Part 21

1812. JOHN HORNE TOOKE, an English politician, died. He was educated for the ministry, with a great predilection for politics. In 1771 he induced the printers of two newspapers to publish the debates of the house of commons in violation of their rules, which led to proceedings that finally resulted in the defeat of the house, and the practice of those publications ever since. He was a warm opponent of the American war, and was prosecuted for sedition, for the wording of a resolution by which the Constitutional society voted £100 to the relief of the widows and children of the Americans who fell at the battle of Lexington, and was sentenced to a year's imprisonment and a fine of £200. In 1786, appeared his _Diversions of Purley_, which raised him to a high rank as a philologist. His political life ended with the dissolution of parliament, in 1802, and the remainder of his days were spent in the society of his friends.

1814. Battle of Arcis, in which the prince of Wirtemberg defeated the French and captured that place.

1815. BONAPARTE ascended the throne of France on his return from Elba.

1831. The Austrian troops entered Bologna, and in a few days overrun the revolted part of Italy.

1831. Insurrection of the slaves at Antigua. Suppressed on the 25th.

1843. CHARLES G. CORLISS was shot dead in a street near Broadway, New York, by a woman who escaped.

1844. PETER B. PORTER died, aged 71. His name is connected with most of the important events in the history of western New York; and as an officer in the army during the last war with great Britain he rendered important services to his country. He was some time secretary of war of the United States.

1849. NEWTON M. CURTISS, author of a number of novels, died, aged 34. He some time printed a political paper at Ballston, before his talent as a writer of fiction was developed. His subjects were mostly of Indian and revolutionary scenes and incidents.

1853. The French fleet sailed for the Turkish waters, to act against the Russians, if necessary.

1854. Two shocks of an earthquake at Macon, Ga.

1856. DAVID CONNER, a United States commodore, died. He entered the service in 1809, and was wounded in the action between the Hornet and Penguin.

1856. A party of 500 Costa Ricans attacked Col. Schlessinger who commanded 400 of Walker's men, at the hacienda Santa Rosa, and entirely defeated them. Mora had 16 killed and 25 wounded; of Gen. Walker's men 90 were killed and several perished in the woods. The action lasted but 14 minutes. The Costa Ricans shot 19 prisoners.

MARCH 21.

1140. A remarkable eclipse of the sun in England, which caused total darkness.

1491. The new epoch and sacred year of the Jews established, corresponding with the first day of Abib, (Nisan) the day of Pharaoh's overthrow.

1512. JUAN PONCE DE LEON landed in Florida, and claimed the honor of the discovery; although Sebastian Cabot sailed along the coast in 1497. He was led to undertake the expedition by the Indian tradition in Cuba, that in the interior of the country was a spring which made those who drank it young and perpetuated their youth. At a great loss of his men in the swamps and marshes, he penetrated into the interior, but was driven back by the Indians without discovering the miraculous fountain.

1556. THOMAS CRANMER, archbishop of Canterbury, burnt for heresy at Oxford. He was born 1489, and educated for the ministry. His first promotion arose from his remarking that the meditated divorce of Henry VIII from his first wife, Catharine of Arragon, might be decided by learned divines without an appeal to the pope. The king, on hearing of it exclaimed "by G----d, the man has got the sow by the right ear!" He was sent for to court, and immediately preferred. On the accession of Mary, he was tried before commissioners, sent from Rome on charges of blasphemy, perjury, incontinence and heresy, and sentenced to be degraded and deprived of office, and finally burnt for the confessions he was induced to make with the hope of pardon. He contributed far more than any other individual to the establishment of the independence of the English church, and was a great patron of learning and the universities.

1604. PETER ERNEST, count de Mansfield, died at Luxembourg. He was an able statesman in the service of the emperor of Germany. His conduct was considered so meritorious that he was appointed governor of Brabant.

1639. THOMAS CAMPANELLI, an Italian philosopher of great eminence, died at Paris. So great was his learning and eloquence, that his rivals and enemies procured the interference of the inquisition on an accusation of sorcery and magic. He was afterwards put to the rack and condemned to perpetual imprisonment, but found means to escape to France, where he was protected.

1644. PRINCE RUPERT defeated the parliament forces in England, and relieved Newark.

1656. JAMES USHER, archbishop of Armagh, died. He enjoyed a reputation seldom acquired, in every department of knowledge, and received pressing invitations to France and Germany, at a time when his own country was in a state of anarchy, and his property falling a prey to the fortunes of war.

1663. CHARLOTTE TREMOUILLE, countess of Derby, died. She was the wife of the earl of Derby who was treacherously beheaded during the civil war of England, and imitated his heroic conduct by defying the attacks of the parliament forces, and was the last person who submitted to them.

1673. The castle formerly standing at the entrance of Boston harbor, accidentally destroyed by fire. It was constructed of timber, since replaced by a new one of stone.

1676. A hissing, detonating meteor passed over Italy two hours after sunset. Its apparent diameter was greater than that of the moon; its real diameter about three quarters of a mile; and the velocity was calculated at 160 miles a minute.

1684. NATHANIEL HIGHMORE, an eminent English anatomist, died. He is the author of the first systematic treatise on the structure of the human body, in the English language, and was indefatigable in the pursuit and improvement of anatomical science.

1733. STANISLAUS, king of Poland, sent his abdication by express, to Warsaw.

1766. RICHARD DAWES, an English scholar, died; celebrated as the author of the _Miscellanea Critica_.

1772. JAMES NICHOLAS BELLIN, a learned and laborious geographical engineer of Paris, died.

1776. The duke of Bridgewater's canal from Manchester to Liverpool completed, a great achievement for the time.

1778. The American ministers, Franklin, Dean and Lee, were publicly received at the French court.

1788. A fire occurred at New Orleans, by which seven-eighths of the city was laid in ashes.

1797. JOHN PARKHURST, an English divine, died aged 69; well known as a lexicographer.

1797. The French entered Goritz in Austria, where they found 1500 sick, and a great quantity of provisions and stores.

1799. Battle of Asterach, between the French under Jourdan, and the Austrians under the archduke, in which the latter were defeated. Austrian loss 2160.

1800. The Ionian republic, formed under the protection of the porte. Corfu, Zante and other Venitian isles formed the confederation.

1801. Battle of Aboukir, or Alexandria, in Egypt, between the French under Menou, and the British and Turks under Abercrombie. The French were defeated with the loss of 3000 killed, and the standard of the invincible regiment taken, the officer bearing this famous banner being killed, and nearly the whole of those celebrated soldiers annihilated. British loss 1376, and their commander, Abercrombie, mortally wounded.

1803. EDWARD MARCUS DESPARD, an Irish officer, executed for treason. He was appointed superintendent of the English colonies in the West Indies, where his conduct led to a recall; out of his subsequent treatment grew a desire for revenge, which led him on to his fate.

1804. DUKE D'ENGHIEN, shot at Vincennes by torch light. (See p. 104.)

1806. Madison county, New York, was formed.

1815. BONAPARTE entered Paris, the Bourbons having previously evacuated it, on the news of his landing from Elba.

1821. MICHAEL BRYAN, an eminent connoisseur in the fine arts, died. He is the author of a biographical and critical dictionary of painters and engravers.

1829. Duel at London between the duke of Wellington and the earl of Winchelsea.

1829. Great earthquake in the provinces of Murcia and Oriheula, in Spain. Upwards of 20 churches and 4,000 houses destroyed, and great numbers of the inhabitants killed. A considerable portion of the former province was converted into a barren waste.

1839. LOUISA, the last surviving daughter of Linnæus the naturalist, died at Upsala, aged 90.

1843. HERARD, the successful general of the insurgents in Hayti, made a triumphal entry into Port au Prince.

1843. ROBERT SOUTHEY, an eminent English poet, died, aged 68, in a state of mental darkness, from an excess of labor.

1845. BENJAMIN BUSHE died at Greensboro, Vt., aged 115.

1849. BENJ. F. THOMPSON, the historian of Long island, died, aged 64. He was distinguished by an ardent love for historical research, and left a large collection of materials for the illustration of the local history of New York state.

1852. ARMAND MARRAST, one of the leading and ablest journalists of France, died. His name was conspicuous in the revolution of February, 1848, which made him mayor of Paris, and a member of the provisional government. He was the author of the French constitution of 1848.

1856. The fortieth asteroid, named Lætitia, discovered by Mr. Goldschmidt, at Paris.

MARCH 22.

387. THEODOSIUS degraded Antioch, the metropolis of the east, from the rank of a city, and subjected it to the jurisdiction of Laodicea, on account of a sedition.

1270. LOUIS IX, king of France, died. He displayed the magnanimity of the hero, the integrity of the patriot, and the humanity of the philosopher. By his order a translation of the whole Bible was made into French.

1312. The order of Knights Templars suppressed by a papal decree.

1520. LEO X gave permission for the publication of the _Complutensian Polyglott_, a magnificent edition of the Bible, prepared and printed at the expense of Cardinal Ximenes of Toledo. The work was commenced in 1502, and prosecuted without interruption fifteen years, at an expense of more than 50,000 crowns of gold.

1530. Diet of Augsburg, in Germany, at which Melanchton drew up a creed known by the name of the _Augsburg Confession_.

1595. WALTER RALEIGH, in search of the fabulous golden city of Manoa del Dorado, arrived at Trinidad. He had fitted out a fleet at great expense; leaving his ships at Trinidad he proceeded with 100 men in boats 400 miles up the Oronoque; but the river beginning dangerously to swell, he returned without effecting the great discovery.

1621. The colonists at Plymouth received a visit from Masassoit, the greatest king of the neighboring Indians. A league of friendship was agreed upon which was inviolably observed more than fifty years.

1646. Battle of Stowe, in which the royalists under Lord Astley, 3000 in number, were defeated by Col. Morgan. This was the last body of men that appeared on the field for King Charles.

1687. JEAN BAPTISTE LULLY, an Italian musician, died at Paris. He was born of obscure parentage, and at the age of ten was sent by the Chevalier Guise to France as a page to Mad'lle de Montpensier. The lady, however was so little pleased with him, that she sent him into the kitchen, where he officiated as under-scullion, till his musical talent became accidentally known. From this time he rose rapidly, and contributed much to the improvement of the science of music in France. He is said to have been the inventor of the overture.

1717. MATTHEW HUBERT, an eloquent French preacher, died. His sermons are published in 6 vols. and highly esteemed.

1740. Porto Bello, on the isthmus of Darien, taken by the English under Admiral Vernon.

1758. JONATHAN EDWARDS, the most celebrated of American metaphysicians and theologians, died of small pox, aged 55. There have been three great editions of his works published, one in England and two in this country.

1765. Stamp act passed by the British parliament, the first attempt to tax America without allowing her a representation in the parliament.

1772. JOHN CANTON, an English natural philosopher, died. He was a cloth-weaver, and first devoted his leisure moments to mathematics. He became a member of the royal society, and obtained their gold medal by his experiments on the Leyden phial.

1797. Battle of La Chinse, in Austria. The French under Guieux drove the imperialists before them until they fell in with Massena at Tarwis and were defeated. The French took 5000 prisoners, 400 wagons and 30 cannon.

1797. The French under Joubert crossed the Adige at Newmark, in Saxony, defeated Gen. Laudohn, entered Botzen, and matched directly for Claufen. The French took 1500 prisoners.

1806. MURAT proclaimed at Dusseldorf, "Prince Joachim, duke of Cleves and Berg."

1821. STEPHEN DECATUR, a distinguished American commodore, died at Washington, aged 41.

1828. LOUIS CHORIS, an eminent Russian painter and draftsman to Kotzebue's circumnavigating expedition, was killed in company with his traveling companion, near Vera Cruz in Mexico.

1832. The bill banishing the families of Napoleon and Charles X, passed the chamber of peers by a vote of 80 to 30.

1832. JOHN WOLFGANG VON GŒTHE, "the patriarch of German literature," died, aged 83. He early gave indications of genius and a taste for the fine arts; acquired several languages, and made some proficiency in drawing, engraving, &c.; and first attracted attention as an author by the drama of _Gœtz_ in 1773, and the _Sorrows of Werther_ the next year. The activity and versatility of his genius were prodigious, and his productions amounting to 50 vols., embrace every branch of literature and science. He died at Weimar, quietly seated in his armchair, and apparently without suffering.

1842. CONDY RAGUET, author of the _Free Trade Advocate_, and many other political productions, died at Philadelphia.

1851. MORDECAI MANASSEH NOAH, for over forty years connected with the press of New York and prominent as a writer and politician, died.

1851. ISAAC HILL, one of the most influential political writers in America and for many years editor of the _New Hampshire Patriot_, died.

1851. JOHN STUART SKINNER, editor of the _Plow, the Loom and the Anvil_, died at Baltimore, aged 63. He was the pioneer in the establishment of American agricultural journals, although he had been educated for the law.

1855. RAMON PINTO, an eminent Cuban lawyer, suffered death by the garotte, at Havana, for conspiring to take Concha's life and overthrow the existing government.

1855. The Russians, in a night sortie upon the French lines at Sebastopol, were driven back after a contest of two and a half hours.

MARCH 23.

1208. The pope laid the churches of England under an interdict. King John in retaliation banished the bishops that obeyed.

1534. CLEMENT VIII issued his bull rescinding Cranmer's sentence, and confirming Henry VIII's marriage with Catharine; in consequence of which the pope's authority was abolished in England, and the king declared the supreme head of the church.

1556. JULIUS III (John Marie du Mont), pope of Rome, died. He is notorious for having dissolved the council of Trent, and is characterized as a weak and narrow-minded pontiff, little calculated to uphold the dignity and power of his office.

1606. JUSTUS LIPSIUS died; a most acute and learned Flemish critic and commentator on ancient authors. His works were published in 6 vols. folio.

1621. JOHN CARVER, first governor of Plymouth colony, died. He was among the English emigrants to Leyden; and when a removal to America was contemplated, he was sent over to negotiate for a suitable territory. He conducted the affairs of the colony with great prudence, and discovered great address in the management of the natives.

1650. The English army commanded by Oliver Cromwell, laid siege to the town of Kilkenny in Ireland. The defence was obstinate, but the garrison surrendered in a few days.

1776. ROBERT JAMES, an English physician, died; known as the inventor of James' Fever Powders, a preparation which has acquired great celebrity and proved an inexhaustible source of opulence to his family, and benefit to the public.

1776. Congress issued letters of marque and reprisal against England.

1777. The British under Bird landed at Peekskill on the Hudson river for the purpose of seizing the military stores; but on the news of his approach the guard stationed there under Gen. McDougal, fired the principal store houses and retired.

1793. Spain declared war against England.

1797. The French under DUGUA entered Trieste, the most important seaport town of Austria; at the same time another French army took possession of the mines of Ydria.

1801. PETROWITZ PAUL, emperor of Russia, assassinated. He was the son of Catharine II, who treated him with great rigor, during her life. In 1780 he traveled with his wife through the southern part of Europe under the title of _Count of the North_. In 1796 he ascended the throne, and among the first of his acts were the discontinuance of the Persian war, and the liberation of the Poles confined in Russia. But his conduct was suddenly reversed, and his indiscretions and tyranny finally produced a conspiracy among the nobles, by which it is supposed his sons were accessory to his death. In the official publication of his death, it was ascribed to apoplexy.

1806. The exploring party under Captains Clarke and Lewis, left fort Clatsop on their return up the Columbia river to the United States.

1808. MURAT, at the head of 40,000 French soldiers, taking advantage of a faction among the populace, entered Madrid and took possession of it.

1809. THOMAS HOLCROFT, an English dramatic writer, died. His father was a shoemaker in low circumstances, which occupation the son also followed till he resolved to try his fortune on the stage. Besides his dramas he produced several novels and translations from the German and French. He suffered imprisonment for republicanism, with Tooke and others.

1815. Action off the island of Tristran d'Acunha, between the United States brig Hornet, 16 guns, Capt. Biddle, and the British brig Penguin, 18 guns and a 12 pound carronade, 132 men, Capt. Dickinson. Capt. Dickinson was killed and the Penguin captured in 22 minutes; she was so much injured that it was found necessary to sink her. Penguin had 14 killed, 28 wounded; Hornet 1 killed, 11 wounded. After the surrender a British soldier wounded Capt. Biddle in the neck with a musket ball; he was immediately shot by two of the marines.

1819. AUGUST FREDERICK VON KOTZEBUE, a celebrated German dramatist, assassinated at Manheim. _The Stranger_ and _Pizarro_ are translated and popular at our theatres. His works are numerous. He was assassinated by a fanatical student named Sandt, who at the same time stabbed himself; but recovered and was beheaded.

1840. WILLIAM MACLURE, a distinguished naturalist, formerly of Philadelphia, and twenty years president of the academy of natural sciences in that city, died near the city of Mexico. He wrote on the geology of the United States and the West Indies.

1849. BENJAMIN SIMPSON died at Saco, Maine, aged 94; one of the party engaged in throwing the tea overboard in Boston harbor, at the opening of the revolution.

1849. CHARLES ALBERT, king of Sardinia, in consequence of his defeat by the Austrians, abdicated his crown in favor of his eldest son, the duke of Savoy.

1849. ELIZABETH HUGHES, well known in England as a fortune-teller and familiar with angels, died at Fowdon in her 89th year.

1850. JOHN W. WEBSTER, professor of chemistry in Cambridge university, found guilty of the murder of his friend Benjamin Parkman; a case which excited community for a long time.

1854. A treaty of commerce concluded between Commodore Perry of the United States squadron, and the emperor of Japan.

MARCH 24.

1426 B. C. The 24th Nisan is marked as a feast in the Jews' calendar for the death of Joshua. He was buried, full of honor, on the border of his capital in Mount Ephraim.

1455. POPE NICHOLAS V, the friend of ancient literature and the protector of the learned exiles of Greece, died.

1495. COLUMBUS with an army of 200 men, 20 horses and 20 dogs! commenced a campaign against the natives of Hispaniola, who in consequence of the excesses of the Spaniards had raised an army of 100,000 men to destroy the colony at Isabella. The admiral spent a year in ranging the island; and reduced it to such obedience that every inhabitant was subjected to a quarterly tribute to the king of Spain in gold dust or cotton.

1545. Diet at Worms assembled. The protestants disclaimed all connection with the council of Trent.

1564. PIUS IV issued a bull denouncing the perusal of certain books, and establishing new rules by which to judge books.

1581. JAMES DYER, an eminent English judge, died. He was distinguished for his learning and excellence; a volume of law reports which he left in manuscript and were not published till 20 years after his death, have been often reprinted.

1588 (1580?). Bombs first used at the siege of Wachtendonk in Holland. The invention of bombs is disputed among several countries, and there are good reasons for believing that some contrivance of the kind had been made use of long before this event. Galen, bishop of Munster, is said to have been the inventor of bombs; while Strada in his account of the wars of the Low Countries, attributes the invention a few days before this siege to an inhabitant of the town of Venloo, and that the people of the city, wishing to exhibit it in presence of the duke of Cleves, discharged a bomb, which falling on one of the houses, set fire to it, and three-fourths of the town were destroyed before the flames could be extinguished.

1603. ELIZABETH, queen of England, died, aged 70. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. On the death of Mary, 1558, she was proclaimed queen, at the age of twenty-five, and held the sceptre forty-five years with uncommon ability. Her reign was a period of great prosperity for England. Her treatment of the queen of Scots can never be defended, and some other foibles tarnish her fame; but the splendor of her reign and the strength of mind displayed in the conduct of the government overbalance those weaknesses which few crowned heads are devoid of.

1638. CANONICUS and MIANTONIMOH gave Roger Williams a deed of Providence.

1645. The parliament voted that the clause for the preservation of his majesty's person should be left out of Sir Thos. Fairfax's commission. This was a bad omen for King Charles.

1674. JONATHAN GODDARD, an English physician and chemist, died. He was a favorite with Cromwell; but on the restoration his abilities were not in sufficient estimation to preserve him from being disgraced. He was an able writer and a liberal patron of learned men, and one of the promoters of the royal society.

1698. JOHN EVELYN, distinguished as a poet and translator, died, aged 45. At the age of 15 he wrote the elegant Greek poem which accompanies the second edition of the _Sylva_, written by his father.

1718. On the island of Lithy, India, there fell a ball of fire, containing gelatinous matter.

1720. JOHN PERINGSKIOLL, a Swedish antiquary and historian, died. He was professor of antiquities at Upsala, and secretary and councilor to the king. His works amount to 17 vols. folio.

1726. DANIEL WHITBY, an English prelate, died. He was, like many of his profession, totally unqualified for the common pursuits of business; but was engrossed with matters of religion and learning. His publications are more than 40 in number; one of which gave offence to the clergy and was publicly burnt.