The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-07 00:00:00

VENING, MARCH- - 1 8 5-4.

DEATH of the MARQUIS of LONDONDERRY.

Inexorable death has removed another of the few remain-
ing men whose lives illustrate the most brilliant epoch of our
history. On Thursday last the Marquis of Londonderry, who
had only recently recovered from the effects of an accident,
serious at his age, was walking down Piccadilly, apparently
in his usual health. Yesterday, his earthly career had
closed.

Few public men have occupied a more honourable posi-
tion than that which, notwithstanding the occasional sneer
of an opponent, has, by common assent, been assigned to
Charles Stevtart, third Marquis of Londonderry. At a very
early age he entered that branch of the service of his country
in which he was destined to acquire eminent distinction, and
during the hottest period of our struggle with the prodigious
power of Napoleon, he shone as oue of the most brilliant and
daring officers of the British army. It would be superfluous
to recount the almost innumerable instances of gallantry exhi-
bited by Sir Charles Stewart during the Peninsular campaigns.
His history is, iu fact, a portion of the military history of
our country ; and when the lapse of time shall have awarded
to each his due meed of praise, no name, we venture to
say, will he more honoured by those who can appreciate
unostentatious bravery when combined with the humanity
and generosity which complete the character of a good
and gallant soldier. By his military contemporaries the
marquis has always been regarded as the beau ideal of a
dashing cavalry officer, and his title to that distinction has
been proved on many a hard-fought field. During the most
active period of his career his talents as a military diploma-
tist were frequently made available at the most critical
junctures by the great Captain, for whom, all through his
life, and in every vicissitude of party and personal relations,
he continued to cherish and to express an affectionate re-
verence. At a subsequent period Lord Londonderry repre-
sented his Sovereign as Minister Plenipotentiary at the Courts
of Berlin and Vienna, where he acquitted himself of the high
charge entrusted to him with so much tact and ability as to
render important services to Great Britain, at the same time that
he secured the personal friendship and esteem of the highest
personages at the Courts to which he was accredited.

In 1814, Sir Charles Stewart (who had married, 10 years
previously, Lady Catherine Bligh, daughter of the third Earl
of Darnley) was, in recognitlon'of hfir distinguished services,
called to the peerage of the United -Kingdom, by the title of
Baron Stewart. His lordship's first wife having died in 1812,
he married, secondly, in 1819, Lady Francess Anne, only
daughter of Sir Harry Vane Tempest, by Anne, Countess of
Antrim. The immense possessions to which this lady was
heiress, together with the fact of her being a ward in Chan-
cery, attracted, at the time, a great degree of public interest.
The responsibilities devolved upon Lord Londonderry by the
management of the property of his bride, embracing a consider-
able portion of the county pf-Durham, and including some of
the most important coat mines in the country, opened a new
field for the exercise of energies which the cessation of war
had thrown into temporary inaction. His lordship applied
himself with a vigorous activity, which formed one of his
characteristics, to the development of the vast resources of
the estates ; and in this sphere of exertion exhibited an en-
torprise and sound judgment, the fruits of which will be per-
manently enjoyed by his successors. Among the great works of
improvement which Lord Londonderry planned and carried out
to completion was the construction of Seaham Harbour, an un-
dertaking almost unprecedented as an instance of private
enterprise, and justly accounted amongst the wonders of engi-
neering achievements. The successful completion of this
harbour elicited from the late Sir Robert Peel, on the occasion
of its opening in 1847, a graceful tribute to the wise and un-
selfish courage of the mind which had conceived it. Sir Robert
said :

" In the.district where he addressed them, they knew more
than he could tell them of the noble marquis's public and pri-
vate virtues, but he must be allowed to remark that not even
the calamity which had befallen him five years since, when
his neighbouring mansion was razed to the ground by fire, had
deterred him from the prosecution of that great work, the
successful completion of which they had now the pleasure
of witnessing. The poet had described undertakings of this
character as