1822. Iturbide dissolved the Mexican congress in the same manner as Cromwell dissolved the long parliament, and the same day formed a new legislative assembly, composed of persons favorable to his plans. This step was fatal to his reign.
1825. Charles Robert Maturin, an Irish divine, dramatist, and poet, died. His genius was great, but not always under the control of a pure taste.
1840. Earthquake at Zante, which demolished 240 houses in the town, and injured nearly all the rest. The villages and country houses of the island were destroyed, or greatly injured.
OCTOBER 31.
1448. John Palæologus, emperor of Constantinople, died. He reigned 29 years, and resisted the invasion of the Turkish foe, who pressed upon his borders.
1517. Commencement of the reformation by Martin Luther, who on this day published his 95 theses against the papal indulgences, &c.
1579. John Stadius, a German historian and mathematician, died at Paris. He tarnished his scientific knowledge with astrological calculations.
1659. John Bradshaw died; celebrated as president of the tribunal which tried and condemned the king, Charles I. He was afterwards deprived of his office by Cromwell, to whose usurpations he was opposed; at the restoration his bones were dug up and hanged at Tyburn.
1665. An act called the "five mile act," passed by the English parliament, prohibiting nonconforming ministers from going within 5 miles of a town sending a member to parliament. This was to prevent them entering the pulpits of episcopalians vacated on account of the plague.
1678. From the evidence of Oates and others, the commons of England passed a resolution that there existed a hellish plot of the papists to assassinate king Charles.