APRIL 11.
52 B. C. Trial of Milo for the murder of Clodius, in the consulship of Pompey. All the unwashed industry of the city was crammed within the forum on that momentous day; but neither Cato's candid ballot, nor the splendid labors of Tully, were sufficient to save the tyrant-killer; so that he was banished to Marseilles, and his estate confiscated.
44 B. C. Marc Antony recorded in the
senate a decree of Julius Cæsar, on behalf of the Jews, made thirty-four days before his assassination. The decree is addressed to the senate of Paros, who had forbidden the Delian Jews to worship in the manner of their forefathers.
1415. Pierre Plaont, bishop of Senlis, died. A large quarto Bible fairly written on vellum was presented by him to the House of the Sarbonne for the use of the poor, valued at £15.
1447. Henry Beaufort, brother of Henry IV of England, died. He held the highest ecclesiastical and civil offices in England, under the king; was created cardinal and pope's legate in Germany; and is characterized as proud, haughty and ambitious.
1512. Battle of Ravenna, in Italy, between the Spanish and papal troops, and the French under the brave Gaston de Foix. The French were victorious, with the loss of their general, who was killed in endeavoring to cut off the retreat of the Spaniards. He was but 24 years of age.
1544. Battle of Cerisoles, between the imperialists under the marquis del Geasto, and the French, count de Enguin, who obtained the victory. The marquis was wounded, and 10,000 of his men slain; his tents, baggage and artillery, and many prisoners taken.
1555. Thos. Wyatt beheaded; acquitting with his last breath the princess Elizabeth and the earl of Devonshire.
1585. Gregory XIII, (Hugh Buoncompagno), pope of Rome, died, aged 83. He was an able pontiff, and has rendered his name immortal by the reformation of the calendar, and the adoption of the style which bears his name. This plan, necessary and useful, was long pertinaciously rejected by the protestants, and not adopted by them generally till about two centuries after, and not yet by Russia.
1644. The parliamentary forces under the two Fairfaxes victorious at Selby; 1600 common soldiers, 2000 stand of arms and 500 horses, the result. The parliament ordered a day of thanksgiving.
1669. Clifford, Arlington, Bucks, Ashley, Lauderdale, constituted the cabinet council of Charles II. From the initials of their names, this was called the king's cabal.
1713. The celebrated peace of Utrecht concluded, and with it the twelve years' war for the throne of Spain, in which the principal powers of Europe had been engaged, at a vast expense of life and treasure.
1733. The sheriffs of London and eminent merchants in 200 carriages, went to the house of parliament with a petition against the excise bill, then pending.
1737. Philip Hecquet, a French physician, died. He is the original of the immortal Sangrado of Gil Blas. He was a man of great simplicity of diet, and a friend to bleeding and the use of warm water at proper times, whence the caricature. He published several medical works.
1758. The wooden bridge over the Thames at London was burned down.
1766. Above 100 convicts left Newgate, in London, for the American colonies. They passed along with music playing before them.
1786. The first commencement of Columbia college, New York, when, the papers of the day say, "the public with equal surprise and pleasure, received the first fruits of reviving learning, after a lamented interval of many years."
1798. Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, the last king of Poland, died. He was elected to the throne in 1764 under the influence of Russian bayonets; was an elegant and accomplished gentleman, with good intentions, but without the energy and firmness of purpose necessary to sustain a tottering throne, and bridle a licentious nobility. The three great robbers, Russia, Prussia and Austria, divided his kingdom between them, and he retired to private life at St. Petersburgh, on a pension, where he died.
1799. Battle of Ledjars, in Syria; the French under Kleber defeated the Turkish and Arabian army, consisting of 4000 cavalry and 5000 foot, and compelled them to retreat across the river Jordan.
1801. Anthony de Rivarol, a French author, died. He was a man of great acquirements, and associated with the learned men of France before the revolution.
1804. James Thomas died in Tatnal county, Georgia, aged 134.
1805. Treaty signed between Great Britain and Russia, the basis of the anti-Gallican alliance.
1808. British order in council encouraging evasions of the United States embargo law.
1812. Four British barges taken in Hampton roads by the frigate Constellation and revenue cutter Jefferson; prisoners 80.
1814. Napoleon subscribed the treaty of abdication at Paris. On the same day the white banner was advanced by lord Wellington on the ramparts of Toulouse.
1816. Act of the British parliament regulating the intercourse with St. Helena during Bonaparte's confinement there. It legalized the detention of the fallen emperor as a prisoner of war during the king's pleasure; British subjects aiding or assisting him to escape, to suffer death.
1817. William Beloe, an English divine and critic, died. He is principally known as the translator of Herodotus and Aulus Gellius, though his works are numerous and highly creditable.
1817. At Dartmoor, England, a man sold his wife in the market place. She stood as in olden times, with a rope round her neck. Her first lover was the purchaser at the price of two guineas.
1823. County of Wayne erected in western New York.
1824. Jean Baptiste Drouet, who arrested Louis XVI in his flight, and was expelled from France as a regicide, died under the assumed name of Meyer, at Macon in France.
1829. The catholic relief bill passed the house of peers, in the British parliament after much discussion.
1832. Raffaele Morghen, a celebrated Italian engraver, died at Florence, aged 72.
1833. Rowland Hill, an able and eccentric preacher, died, aged 89. He usually spent a considerable part of the summer in visiting various parts of England, preaching in churches of every denomination that would admit of his services, and occasionally to large assemblies in the open air. He preached for the last time to an immense audience, but three days before his death.
1837. Kirk Boott died at Lowell. He was a native of Boston, and received an excellent education, partly in England; went to Spain, and joined the British army as an officer under Wellington; spent two years at the military school at Woolwich, Eng.; on his return to Boston he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and subsequently was called to superintend the erection of manufacturing establishments at Lowell, where, by his enterprise, energy and extraordinary talent, his name became identified with the prosperity of that new and flourishing city.
1840. Alexander Nasmith, the father of the Scottish school of landscape painting, an eminent artist, and author of numerous productions, died at Edinburgh, aged 83.
1844. James Stewart, commonly known as Jimmey Strength, died in England, aged 116. He was born at Charleston, S. C., 1728, and at the age of 20 enlisted as a soldier—was at the battle of Quebec and Bunker's Hill. He had five wives and 27 children. Ten of his sons were killed in battle. His strength was remarkable. During the last 60 years of his life he traveled the borders as a wandering minstrel, scraping upon a wretched violin.
1854. One of the college buildings of the Indiana University was destroyed by fire; it contained a library of 2700 volumes.
1854. The emperor Nicholas issued a manifesto to all his Russian subjects, stating the object of the war with Turkey and the allied powers.
1855. Broussa, in Asia Minor, again visited by an earthquake, and the wooden buildings in the place were mostly destroyed by fire.
1856. The great bridge over the Mississippi at Rock Island completed, and locomotives passed from the Illinois to the Iowa side.
1856. Battle of Rivas; General Walker, with 400 Americans and 300 natives, attacked the Costa Ricans, numbering 3000 men, who after a long contest left the city. The latter acknowledged a loss of 200 killed and 400 wounded; Walker's loss, 80 killed and disabled, including almost all of his official staff.