A Mormon secret society, founded in 1838, for the protection of the Mormons from the “Gentiles.” It contained organized companies, called “Destruction Companies,” whose business it was to burn and destroy “Gentile” property, nominally by way of reprisals, and there is little doubt that these bands did not stop short of assassination. They were probably concerned in the Mountain Meadow Massacre. Dannebrog, Order of the. A Danish order of knighthood, founded by Waldemar II in 1219, and reconstituted by Christian V in 1693. Danube Navigation Commission. An international commission appointed in 1856, when the navigation of the Danube was thrown open to all nations. It was originally appointed for two years only, but has from time to time been continued, the last extension being for twenty-one years from 1883. Its jurisdiction extends from the mouths of the Danube to the Iron Gate. Dardanelles, Treaty of. A treaty signed in London in 1841, after the conclusion of the Syrian War, by England, France, Russia, Prussia, Austria and Turkey. It confirmed the agreement arrived at by the Convention of London of the previous year, depriving Mehemet Ali of all his Asiatic possessions, but securing him the Government of Egypt. It also provided that the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles should be closed to all ships of war, excepting small vessels under a special firman. This provision was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris of 1856. The Treaty of the Dardanelles is also known as the Treaty of London. Darien Scheme. A scheme promoted by a Scotchman named Paterson, in the reign of William III, to secure the trade with the Far East by utilising a route across the Isthmus of Darien. A company was formed, and obtained a charter from the Scottish Parliament, granting a monopoly for thirty-one years of the trade with Asia, Africa, and America, and the right to introduce all goods from those regions free of duty, excepting sugar and tobacco. In 1698, 1,200 colonists started for Darien, but were at once opposed by the Spanish colonists, and though a further expedition was dispatched in the following year, the whole enterprise failed ignominiously. The scheme had from the first been opposed in England, and was the cause of much bad blood between the two countries, and of a heavy pecuniary loss to Scotland. Dauphin. The title of the first-born heir-male to the French throne. De Facto King, Statute of. A Statute of Henry VII, passed in 1485, enacting that no person could be convicted of high treason for services rendered to the King who was actually on the throne. Death Ride. The charge of the Light Cavalry Brigade at Balaclava, on September 20, 1854, is so called. Debateable Land.