1797
1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800
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The Battle of Rivoli January 14 to 15 on the river Adige gives General Bonaparte his first decisive victory. The Austrians have mounted a major effort to relieve the besieged fortress of Mantua, Bonaparte's 23,000 men are outnumbered by General Alvintzy's 28,000, but General Masséna separates the enemy infantry from its artillery and routs the Austrians east of Lake Garda, taking 7,000 prisoners and leaving 3,300 Austrians dead or wounded while sustaining 2,500 casualties.
Mantua falls to Bonaparte February 2 after a siege of more than 6 months, during which time the French have beaten back four Austrian attempts to relieve the fortress. Romagna, Bologna, and Ferrara are ceded to France in the Treaty of Tolentino concluded by Pope Pius VI after Bonaparte has begun an advance on Rome and intimidated the pope into ceding the territory.
The Battle of Cape St. Vincent February 14 ends in victory for a Royal Navy fleet off the southern coast of Portugal. Admiral Sir John Jervis attacks a fleet of 27 Spanish ships as they run for Cádiz, divides their line in two, and from his flagship H.M.S. Victory orders his 16 vessels to tack in succession and thereby prevent the gap from being closed. Observing that this maneuver will not be completed in time, Captain Horatio Nelson quickly turns H.M.S. Captain into the gap and takes on seven Spanish vessels that include the Santissima Trinidad, largest ship in the world. He leads a boarding party through a hail of pistol and musket fire, and by nightfall the British have captured four of the Spanish ships and crippled 10 others. Nelson hears soon afterward that he has been promoted to rear admiral and knighted (Jervis is given an earldom); Lloyd's members subscribe £2,614 for the widows and orphans left behind by those killed in the battle.
Former German soldier Hieronoymus Karl Friedrich, baron von Münchhausen, dies February 22 at age 76, having told tall stories that were the basis of exaggerated tales published by others.
General Bonaparte crosses the Alps to challenge the archduke Charles at Vienna and is nearly cut off as the natives of Venetia and the Tyrol take arms against France.
The French proclaim a Cisalpine Republic composed of Milan, Modena, Ferrara, Bologna, and Romagna July 9, and the Republic of Genoa is turned into a Ligurian republic controlled by France. The Cisalpine Republic will survive until 1802.
A coup d'état carried out by General Augereau at Paris September 4 (18 Fructidor) nullifies the spring election, which has brought the royalist party to power, and drives out the party of reaction, giving the republican party control of the Council of 500. Lazare Carnot was elected to the Directory in 1795 and is widely credited with having organized France's military victories (for which other members of the Committee of Public Safety were equally responsible), but he also played a role in carrying on the Reign of Terror. His political enemies demand his arrest, and he goes into exile at Nuremberg, where he will remain until 1799.
The Battle of Camperdown off the Dutch coast October 11 ends in victory for a Royal Navy fleet under the command of Admiral Adam Duncan, 66, who has received orders May 28 to blockade the Dutch fleet of Admiral Jan Willem De Winter, 47, in the Texel. Running low on provisions, Admiral Duncan has had to return to Yarmouth with his 74-gun flagship H.M.S. Venerable to refit. De Winter has seized the opportunity to break out into the open sea, Duncan has caught him, some of the Dutch frigates escape in the dark after giving up, but after a 5-hour encounter that has cost the Dutch 250 killed and 300 wounded, Duncan forces De Winter to strike his colors, the first Dutch admiral ever to have surrendered (when he is freed in December following a prisoner exchange, a court-martial declares that he performed nobly in defense of Dutch honor). Admiral Duncan has lost more than 191 men killed, 565 wounded; members of Lloyd's subscribe £53,000 to the Patriotic Fund for the relief of the navy's widows and orphans.
General Bonaparte defeats an Austrian army outside Milan in mid-October; the Treaty of Campo Formio signed October 17 after 5 months of negotiations obliges Austria to cede her provinces in the Lowlands (later Belgium) to France, as arranged April 18 in a peace conference at Leoben. Austria agrees to recognize the new Cisalpine republic, indemnify the duke of Modena with the Breisgau, and—under terms of secret articles—make concessions that include letting France occupy the left bank of the Rhine. Austria's Brussels-born foreign minister (Johann) Ludwig (Jozef), graf von Cobenzl, 43, played a leading role 2 years ago in the third partition of Poland and signs the treaty with Bonaparte; Austria receives the territory of Venice as far as the Adige and obtains Dalmatia, Istria, and the city of Venice, whose last doge, Ludovico Manin, is deposed after more than 1,000 years of doges. But the peace will prove short-lived.
Prussia's Friedrich Wilhelm II dies of heart disease at Berlin November 16 at age 53, leaving his country bankrupt, the monarchy discredited, and the army weakened after an 11-year reign in which Prussia has been compelled to give up her territories west of the Rhine but has gained some Polish territory. The king's grandson, 27, will reign until 1840 as Friedrich Wilhelm III but will be little better.
The XYZ affair brings France and the United States to the verge of war. France has regarded Jay's Treaty of 1794 as evidence of U.S. support for the British. President John Adams takes office March 4 and sends a conciliatory mission to Paris, and three members of the French Directory, known only as X, Y, and Z, attempt to extort money from the Americans Charles C. (Cotesworth) Pinckney, 51, of South Carolina, John Marshall, 41, of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry, 52, of Massachusetts. Pinckney and Marshall return home indignant at the underhanded actions of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (Gerry remains at Paris in hopes that he will obtain the terms that Talleyrand refused to give the other two), Congress and the public are outraged, former congressman Fisher Ames is among those who want war with France in order to cleanse the United States of "Jacobinism," Secretary of State Timothy Pickering enters into preparations for war, but President Adams resists Federalist pressure to declare war.
A U.S. treaty of peace and friendship with the Bey of Tripoli wins ratification from the Senate June 7. It was signed November 4 of last year by poet and diplomat Joel Barlow while serving as consul to Algiers, President Adams signs it June 10, and it is published in the Philadelphia Gazette June 17. President Adams sends a message to Congress June 23 saying, "The Dey of Algiers has manifested a predilection for American-built vessels, and in consequence has desired that two vessels might be constructed and equipped as cruisers."
British statesman-orator-political thinker Edmund Burke dies on his estate at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, July 9 at age 68; General Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, at his native Sevenoaks, Kent, August 3 at age 80. He served as commander in chief of the British Army from 1772 until just 2 years ago; journalist and former member of Parliament John Wilkes dies at his native London December 26 at age 72.
The U.S.S. United States is launched at Philadelphia May 10 as the United States begins building a small fleet of naval vessels to protect her merchant ships (see 1794).
The U.S.S. Constitution launched at Boston October 21 becomes the second of two capital ships of the fledgling U.S. Navy and is soon followed by the U.S.S. Chesapeake, U.S.S. Constellation, U.S.S. President, and U.S.S. Congress launched at other ports. Except for some modifications on the Chesapeake, all have been designed by naval architect Joshua Humphreys, whose speedy and powerfully armed super-frigates will prove superior to foreign ships that carry more men and cannon.
A British fleet under the command of General Sir Ralph Abercromby seizes the Spanish island of Trinidad but fails in an attack on Puerto Rico, which is considered a major center for privateers and a sanctuary for runaway slaves (see 1796). Spanish colonial authorities have stimulated agricultural production on the island, liberalized its trade relations with the mother country, and integrated its military defense system into that of the crown. Sir Ralph returns to England in poor health, arrives in Ireland in December to command the troops, but finds the militia undisciplined, antagonizes politicians at Dublin Castle, and will soon resign his commission.
Venezuelan Creoles proclaim their independence from Spain, but Spanish troops put down the insurrection (see Caracas Company, 1778; Miranda, 1806).
Persia's shahanshah Agha Mohammad Khan leads a second expedition into Georgia but is assassinated by two of his servants near Shusha at age 55 (approximate) after a 3-year reign in which he has reincorporated Georgia into Persia, conquered Khorasan, had its blind ruler Shah Rokh tortured to death, seen Teheran grow from a village into a city of some 15,000, unified Persia, and founded the Kajar dynasty that will rule until 1925. The shahansha's 26-year-old nephew will reign until 1834 as Fath Ali Shah (see war with Russia, 1804).
A Madagascar chieftain who seized the throne of a Merina kingdom 10 years ago establishes himself as ruler of larger territory (see 1674). He will conquer the African island's three remaining kingdoms by 1806, unite them within the borders of what formerly was Imerina, make the fortified city of Antanarivo his capital, and reign until 1810 as Andrianampoinimerina.
British sailors mutiny at Spithead April 15, demanding better treatment; the government meets their demands May 17, but a more serious mutiny breaks out at the Nore, a sandbank used as an anchorage in the Thames Estuary, and demoralizes the Channel fleet until it is suppressed by force June 30 (mutiny leader Richard Parker is hanged from the yardarm of his ship). The mutinies bring conditions in the Royal Navy to public notice and will lead to improved rations.
Providence, Rhode Island, merchant Moses Brown joins with others to haul his younger brother John into federal district court August 5 on charges of having violated the Slave Trade Act of 1794. John fitted out his ship Hope and used it to bring 229 African slaves into Havana last year, earning a handsome profit. The court finds John guilty and requires him to forfeit the vessel at an auction in late August, but when the Abolition Society tries to obtain John's promise that he will abandon his African trade he refuses (see 1799).
A poor wheat harvest forces Parliament to encourage imports, but grain prices shoot up as a result of the war with France, the breakdown in commerce, and the halt in specie payments by the Bank of England (see 1801).
Britain issues her first copper pennies and £1 notes.
Industrialist Samuel Slater splits with his partners William Almy and Moses Brown, who have favored covering the entire textile process through to finished goods, including knitting (see 1793). Slater has studied management techniques, favors concentration on a specific aspect of textile production, and opens a larger mill of his own across the river.
Virginia planter and trader Carter Braxton dies in poverty at Richmond October 10 at age 61, having signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, had his ships destroyed by the Royal Navy as a result, and sold his home and property to pay his debts.
Chemist Martin Klaproth at Berlin produces uranium oxide from pitchblende (an ore of iron and zinc). He has discovered and identified as separate elements what later will be called cerium (see 1803), titanium, and zirconium (see 1789), although he does not obtain any of them in pure metallic form, and he names the element after the planet Uranus discovered in 1781 (see Péligot, 1841). A follower of France's late chemical pioneer Antoine Lavoisier, Klaproth improves and systematizes analytical chemistry and mineralogy.
Théorie des Fonctions Analytiques by J.-L. Lagrange improves upon the Taylor series of 1715.
The U.S. treaty with "the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli, of Barbary" signed by President Adams June 10 states in Article II, "As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Musselmen; and as of the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries" (see Bill of Rights, 1791; Jefferson, 1802).
An Experiment in Education by Scottish-born clergyman Andrew Bell, 44, is published at London. Bell went to Virginia as a tutor after graduation from St. Andrews, made a small fortune raising tobacco, was ordained in the Church of England, voyaged to Madras, and overcame a shortage of teachers in a local orphan school by introducing a "monitorial" system under which quicker students instructed slower ones (see Lancaster, 1803).
"A Plan for the Conduct of Female Education in Boarding Schools" by physician-botanist Erasmus Darwin is a treatise advocating reforms.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica is published in an 18-volume third edition (see 1784). It is the first edition to include articles by outside contributors; when the fourth edition appears in 1809 it will run to 20 volumes (see 1889).
Nonfiction: The Enquirer (essays) by William Godwin; Essai historique, politique, et moral sur les révolutions by French writer François René, victomte de Chateaubriand, 28, who took refuge from the revolution in England 4 years ago and portrays the miseries of life in exile. He will not return to France until 1800.
Man of letters Horace Walpole, 4th earl of Orford, dies March 2 at age 79; Mary Wollstonecraft is impregnated by and then marries political writer-novelist William Godwin, now 41, and during her pregnancy, they live and work in separate lodgings. Just days after giving birth to a daughter, Mary, Wollstonecraft dies of septicemia at London September 10 at age 38.(see Fiction, 1818).
Fiction: Der blonde Eckbert by German writer (Johann) Ludwig Tieck, 24.
Poetry: Hermann und Dorothea by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is an epic pastoral poem; "The Boys" ("Pojkarne") by Anna Maria Lenngren.
Painting: Millbank, Moon Light by London-born painter J. M. W. (Joseph Mallard William) Turner, 22, who has been exhibiting his works since his teens; The Duchess of Alva by Francisco de Goya, now 51, who has been stone deaf since 1792. Joseph Wright dies at Derby, Lancashire, August 29 at age 62.
Theater: Wives as They Were, and Maids as They Are by Elizabeth Inchbald at London's Haymarket Theatre.
Actor-playwright Charles Macklin dies at London July 11 at age 97 (approximate; he has claimed to be 107), having made himself a stalwart of the English stage since his 1725 debut at Lincoln's Inn Fields and having given new dimension to the Shakespearean role of Shylock in February 1741.
Anthem: "Gott, Erhalte den Kaiser" is sung for the first time February 12 on the emperor's birthday. The "Emperor's Hymn" by Joseph Haydn with lyrics by Austrian poet Lorenz Leopold Hoschka, 48, will be Austria's national anthem.
First performances: The Emperor Quartet by Joseph Haydn.
Opera: Medea (Medée) 3/13 at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris, with music by Italian composer Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini, 36, who has lived at Paris since 1788, and libretto from the 1635 Pierre Corneille tragedy. Italian soprano Angelica Catalani makes her debut at Venice's Teatro la Fenice.
London haberdasher John Etherington leaves his shop in the Strand January 15 wearing England's first top hat and attracting a crowd of spectators whose shoving causes police to arrest Etherington for disturbing the peace and bring him to face charges in front of the lord mayor. Within a month he is overwhelmed by orders for the silk hats.
Actress Elizabeth Farren marries Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th earl of Derby, May 1, Lord Derby's first wife having died March 14. Now 37, the tall, slim Farren has used her wit and natural elegance to ingratiate herself with Queen Charlotte but will not outlive her husband.
Britain receives her first shipments of Havana cigars. Cuban cigar makers also produce "cigarettes," using paper wrappers derived from cotton to make the little cigars (see 1843).
Cuzco in Spain's Viceroyalty of Peru and Quito in the Viceroyalty of New Granada shudder in severe earthquakes that take up to 41,000 lives February 4.
The United States enters the world spice trade. Salem, Massachusetts, sea captain Jonathan Carnes returns to port with the first large cargo of Sumatra pepper (see 1805; 1818).
Scottish grocer James Keiller at Dundee starts packing orange marmalade (see 1561). A Spanish brig has left a cargo of oranges on the dock at Tayside, Keiller sees the oranges being sold cheaply and brings home a cartload in a hired dray. The oranges turn out to be too bitter to eat, and Keiller's wife, Janet (née Pierson), a former kitchen maid, suggests that they turn the fruit into jam. The Scots have been using homemade marmalades of quince and other fruits for more than a century, but Keiller's is the first commercial marmalade. He sells his first batch in a matter of hours, goes back for more of the bitter oranges, and will soon be marketing Keiller's Marmalade in white stone pots (see 1868).
British tea consumption reaches an annual rate of two pounds per capita, a figure that will increase fivefold in the next century (see 1710). Working-class Britons spend on average £2 per year on tea out of an annual income of only £40 (see 1840).
Cookbook: American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Pompion Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards, and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes, from the imperial Plumb to plain Cake adapted to this country in all grades of life. By Amelia Simmons, an American Orphan is the first cookbook to be published in America (at Hartford) by an American and the first to contain native American specialties. Simmons includes in her 47-page, vestpocket-size compendium (which goes through four editions, with new material added to each) such dishes as Indian slapjack (pancakes), johnnycake, pickled watermelon rind, "cram-berry" sauce, Jerusalem artichokes, spruce beer, Indian pudding, "pompkin" pie, a gingerbread that is much softer than the thin European variety, and six kinds of rice pudding.
John Harvey & Sons, Ltd., of Bristol has its beginnings in a sherry-importing firm founded in Denmark Street by William Perry, who will be joined in 1816 by Thomas Urich, brother-in-law of Cornish sea captain Thomas Harvey. Urich will bring Harvey's son Thomas into the firm that will be famous for its "Bristol milk" and "Bristol cream" sherries from Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia. (Sherry is fortified wine made generally from Palomino grapes, fermented with the aid of a special yeast known as a flor, or flower, aged in 132-gallon barrels, blended, and finished in a solera—a pile of barrels arranged in three tiers, with young wine going into the top tier while old wine for bottling is drawn out of the bottom tier. No more than half, and preferably no more than a third, of the wine in the bottom tier is ever drawn off at one time.)
The "Veuve Clicquot" (Widow Clicquot) begins improving French champagne. Nicole-Barbe Clicquot (née Ponsardin), 20, is the daughter of the mayor of Reims; her vintner husband, whom she married 3 years ago, has just died following the birth of their daughter, and she determines to carry on his business. She will pioneer the process of placing inverted champagne bottles into holes in a steeply sloping table top (sur pointe), gradually moving them (remuage) over a period of several weeks, and shaking them periodically until the sediment in the wine drops down to coat the cork, and then removing the cork's retaining wire for an instant to permit pressure to expel the sediment, whereupon the operator's thumb stops the flow. The lost wine is replaced, and a clean cork is quickly reinserted before the sparkle can be diminished. The Veuve Clicquot will create pink champagne simply by pressing the grapes as soon as they are picked, and her brand will become a world leader (see 1820).
English utilitarian philosopher-economist Jeremy Bentham, now 49, says in The Annals of Agriculture that population can be controlled not by a "bribatory act" or a "dead letter" but by "a sponge." His middle-class readers are aware of several ways to avoid pregnancy.
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