A proclamation by James II, issued on his sole authority, annulling all religious tests, and all penal enactments against Dissenters, which he ordered to be read in the churches. This led to the famous Protest of the Seven Bishops. Declaration of Right. A declaration by the Convention, accompanying the offer of the Crown to William of Orange in 1689. It declared that the dispensing power was non-existent, that the sovereign could only raise money by the aid of Parliament, and that no army could be maintained in time of peace. It further asserted the right of petition, of freedom of debate in Parliament, of free choice of representatives, and of pure administration, and the necessity of frequent Parliaments. The declaration was accepted by William, and afterwards embodied in the Bill of Right. Declaration of Rights. A manifesto issued by the General Congress in America, in 1774, maintaining the rights of American colonists as Englishmen, and demanding the repeal of the Boston Port Act and other obnoxious legislation. Decretals, False. A collection of Decretals, or Papal Edicts, purporting to have been issued by very early Popes, which was produced in the ninth century. These Decretals were designed to support the claim of the Bishops of Rome to supreme authority in the Church. Defender of the Faith. The title granted to Henry VIII by Leo X in 1521, in recognition of his book “The Assertion of the Seven Sacraments,” written in opposition to the Lutheran doctrine. This title has been borne by all the English Sovereigns since Henry VIII. Defenders. The name assumed by the agrarian bands formed by the Catholic farmers of Ulster for defence against the Peep o’ Day Boys, in 1782. Defensionale. A joint military scheme for the defence of the country, drawn up by the Federated States of Switzerland, in 1647. Deficit, Madame. A name given by the Parisians to Marie Antoinette, circ. 1786, the constant deficits in the French Budget being attributed to her extravagance. Dekabrists. The name given to the conspirators concerned in the December rising in St. Petersburg in 1825. Delegations. A body of 120 members, chosen half by the Austrian and half by the Hungarian Legislature, which controls all questions affecting the common interests of the dual monarchy. To this body the Ministers of War, Foreign Affairs, and Finance are responsible. To have the force of law, its enactments require the confirmation of both Parliaments. Demarcation, Bull of. The Bull issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493, defining the respective colonial spheres of Spain and Portugal. A line was drawn north and south, 100 leagues west of the Azores. All extra-European countries east of this line were granted to Portugal, and all west of it to Spain. On this Bull Spain based her claim to the whole of the American Continent. Demesne Lands. The lands belonging to the Crown were so called in the early days of English History. Demetrius, The False.