The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-01 00:00:00

GARRICK AND MURPHY.

"Murphy's family was in difficulties. His brother was
going out to Jamaica. His mother was a charge on him ;
thus, so far as his struggles went, he was entitled to some
sympathy. On this renewal of intercourse ho had a farce
by him, The Upholsterer: which he began to press upon
Garrick, but who was afraid to touch it from its political
tono. He soon guessed, however, the meaning of this
eagerness, the outfit of the brother, &c. ; and this 'stingy'
man, who for his thrift and nearness was the butt of a hun-
dred jesters, from Foote downwards, sent a private offer
of assistance—and 'such an offer' as covered Murphy
with confusion.' Garrick sent him a supply of money:
more, too, should b 3 forthcoming when wanted. ' All I
desire in return is that you will not make any speeches on
the occasion. Your letter has said too much, and all I shall
say is, that I am happy it is in my power to convince you
how much I am yours.—D. G."

A quiet view is obtained of the actor at Hampton, where
keen-eyed folk affirmed they could distinguish between
Goldsmith and Gsrrick's manner of playing with children,
the former doing it to please them, and the latter to please
himself; where Johnson came to supper; where the
Viennese dancer, now growing plump, planted a cedar and
a tulip tree ; where he was never absent for a single day
from his wife; where, when she disapproved of a portrait,
he said, "Never mind, dear, you shall have a much
handsomer picture to look at," and brought her a mirror
where he entertained the unfortunate Miss R ty at a real
turtle dinner ; and where he indulged in doggrel which
his biographer would have done well to suppress. Mr.
Fitzgerald observes of Garrick that " no one more dearly
loved a lord," and it was a manifest affectation on his part
when, after asking a guest who had come to breakfast
0 Did you meet a little lawyer turning the corner ?"
he immediately explained that it was Lord Camden who
had been to visit him. But his friends were of all sorts
and conditions. He shook hands with Grub-street, 4tnd
he shook hands with tho dukes. Ho know Sterne, and

nearly drove him mad with gaiety ; Burke, who called
him a "little Horace ;" Walpole, who thought he was not
a gentleman ; Dr. Dodd, who was hanged ; and Boswell,
who preferred him to all the crowned heads of Europe. A
good many of the familiars borrowed money of him, and
never forgave the obligation. Mr. Fitzgerald goes through
"a round of characters" played by Garrick—Richard, Lear,
—which drew from Clive the ejaculation, " him, he
could act a gridiron I"—Hamlet—which he played in a
flapped waistcoat, breeches, and stockings; Macbeth,
whom he represented as wearing silver lace and a tye-
wig; Romeo, who came " creeping on his toes ;" Sir John
Brute, the highest perfection of a drunken part, with a
movement of the lips, "so that we cannot tell whether he
is chewing or tasting, smelling or speaking ;" and so on.
It is added, "no actor had ever died so rich. Roughly
estimating the various bequests in his will, we might
value his estate as close upon one hundred thousand
pounds." His wife survived him many years, and died at
the age of ninety-eight.

RAILWAYS 11V 71IE UNITED S 7 dTES.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

The country most benefited by the locomotive
is the Uniced States. Without Stephenson's in-
vention the present development could not have
been attained for centuries. Cooper, the great
novelist, belonged to a generation but just passed
away. The scenes he describes were mostly those of
his early youth, yet who can now read them and ima-
gine that he wrote of the United States? In the
Eastern States the Red Indian wandered through
the primeval forest. The great prairies were away
in the unknown West, where a man stood as
it were at sea, with the horizon around him un-
broken by an object, and himself seemingly on a
pinnacle of the world. In a wild stampede the
buffalo herds rushed over the waste, and often the
thrilling portion of his tale centred in a con-
suming fire advancing in a line spreading scores
of miles with a speed that wearied out the
fleetest and most untiring animals. In those
days, States now among the most powerful in
the Union, were known only to the hunter and
trapper, whose stories were listened to with a half
incredulous interest, and the mighty West was
spoken of as the terra incognita of the world,
ending in a mountain barrier beyond which
was the ultimo thule whence no traveller re-
turned, and in 'which even the hopes of
civilization were lost. 'What an enthusiast
the man who witnessed the cutting of the
first sod of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway
on the 4th of July, 1828, would have been
considered, had he prophesied the stupendous
results about to be obtained from the system
inaugurated. There was but one small locomo-
tive in America, built at Baltimore, where it is
even now preserved as a curious relic. Though
this was the first line opened, yet, on its comple-
tion in 1829, it was partly worked by horse power.
The Hudson and Mohawk Railway was brought
into operation two years afterwards between Albany
and Schenectady, and in 1832 an engine was driven
over it at the rate of 30 miles an hour. In that year
67 miles of railway were worked in Pennsylvania,.
and in Massachusetts and New Jersey important
operations were commenced. This was the begin-
ning of railway enterprise in America, which may
safely be pronounced to have produced results
the most marvellous and generally beneficial to
the human race, of any yet inaugurated by man. In
the year 1838 there were but 1,843 miles; in 1840,
2,167 ; 1842, 3,863 ; 1844, 4,285 ; 1816, 4,828 ;
1848, 6,491; 1850, 8,827 ; this ratio was main-
tained, the increase being steady and continuous
until the civil strife. Ten years later, that is
in 1860, there were 31,185 miles, and the depress-
ing influence of the War on all enterprise may
be seen in the fact that in 1864 the number was
but 35,000, that is not half the ratio of increase
of the prior periods. At the present time it is cal-
culated that there are in the United States 38,321
miles, or over 50,000 of single track, if side tracks
and switches are added. Pennsylvania ranks first
in rail ways, having within the State over four thousand
miles in operation. The next State is Ohio, with
about 3,500. Illinois comes after with 3,300. In
Pennsylvania complete reports for 1867 have not
yet been published from the Auditor-General's office.
'rhe Reports sent for 1866 were from 92 companies,
holding an aggregrate property to the value of
$267,684,408,
.and real estate worth $5,701,697.
The roads were maintained and kept in operation
at a total cost of $11,039,150. The gross receipts
were $70,999,759, and the net profits $29,967,609.
The number of passengers carried was 17,731,216,
of whom 2,472,905 passed through on the main roads.
The accidents were as follow :—Passengers killed,
13 ; passengers injured, 56 ; servants of the road
killed, 151 ; injured, 267 ; others killed, 160 •
others injured, 118. That is, one passenger, out of
every 224,483 was either killed or injured. The
whole number of the' killed and injured was 192
less than in 1865. The railroad statistics of New
York and Massachusetts show that one passenger
out of every 284,377 carried during 1866 was
either killed or injured. The comparison is unfa-
vourable to Pennsylvania. Contrasting this with
Massachusetts, we find that in 1867 that State had
1,849 miles in operation, which had cost in construc-
tion and equipment $95,046,319. The passengers
carried were 23,660,401, of whom 14 were killed,
out of 9,838 men employed ; exclusive of those en-
gaged in construction, 41 were killed, and the same
number of the public while crossing, or walking, or
lying on the way. The gross receipts were
$21,561,060, working expenses $15,111,047, leav-
ing nett earnings $6,450,013, of which $4,665,517
were paid in dividends. Independent of the steam
lines, there are in Massachusetts 143 miles of horse
railroads, with 388 cars, in which were carried
during 1867, 27,718,777 passengers. The last
report for New York State is for the year ending
Sept. 30, 1867, from Mr. Barnes, the late deputy
State Engineer and Surveyor. The length of roads
in miles is 3,663, of roads laid 2,948, constructed
at a cost, including equipment, of $182,015,749. The
total earnings were $49,661,572. The transportation
expenses were $35,874,173. The number of pas-
sengers carried was 17,377,465, of whom 13 were
killed and 70 injured. The employe's killed were 67
and injured 65. It appears to have been the outside
public, however, who suffered most, probably from
crossing unfenced lines, as 95 were killed and 68
injured, making a total of 175 killed-203 injured.
Chicago shows the most striking advance, due mainly
to the operation of railroads. In 1850 there were
but two lines having 95 miles in operation in the
rich State of Illinois; now there are 25 distinct
roads which connect Chicago with all parts of
America. In the former year Chicago's only rail-
road was a track of 40 miles laid with strap rail.
Two years later the population was 38,783 ' • now it
is estimated at a quarter of a million, and the twelve
lines that centre in the city earned $49,000,000.
The projected lines show that immense as have
been the results secured, they are but the beginning
of railway enterprise in Chicago. One road will
extend northwards through the pine forests of Wis-
consin, another connecting the city with St. Paul
will penetrate into the Red River country, joining
the Northern Pacific Railroad through Dacotah,
Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. A bridge, at an
estimated cost of $2,600,000 will span the Missis-
sippi at Omaha, and three lines will connect that
point with Chicago. Omaha is the starting point
of the Union Pacific Railroad, which has already
reached the most elevated level on the Rocky
Mountains, the eastern barrier, and penetrated
through.the Sierra Nevada, the barrier of the West.
The Mississippi is touched at ten points by roads
from Chicago, at five of which bridges are either
built or building. The Kansas route to the Pacific
will be connected with the city by lines crossing
Northern Missouri ; and it is.now settled that that
route is to be carried through New Mexico, Ari-
zona, and Southern California. Of course, in in-
terest there are no lines in the United States that
can compare with those intended to connect the
Atlantic with the Pacific. They are, beyond all
question, the most stupendous works in the world ;
and on completion they can scarcely fail to revolu-
tionize the direction of travel. In 1866 the greatest
lines were the Illinois Central, running over 708
miles, at a cost of $28,610,000 ; the New York
Central, 555 miles, cost $32,740,000 ; Erie, 528
miles, $39,328,000 ; Atlantic and Great Western,
507 miles, $47,000,000 ; Mobile and Ohio, 482
miles, $14,484,000; Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and
Chicago, 467 miles, $18,891,000 ; Chicago, Peora,
400 miles, $39,270,000 ; Pennsylvania,
Central (Columbia Div.), 359 miles, $26,058,000,
Ste. The returns, given up to September, 1865,
show 593 railway companies, of which Pennsyl-
vania possessed 85; Massachusetts, 46: New
York, 44 ; Ohio, 29 ; Illinois, 28 ; New Jersey,
26 ; Indiana, 23 ; and the Southern States, 101.
In the following year the total mileage was 35,487
miles, and constructing and completed was 51,270,
at a cost of $1,388,554,968. The length of lines
in America is calculated by the single track, and
therefore the comparison with miles in operation
there, and in other countries where the track is
double, gives an incorrect impression.