troops in our Indian army. The most terrible atrocities were perpetrated by the rebels on the British residents who fell into their hands. Neither woman nor child was spared. At Delhi the massacre was so complete that not a survivor was left. Generals Havelock, Outram, and Sir Colin Campbell, by heroic efforts ultimately restored the supremacy of the British arms, but only after a frightful expenditure of human lives. In 1858 an Act of Parliament was passed for the transfer of the Anglo-Indian empire from the East India Company to the Queen of England, since which time it has been governed by a secretary of state assisted by a council of fifteen.

11. In 1857 another war broke out with China, in which France took part with England. The allied army, after obtaining several successes, marched upon Pekin; and compelled the Chinese authorities to agree to a convention, stipulating (1) that an apology should be made by the emperor for the ill-treatment of our ambassador; (2) that the allies should be indemnified for the expenses of the war; (3) that several additional ports should be thrown open, and (4) that Christianity should be tolerated throughout the empire.

12. Of the domestic events of this reign, few have excited a more general interest than the marriage of the Prince of Wales with the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, March 10, 1863. England probably never witnessed such a spontaneous outburst of loyalty and good feeling as greeted "The Fair Maid of Denmark" and her future husband on their entry into London. Nor was this enthusiasm confined to the metropolis. The day of their marriage was celebrated with festivities throughout the British dominions.

13. In 1865, an Irish Secret Society, known as the Fenian Society, gave considerable anxiety to the Government. It had for its object the overthrow of British rule in Ireland, and the establishment in its place of an independent Irish Republic. Fortunately the designs of the conspirators were speedily discovered and thwarted. James Stephens, its director,

or "Head Centre," as he was called, was arrested; but subsequently succeeded in escaping from his prison and eluding justice. Numbers of other Fenians were also seized and condemned to penal servitude. The conspiracy, however, was not at once suppressed, and so threatening did its proportions_become, that in the early part of 1866 the English Parliament found it necessary to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, for the purpose of clearing the country of dangerous persons. A large number of persons, chiefly IrishAmericans, who had come over to Ireland for the purpose of exciting a rebellion, were forthwith arrested and lodged in prison. The Fenians now attempted open war, in which they were utterly unsuccessful, a small military force sufficing to completely disperse them and quell the rebellion. The policy of the English Government towards the prisoners was very lenient, and nearly all of them were released after a few years' imprisonment.

14. The year 1867 saw the passing of the second Reform Bill, which bestowed the right of voting on all persons in boroughs who were either (1) householders paying poor-rates, or (2) lodgers occupying rooms with a rent of 107. a year or more; and on all persons in counties who were tenants of land or houses yielding a rent of 127. or more. At the same time there was a considerable redistribution of seats, whereby several of our largest towns were enabled to return an additional representative to Parliament. In 1868 similar reforms were effected in Irish and Scotch representation.

15. The same year an expedition was sent to Africa, under the command of Sir Robert Napier, for the purpose of compelling Theodore, king of Abyssinia, to surrender several British subjects, whom he had illegally imprisoned and refused to liberate. After a long and arduous journey from the shore of the Red Sea the British troops reached Magdala, Theodore's capital, and took it by storm, the king only escaping capture by committing suicide.

16. In 1869 the Irish Church Bill was passed, which had for its object the disestablishment and disendowment of the Church of Ireland.

Two important measures became law in 1870, viz., the Irish Land Bill, designed to improve the position of Irish tenant-farmers; and the English Education Bill, designed to provide a more extensive machinery for the education of the children of the poor.

ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

SAXON PERIOD.

THE history of the English Constitution may be said to commence with the reign of Egbert, who ascended the throne of Wessex in 800, and who by 827 had made himself master of all England. During the period which elapsed between the time of Egbert and the Norman Conquest, English society was divisible into two great classes, freemen and slaves.

The freemen included the thanes or nobles, and the ceorls who were not of noble rank. The thanes acquired their positions in one of three ways, viz., by birth, property, or office. They were divisible into royal and lower thanes, the weregild of the former being 1200 shillings, that of the latter 600.

The weregild or compensation made to the family of a murdered man was regulated by the position in society which he occupied, and is therefore an accurate guide to the estimation in which the various classes of society were held. It was common among all the northern nations.

The ceorls were for the most part cultivators of the soil. To this class also belonged traders and artisans. They were in some cases only partially free, being unable to leave the manors on which they lived. In other cases they were independent freeholders.

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If a ceorl acquired possession of five hydes of land (ie., about 600 acres) with a church and mansion of his own, he was entitled to the name or rights of a thane. A ceorl's weregild was 200 shillings.

The slaves were composed of (1) descendants of the conquered Britons, and (2) Saxons who had been unable to pay a weregild, or had been guilty of some legal offence for which there was no composition; (3) persons who had sold themselves into slavery in times of scarcity to escape starvation. They could be bought and sold within the country, but not exported, though the law in this respect was often violated, the Bristol traders being notorious for their slave-traffic with Ireland.

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Through the influence of the clergy, the condition of the slaves was deprived of many of its usual horrors. Thus slaves were exempted from labour on Sundays and feastdays; they were permitted to acquire property; and instances of manumission were by no means uncommon. much to Alfred's credit that by his will he set free all his slaves. At the Conquest the slaves numbered about oneeleventh of the whole population. They were most numerous, as might be expected, on the Welsh border.

Political Divisions.-The origin of the division of England into shires is unknown. They are mentioned in the laws of Ina, and were probably provinces parcelled out by the early Saxon kings to their leading nobles. The counties were subdivided into hundreds, and these again into tithings.

Hundreds are supposed by some to have been so called from their consisting of a hundred hydes of land; by others from the number of free families living on them. It is clear, however, that the word could not have been used always in the same sense; for we find that while Sussex contains 65 hundreds, the large county of Yorkshire contains only 26, and Lancashire only 6. The tithings are supposed to have originally contained ten free families.

The members of a tithing were bound by what was called the law of frank-pledge, which made them responsible for the appearance before a court of justice of