The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-26 00:00:00

Launch of the Transport jumua.

At Jarrow, on Monday, was successfully launched
the largest vessel ever built on the Tyne. It is now
a year and a half since the Flies of the future Go-
vernment transport Jumna were laid down in
Messrs. Palmer's yard, the company having then
been successful in obtaining a contract from the
Admiralty to build the first of a new .17ne of trans-
ports destined primarily for the East Indian ser-
vice. The dimensions of the Jumna are as follow:
—Length between perpendiculars, 360 feet ; ex-

treme length, 370 feet 51- inches ; beam, 49 feet ;
depth moulded, 41 feet 11 inches. Tonnage, re-
gistered 4,173 25.91 --- by displacement, upwards
of 6,000 tons. The engines are of 700 horse-
power nomina:. The proportions of the Jumna
are of the most graceful description, the elegance
and lightness imparted to so heavy a vessel
being wonderful. The bow is formei in a
swan-like ,curve, and the stern is circular and
lighted by windows. The hull is in 26 watertight
compartments, each having been tested to a pressure
of 24 pounds to the square inch. Every attention
has b3en paid by Mr. Reed, the Government archi-
tect, in the internal arrangements, to comfort, con-
venience, health, and ventilation. The launch took
plr,ce at 25 minutes to four o'clock. There was an
immense concourse of spectators present. Lady
Margaret Beaumont performed the ceremony of
christening, and the huge hull glided smoothly into
the water, being easily and skilfully brought up by
the moorings.

Subzequently a large company, comprising many
names well known in Parliamentary and commercial
circles, assembled to luncheon in the spacious
drawing loft of Messrs. Palmer's works. Mr. C. M.
Palmer occupied the chair, and was supported right
and left by the Right Hon. T. E. Headlam, M.P.,
Alderman Candlish, M.P., Sir M. W. Ridley, M.P.,
the Hon. H. G. Liddell, M.P., Sir Hedworth Wil-
liamson, M.P., Mr. Wentworth B. Beaumont, M.P.,
and Mr. S. A. Beaumont.

The CHAIRMAN proposed " Success to the ,Tumna
and the health of Captain Mends, of the Royal
Navy." The line of which the Jumna was the
pioneer was one of an entirely new class of trans-
ports, in which special attention had been paid
to the comfort and accommodation of large bodies
of troops—such accommodation is was found neces-
sary in a case of emergency like that which re-
cently occurred when they were likely to be involved
in difficulties with the American nation. There was
always great anxiety attending the launch of vessels
of such huge dimensions, and it had been a source
of great pleasure to him to see the vessel go off so
well. He was sorry the weather had been so un-
fortunate, and he thought the gentlemen who had
come in spite of it were entitled to thanks for their
perseverance.

Captain MENDS, in responding, said that he had
never seen a launch so gracefully accomplished. There
was always a pleasure in witnessing such a sight,
but there were many special elements for gratifica-
tion in that they had just seen. The great advantage
and utility of the vessel to the service on which she
was to enter was an element of additional gratifica-
tion. The interchange of British troops between
Britain and India had occupied the attention of the
Government and the members of the Indian Coun-
cil for many years. He had been appointed by the
Government to superintend the internal construc-
tion of transport ships, but the internal arrange-
ments was all he could lay claim to having given the
direction for, and he hoped he had given such at-
tention to the subject for the last two years as to
have omitted nothing that would contribute to the
comfort of the troops and the efficiency of the ser-
vice. They should regard the soldier bound for
India as of commercial value, and it should be their
study to deliver him on the shores of India in the
same condition as he was received into the transport
on leaving British soil. In giving instructions for
the construction of the ship he had paid special at-
tention to the safety of the troops to be conveyed,
and had ordered on that account that she should
have a double bottom ; and it was further resolved,
for the same reason, to divide the hull into water-
tight compartments. He had also stipulated for a
light draught of water and a speed of 14 knots,
which was a high rate considering the accommo-
dation required for the soldiers, their wives and
families. He was thoroughly satisfied that every
condition had been complied with.

The Right Hon. T. liEIDLAm asked the assembly
to drink a bumper to his friend, Mr. C. M. Palmer,
in congratulation of the great success of the day.
The toast was given amid loud and prolonged
cheering.
Mr. C. M. PALMER responded, thanking them for
Or; honour done to him.

Other toasts followed before the proceedings ter-
minated.

The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., and
Mrs. Gladstone have returned to their residence on Carlton-
house-terrace from Cliveden, after paying a visit to the
Duchess Dowager of Sutherland. The right hon. gentle-
man and Mrs. Gladstone and daughters leave towards the
01060 of the week PA a ceatinental tour.

,
irrt 114*
IC V 4 D I g
ttraika:

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL, Sept. 23.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Christian,
drove out yesterday morning, and went out in the
afternoon with the Princess of `Vales and Prince
Arthur.

Princess Louise, attended by Lady Churchill,
went out driving.

The Earl of Derby had the honour of dining with
the Queen and the Royal family last night.

Sept. 24.
The Queen, Princess Louise, and Prince Arthur,
attended by Lady Churchill and the lion. Major-
General Hood, were present at Divine service yes-
terday at the parish church of Crathie.
The Rev. Dr. Boyd officiated.
The Prince and Princess of Wales dined with the
Queen last night.

The Hon. Mrs. Coke and the Earl of Derby had
also the honour of being invited to dinner.

Her Royal Highness the Princess Mary Adelaide
and his Highness the Prince Teck are expected to return
from the Continent towards the end of the ensuing month.
'lhe Earl and Countess Vane were prevented by
illness in their family from joining the party assembled at
Dutp-obin Castle to meet their Royal Highnesses the Prince
and Princess of Wales.

The Countess Cowper and family come to town
on Friday. On the following day the marriage of Lady
Adine Cowper, her ladyship's second daughter, with the
Ifon. Julian Fans, is to take place at St. James's Church,
Piccadilly. -

The Countess of Portsmouth and family have
left Cataldi's Rotel for Devonshire.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean at Glasgow.

We are delighted to see that these distinguished
artistes are now starring it with great e'dot in the
provinces—the fact of their doing so giving assiir-
ance that the health of the tragedian is in a fair
way towards its re-establishment. The following
account of their appearance is taken from the North
British Daily Mail of yesterday :
" According to announcement these distinguished
artistes made their appearance last night on our
Glasgow boards. Their reception, we are glad to
say, was warm, honest, and heart-stirring—such as
became their eminence in their profession, the in-
calculable services they have rendered to it, and the
well deserved popularity which they have long en-
joyed. The house was crowded from floor to ceiling,
the treasurer having to perform the verydisagreeable
duty of intimating that "no more money could be
taken." Both Mr. and Mrs. Kean were received
with rapturous and prolonged applause.
" It is an old story now to attempt any recital of
the extraordinary devotion and high success with
which Charles Kean has striven to elevate the stage,
and to make the drama more purely attractive. His
whole life-time, since as a stripling he first came be-
fore the foot-lights in the decline of his father's fame,
has been given with conscientious assiduity to this
purpose. By social position, by personal character, by
a commanding talent which (surely a noble triumph)
has conquered rancorous jealousy and dislike, he has
long entitled himself to the first rank among actors.
In his own vacation there has never been a more
striking illustration of Carlyle's dictum that, after
all, genius consists in the power of taking uncommon
pains. Under the influence of a high idea he has
wrought with all his heart. Assigning to himself
a clear aim and well-defined limits, his success has
been slowly and carefully earned by dint of the
most elaborate and painstaking care.
His greatest qualities as an actor are remarkably
exemplified in his impersonation of Louis the
Eleventh. By common consent it is allowed to be, in
subtlety of conception, in carefulness of study, and,
in vigour of expression, the most masterly por-
traiture of the kind that has been seen, at any rate
on the British stage, since Macready's Richelieu.
The character is one that must tax the self-restraint
no less than the expressive powers of its interpreter.
In its swiftly varying moods it sometimes approaches
to the verge of what might be deemed almost pan-
tomime. Not one man in a thousand could depict
it without running either in the Charybdis of cari-
cature or on the Scylla, of inanity and tameness-
For the Louis which M. Casimer Delavigne has put
into his play is that same Louis with whom Sir
Walter has made us all so familiar in " Quentin
Durward"— the Louis of the chroniclers as well of
the novelists—of Brantome and De Comines as well
as of Scott. He seems a mere bundle of eccentric
and impossible inconsistencies—such a character as
no one could either create or sustain—awakening
at every turn uncertainty, curiosity, and sur-
prisedness. What evil is there that mai
not be believed of him—a parricide ill
design, a fratricide in fact, the sovereign who slew
four thousand nobles without a trial by cruel tor-
tures, the gross sensualist for whom the Cent Nou-
velles Nouvelles were compiled ? 'With what folly
may he not stand chargeable—the devotee who gave
the Blessed Virgin military rank as Colonel of 1115
Guards, who invented the prayer called the
" Angelus," who wore as a sacred thing the vest of
St. Peter had on when he first said mass at Rowe,
who carried in his cap those little leaden images °f
saints before one or other of which he would de"
voutly kneel in what Sir Walter Scott describes a°
one " of those ague fits of devotion which gave eve
of the most sagacious monarchs who ever reigned
the appearance of a madman ?" What baseness
might not be expected from the man who was at one°
a poltroon and a gallant, the dupe of fortune-tellers
and impostors, yet a match for the keenest wits 01
his time, in love with sin, but in constant fear of
death and hell ? Add to these characteristics others
—such as keen insight, wide views, large forecast/
intrepid courage—which we know must have he-
longed to the man who humbled the power of
feudalism, extended direct taxation, fostered the
growth of commerce, and first brought into reecg"
nition the existence of a middle class—and one in°l
bleb
have some idea of the psychological puzzle 'iv
Mr. Kean undertakes to depict. iti
No one will say that he fails to impress upon
the features of a distinct and self-consistent indivi-
duality. In a manner which oue feels to be at on
natural, and yet the consummation of art, he rea-
ders the blending of motive, the sudden alternation°
of mood, the subtle self-deception, the cautious self:
regard, the utterly craven fear, the fearful tortilrry
living, and the morbid craving for life. His Pc! e
was established, in the judgment of the critic,'
spectator, before he was five minutes on the stageci
From first to last he has the most perfect coninia
of himself, and directs all his powers to help turierj
illusion he represents. The most intent rega,sr
a'
could not have detected a movement of attitude
with u,
feature that was not entirely appropriate. h
there was an ease, or an appearance of ease, whlc
contributed in an essential degree to the satisfact"
effect. The performance was a copy of nature ties
enough to satisfy the most ardent pre-Raphae it
yet it was one instinct with vividness and realiti•i_cot
might be hard to determine which scene was c
where all were excellent. The death, managed
it was with consummate skill, probably iturresse rt
the audience less than the admirably acted Pa
oar
where Nemour's destruction is suggestively
manded to Tristran.
Yea
Mrs. Kean in the little part of Marthe was ea
graceful and piquant; Miss Chapman was servietry
and gallant as the Dauphin ; and a word etc,ica
special commendation is due to the mannerin
cv;ir.
Miss Leclerq filled the part of Maria. Mr' ,ahits,
cart's Nemour had all the merits, and all the
of his usual impassioned and declaniatorYysitiihin
while Mr. Everett was as dark and gloomy a

as heart could desire.
The piece is to be alternated through the scceol:
not
(except on Saturday, when the Keau party d° 0,0
appear) with Shakspere's " Henry the Ogii be
We cannot doubt their favourable opening will
the prelude to a highly successful engagetneat'

BOAT-RACE ON THE TYNE. —On Monday '1)001
noon a rowing match for £5O a side, from the
11 riJde
Bridge, Newcastle, to the Scotswood Suspension 0,01,1
four miles, took place between J. Clasper, of 9,1,10te'
and J. Percy, of Newcastle, two well-known river
After a good race Percy won by six lengths,C°l74
the dibtance in 27in. 375.