The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-06 00:00:00

THE LATE 111. R. GBO1?GE RENNIE.

Mr. George Rennie, late Governor of the Falk-
land Islands, whose death occurred at his residence,
32, York-terrace, Regent's-park, on the 22d ult.,
was the son of George Rennie, Esq., of Fantassie,
East Lothian, North Britain, the eminent agricul-
turist and nephew of John Rennie, the celebrated
engineer, and well sustained, during his brief
career, the hard-earned reputation attached to that
name.

In early life, devoting himself to sculpture, he
produced in Rome some remarkable works, one of
which, the Grecian Archer, he presented to the
Athen mum Club, where it is now to be seen. Dis-
satisfied with the state of the arts in this country,
he boldly denounced it on his return, and suggested
to Mr. William Ewart, M.P., in the year 1836, the
parliamentary committee which, besides inquiring
into the state of the National Gallery, Royal Aca-
demy, and other institutions connected with the
arts, caused the immediate formation of those schools
of design which have since given so great an im-
pulse to the arts and manufactures of this country.
Together with the late Joseph Hume, M.P., be
proposed and obtained the freest access to the public
monuments of the arts in St. Paul's, the National
Gallery, British Museum, and other depositories of
time art. When a member of the House of Common!,
he first suggested, for the security of the public,
that the Serpentine as well as the St. James's water
should be reduced to a uniform depth and other-
wise improved. If not the first inventor, he was
certainly the first to suggest to Sir W. Symonds,
the then Surveyor of the Navy, the now widely re-
cognised advantages of water-tight compartments
in building ships.
Mr. Rennie was a strong liberal in politics, and
was in the year 1841 returned for Ipswich in con-
junction with Mr. Rigby Wason. At the next
general election he was again in the field for
Ipswich, with every prospect of success, when !In
was induced to retire in favour of Mr. Hugh Adair,
the local candidate.

Shortly after this he was offered the government
of the Falkland Islands, which, small as was the
appointment compared with his merits, he accepted'
thinkinc, that it would give some scope for thole
varied resources he felt that he so eminently POP
sessed.

During his government he raised the small
colony from the most abject condition to one of as
great prosperity as its very limited resources would
admit of ; so much so, that whereas before his arri-
val the inhabitants had been entirely dependent on
miserable rations supplied from England, they, 11
his vigormis exertions and skilful arrangement*
were soon not only enabled to dispense with these
and live in ease and plenty, but could supply shiPs
of war and merchant vessels with provisions and
coals at a cheaper rate than they could procure them
at Valparaiso.
But the great masterpiece of his government WO
the skill, courage, and determination with which he
utterly frustrated the unjustifiable pretensions of
the Americans with respect to the fisheries in the
Falkland Islands, as well as the depredations they
were in the habit of committing on the cattle, 1t0.,"
belonging to the Falkland Islands Company. Wig'
no force to back him but a little sloop-of-war,
mounting six guns, and a little battery with tee
guns, constructed by himself, and served by a few
enrolled pensioners, he concluded a most difficult
negotiation with the captain of a heavy Awe"
rican corvette, whose guns were pointed uponthe town, ready to open fire at any moment. In
e
front of those guns, and in spite of the mgt
violent threats of the American captain, two Ault'
rican whalers were taken into the harbour, their
skippers brought into court, fined, and made to
pay for the depredations they had committed 00,
the coast ; while the captain of the corvette looked
on with suppressed indignation, unable to find
loophole for taking any measures to prevent the
course of justice.
In all these transactions Mr. Rennie dessrvedifF
of course, received the highest approbation of the,
home government. He returned to England about
four years ago, and for the last three years fell int°,
a bad state of health, which ended in an attack e`
paralysis, from which he never rallied. The coup'
try has lost in him a truly efficient and faithful
public servant.