NOTE 52, p. 257.—The rate of increase in the population of Great Britain is such that there need be no especial alarm. In 1879, according to the official statistics, the number of births in Great Britain and Ireland in excess of the deaths was 436,780, while in France it was only 96,647. To every 10,000 inhabitants in Great Britain the annual addition is 101, while in France it is only 96. In Germany it is 115; in the United States (largely through immigration, of course) it is 260. The number of births per 1,000 in France is annually 26; in Switzerland, 30; in Denmark, 31; in Belgium, 32; in England, 35; in Austria, 38; in Saxony, 40; and in Russia, 50.—Raoul Frary, “Le National Peril”; also “Bradstreet’s” for Oct. 27, 1883, on “Vital Statistics,” 259. NOTE 53, p. 257.—The question most prominently before the English people at the time of the fall of Disraeli’s government in December of 1868 was the bill for disestablishing the Irish Church. This was the real issue at the election in November, and is what Disraeli called the policy of “violence.” The local reference was doubtless to the fact that Mr. Gladstone and Lord Hartington were both defeated in Lancashire as candidates for the House of Commons. Gladstone, however, accepted a seat for Greenwich. NOTE 54, p. 258.—Lord Mayo, in consequence of his successful administration of the affairs of Ireland, was appointed by Disraeli’s Ministry Viceroy of India. He was assassinated early in 1872. His administration was such as to win the admiration of all discriminating men of all parties. NOTE 55, p. 259.—When Mr. Gladstone came into power in 1868, one of his early measures was bill for the disendowment of the Irish State Church. The controversy over the measure was one of great earnestness, but it was finally carried and went into effect January 1, 1871. This was followed by the Irish Land Bill, which aimed to overthrow the doctrine of the landlord’s absolute and unlimited rights, and to recognize certain property of the tenant in the land. This doctrine was carried still further in the Irish Land Bill of 1882.—McCarthy, chap. lviii. NOTE 56, p. 260.—This subject is well presented in McCarthy’s chap. lix., “Reformation in a Flood.” For a list of the most important of these measures, see the Introduction to Mr. Gladstone.