AUGUST 30.
30 B. C. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, destroyed herself by the bite of an asp, to save herself from the disgrace of captivity.
526. Theodoric, first king of the Goths in Italy, died. He advanced commerce and the arts, and patronized literature, but committed great acts of cruelty.
1181. Alexander III, pope, died. He was an able pontiff, beloved by his subjects and respected by the world.
1483. Louis XI, of France, died. His ambition led him to the commission of the greatest crimes, by which he acquired the title of the Tiberius of France.
1563. Wolfgang Musculus, a celebrated German divine, died. He adopted the tenets of Luther, and by his eloquence gained over the city of Augsburg.
1566. Solyman II (the Magnificent), sultan of Turkey, died. He prosecuted war with various success in Europe and Asia, and took the island of Rhodes from the knights of Jerusalem.
1645. Treaty of peace between the New England colonies and the Narragansett Indians; by which the latter were to pay the expense of the preparations already made for war, estimated at 2,000 fathoms of wampum; restore to Uncus the prisoners and canoes taken from him; keep perpetual peace with the English and all their allies; and give hostages for the performance of the treaty. Formidable preparations were made for this contest with the heathen savages. They drew up a manifesto, containing such facts as they considered sufficient to justify them in making war against the Narragansetts. It was entitled, "a declaration of former passages and proceedings betwixt the English and the Narrohiggansetts, with their confederates, wherein the grounds and justice of the ensuing warr are opened and cleared." In this document it is affirmed that the English colonies, "both in their treaties and converse with the barbarous natives of this wilderness, have had an awful respect to divine rules." It was determined immediately to raise 300 men; Massachusetts to raise 190, Plymouth 40, Connecticut 40, New Haven 30.
1645. A formal treaty of peace between the Dutch in New Amsterdam, under William Kieft, and the Indians in the vicinity.
1645. Parliament ordered a fast for a
blessing on Scotland and sir Thomas Fairfax's army, and a cessation of the plague.
1690. King William forced to raise the siege of Limerick after sustaining great loss.
1717. William Lloyd, an English prelate, died, aged 91. He was a zealous promoter of the revolution, and a voluminous author.
1757. Battle of Norkettin; the Prussians forced the Russian camp and batteries, and killed 2,000 men with an equal loss on their own part.
1785. By the plague which raged at Tripoli, 30,000 persons had died up to this date, of which 3,300 were Jews. The brother of the bey, his two sons, and all the ministers of the bey were dead. All the Christians established in the city as merchants had died.
1794. The Austrian garrison of Conde laid down their arms as prisoners of war at the first summons of the French republican general Scherer. The garrison was strongly entrenched, and might have defied the enemy as long as their provisions lasted.
1795. Andrew Danican (Philidor) died; noted for his musical performances and compositions, by which he acquired the sobriquet from the king, of Philidor, after an Italian musician of that name, and by which he is generally known as a celebrated chess player. His fondness for the game grew into a passion, in order to indulge which he traveled over a great part of Europe, engaging everywhere with the best players. He remained some time in England, during which he printed his Analysis of Chess, a standard work. On his return to France he devoted his attention to the comic opera, of which he produced 21 pieces. A short time previous to his decease he played two games blindfolded at the same time against two excellent chess players, and won.
1797. In England, the Leeds methodist conference resolved to eject from their communion, a brother, who should propagate opinions in opposition to the established church.
1801. Cairo surrendered to the British, and Egypt evacuated by the French under Menou. He was the first French general who landed with Bonaparte, and the last who left it.
1804. Thomas Percival, well known for his writings on moral and medical subjects, died at Manchester, England.
1804. John Blair Linn, an American poet, died, aged 27. He published 2 vols. of miscellaneous pieces.
1810. John Philip de Cobentzl, an Austrian statesman, died. He was the last of that illustrious family.
1813. Battle of Nollendorf, in Bohemia, when Von Kleist made a daring descent from the mountains, upon the rear of Vandamme, and gaining a decisive victory saved Bohemia, against which Bonaparte had directed his masterly demonstrations.
1814. Alexandria, in Virginia, capitulated to the British, and delivered up the public stores, shipping, &c.
1814. The British under sir Peter Parker, having attacked the Americans at Moorsfield, were repulsed with considerable loss. Among the killed was sir Peter himself.
1832. Number of deaths in Paris from cholera since March, 18,000.
1834. Harding, an eminent astronomer, died at Gottingen; celebrated as the discoverer of the planet Juno.
1835. William T. Barry, postmaster-general under president Jackson, died at Liverpool on his way to Spain, as minister plenipotentiary of the United States.
1838. David Hume died, aged 82; baron of the exchequer in Scotland, and author of a celebrated work on criminal law.
1844. Francis Bailey, so favorably known as a stock broker and author, died in England. He was instrumental in founding the astronomical society of London.
1848. The United States district attorney of Arkansas had orders from government to discover and prosecute all those who were engaged in preparing a military expedition against Mexico, and establishing the republic of the Sierra Madre.
1849. The chamber of deputies at Turin voted 100,000 livres to relieve the refugees from different parts of Italy.
1850. John Inman, a New York editor, died, aged 46. He was educated for the law, but commenced his editorial experience about 1830, with the Spirit of the Times. He was also for a time connected with the New York Mirror, and in 1834 became assistant editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser, which he edited ably on the death of William L. Stone.
1852. John Camden Neild, an English barrister, died at London, aged 72. He was privately known by his eccentricities and miserliness, and after his death became more publicly known by the strange bequest of all his property, estimated at $2,500,000, to the queen.
1852. George Frederick Von Langsdorff, a noted botanist and traveler, died at Freidburg, in the duchy of Baden.
1853. The cholera, which prevailed very generally in the north of Europe, became nearly extinct at Copenhagen, where it destroyed 4,006 lives. In St. Petersburg the deaths during this visitation were 5,609.
1854. The British admiral Price engaged
in bombarding the Russian town Petropaulowski, was killed by a shot from his own pistol.
1855. Feargus Edward O'Connor, leader of the chartists in Great Britain, died at Notting hill, England, aged 59, in the custody of an institution for the insane.