Part 38

1854. WILLIAM HULME COOPER, a lieutenant in the British navy, died, aged 26, from the effects of exposure and privation during four years arctic service in search of sir John Franklin. He commanded a cutter in an expedition from Icy cape to the Mackenzie; for three days he was lost in a snow storm, and for two winters he and his boat's crew were isolated near the northern shores of America. The hardships he endured caused the pulmonary disease of which he died.

1856. JOHN KEATING died at Philadelphia, aged 96. He was a native of France and in early life was an officer in the service of Louis XVI. He came to the United States after the death of that monarch, with about thirty families of the French noblesse and military, and founded the colony of The Asylum, near Towanda, in Pennsylvania.

MAY 20.

526. Earthquake at Antioch, by which 250,000 persons are said to have perished.

1499. ALONZO DE OJEDA sailed from Cadiz on a western voyage of discovery, accompanied by Amerigo Vespucci. It is uncertain in what station Amerigo sailed, but he appears to have had a chief share in directing the voyage, and on his return published an amusing account of the country they visited; which having a rapid circulation, he was supposed to be the discoverer, and it came gradually to be called by his name.

1506. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, the discoverer of the new world, died at Valladolid in Spain, aged about 70. He had devoted his whole life to the study and accomplishment of his grand enterprise, and its complete success embittered the remainder of his days by exciting the perfidy and ingratitude of a base and treacherous nation.

1521. CORTEZ mustered his army in the great market place of Tezcuco, to make a division of it, appoint commanders, assign to each the station where they were to form their camps, in order to invest the city of Mexico. (See May 30.)

1610. NICHOLAS SERARIUS, a French Jesuit, died. His works, 16 vols. folio, display great labor and extensive erudition.

1618. King JAMES publicly declared his pleasure, "that after the end of divine service, the people should not be letted from any lawful recreation on Sundays, such as dancing, archery, vaulting, May-games, Whitsun-ales, morris-dances, and the setting up of May-poles, and other sports therewith used."

1690. JOHN ELIOT, the apostle of the Indians, died, aged 86. He was the first protestant clergyman who preached the gospel to the North American Indians.

1713. THOMAS SPRAT, an English prelate and poet, died; he was distinguished as a writer, and rewarded with preferments.

1726. NICHOLAS BRADY died; an Irish divine of good ability and learning, translated Virgil and wrote a new version of the Psalms in conjunction with Tate.

1728. JAMES LE QUIEN DE LA NEUFVILLE, a French historian, died; author of an excellent history of Portugal, &c.

1732. THOMAS BOSTON, a Scottish divine, died; author of the well known book, _Human Nature in its Fourfold State_.

1735. The Turks defeated by the Prussians, and more than 60,000 killed and wounded.

1736. The body of one Samuel Baldwin, of England, in compliance with his will, immersed in the sea at Lymington. His motive for this extraordinary mode of interment was to prevent his wife from dancing over his grave, which she had threatened to do in case she survived him.

1756. Naval action at Fort Philip, Minorca, between the French fleet, 12 ships 5 frigates, and the British, 13 ships 5 frigates. Admiral Byng was afterwards shot in England, on an unjust charge of cowardice in this affair.

1758. The scenery and wardrobe of the Bath theatre burned by the wagons taking fire on which it was being transported over Salisbury plain.

1774. British parliament passed an act for transporting Americans to England for trial.

1775. Articles of confederation and union agreed on by the American colonies.

1776. Major SHERBURNE, with 140 Americans, marching to relieve the post at the Cedars, in Canada, was attacked by 500 Indians, and after an obstinate battle, the party surrendered. The Indians having lost a chief and 21 warriors, massacred as many prisoners.

1778. Gen. GRANT with 7000 British, made an attempt to surprise La Fayette, then posted at Barren-hill, Pa., with 2500 men. The latter escaped by a masterly retreat.

1783. WILLIAM ROBERTSON, the Scottish divine, died.

1789. The French clergy renounced their privileges.

1793. CHARLES BONNET, a noted Swiss naturalist, died at Geneva.

1796. BONAPARTE passed the river Po; MARCEAU and CHAMPIONNET drove the Austrians from Hunsruch; they were also defeated on the Sieg, with the loss of 2400.

1799. BONAPARTE raised the siege of St. Jean d'Acre; it had lasted 60 days.

1799. JOSEPH TOWERS died; a printer, bookseller, and afterwards a preacher with the title of LL. D. He wrote _British Biography_, 7 vols. and other works of merit.

1800. BONAPARTE passed mount St. Bernard, among the Alps, after astonishing efforts.

1813. Battle of Bautzen, between Russians and Prussians under Barclay de Tolly, and French under Bonaparte.

1813. American frigate Congress, capt. Smith, captured British brig Jean, 10 guns, took out 40 tons copper and sunk her.

1815. MURAT, king of Naples, left the city in disguise, while his queen sought the security which had been promised her on board a British man of war.

1820. CHARLES LOUIS SAND executed; the murderer of Kotzebue.

1840. JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE, an English preacher and controversial writer, died, aged 67. He was the author of various works, and distinguished himself by the zeal and ability with which he opposed the catholic religion.

1841. WILLIAM P. DEWEES, a distinguished medical writer, died at Philadelphia.

1848. A treaty of peace made with the Navajo Indians and the United States.

1855. The king of Hanover issued an ordinance annulling the constitution settled in 1848, and the provincial electoral law of 1850.

1856. JAMES KING, editor of the _Evening Mirror_, at San Francisco, California, died of a pistol wound inflicted in the street a few days before by Casey, editor of the _Sunday Times_. Casey was arrested and conveyed to jail under great popular excitement. Subsequently the vigilance committee, numbering 3000 men, proceeded to the jail, and took Casey and another murderer to the committee rooms, where they were tried, and soon after hung.

MAY 21.

216 B. C. Battle of Cannæ, in Italy, in which the Roman consuls were vanquished by Hannibal, with a loss of 40,000 men, including Paulus Æmylius, and 5,630 knights. The Carthaginians seemed not to know the use of victory.

987. LOUIS V (_the lazy_), king of France, poisoned by his wife, Blanche.

1342. JOHN CANTACUZENUS, the historian of his own times, and a defender of the faith, inaugurated emperor of Constantinople.

1420. Treaty of Troyes, by which Henry V of England was to marry Kate, daughter of Charles VII of France, and the two kingdoms to be united under Henry on the death of Charles.

1502. The island of St. Helena discovered.

1542. FERDINAND DE SOTO, a Spanish adventurer, died at the confluence of the Guacoya and Mississippi. He was a companion of Pizarro in his Peruvian expedition, and amassed great wealth; after which he became governor of Cuba. He fitted out an expedition to search Florida for more gold, and lost his life.

1643. Battle of Wakefield; the forces of Charles I defeated by the parliamentary troops.

1647. PETER CORNELIUS HOOFT, one of the most eminent poets and prose writers of Holland, died.

1649. The commonwealth of England proclaimed.

1650. JAMES GRAHAM, marquis of Montrose, executed. He fought with great bravery in the royal cause; but being at length captured he was hung on a gallows 30 feet high at Edinburgh, and his quartered remains exposed over the city gates.

1682. MICHAEL ANGELO RICCI, an Italian cardinal, died; celebrated as a mathematician.

1718. GASPARD ABEILLE, a French poet and wit, died. His writings are not much esteemed.

1723. JAMES MABOUL, an eloquent French preacher, died; author of _Orationes Funebres_.

1724. ROBERT HARLEY, earl of Oxford, died; an English statesman and literary character.

1745. British squadron captured French ship Vigilant, 64 guns, and 560 men, with a cargo valued at £60,000.

1762. British ships Active and Favorite captured the Spanish ship Hermione from Lima, with a cargo of $2,308,700. The four highest British officers shared $288,000 each.

1780. Village of Johnstown, New York, burnt by the tories.

1781. British fort Dreadnought surrendered to the Americans under Gen. Lee.

1782. American general Wayne defeated a considerable body of British under Col. Brown, near Savannah.

1789. JOHN HAWKINS, an English writer, died; author of a _History of Music_ in 5 vols. quarto.

1790. THOMAS WARTON, an English poet died; author of a _History of Poetry_, 3 vols.

1794. French under Dumas scaled mount Cenis.

1794. Bastia, in Corsica, surrendered to lord Hood.

1796. Battles of Tombio and Codogno; the French defeated the Austrians; the gallant French gen. La Harpe killed.

1799. Archduke CHARLES crossed the Rhine into Switzerland.

1804. The first interment in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise; it was laid out and prepared by order of Bonaparte.

1807. Dantzic surrendered to the French after a siege of 51 days. Its garrison at first consisted of 16,000; 4000 deserted; only 9000 were taken; 800 cannon and immense stores fell into the hands of the French.

1809. Battle of Essling, in Austria. It began by a furious attack upon the village of Asperne, which was taken and retaken several times. Essling sustained three attacks also. Night interrupted the action; the Austrians exulting in their partial success, Napoleon surprised that he should not have been wholly successful. On either side the carnage had been terrible, and the pathways of the village were literally choked with the dead.

1813. British attacked Sacketts Harbor.

1813. Battle of Bautzen, which had continued two days; the Prussians were driven from their position, and Napoleon advanced to Breslaw, leaving 12,000 Frenchmen in the searching claws of their _executors_--the crows.

1826. GEORGE REICHENBACH, a distinguished mechanical artist, died at Munich, where he had a noted manufactory of astronomical instruments, unsurpassed in the world.

1830. LEOPOLD of Saxe Coburg declined the throne of Greece, except on terms which the allied sovereigns would not accede to.

1832. GEORGE W. ROGERS, an American commodore, died on board ship Warren, off Buenos Ayres.

1849. MARIA EDGWORTH, the popular and distinguished authoress, died at her residence in Edgworthstown, Ireland.

1855. The ship canal round the falls of St. Mary's river, Michigan, was completed and accepted.

1855. The allied fleet of the French and English entered the Russian port of Petropaulowski, and found it deserted.

MAY 22.

334 B. C. Battle of the Granicus, in Bythinia, in which Alexander of Macedon defeated the Persians.

337. CONSTANTINE (_the great_), emperor of Rome, died. He was an able general and a sagacious politician; celebrated as the builder of Constantinople on the site of Byzantium, and as the first emperor who embraced Christianity.

1424. JAMES I, of Scotland, crowned 18 years after his accession, since which he had been in captivity.

1498. VASCO DE GAMA landed at Calicut, the first Indian port visited by a European vessel.

1542. PAUL III, summoned the council of Trent; but was compelled to prorogue it, his own ecclesiastics only attending.

1555. JOHN PETER CARAFFA elected pope, and assumed the title of Paul IV.

1604. The first settlement made on the coast of Guiana, by captain Charles and sir Oliver Leigh.

1611. JAMES I, instituted the order of Baronets, and elevated 75 families to that dignity.

1659. RICHARD CROMWELL'S parliament dissolved by commission under the great seal, at the instance of Desborough.

1661. The solemn league and covenant burned by the common hangman at London, and afterwards throughout the country.

1667. ALEXANDER VII (Fabio Chigi), pope, died; characterized as little in great things, and great in little ones. He was liberal towards men of letters, and embellished Rome with some splendid edifices.

1680. A vast luminous meteor appeared at Leipsic.

1688. JOHN ANDREW QUENSTEDT died; a German divine, author of a Latin account of learned men down to 1600.

1690. Naval action at Cherbourg; British admiral Ashby destroyed 3 French ships of the line and several frigates, being part of Tourville's squadron.

1692. Action off La Hogue, commenced the night previous, between the combined English and Dutch fleets, admiral Russell, and the French fleet, which lost 16 sail.

1707. Battle of Stolhoffen, on the Rhine; French under Villars forced the lines of the allies.

1722. SEBASTIAN VAILLANT, a French botanist, died. He was originally organist to a convent.

1725. ROBERT MOLESWORTH, an able English statesman, died. He rendered himself obnoxious to the clergy by insinuating that "religion is a pious craft, a useful state engine, but far inferior to the principles which in the school of Athens and Rome, incited their attentive youth to the love of their country, and to the practice of the moral virtues."

1734. KOULI KHAN, defeated the Turkish army in Persia.

1745. Battle Jagernsdorf; Prussians defeated the imperialists.

1773. JOHN ENTICK, an English clergyman and schoolmaster, died; author of the _Spelling Dictionary_, and other works.

1775. Meeting of provincial congress at New York.

1780. Sir JOHN JOHNSON, with a party of British and tories, burnt a mill and 33 houses at Johnson Hall, killed about a dozen persons, destroyed all the sheep and cattle, and having dug up his silver plate decamped.

1781. JOHN BAPTIST BECCARIA, a learned Italian monk, died.

1782. Formosa, a large island in the Chinese sea, almost wholly inundated by volcanic agency, during a storm.

1794. Battle of Esperes; French defeated by the British, who took 500 prisoners and 700 cannon.

1795. MUNGO PARK, sailed from England on his first expedition to Africa, for the purpose of tracing the course of the Niger, and procuring information relative to the city of Timbuctoo, of which little more than the name was known.

1798. BONAPARTE and the French fleet sailed from Toulon; at the same time lord Nelson's fleet was in a storm in the gulf of Lyons, not many leagues distant.

1809. Second battle of Essling; French recrossed the Danube.

1810. CHARLOTTE GENEVIEVE LOUISA AUGUSTA ANDREA TIMOTHEE DU BEAUMONT D'EON, a French diplomatist, died, aged 82; memorable as a politician, but more so for having been discovered to be a female while on an embassy to England, in the year 1777.

1812. Action off the coast of France, between 2 British ships and 2 French 44 gun frigates, and a brig of 18 guns; the latter were destroyed.

1813. Battle of Reichenbach; 1500 French cavalry charged and overthrew the allied cavalry; but many divisions coming to their aid, the French were reinforced by 14,000 horse and cuirassiers and the allies compelled to retreat.

1813. MICHAEL DUROC, a distinguished French general, killed by a cannon ball, which struck him as he stood conversing with Mortier and Kirgener, the latter of whom was also killed instantly.

1813. United States frigate Congress, Capt. Smith, captured the British brig Diana 10 guns.

1814. JOSEPH WHITE, an eminent English divine, and oriental scholar, died. He was a weaver in humble life till his self-acquired attainments attracted patronage.

1819. The steamship Savannah, started from Savannah, Ga., for Liverpool, being the first passage of the Atlantic attempted by steam. She arrived in Liverpool on the 22d June, having consumed her fuel in ten days. She visited Stockholm and St. Petersburg before her return, which was in December following.

1819. HUGH WILLIAMSON, an American physician, scholar and statesman, died, aged 83. He assisted in framing the federal constitution, and made himself useful to his country in various ways.

1854. Rail road inaugurated in Sardinia, running between Turin and Susa; the king and queen, the government officials, and a great concourse of people participating.

1855. The convent suppression bill passed the Sardinian senate.

1856. PRESTON S. BROOKS, a South Carolina member of congress, wickedly and cowardly assaulted Charles Summer, senator from Massachusetts, while seated at his desk in the senate chamber, and felled him to the floor with a cane, in retaliation for abusive language in debate.

MAY 23.

1270 B. C. LARCHER places the chronology of the fall of Troy upon this day.

63 B. C. Jerusalem taken by Pompey on the 23d day of the Hebrew month Sivan, in the consulate of Cicero, a day that was then observed as a fast, in remembrance of the defection and idolatry of Jeroboam, _who made Israel to sin_.

37 B. C. Jerusalem fell into the hands of Herod, in the consulate of Agrippa; it being one of those septenniary periods called sabbatic years.

683. LEO II, pope, died; an able and resolute pontiff; established the kiss of peace at the mass, and the use of holy water.

1125. HENRY V of Germany died; leaving an odious character.

1430. The town of Compiegne in France was besieged by the combined forces of England and Burgundy, and defended by Joan of Arc.

1455. Battle of St. Albans (first of the roses), between the Lancastrians under Henry VI, and the Yorkists. The former were defeated with the loss of 3 earls, 49 barons and about 5,000 men killed, and the king himself was wounded in the neck and taken prisoner. Loss of the other party 500.

1498. GERONIMO SAVANAROLA, an Italian monk, burnt. His influence was so great at Florence, that for several years he guided the state as its sovereign; but when he attacked the corruptions of the church of Rome and the infamous conduct of pope Alexander VI, neither his purity nor his popularity could save him from destruction.

1533. CRANMER pronounced sentence of divorce between Henry VIII and Catharine of Arragon.

1609. The company of South Virginia not realizing the expected profit from its colony, obtained from king James a new charter, with more ample privileges. Their territory extended 400 miles on the Atlantic coast, and "from the Atlantic westward to the South sea."

1610. The English wrecked on the island of Bermudas (see July 24), having built two small vessels and paid the seams with lime and tortoise oil, arrived in them at the settlement of Jamestown; they found the inhabitants reduced from 500 to 60, by famine; and seeing no other means of preserving them than by abandoning the country, they took them all on board, with the intention of returning to England. At this juncture lord Delaware arrived with three ships, 150 men, and plenty of provisions, and settled the colony.

1679. It was discovered that 27 members of the English parliament had been pensioners on the government.

1692. Third action off La Hogue, between the British and French fleets; 6 ships of the latter burnt.

1701. WILLIAM KIDD with others executed at Execution dock, London, for piracy. In America every reminiscence of Kidd has yet an air of romance.

1706. Battle of Ramilles, in Belgium, between the French under Villeroy, and the allies under the duke of Marlborough, in which the latter were signally victorious. The armies contained about 60,000 men each; the loss of the French was 15,000, that of the allies 4,000.

1720. The French Mississippi scheme, projected by John Law, dissolved, like those bright floating circles which amuse and vex the hopes of children of a lesser growth.

1752. WM. BRADFORD, a noted American printer, died, aged 94. He established the first printing office in Philadelphia, and also in New York. He was government printer more than fifty years, and is said to have walked over a great part of the city of New York on the day he died.

1764. FRANCIS ALGAROTTI died; an Italian, eminent as a connoisseur and critic in every branch of belles-lettres, and an author of repute.

1783. JAMES OTIS, an American patriot and statesman, killed by lightning. He was one of the most zealous and active promoters of the revolution.

1785. WILLIAM WOOLLET, a celebrated English historical and landscape engraver, died. The death of general Wolfe from West's painting is probably his best.

1786. MAURITIUS AUGUSTUS BENYOWSKY, an extraordinary Hungarian adventurer, killed on the island of Madagascar in an action with the French.

1783. South Carolina adopted the federal constitution, recommending amendments, being the 8th state in succession; votes 149 to 73.

1793. Battle of Famars; the French defeated by the allies, consisting of Austrians, Prussians, British, Hanoverians, Hessians and Dutch.

1794. CECILE REGNAULT attempted to assassinate Robespierre and Collot d'Herbois.

1798. The rebellion of the united Irishmen commenced.

1798. Lady EDWARD FITZGERALD, the celebrated Pamela, daughter of the duke of Orleans, ordered to quit the kingdom.

1808. Riots among the English weavers on account of wages.

1812. LOUIS DUTENS, a French miscellaneous writer, died.

1815. G. HENRY ERNEST MUEHLENBURGH, an American Lutheran divine, died. He was a man of extensive science, particularly eminent as a botanist.

1816. Massacre of the Christians by the Turks at Bona in Algiers.

1836. EDWARD LIVINGSTON, an eminent American jurist, died. He was a native of New York, and after holding various offices, removed to New Orleans, where on the invasion of Louisiana by the British, he offered his services to general Jackson, and acted as aid. He was afterwards secretary of state at Washington and minister to France, in which offices he manifested distinguished ability.

1841. SAMUEL DALE, an eminent pioneer in the settlement of the southwest, died in Lauderdale county, Mississippi. He was remarkable for his courage and bodily strength, and distinguished for his contests with the Indians, and as an officer in the last war with England.

1848. Freedom of the negroes proclaimed at St. Pierre, Martinique; an insurrection followed, and several houses and 32 persons were burnt.

1850. GRINNELL'S ships of discovery sailed from New York in search of sir John Franklin.

1851. RICHARD LALOR SHEIL, a British statesman and dramatist, died at Florence, aged 59. He was minister of queen Victoria at the court of Tuscany.

1855. The state of siege and blockade of the island of Cuba was withdrawn.

MAY 24.

1085. GREGORY VII (Hildebrand), pope, died. He was the son of a carpenter, and when raised to the papal throne embroiled himself in disputes and dissensions till he was compelled to retire.

1153. DAVID I, king of Scotland, died. He married Maud, daughter of William the conqueror, and is characterized as a mild and popular king.

1276. A capitation tax of three pennies laid on every Jew in England above the age of 12 years, and all above the age of 7 to wear a yellow badge.

1357. EDWARD the _black prince_, conducted his captive, John, king of France, through the city of London, in triumph.

1430. JOAN OF ARC, after performing prodigies of valor, deserted and alone, was taken prisoner by the English, after her horse was slain, in a sally from Compiegne.

1543. NICHOLAS COPERNICUS, the great astronomer, died, aged 70. After a constant devotion of 43 years to the study, he produced his immortal work, _De Orbium Cœlestium Revolutionibus_. The work was excommunicated by the pope, and although the planets continued their revolutions, it was not till 278 years after, namely, in 1821, that the papal court annulled the sentence!

1551. VON PANNIS, an eminent surgeon of England, burnt to death for denying the divinity of Christ.

1572. DRAKE sailed from England on his voyage of reprisal to the West-Indies, against the Spanish.

1612. ROBERT CECIL, earl of Salisbury, died; an English statesman, the ablest minister of his time.