The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-27 00:00:00

5 • •

kiim34,ed Parliament to assemble o the Bth

proximo

The following account of how the animals and
other curiosities fared in the great fire which on the
13th inst. totally destroyed Barnum's Museum, and
other adjacent property, is extracted from the New
York Herald's report of the conflagration :

" The majority of the crowd seemed delighted at the
chance of seeing the curiosities gratis. One of the enzploges
at the museum, who passed through the crowd with a bunch
of coral in one hand and a stuffed racoon in the other, was
loudly cheered. But the excitement rose to its height when
the giantess, the fat lady, and the white woolly-headed
Albino passed down Fulton-street, followed by a number
of the ladies of the corps de ballet, who, poor things, had
lost all of their theatrical wardrobe. The pantomime of
the Green Monster was to have been performed at the
museum in the afternoon ; but the monster was consumed
with the whales, the Happy Family, and the snakes. The
fat lady, the giantess, and the ballet girls found a tem-
porary refuge in a newspaper office, where they rehearsed
their losses to a small but select audience, and the Albino
was spirited away to a more private location, where she
could not be seen without paying for the privilege. About
100 persons must have been thrown out of employment
at the museum, and many of the pantomimists, dancers,
and keepers will find it difficult to obtain employment at
this dull season for amusements. The crowd did not think
of this, however. They were incessant iu their cries of
boiled whale,' fried snakes,' broiled monkey,' and
roast elephant,'
thus displaying a sort of gamin wit and
a perfect familiarity with the contents of the museum.
Throw me out one of the canoes,' or Pitch me the bow-
constructor, I wants it for a tippet,' or How are you,
learned
seal ?' provoked continued laughter. We suggest,
however, that the fire has rather a serious side to it, and
that the members of the theatrical profession in this city
ought to organise a mammoth benefit at the Academy of
Music, the proceeds to be divided among those whom this
conflagration has deprived of their engagements for the
summer. When the fire first broke out and the smoke
commenced to penetrate the galleries there arose the most
peculiar Babel of sounds which it was ever allotted to
mortalto; h
hear.te The Happy Family' quite belied their
cognomen monkeys
jabbered, the dogs barked, the
cats mewed, parrots screamed, bears growled, kangaroos
kangarooed, parroquets screamed Otter,otter,' and the poor-
otter, not caring for the smoke, buried himself in his native
element. The birds fluttered against the bars of their
cages, and sang most doleful melodies. To save these poor
animals was ono of the first things thought of, and the
first who presented himself to our notice was poor bruin'
himself, making the descent of the ladder in a very pecu-
liar manner. He seemed quite savage, and not at all in-
clined for fun. Accustomed to be looked at through iron
bars, he seemed at a loss to understand his present situa-
tion. Several times, as his feet slipped through the rounds
of the ladder, the tightening of the rope by which he was
held caused him to pale visibly, and certainly show his
canines, or, more properly, bearines. After some con-
siderable time he reached, not the top of the ladder, but
the foot, and once on terra firma, he looked as contented
as a bear could look under the circumstances. Louder
grew the jabberings of the monkey tribe, who leaped
frantically about, the boa constrictor writhed in agony
as the heat became stronger, and a dismal series of wails
from the whales, who had not been used to tropical seas,
mingled with the rhapsodies of the astrologer, the pant-
ings of the fat woman, and the groanings of the giantess.
The two latter were half frantic. and the maniac penman
made the most artistic flourishes with his quill. Poor Ned,
the educated seal,who was wont to astonish spectators with
his sagacity, who used to turn the handle of a barrel organ,
and do everything but speak, was seized upon by a couple
of men, one evidently a Hibernian, Bad luck to ye, he's
biting me, Mick'; and so he was. ' Fetch me a basket' was
the cry, and still Ned wriggled about in the most fishy man-
ner, the crowd making on every side. At length his res-
cuers succeeded in bringing Ned to a place of safety, and
we may at some future time see him perform as of yore.
With these exceptions we fear all the extensive and inte-
resting collection of animals fell a prey to the fiery element,
with the exception, perhaps, of a few birds, which may
have succeeded in flying away. The crowd outside ware
most anxious about dumb crathurs who niver done no one
any harm, barren the bite the sale give me,' as our friend
the Hibernian called them, and anxious inquiries were made
as to whether the water in the aquaria wouldn't prevent
their finny inhabitants from being burnt. It may be some
time before we can have so fine a collection of tropical fish
as was in the Museum. The aquaria were made on the most
approved plan, and arranged so that the water was kept
fresh by the passage of air through them. The collection
of birds, too, was most extensive. The animals were nu-
merous and well trained, so that they all lived together
without any squabbling—making one think that even by
training the millennial characteristic of the ' lion lying
down with the lamb' would not be so strange after all.
The collection comprised a large variety of the monkey
tribe, kangaroo, cat, dog, and other species, and afforded
much amusement to the children of our city, to whom a.
visit to Barnum's was always a great treat. Country cou-
sins, too, who viewed the white cat, that had no tail, and
and therefore could not a tale unfold,' will have no place
whore to study the beauties of natural history, and many
now will fool sorry for having given the monkey blind
nuts, now that he is no more. Many will think of Jocko
who used to submit to their persecutions without a word
of anger or reproach.' Poor Jocko! Unfortunate pussy !
you are now where even the great showman cannot find
you. We drop a tear for your memories. and though you
sometimes attempted to bite our fingers when we ap-
proached too near your prison-house, still we will faith-
fully adhere to the injunction, 'De mortuis nil nisi bonum.'

RAILWAYS IN INDIA.—Mr. Juland Danvers, the
Government director of the Indian railway companies,
states in his annual report, just issued, that the present
system of guaranteed railways comprises a length of
n0t4,9 profitsl7milen
siotfhNevh yiecahr n3e,lBd6inag threne 30th of June,owopen for tra
63
traffic.
O
.T h:
2,151 miles of railway, amounted to £690,834; and to
£915,077 in the year ending June 30, 1864, on 2,489 miles.
The number of passengers conveyed in the latter year was
11,781,683, compared with 9,242,540 in the former. Tho
total expenditure of capital on the lines which are open, or
in course of construction, amounted on May 1, 1865, to
£54,942,029. The expenditure this year, it is estimated,
will amount to rather more than £5,000,000,ab0ut.£1,804,000
to be expended in England and £3,850,000 in India. The
total amount estimated to be required for the undertakings,
as now sanctioned, will reach £77,500,000. The number of
shareholders at the end of the year 1864 was 29,303 inEng..
land and 777 in India, the latter number consisting of 3R4.
s. 11
Euraoupeceadns3
p93tonathtieveesn.d
ofT hleBr3e4wtheereGaol svoern6,4mse3nt hac
deben-
ture holder
£13,160,539 to the railway companies for guarsa+
advanced
interest, but about £3,300,000 had been paid back out
still
fthe
due Tho charge upon the Go-
vernment was £2,567,743 in the past year, and by
earnings
to theo Gf theo Government. railways,mtn. leaving nearly X 10,000,000
Jan. 1 next it will probably have increased to £2,700,000 ;
but the receipts from traffic which go in diminution of
this, and which in the year 1864-65 amounted to about
£1,000,000, will in 1864-65 probably reach £1,300,000.
Year by year the revenues will approach nearer and
nearer to tho amount of the guaranteed interest, and at
last the Government will not onlybe relieved of the annual
payment altogether, but the railways will begin to earn.
more than the guaranteed rate, and to discharge their debt
for previous advances out of half the excess profits above 5
per cent. Although it will be some time before the Govern-
ment will receive back the large sum due to them, there fit
enough in the present condition of the lines to encourage
the hope that ultimately it will be paid, and in the mean-
time the State obtains advantages which fully compensate
for the liability it has incurred. Mr. Danvers holds that no
country in the world will derive greater advantages from
railways than India ; that the traffic on the main lines may
be expected to be enormous ; and when they earn six,
eight, or ten per cent the difficulty which now exists in;
inducing capitalists to promote public works in India wilt
be removed.

REVIEW OF YORKSHIRE VOLUNTEERS.—Yester..
day, Lord Londesborough invited the volunteers
from the East Riding and other parts of Yorkshire to
assemble in his park at Londesbury, wax Market Weighton,
on the occasion of the annual assembly of his tenantry. The
weather was beautiful, and the park magnificent. It was
originally purchased by Mr. G. Hudson, the railway king,
but when he so suddenly failed it was bought by the Lon-
desborough family. The grounds were arranged in the best
possible form for a fete champetre. The lower portion of the
park presented the appearance of a fair, for not only were
there booths in abundance, but numerous representatives of
the game of " Aunt Sally," and similar amusements. The
sham fight occupied a considerable time. The corps taking
part in it included the East Riding artillery and Yorkshire
riflemen. After the mound in front of the tents had been
captured by the riflemen, the whole body of volunteers ad-
journed to dinner, which was provided for nearly 3,000
persons in an extensive shed erected for the purpose. Lord
Londesborough occupied the chair, and amongst those pre..
sent were Lord Wenlock, Capt. and e Hon. Mrs. Eger-
ton, Lord and Lady idiuneaster, Admiral Dtcombe, Mr.
Christopher Sykes, M.P., Mr. C. L. Fox, aohers. The
toasts after dinner were purely of a formaln d Dun
character.
THE LATE SIR JOS
gentlemen EPH PAXTON
have formed them...—A large number
selves into a committee, with the purpose of erecting R,
of noblemen and
proper monument to the memory of the late Sir Joseph
Paxton. Among the names united with this view, of
many who wore his personal friends and admirers of his
genius, those of the Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of
Sutherland, Earl Granville, Lord Palmerston, Lord Eger-
ton of Tatton, the Speaker, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Etch°,
M.P., S. Laing, Esq., M.P., A. H. Layard, Esq., M.P., Sir
F. Crossley, Bart., M.P., T. N. Farquhar, Esq., Sir S.
Peto, M.P., and of artists, literary men, and others well
known, and many more are on the list. They propose to
open a general subscription list, that the memorial shall be
a marble statue, which might be placed on a chosen posi-
tion in • the English landscape gardens of the Crystal
Palace, and that the commission for the statue should be
entrusted to Mr. Spence, of Rome, to whom Sir Joseph sat
for his bust but a few months before his death. Mr. Goo.
Grove has undertaken the duties of hon. secretary to the
fund which is being raised.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Tins DAY.—Morning, 4h. 52m.—Afternoon, sh. 10m.
'l'o-31onnow.-Morning, sh. 25m.—Afternoon, sh. 45m.