Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/772

 DE LA VEGA

692

DELAWARE

that an anonymous bill of indictment was presented to him on which were many names of Christians; we do not know, however, that the author of this libel- lus was a Christian. According to can. xiii of the Council of Aries (op. cit.,211 sqq.), during the persecu- tion of Diocletian Christians were denounced by their own brethren to the heathen judges. If it appeared from the public acts that an ecclesiastic had done this, he was punished by the synod with perpetual deposi- tion; however, his ordinations were considered valid. In general, false accusation is visited with severe pun- ishments in later synods, e. g. Second Council of Aries (443 or 4.53, can. xxiv), the Council of Agde (500, can. viii) and others. These decrees appear in the later medieval collections of canons (q. v.). New punitive decrees against calumny were issued by Gregory IX in his Decretals (de calumniatoribus, V, 3 in Corp. Jur. Can).

Krull in Kraus, Real-Encyk. (Freiburg im Br., 1882), I, 361; HiNSCHius, Kirchenrecht. IV (Berlin, 1888), 699. 770: IV (Berlin, 1893). 20 sqq.

J. P. KiRSCH.

De la Vega. See G.^rcilaso de la Vega.

Delaware, one of the original thirteen of the United States of America. It lies between 38° 28' and 39° 47' of N. lat. and between 74° 56' and 75° 46' of long. West of Greenwich, and is bounded on the N. by the State of Pennsylvania, on the E. by the Delaware River and Bay, and on the S. and W. by the State of Maryland. Its area is 2370 square miles, of which 1965 square miles are of land area, and 405 square miles of water area. Delaware is an agricultural state, its soil is fertile and a large portion of it in a high state of cultivation.

History. — In 1609 Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, on his third voyage of discovery, sailed into Delaware Bay. This was the first visit of a European, so far as known, to the territory now called Delaware. The bay was so named about the year 1610 by the Virginians in honour of their first Governor, Thomas West, Lord Delawarr. The Dutch, basing their claims on rights acquired by Hudson's discovery, made the first attempt at settlement. In 1629, under the authority of the Dutch West India Company, and with the countenance of the Governor and Council of New Netherlands, a tract of land from Cape Henlopen to the mouth of the Delaware River was purchased from the natives, and a company formed in Holland to colonize it. In the spring of 1631 a ship carrying emigrants reached the Delaware, and a colony was planted near Cape Henlopen, on Lewes Creek, the colonists giving the country the name Swaanendael. The life of this colony was ended after a few months. Trouble with the Indians arose, and a fort which had been erected was destroyed, and all the colonists murdered. In 1638 an expedition consisting of two ships carrying some fifty Swedish emigrants, and commanded by Peter Minuit, the de- posed Governor of the New Netherlands colony, com- missioned by the Swedish Queen Christina, entered Delaware Bay, and the present site of Wilmington was chosen as the place for the first settlement. The colony was known as New Sweden. A fort called Christina was built. After about two years of pros- perity sickness began to prevail, and the colony was on the eve of breaking up when another Dutch expe- dition, though under the patronage of the Swedish Company, appeared, and the new colonists located their settlement several miles from Fort Christina. The new arrivals revived the spirits of the Swedes, who decided to remain. Additional colonists from Sweden arrived in 1640, and the colony became well established and prosperous. In 1655. on the appear- ance of a Dutch fleet, all the forts and settlements were surrendered, and such Swedes as would not take the oath of allegiance were sent to the home country. In 1650 the West India Company sold its interests on

the South River (called South as distinguished from the North River, as the Hudson was then called) to the City of Amsterdam, and the colony was called " New Amstel " and the authority of New Nether- lands over it was ended. In 1664, after the surrender of New Amsterdam to the English, the Delaware set- tlements were also taken. The name of New Amstel was changed to New Castle, and the settlements were annexed as an appendage to New York, then also under English rule.

According to the charter to William Penn in 1681, the territory of Pennsylvania was bounded on the south by a circle drawn twelve miles distant from the town of New Castle northward and west- ward, the territory on the Delaware as far down as what was then called Cape Henlopen remaining to the Duke of York. In the same year Penn's author- ity, with the consent of York, was extended to include this territory also. As early as 1685 a controversy began between Penn and Lord Baltimore as to the as- certainment of the southern and western boundaries of the country along the bay as transferred by York to Penn. Numerous agreements were entered into be- tween the respective proprietors for determining the boundaries, but none gave promise of ever being car- ried out. This quarrel retarded the settlement of the country and oftentimes caused bloodshed. In 1750 the present boundaries between Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania, as mentioned in an agreement be- tween the heirs of Penn and Baltimore in 1732, were decreed by the English Court of Chancery, and in 1763, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two sur- veyors, were engaged and sent over from England to mark the lines. In 1764 the work was started. The present south and west lines of Delaware are the result of a part of this work. The east and west line (be- tween the present States of Pennsylvania and Mary- land), which they ran and marked, is the historical Mason and Dixon's Line, the boundary between the former free and slaves States. In 1691, with Penn's consent, the lower counties, now the State of Dela- ware, became a separate Government, only to be again united to Pennsylvania in 1693. In 1702 Pennsyl- vania convened its legislatiu'e apart, and the two col- onies were never again united. The " Counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex upon Delaware" as they were called, began to be governed by a separate as- sembly, and though the authority of the Governor of Pennsylvania was still acknowledged, the legislature and tribunals were not appreciably affected by any external authority. This was the form of govern- ment until a separate constitution was adopted in 1776. The representatives of the three lower counties upon the Delaware were members of the Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775, and voted for the adop- tion of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Among the most noteworthy Articles of the Constitu- tion of 1776 was the following: "There shall be no es- tablishment of any one religious sect in this State, in preference to another, and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel of any denomination shall be capable of holding a civil office in the State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislatiu-e, while they continue in the exercise of the pastoral function." In 1779 the State's delegates were instructed to ratify the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union' adopted by Congress.

During the Revolutionary War Delaware enlisted, including Continental soldiers and militia, a total of 3763 men. On 7 Dec, 1787, the Delaware legislature ratified the Federal Constitution, being the first State to give its approval. The population of the State ir 1790 was 59,094, of whom 8887 were slaves. Consti- tutional conventions were held in 1791 and 1831, anc the present Constitution was adopted at aconvcntior in 1897. The common law procedure is followed ir the courts, and the judges are appointed for terms o,