Part 32

APRIL 27.

1124. ALEXANDER I of Scotland, son of Malcom Canmore, died. He ascended the throne on the death of his brother Edgar, 1107, and from the energy and impetuosity of his character he was called the _fierce_. There were several rebellions and insurrections against his reign, which he put down with vigor. A conspiracy was formed against his life, and the traitors got admission into his bed chamber at night. He cut his way through them, and after killing six made his escape.

1192. CONRAD DE MONTFERRAT assassinated at Tyre.

1296. Battle of Dunbar, in which Edward I, of England, defeated the Scots under the king, John Baliol, who lost 20,000 slain. Baliol was taken prisoner to England, and confined in the tower.

1404. PHILIP (_the bold_), duke of Burgundy, died. He was a just and brave prince, but so profuse in his expenses, that his body was seized after death by his creditors, and it was with difficulty that his duchess could redeem it.

1573. The army or the States General seized Flushing, and hanged the Spanish commander.

1603. King JAMES I, on his way to take possession of the English crown, was magnificently entertained at Winchinbrook by Sir Oliver Cromwell.

1610. Patent for Newfoundland granted to the earl of Northampton and 44 other persons, by the name of the treasurer and company of adventurers and planters of the cities of Bristol and London, for the colony or plantation of Newfoundland, from lat. 46 to 52 deg., together with the seas and islands lying within ten leagues of the coast.

1667. MILTON disposed of the copy right of the _Paradise Lost_ for £5! It was with much difficulty that he could find any one to undertake the publication of it.

1702. JOHN BARTH died; who by his bravery and skill rose to a high rank in the French navy.

1717. The Dissenters received £5,000 for damages done their meeting houses during the rebellion on account of the pretender to the English throne.

1742. NICHOLAS AMHERST, an English political writer, died. He for a considerable time published the _Craftsman_, a paper conducted with unusual spirit and success, which guided the public taste and awed the administration.

1762. The Irish levelers suppressed by Lord Halifax.

1775. The Bostonians delivered up a large quantity of guns, &c., to the British general Gage.

1782. EDWARD CHAMBERLAYNE, an English statesman, died. He was one of the best scholars of his age.

1785. Prince LEOPOLD of Brunswick, son of the reigning duke, having gone to the relief of the inhabitants of an inundated village on the Oder, near Frankfort, was upset in his boat and drowned. Thus dying as he had lived, in the highest exercise of humanity.

1792. JOHN JAMES ANKERSTROOM, a Swedish officer, executed for the murder of Gustavus, king of Sweden.

1794. WILLIAM JONES died, a man who rose by the superiority of his genius, from a low station to a high judicial office in Bengal. By his unwearied industry and skill in the Asiatic languages, he successfully explored the hidden sources of oriental science and literature, and to whose translations we are indebted for many beautiful effusions of the Persian muse. As a linguist he has seldom if ever been surpassed. He was master of almost every language of Europe and Asia.

1794. JAMES BRUCE, the celebrated Scottish traveler, died. Being consul at Algiers, he found leisure to study the oriental languages, and formed the project of exploring the interior of Africa. He discovered the sources of the Nile.

1796. CHARLES TOWNSEND, an English nobleman, was found dead in a post chaise on his return from Great Yarmouth, for which borough his brother Frederick had been elected to parliament. They both had exhibited marks of insanity, and in one of these paroxysms Charles shot himself.

1799. Battle of Cassano, in Italy; the French under Moreau totally defeated by the Russians and Austrians under Suwarrow.

1803. TOUSSAINT L'OVERTURE, a mulatto chieftain of St. Domingo, died. He possessed unbounded influence over the blacks of that island, and became the head of all power, civil and military, among them. He was treacherously betrayed by the French, and thrown into prison where he died.

1804. JONATHAN BOUCHER, an English archæologist, died. He was an episcopal preacher in America, till the revolution drove him back to England. He prepared a glossary of provincial and archæological words, intended for a supplement to Johnson's Dictionary.

1806. The squadron under Miranda, intended to begin a revolution in South America, engaged two Spanish guardacostas. The Spaniards captured two schooners, having on board 22 officers and 30 men, all of whom were hanged or sent to the mines.

1813. The American army under Gen. Pike took York, the capital of Upper Canada. The British blew up the works, by which Gen. Pike was killed, as well as about 50 of the British, and 200 American soldiers killed or wounded.

1830. City of Guatemala nearly destroyed by an earthquake.

1834. THOMAS STOTHARD died; celebrated for his illustrations to the _Canterbury Tales_, _Rogers' Italy_, _Pilgrims' Progress_ and _Robinson Crusoe_.

1836. JOHN HART, an American physician, died. He joined the army at the outbreak of the revolution, and continued in it until it was disbanded. He was afterwards a member of the Massachusetts senate, and much esteemed as a physician and a patriot.

1836. Battle near Fort Brook, Florida, between the United States volunteer troops and the Indians. The Indians were defeated with the loss of 200 killed. Loss of the U. S. troops, 2 killed, 24 wounded.

1836. The celebrated Bible presented by Alcuin to Charlemagne, was sold at auction in London for £1,500 ($6,666). See Dec. 1, 801.

1838. Baroness SCHOPENHAUER died at Jena; a woman of talent and celebrity, and author of various works, which were collected in 24 vols.

1838. Great fire at Charlestown, S. C., "which laid waste 145 acres of the most populous part of the city."

1849. WILLIAM B. COOPER, ex-governor, and a highly respected citizen of the state of Delaware, died at his residence, Laurel hill.

1850. The Atlantic, first steamer of the Collins line, sailed from Liverpool.

1855. Col. KINNEY arrested in New York on a bench warrant, for beginning a military enterprise against Nicaragua.

1856. Ratification of the treaty of peace between England, France and Turkey, and Russia, which terminated the Crimean war.

1856. ROBERT KELLY, a New York merchant, died, aged 47. Having acquired a fortune and a high reputation as a merchant, he devoted his attention to science, acquired eight languages, and filled many important offices. His superior talents and untiring industry were under the direction of philanthropic and Christian impulses.

APRIL 28.

1060 B. C. The 28th Jiar is kept as a fast by the Hebrews for the death of Samuel, which took place two years before the destruction of Saul.

492 B. C. MENENIUS AGRIPPA, a Roman patrician died; celebrated for appeasing a sedition by a fable of the belly and the limbs.

357. CONSTANTIUS, the third and surviving son of Constantine the great, visited Rome for thirty days, when he displayed the magnificence of a triumph.

1489. HENRY PERCY, earl of Northumberland, murdered.

1494. JOAN BOUGHTON, a widow, was burned for heresy; said to be the first female martyr of England.

1521. CORTEZ having constructed 13 brigantines with sails and oars, and transported them on the backs of 8000 Tlascalans, they were launched on this day in the lake of Mexico, with religious ceremonies under a discharge of the artillery and small arms, followed by the singing of _Te Deum_ to the music of military instruments. They were provided with sails and twelve oars each, and a falconet, or small brass cannon. The final success of the enterprise was greatly indebted to these vessels.

1535. ALBERT PIO, a Spanish ecclesiastic buried with extraordinary pomp at Paris, in the church of the Cordeliers.

1552. The council of Trent was prorogued for two years; it did not assemble again until 1562.

1636. JULIUS CÆSAR, an English statesman under Elizabeth, died. He was a man of great learning and integrity, charitable and benevolent.

1710. THOMAS BETTERTON, an English, tragedian, died. He was a bookbinder previous to going upon the stage; and acquired a high degree of reputation as an actor.

1721. An order of the English council was issued to suppress Hellfire clubs.

1738. Shakspeare's tragedy of _Julius Cæsar_ performed at Drury Lane theatre, for the purpose of raising a fund for the erection of a monument to his memory at Westminster.

1751. THOMAS GIBSON, an eminent English painter, died.

1752. FRANCIS OUDIN, a French Jesuit, died. He was professor of theology at Dijon, and an author.

1754. WASHINGTON attacked a French encampment at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela. The night was dark and rainy, and the enemy completely secure. His troops having surrounded the camp, fired and rushed upon the French, who immediately surrendered.

1760. Battle of Sillery, in Canada, between the British garrison at Quebec, 3000, under Gen. Murray, and the French under Levi, consisting of 10 battalions of regulars, 6000 Canadian militia, and a body of Indians. The British general finding himself in danger of being outflanked, retreated to his fortifications, with the loss of 1000 men. The French loss was still greater, and they reaped no essential advantage from the victory.

1772. The counts STRUENSEE, and BRANDT, the favorite of the king of Denmark, executed at Copenhagen. Their alleged crime was an intrigue with the queen of Denmark, princess Caroline Matilda, sister of George III, of England.

1779. SIMON BARNARD, a celebrated aid-du-camp of Napoleon, and for some time chief of the engineer corps of the United States, was born at Dôle, in France.

1786. GUSTAVUS, king of Sweden, read the eulogy of Creutz, the poet and statesman, who died a short time previous. Creutz signed with Franklin a treaty of amity between the United States and Sweden, 1783.

1788. Maryland, the 7th state in succession, adopted the constitution of the United States; votes 63 to 12.

1789. Mutiny on board the ship Bounty on her voyage from Otaheite, whither she had sailed to procure fruit trees to stock the West India islands. The vessel had on board 1015 plants of the bread fruit tree. Lieut. Bligh and 19 of the crew were compelled to go into an open boat; "they reached the island of Timor in June, after a perilous voyage of 1200 leagues."

1789. THOMAS HUTCHINS, geographer-general of the United States, died. He was a native of New Jersey, and was in England at the commencement of the revolutionary war, where he refused some excellent offers, and was subsequently imprisoned and lost £12,000 on suspicion of holding correspondence with Franklin in Paris. He afterwards returned to America, served under Greene in South Carolina, and published several historical and geographical works, with charts and maps.

1793. Battle of Duren; the French defeated by the Austrians under Clairfait, with a loss of 2000, and their military chest, 12 cannon, and 13 ammunition wagons.

1796. Action off Lizard point, between the British ship Indefatigable, sir Edward Pellew, and French frigate La Virginia, 44 guns; the latter captured.

1796. CHARETTE, the Vendean chief, executed at Nantes. This afforded General Hoche an opportunity to subdue the royalists in France.

1797. ROBERT PARKER hanged for burglary at Knoxville, Tennessee.

1799. The French ambassadors were assassinated at Radstat. The infamy of this base action is shared by the French emigrants and Austrians.

1799. Battle of Adda, in Italy; the Russians under Suwarrow defeated the French under Serrurier, who, with his division, was taken prisoner.

1804. Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, in South America, taken by the British; the Dutch surrendered 2000 prisoners, 282 cannon, and several vessels.

1813. Spesutie island taken possession of by the British, situated near the head of Chesapeake.

1813. Privateer Yorktown, Capt. Riker, of New York, captured the British brig Avery, with a valuable cargo, and brought her safe to port.

1813. MICHAEL LAVRIONOVITCH GOLENITCHEFF KUTUSOFF-SMOLENSKI, the famous Russian field-marshal, died. He commanded the Russian army destined to oppose the invasion of Bonaparte in 1812.

1814. BONAPARTE embarked for Elba from Frejus. He had landed at this place on his return from Egypt, when about to commence that astonishing career, which will be remembered in the history of Europe to the end of time; but which now, to all appearance, was about to terminate, and that at the very point from which it had started.

1851. EDWARD CODRINGTON, a British admiral, died, aged 81. He distinguished himself under Howe and Nelson, but his name is chiefly renowned by the famous action of Navarino, where he had chief command.

1854. The American barque Hespar, bound for Antwerp, came in collision with the Bremen barque Favorite, for Baltimore, having 180 passengers on board, all of whom perished.

1854. WILLIAM HENRY PAGOT, marquis of Anglesey, died, aged 86. He distinguished himself in several campaigns, especially in the Peninsular war, and was raised to the rank of field marshal.

1855. GIOVANNI PIANORI, a hired bravo, attempted to shoot Louis Napoleon while riding in the Champs Elysees.

1856. The receipt of the ratification of the treaty of peace by all the foreign powers was announced officially in England, and a day of thanksgiving throughout the United Kingdom was appointed.

1857. FREDERICK EMERSON, an eminent American instructor, died, aged 68. He was the author of a popular arithmetic used in the public schools.

APRIL 29.

997. ADALBERT, archbishop of Prague, murdered. His zeal led him among foreigners as a missionary; after visiting Bohemia, he went among the Poles, by whom he was killed. Boleslaus purchased his body for its weight in gold.

1075. WALTHEOF, earl of Huntingdon and Northampton, executed by William the conqueror. He had married Judith, William's niece; and being considered by the English as the last resource of their nation, they most grievously lamented his death.

1205. King JOHN, along with wine of various kinds to be transmitted to Windsor, ordered to be sent immediately the romance of the _History of England_.

1594. THOMAS COOPER, an English prelate, died; highly commended for his great learning and eloquence.

1643. FERDINANDO, lord Fairfax, the father of the famous General Fairfax, defeated at Bramham moor, by the earl of Newcastle.

1649. DOCKIER, a prominent leader of the _Levelers_, in the times of the English commonwealth, was shot by order of the government.

1652. A great eclipse of the sun in England. The almanacs of the day did not let so favorable an opportunity escape for exercising their power over the ignorant, and accordingly their prognostics created such a terror among the inhabitants "and so exceedingly alarmed the whole nation," says Evelyn, "that hardly any one would work, nor stir out of their houses. So ridiculously were they abused by ignorant and knavish star-gazers."

1659. JOHN CLEVELAND, an English poet, died. He was contemporary with Milton, and preferred before him by critics of the day, but has now sunk into oblivion.

1676. MICHAEL ADRIAN DE RUYTER, the famous Dutch admiral, died. He began his military career at the age of 11, and continued in the service nearly 60 years.

1685. LUC D'ACHERI, a French ecclesiastic, died. He displayed great learning as an antiquary and an author.

1688. FREDERICK WILLIAM, elector of Brandenburg, died. Posterity awards to him the character of a brave, generous and patriotic prince, who devoted his attention to the commerce and general welfare of his people.

1735. The Turks defeated by the Persians under Thomas Kouli Khan, 60,000 slain.

1740. CHARLES DREW, executed at St. Edmundsburg, in Suffolk, for the murder of his father.

1740. The English parliament prorogued. It was at this parliament that the famous acts against horse racing and deceitful gaming were passed.

1743. CHARLES IRENÆUS CASTEL DE SAINT-PIERRE, a French ecclesiastic, died; distinguished as a politician, a man of letters, and an author.

1746. CURTIS BARNET, a British commodore, died.

1758. Action off fort St. Davids, East Indies, between the British under admiral Pococke, and the French fleet under count d'Ache. British loss, 29 killed, 89 wounded; French loss, 600 killed and wounded, and one of their vessels sunk.

1762. The book of Cornelius Nepos in Latin was issued from the Russian press, being the first in that language ever printed in Russia.

1779. JOHN ASH, an English dissenting minister, died. His _Complete English Dictionary_, until the appearance of Mr. Todd's octavo edition of Johnson's, was the best compendium of words that could be referred to.

1783. BERNARD DE TANUCCI died; professor of jurisprudence in the university of Pisa, and prime minister of Naples, an office which he sustained with dignity, ability and integrity, for 50 years, when he resigned.

1788. Election of representatives from New York to consider the federal constitution held.

1793. A French privateer with her prize, the Spanish ship San Jago, was captured by the English. Cargo valued at £1,500,000.

1805. The constitution of the Batavian republic changed for the third time; the state was divided into 8 departments, and a legislative body of 19 members, with a pensionary (Schimmelpenninck), chosen for the term of five years, who administered the executive power.

1810. AUGUSTENBURGH, crown prince of Sweden, and heir to the throne, seized with an apoplexy while reviewing some corps of cavalry, fell from his horse and expired immediately.

1813. United States frigate Essex, Capt. Porter, captured, near Albemarle island, in the Pacific, British ships Montezuma and Policy, of 10 guns each, and Georgiana, of 6 guns and 4 swivels.

1813. British admiral Cockburn burnt the store-houses at Frenchtown, Chesapeake bay, in which was a great quantity of goods belonging to Philadelphia and Baltimore merchants. He also burnt two vessels, and plundered the private houses.

1814. Action between the United States sloop of war Peacock, 20 guns, 160 men, and British king's brig of war Epervier, 18 guns, 128 men, off cape Carnaverel. The Epervier was captured in 42 minutes, with the loss of 8 killed and 15 wounded; the Peacock had 2 wounded. The Epervier had on board $118,000, exclusive of $10,000 which the crew plundered before she was boarded. The Epervier was sent in 1815 from Algiers, with American prisoners, liberated there, but never arrived.

1827. RUFUS KING, an American statesman, died. He was many years a senator in congress, and twice minister to England. All parties have borne testimony to the value of his services, and the eminence of his talents.

1849. The republicans at Rome repulsed the French republicans under the city walls.

1849. The emperor NICHOLAS of Russia declared, by ukase, his purpose to assist Austria. (See April 26th.)

1851. C. C. PEPYS, earl of Cottenham, died in Italy, aged 70. He passed through all the honors of the law, and in 1836 became lord chancellor.

1854. Great excitement at Louisville, occasioned by the acquittal of Matthew F. Ward, who murdered Prof. Butler.

1855. ROBERT HAMILTON BISHOP died, aged 78. He was a native of Scotland, was licensed to preach in 1801; on coming to this country, he assisted in rearing several institutions of learning in the western states.

1855. JOHN WILSON, a celebrated landscape and marine painter, died at Folkstone, aged 81.

1855. The United States troops under Col. Fauntleroy, attacked a camp of Utah Indians near the Arkansas river, twenty miles north of the Puncha pass, killed 40, captured 6, and took a large amount of Indian property and plunder.

APRIL 30.

65. MARCUS ANNÆUS LUCANUS, the Latin poet, died. He was the friend and favorite of Nero, but afterwards joined a conspiracy with Piso against the tyrant, and was compelled to destroy himself, which he did by suffocation in a bath.

313. Battle of Heraclea, in which the emperor Galerius Maximus was defeated by Lucinus.

534. AMALASONTHA, queen of the Ostrogoths, murdered by her husband Theodatus. She was universally regretted; as for learning and humanity she had few equals.

711. TARIK, a freed man of the Arabian viceroy of Africa, landed at the foot of the rock Calpe called afterwards by his name Gebal-Tarik (Gibraltar), and two days after by a great battle fought on the banks of the Guadalete put an end to the Gothic empire in Spain.

1156. The city of Moscow founded by Duke George I. Its present population is about 400,000.

1262. ALEXANDER NEWSKI, grand duke of Russia, died. He signalized himself by a great victory which he obtained on the banks of the Neva, over the northern powers.

1439. RICHARD DE BEAUCHAMP, the famous earl of Warwick, died at Rouen, in Normandy. He was the most distinguished warrior in the reign of Henry VI.

1483. The duke of Gloucester (afterwards Richard III), arrested the lords Rivers and Gray at Stony Stratford, on their passage with the young king to the capital.

1513. EDMUND DE LA POLE, earl of Suffolk, on account of his near relationship to the house of York, beheaded.

1519. A skirmish at Edinburgh, called "Cleanse the Causeway," between the earls of Arran and Angus.

1524. PIERRE DU TERRAIL, chevalier de Bayard, buried. He was a distinguished warrior under Francis I, mortally wounded at the battle of Marignan.

1542. The new creed, called the _King's Book_, approved by the houses of convocation, and made the standard of English orthodoxy.

1544. THOMAS AUDLEY, an English statesman, died; appointed chancellor in the place of sir Thomas More.

1572. PIUS V (Michael Ghisleri), died. He was an Italian of the Dominican order. It was under his auspices that the battle of Lepanto was fought, in which the Turks were so signally defeated.

1598. The edict of Nantes signed and sealed by Henry IV of France, re-establishing the protestant religion where it had been interrupted, and restoring its churches, houses and revenues.

1614. Captain JOHN SMITH arrived on the coast of New England, it being his first voyage to North Virginia, as the country was then called. He explored the coast in open boats, from Penobscot to Cape Cod, and trafficked with the Indians. It was on his return from this voyage that he presented a map of the country to prince Charles, who declared that it should be called New England.

1632. Battle of Ingolstadt, in Bavaria; the imperial troops of Germany, under count de Tilly, defeated by the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus, and the general mortally wounded in defending the pass of the Lech.

1632. JOHN TZERCLAES, count de Tilly, died; a Dutch officer, who distinguished himself in the wars with the Turks, and with Denmark.

1637. The puritans forbid by royal proclamation to emigrate to New England.

1655. EUSTACHE LE SUEUR died; one of the best French historical painters of his time.

1655. CHRISTOPHER BENNET died; a distinguished London physician, and writer on medical subjects.

1667. The Dutch fleet attacked Burnt island, in Scotland, but were repulsed.

1690. RENE LE PAYS, a French poet, died; well known at court by his miscellanies.

1696. ROBERT PLOT died; an eminent English philosopher and naturalist.

1707. GEORGE FARQUHAR, an ingenious comic writer, died. He was the son of an Irish clergyman, and held a commission in the army. His comedies are sprightly and diverting.

1712. PHILIP LIMBORCH died; a Dutch professor of divinity, and author of a history of the inquisition.

1724. WILLIAM DAWES, an English nobleman and prelate, died. He was learned, benevolent and pious, and author of several religious works.

1735. DANIEL DUNCAN died; one of the most eminent physicians of his time. He was known in almost every part of Europe as a practitioner and an author.