MURPHY, Henry Cruse, lawyer, born in Brooklyn, New York, 5 July, 1810; died there, 1 December, 1882. He was graduated at Columbia in 1830, and while studying law began to contribute to the press. He was admitted to the bar in 1833, became assistant corporation counsel in 1834, and soon afterward city attorney and counsel to the corporation. He became in 1835 a partner of John A. Lott and soon obtained a large practice, at the same time contributing to the "Democratic" and the "North American" reviews, and taking an active part in state politics as a Democrat. I n 1841 he became a proprietor and one of the editors of the Brooklyn " Daily Eagle," and in the following year he was elected mayor of the city. In that office he effected important retrenchments in the financial administration, and introduced useful public improvements, especially the warehouse system on the water-front. Before the end of his term he was elected to congress, and, taking his seat in that body on 4 December, 1843, took part in the debates in favor of free-trade, and in opposition to changes in the naturalization laws and the annexation of Texas. In 1846 he attended the convention for revising the state constitution, and was made chairman of the committee on corporations. The same year he was again sent to congress. He was mentioned as a candidate for the presidency in 1852, was canvass of Franklin Pierce and in that of James Buchanan in 1856, and on 1 June, 1857, was appointed United States minister to the Hague, where he remained until he was recalled by the succeeding administration, leaving on 8 June, 1861. On his return he was elected to the state senate, where he served six successive terms, and was instrumental in securing the repeal of the law on ecclesiastical tenures and the establishment of isolated quarantine. During the civil war he supported the government in public speeches and contributions to the press, and exerted himself to promote enlistments. In 1867 he was a delegate from the state at large to the convention for remodelling the state constitution. Mr. Murphy was one of the founders of the new Long Island historical society and of the Brooklyn city library, and was president of the East River bridge company. He was interested during his entire life in literary and historical subjects, and especially in the period of Dutch domination in New York, which he had opportunities to study during his residence in Holland. A list of the valuable books that he collected was published under the title of "A Catalogue of an American Library, Chronologically Arranged" (1853). He translated and annotated " Voyage from Holland to America, A. D. 1632-1644," from the work of David P. De Vries (1853); also "Broad Advice to the New Netherlands," which appeared in the " Collections" of the New York historical society, and "The First Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in the United States," which he printed privately (The Hague, 1857); also "Henry Hudson in Holland: An Enquiry into the Origin and Objects of the Voyage which led to the Discovery of the Hudson River" (The Hague, 1859). His "Anthology of the New Netherlands, or Translations from the Early Dutch Poets of New York, with Memoirs of their Lives," was printed for the Bradford club (New York, 1865). A translation of the "Voyage to New York" of Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter was published by the Long Island historical society (Brooklyn, 1867). He was the author also of a monograph on "The Voyage of Verrazano" (printed privately, Albany, 1875), and of a "Memoir of Hermann Ernst Ludewig," printed in the " Memorial Biographies" of the New England historic-genealogical society.