The Ionian Islands are under the British protection. Pop. 208,100; extent, 1,098 square miles. The kingdom of Hanover with a population of 1,500,000 does not belong to the British empire, but to the male line of the royal family. The British power extends over two thirds of the globe in reference to longitude, and in latitude from the Arctic circle to 33° south, so that it may be said with truth that the sun always shines upon some part of the possessions of Great Britain, and the four seasons of the year are enjoyed at the same time in her dominions. The funded debt of Great Britain amounts to about four thousand millions of dollars. This immense debt bears an interest of from three to four and a half per cent. It originated soon after the accession of William the third, stadtholder of Holland, to the English throne; and in consequence of wars in which England had no interest. This was a natural consequenee of importing a king from abroad. William's affections were all in favor of his native subjects. The wars undertaken by him, and in which he involved the English nation, were all for the inter est of Holland. Lest his new subjects should complain of the heavy taxes necessary to carry on these wars, he resorted to loans; and from that period wars have been generally carried on by the same means. No provision having been made for the extinguishment of the principal, the debt has gradually accumulated to its present amount. It has often been predicted that this debt would bring on a national bankruptcy, accompanied by a revolution. But so long as the government is able to provide for the interest, its credit is good, and money may be borrowed to any amount. ARMY AND NAVY. In 1815, at the close of the long European war, the army immediately belonging to the British government amounted to 640,000 men; the whole number in British CONSTITUTION. MAGNA CHARTA. pay exceeded 1,000,000. The navy included more than 1000 ships of war, manned by 184,000 seamen. Since that period, Great Britain has enjoyed an uninterrupted peace, and her military and naval forces have undergone material reductions. The army now consists of a little less than 100,000 men. The East India company maintain a force of upwards of 200,000 in their possessions. The British navy since its reduction, consists of 610 vessels of war, of which 131 are of the line, or seventy-four guns and over, 149 frigates, and 330 small vessels; of these only 180 are in commission, or actual service. The officers and men attached to the naval establishment, are 180 admirals, 487 captains, and 30,000 seamen. The annual expense of the navy is $25,165,782, and of the army on the peace establishment, $35,893,146. CONSTITUTION. This empire, the most powerful in the world, is directed by a central government, established at London, consisting of the Monarch and Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. To an American citizen, the term constitution, imports a written instrument creating a government, and defining its powers. In this sense no such thing as a constitution exists in Great Britain. The term, however, is applied to express the British system of civil policy, and in this application it means those fundamental principles and usages, which cannot be abrogated, or essentially altered, without destroying the system. In the British constitution, the principle that all power is derived from the people, and to be exercised by agents of their appointment, and for their benefit, and accountable to them, is reversed. All power is supposed to be vested in, or derived from, the king; that he holds it by divine hereditary right, that it belongs as much to him and his heirs, as any private possession; that he is irresponsible, accountable to no tribunal for his actions, and beyond the reach of law; and that all the privileges and immunities which the people enjoy, are free gifts, received from his munificence. The English government in its early stages was strictly feudal, with all the appendages of that system. In the course of years it gradually ameliorated into a limited constitutional monarchy. The process by which this has been effected, has been so gradual, that historians have not been able to give the precise period, nor to point out the time when the name of parliament was first given to the meetings of the lords and commons. It is, indeed, as undefinable as the precise time when the child becomes a man. MAGNA CHARTA. Two periods are mentioned when important changes took place in the English system of government; one in 1215, when Magna Charta was obtained from king John, at the point of the sword, by his refractory barons. This instru MAGNA CHARTA. ment, which has been dignified by the name of a charter, and styled the palladium of English liberty, contains a few of the general principles of civil liberty, and several stipulations by which the king agrees not to infringe on the rights of the barons, and not to injure or oppress his subjects. Its forced renewal at several times from other monarchs, as well as its frequent violations, show the estimation in which it has been held by those whose power it was intended to limit. The other period, called the revolution, was in 1688, when the two houses of parliament declared the throne vacant, by the abdication, as it was termed, though more properly the expulsion of James the second, and invited William, prince of Orange, who in his own right had no pretensions to the crown, to take possession of it in conjunction with his wife, the daughter of James. This invitation was accompanied with what was called a petition, or bill of rights, in which the elected monarch stipulated by his acceptance of it, that his new subjects should enjoy certain privileges and immunities, which had been before claimed, but which were until then, undefined, and frequently violated. From that period, the government may be considered as established on the foundation on which it has ever since rested. The king possesses the power of summoning, proroguing, and dissolving parliament at pleas. ure. The latter, however, took care to secure to themselves an annual session, by limiting their grants of money to one year; and an act has been passed, which is considered as making a part of the constitution, that there should be a new parliament at least once in seven years. For a long time a succession of kings exercised the power of issuing proclamations, enjoining on their subjects acts inconsistent with the laws of parliament; the proclamations containing a clause, ordering the acts to be done, any law of parliament to the contrary notwithstanding. This abrogating power was resisted by parliament at different times, with various success, and has, at later periods, been reluctantly abandoned. The usurpation of Cromwell is not here noticed as producing any change in the English constitution, because after a bloody civil war, consummated by the destruction of the kingly authority, and the judicial condemnation, and execution of the reigning monarch, January, 1649, and after a submission of a few years to a despotic power in the hands of an individual, the nation gladly threw themselves back into the hands of the legitimate heir of the monarch whom they had put to death, without any restrictions, or even providing for the amnesty of the principal agents of the revolution. The leading features of the British constitution, as it has thus grown up, and become perfected, are, that the king is the supreme executive power, having the prerogatives of making war and peace, raising armies, building navies, making all appointments to office, of creating peers at pleasure, and conferring on MAGNA CHARTA. them the right to a seat in the house of lords, of coining money, and of negativing acts of parliament. In practice, however, this last power is seldom exercised. The king, though aided by the councils of the ablest ministers, very rarely sets up his will in opposition to the wishes of the people as expressed by their representatives. The king's person is inviolable. He can do no wrong; all the misdeeds of his government are chargeable upon his ministers, whom he chooses and dismisses at pleasure. It is high treason to attempt his death. These powers and prerogatives are hereditary, and descend to the eldest son, and in default of male issue of the reigning monarch, to the eldest female. The daughter of the eldest son, deceased, inherits in preference to younger brothers. In default of issue of the last reigning monarch, a successor is sought among the issue of his immediate predecessor on the same principle. The legislative power is vested in parliament in the most unrestricted sense. It acts not only in the ordinary subjects of legislation, but does many things appertaining to a constituent, rather than a legislative assembly; such as regulating the descent of the crown, changing the succession, appointing a regent, and defining his authority; regulating the period for which the parliament itself is elected; the qualifications of electors; taking away the right of representation from some boroughs, and bestowing it upon others, and increasing or diminishing the representation at pleasure. Possessing the powers both of a legislative and a constituent body, parliament is said to be omnipotent, doing what it thinks the good of the nation requires, without questioning its own powers, or allowing any one else so to do, without incurring the guilt of rebellion. Its laws must be such, however, as the general sense of the nation approves, or they will be disregarded. Severe laws have been enacted against bribery at elections, yet it is not unfrequent for a single candidate and his friends, to spend large sums on these occasions. Parliament have directly no voice in making war or peace, raising armies, building navies, or in making or ratifying treaties, yet holding the purse-strings of the nation, they have a controlling power over all these subjects. Not a dollar can be raised for any of these purposes, except by a bill originating in the house of commons, and concurred in by the house of lords, without alteration. Hence executive proceedings are freely discussed, and the conduct of ministers often censured in the most unqualified terms, while his majesty, the chief executive officer, is inaccessible, except through the medium of his ministers. The parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, is composed of two branches, a house of commons, and a house of lords. The commons consists of 658 members, 500 for England and Wales, 105 for Ireland, and 53 for Scotland; the number of representatives is very unequally proportioned, JUDICIAL POWER. England having more than twice as many in proportion to its numbers, as the other parts of the empire. The house of lords consists, first of the English peerage sitting individually by virtue of their nobility, amounting to 391; a representation of the peerage of Ireland, of twenty-eight members, and sixteen from Scotland; these form the temporal lords; secondly, the lords spiritual, consisting of the episcopacy of England, to wit, two archbishops and twenty-four bishops, and a representation from the protestant episcopacy of Ireland, consisting of four prelates. Whole number of members, 465; both houses forming a legislative body of 1123 members. In addition to their general powers as legislatory, the house of lords form a high court of impeachment, to try and punish the officers of government for official misconduct; and also constitute a court to try members of their own order, for any crimes. The lords temporal, assisted by the judges, form a court for the correction of the errors of the highest judicial tribunals. JUDICIAL POWER. The judicial power is vested in three high courts, consisting of four judges each, and having concurrent jurisdiction in all civil matters; and in a great number of inferior municipal courts. The queen's bench, the highest of the three superior courts, has both civil and criminal jurisdiction. Each judge of the superior courts, forms a court of nisi prius, for the trial of issues in fact, in the counties where the causes of action arise, for which purpose particular circuits are allotted to the several judges. They hold their offices during good behavior, and are selected from the most eminent jurists in the kingdom; and together form the court of exchequer chamber for the correction of errors. In the appointments to these high judicial stations, neither party spirit nor favoritism seems to have found a place. The judges have often been found to be salutary checks upon the attempts of government, to encroach on the rights of the subject. The court of chancery is an important branch of English jurisprudence. It had its origin rather in accident, than in any preconceived notions of the utility of such an institution. In the early periods of the English government, in order to rid himself of the troublesome importunities of his subjects, the king appointed an almoner, whose office it was to dispense the royal charities to the people. Frequent applications were made not only for direct bounty, but also for the mitigation of the law, where the complainant supposed that its rigid enforcement did him injustice. Such cases were also referred to the almoner, with instructions to inquire into each case, and give the relief which justice required. His proceeding at length became regulated by certain rules; and the chief almoner became the king's chancellor, appointed during his pleasure. In this manner a system of chancery proceedings grew up, designed to do |