XXV. RUSSIA. INTRODUCTION,.. Population and National Industries,.. System and Statistics of Public Instruction,....... SPECIAL SCHOOLS FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE, AND THE ARTS,... 1. Polytechnic School at St. Petersburg,.. (1.) Mechanical Section,..... (2.) Chemical Section, 2. Polytechnic School at Riga,. (1) Preparatory Course,.. (2.). Course for Manufacturers,.. (3.) Course for Merchants,. (4.) Course for Agriculturists.. (5) Course common to Machinists, Architects, and Engineers,.. (6.) Special Course for Constructors of Machinery............ (7.) Course for Architects,... (8.) Special Course for Engineers,.. (9.) Special Course for Surveyors, 3. Schools of Mining and Miners,... (1.) Higher Institution for Mining Engineers, (2) Lower Schools of Mining...... 4. Commercial Academy at Moscow,.......... 5. Schools of Agriculture and Forestry,. (1.) Higher Agricultural Academy at Gorygoretsk, 6. Schools of Law, Surveying, and Topography,.. 7. Schools for the Civil and Diplomatic Service, (2.) Schools for Civil Administration, 8. Report of Jury of Paris International Exposition in 1867, 9. Museums available and useful in Technical Instruction,.. XXVI. SWITZERLAND. PAGE. 717 717 717 719 721 721 721 723 724 724 727 727 728 728 728 728 728 728 728 729 729 729 730 733 GREAT BRITAIN. INTRODUCTION. THE BRITISH EMPIRE consists of the British Islands (generally designated Great Britain, and Ireland); Indian Possessions; Australia and New Zealand; Dominion of Cananda, and other large possessions in North America, and the West Indies; and various colonies and settlements which dot the whole surface of the civilized world with forts and government houses, over which floats the meteor flag of England. The following table exhibits the extent, population, finances, and commerce of the different portions of this great Power: Australasia..... North America................ ... ... ... ... .... European Possessions.... Various Settlements.. Totals...... 120,769 30,873,682 £70,500,450 £749,135,911 £532,475,266 910,853 155,348,090 48,534,412 101,986,111 98,655,879 48,150,000 26,474 3,120,297 2,024,164 1,700,000 27,960,602 11,784,039 31,315,569 64,822,467 632,418 120 319,915 4,114,159 12,683 945,197 155,063 832,190 199,806 216,662 5,583,639 1,305,814 2,051,333 8,228,330 4,605,302 245,539,733 £139,168,3371£903,280,039) £776,504,464 The British Isles consist of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), and Ireland, with a population in 1869 of 30,873,682. England is divided from Scotland on the north by the Cheviot Hills and the rivers Tyne aud Solway, and from Wales by the Severn and the Dee. The western part of England was known to the Phoenicians, and was resorted to by them for its tin, four centuries, or so, before Christ; and hence the whole country was known by the name of Cassiterides or Tin Islands. When invaded by Cæsar (B. C. 55) it was called Britain, or some time Albion. The Romans subdued all England, and parts of Scotland and Wales, but did not reach Ireland, although its existence was known to them. In the third century, when the power of Rome was on the decline, an officer called the Count of the Saxon Shore was appointed to withstand encroachments from the opposite coasts; about the year A. D. 410, the Britons revolted, and the Romans abandoned the island, after a rule of 450 years. The Britons, being divided into as many hostile States as they had cities, were unable to resist the fresh hordes (now called Saxons and Angles) that poured into the island, and about 457 the kingdom of Kent was founded. The Britons still fought stubbornly, but were gradually driven westward, and by the year 584 the kingdom of Mercia (meaning the march land or frontier State) was established, being the last of the seven kingdoms founded by the invaders, whence the whole is usually styled the Heptarchy. The kings of the Heptarchy made war on each other, but at last in 827 Egbert of Wessex obtained the supremacy of the whole, and styled himself King of England. His descendants, of whom Alfred the Great was the most illustrious, held the throne for more than 200 years, but the country suffered greatly during the time from the ravages of the Danes, who, under Canute and his sons, became its rulers for twenty-five years (1017-1042). The Saxon line was restored in the person of Edward the Confessor, to whom Harold succeeded; but his death in the battle of Hastings, on the 14th of October, 1066, gave England into the hands of the Norman kings, who reigned from 1066 to 1154. Then came the Plantagenets (1154-1485); the Tudors (1485-1603); and the Stuarts (1603-1714), to whom the House of Brunswick succeeded on the death of Queen Anne. Her present Majesty is the sixth sovereign of that line. The conquest of Ireland was begun in the year 1170, but can hardly be regarded as completed until the surrender of Limerick in 1691. Wales was conquered by Edward I. in 1282, and formally annexed to England by Henry VIII. in 1536. Scotland successfully resisted the efforts of Edward I. to subjugate it, maintained for ages a close alliance with France, and in 1603, gave a ruler to England in the person of James VI., who became James I. of Great Britain, a title then first assumed. This was but a personal union, but the union of the kingdoms was effected under Queen Anne in 1707. Ireland, which had been hitherto only styled a lordship, was declared a kingdom in 1542, and this kingdom was united to that of Great Britain by the Act of Union, on January 1, 1801. The form of government is a limited monarchy, consisting of the Sovereign and the Houses of Lords and Commons, without whose joint approval no legislation is complete, though a large discretion is left to the executive, and for the proper exercise of this discretion the Ministers of the crown are responsible, as it is a legal maxim, that "the Sovereign can do no wrong." For administrative purposes, England is divided into forty counties, Wales into twelve, Scotland thirty-three, and Ireland thirty-two. To each of these counties there is, with some few exceptions, a lord-lieutenant and a sheriff, and a number of justices of the peace, beside stipendiary magistrates in London and other large cities. The policy of the English Government, down to a very recent period, has been to leave the promotion of Science and Art, even in their obvious connections with national industries-the mining, commercial, manufacturing, and mechanical productions of the people,-to individual and associated effort. Within the last half century, and more rapidly and thoroughly within the last twenty years, this policy has undergone great changes, until there is not a government in the world which appropriates such large sums annually for the advancement of Education, Science, and Art. We give a list of annual appropriations from the public treasury for these purposes, mostly for 1869. I. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. 1. England and Scotland-through Committee of Council.- (2.) Inspection (68 Inspectors)-Salaries and Travel, แ - £22,531 64,103 74,250 79,500 England and Wales,. 549,639 45,500 .£835,523 17,412 35,461 8,245 5,828 26,952 360,194 £454,092 Total through National Board for Ireland,.. Total for Elementary Instruction in Great Britain, II. HIGHER EDUCATION. ... .£1,289,615 The principal expenditures for Institutions of Secondary Education in Great Britain, Scotland, and Ireland, are met by endowments (the annual income of which is about £1,000,000) and parental payments. The 8 great Universities of England, Scotland, and Ireland, have endowments to the annual value of over £700,000. To aid Universities and Colleges of Superior Instruction, Parliament made grants in 1869 as follows: 2. Schools of Science and Art-Central and Provincial,. 6. Schools of Mines and Chemistry, and Geological Museum,.. 12,253 Royal Institution, and Board of Manufactures, Edinburgh,.. 4,500 5. Art Ornamentation of Parliament Houses,.. 10,000 6. Annuities, &c., on former Donations and Bequests,. 5,000 Total,... .£139,422 VI. MILITARY AND NAVAL SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION—1868–9. Navigation Schools (exclusive of Science Department aid),. 2,000 20,000 These objects, numerous and important as they are, do not exhaust the list of Parliamentary appropriations for Education, Science and Art in 1869, but the sums, large in single instances, exceed in the aggregate (£2,500,000) those made by any other government for the same period. It only needs a more systematic administration of the public grants, to stimulate and direct wisely local, institutional, and individual activity, and supplement their deficiencies by doing well what individuals, associations, or local communities can not do thoroughly, if at all-to bring the Special as well as the General Instruction of the whole country on to a higher plane than they now occupy in any other State. |