The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-13 00:00:00

CHARLES DICKENS'S FUNERAL.

The funeral of Mr. Dickens, in compliance with his
most precise instructions, is to be of the simplest and most
private character. The mourners will be confined entirely
to the members of his own family and one or two intimate
friends. Even the well-meant assembling of his many
other friends at the place of burial will be prevented, for
neither the time nor place of interment will be known
beforehand, except to the members of his own family.
It is said that by a codicil in his will, dated seven days
before his death, Mr. Dickens bequeaths the whole of his
interest in All the Year Round to his acting editor and
eldest son, coupling the bequest with such private in-
structions as would, he believed, ensure the character and
merit of the periodical remaining unchanged after he was
gone.
The Temps of Paris, says that a telegraphic
despatch has informed them of the death of the most
powerful and popular of English novelists, Charles
Dickens. There never was a more prolific writer, nor one
of more sustained power. Mr. Dickens willbe regretted
throughout the world where his works have been trans-
lated into many different languages. He died in the full
vigour of his intellect.

THE WEEKLY PRESS ON CHARLES
DICKENS.

The Saturday Review observes no writer can undertake the
melancholy task of noticing the loss we have sustained
without feeling how large a blank is made by the sudden
death of an author whose compositions have furnished
one of the chief sources of intellectual wealth to this
generation. The language of Mr. Dickens has become
part of the language of every class and rank of his coun-
trymen. The characters of Mr. Dickens are a portion of
our contemporaries. It seems scarcely possible to believe
that there never were any such persons as Mr. Pickwick
and Mrs. Nickleby and Mrs. Gamp. They are to us not
only types of English life, but types actually existing.
They at once revealed the existence of such people, and
made them thoroughly comprehensible. They were not
studies of persons, but persons. The characters of Mr.
Dickens exist almost entirely in what they say, and this
is the highest and rarest form of the art of the novelist.
It is this peculiarity which perhaps has made the writings
of Mr. Dickens so popular with persons of all classes, and
all types and degrees of education. The sayings of the
characters in them are recollected, but these sayings are
themselves the constituent elements of the characters, and
thus the characters of themselves become to the public a
part of the public itself.
The Spectator says that the greatest humourist whom
England ever produced—Shakspeare himself certainly not
excepted—is gone ; and though we have no intention here
of making one of those hasty estimates of his great
achievements which journalists too often compose in haste
to repent at leisure, it seems the fittest of all moments to
call attention to one of the least calculable of all effects
of a great humourist's career, the wonderful influence his
writings have exerted in softening the strong lines of
demarcation between the different classes of English
society, and the extraordinary stimulus they have thereby
given to the various great efforts of the day for
ameliorating wretchedness and reclaiming crime. He has
taught us by his humour, as nothing else could have taught
us, how full to overflowing what is called " vulgar " life
is of all the human qualities, good and evil, which make
up the interest of human existence. And he has given a
greater impulse than any man of his generation to that
righteous hatred of caste-feeling and class-cruelty which
more and more distinguishes modern society, though he
did not quite rise perhaps to that " enthusiasm of
humanity" which some regard as the essence of Christi-
anity itself.
The John Bull thinks it is impossible to regard
the death of Charles Dickens in any other light
than that of a national loss. Very often he
took a different view from ourselves on questions
of the first moment, whether ecclesiastical or political,
but it is impossible not to feel that many men, with more
professions of religion, have done infinitely less to exalt
the tone of morality in their generation than the
humorous author of " The Pickwick Papers." His deep
love of honesty, his hatred of hypocrisy, and his bold
denunciation of the shams will ever command the respect of
Englishmen ; while this deep love of domestic life, his tender
pathos in describing scenes of sorrow, will shew that the keen
satirist had a tender heart, and that, if he could wing
from his bow an arrow venomed with just indignation, lie
could also write with the spirit of one who had a " love
passing the love of woman." So proudly, and yet gently,
we lay Charles Dickens to his rest. He has won the
national heart, and, like Horace of old, we welcome even
the friendly scourge of his satire.
Tangit et admissus circum prmcordia ludit.

When we gather again around the Christmas hearth, and
read once more the genial lessons of charity hidden
beneath the surface of his Christmas Tales, we may not
irreverently apply to the great satirist the words of Holy
Scripture—" He being dead yet speaketh."

THE LIFEBOAT INSTITIITION.—The inhabitants
of Kingston and Surbiton have contributed, through Mr.
J. A. Dow, of the Admiralty, the liberal sum of £l3O in
aid of the general fund of the National Lifeboatt Institu-
tion. Mr. Dow had previously collected, in conjunction
with Mr. Malcolm Goldsmith and other gentlemen, the
cost of the Civil Service lifeboat stationed at Wexford, on
the Irish coast, which has already saved a considerable
number of lives from various shipwrecks; and the annual
support of which is exclusively subscribed by gentlemen
in the Civil Service of the Crown.

TELEGRAPHING}.—Those who witnessed some ex-
periments on the 15th of May in the office of the Western
Union Company in this city believe that the limit of the
capacity of the telegraph wires is not yet known. A com-
bination of circuits was formed, varying in length from
3,000 to 5,000 miles, through which Mr. H. C. Duncan,
chief operator of the company in this city, and one of the
most accomplished of the profession, sent messages with
great ease and rapidity. The first circuit formed was from
Nev Orleans, vie/ New York, to Plaister Cove, Nova Scotia,
the terminus of the Atlantic Cable, a distance of 3,000
miles. The operators, thus widely separated, chatted toge-
ther with perfect ease, the signals coming rapidly and with
great distinctness. After a few moments' conversation,
another circuit of still greater length was made up, and
we are informed that it was the longest land circuit
through which intelligible signals were ever sent. Nine
repeaters were used, one each at Rome, Georgia, Lynch-
burg, Virginia, New York City, Pittsburg, two at Cinci-
natni, one each at St. Louis, Chicago, and Memphis.
The writing was returned to New Orleans almost as clearly
as when leaving the office, having passed through eighteen
States and 0ver.4,800 miles of wire. The electric current
traversed the distance in about three-quarters of a second.
The writing was transmitted as rapidly as an ordinary
short wire,—NcW Chleani TOM