the population, and had made the revenue fall below the estimates, thus necessitating, in spite of every economy, increased taxation. A revised income-tax would, therefore, be proposed as a simplification and readjustment of the present direct taxes. The absorption of the private railways by the state lines had been effected, new lines had been constructed, and two others were now proposed. On October 30th, the Minister of Finance, Herr von Könneritz, in giving an exhibit of the financial condition of the country, stated that the balance of 9,000,000 marks of the preceding year were, in this year, replaced by a deficit of the same amount.

The Diet of Würtemberg was opened on February 6th by the King in person. In his speech from the throne, he announced important changes in the organization of the communes to be proposed by the Government, as well as propositions to secure the execution of the imperial laws. The second Chamber unanimously reelected Herr Hölder as its president. It adjourned, however, before the end of the month.

A change occurred in the Government of the Grand-Duchy of Hesse during 1877. The Grand-Duke Louis III. died on June 13th, and was succeeded by his nephew, Louis IV., who is married to Princess Alice of England.

On August 7th the Emperor William met Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria at Ischl. This meeting was said to have had no political significance, although the two Emperors, in all probability, held conversations on the question of the day-the Russo-Turkish War. (See AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY.)

On July 1st the Imperial Patent Office was organized; and, on July 7th, it announced its organization to the patent offices of the foreign Powers.

On May 1st Emperor William set out on a visit to the new province of Alsace-Lorraine. He was everywhere received with great demonstrations of joy and respect, particularly in the Lower Alsace, in and around Strasburg, where the population is chiefly German. But even in Metz and its vicinity, where the French element predominates, his presence was considered to have had a favorable influence, although the population showed a greater reserve in receiving him.

January 1, 1877, was the 70th anniversary of the entrance of Emperor William into the Prussian army. On this occasion he held a reception of all the commanding officers of the army. It was after the disastrous battle of Jena, when the troops of Prussia had been driven to the easternmost confines of the kingdom, that King Frederick William III. ap

to the Department of State, said that all of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, and the United States, were fully represented; England, Italy, and Russia but partly. The great feature of the exhibition was the exhibit made by the American firm of Larrabee & Co., of Mayence, in connection with the boot and shoe factory-running American machinery of S. Wolf, of that city. This exhibit consisted of a full and complete set of all the best and most approved American shoe machines, tools, apparatus, and supplies, which, operated by 25 experienced workmen, turned out boots and shoes as in the most complete American factory. It was the first opportunity publicly afforded in Germany for the proper appreciation of the skill and perfection to which the manufacture of boots and shoes by machinery has attained in the United States, and the fullest and frankest tribute was paid to the ingenuity and enterprise displayed therein. The interest excited thereby must act most favorably on the introduction of American shoe machinery into Germany. The number of shoe factories now in Germany using American machinery is 40, with an average daily production of 14,000 pairs.

On April 30th a statue of Gauss, Germany's greatest mathematician, was erected in his native city, Brunswick, to commemorate in a fitting manner his one-hundredth birthday.

GOLDSBOROUGH, LOUIS MALESHERBES, an American naval officer, died in Washington, D. C., February 20, 1877. He was born in that city in 1805, and was appointed midshipman in 1812, and made lieutenant in 1825. During the Seminole War he commanded a company of mounted volunteers, and also an armed steamer. He was made commander in 1841; took part in the Mexican War, and was afterward senior naval officer of a joint army and navy commission on the Pacific coast. He became a captain in 1855, and from 1853 to 1857 was superintendent of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. In 1861 he was placed in command of the naval part of Burnside's expedition to North Carolina. He was made rear-admiral in 1862, commanded the European squadron in 1865-'67, commanded the navy-yard at Mare Island, California, in 1868, and subsequently the Washington Navy-Yard.

GORTCHAKOFF, ALEXANDER MICHAILOVITCH, Prince, the present Russian Chancellor, was born July 16, 1798. He is the oldest statesman in Europe, and also excels all others in his term of office. He received his education in the Lyceum of Zarskoye Selo, and, having completed his studies, entered upon his diplomatic career as attaché to Count Nesselrode, at the Congresses of Laibach and Verona. In 1824 he was appointed Secretary of Legation in Lon-' don, in 1829 Chargé d'Affaires in Florence, and in 1832 Councilor of Legation in Vienna; in 1841, Embassador in Stuttgart, where he negotiated the marriage of the Grand-Duchess Olga VOL. XVII.-23 A

with the Crown-Prince of Würtemberg; and in 1850, while at his position in Stuttgart, Russian Plenipotentiary to the German Bundestag. Having been transferred as Embassador to Vienna in 1854, he represented the interests of Russia with such energy and success, that, in 1856, the Emperor Alexander appointed him Minister of Foreign Affairs. As such he improved every opportunity to oppose Austria, whose ambiguous policy during the Crimean War he considered as the basest ingratitude. The chief features of his policy, however, were to keep aloof as much as possible from all international complications, and to introduce such reforms as would tend to develop the immense resources of the Empire. All those internal reforms which mark the reign of Alexander II.—the abolition of serfdom, two thorough reorganizations of the army, the construction of an extensive railroad system, and the promotion of popular education-were his work. This policy he very fittingly expressed by his celebrated remark: "Russia collects herself." Until 1863, he kept almost entirely aloof from foreign questions, but in that year, on the occasion of the Polish insurrection, the European Powers attempted to meddle with that question, and he addressed such firm and energetic notes to the different Powers, that an immediate end was put to all diplomatic complications, while he became immensely popular with the people. During the German-French War of 1870 he took such a decided position in favor of Germany, that it was impossible for Austria to interfere with Prussia. On October 31, 1870, he addressed a circular note to the Powers, demanding the repeal of that clause of the Treaty of Paris which prohibited Russia from having an armed fleet in the Black Sea. As France was completely crippled, and Germany was on the side of Russia, the London Conference of 1871, which assembled to consider this request, granted it. The reconciliation with Austria was brought about in 1872, by the meeting of the three Emperors at Berlin. The war with Turkey in 1877 was certainly one of the boldest steps of his administration; and while the opinions of the civilized world greatly differed with regard to the justness of the war, the ability with which he had prepared for and taken this step was generally admired.

GOURKO, JOSEPH VLADIMIROVITCH, & Russian general, was born November 15 (old style, 3), 1828. He entered the army as cornet in the hussars of the Imperial Guard, and, after passing through the school of the general staff, was created captain in 1852. As such he took part in the Crimean War. In 1857 he was appointed commander of the squadron of the Emperor, in his old regiment of the Guards, and in 1860 was created adjutant to the Emperor. In 1861 he was promoted to colonel, took part in the campaign in Poland in 1863, was created a major-general in the suite of the Emperor in 1867, received the command of a

rigade in the second cavalry division of the uards, and on September 11, 1876, was creed lieutenant-general and commander of the me division. Although this division did not each Bulgaria until September, he was on the anube as early as June, and, at the head of "advance corps," was ordered to advance 3 rapidly and as far as possible, without reard to the main army, and to alarm the whole f the Empire. This mission he fulfilled in e most successful manner. Leaving the anube on June 27, he was, ten days later, in ossession of Tirnova, and within another eek beyond the Balkans. The result of this old dash was thoroughly to alarm the whole ountry; even Constantinople being consid-ed in danger. After the arrival of Suleiman asha, from Montenegro, however, General ourko was forced to retreat to the Shipka He was then ordered to return to St. etersburg, to take command of his own divisn, after having been previously created adtant-general.

ass.

GRAY, HENRY PETERS, an American painter, as born in New York, June 23, 1819, and ed there November 12, 1877. He entered the udio of Daniel Huntington in 1838, and in 339 went to Europe, where he painted his pictres of "Thou Art Gone," the "Roman Girl," e "Billet-Doux," etc. Returning to New ork in 1843, he executed a number of small ctures of genre and history; and, after ancher absence abroad in 1845-'46, during which produced his "Teaching a Child to Pray," Proserpine and Bacchus," " Cupid Begging is Arrows," etc., he settled in New York. mong the most important of his works are he "Wages of War," the "Apple of Discord," Hagar and the Angel," "Portia and Bassanio," Charity," "Geneviève," "Cleopatra," "St. hristopher," "I Fiori di Fiesole," and the Origin of the American Flag." He also painted everal hundred portraits. From 1869 to 1871 e was President of the National Academy of esign. In 1871 he went to Europe, and reained there until the close of 1874.

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, a kingom of Western Europe. The Queen, Victoria, as born May 24, 1819. She is a daughter of rince Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son f George III.; succeeded her uncle, William V., as Queen of Great Britain in 1837; married 1840 Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Children of the Queen.-1. Princess Victoa, born November 21, 1840; married to the rown-Prince of Germany. 2. Prince Albert dward, heir-apparent, born November 9, 1841; arried in 1863 to Princess Alexandra, daugh

ter of King Christian IX. of Denmark. Issue, two sons and three daughters; eldest son, Albert Victor, born January 8, 1864. 3. Princess Alice, born April 25, 1843; married in 1862 to Louis IV., Grand-Duke of Hesse. 4. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, born August 6, 1844; married in 1874 to the Grand-Duchess Maria of Russia. He is heir-apparent to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 5. Princess Helena, born May 25, 1846; married in 1866 to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. 6. Princess Louise, born March 18, 1848; married in 1871 to the Marquis of Lorne. 7. Prince Arthur, born May 1, 1850. 8. Prince Leopold, born April 7, 1853. 9. Princess Beatrice, born April 14, 1857.

The cabinet was composed as follows in 1876: First Lord of the Treasury, Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield; Lord High-Chancellor, Right Hon. Lord Cairns; Lord President of the Council, Right Hon. Duke of Richmond and Gordon; Lord Privy Seal, the first Lord of the Treasury; Chancel lor of the Exchequer, Right Hon. Sir S. H. Northcote, Bart., M. P.; Secretaries of State: 1. Home Department, Right Hon. R. A. Cross; 2. Foreign Affairs, Earl of Derby; 3. Colonies, Earl of Carnarvon; 4. War, Right Hon. G. Hardy, M. P.; 5. Colonies, Marquis of Salisbury. First Lord of the Admiralty, Right Hon. W. H. Smith, M. P. Postmaster-General, Right Hon. Lord John J. R. Manners, M. P.

Parliament is composed of two Houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The number of peers in 1877 was 494. Of these, 5 were peers of the royal blood, 2 archbishops, 21 dukes, 19 marquesses, 129 earls, 32 viscounts, 24 bishops, and 262 barons. Of the total number, 16 were representative peers of Scotland, elected for the twenty-first Parliament, and 28 Irish representative peers, elected for life. The Speaker of the House of Lords was Lord Cairns, the Lord High-Chancellor, and the chairman of committees Lord Redesdale. The Speaker of the House of Commons was Henry Bouverie William Brand, and the chairman of committees Henry Cecil Raikes. The members of the House of Commons are elected by the people. The number of electors on register in 1876 was 2,340,763 in England and Wales, 295,420 in Scotland, and 230,773 in Ireland.

The following table gives the area and population of the United Kingdom according to the census of 1871, as well as the estimates of the Registrar-General (who does not include the islands in the British waters, nor the soldiers and sailors abroad), for 1875, 1876, and 1877.

Pop. in 1871. Pop. in 1875. Pop. in 1976. Pop. in 1877.