Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/23

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DEA—DEA
9

disturbed by the agitation of which Kossuth was the centre, and which aimed at changes of a more extreme character than he approved. He desired to maintain the relations of Austria and Hungary, and exercised his whole influence in favour of a good understanding between the two countries. Events decided against him, for Kossuth rose to power and began the war in the course of which the Hapsburg dynasty was formally deposed. Deak resigned his portfolio, and appeared in connection with the subsequent struggle only as one of the deputation which, on the approach of the Austrian army to Buda-Pesth, went to negotiate with Prince Windischgratz. When the war was over, Deak was offered the post of Judex Curias ; but he insisted that the laws of 1848 were still in force, and would have nothing to do with any system of government in which they were ignored. On the other hand, he discountenanced violent proposals, urging that the legal rights of the land could be secured only by legal means. Hungary suffered deeply from the reaction which followed the revolutionary period, and it was clear that she only awaited a favourable opportunity to throw off the imperial yoke. The disasters sustained by Austria in the Italian war of 1859 suggested to the emperor the necessity of a change of policy ; and the result was that in 1881 the Diet again met. This time Deak appeared as member for Pesth, which henceforth returned him at every election till his death. The Moderate party rallied round him, and after much discussion the address to the emperor drawn up by him was adopted. In this the Diet took its stand on the laws of 1848, and demanded the appointment of a Hungarian ministry ; but at Vienna they were not prepared to give way so far. The imperial rescript was very hostile in tone, and the Diet was speedily dissolved. In 18G5 fresh negotiations were begun, and they were powerfully promoted by a series of letters in the Pesti Naplo, setting forth Deak s ideas as to the proper bases of reconciliation. Towards the end of 1865 the Diet was opened by the emperor in person. About six months afterwards it was hastily closed because of the approaching war between Austria and Prussia ; but it reassembled on November 1 9, 1866, when Austria had been utterly defeated and seemed on the brink of ruin. The Radical party wished to take advantage of the general confusion by exacting terms to which the Austrian Government would never before have consented; but Deak maintained his former position, desiring no more than that the system which he considered the only legal one should been forced. His influence over the Diet and the nation prevailed ; and he had the satis faction of seeing Count Andrassy appainted president of an Hungarian cabinet and the emperor and empress crowned as king and queen of Hungary. The establishment of the dual system, which enabled the Austro-Hungarian monarchy to enter upon a new career after terrible humiliations and losses, was due to the efforts of Deak more than to any other cause, and the fact was gratefully acknowledged both by the mass of his countrymen and by the emperor. For some years the Deak party continued the most powerful in the Diet ; but the state of his health rendered it impossible for him to do much more than deliver an occasional speech on subjects of unusual interest. His last speech, in the summer of 1873, was on the relations of church and state ; and he proclaimed himself in favour of the American system "a free church in a free state." Before his death his party lost its hold over the nation ; and in 1875 Tisza, a man of more advanced opinions, was called to the head of the Government. Deak died on January 29, 1876, at Buda-Pesth, after a long and painful illness. His death was regarded as a national calamity, and he was buried at the cost of the state amid mani festations of universal grief. Hungary has produced no other statesman of equal distinction. He approached closely to the type which is supposed to be peculiarly English, holding fast vital principles, but always ready to accede to a compromise on matters of secondary moment. Intensely opposed to revolution, he was absolutely fearless when sure that he was standing on lawful ground, and pursued the political ideal he had formed with a persistence which has been rarely equalled. In youth his style as an orator was passionate and florid ; but he ultimately became calm and deliberate, carrying conviction by command of facts, logical arrangement of ideas, and lucid statement. At all periods of his career he conveyed the impression of absolute sincerity and devotion to high and unselfish aims. He was of a genial disposition, remarkably fond of children, and with a gift of ready humour which made him as great a favourite in society as in parliament. (j. si.)


DEAL, a municipal and parliamentary borough and market town of England, in the county of Kent, eight miles N. N".E. of Dover and five miles by rail S.S.E. of Sandwich. It consists of three divisions : Lower Deal, which is the most important, on the coast ; Middle Deal ; and, about a mile inland, Upper Deal. Though largely frequented as a sea-bathing place, the town derives its im portance mainly from its vicinity to the Downs, a fine anchorage about eight miles long and six miles wide between the shore and the Goodwin Sands, in which large fleets of wind-bound vessels may lie in safety. The trade consequently consists largely in the supply of provisions and naval stores ; though boat-building and a few other indus tries are carried on. The Deal pilots, limited by statute to the number of 56, are famous for their skill and daring. Among the public buildings in the town the most remark- abl: are St Leonard s Church in Upper Deal, which dates from the Norman period ; the Baptist chapel in Lower Deal, founded by Captain Taverner, governor of Deal Castle, in 1663 ; the Deal and Walmer Institute, established in 1864 ; the military and naval hospital ; and the barracks, which date from 1795. The site of the old navy yard is now occupied by villas ; and the esplanade has been improved by the construction of a promenade pier. At the. south end of the town is Deal Castle, erected by Henry VIII. ; and about a mile to the east is Sandoun Castle, which owes its origin to the same monarch, and is of interest as the prison in which Colonel Hutchinson died in 1664. Walmer Castle, the official residence of the warden of the Cinque- Ports, is about a mile to the south. It has become inti mately associated with the memory of the duke of Welling ton, who died within its walls in 1852. Deal was possibly the site of a Roman station, but it has not received any definite identification. In the 13th century it was regarded as a subordinate member of the Cinque-Port guild ; but even as late as the time of Henry VIII. it was still but a small village. Perkin Warbeck landed at this point in 1495. The castle was vainly besieged by the royalists in 1648; and in 1652 the Downs were the scene of Blake s victory over Van Tromp. Mrs Elizabeth Carter was a native of Deal. The population of the borough, which unites with Sandwich and Walmer in sending one member to Parlia ment, was, in 1871, 8009. The area is 1124 acres.


DEAN, Latin decanus, is derived from the Greek SeKa, ten ; and whether the term was first used among the secular clergy to signify the priest who had a charge of inspection and superintendence over ten parishes, or among the regular clergy to signify the monk who in a monastery had author ity over ten other monks, appears doubtful. " Decurius " may be found in early writers used to signify the same thing as " decanus," which shows that the word and the idea signified by it were originally borrowed from the old

Homau military system.