ed success quite as much as we did who obtained it." In January, 1814, commodore Decatur, in the United States, with his prize the Macedonian, then equipped as an American frigate, was blockaded at New London by a British squadron greatly superior in force. A challenge which he sent to the commander of the British squadron, sir Thomas Hardy, offering to meet two of the British frigates with his two ships, was declined. In January, 1815, he attempted to set sail from New York, which was blockaded by four British ships; but the frigate under his command, the President, was injured in passing the bar, and was captured by the whole squadron, after having maintained a running fight of two hours and a half with one of the frigates, the Endymion, which was dismantled and silenced. Af ter the conclusion of peace, he was restored to his country, in 1815. The conduct of the Barbary powers, and of Algiers in particular, having been insulting to the United States, on the ratification of peace with Great Britain, war was declared against Algiers, and a squadron was fitted out, under the command of commodore Decatur, for the purpose of obtaining redress. In the spring of 1815, he set sail, and, June 17, off cape de Gatt, captured an Algerine frigate, after a running fight of 25 minutes, in which the famous admiral Rais Hammida, who had long been the terror of the Mediterranean sea, fell. The American squadron arrived at Algiers June 28. In less than 48 hours, Decatur terrified the regency into his own terms, which were, mainly, that no tribute should ever be required, by Algiers, from the U. States of America; that all Americans in slavery should be given up without ransom; that compensation should be made for American property seized; that all citizens of the U. States, taken in war, should be treated as prisoners of war are by other nations, and not as slaves, but held subject to an exchange without ransom. After concluding this treaty, he proceeded to Tunis, where he obtained indemnity for the outrages exercised or permitted by the bashaw. Thence he went to Tripoli, where he made a similar demand with like success, and procured the release of 10 captives, Danes and Neapolitans. He arrived in the U. States Nov. 12, 1815, was subsequently appointed one of the board of navy commissioners, and was residing at Washington, in that capacity, when he was killed in a duel with commodore Barron, March 22, 1820, occasioned by his animadversions on the conduct

of the latter. Courage, sagacity, energy, self-possession, and a high sense of honor, were the characteristic traits of Decatur. From his boyhood, he was remarkable for the qualities which presage eminence in naval warfare. He enjoyed the sea as his element. He possessed an active, muscular frame, a quick and penetrating eye, and a bold, adventurous and ambitious spirit.

DECAZES, Elie, duke, peer of France, duke of Glücksburg in Denmark, was born at St. Martin-de-Laye, near Libourne, in 1780, of a family ennobled by Henry IV, and studied law in the college Vendome. In 1806, he became judge of the tribunal of the first instance in the department of the Seine; in 1810, counsellor of the court of appeals; and afterwards counsellor of Louis, king of Holland. After the return of Napoleon from Elba, he openly declared himself in favor of Louis XVIII, and was ordered not to approach within 40 leagues of Paris. On the return of the king, he was appointed prefect of the police, dissolved the chamber of representatives, and received a place in the council of state. In his connexions with the commanders of the allied troops and the journalists of Paris, he showed himself cautious and prudent, and, in the trials of Labédoyère and Ney, and after the dismission of Fouchè, in the capacity of minister of the police, he was energetic in his measures relating to the leaders of the last revolution, and the preservation of public order. In 1818, he was made count, and married mlle. de St. Aulaire, granddaughter of the sister of the late duke of Holstein-Glücksburg, in consequence of which he was created duke of Glücksburg by the king of Denmark. He had already been created peer of France, and, in 1820, was made duke. As minister of police, to which place the royalists had recommended him, Decazes strengthened his influence with the king by the discovery and destruction of certain papers of the greatest importance, respecting the king personally, so that the favor of the king could never be entirely withdrawn from him. With the ultras, he made himself unpopular by advising the king to bolish the chambre introuvable. (q. v.) His moderation exposed him to the attacks of the right and the left side at once. "Royaliser la nation, nationaliser le royalisme," he at that time declared to be the object of the government. But the charter received no legal security, and the laws of exception, violating personal liberty and the liberty of the press, softened as they were by De

cazes, were a dangerous exercise of arbitrary power. Decazes and the minister of war, Gouvion St. Cyr, declared themselves, in 1818, so warmly against the proposition of Richelieu for the change of the laws of election of Feb. 5, 1817, that the latter and Lainé retired from the ministry. The king then appointed Decazes to the ministry of the interior (Dec. 29, 1818), with which he continued to hold the ministry of the police, and, at the same time, the ministry of public instruction and public worship. From motives of prudence, he left the presidency of the ministerial council to the marquis Desolles. (q. v.) This ministry acted against the principles of the ultra opposition as much as it thought requisite to carry its measures, and as much, perhaps, as its situation allowed. See Guizot, Du Gouvernement de la France depuis la Restauration et du Ministère actuel (Paris, 1820), and Des Moyens de Gouvernement et de l'Opposition dans l'État actuel de la France (Paris, Oct. 1821). The oligarchical opposition in the chamber, to which belonged Villèle, Corbières, de la Bourdonnaye, Clausel de Coussergues, Lainé, &c., and in the chamber of peers, particularly Châteaubriand and Fitz-James, opposed in vain the influence of the minister. Decazes effected a mitigation of the ordinance of 1816 against the regicides, and frustrated the attempts of Barthélemy to change the election law, and introduce the system of indirect elections, by the nomination of 70 new peers, March, 1819. His three laws against the abuses of the press (see De Serres) established the censorship only for a short time. The establishment (August, 1819) of an exhibition of French industry was more permanent. France is also indebted to him for the councils of commerce and manufactures, for many agricultural societies, and for an institution for encouraging the mechanical arts, and educating young farmers at the expense of the state. The hatred of the court party and of the ultras against the favored minister, particularly since his discovery of the white conspiracy, so called, the investigation of which was suppressed, continued to increase. His most irreconcilable enemy was baron Vitrolles. When the liberals, strengthened by the result of the elections of 1819, threatened to become too powerful for the government, Decazes showed himself alternately inclined to the court and constitutional parties, and endeavored to check the further extension of liberal institutions. This balancing between constitutional and absolute princi

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ples, the bascule system, as it was called (see Bascule), not only threw the ultraliberals into the opposition, but also alienated the constitutional ministers Desolles, Gouvion St. Cyr and Louis, who resigned their seats in the ministry after the alteration in the law of elections. The new ministry of Nov. 19, 1819, in which Pasquier, Latour-Maubourg and Roy occupied the seats thus vacated, and Decazes was named president, was not more harmonious. De Serre prepared the projet of a new law of elections, in which Decazes consented to the introduction of the upper electoral colleges, but would not allow the double vote. (See Election, Laws of.) The proposed laws respecting the censorship of the press, and the arrest of public disturbers, met with objections in the ministerial council, and still more from many members of the right side and of the centre, whilst the liberals opposed them entirely. The murder of the duke of Berri (q. v.), Feb. 13, 1820, inflamed the ultra-royalists against Decazes, who favored the liberal ideas which they accused as the cause of that murder, and the deputy Clausel de Coussergues openly charged him with being an accomplice in the assassination. Decazes, finding the proposed law of Feb. 15 disapproved by all parties, and the royal family also desirous of his dismission,-given up by the liberals, who could not trust him any longer, attacked by the ultras, and subjected to the basest calumnies,-resigned his place, Feb. 18, and proposed the duke of Richelieu as his successor. The king consented, Feb. 20, but bestowed on him the title of duke, and appointed him ambassador at the court of St. James, and privy-counsellor. In 1820, he arrived in London, where he resided in great splendor. The new law of election had filled the chamber with the most violent opposers of the ministry. Decazes, apprehensive of his own fall, gave in his resignation, and returned to Paris. On the occasion of the deliberations of the congress of Laybach, Decazes had given lord Castlereagh the most decided assurances of the neutrality of France with regard to Naples; nevertheless, the French ministers at Laybach acceded to the plans of Austria, and, after an explanation with Castlereagh, Decazes was informed by Pasquier that the French ministers at Laybach had received secret instructions. While the duke was in Paris, the liberal party made an effort to unite him with Talleyrand for the overthrow of the ministry, but the attempt was unsuccessful, on account of his con

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retired to his estates, where he devoted himself to agriculture, the improvement of which, in the department of the Gironde, is principally owing to him. He also established, at Libourne, a society for the promotion of agriculture, a museum, and a school for mutual instruction. Meanwhile, the party of Villèle triumphed over the friends of Decazes, in the change of the ministry, Dec. 4, 1821. Châteaubriand (q. v.) succeeded him as ambassador in London. In 1822, the duke returned to Paris, but took little share in the debates of the chamber of peers. During the life of Louis XVIII, the party of Decazes, whose organ was the Journal de Paris, was hated as much as it was feared by the royalists, particularly by the friends of the minister of finance, Villèle. In the chamber of peers, it consisted of Bastard de Lestang, Lally-Tolendal, Barante, Molé, &c.; in the chamber of deputies, of most of the doctrinaires, and of many of the left side. The liberals entertained anew the hope of gaining Decazes when Talleyrand united himself with the doctrinaires; but the union of Talleyrand and Decazes was prevented by the extreme caution of the latter. As a politician, Decazes possesses neither the profound views of a Turgot, nor the eloquence of a De Serre. His speeches always contain some striking passages, but display neither that talent for debate, nor boldness of ideas and expression, for which De Serre was distinguished. Decazes is, however, a man of much talent, which is agreeably displayed in conversation, and of captivating manners. The merit of honest intentions and fidelity towards his king, cannot be denied him.

DECCAN, or the COUNTRY OF THE SOUTH; an extensive country of Hindostan, bounded N. by the Nerbuddahı, and S. by the Kistnah, extending across the peninsula from sea to sea. During the reign of the great mogul Aurungzebe, i. e., in the latter half of the 17th century, this country was annexed to the kingdom of Delhi, and divided into six governments Candeish, Amednagur, Beeder, Golconda, Beiapore and Berar. The capitals were Burhampour, Aurungabad, Hulberga, Bejapore and Hyderabad.

DECEM (Latin; ten); a word which is found in several compound and derivative words in English; as December, to decimate, decimal fractions, &c.

DECEMBER; the twelfth month of our year, from the Latin decem, ten, because, in the Roman year instituted by Romulus,

beginning with March. In December, the sun enters the tropic of Capricorn, and passes our winter solstice. This month was under the protection of Vesta.

DECEMVIRS. (See Appius Claudius.) DECIMAL ARITHMETIC; a kind of calculation in which no other fractions are used than tenths, hundredths, thousandths, &c., which are consequently called deci-' mal fractions. Joh. Regiomontanus first made use of it in his Tables of the Sines. It affords great facilities in calculation. As, in our system of notation, the values of figures are determined by their places, so that the figure on the left is always of ten times more value than the next at the right hand; so in decimal fractions, which must be considered as an extension of the decimal system (described in the article Notation), the place of the numerator determines the value of the denominator of the fraction, which need not, therefore, be expressed. The integers are separated from the fractional numbers by a period, so that this period, placed between several numbers, is the characteristic sign of a decimal fraction. For instance, 5.36 is 5 whole numbers, 3 tenths and 6 hundredths, or 36 hundredths; 5.009 is 5 whole numbers and 9 thousandths. If the divisions of money and measures be in a decimal ratio, as is the case with those adopted during the French revolution, the ease of calculation is greatly increased, almost all operations being reduced to addition and subtraction.

DECIMAL MEASURE; the division of the unit of measure (whatever it be, as a foot, a rod, &c.) into ten equal parts. The quadrant of a circle has also been divided into ten equal parts. In this case, the tenth part of such a quadrant is called a decimal degree. The French mathematicians, however, call the hundredth part of such a quadrant a decimal degree, and the hundredth part of such a degree a decimal minute.

DECIMATE; to exact the tithe. The collection or the payment of the tithe is called decimation. In war, decimation signifies the selection of the tenth man of a corps, by lot, for punishment, as in case of revolt. It was early practised by the Romans. Sometimes every tenth man is executed; sometimes only one man of each company, the tenth in order, as was the case when the Saxons revolted against Blücher, before the battle of Waterloo.

DECIPHERING, ART OF; the art of discovering the contents of a writing in which secret characters are used (often

ciphers; hence the term deciphering). First, the vowels must be determined. This is done in the following way:-1. All the words of two letters are selected and written down together; then those words are selected which are divided at the end of a line, so that only two letters of the word remain, one of which must necessarily be a vowel. Then the five (or whatever may be the number of the vowels in a language) letters are taken which occur the most frequently. 2. It is necessary to see if some one of these five letters is contained in every word of the secret writing. If there is any word in which none of them is contained, the signs of the vowels are not yet all discovered, and it remains to make the attempt again. When the vowels are found, they must, 3. be distinguished from each other. For this purpose, it should be determined which vowel occurs most frequently in the language in which the manuscript is supposed to be written. In every language, particular rules for determining the vowels may be laid down. All the ordinary modes of deciphering fail in the case of those secret writings in which dictionaries are used as the basis, and whole words, and even short sentences, are denoted by single ciphers, and where, also, the order of the ciphers, 1, 2, 3, &c., does not correspond to the alphabetical arrangement of the words in the dictionary, but is made as irregular as possible, and non-valeurs, as they are called, are made use of; that is, ciphers without signification, which are intermixed with the valeurs, or those ciphers which supply the place of words. The old modes of secret writing have been almost entirely superseded, and the old modes of deciphering have been made almost entirely useless by the modern species of cryptography, in which, according to a simple rule, which may be communicated verbally and retained in memory, the signs for the letters may be continually changed. This is the chiffre quarré, or chiffre indéchiffrable, used, if not universally, yet by most courts. (See Cryptography.)

DECIUS MUS, Publius; a Roman consul, who, in a war against the Latins, B. C. 340, devoted himself to death for his country. His example was followed by his son and his grandson. Such acts of self-devotion (devotiones) were not unusual at that time, when patriotism and piety exerted a powerful influence, and were performed with great solemnity. He who devoted himself, after performing certain religious rites, rushed into the midst of the

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enemy, clothed in splendid armor, to show his countrymen how a brave man ought to die for his country.-Decius was also the name of a Roman emperor, who reigned from A. D. 249 till December, 251. He persecuted the Christians, and perished, with his army, in a bloody battle in Moesia against the Goths. DECK. (See Ship.)

DECKER relates to the rate of a ship of force; as a two-decker, a three-decker ; i.e. carrying two entire tiers or ranges of cannon, or three such tiers.

DECLINATION OF THE SUN, OF A STAR, or A PLANET, is its distance from the equinoctial, northward or southward. When the sun is in the equinoctial, he has no declination, and enlightens half the globe from pole to pole. As he increases in north declination, he gradually shines farther over the north pole, and leaves the south pole in darkness. In a similar manner, when he has south declination, he shines over the south pole, and leaves the north pole in darkness. 23° 28′ is the sun's greatest declination north or south.

DECOMPOSITION, CHEMICAL, is the resolution of a compound substance into its constituent parts, which are exhibited either separate, or in some new combination. The compounds which are spontaneously formed by organic bodies, both vegetable and animal, are of a different nature from those which exist in unorgan. ized matter. They are the peculiar results of vital processes, and neither their structure nor composition can be imitated by art. During life, the elements of organic bodies are held together by vital affinities, under the influence of which they were originally combined. But no sooner does life cease, than these elements become subject to the laws of inert matter. The original affinities, which had been modified or suspended during life, are brought into operation; the elementary atoms react upon each other, new combinations are formed, and the organized structure passes, sooner or later, into decay. The rapidity with which decomposition takes place in organic bodies depends upon the nature of the particular substance, and upon the circumstances under which it is placed. Temperature, moisture, and the presence of decomposing agents, greatly affect both the period and extent of this process. By regulating or preventing the operation of these causes, the duration of most substances may be prolonged, and many materials are rendered useful, which, if left to themselves, would be perishable and worthless.

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The preservation of timber, of fibrous substances, of leather, of food, and of various objects of art, is a subject of the highest importance, and has received, at various times, inuch attention from scientific experimentalists.

DECOY, among fowlers; a place made for catching wild-fowl. A decoy is generally made where there is a large pond surrounded with wood, and beyond that a marshy and uncultivated country. If the piece of water is not thus surrounded, it will be subjected to noises and other accidents, which may be expected to frighten the wild-fowl from the haunt, where they would otherwise sleep in the day-time. If these noises or disturbances are wilful, it has been held that an action will lie against the disturber. As soon as the evening sets in, the decoy-birds rise, as the wild-fowl feed during the night. If the evening is still, the noise of their wings, during their flight, is heard at a very great distance, and is a pleasing, though rather melancholy sound.—Decoy, in military affairs; a stratagem to lure the enemy into an ambush, &c.

DECREE, in general; an order, edict or law made by a superior, as a rule to govern inferiors. It is used for a judicial decision in the court of chancery; also for the edicts of ecclesiastical councils. In the civil law, it signified a determination or judgment of the emperor on a suit between partics. The compilation of the older papal decretals and the decrees of the councils, made by the monk Gratianus in the 11th century, is called the Decretum Gratiani. (See Canon Law.) In the former German empire, the resolutions of the emperor, declared to the estates of the empire, were called decrees. The old name of royal orders, in France, was ordonnances or lettres. The national convention, while it possessed sovereign power, used the expression La convention nationale décrète. During the period of the directory, and under the consular government, the expressions arrêt and arrêter were customary; but the imperial government used the words imperial decree, for instance, in the famous decrees of Berlin and of Milan.

DECREPITATION is the crackling noise, accompanied by a violent exfoliation of their particles, which is made by several salts and earthy compounds, on being suddenly exposed to heat. It appears to be referable to the same cause which occasions the cracking of glass and cast-iron vessels, when they are incautiously heated; viz., the unequal expansion of the lamina

which compose them, in consequence of their imperfect power of conducting heat. DECRESCENDO; an Italian term in music, which denotes the gradual weakening of the sound.

DECRETAL; a general name for the papal decrees, comprehending the rescripts (answers to inquiries and petitions), decrees (judicial decisions by the rota Romana), mandates (official instructions for ecclesiastical officers, courts, &c.), edicts (papal ordinances in general), and general resolutions of the councils. The oldest collection was made by Isidore, archbishop of Seville (who died 636), which is yet extant in manuscript. An enlarged collection was made in the 9th century, probably on the Rhine (perhaps by Benedictus Levita). This contained many pieces which have since been shown to be spurious. In modern times, it has, therefore, been called the pseudo-Isidorian collection. In the Corpus Juris Canonici, the collection of decretals which Gregory IX (who died 1241) caused to be made by Raimond of Pennafort (officially published in 1234 at Paris, 1235 at Bologna), constitutes the second division, succeeding the decretum. It is divided into five books, and is quoted under the name Extra, because it contains the decretals not in the decretum. A sixth book of later decretals (Liber sextus Decretalium) was added, in 1298, by Boniface VIII. (See Canon Law.)

DEE; a river of Scotland, county of Aberdeen, which rises on the north side of the mountain Cairntoul, and runs into the German ocean, at the town of Aberdeen, after a direct course of 90 miles.

DEE; a river of Scotland, county of Kirkcudbright, which flows into the Solway frith.

DEE; a river of Ireland, which traverses the county of Louth, and runs into the bay of Dundalk.

DEED is a written contract, sealed and delivered. It must be written before the sealing and delivery, otherwise it is no deed; and, after it is once formally executed by the parties, nothing can be added or interlined; and, therefore, if a deed be sealed and delivered, with a blank left for the sum, which the obligee fills up after sealing and delivery, this will make the deed void. A deed must be made by parties capable of contracting, and upon a good consideration, and the subject matter must be legally and formally set out. The formal parts of a deed are, the premises, containing the number, names, additions and titles of the parties; the cove