D'ERLON

d'erlon, jean baptiste drouet, count (1765-1844), marshal of france, was born at reims on the 29th of july 1765. he entered the army as a private soldier in 1782, was discharged after five years' service, re-entered it in 1792, and rose rapidly to the rank of an officer. from 1794 to 1796 he was aide-de-camp to general lefebvre. he did good service in the campaigns of the revolutionary wars and in 1799 attained the rank of general of brigade. in the campaign of that year he was engaged in the swiss operations under massena. in 1800 he fought under moreau at hohenlinden. as a general of division he took part in napoleon's campaigns of 1805 and 1806, and rendered excellent service at jena. he was next engaged under lefebvre in the siege of danzig and negotiated the terms of surrender; after this he rejoined the field army and fought at friedland (1807), receiving a severe wound. after this battle he was made grand officer of the legion of honour, was created count d'erlon and received a pension. for the next six years d'erlon was almost continuously engaged as commander of an army corps in the peninsular war, in which he added greatly to his reputation as a capable general. at the pass of maya in the pyrenees he inflicted a defeat upon lord hill's troops, and in the subsequent battles of the 1814 campaign he distinguished himself further. after the first restoration he was named commander of the 16th military division, but he was soon arrested for conspiring with the orleans party, to which he was secretly devoted. he escaped, however, and gave in his adhesion to napoleon, who had returned from elba. the emperor made him a peer of france, and gave him command of the i. army corps, which formed part of the army of the north. in the waterloo campaign d'erlon's corps formed part of ney's command on the 16th of june, but, in consequence of an extraordinary series of misunderstandings, took part neither at ligny nor at quatre bras (see waterloo campaign). he was not, however, held to account by napoleon, and as the latter's practice in such matters was severe to the verge of injustice, it may be presumed that the failure was not due to d'erlon. he was in command of the right wing of the french army throughout the great battle of the 18th of june, and fought in the closing operations around paris. at the second restoration d'erlon fled into germany, only returning to france after the amnesty of 1825. he was not restored to the service until the accession of louis philippe, in whose interests he had engaged in several plots and intrigues. as commander of the 12th military division (nantes), he suppressed the legitimist agitation in his district and caused the arrest of the duchess of berry (1832). his last active service was in algeria, of which country he was made governor-general in 1834 at the age of seventy. he returned to france after two years, and was made marshal of france shortly before his death at paris on the 25th of january 1844. dermot mac murrough (d. 1171), irish king of leinster, succeeded his father in the principality of the hui cinsellaigh (1115) and eventually in the kingship of leinster. the early events of his life are obscure; but about 1152 we find him engaged in a feud with o ruairc, the lord of breifne (leitrim and cavan). dermot abducted the wife of o ruairc more with the object of injuring his rival than from any love of the lady. the injured husband called to his aid roderic, the high king (aird-righ) of connaught; and in 1166 dermot fled before this powerful coalition to invoke the aid of england. obtaining from henry ii. a licence to enlist allies among the welsh marchers, dermot secured the aid of the clares and geraldines. to richard strongbow, earl of pembroke and head of the house of clare, dermot gave his daughter eva in marriage; and on his death was succeeded by the earl in leinster. the historical importance of dermot lies in the fact that he was the means of introducing the english into ireland. through his aid the towns of waterford, wexford and dublin had already become english colonies before the arrival of henry ii. in the island. see _the song of dermot and the earl, an old french poem_ (by m. regan?), ed. with trans. by g. h. orpen, 1892; kate norgate, _england under the angevin kings_, vol. ii. (h. w. c. d.) derna (anc. _darnis-zarine_), a town on the north coast of africa and capital of the eastern half of the ottoman province of bengazi or barca. situated below the eastern butt of jebel akhdar on a small but rich deltaic plain, watered by fine perennial springs, it has a growing population and trade, the latter being mainly in fruits grown in its extensive palm gardens, and in hides and wool brought down by the nomads from the interior. if the port were better there would be more rapid expansion. the bay is open from n.w. round to s.e. and often inaccessible in winter and spring, and the steamers of the _nav. gen. italiana_ sometimes have to pass without calling. the population has recovered from the great plague epidemic of 1821 and reached its former figure of about 7000. a proportion of it is of moorish stock, of andalusian origin, which emigrated in 1493; the descendants preserve a fine facial type. the sheikhs of the local bedouin tribes have houses in the place, and a turkish garrison of about 250 men is stationed in barracks. there is a lighthouse w. of the bay. a british consular agent is resident and the italians maintain a vice-consul. the names darnis and zarine are philologically identical and probably refer to the same place. no traces are left of the ancient town except some rock tombs. darnis continued to be of some importance in early moslem times as a station on the alexandria-kairawan road, and has served on more than one occasion as a base for egyptian attacks on cyrenaica and tripolitana. in 1805 the government of the united states, having a quarrel with the dey of tripoli on account of piracies committed on american shipping, landed a force to co-operate in the attack on derna then being made by sidi ahmet, an elder brother of the dey. this force, commanded by william eaton (q.v.), built a fort, whose ruins and rusty guns are still to be seen, and began to improve the harbour; but its work quickly came to an end with the conclusion of peace. after 1835 derna passed under direct ottoman control, and subsequently served as the point whence the sultan exerted a precarious but increasing control over eastern cyrenaica and marmarica. it is now in communication by wireless telegraphy with rhodes and western cyrenaica. it is the only town, or even large village, between bengazi and alexandria (600 m.) (d. g. h.) deroulede, paul (1846- ), french author and politician, was born in paris on the 2nd of september 1846. he made his first appearance as a poet in the pages of the _revue nationale_, under the pseudonym of jean rebel, and in 1869 produced at the theatre francais a one-act drama in verse entitled _juan strenner_. on the outbreak of the franco-german war he enlisted as a private, was wounded and taken prisoner at sedan, and sent to breslau, but effected his escape. he then served under chanzy and bourbaki, took part in the latter's disastrous retreat to switzerland, and fought against the commune in paris. after attaining the rank of lieutenant, he was forced by an accident to retire from the army. he published in 1872 a number of patriotic poems (_chants du soldat_), which enjoyed unbounded popularity. this was followed in 1875 by another collection, _nouveaux chants du soldat_. in 1877 he produced a drama in verse called _l'hetman_, which derived a passing success from the patriotic fervour of its sentiments. for the exhibition of 1878 he wrote a hymn, _vive la france_, which was set to music by gounod. in 1880 his drama in verse, _la moabite_, which had been accepted by the theatre francais, was forbidden by the censor on religious grounds. in 1882 m. deroulede founded the _ligue des patriotes_, with the object of furthering france's "revanche" against germany. he was one of the first advocates of a franco-russian alliance, and as early as 1883 undertook a journey to russia for the furtherance of that object. on the rise of general boulanger, m. deroulede attempted to use the _ligue des patriotes_, hitherto a non-political organization, to assist his cause, but was deserted by a great part of the league and forced to resign his presidency. nevertheless he used the section that remained faithful to him with such effect that the government found it necessary in 1889 to decree its suppression. in the same year he was elected to the chamber as member for angouleme. he was expelled from the chamber in 1890 for his disorderly interruptions during debate. he did not stand at the elections of 1893, but was re-elected in 1898, and distinguished himself by his violence as a nationalist and anti-dreyfusard. after the funeral of president faure, on the 23rd of february 1899, he endeavoured to persuade general roget to lead his troops upon the elysee. for this he was arrested, but on being tried for treason was acquitted (may 31). on the 12th of august he was again arrested and accused, together with andre buffet, jules guerin and others, of conspiracy against the republic. after a long trial before the high court, he was sentenced, on the 4th of january 1900, to ten years' banishment from france, and retired to san sebastian. in 1901, he was again brought prominently before the public by a quarrel with his royalist allies, which resulted in an abortive attempt to arrange a duel with m. buffet in switzerland. in november 1905, however, the law of amnesty enabled him to return to france. besides the works already mentioned, he published _le sergent_, in the _theatre de campagne_ (1880); _de l'education nationale_ (1882); _monsieur le uhlan et les trois couleurs_ (1884); _le premier grenadier de france; la tour d'auvergne_ (1886); _le livre de la ligue des patriotes_ (1887); _refrains militaires_ (1888); _histoire d'amour_ (1890); a pamphlet entitled _desarmement?_ (1891); _chants du paysan_ (1894); _poesies militaires_ (1896) and _messire du guesclin, drame en vers_ (1895); _la mort de hoche. cinq actes en prose_ (1897); _la plus belle fille du monde, conte dialogue en vers libres_ (1898).