The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
deed of abdication. He assumed the title of count Gottorp.
1812. Constitution of the Cortez signed and proclaimed in Spain.
1814. Simon Snyder, governor of Pennsylvania, rejected the bill establishing 40 banks. It however became a law, two-thirds of the legislature having agreed to it.
1814. Rheims, in France, taken by the Russians.
1842. First newspaper at Flushing, Long Island.
1853. Nankin taken by the rebels; the Tartar garrison of 20,000 men massacred, except 100, who effected an escape.
1853. Battle of Donabew, Burmah; the British under Gen. Cheape defeated Mea Toon.
1855. An explosion took place in the Midlothian coal pits in Virginia; of fifty persons in the pits 35 were killed and 10 wounded beyond recovery.
MARCH 20.
268. Publius Gallienus, emperor of Rome, assassinated at Milan.
1413. Henry IV of England, died. He usurped the throne 1399, and thereby excited the civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster, called the war of the roses.
1516. Baptist Spagnoli, a general of the Carmelites, died. He was a native of Mantua in Italy, and distinguished himself by the sound and virtuous regulations which he attempted to introduce among the corrupted members of his order. His works have been published in 4 vols.
1549. Thomas Seymour, lord high admiral of England, attainted and beheaded without being heard. His offence was alleged to be equal if not superior in power to his brother the protector.
1586. Richard Maitland, lord of session in Scotland, died. He reported the decisions of that court till he became blind at about the age of 60; when he commenced writing and collecting Scottish poetry. He sustained the character of "a maist unspotted and blameless judge, and valiant, grave and worthy knight;" but it is in his character of a writer and collector of Scottish poetry that he is now chiefly remembered.
1643. John Kirchman, a learned German, died at Lubeck.
1677. George Digby, an English nobleman of great ability, died. During the civil wars he espoused the cause of Charles I; but though romantically brave, was always an unsuccessful commander.
1687. Samuel Parker, an English prelate, died. He was educated a puritan, but for the reward of place, it is believed, became an anti-puritan and was made bishop of Oxford. He wrote a history of his own times, which appeared in Latin and English.
1727. Isaac Newton, the celebrated philosopher and mathematician, died, aged 84. He was so small and weak at the time of his birth, that his life was despaired of; and in his youth, his mother, finding him of no service in the management of the farm, sent him to finish his studies. From the success of his pursuits in after life, he has been styled the creator of natural philosophy. The last few years of his existence were spent in utter neglect of those studies which had engrossed fifty years of his life.
1730. Adrienne la Couvreur, a French actress, died. She is one of the few of her profession whose reputation has survived the age in which they lived.
1737. Nicholas Hooker, gentleman, died at Conway, North Wales; celebrated as being the forty-first child of his father; and being himself the father of twenty-seven children. His tombstone, attesting the above facts, is to be found in the churchyard adjoining Conway castle.
1741. Peter Burman the elder died. He was professor of history and eloquence at the university of Leyden, and published editions of many of the Latin classics.
1744. France declared war against England.
1750. The first No. of the Rambler, by Dr. Johnson, appeared.
1750. Frederick, prince of Wales, and father of George III, died suddenly in his 45th year. He died in the arms of his violin player, who was playing for his amusement.
1767. Firmin Abauzit, a learned French writer, died. He became distinguished for his superior progress in every branch of polite learning, but particularly in mathematics and natural history; and was consulted in difficult questions by the most learned men of the age.
1775. Daniel Boone, employed, in forming a settlement in the then wilderness of Kentucky, was attacked by the Indians, near where Boonsborough now stands, and two of his men killed and two wounded.
1780. Action between the French fleet, admiral Piquet, and 3 British ships, off Monte Christie. The action continued till the next day, when the French suffered so much that they were compelled to lie by and repair.
1792. The French government adopted the instrument since known as the guillotine; it had been in use in various countries several centuries before.
1793. William Murray, lord Mansfield, died. He was eminent as a lawyer, and dignified as a judge; as an elegant scholar, of highly cultivated and vigorous intellect, he shone in the constellation of great men which arose in the reign of queen Anne; in eloquence and beauty of diction he outrivaled his predecessors, and has not been excelled by any successor in the high office he held.
1797. Battle of Larvis, between the Austrians and the French under Joubert, in which the former were defeated, after an obstinate battle. Austrian loss 2,000 k., 4,000 taken.
1799. Bonaparte opened the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, in Palestine.
1799. Battle of Pfullendorf, in Germany, in which the French under Jourdan sustained the attack of the Austrians under the archduke, who had the advantage in point of numbers and artillery, having no less than 300 pieces.
1800. Battle of Heliopolis, Egypt, in which the French under Kleber defeated the Turks under the grand vizier.
1801. The British, under admiral Duckworth, took the island of St. Bartholomews, in the West Indies. It was again restored on the dissolution of the armed neutrality.
1809. The populace rose and plundered the French in the Havana.
1811. Massena gave up the command of his army to Marmont, and retired into France.
1811. Birthday of Napoleon, duke de Reichstadt, son of the emperor of France. He was christened emperor of Rome.
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,