JULY 26.
46 B. C. Julius Cæsar, arrived at Rome from Utica, celebrated the fourfold triumph in a quadriga of white horses, for the victories over the Gauls, over Ptolemy in Egypt, over Pharnaces in Pontus, and over Juba in Africa; entertained the people with naumachian and pentachlic or circensian games during 40 days; rewarded and feasted them at 22,000 tables; was declared consul the fourth time, and dictator for ten years; and to place him on the summit of human glory, his statue was erected in the capitol opposite to that of Jupiter, with the globe at his feet. He commenced in this year his reformation of the calendar, called, from the long intercalation, the year of confusion.
40. Petronius, in his account of Trimalchio, has preserved a Roman newspaper, (diurna acta) for this day. "On the 26th July 30 boys and 40 girls were born at Trimalchio's estate at Cuma. At the same time a slave was put to death for uttering disrespectful words of his master. The same day a fire broke out in Pompey's gardens, which began in the night, in the steward's apartments."
1346. The English under Edward III, captured the opulent city of Caen, in France, and pillaged the country around.
1469. Battle of Banbury (or Hedgecote), in which the royalists under Pembroke were defeated by the Yorkshire rebels. Pembroke was taken and put to death, and earl Rivers beheaded.
1470. Post office first established in Paris.
1471. Paul II (Peter Barbo), pope of Rome, died. He was a Venetian noble, and on coming to the throne gratified the cardinals with the purple habit, the red silk cap, and the mitre, which had hitherto
been worn only by the sovereign pontiff.
1546. Emperor Charles V and pope Paul III secretly leagued against the protestants.
1560. James Bonfadius, a polite writer of Italy, executed. He incurred the enmity of some powerful families at Geneva by the freedom of his remarks in his writings, who wrought his ruin.
1581. Philip excluded by edict from all sovereignty over the united provinces of the Netherlands.
1592. Armand Gonrault de Biron, marechal of France, killed. From the humble rank of a page he rose through all the gradations of the army, to the highest dignity under the sovereign. He distinguished himself in the service, and was killed by a cannon ball at the siege of Epernai.
1630. Charles Emanuel (the Great), duke of Savoy, died; an ambitious prince and brave warrior.
1653. "This day," says Dugdalo, "the fair bell called Jesus's bell, at Litchfield, was knocked in pieces by a presbyterian pewterer, who was the chief officer for demolishing the Cathedral."
1659. The island of Montreal invaded by 1200 Indians, who burned all the plantations, and made a terrible massacre of men, women and children, upon whom they committed every barbarity. "Ils ouvrirent le sein des femmes enceintes," says Charlevoix, "pour en arracher le fruit qu'elles portoient, ils mirent des enfans tout vivants à la broche, et contraignirent les mères de les tourner pour les faire rôtir." They killed 1000 and took 26, who were afterwards burnt.
1680. John Wilmot, earl of Rochester, died; a dissolute English nobleman of the reign of Charles II, and the favorite companion of the king. He was a poet, and one of the greatest wits of the day.
1687. A party of French built fort Niagara.
1691. Richard Ingolsby, captain of an independent company, was sworn into the office of president of the council of New York, or as lieutenant-governor, on the decease of Sloughter, instead of the administration coming to Dudley, as of right it should.
1738. William Thomas, an English divine, died; distinguished as a man of letters and an antiquary.
1758. Louisbourg, which had been restored to the French by treaty, was again taken by the British under admiral Boscawen and lieutenant-general Amherst, and its fortifications have since been demolished.
1759. Ticonderoga abandoned by the French, and occupied by the British under general Amherst.
1766. Wallis, the navigator, sailed on his great voyage.
1772. John Græme died; a Scottish poet and miscellaneous writer of considerable merit.
1775. Maryland convention met at Annapolis, and resolved to support the measures of Congress. They also ordered $266,666 in bills of credit to be struck, and that 40 companies of minute men should be raised.
1775. Congress first established a post office: the route extended from Falmouth, New England, to Savannah, Georgia, and Franklin was appointed post master.
1788. The printing office of Thomas Greenleaf, in New York, was much damaged and his types taken away by a mob. When the two great political parties were forming, subsequent to the organization of the government, that which opposed the administration attacked the measures of Washington with a great degree of virulence in Greenleaf's paper. He was opposed to the federal constitution.
1788. New York adopted the constitution of the United States, recommending amendments. Ten states had already given their assent to it, nine being required before it could be adopted by congress.
1789. Lafayette added to his cockade the white of the royal arms, declaring at the same time that the tri-color should go round the world.
1793. Stanislaus Clermont Tonnere, a French nobleman, massacred at Paris for his opposition to the Jacobin club.
1798. A remarkable mirage was seen at Hastings, England. The French coast distant 50 miles was at 5 P. M. brought close to the feet of the observers.
1803. An iron railway from Wandsworth to Croydon, in England, was opened to the public for the conveyance of goods.
1803. British ship Thunderer, captain Bedford, captured the French privateer Venus, of Bordeaux, pierced for 28 guns, but mounting only 16.
1806. British frigate Greyhound and sloop Harrier captured off Macassar the Dutch frigate Pallas, 36 guns, and two large East Indiamen, laden with spices.
1812. Battle of Kobrine; the Saxons under general Klingel, defeated by the Russians, and himself, together with 70 officers, 2500 men, &c., captured; Russian loss 1000.
1814. The Americans under general Ripley and P. B. Porter burnt Bridgewater mills and bridge, and the British barracks there.
1830. Charles X, of France, issued three ordinances, dissolving the newly
elected chamber of deputies, suppressing the liberty of the press, and altering the law of election. This gave rise to a revolution which terminated in his dethronement, and the elevation of Louis Philippe.
1838. The Bolivian troops under Moran having left Lima on the previous day, Nieto and Orbegozo entered the city with about 2000 men and declared the constitution of 1835, Orbegozo being named provisional dictator.
1847. Job Durfee, a jurist of Rhode Island, and author of What cheer; or Roger Williams in exile, &c., died at Tiverton.
1848. Francis R. Shunk, governor of Pennsylvania, died, aged 60.
1848. After several days of hard fighting, the Piedmontese under Charles Albert were totally defeated by the Austrians under Radetsky, and retreated to Milan.
1852. The Irishmen in New York made an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Thomas Kaine, in the custody of the United States marshal, and claimed by the British government, under the treaty, as a fugitive from justice.
1855. The pope declared the laws which had been enacted in Piedmont, to the detriment of religion and the power and liberty of the church, to be void and of no effect; and that all who supported them incurred the greater excommunication; also that the recent laws in Spain concerning the church property to be null and void.
1856. The boiler of the steam boat Empire State, exploded on the passage from Fall river to New York, killing and wounding several passengers.