1788. John Brown, an English physician, died; known as the founder of the Brunonian system of medicine, which classes all diseases under two heads, those of deficient and those of redundant excitement.
1792. George Mason, a distinguished Virginia statesman, died at his domain of Gunston hall.
1794. Antoine Joseph Gorsas, a Girondist, guillotined at Paris. He was a school master, a man of letters, and the editor of a paper, through which he became one of the first instigators of the revolution, and actively promoted some of its important events.
1794. Bois-le-duc, one of the strongest bulwarks of the famous Dutch barrier along the left bank of the Meuse, surrendered to the French revolutionary army; by which several other fortresses were hemmed in and rendered useless.
1795. John George Zimmerman, a Swiss philosopher, died at Hanover, where he was first physician to his Brittanic majesty. His work on Solitude is a popular book in our own language.
1796. Thomas Reid, professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow, died, aged 89; highly distinguished as a mathematician and metaphysician.
1807. Bonaparte called for a second conscription of 80,000 men for this year.
1810. Coimbra in Portugal, held by the French, was attacked by the British under colonel Trant and carried. Trant took 80 officers and 5,000 men prisoners, mostly sick and wounded.
1812. Battle of the Moskwa. The French army of 150,000 under Napoleon was opposed by a Russian army of about the same number, under Kutusoff. The attack began early in the morning and continued until late in the afternoon, when the Russian army retreated, no pursuit being made by the French; while the field of battle was strewed with 50,000 dead and dying. The Russians acknowledged a loss of 25,000, among whom was Bagration.
1840. William I, king of the Netherlands, published a proclamation announcing his voluntary abdication of the throne in favor of his son William II. He is said to have retired with a private fortune of nearly forty-three millions of dollars, and abdicated in consequence of his determination to marry the countess d'Oultremont, a lady of the Roman catholic faith.