DELAWARE. 



235 



in extent, with a mole. It is efficiently shel- 

 tered, but silted up. The silt was sounded to 

 a depth of twenty-four feet all around, with- 

 out touching bottom. It was thought that a 

 port could be constructed here capable of ac- 

 commodating conveniently about a dozen iron- 

 clads. 



Information respecting the island of Cyprus 

 and its present condition is supplied in the fol- 

 lowing works: General Louis Palma di Ces- 

 nola, " Cyprus : Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, 

 and Temples" (New York, 1878); Franz von 

 Loher, "Cyprus, Historical and Descriptive, 

 from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. 



Adapted, with Additional Matter, by Mrs. A. 

 Batson Joyner " (London and New York, 

 1878) ; "Cypern : Its History, its Present Re- 

 sources, and Future Prospects," by R. Hamil- 

 ton Lang, late H. M. Consul for the island of 

 Cyprus (London, 1878) ; linger and Kotschy, 

 " Die Insel Cypern " ; J. Seiff, " Reisen in der 

 Asiatischen Turkei." Much information re- 

 specting Cyprus is also given in the British 

 consular reports, in the articles of Mr. H. 

 Hamilton Lang in " Macmillan's Magazine," 

 and in the article "Cyprus, its Present and 

 Future," by R. Stuart Poole, in the "Contem- 

 porary Review " for August, 1878. 



D 



DELAWARE. The State of Delaware has 

 a prosperous Treasury and a rapidly decreasing 

 debt. The amount of this debt on January 1, 

 1875, was $1,272,835. Since that date there 

 has been paid $319,835, thus making the pres- 

 ent indebtedness $953,000. The cash on hand 

 and the State investments show assets of all 

 descriptions in excess of State indebtedness 

 amounting to $165,344. In January, 1877, the 

 State bonds had advanced above par, and be- 

 come a subject of monetary speculation. As 

 the revenues of the State were obviously larger 

 and the reduction of the debt more rapid than 

 was necessary, the Governor recommended to 

 the Legislature then in session to consider the 

 propriety of making such reductions in the ex- 

 isting rates of taxation as should reduce the 

 annual surplus to such a sum as would, in their 

 judgment, prove conducive and not detrimen- 

 tal to the credit of the State and the interests 

 of its people. After deliberation the Legisla- 

 ture curtailed the public revenues in several 

 respects, but chiefly by the reduction of mar- 

 riage-license fees, the discontinuance of the 

 tax on process and recording, and by the abo- 

 lition of the entire State tax on assessments of 

 poll, real and personal property, and of debts, 

 stocks or shares, securities and investments, 

 amounting in the aggregate to $60,000 annually, 

 and, with other reductions by the legislation of 

 1875, to an annual saving and relief to the peo- 

 ple exceeding $75,000. It is further proposed 

 to diminish the indebtedness by calling in the 

 outstanding six per cent, bonds and reissuing 

 them at a lower rate of interest. There is also 

 due to the State $23,886 by the Breakwater 

 and Frankford Railroad Company, being two 

 years' interest on the bond loaned to the com- 

 pany by the State. It remains with the Legis- 

 lature of 1879 to decide if the mortgage on the 

 road shall be foreclosed. 



The State has no charitable institutions of 

 its own ; but provision has been made by law 

 for the care and education of the indigent deaf 

 and dumb and the indigent blind, and also for 

 the support and protection of the indigent in- 

 sane and the destitute imbecile children. A 



limited number of these beneficiaries have been 

 admitted to institutions without the State es- 

 pecially adapted to the care of such persons. 

 The number now enjoying the advantages of 

 various institutions at the expense of the State 

 is as follows : 



In the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. . . 8 

 In the Columbia Institution (Washington) for the Deaf and 



Dumb 2 



In the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the 



Blind 2 



In the Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-minded 



Children 1 



In the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane 1 



Total. 



Showing a decrease within the last two years 

 of one imbecile, one blind, and four deaf and 

 dumb beneficiaries. 



The foundations for a public-school educa- 

 tion were laid in the State Constitution framed 

 in 1792, "as a provision absolutely essential to 

 the safety of a popular government and the 

 welfare of a free people." The free-school sys- 

 tem thus inaugurated has been steadily ad- 

 vancing from year to year, and keeping pace 

 with the public interest. At present in large 

 sections of the State an ardent educational en- 

 thusiasm animates the teachers and pupils, and 

 is extending to parents and the general public. 

 Apart from the merits of the present system, 

 there are also defects, and these consist in the 

 need of more suitable schoolhouses and furni- 

 ture, longer terms of school, and a uniform 

 system of text-books. 



The State Library contains at present 14,457 

 volumes, of which 4,609 volumes consist of re- 

 ports of decisions of the United States and 

 State courts, and 9,848 volumes of United 

 States and State documents, Congressional and 

 Legislative journals, and miscellaneous works. 



A case of train-wrecking occurred during 

 the year, by which four persons lost their lives. 

 The criminal was discovered, tried, and con- 

 victed. But so inadequate was the protection 

 of the law in such cases found to be, that the 

 accused, under the peculiar circumstances at- 

 tending his act and the law governing the case, 

 was found guilty merely of manslaughter. The 



