Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-12-16
Death ofths Editor OF the London Daily
Nexva.

Death OF the Editor OF the London Daily
Among other items Of Intelligence brought
by the steamship Union, we learn of the de-
cease of Mr.. Frederick Knight Hunt, for some
years past the able editor of the London Daily
News, TO which post he succeeded when the
literary corps, headed by Charles Dickens and
Douglas Jerrod, aud entrusted with the birth
and future development of that journal, (now
second in circulation and influence to its CO.
temporary, the Times had prematurely, re-
duced its existence to the last grasp, by extreme
literary and impractical management. From
this lamentable position the London Daily
News was extricated by the interchangeable in
dnstry and peculiar practical abilities of Mr.. Il.
X. Hunt, to the qualification of the proprietors,
but at the sacrifice Of his health, and, il is to
be feared, ultimately, of his ife--for his death,
ere he had attained his fortieth year, has no
doubt been accelerated by the effects of that
incessant daily toll and nightly fatigue to which
London editors are exposed, perhaps, more
than all Others 'yqi4t
Originally brought up to the medical pro-
fesslon, Mr.. +. X. Hunt on passing his exami-
nations, foresaw that years must pass over his
head, and the effects of age be made manifest
in his visage, before the deep rooted prejudices
against young disciples of Galen and .Aber-
nethy-prejudices which do not exist towards
the sister professions of the Church and the
Bar-would ensure him countenance and sup
port His education, and natural taste for
literary pursuits, thenceforth induced him to
resign the scalpel for the pen, and to devote
his brief but successful career to the ameliora-
ton of the social wrongs instead of the
physical sufferings of humanity. After having
first conducted the Medical Times, he devoted
bis abilities to editing the Pictorial Times,
during the career of that once formidable rival
to the illustrated London News He next
originated HINTS London Journal, now known
as the London Journal having weekly cir
culation of nearly half a million copies, and
decidedly the most successful periodical in the
world. 1t was shortly after seeding from his
journal that Mr.. F. X. Hunt undertook the
re-vitalizing of the London Daily Neacs--no
common task, though one Of which he proves
himself eminently qualified.
Among various other successful works which
Mr.. +. Is. Hunt contributed to the world Of
letters during the brief leisure he snatched
from his daily onerous duties, may be cited his
History of the Fourth Estate being com
plete and graphic description of the origin,
rise, and progress of British newspapers, from
their first introduction to the advent of the
London Daily Ne,cs. This work Astounding
in anecdotieal particulars of the connections
formed by eminent statesmen, politicians, and
literary men, with English journalism, is of q
highly interesting character, and traces the
newspaper through all its multitudinous
changes of size and contents, from the scan
tily filed small folio page, printed at the rate
of a hundred copies per hour, by wooden
hand press, (such as Franklin worked at,) to
the leviathan sheet of the present day, crowded
with intelligence from all parts of the globe,
and which, although thrown off by our modern
type-coyered cylinders at the rate of from
eight to ten thousand copies per hour, are
barely produced with sufficient rapidity to
meet the public appetite for news. 1t is with
mingled feelings of satisfaction and regret that
we pay this tribute to the memory of a de-
ceased Journalist of the other side Of the At
lantic.-N T. Herald