100 “units” (or farthings reduced 4%) and introduce a new coin = 10 units (2.4d.). By it the unit of account would remain as at present, and the shilling (as 50 units) would continue in use. The alteration of the bronze and several silver coins, and the need of readjusting all values and prices expressed in pence, formed the principal difficulties. A third scheme, which was connected with the assimilation of English to French and American money, proposed the establishment of an 8s. gold coin as unit, with the tenpenny or franc and the penny (reduced by 4%) as subdivisions. The new coin would be equivalent to 10 francs or (by an anticipated reduction of the dollar) 2 dollars. None of these plans has gained any great amount of popular support.
For the general question of monetary scales see Money, and for the decimal system in reference to weights and measures see Metric System and Weights and Measures. (C. F. B.)
DECIUS, GAIUS MESSIUS QUINTUS TRAJANUS (201–251),
Roman emperor, the first of the long succession of distinguished
men from the Illyrian provinces, was born at Budalia near
Sirmium in lower Pannonia in A.D. 201. About 245 the emperor
Philip the Arabian entrusted him with an important command
on the Danube, and in 249 (or end of 248), having been sent to
put down a revolt of the troops in Moesia and Pannonia, he was
forced to assume the imperial dignity. He still protested his
loyalty to Philip, but the latter advanced against him and was
slain near Verona. During his brief reign Decius was engaged in
important operations against the Goths, who crossed the Danube
and overran the districts of Moesia and Thrace. The details are
obscure, and there is considerable doubt as to the part taken in
the campaign by Decius and his son (of the same name) respectively.
The Goths were surprised by the emperor while besieging
Nicopolis on the Danube; at his approach they crossed the
Balkans, and attacked Philippopolis. Decius followed them,
but a severe defeat near Beroë made it impossible to save
Philippopolis, which fell into the hands of the Goths, who treated
the conquered with frightful cruelty. Its commander, Priscus,
declared himself emperor under Gothic protection. The siege
of Philippopolis had so exhausted the numbers and resources
of the Goths, that they offered to surrender their booty and
prisoners on condition of being allowed to retire unmolested.
But Decius, who had succeeded in surrounding them and hoped
to cut off their retreat, refused to entertain their proposals.
The final engagement, in which the Goths fought with the
courage of despair, took place on swampy ground in the Dobrudja
near Abritum (Abrittus) or Forum Trebonii and ended in the
defeat and death of Decius and his son. Decius was an excellent
soldier, a man of amiable disposition, and a capable administrator,
worthy of being classed with the best Romans of the
ancient type. The chief blot on his reign was the systematic
and authorized persecution of the Christians, which had for its
object the restoration of the religion and institutions of ancient
Rome. Either as a concession to the senate, or perhaps with the
idea of improving public morality, Decius endeavoured to revive
the separate office and authority of the censor. The choice was
left to the senate, who unanimously selected Valerian (afterwards
emperor). But Valerian, well aware of the dangers and difficulties
attaching to the office at such a time, declined the responsibility.
The invasion of the Goths and the death of Decius put an end to
the abortive attempt.
See Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus, 29, Epit. 29; Jordanes, De rebus Geticis, 18; fragments of Dexippus, in C. W. Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iii. (1849); Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. 10; H. Schiller, Geschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit, i. (pt. 2), 1883.
DECIZE, a town of central France, in the department of Nièvre,
on an island in the Loire, 24 m. S.E. of Nevers by the Paris-Lyon
railway. Pop. (1906) 3813. The most important of its buildings
is the church of Saint Aré, which dates in part from the 11th and
12th centuries; there are also ruins of a castle of the counts of
Nevers. The town has a statue of Guy Coquille, the lawyer and
historian, who was born there in 1523. Decize is situated at the
starting-point of the Nivernais canal. The coal mine of La
Machine, which belongs to the Schneider Company of Le Creusot,
lies four miles to the north. The industries of Decize and its
suburbs on both banks of the Loire include the working of gypsum
and lime, and the manufacture of ceramic products and glass.
Trade is in horses from the Morvan, cattle, coal, iron, wood and
stone.
Under the name of Decetia the place is mentioned by Julius Caesar as a stronghold of the Aedui, and in 52 B.C. was the scene of a meeting of the senate held by him to settle the leadership of the tribe and to reply to his demand for aid against Vercingetorix. In later times it belonged to the counts of Nevers, from whom it obtained a charter of franchise in 1226.
DECKER, SIR MATTHEW, Bart. (1679–1749), English
merchant and writer on trade, was born in Amsterdam in 1679.
He came to London in 1702 and established himself there as a
merchant. He was remarkably successful in his business life,
gaining great wealth and having many honours conferred upon
him. He was a director of the East India Company, sat in
parliament for four years as member for Bishops Castle, and
was high sheriff of Surrey in 1729. He was created a baronet by
George I. in 1716. Decker’s fame as a writer on trade rests on
two tracts. The first, Serious considerations on the several high
duties which the Nation in general, as well as Trade in particular,
labours under, with a proposal for preventing the removal of goods,
discharging the trader from any search, and raising all the Publick
Supplies by one single Tax (1743; name affixed to 7th edition,
1756), proposed to do away with customs duties and substitute
a tax upon houses. He also suggested taking the duty off
tea and putting instead a licence duty on households wishing
to consume it. The second, an Essay on the Causes of the
Decline of the Foreign Trade, consequently of the value of
the lands in Britain, and on the means to restore both (1744),
has been attributed to W. Richardson, but internal evidence
is strongly in favour of Decker’s authorship. He advocates
the licence plan in an extended form; urges the repeal of
import duties and the abolition of bounties, and, in general,
shows himself such a strong supporter of the doctrine of
free trade as to rank as one of the most important forerunners
of Adam Smith. Decker died on the 18th of March 1749.
DECKER, PIERRE DE (1812–1891), Belgian statesman and
author, was educated at a Jesuit school, studied law at Paris,
and became a journalist on the staff of the Revue de Bruxelles.
In 1839 he was elected to the Belgian lower chamber, where
he gained a great reputation for oratory. In 1855 he became
minister of the interior and prime minister, and attempted,
by a combination of the moderate elements of the Catholic and
Liberal parties, the impossible task of effecting a settlement
of the educational and other questions by which Belgium was
distracted. In 1866 he retired from politics and went into
business, with disastrous results. He became involved in
financial speculations which lost him his good name as well as the
greater part of his fortune; and, though he was never proved to
have been more than the victim of clever operators, when in 1871
he was appointed by the Catholic cabinet governor of Limburg,
the outcry was so great that he resigned the appointment and
retired definitively into private life. He died on the 4th of
January 1891. Decker, who was a member of the Belgian
academy, wrote several historical and other works of value, of
which the most notable are Études historiques et critiques sur les
monts-de-piété en Belgique (Brussels, 1844); De l’influence du
libre arbitre de l’homme sur les faits sociaux (1848); L’Esprit de
parti et l’esprit national (1852); Étude politique sur le vicomte Ch.
Vilain XIIII (1879); Épisodes de l’hist. de l’art en Belgique
(1883); Biographie de H. Conscience (1885).
DECLARATION (from Lat. declarare, to make fully clear,
clarus), formerly, in an action at English law, the first step in
pleading—the precise statement of the matter in respect of which
the plaintiff sued. It was divided into counts, in each of which
a specific cause of action was alleged, in wide and general terms,
and the same acts or omissions might be stated in several counts
as different causes of actions. Under the system of pleading
established by the Judicature Act 1875, the declaration has been
superseded by a statement of claim setting forth the facts on
which the plaintiff relies. Declarations are now in use only in
the mayor’s court of London and certain local courts of record,
