Total,

The chief imports are raw cotton, corn and flour, sugar, wool, silk manufactures, and tea; the chief exports are cotton manufactures, woollen and worsted manufactures, iron and steel, linen manufactures, coals and culm, and machinery.

Gold and Silver Bullion and Specie.-The computed real value of the gold and silver bullion and specie brought into the United Kingdom in 1858 was £29,493,190; in 1859, £37,070,156; in 1860, £22,978,196; and in 1861, £18,747,045. Of this quantity, Australia sent by far the most-viz., in 1858, £9,066,289; 1859, £8,627,854; 1860, £6,719,857; and 1861, £6,331,828. Mexico, South America, and the West Indies were the next largest exporters; then the United States and France. The exports from the United Kingdom during the same period were 1858, £19,628,576; 1859, £35,688,803; 1860, £25,534,768; 1861, £20,811,648. The declared real value of gold and silver bullion and specie imported into the United Kingdom during the year 1871 was-gold, £21,613,005; silver, £16,527,322; total, £38,140,327; exported-gold, £20,698,275; silver, £13,062,396; total, £33,760,671. The declared real value of such bullion and specie imported during the ten months from January to October 1872 was-gold, £14,875,744; silver, £9,880,463; total, £24,756,207; exported-gold, £17,093,478; silver, £8,961,918; total, £26,055,396.

Shipping.-G. B. had, in 1861 (exclusive of riversteamers), 19,288 registered sailing-vessels, with an aggregate burden of 3,918,511 tons, and 997 steamers, carrying 441,184 tons, making together 20,285 vessels, of 4,359,695 tons burden, and employing, exclusive of masters, 171,957 seamen. During the same year, there were built and registered in the United Kingdom 1186 vessels, 215 of them steam, of an aggregate burden of 310,900 tons. The total tonnage of vessels entering and clearing British ports in 1861 was 26,595,641 tons, 21,924,983 tons representing cargoes, the rest being in ballast. The coast trade of G. B. during the same year amounted to 17,355,235 tons, all but 93,000 tons

being carried by British ships. In 1871, the number of registered sailing-vessels engaged in the home trade was 11,838, employing 41,828 men, and their tonnage was 777,185. The number of steamvessels, exclusive of river steamers, in the same trade was 1191; men, 12,613; tous, 195,125. The number of sailing-vessels engaged in foreign trade was, in the same year, 300, with 5767 men, and an aggregate of 157,964 tons; and of steam-vessels, 1066, with 40,323 men, and an aggregate of 936,914 tons. It will be seen that the merchant navy is availing itself, to a large degree, of steam-power. A parliamentary return issued in 1870, shews that during the year preceding, the total number of seamen employed on board British ships, registered in the United Kingdom, was 202,477; of these, 20,263 were foreigners.

Railways.-The total length of lines open for traffic in the United Kingdom in 1860 was 10,433 miles. During the year, 163,435,678 passengers travelled, of whom 20,625,851 were first class, 49,041,814 second class, and 93,768,013 third class. The amount of money derived from these travellers was-first class, £3,170,935; second class, £3,944,713; third class, £4,162,487. Luggage, mails, &c., brought up the receipts from passenger-traffic to £13,085,756, The goods-traffic in the same year amounted to £14,680,866, making a total income of £27,766,622. The total amount invested in railways by shares and loans in 1858 was £325,375,507, on which was paid interest to the total amount of £6,653,166. The average rate of dividend on the ordinary share capital over the whole kingdom in 1858 was 3-06 per cent.; the proportion per cent. of expenditure to total receipts in 1860 was 47. In 1860, the rolling-stock of the various companies consisted of 5801 locomotives, 15,076 carriages of all kinds, and 180,574 wagons. At the end of 1871 there were 15,756 miles of railway open for trafficshewing an addition since 1860 of 5323 miles. Of this entire length 11,043 miles belonged to England and Wales; to Scotland, 2538; and to

Scotland possesses four universities for the higher branches of education-viz., those of Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews, and Aberdeen, besides a variety of minor colleges connected with the Episcopalian, Free Church, and other non-established churches. The Scotch Education Act, 1872, is modelled after the English Act, but differs from it, by enacting that a school-board is to be elected in every parish and burgh; by making it illegal for parents to omit educating their children, between 5 and 13, in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and by comprehending higher-class schools. The number of day-schools in Great Britain inspected in 1871 was 10,700: the daily average attendance throughout the year was 1,434,488; 1,724,689 scholars were present at inspection; 875,298 were examined; and 598,203 passed the prescribed tests. On the registers of the inspected day-schools were 2,055,312 children, of whom 517,344 were under six years of age, 1,332,229 were between six and twelve, and 205,739 were above twelve: 2709 night-schools were inspected, having an average attendance of 86,206 each night. In December 1871, there were in Great Britain 15,635 certificated teachers, 1196 assistant teachers, and 21,854 pupil-teachers.

History. On the 1st of May 1707, during the reign of Queen Anne, the union of England and Scotland was formally accomplished. (For the previous history, see ENGLAND and SCOTLAND.) In the latter of these countries, the terms at first excited the utmost dissatisfaction, and even indignation; | but the progress of time has shewn it to be one of the greatest blessings that either nation could have experienced. The last years of Queen Anne's reign were marked by the triumph of the Tory party, headed by Harley and St John (Oxford and Bolingbroke), who kept up a constant intrigue with the Pretender, for the purpose of procuring his restoration. This treachery was defeated by the sudden

of Settlement, she was succeeded by the Elector of Hanover, who took the title of George I. The Whigs then regained their ascendency, and, under the guidance of Walpole (q. v.), now rising to eminence, at once proceeded to impeach the more important of the Tory leaders. Other severities drove the more impatient of that party to attempt bringing in the Pretender by force of arms. In 1715, the Earl of Mar in Scotland, and the Earl of Derwentwater in England, raised the standard of rebellion; both efforts, however, proved abortive, and were speedily crushed. Five years later, occurred the frightful catastrophe known as the South Sea Bubble, when the nation was saved from anarchy mainly by the exertions of Walpole. The latter now became premier and chancellor of the exchequer, and under him the commerce and manufactures of England continued steadily to advance, though little improvement was as yet perceptible either in Scotland or Ireland. George I. died in 1727, and was succeeded by his son, George II. An attempt was again made by the Tories to oust the Whigs from power, but was frustrated by Walpole, who still continued the prime mover of public affairs. In 1739, after a peace of extraordinary duration, he was forced by popular clamour into a war with Spain, on account of some efforts made by that country to check an illicit trade carried on by British merchants in its American colonies. This war was feebly carried on, and ingloriously terminated; but the attention of England was speedily drawn towards the Austrian War of Succession, in which it was involved through the anxiety of the king for his Hanoverian possessions, and the strong antipathy of the people to the French. Walpole, disapproving of the war, was driven from office in 1743. George II. appeared on the field of battle himself, and at Dettingen proved himself a man of courage and spirit. But the success of the French at Fontenoy in 1745 paralysed the efforts of England during the rest of the campaign; and in 1748, after nine years' fighting, a peace was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, by which it was agreed that both nations should mutually restore their conquests, and go back to exactly the same condition as they were in before the war! Meanwhile, a second attempt had been made (1745-1746) by Prince Charles Edward Stuart to win back the throne of his ancestors. This attempt, known as the second rebellion, was crushed at Culloden (April 16, 1746), and shortly