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

THE LATE MR. GEORGE 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 tothat
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
Athenmum 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 inl"
pulse to the arts and manufactures of this country.
Together with the late Joseph Hume, M.P. he
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 cf
fine art. When a member of the House of Commons,
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 vise
certainly the first to suggest to Sir W. Symonds,
the then Surveyor of the Navy, the now widely re-
cognised advantages of water-tight compartment°
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 nett
general election he was again in the field for
Ipswich, with every prospect of success, when he
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,
thinking that it would give some scope for those
varied resources he felt that he so eminently pos-
sessed.

During his goltrnment h• 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, by
his vigorous exertions and skilful arrangements►
were soon not only enabled to dispense with then
and live in ease and plenty, but could supply siliP!
of war and merchant vessels with provisions anu
coals at a cheaper rate than they could procure them
at Valparaiso.

But the great masterpiece of his government Was
the skill, courage, and determination with which he
utterly frustrated the unjustifiable pretensions o',
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, le!;.'
belonging to the Falkland Islands Company. Wit"
no force to back him but a little sloop-of-wert
mounting six guns, and a little battery with o'o
guns, constructed by himself, and served by a fed„
enrolled pensioners, he concluded a most difficult
negotiation with the captain of a heavy Ards'
rican corvette, whose guns were pointed up?n
the town, ready to open fire at any moment. In
front of those guns, and in spite of the 110'
violent threats of the American captain, two AO',
rican whalers were taken into the harbour, the':
skippers brought into court, fined, and made t°
pay for the depredations they had committed
the coast ; while the captain of the corvette looked
on with suppressed indignation, unable to find s
loophole for taking any measures to prevent the
course of j ustice.
In all these transactions Mr. Rennie deservedifi
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 intD
a bad state of health, whioli ended in an attack of
paralysis, from which he never rallied. The coil!,
try has lost in him a truly efficient and faithP
public servant.