The  UNITED  KINGDOM  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  AND  IRELAND  consists  of  the  islands  Great  Britain
and  Ireland,  the  former  including  the  once  independent  kingdoms  of  England  and  Scotland,
and  the  whole  constituting  not  only  the  nucleus  and  the  centre,  but  also  the  main  body  and
seat,  of  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  BRITISH  EMPIRE.  The  colonies  and  foreign  dependencies
belonging  to  the  United  Kingdom  are  of  great  extent  and  importance,  consisting  principally  of  the
British  possessions  in  North  America,  the  West  Indies,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Australia,  and
the  East  Indies.  The  British  East  India  possessions  aloue  embrace  an  area  of  one  million  two
hundred  thousand  square  miles.  It  is  doubtless  the  common  opinion  that  the  United  Kingdom
is  indebted  to  its  territorial  possessions  for  a  large  portion  of  its  wealth  and  power ;  but  many
able  writers  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  these  colonies  and  dependencies  occasion  an
enormous  outlay  of  expense  without  any  equivalent  advantage,  and  that  they  are  a  source  of
weakness  rather  than  of  strength.
