The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-09 00:00:00

SARDINIA.

The committee appointed •by the Piedmontese
Chamber of Deputies to axatnine the new constitu-
tion proposed for the Victor Emmanuel Company,
which offers to undertake the tunnel through the
Mont Culls, met on the 3d. - After a long discus-
sion, in which the Ministers of Finance and Public
Works spoke at great length, the ministerial pro-
ject was adopted by a very small majority. Mar-
quis Gustavo Cavour is entrusted with the report.
The Corriere lifercanti'e of the stb publishes a
convention entered into between the King of Sar-
dinia and the Transatlantic Company of Genoa,
establishing a new line of steamers between Genoa,
Constantinople, and Trebizond. The company is,
moreover, to continua its service between Genoa,
Brazil, and Montevideo, but is released from its
obligation' to maintain a line of steamers between
Genoa and New York.

The Grand Duke Constantine arrived at Hanover
on the 7th from the Hague.

A Berlin letter of the 4th, in the Nurenberg
Correspondent, states that the Copeahagen Cabinet
has again addressed a circular to the various foreign
powers, declaring that the concessions called for by
Austria and Prussia in their last notes, are incom-
patible with the unity of the Danish monarchy.

" The message of the Federal Council on the
Neufchatel affair," says a letter from B-rne, " will
not be in itself long, although it will present rather
a large bulk from th numerous document s appended
to it."

AUSTRALIA.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

Our Sydney papers are to the 11th of April.
The two most notable measures of the month had
b ,en the somewhat sudden prorogation of the Par-
liament of New South Wales, the first elected
under the constitution giving responsible govern-
ment to the colony, and the opening of the Great
Northern Railway. The speech of the Governor
in proroguing the council and assembly was in a
strain o congratulation. His Excellency had
praise for ,what the legislature had done, ancr ex-
cuses for N+hat it had omitted, and great hopes of
what it would do, with its acquirea experience
and confidence. The public service, he said, had
been improved, the municipal principle strength-
ened, and the administration of justice rendered
more efficient by the bills which the Parliament had
matured and enacted. The credit of the colony was
in a highly satisfactory position ; and the country
had been blessed with a season of abundance and
prosperity..

Tfie opening of the Great. Northern Railway from
Newcastle to Maitland took place on March 30th.
The line has hitherto been called the Hunter River
Railway. It was commenced iu Nov., 1854, and
its completion has consequently occupied nearly two
years and four months. The length of the line is
16i miles, and the • cost of its construction ave-
rages 10,000/. per mile. The cuttings, except in
one or two instances, are not very heavy ; but
there are numerous bridges, one or two of which
were necessarily expensive. The line generally is
through a level country, but there are several gra-
dients, two of which are pretty severe, being 1 in
66 ; another of 1. in 100. Although in ascending
the two former a slight deficiency in speed is per-
ceptible, it is so small as to be no impediment to
the general charaCter of the line. The amount of
earthwork performed is 4t8;000 yards, and the
sharpest curve on the line is one mile radius.
The line.was originally surveyed by Mr. Hyam,
and his survey has been adhered to in the construc-
tion.

. The train, which consisted of seven carriages of
the first and second classes, and which are admi-
rable and handsomely constructed and fitted,
started at seventeen minutes past nine from the
station, amid the cheers of the men and the waving
of handkerchiefs of the women, and the demon-
strations of rejoicing at the event and of respect to
his Excellency were continued at intervals, where
population could be collected, throughout the
entire trip.
The first mile and a quarter was completed in
three minutes, the engine being below its average
speed. At Throsby's Creek Vie train was stvp:d
to afford his Excellency the opportunity of exami-
ning the bridge, which is of some dimensions, and
his Excellency expressed himself highly satisfied
with the solidity of, the work, The detention at

this spot was six minutes. The whistle having
sounded, the train proceeded at a much more
rapid pace, accomplishing , the first seven
tide 3 in . twenty-one minutes, inclusive of
the stoppage, being at the, rate of twenty-eight
miles per hour. Another stoppage of 21 minutes
tcok place at Iron Bark Creek, the bridge of
which is built on piles over the creek, and is 132
feet across. The first and only station, at Ilexham,
was reached in 131 minute s, where the train stoppvcl
for his Excellency to inspect the arrangements for
nine minutes. The remaining' distal-he, to the
station at East Maitlind, was done in 201 minutes,
the time including stoppages being 521 Minutes,
and 35 minutes f)r the 161 mites of nett running.
The line is beautifully steady throughout, and the
trip was thoroughly enjoyed by every one of the
numerous passengers.

DEATH OF MR. DOUGL 13 JERROLD.

(From the Dai'y News.)

The public journalist, among whose varied duties
it occurs to chronicle the deaths and deeds of those
persons whose position or whose`merits entitle them
to some special record, has but a sorry and a painful
task; for though with fluent pen he can define the
honours and titles of rank, and easily pay a few
stereotyped compliments to departed greatness, yet
when the dart of the Great De Aroyer has mortally
wounded one of his own class-=one who, perhaps a
few years 'ago was striving and working, as he now
is, for fame and fortune—one, to whose words of
advice and approbation he has listened with respect
and delight, and whose hand he has often clasped in
friendship—when such a death happens, his dutyis
irksome to him, and he feels as though he were
parading hie own private sorrow before the public
gaze.; .In the present instance, however, not only the
entire English reading world, bat every man who
honours brilliant genius, fearless independence, and
frank sincerity, will share our grief, for we have to
announce the death of Mr. Douglas Jerrold, which
took place yesterday, half an hour after noon, at
his residence; 'Kilburn Priory. By this event Eng-
lish literaturetas lost its most caustic and epigram-
matic writer, London society its brightest wit, and
cant, of every kind, its bitterest foe. As a champion
he was invulnerable • no matter how strong the
fortress to be attacked; let Mr. Jerrold but once
see, or fancy he saw, that right was on his side,
and the vulnerable points in the enemy's citadel
were discovered with unerring eye, and raked with
the most galling fire of sarcasm. Point out to him
au injury, with almost Quixotic haste he leapt into
the lists with outstretched sword for its defence, and
few there were who cared to try the temper of his
blade. His satire was of the brightest, keenest,
most trenchant order ; and though perhaps no two
men were ever so much feared by or made such on-
slaught among their foes as Christopher North and
Douglas Jerrold, yet their weapons and tactics were
utterly different, for while big, burly, lion-headed
Wilson laid about him with loaded bludgeon,
mangling, trampling, and smashing all within his
reach, the shining lancet of Jerrold struck to the
core of The evil with anatomical precision, and laid
bare its foulness to the scorn cf the world.
Douglas Jerrold was born in the year 1803, at
Sheerness, his father being manager of the theatre
there. Bred amongst sailors and shipping, it was
natural that his early thoughts should turn towards
a nautical life, and after much useless remonstrance
his father obtained for him a midshipman's com-
mission on board a man-of-war. Tiring soon of
this profession, for which, on account of his deli-
cate health, he was physically unfitted, the young
man was, in accordance with his own choice, bound
apprentice to a printer, and in pursuance of his
new calling came to London, wherein first,made
the acquaintance of the late Laman Blanchard,
a fellow apprentice, and commenced a friendship
which was only to end with the death of the latter.
After enduring years of drudgery at the mechanical
duties of a compositor, the cacoethes scribendi, in-
nate in young Jerrold, developed itself; and, his
first literary pre.duction, an essay on the opera of
"Der Freischutz," wss dropped by him anony-
meusly into the editor's box of the newspaper on
which he was engaged as workman. This article
at once revealed his genius, and after much ques-
tioning he declared'himself as its author. Hence-
forward more suitable work was found for him,
printing was given up, and literature became his
occupation. Before he had reached his 21st year
he produced at the Surrey Thew re the since widely
celebrated nautical drama, "Black-Eyed Susan,
for the proper technical phrasing of which his pre-,
vious naval experience had well qualified him. The
success was tremendous, and for a long time the
drama was presented by the same company on the
same nights at two different theatres, the Surrey and
Drury-lane. • "The Rent Day," a drama of Eng-
lish domestic and rural life, followed, and was
equally successful. It is by these two melodramas,
and one othur, " The Prisoner of War," and by his
two principal comedies, " Time Works Wonders,"
and "Bubbles of the Day," that Mr. Jerrold will
be best known to posterity, as a dramatic author ;
his later writings for the stage, though replete with
sparkling, dialogue. and pungent allusion, lacked a
sufficient interest of plot to render them palatable
to an English audience. Shortly after the starting
of Punch Mr. Jerrold was solicited to juin its staff,
and, until the hour of his death, was one of its
most valued and most const int contributors. In
its pages appeared some of his happiest efforts ;
among them " Punch's Letters to his Son," " The
Story of a 'Feather," and the immortal "Caudle
Lectures," serial papers which were the town-talk
of the time, and which were looked for week ales
week with the greatest interest. In July, 1836, he
commenced a weekly newspaper, which being dis-
appointed in the sale, he afterwards disposed of ;
and for the last five years he has been the editor of
Lloyd's Weekly A' etospaper, the sale of which it si as
understood he had more than trebled. He also
edited two inagizines, the Illuminated and Douglas
Jerrold's Shilling Magazine, in the first of which
was published his "Chronicles of Clovernook,"
the second his story of "St. Giles and St. James."
The immediate cause of Mr. Jerrold's death was
disease of the heart, accompanied by violent spasms
of the stomach. He was sensible to the last, and
died surrounded by relatives and friends. He leaves
behin i him a wi.low, three son s—the eldest of whom,
Mr. Blanchard Jerrold, is making for himself a
name in literature—and two"daughters, of whom
one is married to that well-known philanthropist,
Mr. Henry Mayhew.
We have briefly chronicled Mr. Jerrold's mare
important works, but among his friends his memory
will be kept vivid by the recollection of a thousand
flashes of wit and sparkles of quaint fancy, a thou-
sand unwritten bon mots and repartees, any one of
which would have been sufficient to establish the
reputation of a less gifted man—let us also add, by
a thousand acts of kindness, done by stealth, and
unwillingly acknowledged.

(From the Times.)
The intelligence conveyed by the above heading
will probably take the whole literary public of Eng-
land completely by surprise. But a few days ago
Mr. Douglas Jerrold was a prominent figure of Lon-
don life. An assembly of " wits" would hardly have
been deemed complete without his presence, and
his last bon mot was one of those items of news that
everybody was glad to hear. To the special world
in which he chiefly existed, it is scarcely necessary
to say that his illness was of2•short duration. On
Sunday night he took leave of several of his inti-
mate friends, and shortly after the' noon of yester-
day his earthly career had terminated. •
Mr. Douglas Jerrold was in a great measure what
may be styled a " self-educated" man, and the
celebrity he attained with every class of his country-
men that is capable of appreciating intellectual
worth may be cited among the many instances that
show how distinct is the path to faine from any of
those beaten paths of instruction that time and
usage have prescribed. He was born in London on
the 3d of January, 1803, and to the fact that his
father was manager of the Sheerness Theatre maybe
attributed that predilection for the stage which
forms a leading charac'eristic of the greater portion
of his life. However, his earliest expr eased passion,
fostered no doubt by the scene which Sheerness pre-
sented during the height of the war, was for a mari-
time life, and he obtained a midshipman's appoint-
ment through the good offices of Captain Austen,
brother of Miss Austen, the novelist. With the
war ended his nautical career, and, on quitting the
service, he was apprenticed to a printer in London.
His leisure hours were now devoted to self-instruc-
tion, Shakspeare being his chief autLor. An essay
on the opera of "Der Freischutz" which he dropped
into the editorial box of a newspaper on which he
was employed as a compositor is the reported be-
ginning of his literary labours. To bis infinite
delight, his own anonymous "copy" was handed to
put in type, and shortly afterwards appeared an
editorial notice soliciting other contributions from
the unknown correspondent.
"Black-eyed Susan," originally produced at the
Surrey Theatre, under the management of Mr.
Elliston, and afterwards transferred to Drury-lane,
is generally considered the first of his dramatic
works, but we believe it was preceded by a num-
ber of farces to which be did not affix his name,
and which were certainly not worthy of the obli-
vion to which he consigned them. It was followed
by the "Rent Day," and these two works uow
stand as the classics of their respective kinds. That
tendency -which was exhibited by Mr. Jerrold
through life to sympathise with the cause of the
poor and- lowly, and to launch his
against the opressors in high places, was plaiuly
manifested in these earlier productions. The honest
sailor who. is sentenced to be hung at the yard-
arm because. he cannot brook an insult offered to 1

his wife, and the honest farmer who is a most un-
worthy victim of the law of distr s-4, represeeted
those peculiar objects of sympathy :to which he ad-
hered to the last.
These two productions, "Black eyed Susan" std
the " Rent Day," stamped him at once as the roost
popular di amatist of his time—as the writer, above
all others, who could command the suffrages of the,
multitude. But, having secured- the starages °,l;
the many, Mr. Jerrold now appealed to the "tastes
of the few. His "Nell Gwyune " perhaps th,e
most delightful play he ever penned, presupenseu
a familiarity with the artificial tone that prevailed
during the reign of Charles H though even here
the, sympathetic heart of the writer spoke through
the sparkling dialogue of his personages. Thcei
" Housekeeper," a quiet picture of female love 01,1_
devotion, with an historical background from the
time of George 1., may be ranked next in pul°1113;
rity to " Black-eyed Susan" and the "Rent DaYe
and fourth in the series we may place the "PP;
soner of War," in which an anecdote of the English
'defenses at Verdun was dramatised with a dieplaY
of animal spiritin which the author inhis laterdOi
matic works was not wont to indulge. Several
five-act comedies, among which "Time works Won;
dera" and " The Bubbles of a Day" were most
celebrated, were produced in the latter part of its
dramatic career, but none of them obtained that
pernianent success achieved by his firmer works.
We shall not eo too far if we designate Mr. PO
glas Jerrold as the last of the truly English drama'
tists. Not only did he refrain from that practicu
of adaptation of the French that now constitute
3
the chief vocation of the playwright, but be vrae
altogether free from that French influence wild'
may be discovered even in those of our writers Woe
still dare to be original, Let us add that his anti'
Gallicism was carried to a fanatical extreme, aria
that, while his dialogue showed a command over the
English language which no' wit of ancient °r
modern times could have excelled, his construction
was frequently marked by that English lastibl
which a greater respect fur French models wig'
have corrected. But the " literature" of the drain;
Was everything in the eyes of Douglas Jerrold, and
all the mechanism by which " stage effect" is pro-
duced he regarded as meretricious and misclievene
te'the interests of dramatic art.
Latterly the greatest literary triumphs of lq,r:
Jerrold have been achieved in the periodical pub";
cations of the day. The papers which he collected
under the title of " Cakes and Ale" are charnoing,
ebullitions of the fancy, and the " Caudle J.
tures, which so accelerated the r!sing popularitY
of Punch, stand as specimens of minute life-paint.
ing that can scarcely be surpassed. At the time
when these famous lectures were in course of pub'
licatiou there was not a hen-pecked husband in the
united kingdom who did not snatch up Punch
every week to contemplate his own nrsfortuncl
" veluti in, specula"
Foe the last few years Mr. Jerrold was chid,'
occupied as the Editor of Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'
and, by the custom of the English press, his uwi".
individuality could no longer be expressed as
tinctly as in his earlier works. But there was 0
character in which Mr. Douglas Jerrold was alur3Ya
pre-eminent, and that was as the social wit. blar;
montel said of Diderot that those who had read 11i
works only, and had never heard him !speak, 001'„
not feria an estimate of his merits, and the ea°
may be said of Douglas Jerrold. To concei,s'e
a brilliant and elaborate repartee was with 11:,„
(I'.
the work of a moment ; nay, we could, if we won' (.1
cite cases, in which the cue was barely pronounce,'
before the retort was fired off. The most
combinations of ideas were effected by him wife
electric rapidity, even an old pun could bee°
new from his manner of uttering it, and, what was
most wonderful of all, there was generally a cle%
truth couched at the bottom of his pleasantree.A
that the joke, which had created a roar on its n'';
utterance, actually appeared bitt '!r when it bees°,
A subject of sober reflection.
The sharpness of Mr. Jerrold's satire has caused
many persons to attribute to him a character'ee,
misanthropic ill-nature ; but never was a more egr
gious mistake committed. The large light blue eye
of Douglas Jez rold beamed nothing but benevoleu%
and to this expres,iocn the feeling of his heart fill
responded. Like all wits, he loved his joke, and if alt
opportunity for uttering a repartee presented itsiej3
he was not the man to let the firelock escape 'i,
grasp. '. Hence, some unfortunate personage /cho
obtruded his egotism or his pedantry might chaelo
to get an unlucky "hit" if Douglas Jerrold evai.te
company, and as. the weapon watt of firstrate qua'
the mark of the wound might remain unobliterate
for years. But to sup Pose that Douglas Jerrold
ever deliberately intended to inflict pain proves
total ignorance of his large and philosophic naturcl
Wrong and oppression he hated in the abstract, butt
he had a friendly grasp for all individuals, even
among his adversaries.. -
The reading public, which knows celebrated Oct
in black and white only, has lost a writer who 0.1
epigramniatic brilliancy has never been excelled lei
our language. But far deeper has been the loss
the circle of friends who delighted. to spend 011
evenings in cathing the stream of wit as it flow",,
unimpeded from Jerrold's lips, and acquired fe.'o
themselves a reflected glory by repeating "Jerrold
last." The " wits" of London have lost their ae'.-
knowleiged chief.
Mr. Douglas Jerrold died at Kilburn Priory
the arms of his eldest son, and retained his intellect
till within a few minutes of:his death.

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