[1] Speaker of the senate. Filled unexpired term of Gunning Bedford
(d. 1797).
[2] Speaker of senate. Filled unexpired term of Richard Bassett, who
resigned 1801.
[3] Died before he was inaugurated.
[4] Speaker of the senate.
[5] Speaker of the senate, John Collins dying in 1822.
[6] Speaker of senate, Haslett dying in 1823.
[7] Speaker of senate.
[8] Speaker of senate, Stockton dying in 1846.
[9] Speaker of senate, Maul dying in 1846.
[10] As speaker of the senate filled the unexpired term of Cannon (d.
1865), and then became governor in 1867.
[11] President of senate, Marvil dying in 1895.
DELAWARE, a city and the county-seat of Delaware county, Ohio, U.S.A.,
on the Olentangy (or Whetstone) river, near the centre of the state.
Pop. (1890) 8224; (1900) 7940 (572 being foreign-born and 432 negroes);
(1910) 9076. Delaware is served by the Pennsylvania, the Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis (New York Central system), and the
Hocking Valley railways, and by two interurban lines. The city is built
on rolling ground about 900 ft. above sea-level. There are many sulphur
and iron springs in the vicinity. Delaware is the seat of the Ohio
Wesleyan University (co-educational), founded by the Ohio Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1841, and opened as a college in 1844;
it includes a college of liberal arts (1844), an academic department
(1841), a school of music (1877), a school of fine arts (1877), a school
of oratory (1894), a business school (1895), and a college of medicine
(the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Cleveland, Ohio;
founded as the Charity Hospital Medical College in 1863, and the medical
department of the university of Wooster until 1896, when, under its
present name, it became a part of Ohio Wesleyan University). In 1877 the
Ohio Wesleyan female college, established at Delaware in 1853, was
incorporated in the university. In 1907-1908 the university had 122
instructors, 1178 students and a library of 55,395 volumes. At Delaware,
also, are the state industrial school for girls, a Carnegie library, the
Edwards Young Men's Christian Association building and a city hospital.
The city has railway shops and foundries, and manufactures furniture,
carriages, tile, cigars and gas engines. Delaware was laid out in 1808
and was first incorporated in 1815. It was the birthplace of Rutherford
B. Hayes, president of the United States from 1877 to 1881.
DELAWARE INDIANS, the English name for the Leni Lenape, a tribe of North
American Indians of Algonquian stock. When first discovered by the
whites the tribe was settled on the banks of the Delaware river. The
French called them Loups (wolves) from their chief totemic division.
Early in the 17th century the Dutch began trading with them.
Subsequently William Penn bought large tracts of land from them, and war
followed, the Delawares alleging they had been defrauded; but, with the
assistance of the Six Nations, the whites forced them back west of the
Alleghenies. In 1789 they were placed on a reservation in Ohio and
subsequently in 1818 were moved to Missouri. Various removals followed,
until in 1866 they accepted lands in the Indian territory (Oklahoma)
and gave up the tribal relation. They have remained there and now number
some 1700.
DELAWARE RIVER, a stream of the Atlantic slope of the United States,
meeting tide-water at Trenton, New Jersey, 130 m. above its mouth. Its
total length, from the head of the longest branch to the capes, is 410
m., and above the head of the bay its length is 360 m. It constitutes in
part the boundary between Pennsylvania and New York, the boundary
between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and, for a few miles, the boundary
between Delaware and New Jersey. The main, west or Mohawk branch rises
in Schoharie county, N.Y., about 1886 ft. above the sea, and flows
tortuously through the plateau in a deep trough until it emerges from
the Catskills. Other branches rise in Greene and Delaware counties. In
the upper portion of its course the varied scenery of its hilly and
wooded banks is exquisitely beautiful. After leaving the mountains and
plateau, the river flows down broad Appalachian valleys, skirts the
Kittatinny range, which it crosses at Delaware Water-Gap, between nearly
vertical walls of sandstone, and passes through a quiet and charming
country of farm and forest, diversified with plateaus and escarpments,
until it crosses the Appalachian plain and enters the hills again at
Easton, Pa. From this point it is flanked at intervals by fine hills,
and in places by cliffs, of which the finest are the Hockamixon Rocks, 3
m. long and above 200 ft. high. At Trenton there is a fall of 8 ft.
Below Trenton the river becomes a broad, sluggish inlet of the sea, with
many marshes along its side, widening steadily into its great estuary,
Delaware Bay. Its main tributaries in New York are Mongaup and Neversink
rivers and Callicoon Creek; from Pennsylvania, Lackawaxen, Lehigh and
Schuylkill rivers; and from New Jersey, Rancocas Creek and Musconetcong
and Maurice rivers. Commerce was once important on the upper river, but
only before the beginning of railway competition (1857). The Delaware
division of the Pennsylvania Canal, running parallel with the river from
Easton to Bristol, was opened in 1830. A canal from Trenton to New
Brunswick unites the waters of the Delaware and Raritan rivers; the
Morris and the Delaware and Hudson canals connect the Delaware and
Hudson rivers; and the Delaware and Chesapeake canal joins the waters of
the Delaware with those of the Chesapeake Bay. The mean tides below
Philadelphia are about 6 ft. The magnitude of the commerce of
Philadelphia has made the improvements of the river below that port of
great importance. Small improvements were attempted by Pennsylvania as
early as 1771, but apparently never by New Jersey. The ice floods at
Easton are normally 10 to 20 ft., and in 1841 attained a height of 35
ft. These floods constitute a serious difficulty in the improvement of
the lower river. In the "project of 1885" the United States government
undertook systematically the formation of a 26-ft. channel 600 ft. wide
from Philadelphia to deep water in Delaware Bay; $1,532,688.81 was
expended--about $200,000 of that amount for maintenance--before the 1885
project was superseded by a paragraph of the River and Harbor Act of the
3rd of March 1899, which provided for a 30-ft. channel 600 ft. wide from
Philadelphia to the deep water of the bay. In 1899 the project of 1885
had been completed except for three shoal stretches, whose total length,
measured on the range lines, was 4(3/8) m. The project of 1899,
estimated to cost $5,810,000, was not completed at the close of the
fiscal year (June 30) 1907, when $4,936,550.63 had been expended by the
Federal government on the work; in 1905 the state of Pennsylvania
appropriated $750,000 for improvement of the river in Pennsylvania,
south of Philadelphia.
DELAWARE WATER-GAP, a borough and summer resort of Monroe county,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the Delaware river, about 108 m. N. of
Philadelphia and about 88 m. W. by N. of New York. Pop. (1890) 467;
(1900) 469. It is served directly by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western,
and by the Belvidere division of the Pennsylvania railways; along the
river on the opposite side (in New Jersey) runs the New York,
Susquehanna & Western railway, and the borough is connected with
Stroudsburg, Pa. (about 3 m. W. by N.) by an electric line. The borough
was named from the neighbouring gorge, which is noted for the
picturesqueness of its scenery, especially in winter, when the ice piles
up in the river, sometimes to a height of 20 ft. Here the river cuts
through the Kittatinny (Blue) Ridge to its base. On the New Jersey side
is Mt. Tammany (about 1600 ft.); on the Pennsylvania side, Mt. Minsi
(about 1500 ft.); the elevation of the river here is about 300 ft. The
gap (about 2 m. long) through the mountain is the result of erosion by
the waters of a great river which flowed northwards acting along a line
of faulting at right angles to the strike of the tilted rock formations.
The scenery and the delightful climate have made the place a popular
summer resort. The borough was incorporated in 1889.
See L. W. Brodhead, _The Delaware Water-Gap_ (Philadelphia, 2nd ed.,
1870).
DE LA WARR, or DELAWARE, an English barony, the holders of which are
descended from Roger de la Warr of Isfield, Sussex, who was summoned to
parliament as a baron in 1299 and the following years. He died about
1320; his great-grandson Roger, to whom the French king John surrendered
at the battle of Poitiers, died in 1370; and the male line of the family
became extinct on the death of Thomas, 5th baron, in 1426.
The 5th baron's half-sister Joan married Thomas West, 1st Lord West (d.
1405), and in 1415 her second son Reginald (1394-1451) succeeded his
brother Thomas as 3rd Lord West. After the death of his uncle Thomas,
5th Baron De La Warr, whose estates he inherited, Reginald was summoned
to parliament as Baron La Warr, and he is thus the second founder of the
family. His grandson was Thomas, 3rd (or 8th) baron (d. 1525), a
courtier during the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII.; and the
latter's son was Thomas, 4th (or 9th) baron (c. 1472-1554). The younger
Thomas was a very prominent person during the reigns of Henry VIII. and
Edward VI. After serving with the English army in France in 1513 and
being present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, he rebuilt the house at
Halnaker in Sussex, which he had obtained by marriage, and here in 1526
he entertained Henry VIII. "with great cheer." He disliked the
ecclesiastical changes introduced by the king, and he was one of the
peers who tried Anne Boleyn; later he showed some eagerness to stand
well with Thomas Cromwell, but this did not prevent his arrest in 1538.
He is said to have denounced "the plucking down of abbeys," and he
certainly consorted with many suspected persons. But he was soon
released and pardoned, although he was obliged to hand over Halnaker to
Henry VIII., receiving instead the estate of Wherwell in Hampshire. He
died without children in September 1554, when his baronies of De La Warr
and West fell into abeyance. His monument may still be seen in the
church at Broadwater, Sussex.
He had settled his estates on his nephew William West (c. 1519-1595),
who then tried to bring about his uncle's death by poison; for this
reason he was disabled by act of parliament (1549) from succeeding to
his honours. However, in 1563 he was restored, and in 1570 was created
by patent Baron De La Warr. This was obviously a new creation, but in
1596 his son Thomas (c. 1556-1602) claimed precedency in the baronage as
the holder of the ancient barony of De La Warr. His claim was admitted,
and accordingly his son and successor, next mentioned, is called the 3rd
or the 12th baron.
THOMAS WEST, 3rd or 12th Baron De La Warr (1577-1618), British soldier
and colonial governor in America, was born on the 9th of July 1577,
probably at Wherwell, Hampshire, where he was baptized. He was educated
at Queen's College, Oxford, where he did not complete his course, but
subsequently (1605) received the degree of M.A. In 1597 he was elected
member of parliament for Lymington, and subsequently fought in Holland
and in Ireland under the earl of Essex, being knighted for bravery in
battle in 1599. He was imprisoned for complicity in Essex's revolt
(1600-1601), but was soon released and exonerated. In 1602 he succeeded
to his father's title and estates and became a privy councillor.
Becoming interested in schemes for the colonization of America, he was
chosen a member of the council of the Virginia Company in 1609, and in
the same year was appointed governor and captain-general of Virginia for
life. Sailing in March 1610 with three ships, 150 settlers and
supplies, he himself bearing the greater part of the expense of the
expedition, he arrived at Jamestown on the 10th of June, in time to
intercept the colonists who had embarked for England and were abandoning
the enterprise. Lord De La Warr's rule was strict but just; he
constructed two forts near the mouth of the James river, rebuilt
Jamestown, and in general brought order out of chaos. In March 1611 he
returned to London, where he published at the request of the company's
council, his _Relation_ of the condition of affairs in Virginia
(reprinted 1859 and 1868). He remained in England until 1618, when the
news of the tyrannical rule of the deputy, Samuel Argall, led him to
start again for Virginia. He embarked in April, but died en route on the
7th of June 1618, and was buried at sea. The Delaware river and the
state of Delaware were named in his honour.
A younger brother, Francis (1586-c. 1634), was prominent in the affairs
of Virginia, and in 1627-1628 was president of the council, and
acting-governor of the colony.
In 1761 the 3rd or 12th baron's descendant, John, 7th or 16th Baron De
La Warr (1693-1766), was created Viscount Cantelupe and 1st Earl De La
Warr. He was a prominent figure in the House of Lords, at first as a
supporter of Sir Robert Walpole. He also served in the British army and
fought at Dettingen, and was made governor of Guernsey in 1752.
George John West, 5th earl (1791-1869), married Elizabeth, sister and
heiress of George John Frederick Sackville, 4th duke of Dorset, who was
created Baroness Buckhurst in 1864; consequently in 1843 he and his sons
took the name of Sackville-West. The earl was twice lord chamberlain to
Queen Victoria, and he is celebrated as "Fair Euryalus" in the _Childish
Recollections_ of his schoolfellow, Lord Byron. His son Charles Richard
(1815-1873), 6th earl, served in the first Sikh war and in the Crimea;
and being unmarried was succeeded by his brother Reginald (1817-1896) as
7th Earl De La Warr. Having inherited his mother's barony of Buckhurst
on her death in 1870, he retained this title along with the barony and
earldom of De La Warr, although the patent had contained a proviso that
it should be kept separate from these dignities. In 1896 the 7th earl's
son, Gilbert George Reginald Sackville-West (b. 1869), became 8th earl
De La Warr.
See G. E. C(okayne), _Complete Peerage_ (1887-1898).
DELBRUCK, HANS (1848- ), German historian, was born at Bergen on the
island of Rugen on the 11th of November 1848, and studied at the
universities of Heidelberg and Bonn. As a soldier he fought in the
Franco-German War, after which he was for some years tutor to one of the
princes of the German imperial family. In 1885 he became professor of
modern history in the university of Berlin, and he was a member of the
German Reichstag from 1884 to 1890. Delbruck's writings are chiefly
concerned with the history of the art of war, his most ambitious work
being his _Geschichte der Kriegskunst im Rahmen der politischen
Geschichte_ (first section, _Das Altertum_, 1900; second, _Romer und
Germanen_, 1902; third, _Das Mittelalter_, 1907). Among his other works
are: _Die Perserkriege und die Burgunderkriege_ (Berlin, 1887);
_Historische und politische Aufsatze_ (1886); _Erinnerungen, Aufsatze
und Reden_ (1902); _Die Strategie des Perikles erlautert durch die
Strategie Friedrichs des Grossen_ (1890); _Die Polenfrage_ (1894); and
_Das Leben des Feldmarschalls Grafen Neithardt von Gneisenau_ (1882 and
1894). Delbruck began in 1883 to edit the _Preussische Jahrbucher_, in
which he has written many articles, including one on "General Wolseley
uber Napoleon, Wellington und Gneisenau," and he has contributed to the
_Europaischer Geschichtskalender_ of H. Schulthess.
DELBRUCK, MARTIN FRIEDRICH RUDOLF VON, Prussian statesman (1817-1903),
was born at Berlin on the 16th of April 1817. On completing his legal
studies he entered the service of the state in 1837; and after holding a
series of minor posts was transferred in 1848 to the ministry of
commerce, which was to be the sphere of his real life's work. Both
Germany and Austria had realized the influence of commercial upon
political union. Delbruck in 1851 induced Hanover, Oldenburg and
Schaumburg-Lippe to join the Zollverein; and the southern states, which
had agreed to admit Austria to the union, found themselves forced in
1853 to renew the old union, from which Austria was excluded. Delbruck
now began, with the support of Bismarck, to apply the principles of free
trade to Prussian fiscal policy. In 1862 he concluded an important
commercial treaty with France. In 1867 he became the first president of
the chancery of the North German Confederation, and represented Bismarck
on the federal tariff council (_Zollbundesrath_), a position of
political as well as fiscal importance owing to the presence in the
council of representatives of the southern states. In 1868 he became a
Prussian minister without portfolio. In October 1870, when the union of
Germany under Prussian headship became a practical question, Delbruck
was chosen to go on a mission to the South German states, and
contributed greatly to the agreements concluded at Versailles in
November. In 1871 he became president of the newly constituted
_Reichskanzleramt_. Delbruck, however, began to feel himself uneasy
under Bismarck's leanings towards protection and state control. On the
introduction of Bismarck's plan for the acquisition of the railways by
the state, Delbruck resigned office, nominally on the ground of
ill-health (June 1, 1876). In 1879 he opposed in the _Reichstag_ the new
protectionist tariff, and on the failure of his efforts retired
definitely from public life. In 1896 he received from the emperor the
order of the Black Eagle. He died at Berlin on the 1st of February 1903.
DELCASSE, THEOPHILE (1852- ), French statesman, was born at Pamiers, in
the department of Ariege, on the 1st of March 1852. He wrote articles on
foreign affairs for the _Republique francaise_ and _Paris_, and in 1888
was elected _conseiller general_ of his native department, standing as
"un disciple fidele de Gambetta." In the following year he entered the
chamber as deputy for Foix. He was appointed under-secretary for the
colonies in the second Ribot cabinet (January to April 1893), and
retained his post in the Dupuy cabinet till its fall in December 1893.
It was largely owing to his efforts that the French colonial office was
made a separate department with a minister at its head, and to this
office he was appointed in the second Dupuy cabinet (May 1894 to January
1895). He gave a great impetus to French colonial enterprise, especially
in West Africa, where he organized the newly acquired colony of Dahomey,
and despatched the Liotard mission to the Upper Ubangi. While in
opposition he devoted special attention to naval affairs, and in
speeches that attracted much notice declared that the function of the
French navy was to secure and develop colonial enterprise, deprecated
all attempts to rival the British fleet, and advocated the construction
of commerce destroyers as France's best reply to England. On the
formation of the second Brisson cabinet in June 1898 he succeeded M.
Hanotaux at the foreign office, and retained that post under the
subsequent premierships of MM. Dupuy, Waldeck-Rousseau, Combes and
Rouvier. In 1898 he had to deal with the delicate situation caused by
Captain Marchand's occupation of Fashoda, for which, as he admitted in a
speech in the chamber on the 23rd of January 1899, he accepted full
responsibility, since it arose directly out of the Liotard expedition,
which he had himself organized while minister for the colonies; and in
March 1899 he concluded an agreement with Great Britain by which the
difficulty was finally adjusted, and France consolidated her vast
colonial empire in North-West Africa. In the same year he acted as
mediator between the United States and Spain, and brought the peace
negotiations to a successful conclusion. He introduced greater
cordiality into the relations of France with Italy: at the same time he
adhered firmly to the alliance with Russia, and in August 1899 made a
visit to St Petersburg, which he repeated in April 1901. In June 1900 he
made an arrangement with Spain, fixing the long-disputed boundaries of
the French and Spanish possessions in West Africa. Finally he concluded
with England the important Agreements of 1904 covering colonial and
other questions which had long been a matter of dispute, especially
concerning Egypt, Newfoundland and Morocco. Suspicion of the growing
_entente_ between France and England soon arose on the part of Germany,
and in 1905 German assertiveness was shown in a crisis which was forced
on in the matter of the French activity in Morocco (q.v.), in which the
handling of French policy by M. Delcasse personally was a sore point
with Germany. The situation became acute in April, and was only relieved
by M. Delcasse's resignation of office. He retired into private life,
but in 1908 was warmly welcomed on a visit to England, where the closest
relations now existed with France.
DEL CREDERE (Ital. "of belief" or "trust"). A "del credere agent," in
English law, is one who, selling goods for his principal on credit,
undertakes for an additional commission to sell only to persons who are
absolutely solvent. His position is thus that of a surety who is liable
to his principal should the vendee make default. The agreement between
him and his principal need not be reduced to or evidenced by writing,
for his undertaking is not a guarantee within the Statute of Frauds. See
also BROKER; GUARANTEE.
DELESCLUZE, LOUIS CHARLES (1809-1871), French journalist, was born at
Dreux on the 2nd of October 1809. Having studied law in Paris, he early
developed a strong democratic bent, and played a part in the July
revolution of 1830. He became a member of various republican societies,
and in 1836 was forced to take refuge in Belgium, where he devoted
himself to republican journalism. Returning in 1840 he settled in
Valenciennes, and after the revolution of 1848 removed to Paris, where
he started a newspaper called _La Revolution democratique et sociale_.
His zeal so far outran his discretion that he was twice imprisoned and
fined, his paper was suppressed and he himself fled to England, where he
continued his journalistic work. He was arrested in Paris in 1853, and
deported to French Guiana. Released under the amnesty of 1859, he
returned to France with health shattered but energies unimpaired. His
next venture was the publication of the _Reveil_, a radical organ
upholding the principles of the _Association internationale des
travailleurs_, known as the "_Internationale_." This journal, which
brought him three condemnations, fine and imprisonment in one year,
shared the fate of his Paris sheet, and its founder again fled to
Belgium. In 1871 he was elected to the National Assembly, becoming
afterwards a member of the Paris commune. At the siege of Paris he
fought with reckless courage, and met his death on the last of the
barricades (May 1871). He wrote an account of his imprisonment in
Guiana, _De Paris a Cayenne, Journal d'un transporte_ (Paris, 1869).
DELESSE, ACHILLE ERNEST OSCAR JOSEPH (1817-1881), French geologist and
mineralogist, was born at Metz on the 3rd of February 1817. At the age
of twenty he entered the Ecole Polytechnique, and subsequently passed
through the Ecole des Mines. In 1845 he was appointed to the chair of
mineralogy and geology at Besancon; in 1850 to the chair of geology at
the Sorbonne in Paris; and in 1864 professor of agriculture at the Ecole
des Mines. In 1878 he became inspector-general of mines. In early years
as _ingenieur des mines_ he investigated and described various new
minerals; he proceeded afterwards to the study of rocks, devising new
methods for their determination, and giving particular descriptions of
melaphyre, arkose, porphyry, syenite, &c. The igneous rocks of the
Vosges, and those of the Alps, Corsica, &c., and the subject of
metamorphism occupied his attention. He also prepared in 1858 geological
and hydrological maps of Paris--with reference to the underground water,
similar maps of the departments of the Seine and Seine-et-Marne, and an
agronomic map of the Seine-et-Marne (1880), in which he showed the
relation which exists between the physical and chemical characters of
the soil and the geological structure. His annual _Revue des progres de
geologie_, undertaken with the assistance (1860-1865) of Auguste Laugel
and afterwards (1865-1878) of Albert de Lapparent, was carried on from
1860 to 1880. His observations on the lithology of the deposits
accumulated beneath the sea were of special interest and importance. His
separate publications were: _Recherches sur l'origine des roches_
(Paris, 1865); _Etude sur le metamorphisme des roches_ (1869);
_Lithologie des mers de France et des mers principales du globe_ (2
vols. and atlas, 1871). He died at Paris on the 24th of March 1881.
DELESSERT, JULES PAUL BENJAMIN (1773-1847), French banker, was born at
Lyons on the 14th of February 1773, the son of Etienne Delessert
(1735-1816), the founder of the first fire insurance company and the
first discount bank in France. Young Delessert was travelling in England
when the Revolution broke out in France, but he hastened back to join
the Paris National Guard in 1790, becoming an officer of artillery in
1793. His father bought him out of the army, however, in 1795 in order
to entrust him with the management of his bank. Gifted with remarkable
energy, he started many commercial enterprises, founding the first
cotton factory at Passy in 1801, and a sugar factory in 1802, for which
he was created a baron of the empire. He sat in the chamber of deputies
for many years, and was a strong advocate for many humane measures,
notably the suppression of the "Tours" or revolving box at the foundling
hospital, the suppression of the death penalty, and the improvement of
the penitentiary system. He was made regent of the Bank of France in
1802, and was also member of, and, indeed, founder of many, learned and
philanthropic societies. He founded the first savings bank in France,
and maintained a keen interest in it until his death in 1847. He was
also an ardent botanist and conchologist; his botanical library embraced
30,000 volumes, of which he published a catalogue--_Musee botanique de
M. Delessert_ (1845). He also wrote _Des avantages de la caisse
d'epargne et de prevoyance_ (1835), _Memoire sur un projet de
bibliotheque royale_ (1836), _Le Guide de bonheur_ (1839), and _Recueil
de coquilles decrites par Lamarck_ (1841-1842).
DELFICO, MELCHIORRE (1744-1835), Italian economist, was born at Teramo
in the Abruzzi on the 1st of August 1744, and was educated at Naples. He
devoted himself specially to the study of jurisprudence and political
economy, and his numerous publications exercised great practical
influence in the correction and extinction of many abuses. Under Joseph
Bonaparte Delfico was made a councillor of state, an office which he
held until the restoration of Ferdinand IV., when he was appointed
president of the commission of archives, from which he retired in 1825.
He died at Teramo on the 21st of June 1835. His more important works
were: _Saggio filosofico sul matrimonio_ (1774); _Memoria sul Tribunale
della Grascia e sulle leggi economiche nelle provincie confinanti del
regno_ (1785), which led to the abolition in Naples of the most
vexatious and absurd restrictions on the sale and exportation of
agricultural produce; _Riflessioni su la vendita dei feudi_ (1790) and
_Lettera a Sua Ecc. il sig. Duca di Cantalupo_ (1795), which brought
about the abolition of feudal rights over landed property and their
sale; _Ricerche sul vero carattere della giurisprudenza Romana e dei
suoi cultori_ (1791); _Pensieri su la storia e su l' incertezza ed
inutilita della medesima_ (1806), both on the early history of Rome.
See F. Mozzetti, _Degli studii, delle opere e delle virtu di
Melchiorre Delfico_; Tipaldo's _Biographia degli Italiani illustri_
(vol. ii.).
DELFT, a town of Holland in the province of South Holland, on the Schie,
5 m. by rail S.E. by S. of the Hague, with which it is also connected by
steam-tramway. Pop. (1900) 31,582. It is a quiet, typically Dutch town,
with its old brick houses and tree-bordered canals. The Prinsenhof,
previously a monastery, was converted into a residence for the counts of
Orange in 1575; it was here that William the Silent was assassinated. It
is now used as a William of Orange Museum. The New Church, formerly the
church of St Ursula (14th century), is the burial place of the princes
of Orange. It is remarkable for its fine tower and chime of bells, and
contains the splendid allegorical monument of William the Silent,
executed by Hendrik de Keyser and his son Pieter about 1621, and the
tomb of Hugo Grotius, born in Delft in 1583, whose statue, erected in
1886, stands in the market-place outside the church. The Old Church,
founded in the 11th century, but in its present form dating from 1476,
contains the monuments of two famous admirals of the 17th century,
Martin van Tromp and Piet Hein, as well as the tomb of the naturalist
Leeuwenhoek, born at Delft in 1632. In the town hall (1618) are some
corporation pictures, portraits of the counts of Orange and Nassau,
including several by Michiel van Mierevelt (1567-1641), one of the
earliest Dutch portrait painters, and with his son Pieter (1595-1623), a
native of Delft. There are also a Roman Catholic church (1882) and a
synagogue. Two important educational establishments are the Indian
Institute for the education of civil service students for the colonies,
to which is attached an ethnographical museum; and the Royal Polytechnic
school, which almost ranks as a university, and teaches, among other
sciences, that of diking. A fine collection of mechanical models is
connected with the polytechnic school. Among other buildings are the
modern "Phoenix" club-house of the students; the hospital, containing
some anatomical pictures, including one by the two Mierevelts (1617); a
lunatic asylum; the Van Renswoude orphanage, the theatre, a school of
design, the powder magazine and the state arsenal, originally a
warehouse of the East India Company, and now used as a manufactory of
artillery stores.
The name of Delft is most intimately associated with the manufacture of
the beautiful faience pottery for which it was once famous. (See
CERAMICS.) This industry was imported from Haarlem towards the end of
the 16th century, and achieved an unrivalled position in the second half
of the following century; but it did not survive the French occupation
at the end of the 18th century. It has, however, been revived in modern
times under the name of "New Delft." Other branches of industry are
carpet-weaving, distilling, oil and oil-cake manufacture, dyeing,
cooperage and the manufacture of arms and bullets. There is also an
important butter and cheese market.
Delft was founded in 1075 by Godfrey III., duke of Lower Lorraine, after
his conquest of Holland, and came subsequently into the hands of the
counts of Holland. In 1246 it received a charter from Count William II.
(see C. Hegel, _Stadte und Gilden_, ii. 251). In 1536 it was almost
totally destroyed by fire, and in 1654 largely ruined by the explosion
of a powder magazine.
DELHI, DEHLI or DILLI, the ancient capital of the Mogul empire in India,
and a modern city which gives its name to a district and division of
British India. The city of Delhi is situated in 28 deg. 38' N., 77 deg.
13' E., very nearly due north of Cape Comorin, and practically in a
latitudinal line with the more ancient cities of Cairo and Canton. It
lies in the south-east corner of the province of the Punjab, to which it
was added in 1858, and abuts on the right bank of the river Jumna.
Though Lahore, the more ancient city, remains the official capital of
the Punjab, Delhi is historically more famous, and is now more important
as a commercial and railway centre.
Though the remains of earlier cities are scattered round Delhi over an
area estimated to cover some 45 sq. m., modern Delhi dates only from the
middle of the 17th century, when Shah Jahan rebuilt the city on its
present site, adding the title Shah-jahanabad from his own name. It
extends for nearly 2(1/4) m. along the right bank of the Jumna from the
Water bastion to the Wellesley bastion in the south-east corner, nearly
one-third of the frontage being occupied by the river wall of the
palace. The northern wall, famous in the siege of Delhi in 1857, extends
three-quarters of a mile from the Water bastion to the Shah, commonly
known as the Mori, bastion; the length of the west wall from this
bastion to the Ajmere gate is 1(1/4) m. and of the south wall to the
Wellesley bastion again almost exactly the same distance, the whole land
circuit being thus 3(1/4) m. The complete circuit of Delhi is 5(1/2) m.
In the north wall is situated the famous Kashmir gate, while the Mori or
Drain gate, which was built by a Mahratta governor, has now been
removed. In the west wall are the Farash Khana and Ajmere gates, while
the Kabul and Lahore gates have been removed. In the south wall are the
Turkman and Delhi gates. The gates on the river side of the city
included the Khairati and Rajghat, the Calcutta and Nigambod--both
removed; the Kela gate, and the Badar Rao gate, now closed. The great
wall of Delhi, which was constructed by Shah Jahan, was strengthened by
the English by the addition of a ditch and glacis, after Delhi was
captured by Lord Lake in 1803; and its strength was turned against the
British at the time of the Mutiny. The imperial palace (1638-1648), now
known as the "Fort," is situated on the east of the city, and abuts
directly on the river. It consists at present of bare and ugly British
barracks, among which are scattered exquisite gems of oriental
architecture. The two most famous among its buildings are the
Diwan-i-Am or Hall of Public Audience, and the Diwan-i-Khas or Hall of
Private Audience. The Diwan-i-Am is a splendid building measuring 100
ft. by 60 ft., and was formerly plastered with chunam and overlaid with
gold. The most striking effect now lies in its engrailed arches. It was
in the recess in the back wall of this hall that the famous Peacock
Throne used to stand, "so called from its having the figures of two
peacocks standing behind it, their tails being expanded and the whole so
inlaid with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, pearls and other precious
stones of appropriate colours as to represent life." Tavernier, the
French jeweller, who saw Delhi in 1665, describes the throne as of the
shape of a bed, 6 ft. by 4 ft., supported by four golden feet, 20 to 25
in. high, from the bars above which rose twelve columns to support the
canopy; the bars were decorated with crosses of rubies and emeralds, and
also with diamonds and pearls. In all there were 108 large rubies on the
throne, and 116 emeralds, but many of the latter had flaws. The twelve
columns supporting the canopy were decorated with rows of splendid
pearls, and Tavernier considered these to be the most valuable part of
the throne. The whole was valued at L6,000,000. This throne was carried
off by the Persian invader Nadir Shah in 1739, and has been rumoured to
exist still in the Treasure House of the Shah of Persia; but Lord
Curzon, who examined the thrones there, says that nothing now exists of
it, except perhaps some portions worked up in a modern Persian throne.
The Diwan-i-Khas is smaller than the Diwan-i-Am, and consists of a
pavilion of white marble, in the interior of which the art of the Moguls
reached the perfection of its jewel-like decoration. On a marble
platform rises a marble pavilion, the flat-coned roof of which is
supported on a double row of marble pillars. The inner face of the
arches, with the spandrils and the pilasters which support them, are
covered with flowers and foliage of delicate design and dainty
execution, crusted in green serpentine, blue _lapis lazuli_ and red and
purple porphyry. During the lapse of years many of these stones were
picked from their setting, and the silver ceiling of flowered patterns
was pillaged by the Mahrattas; but the inlaid work was restored as far
as possible by Lord Curzon. It is in this hall that the famous
inscription "If a paradise be on the face of the earth, it is this, it
is this, it is this," still exists. It is given in Persian characters
twice in the panels over the narrow arches at the ends of the middle
hall, beginning from the east on the north side, and from the west at
the south side. At the time of the Delhi Durbar held in January 1903 to
celebrate the proclamation of Edward VII. as emperor of India these two
halls were used as a dancing-room and supper-room, and their full beauty
was brought out by the electric light shining through their marble
grille-work.
The native city of Delhi is like most other cities in India, a huddle of
mean houses in mean streets, diversified with splendid mosques. The
Chandni Chauk ("silver street"), the principal street of Delhi, which
was once supposed to be the richest street in the world, has fallen from
its high estate, though it is still a broad and imposing avenue with a
double row of trees running down the centre. During the course of its
history it was four times sacked, by Nadir Shah, Timur, Ahmad Shah and
the Mahrattas, and its roadway has many times run with blood. Now it is
the abode of the jewellers and ivory-workers of Delhi, but the jewels
are seldom valuable and the carving has lost much of its old delicacy. A
short distance south of the Chandni Chauk the Jama Masjid, or Great
Mosque, rises boldly from a small rocky eminence. It was erected in
1648-1650, two years after the royal palace, by Shah Jahan. Its front
court, 450 ft. square, and surrounded by a cloister open on both sides,
is paved with granite inlaid with marble, and commands a fine view of
the city. The mosque itself, a splendid structure forming an oblong 261
ft. in length, is approached by a magnificent flight of stone steps.
Three domes of white marble rise from its roof, with two tall minarets
at the front corners. The interior of the mosque is paved throughout,
and the walls and roof are lined, with white marble. Two other mosques
in Delhi itself deserve passing notice, the Kala Masjid or Black Mosque,
which was built about 1380 in the reign of Feroz Shah, and the Moti
Masjid or Pearl Mosque, a tiny building added to the palace by
Aurangzeb, as the emperor's private place of prayer. It is only 60 ft.
square, and the domes alone are seen above the red sandstone walls until
the opening of two small fine brass gates.
To the west and north-west of Delhi considerable suburbs cluster beyond
the walls. Here are the tombs of the imperial family. That of Humayun,
the second of the Mogul dynasty, is a noble building of rose-coloured
sandstone inlaid with white marble. It lies about 3 m. from the city, in
a terraced garden, the whole surrounded by an embattled wall, with
towers and four gateways. In the centre stands a platform about 20 ft.
high by 200 ft. square, supported by arches and ascended by four flights
of steps. Above, rises the mausoleum, also a square, with a great dome
of white marble in the centre. About a mile to the west is another
burying-ground, or collection of tombs and small mosques, some of them
very beautiful. The most remarkable is perhaps the little chapel in
honour of a celebrated Mussulman saint, Nizam-ud-din, near whose shrine
the members of the imperial family, up to the time of the Mutiny, lie
buried, each in a small enclosure surrounded by lattice-work of white
marble.
Still farther away, some 10 m. south of the modern city, amid the ruins
of old Delhi, stands the Kutb Minar, which is supposed to be the most
perfect tower in the world, and one of the seven architectural wonders
of India. The Minar was begun by Kutb-ud-din Aibak about A.D. 1200. The
two top storeys were rebuilt by Feroz Shah. It consists of five storeys
of red sandstone and white marble. The purplish red of the sandstone at
the base is finely modulated, through a pale pink in the second storey,
to a dark orange at the summit, which harmonizes with the blue of an
Indian sky. Dark bands of Arabic writing round the three lower storeys
contrast with the red sandstone. The height of the column is 238 ft. The
plinth is a polygon of twenty sides. The basement storey has the same
number of faces formed into convex flutes which are alternately angular
and semicircular. The next has semicircular flutes, and in the third
they are all angular. Then rises a plain storey, and above it soars a
partially fluted storey, the shaft of which is adorned with bands of
marble and red sandstone. A bold projecting balcony, richly ornamented,
runs round each storey. After six centuries the column is almost as
fresh as on the day it was finished. It stands in the south-east corner
of the outer court of the mosque erected by Kutb-ud-din immediately
after his capture of Delhi in 1193. The design of this mosque is
Mahommedan, but the wonderfully delicate ornamentation of its western
facade and other remaining parts is Hindu. In the inner courtyard of the
mosque stands the Iron Pillar, which is probably the most ancient
monument in the neighbourhood of Delhi, dating from about A.D. 400. It
consists of a solid shaft of wrought iron some 16 in. in diameter and 23
ft. 8 in. in height, with an inscription eulogizing Chandragupta
Vikramaditya. It was brought, probably from Muttra, by Anang Pal, a
Rajput chief of the Tomaras, who erected it here in 1052.[1]
Among the modern buildings of Delhi may be mentioned the Residency, now
occupied by a government high school, and the Protestant church of St
James, built at a coast of L10,000 by Colonel Skinner, an officer well
known in the history of the East India Company. About half-way down the
Chandni Chauk is a high clock-tower. Near it is the town hall, with
museum and library. Behind the Chandni Chauk, to the north, lie the
Queen's Gardens; beyond them the "city lines" stretch away as far as the
well-known rocky ridge, about a mile outside the town. From the summit
of this ridge the view of the station and city is very picturesque. The
principal local institution until 1877 was the Delhi College, founded in
1792. It was at first exclusively an oriental school, supported by the
voluntary contributions of Mahommedan gentlemen, and managed by a
committee of the subscribers. In 1829 an English department was added to
it; and in 1855 the institution was placed under the control of the
Educational Department. In the Mutiny of 1857 the old college was
plundered of a very valuable oriental library, and the building
completely destroyed. A new college was founded in 1858, and was
affiliated to the university of Calcutta in 1864. The old college
attained to great celebrity as an educational institution, and produced
many excellent scholars, but it was abolished in 1877, in order to
concentrate the grant available for higher-class education upon the
Punjab University at Lahore.
The Ridge, famous as the British base during the siege of Delhi during
the Mutiny, in 1857, is a last outcrop of the Aravalli Hills which rises
in a steep escarpment some 60 ft. above the city. At its nearest point
on the right of the British position, where the Mutiny Memorial now
stands, the Ridge is only 1200 yds. from the walls of Delhi; at the
Flagstaff Tower in the centre of the position it is a mile and a half
away; and at the left near the river nearly two miles and a half. It was
behind the Ridge at this point that the main portion of the British camp
was pitched. The Mutiny Memorial, which was erected by the army before
Delhi, is a rather poor specimen of a Gothic spire in red sandstone,
while the memorial tablets are of inferior marble. Next to the Ridge the
point of most interest to every English visitor to Delhi is Nicholson's
grave, which lies surrounded by an iron railing in the Kashmir gate
cemetery. The Kashmir gate itself bears a slab recording the gallant
deed of the party under Lieutenants D. C. Home and P. Salkeld, who blew
in the gate in broad daylight on the day that Delhi was taken by
assault.
The population of Delhi according to the census of 1901 was 208,575, of
whom 88,460 were Mahommedans and 114,417 were Hindus. The city is served
by five different railways, the East Indian, the Oudh & Rohilkhand, the
Rajputana-Malwa & Bombay-Baroda, the Southern Punjab, and the
North-Western, and occupies a central position, being 940 m. from
Karachi, 950 from Calcutta, and 960 from Bombay. Owing to the advantages
it enjoys as a trade centre, Delhi is recovering much of the prominence
which it lost at the time of the Mutiny. It has spinning-mills and other
mills worked by steam. The principal manufactures are gold and silver
filigree work and embroidery, jewelry, muslins, shawls, glazed pottery
and wood-carving.
The DISTRICT OF DELHI has an area of 1290 sq. m. It consists of a strip
of territory on the right or west bank of the Jumna river, 75 m. in
length, and varying from 15 to 233 m. in breadth. Most of the district
consists of hard and stony soil, depending upon irrigation, which is
supplied by the Western Jumna canal, the Ali Mardan canal and the Agra
canal. The principal crops are wheat, barley, sugar-cane and cotton.
When Lord Lake broke the Mahratta power in 1803, and the emperor was
taken under the protection of the East India Company, the present
districts of Delhi and Hissar were assigned for the maintenance of the
royal family, and were administered by a British resident. In 1832 the
office of resident was abolished, and the tract was annexed to the
North-Western Provinces. After the Mutiny in 1858 it was separated from
the North-Western Provinces and annexed to the Punjab. The population in
1901 was 689,039.
The DIVISION OF DELHI stretches from Simla to Rajputana, and is much
broken up by native states. It comprises the seven districts of Hissar,
Rohtak, Gurgaon, Delhi, Karnal, Umballa and Simla. Its total area is
15,393 sq. m., and in 1901 the population was 4,587,092.
_History._--According to legends, which may or may not have a
substantial basis, Delhi or its immediate neighbourhood has from time
immemorial been the site of a capital city. The neighbouring village of
Indarpat preserves the name of Indraprashta, the semi-mythical city
founded, according to the Sanscrit epic _Mahabharata_, by Yudisthira and
his brothers, the five Pandavas. Whatever its dim predecessors may have
been, however, the actual history of Delhi dates no further back than
the 11th century A.D., when Anangapala (Anang Pal), a chief of the
Tomara clan, built the Red Fort, in which the Kutb Minar now stands; in
1052 the same chief removed the famous Iron Pillar from its original
position, probably at Muttra, and set it up among a group of temples of
which the materials were afterwards used by the Mussulmans for the
construction of the great Kutb Mosque. About the middle of the 12th
century the Tomara dynasty was overthrown by Vigraha-raja (Visala-deva,
Bisal Deo), the Chauhan king of Ajmere, who from inscribed records
discovered of late years appears to have been a man of considerable
culture (see V. A. Smith, _Early Hist. of India_, ed. 1908, p. 356). His
nephew and successor was Prithwi-raja (Prithiraj, or Rai Pithora), lord
of Sambhar, Delhi and Ajmere, whose fame as lover and warrior still
lives in popular story. He was the last Hindu ruler of Delhi. In 1191
came the invasion of Mahommed of Ghor. Defeated on this occasion,
Mahommed returned two years later, overthrew the Hindus, and captured
and put to death Prithwi-raja. Delhi became henceforth the capital of
the Mahommedan Indian empire, Kutb-ud-din (the general and slave of
Mahommed of Ghor) being left in command. His dynasty is known as that of
the slave kings, and it is to them that old Delhi owes its grandest
remains, among them Kutb Mosque and the Kutb Minar. The slave dynasty
retained the throne till 1290, when it was subverted by Jalal-ud-din
Khilji. The most remarkable monarch of this dynasty was Ala-ud-din,
during whose reign Delhi was twice exposed to attack from invading
hordes of Moguls. On the first occasion Ala-ud-din defeated them under
the walls of his capital; on the second, after encamping for two months
in the neighbourhood of the city, they retired without a battle. The
house of Khilji came to an end in 1321, and was followed by that of
Tughlak. Hitherto the Pathan kings had been content with the ancient
Hindu capital, altered and adorned to suit their tastes. But one of the
first acts of the founder of the new dynasty, Ghias-ud-din Tughlak, was
to erect a new capital about 4 m. farther to the east, which he called
Tughlakabad. The ruins of his fort remain, and the eye can still trace
the streets and lanes of the long deserted city. Ghias-ud-din was
succeeded by his son Mahommed b. Tughlak, who reigned from 1325 to 1351,
and is described by Elphinstone as "one of the most accomplished princes
and most furious tyrants that ever adorned or disgraced human nature."
Under this monarch the Delhi of the Tughlak dynasty attained its utmost
growth. His successor Feroz Shah Tughlak transferred the capital to a
new town which he founded some miles off, on the north of the Kutb, and
to which he gave his own name, Ferozabad. In 1398, during the reign of
Mahmud Tughlak, occurred the Tatar invasion of Timurlane. The king fled
to Gujarat, his army was defeated under the walls of Delhi, and the city
surrendered. The town, notwithstanding a promise of protection, was
plundered and burned; the citizens were massacred. The invaders at last
retired, leaving Delhi without a government, and almost without
inhabitants. At length Mahmud Tughlak regained a fragment of his former
kingdom, but on his death in 1412 the family became extinct. He was
succeeded by the Sayyid dynasty, which held Delhi and a few miles of
surrounding territory till 1444, when it gave way to the house of Lodi,
during whose rule the capital was removed to Agra. In 1526 Baber, sixth
in descent from Timurlane, invaded India, defeated and killed Ibrahim
Lodi at the battle of Panipat, entered Delhi, was proclaimed emperor,
and finally put an end to the Afghan empire. Baber's capital was at
Agra, but his son and successor, Humayun, removed it to Delhi. In 1540
Humayun was defeated and expelled by Sher Shah, who entirely rebuilt the
city, enclosing and fortifying it with a new wall. In his time Delhi
extended from where Humayun's tomb now is to near the southern gate of
the modern city. In 1555 Humayun, with the assistance of Persia,
regained the throne; but he died within six months, and was succeeded by
his son, the illustrious Akbar.
During Akbar's reign and that of his son Jahangir, the capital was
either at Agra or at Lahore, and Delhi once more fell into decay.
Between 1638 and 1658, however, Shah Jahan rebuilt it almost in its
present form; and his city remains substantially the Delhi of the
present time. The imperial palace, the Jama Masjid or Great Mosque, and
the restoration of what is now the western Jumna canal, are the work of
Shah Jahan. The Mogul empire rapidly expanded during the reigns of Akbar
and his successors down to Aurungzeb, when it attained its climax. After
the death of the latter monarch, in 1707, came the decline.
Insurrections and civil wars on the part of the Hindu tributary chiefs,
Sikhs and Mahrattas, broke out. Aurungzeb's successors became the
helpless instruments of conflicting chiefs. His grandson, Jahandar Shah,
was, in 1713, deposed and strangled after a reign of one year; and
Farrakhsiyyar, the next in succession, met with the same fate in 1719.
He was succeeded by Mahommed Shah, in whose reign the Mahratta forces
first made their appearance before the gates of Delhi, in 1736. Three
years later the Persian monarch, Nadir Shah, after defeating the Mogul
army at Karnal, entered Delhi in triumph. While engaged in levying a
heavy contribution, the Persian troops were attacked by the populace,
and many of them were killed. Nadir Shah, after vainly attempting to
stay the tumult, at last gave orders for a general massacre of the
inhabitants. For fifty-eight days Nadir Shah remained in Delhi, and when
he left he carried with him a treasure in money amounting, at the lowest
computation, to eight or nine millions sterling, besides jewels of
inestimable value, and other property to the amount of several millions
more.
From this time (1740) the decline of the empire proceeded unchecked and
with increased rapidity. In 1771 Shah Alam, the son of Alamgir II., was
nominally raised to the throne by the Mahrattas, the real sovereignty
resting with the Mahratta chief, Sindhia. An attempt of the puppet
emperor to shake himself clear of the Mahrattas, in which he was
defeated in 1788, led to a permanent Mahratta garrison being stationed
at Delhi. From this date, the king remained a cipher in the hands of
Sindhia, who treated him with studied neglect, until the 8th of
September 1803, when Lord Lake overthrew the Mahrattas under the walls
of Delhi, entered the city, and took the king under the protection of
the British. Delhi, once more attacked by a Mahratta army under the
Mahratta chief Holkar in 1804, was gallantly defended by Colonel
Ochterlony, the British resident, who held out against overwhelming odds
for eight days, until relieved by Lord Lake. From this date a new era in
the history of Delhi began. A pension of L120,000 per annum was allowed
to the king, with exclusive jurisdiction over the palace, and the
titular sovereignty as before; but the city, together with the Delhi
territory, passed under British administration.
Fifty-three years of quiet prosperity for Delhi were brought to a close
by the Mutiny of 1857. Its capture by the mutineers, its siege, and its
subsequent recapture by the British have been often told, and nothing
beyond a short notice is called for here. The outbreak at Meerut
occurred on the night of the 10th of May 1857. Immediately after the
murder of their officers, the rebel soldiery set out for Delhi, about 35
m. distant, and on the following morning entered the city, where they
were joined by the city mob. Mr Fraser, the commissioner, Mr Hutchinson,
the collector, Captain Douglas, the commandant of the palace guards, and
the Rev. Mr Jennings, the residency chaplain, were at once murdered, as
were also most of the civil and non-official residents whose houses were
situated within the city walls. The British troops in cantonments
consisted of three regiments of native infantry and a battery of
artillery. These cast in their lot with the mutineers, and commenced by
killing their officers. The Delhi magazine, then the largest in the
north-west of India, was in the charge of Lieutenant Willoughby, with
whom were two other officers and six non-commissioned officers. The
magazine was attacked by the mutineers, but the little band defended to
the last the enormous accumulation of munitions of war stored there,
and, when further defence was hopeless, fired the magazine. Five of the
nine were killed by the explosion, and Lieutenant Willoughby
subsequently died of his injuries; the remaining three succeeded in
making their escape. The occupation of Delhi by the rebels was the
signal for risings in almost every military station in North-Western
India. The revolted soldiery with one accord thronged towards Delhi, and
in a short time the city was garrisoned by a rebel army variously
estimated at from 50,000 to 70,000 disciplined men. The pensioned king,
Bahadur Shah, was proclaimed emperor; his sons were appointed to various
military commands. About fifty Europeans and Eurasians, nearly all
females, who had been captured in trying to escape from the town on the
day of the outbreak, were confined in a stifling chamber of the palace
for fifteen days; they were then brought out and massacred in the
court-yard.
The siege which followed forms one of the memorable incidents of the
British history of India. On the 8th June, four weeks after the
outbreak, Sir H. Barnard, who had succeeded as commander-in-chief on the
death of General Anson, routed the mutineers with a handful of Europeans
and Sikhs, after a severe action at Badliki-Serai, and encamped upon the
Ridge that overlooks the city. The force was too weak to capture the
city, and he had no siege train or heavy guns. All that could be done
was to hold the position till the arrival of reinforcements and of a
siege train. During the next three months the little British force on
the Ridge were rather the besieged than the besiegers. Almost daily
sallies, which often turned into pitched battles, were made by the
rebels upon the over-worked handful of Europeans, Sikhs and Gurkhas. A
great struggle took place on the centenary of the battle of Plassey
(June 23), and another on the 25th of August; but on both occasions the
mutineers were repulsed with heavy loss. General Barnard died of cholera
in July, and was succeeded by General Archdale Wilson. Meanwhile
reinforcements and siege artillery gradually arrived, and early in
September it was resolved to make the assault. The first of the heavy
batteries opened fire on the 8th of September, and on the 13th a
practicable breach was reported.
On the morning of the 14th Sept. the assault was delivered, the points
of attack being the Kashmir bastion, the Water bastion, the Kashmir
gate, and the Lahore gate. The assault was thoroughly successful,
although the column which was to enter the city by the Lahore gate
sustained a temporary check. The whole eastern part of the city was
retaken, but at a cost of 66 officers and 1104 men killed and wounded,
out of the total strength of 9866. Fighting continued more or less
during the next six days, and it was not till the 20th of September that
the entire city and palace were occupied, and the reconquest of Delhi
was complete. During the siege, the British force sustained a loss of
1012 officers and men killed, and 3837 wounded. Among the killed was
General John Nicholson, the leader of one of the storming parties, who
was shot through the body in the act of leading his men, in the first
day's fighting. He lived, however, to learn that the whole city had been
recaptured, and died on the 23rd of September. On the flight of the
mutineers, the king and several members of the royal family took refuge
at Humayun's tomb. On receiving a promise that his life would be spared,
the last of the house of Timur surrendered to Major Hodson; he was
afterwards banished to Rangoon. Delhi, thus reconquered, remained for
some months under military authority. Owing to the murder of several
European soldiers who strayed from the lines, the native population was
expelled the city. Hindus were soon afterwards readmitted, but for some
time Mahommedans were rigorously excluded. Delhi was made over to the
civil authorities in January 1858, but it was not till 1861 that the
civil courts were regularly reopened. The shattered walls of the Kashmir
gateway, and the bastions of the northern face of the city, still bear
the marks of the cannonade of September 1857. Since that date Delhi has
settled down into a prosperous commercial town, and a great railway
centre. The lines which start from it to the north, south, east and west
bring into its bazaars the trade of many districts. But the romance of
antiquity still lingers around it, and Delhi was selected for the scene
of the Imperial Proclamation on the 1st of January 1877, and for the
great Durbar held in January 1903 for the proclamation of King Edward
VII. as emperor of India.
AUTHORITIES.--The best modern account of the city is _Delhi, Past and
Present_ (1901), by H. C. Fanshawe, a former commissioner of Delhi.
Other authoritative works are _Cities of India_ (1903) and _The Mutiny
Papers_ (1893), both by G. W. Forrest, and _Forty-one Years in India_
(1897), by Lord Roberts; while some impressionistic sketches will be
found in _Enchanted India_ (1899), by Prince Bojidar Karageorgevitch.
See also the chapter on Delhi in H. G. Keene, _Hist. of Hindustan ...
to the fall of the Mughol Empire_ (1885). For the Delhi Durbar of 1903
see Stephen Wheeler, _Hist. of the Delhi Coronation Durbar_, compiled
from official papers by order of the viceroy of India (London, 1904),
which contains numerous portraits and other illustrations.