Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/213

Rh scanty outline of his military services during this stirring period, when war was the principal occupation, and when it was successively shifted to every quarter of the globe. During these changes, the promotion of Sir George went onward steadily, so that he rose through the various ranks, from an ensign to a lieutenant-colonelcy in the Guards, to which he was appointed in 1799.

It is well known that at this period the military profession had few of those attractions which it subsequently possessed, when Wellington, and the heroes whom he trained to victory, directed the operations of our armies; in too many cases, our commanders groped their way in the dark, while the soldiers had little more than their characteristic bull-dog obstinacy and courage to rely upon, when they found themselves out-marched and out-manoeuvred. This Colonel Murray was doomed to experience in his next campaign, which was the expedition to Holland, an expedition attended with an immense amount of loss, suffering, and disaster, and with very little honour as a counterpoise. Of course, Murray came in for his full share of hardship and privation during the retreat, and was wounded at the Helder, but was able to proceed with his regiment to Cork. A better promise of distinction dawned for him when he was sent with his regiment from Cork to Gibraltar, to serve under the brave Sir Ralph Abercromby in the Egyptian campaign; and in this successful expedition he performed an important part, having been placed in the quarter-master-general's department, and sent forward to Egypt for the purpose of making arrangements previous to the arrival of the British army. Here Murray's active enterprising spirit found full occupation; he was present at every engagement, where he rendered most effectual service, and had his merit acknowledged by the Turkish government, which conferred upon him the order of the crescent.

After the termination of this prosperous expedition, Colonel Murray's services were transferred from Egypt to the West Indies, for which he embarked in 1802, with the rank of adjutant-general to the British forces in these colonies. His stay there, however, was brief; and on returning home, and occupying for a short period a situation at the horse-guards, he was next employed in Ireland, with the appointment of deputy quarter-master-general. From this comparatively peaceful occupation, after holding it for two years, he was called out, in 1806, to the more congenial prospect of active service, in consequence of the projected expedition to Stralsund, which, like many others of the same kind, was rendered Abortive through the unprecedented successes of the French, upon which few as yet could calculate, owing to the new mode of warfare introduced by Napoleon, and the startling rapidity of his movements. Colonel Murray's next service was of a diplomatic character, and to the court of Sweden; but its freakish sovereign, whose proceedings were perplexing alike to friend and enemy, was not to be reasoned into moderation; and therefore neither Murray, nor yet Sir John Moore, who was sent out with a military force, could avert those disasters which terminated in that monarch's deposition. From Sweden Colonel Murray, now holding the rank of quarter-master-general, went with the British troops in that country to Portugal, where they joined Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had now commenced that splendid career which scarcely encountered an interruption, and led to such important results in the history of Europe, of which ages must tell the termination.

It would be too much to detail the career of Colonel Murray while he served in Spain and Portugal under the command of Wellington. At almost every engagement he was present, while his conduct was such as to elevate him into that