Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/487

* LONDON. 429 LONDON. men, and a common council composed of 200 members. The councilors art elected by the rate- j.ayers; but the Lord ilayor, .Sheriti', and some (rther officers are chosen by the guilds or livery companies. (See Guild and Company.) These number at present 76, though some represent I rades that have long been extinct. They are cry wealthy. A largo amount of their income i-. spent in charity and entertainments of various . kinds. The city government controls all the relating to the main ilrainage. Outside of the ancient city, the central author- ity is vested in the London County Council, whose jurisdiction extends over London County, but does not include the outlying circle of the urban ilistrict that has grown up around London Coun- ty and with it forms Cireater London. It. how- ever, has authority throughout the entire urban ilistrict over those features of the public service tliat must be under central control, such as the main drainage or sewerage, the provision of parks, and the fire department. The police department i-^ an exception, for the police are regarded as l«'ing as much a general British as a city force,
 * i Hairs of the ancient city, excepting questions
 * ind are directly under the control of the Home

< Hiice. The total police force numbered 15.769 in 1S99. The limitation in 1888 of London to a county around its ancient nucleus, divided into 29 ad- ministrative boroughs comprising 30 Parlianient-
 * irv boroughs, returning .58 members, took effect

in 1900. Each administrative borough has its mayor, aldermen, and common council, respon- sible only to the central Government, except in Ihe matters of common interest above mentioned, Inch are under the control of the London Com- mon Council. There are many boards having special func- tions, such as the London School Board and the Metropolitan Asylums Board. For educational purposes the metropolis is divided into 11 dis- tricts that elect 55 members of the London School Board, which has charge of public in- struction. The ilctropolitan Asylums Board hag charge of all the asylums for imbeciles, the hospi- tals for cases of infectious disease, and the train- ing schools for children. The expenditures every year for the relief of the poor, and other assist- ance provided for by the Poor Law. amount to more than .$15,000,000. The annual cost of the entire government of the city is considerablv over .$65,000,000; the total debt is nearly $2,301- 000.000. The taxes to meet the expenditures are levied over the whole area, in proportion to the population of the various districts. The well- founded complaint that the taxes were dispropor- tionately heavy upon the poorer districts has been met by various expedients to equalize the burden. History. When the Romans landed in England they found London already a town of consider- able importance. Tacitus wrote that the town was fiimous for its many merchants and large trade. The Romans, however, did not make London the administrative centre of their Brit- ish province, though they foimded a colonv whose buildings extended along the left bank of the Thames from the Tower to the neighborhood of Saint Paul's and north to Finsbury and lloor- field. Alfred the Great in the ninth century made London the capital of his kingdom. One of the first acts of William the Conqueror in England was to begin the erection of the Tower, which was intended as a citadel to overawe the citizens and give him command of the city. The Xoruians great- ly improved the appearance of all the larger towns in the country. Many of them settled in London and erected handsomer buildings than had hitherto been seen in England. The stone build- ings, however, were confined to mona.steries, churches, and public edifices, all ordinary build- ings being still constructed of wood — a fact that promoted the spread of the great fires from which London suffered. The wooden I-ondon Bridge was torn down in 1170 and rebuilt with stone, tlicre being twenty arches and a drawliridge. This structure, completed in 1209, repaired and tin- kered from time to time, was in service till early in the last century, when it gave place to the present bridge. The wealth, grandeur, beauty, and magnificence of the London of the early part of the Plantagenet period is frequent- ly referred to by the writers of that day; but there seems to be satisfactory proof that in 1377 the city had a population of less than 35,000. Throughout the Middle Ages the prog- ress of London was slow, and was repeatedly arrested by wars, commercial crises, and epi- demics. London naturally has always shared both the prosperity and the reverses of England. The fact that most of the area now in the heart of the city was in a wild and uncultivated state as late as the time of Henry VIll. is shown by his edict for the protection of game-birds in the region from his palace "at Westminster to Saint Giles-in-the-Fields. from thence to Islington, Harapstead, and Hornsey Park." The monasteries and other religious houses founded by the Nor- mans were converted by Henry VIII. into hospi- tals (including Saint Bartholomew's Hospital), or the rents were applied to charitable purposes. The sixteenth century witnessed a great expan- sion of British trade, and as transoceanic lands were brought within the sphere of European conmierce a great impetus was given to the prog- ress of London. The opening by Queen Elizabeth of the Royal Exchange was one of the events marking London's growth in world importance. The city was extended in all directions during her long reign. Fearing that it might become too great and powerful, the Queen issued in 1580 her famous proclamation prohibiting the erection of any new liuildings for three miles outside of the city gates. It was impossible, however, to fix, by decree, the limits of inevitable expansion, and the growth of the city was scarcely checked even by the frightful calami- ties, the political turmoil, and the civil wars that marked the era of the Stuarts. London had at various times been sorely stricken with pesti- lence, but in the infliction that passed into his- tory as 'the Great Plague' her stillVrings from outbreaks of infectious disease reached their climax. In 1665 about 100,000 Londoners died in six months of the plague that broke out in the crowded streets; and the plague was followed the next year br a fire which began in the heart of the city and laid London in ashes from the Tower to the Temple. The loss in buildings and merchandise "was beyond count. Thirteen hun- dred houses and nineteen churches were de- stroyed." Prostrate as London was. the fire was not an unmixed calamity. The London built of wood had vanished to give place to a city of brick