1793. LOUIS XVI beheaded at Paris, aged 38. He had reigned 17 years and 7 months, and is now represented as an amiable and benevolent man, anxious to make his subjects happy; who in turn treated him in the vilest manner, and executed him as a tyrant and a traitor. His behavior on many trying occasions vindicated him effectually of timidity, and showed that the unwillingness to shed blood by which he was particularly distinguished, arose from benevolence, and not from pusillanimity. Upon the scaffold he exhibited a firmness that became a noble spirit. 1814. JACQUES BERNARDIN HENRY DE ST. PIERRE, a French philosophical writer, died, at his estate near Paris. He is best known as the author of _Paul and Virginia_, which appeared in 1788, and passed through fifty editions in one year. It has been generally translated in Europe. 1815. MATTHIAS CLAUDIUS, a German poet, died. His prose and poetry are said to bear a peculiar stamp of humor, frankness and cordiality, and many of his songs, set to music by the first composers, have become a part of the national melodies. He filled several public offices. 1816. Day of general mourning in France, on account of the death of Louis XVI, twenty-three years after his execution. 1820. AMBROISE MARIE FRANCIS JOSEPH PALISOT DE BEAUVAIS, a French naturalist, died. He came to America in the pursuit of science, and while at Philadelphia learnt that he had been proscribed by the revolutionists as an emigrant. He supported himself as a teacher of music and languages until the arrival of the French minister, who afforded Palisot the means of prosecuting inquiries into the natural history of America. He was employed to arrange Peale's collection. On returning to France with his rich collections, he was admitted into the Institute, in the place of Adanson. 1824. CHARLES MACARTHY killed. He commanded at the Cape-Coast against the Ashantees. Whilst making preparations to repel these savages in 1821, the king sent his compliments to him, and said he hoped to have his head as an ornament to their great war drum. Subsequently Sir Charles marched against the enemy with a mixed force of Europeans and blacks; the latter ran away, and the whites being defeated and their commander captured, the ferocious menace was realized. The trophy however was afterwards recovered. 1839. Great conflagration at Constantinople, in which the grand vizier's palace, called the Sublime Porte, including the ministerial and administration offices, was destroyed. Loss estimated at 20,000,000 piasters. 1847. Major JAMES MORTON, died at High Hill, Virginia, aged 90. In the revolutionary war he acquired the cognomen of _Solid Column_, by which soubriquet he was recognized by La Fayette in 1824, at Richmond. 1854. The magnificent British vessel Tayleur on its voyage to Melbourne, wrecked on the Irish coast, and 370 persons lost. JANUARY 22.