Part 14 (1/2)
EXCHEQUER AND AUDIT DEPARTMENT, a department of the English Civil Service charged with the functions of auditing the accounts of all other departments.
EXCHEQUER BILLS, bills of credit issued by authority of Parliament as a means of raising money for temporary purposes. They are of various sums--100 or any multiple--and bear interest at a rate fixed for every half-year according to the rate ruling in the money-market at the time.
These bills pa.s.s from hand to hand as money, and form part of the public unfunded debt of Great Britain. _Exchequer bonds_ are similar, but they run for a definite number of years (six at most) at a fixed rate of interest.
EXCISE', an inland duty or impost laid on commodities produced and consumed within a country, and also on licences to manufacture and deal in certain commodities. Excise duties were introduced into England by the Long Parliament in 1643, being then laid on the makers and vendors of ale, beer, cider, and perry. Being found to be a convenient and productive source of revenue, they continued to gain ground, and in 1919 yielded 59,663,000. In Britain the excise includes duties on spirits and beer, licences on dogs, guns, carriages, servants, plate, railways, game, &c. In 1917 an excise duty was laid on entertainments, matches, and table waters. Spirits and beer yield over 44,000,000.
EXCI'TO-MOTOR ACTION, the action of nerves distributed to muscular organs, the stimulation of which leads to movement. Thus, irritation of a nerve supplying a muscle will lead to contraction of the muscle by excito-motor action, and irritation of certain nerves distributed to blood-vessels will lead to contraction of the vessel by acting on its muscular coat.
EXCLUSION, BILL OF, a bill introduced into the British Parliament during the reign of Charles II for the purpose of excluding the Duke of York (afterwards James II), he being a Roman Catholic, from the throne.
EXCOMMUNICATION, the exclusion of a Christian from the communion and spiritual privileges of the Church. Excommunication was a recognized penalty among the Jews (_John_, ix, 22), and was practised early by the Christian Church. A distinction gradually arose between a lesser and a greater excommunication, the former being a suspension from Church privileges, the latter a formal expulsion excluding from all communion with the faithful. In the Middle Ages the Popes often excommunicated whole cities and kingdoms. In such a case all religious services ceased, and the grave inconveniences thus caused made excommunication a formidable weapon in the hands of the Pope, till with frequent abuse it lost its force.
Besides excommunication an extreme degree of denunciation called _anathema_, and cutting the offender off from all the hopes and consolations of the Christian faith, is used in the Roman Catholic Church.
Both Luther and Calvin were in favour of the right of excommunication by the ministers of the Church. In the Church of England both the less and the greater excommunications are recognized.--Cf. E. Taunton, _The Law of the Church_.
EXCRE'TION, in physiology, the separation and carrying off of waste matter from some organ of an animal body, a function performed by the lungs, kidneys, and the skin, besides the action of the intestinal ca.n.a.l.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Excubitorium, St. Alban's Abbey]
EXCUBITO'RIUM, in mediaeval churches, a gallery where public watch was kept at night on the eve of some festival, and from which the great shrines could be seen.
EXE, a river of England, which rises in Exmoor, in the county of Somerset, and after a southerly course of about 50 miles falls into the English Channel at Exmouth.
EXECUTION, in law, is a judicial writ grounded on a judgment of the court by which the writ is issued, and is granted for the purpose of carrying the judgment into effect, by having it executed. Execution is granted by a court only upon the judgments given by the same court, not upon those p.r.o.nounced by another. See _Elegit_; _Fieri facias_.
EXECUTIONER, the official who carries into effect a sentence of death, or inflicts capital punishment in pursuance of a legal warrant. In England the duty of executing the extreme sentence of the law devolves upon the sheriff, and in Scotland on the civic magistracy, but in practice the duty is performed by another in presence of these functionaries. In the reign of James I Gregory Brandon was the executioner of London, and hence the name Gregory has often been employed to designate executioners. In France the executioner is styled Monsieur de Paris.
EXEC'UTIVE, that branch of the government of a country by which the laws are carried into effect or the enforcement of them superintended. The term is used in distinction from the _legislative_ and the _judicial_ departments, and includes the supreme magistrate, whether emperor, king, president, or governor, his cabinet or ministers, and a host of minor officials.
EXEC'UTOR, in law, is one appointed by a man's last will to carry its provisions into execution after the testator's death. The testator may, by the English law, appoint any person of sound mind and discretion, though otherwise under some legal disabilities as to contracting and transacting business in general, such as a married woman, or a minor. The duties of executors and of administrators are, in general, the same, the difference of the two depending mostly on the mode of appointment, the executor being nominated by the testator, the administrator being appointed by the Judge of Probate. In Scotland an executor appointed by will is styled executor _nominate_, and by authority of the court executor _dative_.
EXEQUA'TUR (Lat., 'Let him accomplish'), a written recognition of a consul or commercial agent issued by the Government to which he is accredited, and authorizing him to exercise his powers.
EX'ETER, a city, river-port, parliamentary county, and munic.i.p.al borough of England, county town of Devon, on the left bank of the Exe, 10 miles north-west of its outlet in the English Channel. It is pleasantly situated on the summit and slopes of an acclivity rising from the river, and has handsome squares, terraces, and streets. The chief architectural feature is the cathedral (founded in 1112), a long, low building with fine west front, unique in having two towers forming its transepts, and only these two. The city has remains of the old castle and old walls, Guildhall, Albert Memorial College, training college, and St. Michael's Church. There are iron-foundries, works for agricultural implements and paper, and 'Honiton'
lace is made. By a ca.n.a.l vessels of 300 tons can reach the city. The largest vessels remain at Exmouth. Exeter is a place of remote antiquity, having been a British settlement long prior to the invasion of the Romans, by whom it was called _Isca d.a.m.noniorum_. It was taken by William the Conqueror in 1068. It long returned two members to Parliament, but lost one of them in 1885. Pop. 59,608.
EXETER COLLEGE, Oxford, a college, originally called Stapledon Hall, founded in 1314 by Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, who made a foundation for a rector and twelve fellows. In 1404 Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, added two fellows.h.i.+ps and obtained leave to give the college its present name.
EXETER HALL, a large building on the north side of the Strand, London, opened in 1831, and capable of containing over 3000 persons. In it the 'May Meetings' of the several religious societies were held. It was sold in 1907 by the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation to a firm of caterers, who demolished it in 1908. The Strand Palace Hotel now stands on its site.
EXFOLIATION is the scaling off of dead tissues; thus there may be exfoliation of the skin, of bone, or of other parts from their living surroundings.
EXHIBITION, a fixed sum given for a term of years from the funds of a school, college, or university, generally upon the result of a compet.i.tive examination. An exhibition, no matter what its pecuniary value, is less of a distinction than a scholars.h.i.+p. At Cambridge an exhibitioner has no standing in his college different from that of the ordinary 'pensioner', while a scholar is on the Foundation of his college.
EXHIBITIONS. The earliest recorded 'exhibition', in the modern acceptation of the word, is that in which, for one hundred and eighty days, Ahasuerus ”shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom” at Shushan (_Esther_, i, 2-4).
The first European exhibition was held at Venice in 1268; while the great fairs of Leipzig and Nijni-Novgorod partook of the same nature. But the real forerunner of the modern exhibition was that held in London by the Society of Arts in 1756, when carpets, china, and similar artistic objects were displayed. This was followed in 1761 by an exhibition of agricultural machinery. In 1797 France held a display of _objets d'art_ at St. Cloud; there was another two years later at the Louvre; while a third in 1802 is memorable for the first issue of an official catalogue, and for the presence of Montgolfier the aeronaut, and Jacquard the inventor of the loom that bears his name, among exhibitors. Besides the exhibition of Irish industries, held at Dublin (1829), and the Birmingham exhibition of metal-work (1849), numerous displays were held in both Europe and America before the first International or 'Great' Exhibition of 1851. This memorable display was under the active patronage of Prince Albert, and for its accommodation the Crystal Palace was erected in Hyde Park. Its success gave the exhibition movement an impetus which produced examples at New York and Dublin (1853), both of which proved financial failures; at Munich and Melbourne (1854); Paris (1855); and at South Kensington, where was held the second International Exhibition (1862). Five years later, after Constantinople, Oporto, and Agra had, among other places, held displays, came the great Paris Exhibition, planned on a colossal scale; though the main building in the Champ de Mars was stigmatized as 'a gasometer' by Napoleon III. Vienna had a magnificent but financially disastrous exhibition in 1873, and in 1876 Philadelphia celebrated the centenary of the Independence of the United States by a display. In 1878 Paris held another exhibition, for which the Trocadero was built. A series held at South Kensington (1871-4) had only a moderate success, but great popularity was attained by the 'Fisheries', 'Health', 'Inventions', and Colonial Exhibitions held in the years 1883-6. Edinburgh was the scene of a forestry display in 1884, and at the same time New Orleans opened an exhibition which continued till the following year. The Paris Exhibition of 1889 was notable for the 'side-shows', which included the Eiffel Tower; while the financial result of that held in 1900, which covered 550 acres of ground and admitted thirty-nine million people, was far from satisfactory.
Meanwhile Chicago had in 1893 celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America by a huge 'World's Fair'. The present century opened inauspiciously with the a.s.sa.s.sination of President McKinley at the Pan-American Exhibition at Buffalo (1901); Glasgow had a thoroughly successful exhibition the same year; St. Louis was the scene of another in 1904; while London organized the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908. This last owed much to the late Imre Kiralfy, who had directed many previous displays, and was the designer of the 'White City' at Shepherd's Bush, where in 1914 was held the Anglo-American Exposition. After the conclusion of the European War various plans for new exhibitions were put forward, such as the British Empire Exhibition, which is to be held in London in 1923, and which is intended to foster imperial interests.
EX'ILE, a punishment by which a person is compelled to leave the city, province, or the country where he has previously resided. It is a punishment for State criminals.
EXMOOR', a wild and hilly district of England, in the extreme south-west of Somersets.h.i.+re, extending also into Devons.h.i.+re, formerly a forest.