a body of Presbyterians in Scotland who
dissent from the Established Church on chiefly ecclesiastical grounds,
and had their origin in union in 1847 of the Secession Church of 1733
with the Relief Church of 1752, bodies previously in dissent as well. A
further union of the United Presbyterian body with the Free Church is to
all appearance about to be consummated.

UNITED PROVINCES. See HOLLAND.

UNITED STATES (62,622), the great Western republic; occupies an area
nearly as large as all Europe, bounded on the N. by the Dominion of
Canada, on the E. by the Atlantic, on the S. by Mexico and the Gulf, and
on the W. by the Pacific, extending 2700 m. from E. to W., and on an
average 1600 m. from N. to S.; on the coasts are few capes, inlets, and
islands, except on that of New England; there are two great mountain
systems, the Appalachians on the E. and the Rockies, the Cascade ranges,
&c., on the W., which divide the territory into four regions--an eastern,
which slopes from the Appalachians to the Atlantic, a manufacturing
region; a central, which slopes S., formed by the Mississippi Valley, an
agricultural and pastoral region; a plateau supported by the Rocky and
Cascade ranges, a metalliferous region; and a territory with the valley
of the Sacramento, which slopes to the Pacific, of varied resources. The
great rivers are in the Mississippi Valley, as also the two largest
lakes, the Michigan and Great Salt Lake, though there are important
rivers both for navigation and water-power on the Atlantic and Pacific
slopes. The climate is of every variety, from sub-arctic to sub-tropic,
with extremes both as regards temperature and moisture, in consequence of
which the vegetation is varied. The mineral wealth is immense, and
includes, besides large beds of coal, all the useful metals. The
industries, too, are manifold, and embrace manufactures of all kinds,
with agriculture, grazing, mining, and fishing, while commerce is
prosecuted with an activity that defies all rivalry, the facilities in
railway and waterway being such as no other country can boast of, for
there are over 182,000 miles of railway, not to mention street railways
and traction lines, with telegraphic and telephonic communication. The
population is mostly of British and German descent, with eight million
negroes, who are all English-spoken. The Government is a federal republic
of 45 States; the legislature consists of two Houses--a Senate
representing the State