial by jury. Habeas corpus. Different ranks. Landlord and tenant. Condition of the operatives. Ecclesiastical establishments; number of clergy. Tithes. Dissenters. Universities and schools. Sunday schools. Newspapers and periodicals. Penny Magazine. Canals; rail roads; turnpikes. Tunnel under the Thames. City of London, its extent and population. Canaille of London. Liverpool. Manchester. William IV.; his character; anecdotes of him. The succession. Victoria. Scotland; its connection with England. The presbyterian church. Literature. Face of the country. Lowlands. Highlands. Islands. Character of its inhabitants. Ireland. Its connection with England. Ecclesiastical establishment. Number of different denominations. Catholic emancipation law. Opposition to the collection of tithes. Peasantry. Claims of the Roman catholics. Irish manufacture. Bogs. Dublin. Jersey and Guernsey. Heligoland. Gibraltar. Its situation and strength. Malta. Ionian islands. Sierra Leone. St. Helena. Confinement and death of Bonaparle. Cape of Good Hope. Isle of France. East Indies. India company; when formed. Extent of its possessions and manner of acquiring them. Religion of Hindostan; their gods, priests, and temples. Image and car of Juggernaut. Its passage from the temple to the garden house. Self immolation. Suttees. Number of widows burned. Abolition of the Suttee. Other acts of self immolation. Hindoo castes. Bramin soldiers; merchants. sunkers or outcasts, their condition. New Holland. Van Dieman's land. and voluntary emigrants. Natives. and character of their inhabitants. how managed; how counteracted. Abolition of slavery in the British West Indies. British North American colonies. Their extent, population, and government. Chief towns. Canadian troubles. Disputes between the United States and Great Britain respecting their boundaries, and the navigation of the St. Lawrence. Welland and Rideau

canals. General remarks.

East

Sudras or servants. Burren Ceylon. The cinnamon tree. Mixed population of convicts British West Indies. Number Trade with the United States;

FEUDAL SYSTEM.

EUROPE. Europe is the smallest of the three sections into which the eastern continent is divided. It is bounded on three sides by the waters of the Arctic or Frozen ocean, by the Atlantic, and by the Mediterranean. On the east it is separated from Asia by the waters of the Caspian and Black seas, and the straits by which the latter communicates with the Mediterranean. North of the Caspian sea there are no definite boundaries between Europe and Asia; none are necessary, as the dominions of Russia extend in that region over both quarters. Geographers have, for the sake of distinction, run an imaginary line along the river Ural, from its mouth in the Caspian sea, to its source on the Ural mountains, and along these mountains to the Arctic ocean.

Its greatest extent from east to west is 3500 miles; and from north to south, 2500, betweed 36° and 71° north latitude. Its superficies is estimated at 3,000,000 square miles, and its number of inhabitants at something more than 230,000,000, averaging seventy-six to the square mile. Though the smallest in extent, and second in number, yet in its riches, power, improvements in the arts, and in its influence on the condition of the world, it is far the most important of any quarter of the globe.

FEUDAL SYSTEM. From whence the name of Europe is derived, or from what nation it was first settled, history furnishes no authentic record. Its first inhabitants are supposed to have emigrated from Asia, the cradle of the human family, at a very early period. The first information that history affords, is that a colony of Hellenes or Greeks settled in the south of Europe, about 1400 years before the Christian era. That this colony was the source of all the learning and arts, for which Greece and Rome were afterwards celebrated. That it continued to flourish and extend its influence over the surrounding nations for upwards of a thousand years, and was finally conquered by the Roman arms.

The Roman empire, which at one time overspread the world, was in its turn overrun by hordes of barbarians from the north of Europe. Its conquest extinguished the lights of science, and brought on a period designated in history by the name of the dark ages, extending from the fourth to the fourteenth century, and noted for ignorance, barbarity, and despotism. The present governments of Europe originated in this period, and took their character, in a great measure, from the events attending the extinction and conquest of the Roman empire. In that conquest, the chief, or leader, was considered as the proprietor of the whole territory, which was parcelled out to his officers, in greater or less quantities, according to their rank, for which they were bo und to serve him a certain number of days in war, with a number of men proportioned to the magnitude of the grant. The high officers parcelled out different portions of the territory

COMMON PRINCIPLES.

to their inferior officers and soldiers, on the same conditions, reserving for the support of themselves, their families, and immediate dependants, so much as they deemed necessary, under the name of demesne lands, for their own occupation. In this manner a complete military organization was formed for the purposes of defence or conquest, called the Feudal System. The grants were hereditary and indivisible, descending to the oldest male heir, and when there was none of sufficient age to perform the requisite service, the custody and use of the property reverted to the donor during the minority.

The power of the king, emperor, or under whatever name the chief was designated, was absolute, and his title as inviolable as the title to any private property. The whole constituted one system. The immediate grantees of the king were styled lords, and the different titles of nobility generally regulated by the extent of their fiefs or grants. They are considered as of a higher order, and as possessing certain rights, privileges, and immunities different from the people. One of their principal duties, that of advising the king, which in reality gave them an important influence in the government, was considered as a burdensome service. These distinctions, privileges, and duties, which constituted them an order of nobility, were also hereditary and indivisible. Below these were the common people, of little estimation, and possessing no share in the government. As wealth accumulated in the hands of private citizens, they became of more consideration, and the rigid features of the feudal system relaxed.

The history of Europe presents a constant struggle on the part of kings to maintain and enlarge their prerogatives, on the part of the nobility, or privileged orders, to preserve their immunities and on the part of the people, to acquire consideration and influence. This struggle has resulted in a few instances in the establishment of small republics, differing from one another, and falling far short of the principle of civil liberty as understood in the American republics. In others it has resulted in establishing what are called constitutional monarchies, where the people by their representatives have some share in the enactment of laws. In others, the principles of absolutism have remained with little amelioration.

COMMON PRINCIPLES. Some of the doctrines common to all the European monarchies, are, that all kings, whatever may be the number of their subjects, are of equal rank or grade; that royal blood must not be mixed, or contaminated with that of any inferior order; that when one of the royal family wants a partner, he must seek one, not in the nation of which he is a prince, or sovereign, but from some foreign royal family; that the sovereigns have a right to parcel out, and dispose of particular territories, to individuals, without regard to the rights or wishes of

STATE RELIGION.

STANDING ARMIES.

PUBLIC DEBT.

the people; and that the dignity of royal blood must be supported by adequate salaries raised from the people.

The number of reigning families now in Europe is fifty-five, the number of their subjects varying from 100,000 to 50,000,000. The younger branches who by possibility may inherit a throne, are estimated at 1200, and their appendage, or sum annually given to support their royal dignity, at $50,000,000.

STATE RELIGION. Another principle common to all European nations, until a very late period, is that there must be a state religion, for the support of which government must provide, to which all must contribute, and all who hold office must conform. As a matter of favor, permission is allowed to worship in some other form than that prescribed by the government, which is called toleration, and is more or less restricted in different nations. The religions established by the several governments of Europe, are the Catholic, embracing 120,000,000 inhabitants; the protestant, 50,000,000; the Greek Church, 40,000,000; and the Mahometan, 8,000,000. The number of Jews tolerated, or treated with more or less severity in different nations, are estimated at 1,500,000; and the number of pagans at 40,000.

The number of universities in Europe, for instruction in the highest branches of education, is eighty-five; and the number of living writers in France, Germany and Great Britain, are estimated at 12,000.

STANDING ARMIES. The number of troops kept in constant pay, constituting what is called the standing armies of Europe, vary from two to four millions, according as the nations are more or less at war; the lowest peace establishment being in the proportion of one soldier to 100 inhabitants. The professed object of these standing armies, is the defence of cach nation against aggression or invasion from its neighbors, but a more constant and common use of them is to preserve the monarchical system, and to hold the people in subjection. The number of ships of war in time of peace is 1300, of which Great Britain has one half.

For a long period the principle of maintaining the balance of power was the favorite topic with European politicians, and the occasion of frequent wars. Its professed object was to prevent any one nation from gaining such an ascendency as to endanger others. The subject was more of a speculative, than of a practical nature, and incapable of any definite principles. Bonaparte annihilated it, and but for his disastrous Russian campaign would have brought the whole of continental Europe under his sway.

PUBLIC DEBT. The whole amount of public debt owing by the different nations of Europe, and originating principally in their wars, is estimated at $5,000,000,000, averaging twenty

GREAT BRITAIN.

five dollars to each inhabitant; and the annual revenue raised from the people, at $65,000,000, being three dollars and twentyfive cents to each person. The States owing the largest debts have long since ceased to take any measures to extinguish the principal, their utmost exertions being limited to the payment of the interest, and the current expenses of government. This vast debt, of which the figures expressing it give no definite idea of the amount, being due from the public to its own citizens, does not diminish the general wealth of Europe, or detract from its physical force.

GREAT BRITAIN. The island of Great Britain is in the northern Archipelago, between latitude 50° and 59° north, in length 580 miles, and varying in breadth from 370 to 50 miles. It is separated from the continent by the English channel, thirty miles in width at its narrowest point, between Calais and Dover. Its superficies is computed at 87,000 square miles, and its inhabitants to exceed 150 to the square mile. This island, which in point of size ranks in the second class, by the enterprize of its inhabitants, the vigor of its institutions, and the perfection of its arts, extends its dominion, and the influence of its industry, to the extremities of the globe. The great number and dispersed situation of its colonies, which would ruin any other nation, form the basis of the wealth and power of the British empire. They supply the mother country with the raw material, and an immense market for her manufactures, and are the foundation of a commerce more extensive and diversified than that of all Europe besides. This commerce employs 170,000 seamen, 25,000 ships, with a tonnage of 2,500,000. The value of its annual imports exceed 200,000,000. They consist of three classes, the raw material for her manufactures, foreign articles for consumption, comprising only such as do not come in competition with her own productions, and articles of every description for exportation. Goods of every kind are allowed to be imported and warehoused, that is, stored under the inspection of government officers, without the payment of duties, whence they may be taken at pleasure, for exportation, and in case they are not prohibited articles, may be used for domestic consumption on the payment of duties. The quantity of wool annually imported exceeds 30,000,000 of pounds. The annual production of the manufacturing industry of the kingdom is estimated at $5,000,000,000, consisting principally in articles from wool, cotton, iron and leather. The exports in domestic productions amount annually to $235,000,000; and of foreign and colonial merchandize to $45,000,000. The annual revenue amounts to $245,000,000, and the expenditure, in time of peace, to something short of

that sum.

The following is an estimate of the population of the British Empire according to the most recent enumerations.