Part 35

1840. A tremendous tornado passed over the city of Natchez, very destructive to life and property. Almost every building in the city was more or less injured, many being utterly demolished. The amount of property destroyed was estimated at $1,500,000; and 317 persons were killed.

1840. THOMAS BARNES, principal editor of the _Times_ newspaper, died in London, aged 56. He was unquestionably the most accomplished and powerful political writer of the day, and particularly excelled in the portraiture of public men.

1842. The island of Hayti destroyed by an earthquake. Not a single town escaped without some casualty. Thousands of lives were lost, and property to an incalculable extent was destroyed. Cape Haytien was entirely leveled with the ground, and of 12,000 inhabitants, one half were buried under the ruins, and of those which escaped, a great part perished by fire and other disasters which followed. Bands of armed negroes came in the next day to plunder, and stabbed and shot the wounded wherever they found them, for the jewels and clothing they wore.

1844. It was discovered that all the watches on board the British schooner Henry Curwen, and the chronometer, had stopped, and on referring to the three compasses on board, they were found to point different ways, and were entirely useless. In about two hours afterward the watches and chronometer recommenced going, and the compasses resumed their position. This occurred in 44° north, and 32° 35´ long., at 4 A. M.

1848. The Polish insurgents surrendered to the Prussian troops, after great slaughter, at Posen.

1848. Insurrection at Madrid, when many lives were lost.

1848. The Indians, who were in a state of insurrection in Yucatan against the Spanish population, entered the town of Marie, and butchered 200 of the inhabitants, besides committing other outrages.

1849. Gen. WORTH died at San Antonio de Bexar of cholera.

1849. MACREADY, the English tragedian, hissed from the stage of the Astor opera house in New York.

1852. JAMES SAVAGE, a distinguished London architect, died, aged 74. The _Gentleman's Magazine_ contains a long list of the bridges and churches which attest his reputation and skill.

1854. The gallery of the Catholic church at Erie, Pa., fell, crushing the people below, and killing and wounding several persons.

MAY 8.

685. Pope BENEDICT II died.

1360. The treaty called the _great peace_ signed at Bretigni, by which Edward III renounced all his claims to the French crown and its territories.

1429. The siege of Orleans was abandoned. At dawn, the English army was discovered at a small distance from the walls, drawn up in battle array, and braving the enemy to fight in the open field. After waiting for some hours, the signal was given; the long line of forts, the fruit of 7 months' labor, was instantly in flames and the soldiers, with mingled feelings of shame and regret, turned their backs to the enemy. This was one of the inexplicable feats of Joan d'Arc.

1493. FERDINAND and ISABELLA confirmed, at Barcelona, the appointment of Columbus, on his return from the new world. "The office of admiral of the said ocean, _which is ours_, commences by a line, which we have ordered to be marked, passing from the Azores to the cape de Verd islands, from the north to the south, from pole to pole; so that all which is beyond the aforesaid line to the west is ours, and belongs to us; and of all this we create our admiral, you and your children."

1532. FRANCIS ALVAREZ PAEZ died; a Portuguese divine of the order of the Cordeliers, and an author.

1535. HENRY VIII of England had his _head shaved_, and commanded all about his court to follow his example.

1538. EDWARD FOX, an English prelate and statesman, died. He was the principal pillar of the reformation in England.

1572. Dame DOROTHY PACKINGTON sent the trusty and well beloved Thos. Lichfield and George Borden to be her burgess in parliament, informing the queen that whatever they might do in her service in parliament should receive her (Dorothy's) approval.

1638. CORNELIUS JANSENIUS died; founder of the Jansenists, who gave the pope and the Jesuits much trouble in Europe.

1655. EDWARD WINSLOW died; one of the first settlers of Plymouth colony, Mass., and afterwards its governor. He joined the fleet sent over by Cromwell to attack St. Domingo, the only place of strength which the Spaniards had in Hispaniola, and died at sea, aged 60. His marriage was the first that was celebrated in the colony.

1657. CROMWELL refused the title of king of England.

1659. A remnant of the long parliament assembled during the anarchy, and has been termed the _rump_.

1662. PETER HEYLIN, an English historian, died. He was an able and indefatigable writer, principally known by his _Description of the great World_, and _History of the Reformation_.

1676. Bridgewater, Mass., invaded by the Indian enemy, and 17 buildings laid in ashes.

1703. VINCENT ALSOP died; a presbyterian clergyman, who attacked Dr. Sherlock with great wit and some seriousness.

1725. Capt. JOHN LOVEWELL, with a party of 36 men, encouraged by his former success against the Indians (see Feb. 20), undertook an expedition against Pigwacket, on Saco river, was ambuscaded, and himself and a great part of his men killed. They made a brave resistance, determined to die rather than yield, and by their well directed fire thinned the number of the savages so that their cries became fainter, and they finally left the field, carrying off their dead.

1729. WILLIAM KING, archbishop of Dublin, died; author of a celebrated treatise on the origin of evil.

1744. GILES JACOB died; an English law writer, biographer, and lexicographer.

1758. BENEDICT XIV (Prosper Lambertini), pope, died. His character was that of a learned, liberal-minded and benevolent man. His works fill 16 vols. folio.

1775. The great tunnel at Norwood hill, through which the Chesterfield and Trent canal was to pass, was opened; its length nearly 1¾ miles.

1779. CHARLES HARDY, an English admiral, died. He was two years governor of New York, and was appointed commander in chief of the western squadron, 1779.

1782. SEBASTIAN JOSEPH CARVALLO DE POMBAL, a Portuguese statesman, died. He displayed great wisdom and abilities in the offices to which he was promoted; and under his munificence and patriotism the city of Lisbon rose from her ruins by the earthquake, in new splendor and increased magnificence.

1793. Battle of Vicogne, the French defeated by the Austrians under Clairfait, after an obstinate action and great carnage.

1793. JAS. RIDGWAY and H. D. SYMONDS, booksellers in London, severely fined and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment for selling the books of Thomas Payne.

1794. ANTHONY LAWRENCE LAVOISIER, a French chemist, guillotined. His philosophical researches were of great service to science, and of practical utility to his country; he was condemned on the most frivolous pretexts.

1799. BONAPARTE made an unsuccessful attempt to carry St. Jean d'Acre by assault.

1806. ROBERT MORRIS, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, died. He was one of the most extensive merchants in America, and in 1781 was appointed to the control of the government finances, where the services he rendered the country were of the utmost importance. The army was frequently supplied by his own personal credit. It is painful to add, that the latter years of his life were passed in prison, where he was confined for debt.

1813. The Americans evacuated York, Upper Canada, after burning the blockhouses, barracks and king's stores.

1815. DAVID RAMSAY, an American physician and historian, died. By unwearied industry and economy of time he was enabled, amidst an extensive practice, to publish several important histories, and left others in manuscript.

1815. Saxony dismembered, and a great part of the kingdom given to Prussia.

1816. The United States ship Washington, 74 guns, put to sea, being the first American ship of the line afloat.

1822. JOHN STARK, a major general in the revolutionary army, died, aged 93. By his skill and intrepidity the first step was achieved towards the capture of Burgoyne, by the defeat of colonel Baum in the battle of Bennington.

1829. CHARLES ABBOT, lord Colchester, died; a British statesman.

1842. More than 70 lives lost by a rail road accident between Versailles and Paris among whom were the celebrated navigator, admiral Dumont d'Urville and his wife and children.

1846. Battle of Palo Alto. The Americans, 2,000, under Gen. Taylor, were attacked on their return from Point Isabel, by 5,000 Mexicans. The former fought their way through the Mexican lines, dispersing the enemy, capturing their baggage and artillery, and several of their superior officers.

1848. Great hail storm at Charleston, S. C.; some of the stones that fell were 7½ inches in circumference.

1852. The emperor of Russia visited the emperor of Austria at Vienna, and two days afterwards reviewed the Austrian troops, consisting of 20,000 infantry and 10,000 artillery and cavalry.

1853. JOHN FARRAR, a distinguished American mathematician, died, aged 54. He gave the active portion of his life to the service of Harvard college, to which he brought great natural tastes and aptitudes, habits of persevering labor, and deep conscientiousness.

1854. The sultan of Turkey gave a grand banquet in honor of Napoleon.

1855. JANE DAVY, widow of sir Humphrey Davy, died in London; conspicuous in literary circles for her accomplishments, unwearied conversation and physical activity.

MAY 9.

1502. COLUMBUS sailed from Cadiz, with four vessels and 140 men and boys, in search of a passage to the South sea, being his fourth voyage across the Atlantic. It was a disastrous expedition for the admiral, against whom the elements seem to have joined his countrymen, to complete the ruin of his fortunes.

1657. WILLIAM BRADFORD, second governor of Plymouth colony, died. He removed to America with the first settlers of the colony, and was their governor thirty years. He wrote a history of the colony from 1602 to 1646, which was deposited in the library of the old south church in Boston, where it fell a sacrifice to the fury of the British, 1775.

1657. A secret treaty signed at Paris between Louis XIV and Cromwell, for "the ruin and destruction of the proud and tyrannical monarchy of Spain."

1760. NICHOLAS LEWIS ZINZENDORF, a German count, died; founder of the sect of Moravians, or Hernhutters.

1767. CASSINI observed, by the position of certain spots, the revolution of the planet Venus on its axis.

1768. BONNELL THORNTON died; an English poet, essayist and miscellaneous writer, and translator of Plautus.

1776. ELLEN ELLIS at Beumaris in Anglesey gave birth to a child in her 72d year.

1781. British generals Arnold and Philips took Wilmington, Va.

1781. Spaniards took Pensacola and all Florida.

1791. FRANCIS HOPKINSON, one of the signers, died. He was judge of the admiralty court of Pennsylvania; his writings abound with wit, humor and satire.

1794. CHARLES HENRY D'ESTAING, a French admiral, guillotined. He was commander of the French squadron in the American war; and at the revolution in France became member of the assembly of notables.

1799. Sally from the garrison of St. Jean d'Acre, when they succeeded in spiking 4 cannon within the French lines.

1803. ROBERT CHAMBERS died at Paris; a learned English judge and orientalist.

1805. FREDERICK SCHILLER, an eminent German dramatist, died. He is also the author of a history of the revolt of the Netherlands from Spain.

1813. The siege of fort Meigs raised. It had continued 13 days, and it was computed that 1760 cannon balls and shells had been fired at the fort, by which 17 were killed and 66 wounded.

1832. ISRAEL THORNDIKE, a Boston merchant, died. He possessed a talent for business which enabled him to accumulate the largest fortune ever acquired in New England, amounting to nearly two millions. In 1818 he purchased the valuable library of professor Ebeling, of Hamburg, 4,000 vols., and presented it to Harvard university. This library is considered the most valuable and extensive in American history and antiquities, ever collected.

1832. CAMILLO PHILIP LOUIS BORGHESE, an Italian prince of immense wealth, died. He was an officer under Bonaparte, whose sister he married. After the abdication of the emperor, he broke up all connection with the Bonaparte family, and separated from his wife.

1836. CALEB P. BENNETT, governor of the state of Delaware, died, aged 78. He was the last surviving officer of the Delaware regiment in the revolutionary army.

1846. Battle of Resaca de la Palma and death of major Samuel Ringgold, whose place of sepulture in Baltimore is surrounded by an inclosure of Mexican bayonets.

1846. CHARLES TURNER TORREY died in the jail at Baltimore, Maryland, while sustaining an imprisonment for a breach of the laws of Maryland in relation to kidnapping slaves.

1853. An earthquake completely destroyed Schiraz in Persia; 12,000 lives were lost.

1854. An imperial ukase in Russia called for nine men out of every thousand souls of the "eleventh ordinary partial levy in the eastern portion of the empire," and, independently of this, three recruits out of every thousand souls to bring up arrears; the Jews furnishing ten men out of a thousand.

MAY 10.

664. The memorable pestilence in Ireland began.

1307. Battle of Loudown hill; Bruce defeated Aylmer de Valence, earl of Pembroke.

1422. HENRY V reduced Meaux, after a siege of 7 months.

1503. COLUMBUS discovered the Tortugas islands.

1547. CHARLES V summoned Wittenberg, defended by Sibylla, wife of the elector of Saxony; refusing to surrender, he ordered a court-martial who condemned her husband, then a prisoner, to death.

1574. Queen ELIZABETH issued her royal license under seal, for the performance of stage plays; the first establishment of a regular company of players in England.

1611. Sir THOMAS DALE arrived at the Jamestown colony, with 3 ships, 300 people, 12 cows, 20 goats, and all things needful. Lord Baltimore had previously left for England on account of his health, and Dale took command. Sir Thomas Gates arrived in August following, with 6 ships, 280 men, 20 women, 100 cattle, 200 hogs, and military stores, and assumed the government. These added to the 200 left by lord Baltimore, swelled the number to 800.

1631. Magdeburg taken by the Austrians under general Tilly, by assault, and given up to pillage, massacre and fire, only two churches and some ruins remaining.

1632. LOUIS DE MARILLAC, marechal of France, beheaded. He conspired against Richelieu, to whom he was indebted for much of his good fortune, and to whose resentment he fell a victim.

1641. JOHN BANNIER died; a Swedish general under Gustavus Adolphus.

1646. MANUEL D'ALMEIDA, a Portuguese Jesuit, died; a missionary to India 40 years, and author of a work on Ethiopia.

1649. Governor ENDICOTT, and other influential men in Massachusetts, formed an association against wearing long hair!

1671. The English admiral Sprague destroyed 12 Algerine pirate ships at Bugea, a seaport of Algiers.

1696. JOHN DE LA BRUYERE, a noted French author, died. His _Characters_, in imitation of Theophrastus, is a work of established excellence, and descriptive of the manners of that age.

1733. BARTON BOOTH died; a celebrated tragedian in the reign of queen Anne, author of some songs and minor pieces.

1773. An act of parliament passed, authorizing the East India company to export their own tea, duty 3d. per pound; in consequence of this act they determined to send it to New York, Philadelphia and Boston. In October of the same year the Americans refused to receive it.

1774. LOUIS XV of France died, in the 60th year of his reign. He outlived the respect of his subjects.

1775. Colonels ALLEN and ARNOLD surprised Ticonderoga, which surrendered, without the loss of a man. Crown-point was taken by them the same day.

1775. CAROLINA MATILDA, the divorced queen of Denmark, died at Zell, aged 24: youngest sister of George III.

1779. Portsmouth and Norfolk, Va., taken by the British, and many vessels, stores and houses destroyed.

1781. Lord RAWDON evacuated Camden, after destroying the public and private houses, and much of his own baggage.

1784. ANTHONY COURT DE GEBELIN, a French writer, died; celebrated as the author of _The Primitive World compared with the Modern_, a work which the French academy were so well satisfied with that they twice decreed him the annual prize of 1,200 livres for the best work.

1790. The _Gabelle Tax_ in France was abolished. This was a duty on salt capricious and unequal in its operation, which notwithstanding had continued since the beginning of the 14th century.

1793. CLAIRFAIT attacked and carried the wood of Hasnon; the slaughter of the French was great.

1794. Battle of Tournay and defeat of the French by the British and Austrians under the duke of York.

1794. ELIZABETH of France, sister of Louis XVI, guillotined.

1796. Battle of Lodi, in which Bonaparte gained an important victory over the Austrians, under the veteran general Beaulieu. The long narrow bridge which led to the city, was defended by 30 pieces of cannon. The French generals put themselves at the head of 3000 grenadiers, and in the face of a murderous fire crossed the bridge over the dead bodies of their comrades, who were mowed down by hundreds, and took possession of the Austrian batteries. The loss was about 3,000 men on each side. This was one of the most striking military achievements of Bonaparte. It was on this occasion that he received the title of _the little corporal_.

1796. The Babeuf conspiracy was discovered by the council of 500 in Paris. Babeuf and Darthe, the principal leaders were secured and executed, which completely crushed the Jacobin power.

1809. The Swedish diet renounced all allegiance to Gustavus IV, and deprived him and his heirs of the crown.

1811. French evacuated Almeida, after destroying everything, and the next day they abandoned Portugal entirely.

1824. JOHN GUTHRIE, the celebrated Edinburgh bookseller of the firm of Guthrie & Jait, died. Like Benjamin Franklin he wheeled home his own purchases.

1831. JOHN TRUMBULL, an American poet, died. He was for many years judge of a court in Connecticut, and is known as the author of the popular poem, _McFingal_.

1831. Battle of Terlepe; 20,000 Albanians under the pasha of Scodra defeated by the Turks under the grand vizier.

1837. All the banks in the city of New York without exception, and by common consent, stop specie payments. The banks throughout the Union adopted the same course.

1848. A very destructive fire occurred in Detroit, Michigan. The houses were of wood principally on leased land.

1849. The city of Leghorn taken by the Tuscan troops.

1849. Astor house opera riot in the city of New York.

1853. ASHBEL STRONG NORTON, an American preacher, died, aged 87. He was born in Farmington, Ct., graduated at Yale college in 1790; filled the pastoral office at Clinton, N. Y., with distinguished usefulness and success forty years, during which he was largely concerned in laying the foundations of social and religious institutions in central New York.

1853. The pope prohibited the circulation of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, an American novel, in his dominions.

1855. A mob of armed men destroyed the Birch creek reservoir, in Clay county, Indiana, connected with the Wabash and Erie canal.

MAY 11.

1491 B. C. The Egyptians under Pharaoh drowned in the Red sea.

1153. DAVID I, of Scotland, died. He was earl of Northumberland and Huntington, and married the daughter of the king of England, for whom he claimed the throne on the death of her father. He was a mild and popular king.

1310. JAMES DE MOLAI, grand master, and 54 knights of the temple, publicly burned at Paris, under the decree of an archiepiscopal council. They were condemned on confessions of Islamism and paganism, extorted by the rack, and afterwards retracted.

1537. A terrible and destructive eruption of Mount Ætna.

1553. Three vessels sailed from England, under Sir Hugh Willoughby, to explore the northern seas. By this voyage an inlet was discovered to the White sea and the bay of Archangel, and an almost exclusive commerce established with Russia in that quarter.

1554. FRANCISCO DE ORELLANA sailed from St. Lucar, in Spain, with 4 ships and 400 men, for the purpose of exploring the river Amazon. He forced his way up about 120 leagues, and meeting with disasters by which he lost his ships and the greater part of his men, he turned about and died on his way back. "Orellana was very _warmly_ received by armed swift-footed females, which originated the fanciful name _Amazonia_."

1676. The Indians assaulted the town of Plymouth, Mass., and burned 11 houses and 5 barns; and two days after they burned 7 houses and 2 barns, and the remaining houses in Namasket.

1686. OTHO GUERICKE, a Prussian philosopher, died. He was the most celebrated mathematician of his time, and invented the air pump.

1690. Charlemont, in Ireland, taken by the English.

1696. The Reformed Dutch church at New York incorporated.

1723. JEAN GUALBERT DE CAMPISTRON, a French poet, died. He is thought to be little inferior to Racine in the merit of his dramatic compositions.

1743. Several tons of leaden pipe were dug up in Fleet street, London, laid down 300 years before.

1749. CATHARINE COCKBURN, an English poetress, died. She produced the tragedy of _Agnes de Castro_ in her 17th year, which was followed by several others. She possessed also a great and philosophic mind, and wrote an able defence of Locke.

1776. At an action near Charleston, S. C., between count Pulaski and the British, Major Huger of the American army was killed by mistake.

1778. WILLIAM PITT, earl of Chatham, a most illustrious English statesman, died. He was the friend of liberty and justice, and eloquent in their cause.

1781. Orangeburgh surrendered to the American Gen. Sumpter; prisoners taken, 82.

1782. RICHARD WILSON died; an English landscape painter of great merit.

1799. PHILIP NICHOLAS PIA, a French chemist, died. He was sheriff of Paris, 1770, and employed his leisure in objects of benevolence, till the revolution overwhelmed him.

1807. Action in the Dardanelles, between the Russian and Turkish fleets; 3 of the latter stranded.

1810. Hastalrick, in Catalonia, evacuated for want of provisions; the garrison cut their way through the French troops.

1813. SPENCER PERCEVAL, prime minister of Great Britain, shot in the lobby of the house of commons.

1814. ROBERT TREAT PAINE, one of the signers, died. He was a distinguished lawyer, of learning and integrity, member of the first congress, and judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts.

1821. GEORGE HOWE, editor of the _Sydney Gazette_, died. His paper commenced in March, 1803, in the 15th year of the colony, and was the first Australian periodical.

1838. ANDREW THOMAS KNIGHT died. His horticultural writings were exceedingly beneficial, as well to the gardeners as farmers.

1839. THOMAS COOPER, president of South Carolina college, died, aged 80. He wrote on law, medical jurisprudence and political economy, and translated Justinian and Broussais.

1844. STEPHEN WOOD, died at Miami, Ohio, aged 82. He was the last survivor of those who were associated with John Cleves Symmes in the settlement of North Bend.

1848. An expedition under Sir James Ross, sailed for the Arctic regions, in search of Sir John Franklin.

1853. PETER HITCHCOCK, an eminent civilian, died at Painesville, Ohio, aged 70. He was a member of the Ohio senate, and of the house of representatives at Washington; also for twenty-five years a judge of the supreme court of Ohio.

1854. The packet Pike, from St. Louis to Louisville, struck a snag, and sank in a few minutes, by which about fifty passengers lost their lives.