JUNE 19.
325. The first council of Nice began and continued to 25th August; present 318 bishops.
1215. John, king of England, signed the famous magna charta, and the charter of the forests, in a meadow at Runnimede between Staines and Windsor. (See [29th].)
1312. Piers Gaveston, the favorite of Edward II, executed. In his elevation he was proud, overbearing and cruel, and the barons rose up against him, and accomplished his destruction.
1566. James VI of Scotland and I of England, was born in a small room in Edinburgh castle.
1579. Maestricht, in Holland, taken by the Spaniards under the duke of Parma, after a siege of four months, during which about 8000 persons perished miserably. It was given up to pillage.
1619. The first assembly of Virginia met at Jamestown. The settlements had now become so numerous that 11 corporations appeared by their representatives to exercise the noblest function of freemen, the power of legislation.
1690. Ezekiel Hopkins, a learned English prelate died, aged 57.
1707. William Sherlock, an eminent English divine, died, aged about 66; famous for his controversial works, in which he took sides against the dissenters, as also against Dr. South on the subject of the trinity.
1709. Isaac Papin, a French divine, died. His views differed a hair from those of his sect, and persecution followed him from one country to another, till he finally took refuge with the catholics.
1715. Nicholas Lemery, a French chemist, died, aged 70. He was ardently devoted to the science, and contributed much to spread a correct knowledge of it among the people by his lectures.
1720. John Matthews, aged about 18, was executed at Tyburn, for, while an apprentice, printing a political work.
1729. Robert Knell, the compositor, and John Clark, the pressman, of Mist's Journal, were pilloried, but protected by their friends from being pelted by the mob.
1741. Admiral Vernon seized the castles of Carthagena, South America. The British were afterwards compelled to retire on account of pestilence.
1754. A convention of the states at Albany proposed a union for defence against the common enemy. Delegates were present from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York.
1755. William Hay died in England; remarkable for his deformity, on which he wrote an essay. He was a member of parliament, and an author of some merit.
1757. Action between British ship Experiment, 20 guns, 142 men, and French ship Telemaque, 26 guns, 460 men, in which the latter was captured with the loss of 125 killed, 110 wounded. It had been fitted out expressly to capture the Experiment, which had 12 killed, 36 wounded.
1781. Assault on fort Ninety-six, by the Americans under Gen. Greene, who were repulsed with the loss of 185. The Americans then abandoned the siege. British loss 85.
1783. Henry Loyd, a military officer and writer, died. He was born in Wales, entered the service of Austria, and afterwards served in the armies of Prussia and Russia. On his return to England he produced several military works of great merit.
1786. Nathaniel Greene, an officer in the revolutionary army, died, aged 46. He was of quaker descent, born in Rhode Island. He distinguished himself at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Germantown and Monmouth, and finally covered himself with glory at the battle of Eutaw Springs, which closed the war in South Carolina.
1794. French general Dumourier, arrived in London on his escape from the convention, but was ordered to depart the British dominions immediately.
1794. The Corsicans accepted their new constitution, and acknowledged George III their king.
1794. Richard Henry Lee, a revolutionary patriot, died. He originated the first resistance to British oppression, and during the struggle continued to hold some important civil office, where his talents were conspicuous.
1798. Bonaparte left Malta at the head of the French expedition which was destined for Egypt, leaving behind him 4,000 men under Gen. Vaubois, to regenerate the island after the pattern of the French republic.
1799. Third day's battle of Trebia. The French under Macdonald crossed the river and attacked the Austrians and Russians. But after an obstinate and bloody conflict they were compelled to fall back with a loss of 1700 killed and 500 prisoners.
1799. Five French frigates bound from Jaffa to Toulon, with 1340 men, were captured by a British squadron.
1800. Battle of Blenheim; the French under Moreau, after a short but obstinate action, defeated the Austrians under Gen. Starray, and obliged them to abandon Ulm and retire into Franconia.
1807. Naval action off Lemnos between the Russians and Turks, in which the latter were defeated with the loss of an 80 gun ship and two other ships of the line taken, and five burnt.
1808. Action off the Nase of Norway; the British sloop Seagull sunk by a Danish brig and several gun boats. Several of the Danes went down with her.
1809. Congress renewed the non-intercourse act.
1811. Samuel Chase, a judge of the United States supreme court, died. He was a distinguished member of the congress of 1774.
1813. British landed from their shipping on lake Ontario, and destroyed the public stores at Sodus; they burnt several of the best houses and stores in the village.
1818. Patrick Brydone, a Scottish traveler, died. He published a narrative of his travels in Sicily and Malta, which has been often republished.
1820. Joseph Banks, an eminent English literary and philosophical writer, died. He made several voyages in pursuit of science, one of which was with captain Cook.
1821. Battle of Dragashan, in Turkey, between the Greeks and Turks. The Greeks were commanded by the brave Ypsilanti; but owing to the treachery of the Arnauts, who abandoned their posts, the Greeks were totally defeated, and the "sacred band" of the hetaireia, the flower of the Greek youth, were annihilated. This affair nearly proved fatal to the cause of the Greek revolution.
1829. John Cleves Symmes, an American officer, died. He is to be remembered for the enthusiasm with which he maintained the theory that the earth was hollow, with an opening at each of the poles.
1830. Battle of Strouli, between 50,000 Algerines, Turks and Arabs, and 25,000 French under Gen. Bourmont, in which the former were defeated.
1853. Richard Taylor, second chief of the Cherokee nation, died at Tahleguah, Arkansas. He commanded under Gen. Jackson in the war against the Creek Indians.