The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, , DECEMBER 6, 1858.

the reading several hearty tlmd loud cheers csretts,
,given by the audience, The Royal Standard was
immediately hoisted on the temporary flagstaff in
front of the steps of the Town-hall, and at the

Castle, the Cathedral tower, and the Acbar main-

royal masthead: The Fort George batterj, had begun
the salute of 101 guns a little earlier than the pre-
arranged time, which was after the playing of "God
save the Queen." The troops then presmited arms,
and remained so until " God save the Queen " had

been played through by four united bands.' The
ships Acbar, Auckland; Feroze, Zenobia, and Clive
also fired a royal salute in succession, after the gar-
rison salute had terminated. A few minutes after

the garrison salute the bands !played " Rule Bri-
tannia," which concluded the ceremony. The troops
then marched away to their respective barracks
amid loud cheers. Printed copies of the Proclama-
tion were then distributed among the audience, and
the crowd began to disperse, wending their way to
witness the fireworks, which were displayed near
the Bazaar-gate of the fart at 7 p.m., and the illu-
minations prepared by Government and the residents
of the town and fort, as demonstrations of rejoicing
and loyalty. The pyrotechnic display was on a scale
never before witnessed in Bombay. The native town
was startled from its propriety at the display of
man's ingenuity, ; the skyrockets piroutetting in the
air, the sudden explosion of the shells in their up-
ward flight, the noise of the squibs and crackers,
the glare of the cascades and trees of fire, drew every
one to the glee's of Fort George. The weather was
favourable to the illumination, there being no bois-
terous wind to dim the glow of loyalty which her
Majesty's subjects had prepared. The illumination
was general throughout the city, all the leading tho-
roughfares bein gilt up at dusk with good taste, every
Parsee street in the fort and town, and almost all-the
Hindoo and Mahomedan streets in the native town_
were covered with decorations ; but the quarters
inhabited by the majority of the European resi-
dents, such as M alabarhill, Breach Candy, Byculla,
Colaba, and Mazagon, and those inhabited by a
few of the lower classes of natives, were enve4
loped in gloom. The Fort and Native Town were
the thoroughfares in which the best displays were
made. The concourse of spectators was very great,
and from every direction an unbroken throng of
carriages and pedestrians in one continuous torrent
swept along the streets. At the Bazaar and the
Church-gates the crowd became packed in one
dense mass, and for a time the avenues became im-
passable, so much so that by a sudden movement
of the crowd a Marwaree was pushed into the low-
walled well on the side. of the ramparts near the
Bazaar-gate, and there lost his life. We can only
give a cursory description of the principal illumi-
nations. To begin with the fort, the Townhall, as
we have said before, was the centre of attraction.
In its rear on the left hand was the Mint, which
was splendidly decorated with lamps along the
whole of the building, and had a large crown with
a " V." and " R." on each side. Next to it were
the Town Barracks, which bore the glittering
words " Queen Victoria" and" Prince Albert." On
the other side the Post-office and the office of the
B.S.N. Company, the Hydraulic Press Company's
buildings, and the offices of Messrs. Crawford
and Co., auctioneers, displayed numberless lights
with appropaiate devices. Lord Cornwallis's
statue on the Green was surrounded on the top
of the dome with two crowns and two " V.R.'s."
Opposite to it the office of the Great Indian
Peninsular Railway Company presented a brilliant
appearance by exhibiting a large crown made up
of a number of railway signal lanterns, of different
colours, each lantern appearing as a sparkling
jewel ; on each side of the crown were the letters
"V" and "R" formed of similar laterns. The office
of Messrs. Forbes and Co., and JejeebhoyDadabhoy,
Sons and Co., on the Green, displayed a tasteful ar-
rangement of lamps and devices. Apollo-street was
lighted throughout in the shops, but the best illumi-
nations were exhibited at the dockyard, the Bombay
Gazette office, and the British Hotel. The first had
a large chandelier at the gate,with the motto " God
save the Queen" above it, and two stars of - swords
on each side, with banners stretching over to the
Supreme Court, which _latter had. also a few lights.
The. Gazette office, by its favourable position at the
convergence of four streets, showed its masses of
lights, stars, crown, and " V.R." with great effect ;
and the third had arched lights ; flags, and motto
" God save the Queen." The Secretariat-office ap-
peared with appeared with rows of lights from the
roof to the walls of the compound. Going on direct
we enter the Parsee Bazaar-street, which was
wholly illuminated up to the Bazaar-gate, the por-
tion of it inhabited by Bomonjee Hormusjee Wadia
and other members of the Wadia family being
adorned with various devices and evergreens.
Turning back we come St. Thomas's Cathedral,
which was very grandly decorated, the upper por-
tion of the tower exhibiting lights through coloured
glasses and transparencies, and the Royal standard
floating over all. Going into Church-lane we
arrive at the mansion of Mr. Framjee Nusserwan-
jee, facing the Secretariat. In the whole of the
fort this was the most magnificently decorated
building, and the beautiful effect produced by its
illumination was particularly admired. Here were
softie large transparencies--two of them,the largest,
placed on the terrace projecting into the compound,
represented the coronation of her Majesty and the
Royal procession on the occasion, and were in-
scribed with the mottoes, " Her Most Gracious Ma-
j esty the Queen of India," and" God bless our Queen,"
with transparent " V.R.'s" below on the two gates.
In front of the. house a triumphal arch crossed
the street. Facmg.Church-lane is the Dady or Pa-
tell-street, which was entered through a large arch
decorated with banners, and bearing the words,
" Long live the Queen." This street presented
a marked feature in having a long row
of flags and small arches with evergreens
and .wreaths of flowers, and the place seemed,
as it• werei turned into a garden. The Union
Band in this street enlivened the hearts of the loyal
Parsecs by its strains. of sweet music. We will not
attempt to go mm the details of minor streets of
the fort, which were all very handsomely illu-
minated, and almost all of them exhibiting the
mottoes "V. R.," " God save the Queen," &c. We
now pass to the Church-gate-street, and here in the
centre we have to pass through a grand and superb
transparent arch, decorated with flags and festoons
of flowers, and bearing
the motto in large letters on
both sides, " God save the Queen of India." The
whole street was one great and magnificent blaze of
light. The house of Mr. Cowasjee Jehangbeer, and
of Furdoonjee Hormusjee (the Peninsular and Ori-
ental Company'sol- ce), were tastefully illuminated.
Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy!s Parsee Benevolent Insti-
tution had a very beautiful device, representing the
Queen and Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, with the motto
" Having the Light, we give you Light." We now
come to the Church-gate; and turning to the left we
observe the Bombay Bank and the Commercial Bank
neatly illuminated, and the Chartered Bank of India,
Australia and China, the Chartered Mercantile.
Bank, the Agr.a Bank, and the Oriental Bank, ex-
hibiting magnificent devices with a variety of mot.
toes. The Indian Navy Club, and the residence of
Mr. David Sassoon, were splendidly decorated with
flags, arches, transparencies, argand lamps and
chandeliers. In Meadow-street, the offices of Mr.
Augustus Gumpert, Consul for Oldenburg, Bremen,
and Hamburg, and Mr. J. G. Volkart, Consul for
Belgium and the Netherlands, displayed the devices
of their respective consulates, and had banners sus-
pended from the windows and roofs. Almost all the
shops in this and adjoining streets were illuminated
with devices of various descriptions. The shops. of
Messrs. -Watson and Co., Mr. Edaljee Nesserwanjee
Colabawalla, Mr. Batherjee, Mr. Jaffer Sulliman,
Mr. Meeajee, Mr. Nansey Parpia, and Mr. Rus-
tonjee Pestonjee, and others, were brilliantly
lighted up and decorated, some with transparencies
and others with flags. On the right of the
Church-gate, turning into Hornby-row, we have
the wholep place illuminated, the most attractive
places being the Fort IMprovement Library, with
the motto " Rule Britannia," Mr. Maneckjee Nes-
serwanjec's house, with the motto " God save the
Queen" on the roof, and Sir Jamsetjee Jeeieeb-
hoy's two mansions. The latter was among
the most richly illuminated places throughout
the fort ; the old mansion of Sir Jamsetjee was
most magnificently adorned with flags, devices, and
mottoes, and 'a large and superb crown over the
middle of the gateway. All the lights and re-
flectors behind them of different colours, and large
crowds of people were collected to witness the rich
decorations here exhibited. The Collector of Boni-
bay's office had transparencies of the Royal Arms
and "V. 1t.," and the Municipal Commissioners'
office was also conspicuous in the same line. Pass-
ing on we observed the Bania Bazaar and streets
well lit up. The three gates of the fort were
handsomely decorated, each having a crown in the
centre with. the Royal arms above, and motto
" God save the Queen," and two stars of swords,
one on the top of each avenue for pedestrians, as
well as the glittering words " Great Britain" and
" Hmdostan." Going out of the fort we cross the
esplanade, and approaching the native town we
pass under a large arch between the Money School
and the premises of the Religious Tract Snciety,
and observe that the whole thoroughfare of the
Kalbadavie-road is illuminated. On the other side
—that is, the Breach Candy-road, the first decora-
tion met with is the arch of the Native General
Library, with the, motto " Rule Britannia." Next
is a larger and more graceful arch, at the fire
temple of Mr. Bomonjee Hormusjee Wadia, with
the motto " God save the Queen of India," richly
illuminated, and ornamented with evergreens and
flags. The whole street is thus one row of
illumi-
nation, and we then reach Dr. Bhow Dajee s
mansion, where the design which appeared to
attract and undoubtedly deserved the largest share
of attention was that of a large transparent