1787. Charles Gravier, count de Vergennes, a French statesman, died. As secretary of state for foreign affairs to Louis XVI, he assisted the Americans in their struggle for independence.
1789. Ethan Allen, an officer in the revolutionary army, died. He took Ticonderoga and Crown-Point; was himself captured near Montreal, sent to England, and after experiencing much cruelty, exchanged. He sustained the character of an infidel, and in his writings ridiculed the scriptures.
1790. The French convention abolished monastic establishments, and confiscated their lands. (See [Jan. 16].)
1794. The French convention ratified the treaty of peace with the grand duke of Tuscany.
1794. The canal of Merthyr Tydvil, in Wales, opened, another great improvement.
1798. Christian Fredrick Schwartz, an eminent German missionary to Hindostan, died. His labors were of nearly half a century's duration, and had a great influence over the affairs of the country.
1801. British frigate Success, 40 guns, captured by a French squadron.
1805. Action between the British ship St. Fiorenza and the French frigate Psyche, 36 guns, and the prize ship Thetis, which resulted in the capture of the two latter. French loss 57 killed and 70 wounded; British 12 k., 36 w.
1814. General Wilkinson burned his boats in Salmon river, and broke up cantonment at French mills; Gen. Brown went to Sacketts harbor, and Gen. Macomb to Plattsburg; the snow being 2 feet 10 inches deep.
1817. George Rogers Clarke died; an officer in the service of Virginia against the Indians in the revolutionary war, where he distinguished himself greatly, and was for some time the protector of the people of the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania against the inroads of the tribes.