A system of licensing which originated at Gothenburg in 1865. All the houses licensed for the sale of alcohol are in the hands of a company and run by salaried managers. All the profits of the company, after payment of five per cent. to the shareholders, are paid into the treasury of the town. Gotteshausbund. A league of the nobles and communes of the Engadine, formed in 1367, to protect the liberties of the country from the encroachments of Austria. Gowrie Conspiracy. A conspiracy headed by the Earl of Gowrie and his brother, Alexander Ruthven, in 1600, to murder James VI of Scotland. It is supposed that their motive was to avenge the death of their father, who had been executed sixteen years before, though both the brothers had been treated with the greatest kindness by the King. James was decoyed to Gowrie House, in Perth, on the plea of examining a suspicious prisoner, and was attacked in the absence of his suite, and nearly overpowered. He managed to give the alarm, and was rescued by Sir James Ramsay, his page, and others of his followers. The King’s story was at the time doubted by many people, but documents afterwards came to light proving the existence of a plot at least to kidnap the King. Grace, Act of. An Act of indemnity passed in 1690, granting a pardon for all political offences committed up to the time of the passing of the Act, the only exceptions to the general amnesty being such of the regicides as might still be living, and about thirty other persons, against none of whom, however, were any proceedings taken. Grace, Act of. An Act passed in 1784, restoring the estates forfeited for high treason in 1745, to the descendants of their former owners. Graces. A number of concessions granted to Ireland by Lord Falkland in 1628, in return for the aids which were destined to relieve the embarrassed exchequer of James I. Grágás. A codification of the laws of the Norsemen, made by Magnus the Good, King of Denmark and Norway (1035-1047). Gran Capitan, El. Gonsalvo of Cordova, the famous Spanish Captain (1453-1515), was so called. Gran Reunion Americana. A secret society formed in London about 1800 to aid the movement in the Spanish-American Colonies in the direction of independence. Among its leaders were O’Higgins, Miranda and Bolivar. Granary of Europe. The Island of Sicily was formerly so called, owing to its remarkable fertility. Grand Alliance, 1701. An alliance formed in 1701 between England, Holland, and the Empire, to maintain the balance of power, supposed to be threatened by the bequest of the Spanish Crown to a French Prince. It was followed by the war known as the War of the Spanish Succession. Grand Alliance, 1813. The alliance between Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Sweden and Austria, which led to the downfall of Napoleon, and his first abdication in the following year. Grand Corruption.