The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-30 00:00:00

office of Commander of the Forces. At the general election
in 1826 he was again returned for his native county. It was
at this advanced period of his life that he ceased to be a
bachelor. In the 54th year of his age he espoused the Lady
Louisa Erskine, sitter of the Marquis of Anglesey, and widow
of Sir James Erskine, who died. in the year 1825.
Lady Louisa had then attained the mature age of forty-
eight. Sir George became a widower on the 23d of
January, 1812, having had issue one daughter. In
1828 he gave up the command of the army in Ire-
land to take the &dice of Secretary of State for the Colonies
—an office far beyond the Parliamentary reputation which,
up to that time at least, he had acquired; but thenceforward
he rose rapidly in the estimation of the House of Commons ;
and it is no exaggeration to assert that very few military
men ever approached to the excellence which he attained as
a public speaker. He possessed the power of logical arrange-
ment in a remarkable degree, and though his speeches did
not "smell of the lamp," they always had a beginning,
middle, and conclusion; besides that they possessed a co-
herence and congruity .rarely found in Parliamentary
speeches, a force and appropriateness of diction not often sur-
passed, an elegance and copiousness which & soldier could
not be expected to attain, and an agreeable style of delivery
which many more professed speakers might imitate with
advantage. 'While Sir George Murray was at the Colonial.
office our possessions abroad were not seriously embarrasseJ
by any of those difficulties which usually afflict the Minister
who happens to preside at the Colonial department; but the
Government of that day had delicate duties to perform, and
were surrounded with various and formidable difficulties. In
uniting with his colleagues to meet and overcome these
difficulties, Sir George Murray bore his part most
efficiently. In supporting the Roman Catholic Relict Bill,
and in opposing the measures of the liberal Government in
1830 and 1831, "he was singularly successful, though he did
not go the length of echoing the dictum of the Duke of Wel-
lington, when that eminent personage said that no reform
whatever was required in the House of Commons. But, it
was not alone in Parliament, or In the "registration courts,"
that Sir George Murray fought what he conceived to be the
"battle of the eonstittsts4o4-11e fought it as
_vigorously

elected for his native county at the general election of 1839,
and again in the following year. In 1832 the Reform Bill
became law, Parliament was dissolved, Lord Ormelie, now
Marquis of Breadalbane, stood for Perthshire upon liberal
principles and proved successful. On the accession of Lord
Ormelie to the peerage in 1834, a vacancy again occurred in
the representation of Perthshire, and a contest ensued, in
which Mr. Graham, the Whig candidate, was defeated, and
Sir G. Murray again sat for that county. In Sir R. Peel's
Administration of 1834-5, he filed the office of Vaster-
General of the Ordnance; but was thrown out of the repre-
sentation of Perthshire by ilr. Fox Maule, who defeated
him by a majority of 82. At the general election which oc-
curred in 1837, on the accession of her present Majesty to
the throne, Sir George Murray stood for Westminster, a
City with which he certainly had very little local connexion ;
but Westminster happens to be just one of those places in
which local influence has not much weight, and its repre-
sentatives have usually been either distinguished political
chiefs, or else cfficers of considerable reputation, connected
with the military or naval service of the State. Fox, She-
ridan, Burdett, Hobhouse, Cochrane, Evans, Rous, Maxwell,
Rodney, and Hood, have been amongst the number of its re-
presentatives. No one was, therefore, surprised that Sir
George Murray offered himself to a constituency where
military fame and high rank are usually acceptable. On
that occasion be polled 2,620 votes, but Mr. Leader and Sir
De Lacy Evans united their strength, and defeated him.
At this period of his life he might easily have got in for a
small borough, but it was thought by the political party to
which he belonged that the representation of Westminster
ought not to be entrusted to unskilful hands ; and during
the bustle of a general election he missed the opportu-
nity of getting in for any other place. In less than
two years from that time, however, a vacancy
occurred in the representation of Manchester. Mr.
Poulett Thomson had been Member for that borough
during three successive Parliaments, but in the year 1839 he
was appointed Governor-General of Canada, and raised to
the peerage. An election contest of course ensued, in which
Sir George Murray and Mr. Gregg were the candidates, but
the decision was in favour of Mr. Gregg by a majority of 265.
When the Whigs resigned in 1841, Sir George Murray again
received the appointment of.Master-General of the Ordnance,
and again became a candidate for the representation of Man-
chester. When the leaders of the Conservative party sent
him to solicit the suffrages of that borough, they could net
fail to have felt that they were requiring him to undertakea
forlorn hope. He had few of what are called popular quali-
ties, and instead of wishing for a partisan of Sir Robert Peel,
the people of Manchester desired to possess a representative
who should prove a thorn in the side of the Tory leader.
Although he failed to get into Parliament, he still re-
mained a Minister of the Crown. But at length his
powerful constitution yielded to the attacks of disease;
for more than a year he had not been able to
quit his residence in Beigrave-square, although he
attended as much as possible to the duties of
his office. About six months ago he felt himself so evi-
dently sinking that he thought it right to place the situa-
tion which he held at the disposal of the Prime Minister;
but Sir Robert Peel's tenure of office was at that time so un-
stable that he considered the appointment of a successor to
Sir George wholly superfluous. The last occasion upon
which Sir George Murray came prominently before the
public was in a literary capacity, namely, as editor of five
volumes of "Marlborough's Dispatches,"—a work which
tended much to raise our estimate of that celebrated
commander's character without materially adding to the re-
putation .of Sir George Murray. It is not, however, as a
literary man that the name of Sir George Murray will de-
scend to posterity. As a succesful soldier, an able Minister,
a skilful and fluent debater, he will long be remembered.
The spirit of party, which might once have sought to obscure
the brightness of his fame, has long since ceased to influence
men's minds, and even the errors of his life will be forgotten
amidst the general lustre which surrounds his memory.—
Times.

THE COBDEN FREE TRADE

DOCKS.

The supporters of the free-trade cause are determined
not only to b'stow upon their champion, Richard
Cobden, the personal munificent tribute now being sub-
scribed for throughout the country, as a public token of
approbation for his laborious exertions in behalf of free-
trade, but :vs° to hand down to posterity some national
record of utility connected with the cause itself, that
will perpetuate this great commercial advantage, and
open a legitimate channel for the investment of capital.
An Act of Parliament has recently passed for the for-
mation of docks at the mouth of the Thames, adjacent to
Ctirwey Island, and about thirty-six miles from London,
to consist of 200 acres; and it is the intention of the pro-
moters of the Cob len Free-trade:Docks—composed prin-
cipally of ship-owners, merchants, bankers, coal-owners,
and other eminent capitalists of London, Liverpool,
Manchester, Birmingham, and the northern districts—to
make such arrangements as will empower them under
that Act of Parliament to construct docks forthwith,
to be called " The Cobden Free-trade Docks,"
that will afford accommodation to vessels of all
nations, with separate docks for the British and foreign
steam-boats, and the collier ships from the north. These
docks will be accessible at all times of tide, from the
great depth of water at that spot. There will be also an
extensive steam boat pier and landing wharf, for the
accommodation of passengers embarking for the con-
tinent and the watering places on the Kentish coast ;
which, by this route, will effect a great saving in time,
distance, and expense. A short branch railway will be
made from the docks to join the Eastern Counties line
at Romford, and unite with the Blackwall Extension
line at Stratford, thereby affording a two-fold terminus
in the very heart of London (the Blackwall terminus
being contiguous to the corn, coal, and fish markets), so
that in one hour, passengers will be on the sea journey
for the continent; and the steam-boats to Margate,
Ramsgate, Herne-bay, Sheerness, and Southend, will be
able to make a double voyage by day-light. This
route will also be the nearest for the landing of
the Indian mail by forty-six miles in distance, and
a saving of two hours in time, via Ostend.
The great increase of the shipping trade requires that
additional dock room should be immediately afforded,
and the further inct ease of vessels laden with free-trade
produce will tend more and more to add to the present
requirement; and at this very juncta, when every free
trader is rejoicing at the victory gained, and the pro-
spect before him of the benefits to be derived from that
event, what can be so consistent a national memento to
record the victory, or so legitimate a national invest-
ment of capital, as the Cobden Free-trade Docks?—the
commencement of which is proposed to take place next
month.