national debts of all the States of Europe. But the national PROPERTY exceeds, it is estimated, £3,700,000,000; and if colonial property be included, it amounts to upwards of £5,500,000,000. The national INCOME, or the produce of all kinds of industry and property, is estimated at upwards of £500,000,000 a year. IMPORTS.-The annual value of the goods and merchandise imported into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the year 1881 was upwards of 397 millions sterling. The principal imports consist either of materials for our manufactures, as raw cotton, wool, raw silk, flax, hemp, hides, tallow, timber, dye-stuffs, &c.; or of articles of food and consumption, as tea, sugar, coffee, tobacco, spirits, wines, corn, flour, oils, spices, &c. Guano now forms a large item in the value of our imports. It is largely used in agriculture, and to a small extent in manufactures. EXPORTS.-The annual value of the goods and merchandise exported from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the year 1881 was upwards of 297 millions sterling. The exports consist chiefly of manufactured goods, metals, and coals. The principal are cotton goods,a woollen goods, hardware, cutlery, steam-engines, and machinery of every kind, leather, silk goods, linen, glass, earthenware, beer, and ale. BRITISH ARMY.-The regular forces (1882) amount to 90,000 men; the reserve forces, including militia, volunteers, &c., to 370,000; and the British forces abroad to 96,000; making a grand total of 556,000 men.b a In 1881 the total DECLARED VALUE of the exports from Great Britain amounted to £297,082,775 of which £79,089,531 consisted of cotton goods. Hence more than one-fourth of the value of our entire exports consists of cotton goods; and this does not include the portion of cotton which forms part of 38 millions more exported in the shape of mixed woollens, haberdashery, millinery, silks, apparel, and slops. The importance of the cotton trade, therefore cannot be overrated. At present, upwards of 500,000 workers are employed in our cotton factories; and it has been estimated that at least four millions of the population of Great Britain are dependent upon this trade for their subsistence. In connexion with this, it should be added, that we are dependent upon the United States of America for five-sevenths of the whole quantity of the raw cotton which we require for our manufac tures. The British army, at the close of the Revolutionary war with France, in 1815, amounted to upwards of 450,000 men, including militia and volunteers; and the navy to more than 1,100 vessels, of which 256 were ships of the line. BRITISH NAVY.-The total number of seamen, marines, &c. on the Active List of the Royal Navy (1882) is 80,000; the number of ships, 554; in active service, 253. BRITISH SHIPPING.-The mercantile navy belonging to the United Kingdom and British possessions abroad consisted, in 1881, of 31,515 sailing vessels, and 7,237 steam ships, the total burthen of the former being 5,336,000, and that of the latter, 3,240,000 tons, and the crews forming an aggregate of 365,000 seamen. MINERAL PRODUCE.-In mineral and metallic wealth Great Britain is without a rival. The most valuable and the most important productions of her mines are coal, iron, copper, lead, and tin. The mineral produce in the United Kingdom for 1881 was:-Coal, 154,000,000 tons; iron, 8,000,000 tons; tin, 8,600 tons; copper, 4,000 tons; lead, 48,000 tons; zinc, 16,000 tons; silver, 308,000 ozs. Total value of metals and minerals, £88,000,000. ENGLAND AND WALES. ENGLAND is bounded on the north by the river Tweed, the Cheviot Hills, and the Solway Firth, which divide it from Scotland; on the south by the English or British Channel; on the east by the German Ocean; and on the west by St. George's Channel and the Irish Sea. It lies nearly between the parallels of 50° and 56° north latitude, and between about two degrees of east, and six of west longitude. Its length, from the coast of Dorsetshire to Berwick-on-Tweed, is about 360 miles; and its breadth, from St. David's Head, in Pembrokeshire, to Lowestoft, in Suffolk, is about 300 miles. Its AREA is 58,320 square miles, or 37,324,800 acres. The POPULATION of England in 1881 was 24,608,350, and that of Wales 1,359,890. England is divided into forty coUNTIES or SHIRES and Wales into twelve. a Accurately, between 1° 45′ east, and 5° 44′ west longitude. The last census (1881) exhibits an increase of about 14.5 per cent. for England and Wales, and of 11 for Scotland; but a decrease for Ireland of about 4.7 per cent. In the following table the population given after each town is based on the municipal limits of the towns. The rivers on, or near, which the towns are situated are given in parentheses, thus (Tyne). Counties. Six Northern Counties of England. Principal Towns. Northumberland,a Newcastle, 145,000, Tynemouth, 43,000 (Tyne); Morpeth, 6,000 (Wansbeck); Alnwick, 6,000 (Aln); Berwick, 14,000 (Tweed). Carlisle, 36,000 (Eden) Penrith, 9,000 (Eamont); Appleby, 2,000 (Eden); Kendal, 13,000 (Kent). York, 54,000 (confi. of Foss and Ouse); Hull, 154,000 Four adjoining Wales. Chester, 36,000 (Dee); Birkenhead, 83,000, Stock- The king a Northumberland, that is, the land north of the Humber. dom of Northumberland, during the Heptarchy, extended from the Humber to the Firth of Forth. b Westmoreland, that is, the west moorland. e Cheshire for Chestershire. Chester derives its name from the Latin term castra, an encampment or fortified place. Hence also the frequent terminations in English towns; as in Doncaster, that is, the fortification on the Don; Colchester, on the Colne; Lancaster, on the Lune; Exeter (for Execester) on the Exe; Rochester, on the rock (roche). Q Counties Principal Towns. Herefordshire, Hereford, 20,000 (Wye); Leominster, 6,000 (Lugg); Ledbury, 3,000 (Hereford and Gloucester Canal). Monmouthshire,. Monmouth, 6,000, Chepstow, 3,500 (Wye); Newport, 35,000; Abergavenny, 7,000 (Usk); Tredegar, 18,000 (Sirhowy). Ten North-Midland. Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, 186,000, Newark,14,000 (Trent); Mansfield, 13,000 (Idle). Derbyshire,. Staffordshire, Derby, 80,000 (Derwent); Chesterfield, 12,000 (Rother); Glossop, 19,000. Stafford, 19,000 (Sow); Stoke-upon-Trent, 19,000 (Trent); Lichfield, 8,000 (near Tame); Walsall, 59,000 (Walsall); Wolverhampton, 75,000. Worcestershire,. Worcester, 34,000 (Severn); Kidderminster, 24,000; Stourbridge, 9,700; Dudley, 46,000 (Stour). Warwickshire,a. Warwick, 11,000 (Upper Avon); Birmingham, 400,000 (Rea); Coventry, 42,000 (near Sow). Leicestershire, Leicester, 122,000, Loughborough, 14,000, Hinckley, 7,000 (Soar); Melton Mowbray, 5,000 (Wreak or Eye). Rutlandshire,b. Oakham, 3,000 (near Wreak); Uppingham, 2,500 (near Welland). Northamptonshire, Northampton, 51,000; Peterborough, 21,000; Wellingborough, 13,000 (Nen). Huntingdonshire, Huntingdon, 4,200; St. Ives, 3,300; St. Neot's, 4,000 (Great Ouse). Cambridgeshire,. Cambridge, 35,000 (Cam); Ely, 8,200 (Great Ouse); Wisbeach, 9,400 (Nen); Newmarket, 5,000. Ten South-Midland. Gloucestershire, Gloucester, 36,000 (Severn); Bristol, 206,000 (Lower Avon); Stroud, 7,100, (Frome or Stroud); Cheltenham, 44,000 (Chelt). Oxford, 38,000, Henly, 4,500 (Thames) Banbury 12,000 (Cherwell). Warwick, that is, the town where the munitions for war were kept; the termination wick being from the Latin vicus, a street or town. Hence Norwich, the north town, Greenwich, Sandwich, Middlewich, Alnwick (on the Aln), Ipswich (on the Gipping, a tributary of the Orwell), &c. bRutland, that is, red land, for which this shire is still noted. Counties. Principal Towns. Buckinghamshire, Aylesbury, 7,000 (near Thame); Buckingham, 3,700 (Great Ouse); Wycombe, 10,000 (near Thames), Bedford, 19,000 (Great Ouse); Biggleswade, 4,200 (Ivel); Dunstable, 4,600 (Ouzel); Luton, 23,000 (Lea). Hertford, 7,200, Ware, 5,000 (Lea); Watford, 7,500 LONDON, 3,832,000, Brentford, 12,000 (Thames) Reading, 42,000, Newbury, 10,000 (Kennet); Wind- Salisbury, 14,000 (Avon); Devizes, 6,800 (Kennet and Avon Canal); Trowbridge, 11,500 (Were); Marlborough, 3,600 (Kennet). Tauntonb, 16,000 (Tone); Bath, 51,000 (Lower Avon); Frome, 9,000 (Frome); Bridgewater, 12,000 (Parret). Four Eastern. Lincoln, 37,000, Boston, 14,600 (Witham); Spalding, 9,000, Stamford, 8,000 (Welland); Great Grimsby, 29,000 (Humber). Norwich, 87,000 (Wensum); Yarmouth, 46,000 (Yare); King's Lynn, 18,000 (Great Ouse); Thetford, 4,200 (Little Ouse); Diss, 4,000 (Wavenay). Ipswich, 50,000 (Orwell); Bury St. Edmund's, 16,000 (Larke); Sudbury, 6,900 (Stour); Lowestoft, 19,000 (Coast). Chelmsford, 9,300 (Chelmer); Saffron Walden, 5,700 (Cam); Colchester, 28,000 (Colne); Harwich, 8,000 (Stour). Middlesex, that is, middle Saxons, with reference to ESSEX, or East Saxons; SUSSEX, or South Saxons; and WESSEX, or West Saxons. Wessex, the name of which no longer remains, though the most powerful kingdom of the heptarchy, comprised the counties to the west of Middlesex and Sussex, namely, Hampshire, Berkshire, Dorsetshire, &c. b Taunton, that is, the town on the Tone. Norfolk, that is, the north folk or people with reference to Suffolk, which means the south folk. Compare also the derivations of Norwich, (the north town), and Sudbury (the south town). |