DELAWARE. 



march from Cana to the capital, which was not 

 adapted for defense, was not disputed. Behan- 

 zin with his followers abandoned Attorney, send- 

 ing notice of its desertion, and Col. Dodds 

 inarched in without meeting further resistance. 

 The King fled to an inaccessible part of the 

 country, whence he made overtures of peace, 

 offering to pay an indemnity of 10,000,000 or 

 20,000,000 francs, to cede various towns to 

 France, and to abolish the slave trade. The 

 French commander, unmoved by his entreaties 

 and promises, continued to occupy Abomey, where 

 the sanitary conditions were favorable, and from 

 there proceeded to reinstate chiefs and headmen 

 who made their submission, and redeem the coun- 

 try as well as he could from the anarchy into 

 which it had fallen, The people suffered greatly 

 from famine caused by the war. Whydah, which 

 had been taken early in the campaign, was forti- 

 fied, and put in a condition for permanent occu- 

 pation. Col. Dodds was promoted to general, 

 and given a free hand in adopting measures for 

 the permanent pacification of the country. The 

 French Government approved his determination 

 not to allow Behanzin, who was still a fugitive, 

 to regain possession of the throne. Gen. Dodds 

 proposed that all the coast places and the la- 

 goons should be taken under direct French ad- 

 ministration, and that Dahomey should be di- 

 vided into three protected territories, ruled by- 

 native chiefs under the control of a French resi- 

 dent at Porto Novo. Leaving 7 companies in 

 Abomey, Gen. Dodds withdrew the rest of his 

 forces to the coast towns. 



DELAWARE, a Middle Atlantic State, one of 

 the original thirteen ; ratified the Federal Con- 

 stitution Dec. 7, 1787 ; area, 2,050 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial cen- 

 sus, was 59,096 in 1790 : 64,273 in 1800 ; 72,674 in 

 1810; 72,749 in 1820; 76,748 in 1830; 78,085 in 

 1840; 91,532 in 1850; 112,216, in 1860; 125,015 

 in 1870 : 146,608 in 1880 ; and 168,493 in 1890. 

 Capital, Dover. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, Robert J. 

 Reynolds (Democrat); Secretary of State, David 

 T. Marvel ; Treasurer, Wilbur H. Burnite ; Audi- 

 tor, John P. Dulaney; Attorney-General, John 

 Biggs, who retired, and was succeeded in April 

 by John R. Nicholson ; Insurance Commissioner, 

 Isaac N. Fooks: Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, Joseph P. Comegys; Associate Justices, 

 Ignatius C. Grubb, John W. Houston, and Charles 

 M. Cullen. Chancellor. Willard Saulsbury, who 

 died April 6, and James L. Walcott, who was ap- 

 pointed to the office May 3. 



Distribution of Population. A census bul- 

 letin gives the following classification of the to- 

 tal population, 168,493 : Males, 85,573 ; females. 

 82,920 ; native born, 155,332 ; foreign born, 13,- 

 161 ; aggregate white population, 140,066 ; na- 

 tive whites, 126,970; native parents, 109,355; 

 foreign parents, 17,615 ; foreign whites, 13,096 ; 

 total colored (Africans, Chinese, Japanese, etc.), 

 28,427. The decline of the colored element in 

 Delaware has been steady since 1850, when it was 

 22-25 per cent., to 1890, when it was only 16-87. 

 The increase of whites between 1880 and 1890 

 was 16-57 per cent. ; of colored, 7'48. 



Finances. The balance in the State treasury, 

 Dec. 31, 1890, was $97,759.20. Of this amount, 



$65,171.68 was in the general fund, $20,410.45 

 in the school fund, and $12,177.07 in the oyster 

 fund. The total receipts for the general fund 

 during the year ensuing were $534,644.30, and 

 the total expenditures $570,812.66, leaving a bal- 

 ance in the general fund, Dec. 31, 1891, of $29,- 

 003.32. The total receipts for the school fund 

 were $159,402.02, and the disbursements $146,- 

 244.97, leaving a balance of $33,567.50. The re- 

 ceipts for the oyster fund were $6,600.12, and 

 the disbursements $18,376.84, leaving a balance 

 of $400.35. The whole amount in the treasury, 

 Dec. 31, 1891, was $62,971.17. The total indebt- 

 edness of the State amounts to $684,750, to meet 

 which it has securities in bank stock and mort- 

 gages to the amount of $1,013,385, besides the 

 balances in the treasury to the credit of the sev- 

 eral funds. 



Valuations. A comparison of valuations by 

 the last two census reports gives : Total assessed 

 valuation in 1890, $74,134,401 ; in 1880, $59,951,- 

 643; increase of assessed valuation, $14,182,758 ; 

 assessed valuation per capita in 1890, $439.99 ; in 

 1880, $408.92 ; increase per cent, of assessed val- 

 uation, 23*66; increase per cent, of population, 

 14-93 ; assessed value of real estate in 1890, $59,- 

 307,521 ; in 1880, $50,302,739 ; assessed value of 

 personal property in 1890, $14,826,880 ; in 1880, 

 $9,648,904; estimated true valuation for 1880, 

 $136,000,000 ; estimated per capita, $928. 



Charities. The balance in the current fund 

 of the State hospital, Dec. 31, 1891, was $8,730.41. 

 The General Assembly appropriated $30,000 on 

 March 27, 1891, for the purpose of extending the 

 ground, erecting new buildings, and repairing 

 and refitting the old buildings ; and $16,577.59 

 of the appropriation was expended, leaving a 

 balance in the improvement fund of $13.422.41. 

 The total population of the hospital was 183, of 

 which number 81 were white males, 21 colored 

 males, 50 white females, and 19 colored females. 

 At the time of the superintendent's report in 

 June the number of patients had increased to 

 197. Plans have been adopted for the proposed 

 Dr. L. P. Bush Surgical Ward. 



Education. The amount of the State school 

 fund for the year was $148,292.98, from which 

 was paid for beneficiaries in institutions outside 

 of the State as follows : Blind, Deaf and Dumb, 

 and Feeble-minded, $3,326.86 ; Teachers' Insti- 

 tute, $300 ; free text-books, $22,985.18 ; leaving 

 a balance of $121,680.94 to be divided between 

 the three counties ; $25,000 of this sum is the 

 State appropriation, of which $10,000 went to 

 New Castle and $7,500 each to Kent and Sussex. 



The surplus revenue fund, which amounted to 

 $18,705. was to be divided equally between the 

 three counties. The remainder from the general 

 fund and other sources except school dividends 

 forfeited, which are returned to the counties 

 amounted to $103,853.61, to be divided be- 

 tween the three counties, as follows : New Castle 

 County, $23,223 : Kent County, $13,655 ; Sussex 

 County, $20,727. The general result gave New 

 Castle' County $58,316.22, Kent $38,355.56, Sus- 

 sex $51,621.20, from which amounts were to be 

 deducted the sums paid for free text-books, as 

 follow: New Castle County, $6,349.58; Kent, 

 $6,378.88; Sussex, $10,256.72. The dividend is 

 by far the heaviest ever paid by the State. 



Nine students were graduated at Delaware Col- 



