1753. SIR HANS SLOANE, the eminent English naturalist, died, aged 93. He was born at Killileagh in Ireland; studied medicine in London, and settled there in the practice of his profession. He was the second learned man whom science tempted to America. His museum, composed of the rarest productions of nature, he bequeathed to the public, on condition of the payment of £20,000 annually to his family, and was the foundation of the British Museum. 1775. The first provincial congress of South Carolina met at Charleston. 1778. CHARLES LINNE (or Linnæus), the Swedish botanist, died, aged 71. In his twenty-fourth year he conceived the idea of a new arrangement of plants, or a sexual system of botany. In 1732 the Academy of Sciences at Upsal appropriated 50 Swedish dollars to send him on a tour through Lapland, and with this small sum he made a journey of more than 3500 miles, unaccompanied, traversing the Lapland desert, and enduring many hardships. A series of offices and honors were conferred upon him, till in 1753 he was created a _Knight of the Polar Star_, an honor never before conferred on a literary man; and in 1761 he was elevated to the rank of nobility. 1778. A collection amounting to £3815 was made for the 924 American prisoners in England. Dr. Franklin, at Paris, applied to the British ambassador for an exchange of prisoners, but his lordship was pleased to return only the following answer: "no application received from rebels unless they come to implore his majesty's pardon." 1782. Ostenburg, near Trincomalee, in the island of Ceylon, taken from the Dutch by the British Admiral Hughes. 1795. The French, under Pichegru, crossed the Waal on the ice at different points. 1800. WILLIAM NEWCOME, archbishop of Armagh, died, aged 79. He rose gradually in the church to the primacy of Ireland; was a worthy man, and author of a great number of theological works. 1801. CIMAROSA, the celebrated Italian musician, died. 1803. The Hindostan, East Indiaman, lost on the Culvers, off Margate, in a dreadful storm. 1805. Letters of marque and reprisal issued by Great Britain against Spain. 1807. Breig in Silesia surrendered to the French and Bavarians; 3 generals, 1400 Prussians, and considerable magazines were captured. 1810. In the night the mercury in three thermometers froze at Moscow and withdrew into the ball. At Iraish it was observed at -44½° of Fahrenheit immediately before it froze. 1811. MARIE JOSEPH DE CHENIER, a French poet, died. By flattering the passions of the people he soon gained great popularity, and during the revolution was one of the most violent democrats. 1815. Cumberland island, Georgia, taken possession of by Capt. Barrie of the British ship Dragon. Same day British sloop of war, Barbadoes, Capt. Fleming captured privateer schooner Fox, of 7 guns and 72 men from Wilmington.