Chapter X: And Y (3)

1481 James, King of Scotland, caused one of his brothers to be
murdered. Thomas Parr born this year, and lived 152 years. A
remarkable act was passed in this reign, which enacted what sort
of dress each class of men should wear. Another enacted that no
peaked shoes should be worn.

1483 Gloucester conveyed the King to Northampton. Lords
Hastings, Rivers, and Grey beheaded. The Lord Mayor, &c., at the
instigation of the Duke of Buckingham, offered the crown to the
Duke of Gloucester, who, with affected hesitation, accepted it,
June 17th. King Edward V, and his brother, the Duke of York,
murdered in the Tower. Jane Shore, concubine to King Edward
IV, and afterwards to Lord Hastings, was obliged to do penance
publicly in St. Paul’s. She was afterwards starved to death, no
person being allowed to relieve her, and died in a ditch; to
which circumstance, Shoreditch is said to owe its name. Edward V
was born in Westminster Abbey, November 4th, 1470; reigning two
months and eighteen days, was murdered in the Tower, and buried
there privately. His remains were afterwards found in 1674,
and removed to Westminster. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, (the
English Nero,) proclaimed King of England. Post-horses and stages
established. Earl of Richmond landed at Pool in Dorsetshire.
Being nearly surprised by Richard, he embarked again, and
returned to Picardy.

1484 Anne, the Queen of Richard, died March 16th. Richard treats
with Laudais, the Duke of Bretagne’s prime minister, for
surprising and delivering up the Earl of Richmond. Richmond,
escaping from Bretagne, went to Angers, in Anjou.

1485 Lord Stanley raises 5000 men, and his brother 2000, with
whom they joined Richmond. The sweating sickness, raged in London.

1486 King Henry, to balance the power of the Lords, found a way
to raise that of the Commons, which ever since has carried a much
greater sway than formerly in the government.

1487 Lambert Simnel, who personated the Duke of York, was made a
scullion in the King’s kitchen. The star chamber instituted.

1488 The King of Scotland, James III, killed by his subjects.
Cape of Good Hope discovered.

1489 Maps and sea charts first brought into England by
Bartholomew Columbus.

1491 The Greek language first introduced into England.

1492 3rd August, Columbus set sail from Palos, a port of Spain,
and on the 12th of October, to his unspeakable gratification,
he made his first discovery in the New World. This was one of
the Bahama Islands, called by the natives Guanahani, named by
Columbus St. Salvador, and afterwards, by some unpardonable
caprice, called by the English Cat Island. He landed the same
day, took possession of it in the name of the Spanish sovereigns,
and assumed the titles of Admiral and Viceroy, which had been
awarded to him before he sailed from Europe.

1493 15th March. Columbus arrived in Spain after a stormy and
dangerous voyage, having taken not quite seven months and a-half
to accomplish this momentous enterprize.

1494 Poyning’s law, which enacted that the statutes in England,
respecting the English, should be observed in Ireland likewise,
first instituted by Sir Edward Poyning.

1495 Cicely, Duchess of York, mother to King Edward IV, died,
being very old, who had lived to see three Princes born of her
body, crowned, and four murdered.

1497 Perkin Warbeck besieged Exeter. The passage to the Indies by
the way of the Cape of Good Hope discovered. 3rd July, John Cabot
discovered Newfoundland. He sailed from the Port of Bristol, in
the spring of 1497, and, on the 3rd of July, discovered the coast
of Labrador. The opposite Island, now called Newfoundland, they
called St. Johns, having landed there on St. John’s day. To the
mainland they gave the name of _Terra prima vista_--or Primavista
(first seen). The English navigators thus reached the continent
of North America only five years after Columbus had discovered
the West Indies, and more than a year before he had landed on the
continent or main land.

1499 Perkin Warbeck taken and hung at Tyburn, and the last Earl
of the Plantagenet line was beheaded on Tower-hill, November
28th.

1500 A plague in London, which destroyed 30,000 of its
inhabitants. A marriage was concluded between James IV, King of
Scotland, and Margaret, the daughter of King Henry VII, which
afterwards united England and Scotland under one King.

1505 Shillings first coined in England.

1513 Earl of Surrey gained the battle of Flodden-field, over the
Scots, whose King, James IV, fell in the contest. King Henry
invades France in person, takes Terwin and Tournay, at the siege
of which, the Emperor Maximilian served under the King’s pay. At
which siege likewise, was fought that battle called the battle
of Spurs, because the English put some of the French troops to
flight who made great use of their spurs.

1514 Enacted that surgeons should not sit on juries, nor be
employed in parish offices.

1517 Oxford depopulated by stagnated waters. Martin Luther began
the reformation in Germany.

1521 King Henry derived the title to him and his successors
of Defender of the Faith, from writing a book against Luther.
Musquets first invented. Mexico city yielded, after a prolonged
siege, to Cortez, in August.

1522 Magellan performed his voyage under the auspices of Charles
V, of Spain. He set sail from Seville, in Spain, in August, 1519.
After spending several months on the coast of South America,
searching for a passage to the Indies, he continued his voyage
to the South, passed through the strait that bears his name,
and after sailing three months and twenty-one days, through
an unknown ocean, he discovered a cluster of fertile islands,
which he named the Ladrones, or the Islands of Thieves, from
the thievish disposition of the natives. The fair weather and
favourable winds which he experienced induced him to bestow
on this the name of the Pacific, which it still retains.
Proceeding from the Ladrones, he discovered the islands which
were afterwards called the Philippines in honour of Philip,
King of Spain, who subjected them forty years after the voyage
of Magellan. Here, in a contest with the natives, Magellan was
killed, and the expedition was prosecuted under other commanders.
After taking in a cargo of spices at the Moluccas, the only
vessel of the squadron then fit for a long voyage, sailed for
Europe by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived in Spain
in September, 1522.

1530 The palace of St. James built.

1535 Brass cannon first cast in England by John Owen. Jacques
Cartier discovered the St. Lawrence on that Saint’s day. He
explored the north-east coast carefully, and, passing through
the Strait of Belleisle, traversed the great Gulf of the St.
Lawrence, and arrived in the Bay of Chaleurs in July. He was
delighted with the peaceable and friendly conduct of the natives,
“who,” says Hakluyt, “with one of their boats, came unto us,
and brought us pieces of seals ready sodden, putting them upon
pieces of wood: then, retiring themselves, they would make signs
unto us, that they did give them to us.” From this hospitable
place, where the natives seem to have displayed some of the
politeness of modern society, Jacques Cartier proceeded to Gaspé
Bay, where he erected a cross thirty feet high, with a shield
bearing the three fleurs-de-lis of France, thus taking possession
in the name of Francis the First. He carried off two natives from
Gaspé, who were of great use to him on his succeeding voyage.
It appears, however, that it was with their own consent, as
they allowed themselves to be clothed in shirts, coloured coats
and caps, and to have a copper chain placed about their neck,
“whereat they were greatly contented, and gave their old clothes
to their fellows that went back again.” Cartier coasted along
the northern shores of the Gulf, when, meeting with boisterous
weather, he made sail for France, and arrived at St. Malo on the
5th of September. This celebrated navigator deserves especial
notice, inasmuch as he was the first who explored the shores
of Canada to any considerable extent, and was the very first
European who became acquainted with the existence of Hochelaga,
and in 1535 pushed his way through all obstacles till he
discovered and entered the village which occupied the very spot
on which now stands the city of Montreal.

1536 376 monasteries suppressed.

1539 Leaden pipes to convey water invented.

1540 645 religious houses seized, and their property, amounting
to £161,000, given to the King. The number of monasteries
suppressed in England and Wales, were 313, Priories 290, Friaries
122, Nunneries 142, Colleges 152, and Hospitals 129; in all 1148.

1541 1st voyage to India by an English ship.

1543 Mortars and cannon first cast in iron.

1544 Pistols first used.

1545 William Foxley slept fourteen days, and lived forty-one days
after.

1547 The vows of celibacy before taken by priests, annulled, and
the communion ordered to be administered in both kinds. Evening
prayers began to be read in English in the King’s chapel, April
16th. The Scots refusing to marry their young Queen to King
Edward (according to their promise in his father’s life-time),
the protector enters Scotland with an army of 12,000 foot, and
600 horse, and fights them in Pinkey-field, near Musselburgh, and
kills 14,000 Scots, and takes 1500 prisoners, having lost but
sixty of his own men.

1548 Some ceremonies were now abrogated, and an order of council
against the carrying of candles, on Candlemas-day, ashes on
Ash-Wednesday, and palms on Palm-Sunday.

1549 Telescopes invented.

1551 The sweating-sickness broke out this year In England with
such contagion, that 800 died in one week of it in London. Those
that were taken with it were inclined much to sleep, and all
that slept died; but if they were kept awake a day, they got
well. A college founded in Galway in Ireland. Common-prayer
books established by act of parliament. Monks and nuns allowed
inheritances. Sternhold and Hopkins translated and put the Psalms
into verse.

1553 There was so great a plenty of malt and wheat, that a barrel
of beer with the cock sold for six-pence, and four great loaves
for one penny. The King founded St. Bartholomew’s Hospital,
Bridewell, improved the Hospital of Christchurch and St. Thomas’
Hospital, Southwark. Judge Hales, in his circuit into Kent,
required the justices to see to the execution of King Edward’s
laws: for which he was committed, and removed from prison to
prison, and threatened so, that he attempted to cut his own
throat, and at last drowned himself.

1553 Spitzbergen, the White Sea, and Nova Zembla, discovered by
the English.

1554 The laws against Lollards and Heretics were revived, and
the statutes of Mortmain repealed. There was at this time a
discovery in London of the imposter of the Spirit of the Wall,
who, by the help of a whistle, uttered several things relating to
religion, and the state, through a hole in a wall. It was found
to be Elizabeth Croses, and one Drake, her accomplice, who were
both made to do penance for it publicly at St. Paul’s. Scory,
bishop of Chichester, renounced his wife, and did penance for his
marriage. It is supposed there were 12,000 of the clergy deprived
for being married, and most of them were judged upon common fame,
without any process, but a citation.

1555 The church lands, in the Queen’s possession, restored.
Coaches first used in England.

1556 300 Protestants burnt for heresy.

1557 This year began with a visitation of the Universities.
Commissioners were sent to Oxford, where they burnt all the
English Bibles and heretical books they could find; and took up
the body of Peter Martyr’s wife, who they said was a heretic,
and buried it in a dunghill. And at Cambridge, they dug up the
bodies of Bucer and Fagius, two heretics, and tied their coffins
to stakes, and burnt them and their heretical books together.
Cardinal Pole died November 15th.

1576-77-78 Three voyages by Frobisher in search of a North-west
passage. Greenland explored.

1580 Drake, the first English circumnavigator.

1584 Virginia discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh.

1587 Davies’ Straits discovered by Davies, an English navigator.
February 9th. Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay
Castle.

1588 Destruction of the Spanish Armada.

1595 Falkland Islands, discovered by Hawkins.

1596 The first trading expedition to the East Indies.

1599 East India Company. Chauvin made two voyages to Tadousac.

1603 Death of Queen Elizabeth on 24th March, and accession of
James VI.

1604 The present translation of the Bible made.

1605 The gun-powder plot discovered. The channel for the New
River allowed to be cut. 97,304 person died in London, this year,
whereof 68,596 died of the plague.

1608 Virginia planted by the English. Champlain returned to
Canada, and Quebec founded 3rd July.

1609 East India company’s patent removed. Chelsea college
founded. Alum brought to perfection by Sir J. Bouchier.
Silk-worms first brought into England.

1610 Thermometers invented. King Henry IV of France murdered at
Paris, by Ravillac, a Romish priest.

1611 Bartholomew Legat was condemned by the convocation for an
Arian heretic. Legat was burnt at Smithfield for an Arian.

1612 Edward Wightman of Burton, burnt at Lichfield for a heretic.

1614 Sir Thomas Overbury poisoned in the Tower. The New River
brought to London. Champlain returned to France. An inundation
of the sea overflowed an extent of twelve miles in Norfolk and
Lincolnshire.

1618 Sir Walter Raleigh is executed for high treason, at the
instigation of the Spanish ambassador. The poet Shakspeare
flourished during the beginning of this and the latter part of
the preceding reign. Synod of Dort began: who generally agreed
to condemn the doctrines of Arminius, concerning election,
reprobation, and the universality of Christ’s death, and man’s
redemption by it.

1623 The fatal Vespers at Black-Friars.

1625 A plague in London destroyed 35,417 of its people.

1626 The king raised money by sale of the crown lands, loans, and
ship-money.

1628 Dr. Lamb murdered in the streets of London. The city fined
for Dr. Lamb’s death, £6,000.

1629 Quebec surrendered to Sir David Kirkt.

1635 Thomas Parr, reported to be aged 152 years, died November 15.

1640 The fatal Long Parliament, began November 3. An act to
abolish the Star-chamber.

1641 The princess Mary married to William of Nassau, prince of
Orange, at Whitehall. The earl of Strafford attained, May 8:
executed May 12. A bill passed for pressing soldiers.

1642 Edge-Hill fight: the number of the slain amounted to
above 5,000, whereof two-thirds were conceived to be of those
of the parliament party, and a third part of the king’s. June
17th, Montreal founded by Champlain. In the year 1640 the King
ceded the whole Island of Montreal to the St. Sulpicians and
in the following year M. de Maisonneuve brought out several
families from France, and was appointed governor of the island.
On the 17th of June, 1642, the spot destined for the city was
consecrated by the Superior of the Jesuits, the “Queen of Angels”
was supplicated to take it under her protection, and it was named
after her “la Ville Marie.” On the evening of this memorable
day, Maisonneuve visited the mountain. Two old Indians who
accompanied him, having conducted him to the summit, told him
that they belonged to the nation which had formerly occupied the
whole of the country he beheld, but that they had been driven
away, and obliged to take refuge amongst the other tribes, except
a few who, with themselves, remained under their conquerors.
The governor kindly urged the old men to invite their brethren
to return to their hunting-grounds, assuring them they should
want for nothing. They promised to do so, but it does not appear
that they were successful. In the year 1644, the whole of this
beautiful domain became the property of the St. Sulpicians of
Paris, and was by them afterwards conveyed to the Seminary of the
same order at Montreal, in whose possession it still remains.

1644 York relieved by Prince Rupert, after which happened the
fight on Marston-Moor, in which action about 7000 were slain, and
3000 of the King’s party taken prisoners, with all their baggage.

1645 The fatal battle of Naseby, in which 600 private soldiers
were killed on the King’s side, and 4500 were taken prisoners;
3000 horse, &c. Montrose defeated the Scotch army at Ketsith,
near Glasgow, in Scotland. Cromwell made lieutenant-general.

1646 The whole order of archbishops and bishops abolished,
October 9th.

1646-7 Charles delivered up by the Scotch to the English for the
consideration of £400,000, January 30th.

1648-9 The King sentenced to be beheaded as a tyrant, traitor,
murderer, and public enemy.

1649 Oliver Cromwell made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, August 13th.

1650 The Marquis of Montrose defeated in Scotland, taken
prisoner, sentenced, and barbarously murdered.

1651 Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland, July 22nd. Charles II
defeated at Worcester by Oliver, September 3rd.

1653 Oliver chosen protector of England, December 16th. The Rump
parliament turned out by the army, which had sat twelve years
six months and thirteen days. Scotland and Ireland united in
one commonwealth with England, April 12th. Jamaica taken by the
English.

1655 Cromwell dissolved the parliament.

1656 Oliver would not suffer the French King to call himself the
King of France.

1656-7 A plot to destroy Oliver discovered.

1657 Doctor William Harvey, the first discoverer of the
circulation of the blood, died January 5th.

1659 The House of Commons shut up, and entrance denied its
members. The Rump sat again, May 7th. The Rump parliament
turned out again by Lambert, October 18th. The Rump parliament
re-admitted, December 26th.

1660 Oliver Cromwell’s corpse hung at Tyburn, December 2nd. The
Long parliament dissolved, and another called, to be holden at
Westminster, April 25th.

1661 The body of the noble Marquis of Montrose taken up, and
interred in great state.

1662 152 slaves redeemed from Algiers.

1663 Laird Warreston executed at Edinburgh, according to a
sentence in parliament, on a gibbet twenty-two feet high.

1665 90,000 people destroyed by the plague in London.

1666 Great fire in London, September 2nd, when 13,200
dwelling-houses were destroyed. The Dutch and English fleets
fight for four days, neither party having the advantage. They
engage again, and the English obtain the victory.

1669 Death of the poet Sir John Denham.

1670 The church of Quebec constituted a bishopric.

1671 The exchequer shut for want of money. Blood attempted to
steal the crown from the Tower.

1674 King Charles received from France a pension of £100,000 per
annum. Milton, the poet, and the Earl of Clarendon died.

1676 Carolina planted by English merchants.

1678 Statue at Charing-Cross erected.

1679 The meal-tub plot.

1683 The charter of London taken away by Charles. The Rye-house
plot. Lord Russel beheaded on a charge of high treason. Algernon
Sidney beheaded, for writing a libel never published, November
21st.

1684 The Buccaneers of America, about 100 in number, with the
assistance of some Indians, went into the South seas, and made
a bold attack on the Spaniards. Bombay, in the East-Indies, was
surrendered to Sir Thomas Grantham, for the use of the East-India
company.

1685 Duke of Monmouth proclaimed King at Taunton Dean, defeated
at Sedgemore, taken and beheaded.

1685 Justice Jeffries and General Kirk exercise great cruelties
on the adherents of Monmouth.

1686 The Newtonian philosophy published. Kirk, at Taunton, while
at dinner with his officers, ordered 30 condemned persons to be
hanged, namely, 10 in a health to the King, 10 to the Queen, and
10 to Jeffries; but one action the most cruel, was, a young girl
throwing herself at his feet to beg her father’s life, he made
her prostitute herself to him, with a promise of granting her
request; but having satisfied his lustful desire, was so inhuman
as out of the window to show the poor unfortunate girl her father
hanging on a sign-post: the spectacle so affected her, that she
went distracted. The King encamped 15,000 men on Hounslow heath.

1688 Seven bishops committed to the Tower for not countenancing
popery. The city of London lent the Prince of Orange £20,000,
January 10. The parliament declared James’s abdication. James
escorted to Rochester by a Dutch guard, and sailed to France.
James landed in Ireland with an army, and assembled a parliament.
Brass money coined by James in Ireland. Bill of rights passed.
Every hearth or chimney paid two shillings per annum. King
William and Queen Mary crowned at Westminster, April 11. The
Hanover succession first proposed, May 31.

1690 The battle of the Boyne in Ireland, where James was finally
defeated by William, and obliged to embark for France, July 1.

1691 William III took his seat as Stadtholder in Holland. The
Queen issues out her royal proclamation for the more reverend
observing the Sabbath day, and against profane cursing and
swearing. A terrible battle between the Imperialists and Turks,
near Salenkemen, in the principality of Sclavonia: in which the
Imperialists had about 7,000 killed and wounded, and a great many
good officers; but the Turks lost 18,000 men, and almost all
their officers killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. Five captains
of Admiral Benbow’s squadron in the West-Indies, were tried
on board the Breda, at Port-Royal, in Jamaica, for cowardice
and breach of orders, in an engagement with Ducasse. The Irish
defeated at the battle of Aughrim, in Ireland.

1692 The French fleet destroyed at La Hogue and other places by
Admiral Russell. A terrible earthquake in the island of Jamaica
in the West-Indies, which almost entirely ruined the town of
Port-Royal, the best of all the English plantations.

1692 37 cities, towns, and large villages, and about 130,000
people destroyed in the kingdom of Naples, by an earthquake,
February 11. The massacre of Glencoe, in Scotland.

1692 James’s descent on England frustrated; the destruction of
the French fleet, May 19.

1693 The English fleet defeated by Tourville.

1694 Queen Mary died of the small-pox. The bank of England
incorporated.

1694-5 Discipline of the Church restored. Commissioners appointed
to direct the building and endowment of Greenwich hospital.

1695 Duties imposed on births, marriages, burials, bachelors, and
widowers.

1695-6 Guineas went at the rate of thirty shillings. Six-pence
per month deducted out of every seaman’s wages, for the support
of Greenwich hospital.

1696 Czar of Muscovy, Peter the Great, came into England, and
remained incognito. The window tax first levied.

1700 The New-Style introduced by the Dutch and Protestants in
Germany.

1700-1 Earl John, of Marlborough, appointed General of the
foot, June 1, and Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty’s forces in
Holland. King James II died of a lethargy at St. Germain’s in
France, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, September 6.

1702 King William died at Kensington in the fifty-second year of
his age, and the fourteenth of his reign, March 8.

1702 Captain Kirby and Captain Wade were condemned to die, and
being sent to England, were shot on board a ship at Plymouth, not
being suffered to go on shore. Admiral Benbow, who had his leg
shattered with a great shot in the engagement with Ducasse, died
of his wounds soon after he had the Captains condemned.

1703 The Earl of Marlborough chosen Captain General of Queen
Anne’s army. A dreadful tempest in England. The old and new
East-India companies united.

1704 Gibraltar taken in three days, by Admiral Rook. The battle
of Blenheim gained by the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene.
The French fleet defeated at Malaga, by the English.

1705 The colours and standards taken at Blenheim, hung in
Westminster Hall. The English take Barcelona from the Spanish.

1706 The battle of Ramillies gained by Marlborough. The colours
and standards hung at Guildhall.

1707 England and Scotland united. An interview between the Duke
of Marlborough and Charles XII. Sir Cloudesly Shovel shipwrecked
on the rocks of Sicily.

1708 The battle of Malplaquet gained by the Duke of Marlborough
and Prince Eugene. The French defeated at Oudenarde by
Marlborough and Prince Eugene. The first parliament of Great
Britain met April 24. Dr. Sacheverel impeached by the Commons for
high crimes and misdemeanors.

1709 Charles XII defeated by the Russians at Pultowa.

1712 Robert Walpole committed to the Tower for bribery. Richard
Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwell, died, aged ninety.

1714 Mr. Steele expelled the House of Commons for writing the
Englishman and the Critic. £5,000 offered to apprehend the
Pretender.

1714 George I arrived at Greenwich from Hanover.

1715 The Pretender proclaimed as James VIII in Scotland, by the
Earl of Mar, who assembles forces.

1716 The tide forced back by a strong westerly wind for one day
and night, and the Thames lay perfectly dry both above and below
the bridge. A dreadful fire happened in Thames street, near
Bear-key, by the imprudence of a boy who was making squibs and
rockets, which consumed upwards of 120 houses.

1717 The Prince of Wales banished the court.

1718 James Shepherd, a lad of eighteen, executed for conspiring
the King’s death. Charles XII of Sweden killed at the siege of
Frederickshall.

1719 The Pretender received at Madrid as King of Great Britain.
The Mississippi scheme at its height in France. The English and
French invaded Spain by land, and took the towns of Fontarabia,
St. Sebastian, and St. Antonio, and reduced the province of Gui
Puocoa.

1720 South-sea stock rose 400 per cent, and continued to rise
until July, when it rose to 1,000 per cent.

1721 Several persons ruined by the South-sea stock falling to
150 per cent. Several members of parliament expelled for being
concerned in the South-sea bubble, and their estates confiscated
for the use of the sufferers.

1725 The Lord Chancellor (Earl of Macclesfield) displaced,
impeached, and fined £30,000 for corruption. Jonathan Wild, a
notorious thief-taker, executed.

1727 The Spaniards besiege Gibraltar. Sir Isaac Newton died, aged
85.

1729 Deaths of Dr. S. Clarke, Sir Richard Steele, Congreve the
poet, and the noted John Law.

1731 Deaths of Dr. Atterbury, and Defoe.

1732 Death of Gay, the poet and fabulist.

1737 A comet appeared. Death of Howe.

1739 Admiral Vernon takes Porto Bello.

1742 Sir Robert Walpole resigned, after holding his places
twenty-one years.

1743 King George defeated the French at Dettingen.

1744 Admiral Anson returned with £1,500,000 which he had taken
in the Acapulca ship. Deaths of Pope the poet, and Roger Gale.
Prague taken by the King of Prussia.

1745 The Duke of Cumberland defeated at Fontenoy. Battle of
Preston-Pans. Death of Dean Swift.

1746 The rebels defeat the royal army at Falkirk. The Pretender
totally defeated by the Duke of Cumberland at Culloden. Several
Lords and others executed for rebellion.

1747 The French fleet defeated by Admiral Hawke.

1748 Death of Thompson, the poet.

1752 The style altered.

1755 General Braddock defeated.

1757 Admiral Byng shot for cowardice.

1758 100 French ships destroyed at St. Maloes, by the Duke of
Marlborough, called by his soldiers, _Corporal John_.

1759 The French defeated at Minden. Quebec taken by General
Wolfe, and death of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham. Boscawen
defeats the French off Gibraltar, (Gabel-el-Tarifa) hence
Gibraltar, which is also called the Babel of Nations, and the Key
of the Mediterranean. Guadaloupe surrendered to the English.

1760 General Lally defeated in the East Indies. Canada
surrendered to the English.--Capitulation signed 8th September.

1762 War declared against Spain. The Hermione, a Spanish ship
taken, valued at near £1,200,000. Manilla taken from the
Spaniards. Havana taken from the Spaniards. Preliminaries of
peace between England and France signed at Fontainbleau, November
3. Martinico and Guadaloupe taken by the French.

1763 Peace proclaimed between England, France, and Spain.

1764 The longitude found at sea by means of Harrison’s
time-piece. The massacre of Patna in the East Indies, where
4,000 of the garrison and inhabitants were put to the sword.

1765 Otaheite discovered by Captain Willis.

1766 The American Stamp Act repealed. Gibraltar nearly destroyed
by a storm.

1769 New Zealand explored by Captain Cook. Electricity of the
Aurora Borealis discovered. Stratford Jubilee held in honour of
Shakspeare.

1771 Falkland islands seized by the Spaniards.

1772 Negroes adjudged free, in England. Solway moss began to flow.

1773 A large quantity of tea belonging to the East India Company,
destroyed at Boston by the citizens.

1774 The port of Boston shut up by an act of parliament. Civil
war commences in America. A violent storm, by which 40 ships were
lost near Yarmouth. Humane Society for the recovery of drowned
persons instituted.

1775 Trade with America prohibited. The battles of Lexington and
Bunker’s hill. The Americans invade Canada and besiege Quebec.

1776 America declared itself independent.

1777 General Burgoyne and his army surrender to the Americans at
Saratoga.

1778 War declared against France. Pondicherry taken from the
French. Admiral Keppel fights the French fleet off Ushant. The
Earl of Chatham died, and interred in Westminster Abbey.

1779 Ireland admitted to a free trade. The French make a
fruitless attempt on the island of Jersey. Their shipping
destroyed in Concale Bay. An American fleet totally destroyed off
Penobscot. Pitch and tar made from pit-coal at Bristol.

1780 Admiral Rodney defeats the Spanish fleet near Cape St.
Vincent, and takes their Admiral Laugara prisoner. Dreadful
riots in London. War with Spain and Holland. Torture abolished
in France. His Majesty’s ships Andromeda, Laurel, Deal-Castle,
Thunderer, Stirling-Castle, Cameleon, and many others, lost in a
dreadful hurricane in the West Indies.

1781 Lord Cornwallis and his army surrender to the Americans
and French at York-Town. Sir Eyre Coote defeats Hyder Ally.
Ceylon taken from the Dutch. Florida conquered by the Spaniards.
Engagement between Admiral Parker and the Dutch fleet off Dogger
Bank. St. Eustatius, St. Martin, and other Dutch settlements,
captured.

1782 Batavia taken by the English. The memorable attack of
Gibraltar by the French and Spaniards;--their gun-boats totally
destroyed, and the garrison relieved by a squadron of 33 ships of
the line, under Lord Howe, in the face of the combined fleets of
France and Spain, consisting of 47. Admiral Rodney defeats the
French fleet in the West Indies; takes Admiral Count de Grasse
and five ships of the line. The Ville de Paris and other French
prizes lost at sea.

1783 Great Britain declares the United States of America
independent. A new planet discovered by Mr. Herschell, and called
the Georgium Sidus. A new island rose out of the ocean near
Iceland.

1784 The great seal stolen. Mail coaches first established, by
Mr. Raikes, of Gloucester. Slave trade abolished in Pennsylvania,
and in New England.

1785 Blanchard and Dr. Jefferies cross the English Channel, in a
balloon, from Dover, and land near Calais. M. Pilatre de Rosiere,
and M. Romain, ascend in a balloon, which takes fire and they are
dashed to pieces.

1786 Margaret Nicholson attempts to assassinate the King.
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, died. Convicts first sent
to Botany Bay, and Sierra Leone. The young Lord Gormadston
clandestinely carried abroad, in order to force him to embrace
the Romish persuasion.

1787 Three American priests ordained bishops by the Archbishop
of Canterbury, The house of Peers commenced the trial of Warren
Hastings, Esq., on a charge of high crimes, &c., committed by him
in the East Indies, of which he was impeached.

1789 The abolition of the Slave trade proposed in Parliament.
Beginning of the French Revolution.

1790 War commenced in India with Tippoo Sultan.

1791 Riots at Birmingham.

1793 The Alien-bill passed in the British House of Commons. The
English evacuate Toulon.

1794 The Habeas Corpus Act suspended. Lord Howe defeats the
French fleet off Ushant.

1795 Mr. Hastings’ trial ended by his acquittal. The Cape of Good
Hope taken by the British forces. Ceylon taken by the British.

1796 The East India Company votes an indemnification and
recompense to Mr. Hastings.

1797 A mutiny of the British fleet at Portsmouth and the Nore
suppressed. The Dutch fleet beaten and captured by Lord Duncan.

1798 Ireland in open rebellion. Lord Nelson totally defeated the
French fleet in the battle of the Nile. The French fleet defeated
by Sir J. B. Warren.

1799 Seringapatam taken by General Harris and Sir David Baird,
and Tippoo Sultan killed. The French under Bonaparte defeated by
Sir Sidney Smith at Acre. The expedition of the British against
Holland. The British troops evacuate Holland.

1800 Vote of the Irish House of Commons agreeing to the Union of
Great Britain and Ireland.--Similar vote of the House of Lords.
Malta taken by the British forces.

1801 Mr. Pitt resigns, after being minister 18 years. Battle
of Alexandria,--the French defeated and Sir Ralph Abercrombie
killed. Battle of Copenhagen, the Danish fleet taken and
destroyed by Lord Nelson. Taking of Cairo and Alexandria, by the
British troops.

1802 Definitive treaty with France signed at Amiens.

1803 Execution of Col. Despard for high treason. Dissolution of
the peace with France, May. Insurrection in Dublin; Habeas Corpus
suspended, and Martial Law proclaimed. Defeat of Row Scinda and
Berar Rajar at Ajunty, by General Arthur Wellesley. The British
troops enter Delhi and the Great Mogul puts himself under their
protection.

1804 Mr. Pitt resumes his situation as Prime Minister.

1806 The Spaniards declare war against Great Britain. Lord Nelson
defeats the combined fleets of France and Spain at Trafalgar;
takes twenty sail of the line, and is killed in the engagement.
Sir R. Strachan takes four French ships of the line, off Cape
Ortegal.

1806 Death of William Pitt; his debts discharged at the public
expense, and a statue decreed to his memory. Admiral Duckworth
captures and destroys five French ships of the line. Sir John
Stuart defeats the French under Regnier at Maida in Calabria.
Surrender of Buenos Ayres to General Beresford and Sir Home
Popham. French squadron of five frigates captured by Sir Samuel
Hood. Death of Charles James Fox. Rupture of a negotiation for
peace with France, and return of Earl Lauderdale. Recapture of
Buenos Ayres by the Spaniards. The slave trade abolished by act
of Parliament.

1807 Copenhagen bombarded, and the Danish fleet surrendered to
the British, under Lord Cathcart and Admiral Gambier. South
America evacuated by the British. The British troops evacuate
Egypt. The island of Madeira surrendered to Great Britain in
trust for Portugal.

1808 The French prohibit all commerce with Great Britain. Battle
of Vimiera in Portugal; the French under Junot defeated by Sir
Arthur Wellesley.

1809 The French defeated at the battle of Corunna; Sir John
Moore killed. The French fleet in Basque roads destroyed by Lord
Cochrane. Senegal surrendered to the British. The battle of
Talavera; the French defeated by Sir Arthur Wellesley. The 50th
anniversary of the King’s reign celebrated as a jubilee. The
French fleet in the Mediterranean defeated by Lord Collingwood.

1810 An attempt made to assassinate the Duke of Cumberland;
Sellis, the Duke’s valet, found with his throat cut. Murat’s army
in Sicily defeated by General J. Campbell. Battle of Busaco; the
French defeated by Lord Wellington. Capture of the Isle of France
by the British. This island has ever since remained in the hands
of the British. Its other name is Mauritius, famous for Peter
Botte Mountain and its fine sugar.

1811 The Prince of Wales appointed Regent. Battles of Barossa,
Albuera, &c. in which the French were beaten with great loss.
Isle of Java capitulated to the British arms.

1812 Ciudad Rodrigo taken by storm, by Lord Wellington. Right
Honorable Spencer Percival, prime minister of Great Britain,
assassinated by John Bellingham. Battle of Salamanca, and defeat
of the French.

1813 Great battle of Vittoria in Spain, in which Lord Wellington
totally defeats the French under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal
Jourdan. Defeat of Marshal Soult, in Spain, with the loss of
15,000 men, by Lord Wellington.

1814 A fair on the Thames, it being frozen over above the London
bridges, Feb. 2. Bourdeaux surrenders to Lord Wellington. Peace
between England and France. The allied Sovereigns visit London.
City of Washington taken by the British army under General Ross.
Treaty of peace between England and America, Dec. 24. Joanna
Southcott an impostor, died; and, with her, the hopes of the
promised Shiloh, and all her other prophecies.

1815 Bonaparte sailed from Elba, and landed with 1,000 men at
Cannes, in France. Bonaparte enters Paris, March 21. An attempt
made by Margaret Moore to steal the Crown from the Tower.
Memorable battle of Waterloo, June 17, 18; Bonaparte fled; the
Duke of Wellington’s horse killed under him. Bonaparte sailed
for St. Helena, August 7. Submission of the island of Ceylon to
Britain. Bonaparte landed at St. Helena, October 16. The English
repulsed at New Orleans, with the loss of several thousand in
killed and wounded, including several generals. General Jackson
commanded the Americans. General Packenham was killed. A column
of light appeared in the north-east, so vivid as to alarm many
persons. By the explosion of a coal-pit near Newbattle, in
the county of Durham, 70 persons perished. Bonaparte resigns
the government to a provisional council. In the colliery
above-mentioned at Newbattle, a steam engine burst, and 57
persons were killed or wounded.

1816 Princess Charlotte of Wales married, to Prince Leopold of
Saxe Coburg, May 2. Sir Humphrey Davy invented a Safety Lamp to
prevent the accidents which happen in coal-mines from fire damp.

1817 The Princess Charlotte died in child-birth, having been
delivered of a still-born child. Steamboats generally adopted
for river navigation in America and Europe. The magnetic needle,
which had for many years taken a western declination from the
meridian, returned towards the north.

1818 The Queen of Great Britain, Charlotte of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, died Nov. 21. Two expeditions to penetrate
the North-pole sailed, one to the north-east, and the other to
the north-west, but neither succeeded. The kaleidoscope, a new
optical instrument, invented by Dr. Brewster of Edinburgh. Three
systems of education in this year claimed public attention: that
of mutual instruction propagated by Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster;
the interrogative or intellectual system of questions without
answers; and that of Mr. Pestalozzi by oral questions. Belzoni
transported from Egypt to England the statue of Memnon. The Duke
of Clarence married to the Princess of Saxe Meiningen; and the
Duke of Kent to a Princess of Saxe Coburg. For two or three days
the metropolis, as well as the country round, were enveloped in
a thick impenetrable fog, which obstructed all travelling, and
caused a number of fatal accidents. The Duke of Richmond died in
Canada, from the bite of a rabid fox.

1819 Messrs. Perkins and Co., of Philadelphia, introduced into
London a mode of engraving on soft steel, which, when hardened,
will multiply fine impressions indefinitely. Many distressed
persons embarked, under the sanction of government, to establish
a new colony at the Cape of Good Hope. Southwark bridge opened,
making the sixth metropolitan bridge over the Thames. Forty
persons killed by the explosion of a mine near Newcastle. A
shoal of young whales appeared in Dungannan Bay, forty taken by
the fishermen. A whirlwind at Aldborough, Suffolk, carried up
a quantity of barley from a field to a great height. Another
expedition was fitted out to try a north-west passage to the
Pacific Ocean. Field Marshal Prince Blucher died.

1820 Lieutenant Parry returned from his voyage to attempt the
discovery of a north-west passage: he reached the 10th degree of
west longitude, where he passed one winter in latitude 74, and
returned for further supplies. Lamented death of H.R.H. the Duke
of Kent. Death, in Windsor-castle, of George III, in the 82d year
of his age, and 60th of his reign. George IV held his first court
in Carlton-house. Takes oath to maintain the Church of England.
Oaths of allegiance administered. Cato-street conspirators
arrested. Thistlewood and his associates executed before Newgate.
Regent’s canal from Paddington to Limehouse opened. Extraordinary
solar-eclipse; central and annular in the interior of Europe. An
_Estadfod_, or assembly of Welch bards, in Wrexham, North Wales.
Lieutenant Parry returns from his voyage of discovery in the seas
on the north of North America.

1821 A Pedo-motive machine invented by Dr. Cartwright for
travelling the public roads without the aid of horses. A
mammoth’s bones found by Captain Vetch, on the west bank of the
Medway, near Rochester. Mr. Kent of Glasgow, invented a machine
for walking on the surface of the water, at the rate of three
miles an hour. A penknife, containing 2,016 blades, was presented
to the Queen, by a Sheffield manufacturer; another was afterwards
made containing 1,821 blades. Duel between Mr. Scott, of the
London Magazine, and Mr. Christie, of an Edinburgh Magazine,
in which the former was mortally wounded. News received of a
dreadful massacre in Manilla, arising from religious fanaticism.
A gambling-house, in London, entered by the police, and about
70 individuals held to bail. The Discovery-ships sailed from
Deptford, for the American Arctic Seas. Sale of a collection of
Pictures, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which produced £15,000. A bog
burst forth from Kilmalady, in Ireland, and in an hour covered
100 acres from 20 to 60 feet deep; it proceeded to a great
extent, 200 yards wide, and 80 feet deep, at the rate of two
yards per hour. Roads and bridges were covered, communications
cut off, and great damage done. Queen Caroline died at
Hammersmith, after an illness of eight days. Loss of the Juliana,
East-Indiaman, in the Margate-roads, in which 38, out of the 40
individuals on board, perished.

1822 The King surrendered £30,000 per annum of the civil list.
A coroner’s jury decided that publicans are legally bound to
receive into their houses all persons in extremity. Fifteen
thousand Greeks massacred in the island of Scio, by the Turks. A
south-west gale so retarded the flow of the tide in the Thames,
that it was fordable at London bridge. Subscriptions opened
for the starving Irish peasantry, which amounted to £300,000.
Dreadful cases of misery and oppression published. Upwards of 800
Greek virgins exposed in the slave markets, and 20,000 Christians
slaughtered in various villages. The Marquis of Londonderry,
cut his throat at his house, North Cray. Mr. Canning appointed
Secretary of State, in lieu of the Marquis of Londonderry. Grand
eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the most tremendous since 1794.
Fonthill abbey purchased by Mr. Farquhar, for £330,000. Sir
William Herschell, the celebrated Astronomer, died. Canova, the
celebrated Sculptor, died. Madame Lætitia Bonaparte, mother of
the late Emperor of France, died.

1823 George IV presented to the nation the library of his late
father, at Buckingham House, consisting of 120,000 vols. An
insurrection of the Negroes at Martinique detected: several
planters had died by poison. Two hundred Negroes ordered for
execution. Captain Parry arrived from his exploratory voyage
to the Polar regions; he had failed in the chief object of the
expedition. Three grand Musical Festivals held within a month,
at York, Birmingham, and Gloucester, produced the enormous sum
of £30,500. By the melancholy accident from fire damp, at the
William Pitt colliery near Whitehaven, 14 men, 16 boys, and two
girls, lost their lives; 17 horses were also killed. Dr. Jenner,
discoverer of Vaccination, died. Mrs. Radcliffe, authoress of the
Mysteries of Udolpho, &c., died. At Rochetts, Earl St. Vincent
died. At Kincardine, Admiral Lord Keith, died. At Rome, Pope Pius
the Seventh, died.

1824 A subterraneous forest of oak was discovered, on the
shores of the Solway Frith, beyond Brough, imbedded in a stiff
blue clay; the trees were of large dimensions, and the wood so
perfect as to be scarce perceptible from new timber, although
it must have lain there many thousands of years. Mr. Mantell
discovered, in the iron sand-stone of Sussex, the teeth of a
herbivorous reptile of gigantic magnitude, being of the lizard
tribe; from a thigh bone found, it must have equalled the
elephant in height, and been more than 60 feet long. The pictures
of J. J. Angerstein, 38 in number, purchased by Government for
£57,000 to begin a national gallery; Sir G. Beaumont liberally
presented his collection to the public for that purpose. The
Hecla, discovery ship, with Captain Parry left her moorings on a
voyage of discovery to the Arctic region. Mr. Harris, accompanied
by Miss Stocks, ascended in a balloon, when the former was
killed by being thrown from the car. The remains of Lord Byron
were conveyed from London, amidst a concourse of people, for
Newstead Abbey. A copy of Columbus’ letter to the King of Spain,
on the discovery of America, sold for 34 guineas. Particulars
were received respecting the death of the celebrated traveller
Belzoni, at Gato on his journey to Timbuctoo. Mr. Sadler, jun.,
the aëronaut, was killed on descending in his balloon, near
Blackburn in Lancashire. The enormous timber ship, called the
Columbus, arrived at Blackwall, from the river St. Lawrence,
being 300 feet long, 50 broad, and 30 deep. Patrick Grant died,
aged 111; to this venerable Highlander, His Majesty had granted
a pension of a guinea a week.

1825 In January, wool was exported from England to the United
States of America, being the first instance for two centuries.
Organic remains of antediluvian animals found in a cave near
Chudleigh. Steam engines in England, representing the power
of 320,000 horses, equal to 1,920,000 men, managed by 36,000
only, now add to the power of our population 1,884,000 men! A
phenomenon observed on the coast of Kent, being a cloud, resting
part on the sea, extending as far as the eye could reach,
reflecting two distinct images of every vessel passing, one
inverted, the other in its proper position, apparently sailing
in the air. An earthquake happened in Algiers, when the town of
Blida, was totally destroyed, and, of a population of 15,000
persons, scarcely 300 were left alive. £2,000 granted to Mr.
M‘Adam for improvement of the roads. The Tower of Fonthill-Abbey
fell, and destroyed great part of that elegant building.

1826 London was visited by such a dense fog, in the forenoon,
that candles were burned in all the shops. The abduction of Miss
Turner by E. G. Wakefield. The death of the celebrated composer,
Baron Von Weber, occurred, being in his 40th year. Mr. Canning
dined with the King of France, and Sir Walter Scott with the King
of England.

1827 Canal Excavation by the plough in lieu of manual labour.
It is remarkable, that England, which usually sets the example
to all Europe in the application of machinery as a substitute
for manual labour, should have been anticipated by the small
state of Wurtemberg; an extensive line of canal having been
projected, and sanctioned by the Government, an eminent engineer
constructed a set of ploughs of various forms to suit the nature
of the soil to be intersected, which, by the aid of from eight
to twelve horses, excavated the line of canal, at less than a
fourth of the price which would have been expended in manual
labour. His Royal Highness the Duke of York expired. Will of
Mr. Rundel, the silversmith, proved, whose personal property
amounted to £1,200,000. The steam vessel George the Fourth left
Portsmouth for Africa. Mr. Canning appointed chancellor of the
Exchequer, April 24. Mr. Canning expired, Aug. 8. Lord Goderich
appointed Premier. Death of Dr. Good, F.R.S., author of various
works on Science, &c. Death of Rebecca Fury, of Falmouth,
Jamaica, aged 140. Clapperton’s second voyage to Africa. Parry’s
attempt to reach the North Pole over the ice without success.
Lord Liverpool died, George Canning succeeded. Intervention of
England, France, and Russia in the affairs of Greece: battle of
Navarino. Premiership and death of Canning.

1828 Duke of Wellington premier. Russian invasion of Turkey. Capo
d’Istria President of Greece: a French army in the Morea. Don
Miguel usurps the throne of Portugal.

1829 The Russian Field-Marshal Diebitsch crosses the Balkan.
Treaty of Adrianople. Independence of Greece recognized by
Turkey. Catholic emancipation in England.

1830 Accession of William IV. Algiers taken by the French. July
25th, revolution at Paris: abdication of Charles X: Duke of
Orleans called to the throne, by the title of Louis Philippe,
King of the French, Belgian and Polish revolutions.

1831 The cholera appears in Europe. Polish insurrection
suppressed, and the kingdom of Poland incorporated with the
Russian empire. London conferences: Leopold of Saxe-Coburg chosen
King of Belgium.

1832 Civil war in Portugal betwixt Pedro and Miguel. The French
occupy Ancona, and lay siege to Antwerp. Parliamentary reform in
England.

1833 Meeting of the first reformed Parliament. Abolition
of slavery in the British colonies, with a compensation of
£20,000,000 to the slave-owners.

1834 Don Miguel expelled from Portugal. Civil war in Spain.
Formation of the German Zollverein. Accession of Queen Victoria.
Buckingham Palace completed. Insurrection in Upper Canada. A
meeting of the Provincial Convention called at Toronto. Colonel
Moodie killed. McKenzie, Van Egmont and others invest Toronto.
Rebels dispersed and leaders flee to the United States.

1838 Second Insurrection in 1838. In Lower Canada, Mr. and Mrs.
Ellice of Beauharnois, taken prisoners by the rebels at that
place and given over for keeping to the Curé. The Caughnawaga
Indians take 64 prisoners and, tying them with their sashes
and garters, send them to Montreal. Affairs at Napierville and
Laprairie. Colonel Prince did, what should have instantly been
done to the Fenian prisoners in the late raid, viz., condemned
some of the insurgents by drum head Court Martial, and executed
them forthwith. Quiet restored.

1839 Treaty of peace betwixt Holland and Belgium. End of the
civil war in Spain.

1840 Intervention of England and Austria in the Egyptian
question. Thiers minister of France: apprehensions of a general
war: removed by the overthrow of Thiers: Guizot minister. Union
of the two Canadas.

1841 Resignation of Melbourne ministry. Peel becomes premier.
Death of Lord Sydenham in Canada. Fortification of Paris.
Bonaparte interred in Paris, 15th December.

1842 Affghan and Chinese wars: cession of Hong Kong to England:
opening of Chinese ports. Rising against the English at Cabul:
murder of Burnes and McNaughton: massacre at the Cabul Pass.
General Pollock forces the Khugher Pass, 5th April. Ashburton
Treaty with the United States, August 9th. Great fire at Hamburg.

1843 Activity of the Anti-Corn Law League. John Bright returned
for Durham. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visit the King of
the French and the King of the Belgians. Repeal meetings in
Ireland stopped by royal proclamation, and Mr. O’Connell and
other repealers arrested and tried for conspiracy and sedition.

1844 French hostilities with Morocco: Mogadore bombarded: King
of the French visits Queen Victoria at Windsor. Railway mania in
England. Campbell the Poet died, 15th June.

1845 Continued activity of the Anti-Corn Law League. Great bazaar
at London, where the receipts amount to £25,000. Railway mania in
England attains its height: scrip issued to the nominal amount
of several hundred millions sterling. Annexation of Texas to the
United States. Steam established between Liverpool and New York.
Sir John Franklin set sail 22nd May.

1846 The Spanish double marriages. Mexico annexed, 25th August.
Coolness betwixt the courts of St. James and the Tuilleries.
Abolition of the Corn Laws, followed by resignation of the Peel
ministry. Austria, in violation of the treaties of Vienna, seizes
on Cracow, and incorporates it with her own dominions. Louis
Napoleon escapes from the Castle of Ham, in Normandy. Gregory XVI
dies, and is succeeded by Cardinal Mastai Ferretti, who takes the
title of Pius IX. Revolution of Geneva, October 7th.

1847 Pope Pius introduces some reforms into the Papal States:
excitement in the rest of Italy. Civil war in Switzerland:
Sonderbund suppressed. Abd-el-Kader taken prisoner. The Duchy of
Lucca reverts to Tuscany. Failure of the potato crop in Ireland.

1848 Upper California and New Mexico ceded to the United States.
February revolution in Paris: flight of Louis Philippe, 24th
February: France a Republic: Cavaignac: Revolution at Vienna
6th October, and Berlin 12th November: Schleswig-Holstein
insurrection. Arctic ships deserted, 22nd April. Peace Congress
at Brussels, 20th September. Defeat of Sikhs at Mooltan, 7th
November. Napoleon III first elected President, 20th December.
Smith O’Brien defeated in his attempt to raise a resurrection in
Ireland.

1849 Death of Queen Adelaide. Punjaub war. Revolutions in
Rome and Tuscany: Mazzini: French invasion and occupation of
Rome. Revolutionary movements in Germany and Hungary. Kossuth.
Revolution in Baden suppressed by Prussia; in Hungary by Russia;
and Hungarians defeated by Hayman.

1850 Battle of Idstedt and suppression of the Schleswig-Holstein
insurrection. Peace between Denmark and Prussia. Louis Philippe
died 26th August. Sir Robert Peel died.

1851 Great industrial exhibition in London in Crystal Palace.
French coup d’état: National assembly broken up, and Napoleon
declared President of the Republic for ten years. Discovery of
gold fields in Australia.

1852 The Earl of Derby forms a protectionist ministry, dissolves
parliament, but is soon forced to resign: Lord Aberdeen becomes
Premier. On the 14th September, the illustrious Duke of
Wellington, the Iron Duke, died at Walmar Castle near Dover, aged
83. Louis Napoleon proclaimed Emperor of the French, as Napoleon
III. Amazon steamer burnt at sea, and 100 persons perished, 4th
January. The steamer Birkenhead with troops on board for the Cape
of Good Hope wrecked 26th February, and of 638 persons only 184
were saved; 454 of the crew and soldiers of the 12th Lancers,
2nd, 6th, 12th, 43rd, 45th, 60th Rifles, 73rd, 74th and 91st
Regiments perished by drowning or swallowed by sharks which were
seen swimming around.

1853 Marriage of Napoleon III to Eugenie de Montejo in January.
Fire which broke out in Windsor Castle, extinguished March 19th.
The Queen of Portugal died November 15th. The Porte formerly
declared war against Russia, October 5th. Russia invades the
Danubian principalities, crossing the Pruth in July, destroys the
Turkish fleet at Sinopé, hence called the “Massacre of Sinopé.”
Battle of Silistria. Death of Captain Butler.